“For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9: 24-28)
Most of my life is spent doing the same things over and over again. Every day I have to get washed, brush my teeth, brush my hair, get dressed, cook, eat, wash up, and so on. There may be some rare exceptions to these routines, but life generally seems to be made up of the same things most days. There are one-off events in our lives, of course, which are highly significant, but for many of us, even these somehow get subsumed in the ordinariness of the mundane routines.
That is not the case with Christ’s sacrifice for sin, which was a once-and-for-all event!
“Once and for all, the Father’s love
He is the light in the darkness
He took on flesh and took our place
The weight of the world on His shoulders
The weight of the world on His shoulders
We believe our God is Jesus
We believe that He is Lord
We believe that He has saved us
From sin and death once and for all
Once and for all, our debt is paid,
There on the cross it is finished!
The Lamb of God for us was slain
Up from the grave He is risen,
Up from the grave He is risen!
Jesus, Jesus, God from God, Light from light, You are our Salvation
Jesus, Jesus, God from God, Light from light, Your kingdom is forever.” (‘Once And For All’, Chris Tomlin)
‘Once And For All’, Chris Tomlin