Of Jesus it is written in Psalm 110:4: The Lord has sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever. (according to Hebrews 6:20) And He is our hope, so: Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. (Hebrews 4:14)
The work of the High Priest is that of an advocate who argues the merits of waiving the punishment. Although we are not to sin normally, of Christ it is written: if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1,2) This shows the dual work of Christ: first to be the propitiation or sacrifice to put away sin for everyone, and secondly to be the advocate or high priest, but not for everyone, but only for those who put their trust in Him.
Christ advocates that His death cancels the penalty for our sins: he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. (Hebrews 9:15-17) We should view Christ's death, not just as salvation from death, but also as the means by which we can attain a heavenly reward, far greater than any earthly inheritance.
The gospel is that: Jesus our Lord . . . was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:24,25) The reason that the resurrection must be part of the gospel is that a dead man could not plead our cause. Christ could not hold the keys of death and Sheol, if He were still in the grave. As so it was written: If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17)
Although the sacrifice for our sins has been made by Jesus at the cross, this can only help us if: firstly, it is commonly known in the courts of heaven before principalities and powers, that a sacrifice has been made; and secondly, we are identified with that sacrifice. As an analogy, it would be no use if when someone had a parking fine, the money for the fine was thrown into the sea. Even if the money was paid to the relevant authorities, it would still not avail unless the authorities were told the infringer's name and the nature of the offence. In the Old Testament, the job of declaring that the sacrifice had been made and of identifying the people with that sacrifice, was the responsibility of the High Priest. This work represented the work of Jesus, as we shall see.
The symbolism of the Old Testament is as follows: The Holy Place, a room of the temple, represented heaven. The bull or goat of the sin offering represented Christ. The blood was the token that proved and represented the death of the sacrifice. Noting this symbolism, we can understand the true meaning of Leviticus 16:3: Thus shall Aaron (the high priest) come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering. This foretells Jesus our High Priest entering Heaven by virtue of His own death.
The following Scriptures from the New Testament confirm this interpretation: Christ being come an high priest . . . neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:11,12); and: For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. (Hebrews 9:24)
In the same way that the High Priest on earth took the blood into the Holy Place to prove that the slain lamb outside had been killed as a sacrifice for sins, so Christ's sacrifice must have been declared by Jesus in the courts of heaven to be the sacrifice for sins. Thus Satan and all the host of heaven, know that the sacrifice for sin has been made.
God said that when the Old Testament High Priest entered the Holy Place: he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it . . . upon the mercy seat. (Leviticus 16:14) The symbolism of the mercy seat is that God said: there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims. (Exodus 25:22) These two gold cherubim represented the two good cherubim that now guard the approach to God. The gold cherubim gazed down on the blood upon the mercy seat as: toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. (Exodus 25:20) And so now the good cherubim in heaven are reminded by the death of Christ not to throw the full weight of the cancelled exclusion ordinances at men who believe in Christ. We do not know how Satan is restrained from doing this. Perhaps it is the good cherubim who restrain him, when they understand that Satan's power has been cancelled because he has shed innocent blood.
Further declaration that the sacrifice for sins has been made is the appearance of the Lord: in the midst of the throne . . . stood a Lamb as it had been slain. (Revelation 5:6) This is recognised by the elders in heaven who sing a new song saying: Thou art worthy . . . for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. (Revelation 5:9)
I have described how the Old Testament high priest killed one goat and brought its blood before the representation of God's throne to declare that the sacrifice had been made. But to identify the people with that sacrifice, the High Priest took another goat and was told to: lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat . . . And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities. (Leviticus 16:21,22) The sacrifice made with the first goat would not have availed had the people not been identified with the second goat.
Similarly for us, although the sacrifice for our sins has been made, it will not help us unless Jesus identifies us with this sacrifice. Jesus does this at the same time that He identifies us as His brethren. What Jesus says, in effect is: ‘This person is now a son of God the Father and a brother of Mine. Therefore I want the sacrifice I made for sins to extend to him so that his sins will no longer be held against him.’ Our dual identification, both with Jesus as brother and also with Jesus' sacrifice is shown in Hebrews 2:11: For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.
But to be identified we must believe in Jesus and in His death. That we might believe, we have several witnesses: This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that bear witness, the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. (1 John 5:6-8 NASB) The witness of the blood refers to Christ's death, burial and resurrection. The witness of the water refers to the bible, the word of God (according to Ephesians 5:25,) which tells us of Christ's death and of its purpose. The Holy Spirit assures our hearts of this. We should place our confidence for salvation in what God says in the bible rather than how we feel, and God says that the sacrifice for sins has been made.
We must believe in God's word that the atonement has been made but we do not have to believe in ourselves, that is we do not have to believe that we believe. God assures us that those who believe are identified with the Son and have eternal life, saying: this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life. (1 John 5:9-13) John would not have written this unless some forgiven people doubted whether they were really forgiven.
These verses give wonderful assurance from God that those who believe in the Son of God are forgiven. However, although a Christian is saved by Christ's work alone when they believe, a condition which God requires for salvation, is that a person acts upon their faith by repenting of their sins.
The necessity of repentance for salvation is stated by Peter, when he preached: Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ. (Acts 3:19) When Christ comes into our heart, Christ wants to be Lord.
A person thus commences the Christian life by repenting, and by believing in Jesus' sacrificial and high priestly roles accomplished when Jesus died, was buried and rose again. Normally when a person is saved, he will not at first understand the deeper meanings which I have explained. The central facts of the gospel are all that must be believed and these are given in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4:
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you; unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
When a repentant person believes this gospel and understands that it is the way of salvation they are saved.
Although we have no licence to sin, our trust should not be dependent upon the impossible hope that we will never break a commandment. Rather our faith should be that we can be forgiven if we do. The psalmist writes: If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. (Psalm 130:3,4) The psalmist does not say that there is forgiveness with God so that God may be ignored, but he says rather so that God may be feared. And then: By mercy and truth iniquity is purged; and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. (Proverbs 16:6) Here we see both forgiveness and forsaking of sin in the Old Testament.
For a Christian to be forgiven similarly involves these two steps: Firstly repentance, and secondly confession: if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin . . . If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:7,9) Walking in the light means that we do what is right rather than what is sinful, as Christ walked. And if we depart from the light by sinning we must confess that sin to God, and then resume walking in the light. Walking in the light does not mean confessing our sins to men. Only if we have sinned against another Christian in deed must we ask them for forgiveness. But walking in the light does involve being kind to our brethren.
As the Old Testament high priest confessed the sins of the people over the goat of the sin offering, Christians must confess their sins to God in private prayer. When this is done, Christ's sacrifice then atones for the transgression because of Christ's mediation to His Father on our behalf.
The Christian may then have confidence to speak with His Father in heaven. According to Hebrews 10:19-22:
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
We see here also the two steps to fellowship with God: first having faith in the cross by confession, described as having our hearts sprinkled by the blood; and second repentance by hearing and obeying the word, described as being washed by pure water (washing of water by the word: Ephesians 5:26). The result of this is fellowship with God.
The purpose of putting our hearts right is to have fellowship with God and with each other. Just before the apostle John describes the way of forgiveness he states its result: that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3)
Jesus Christ, our Advocate pleads our cause, as Christians, if we fall and then repent, in the same way that He cancelled our debt when we were first saved. The main difference is that after salvation a person's sins should be less.
Christians are identified with God their Father and with Jesus their brother. A consequence of this is that Christians are also brothers and sisters to each other. If we reject our fellow Christians then we are also rejecting Christ. So if we are not merciful to other Christians then God will not be merciful to us. Jesus said: Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. (Matthew 5:7) and: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:15) This does not mean loss of salvation, but rather loss of God's favour. But Jesus does not tell us to forgive those who do not repent. He says only: If he repent, forgive him. (Luke 17:3) But we shouldn't be too worried about small things.