5. The will of God is fulfilled
The fifth once and for all
phenomenon is that once and for all the will of God is fulfilled. As clearly
seen, the earthly tabernacle, the animal sacrifices and the Levitical
priesthood were all symbolic, shadows and copies of the reality, thy all served
the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed
when he was about to make the tabernacle. For he was told, "See that you
make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."
But now, once and for all,
Jesus Christ has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also
Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: "Sacrifice and offering
You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and
sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.
Then I said, 'Behold, I have
come --- In the volume of the book it is written of Me --- To do Your will, O
God.' Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and
offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them" (which are
offered according to the law), then He said, "Behold, I have come to do
Your will, O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the
second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews
10:5-10).
The will of God for man even
before the foundation of the world was that man be holy and blameless before
Him; For it is written: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places
in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us
to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure
of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us
accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians
1:3-6).
The apostle Paul’s final
plea to the church in Thessalonica was, “Finally then, brethren, we urge and
exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you
received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; for you know what
commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness: Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit” (1Thessalonians 4:1-8).
As one can clearly see the once
and for all phenomenon is all encompassed in the sacrificial body of Jesus
Christ and He interceding on our behalf as our Eternal High Priest as confirmed
by the apostle Paul who quoted Jesus Christ saying; “Behold, I have come to do
Your will, O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the
second.’
“By that will we have been
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all and
every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this Man, after He had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that
time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He
has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:9-14).
Again, we should note carefully that the offering for
the forgiveness of sins was a once and for all phenomenon, but the process of
confession, forgiveness and cleansing is continuous with strict adherence to
protocol.
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With brotherly love
Lucius Joseph
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