He is able also to save forever

Hebrews 7:18-28 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness ¹⁹ (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. ²⁰ And inasmuch as it was not without an oath ²¹ (for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him,

“The Lord has sworn And will not change His mind, ‘You are a priest forever’”);

²² so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

²³ The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, ²⁴ but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. ²⁵ Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

²⁶ For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; ²⁷ who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. ²⁸ For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.

Today’s text says:  The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing,  but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.  Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.  What the text says about the former priests, is also true of those who are the founders and originators of other religions, they all died. Only Jesus rose from death and lives forever. Others taught of a way to get to God. While Jesus in John 14:6 says:  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”    Even more, in John 10:30;36-38 Jesus says:  “I and the Father are one…I am the Son of God’?  If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;  but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”   Jesus is the Son of God and even more, He is God.  

Jesus shares every quality and character of the nature of God, including that He, like the Father, is eternal. While He came and lived on earth in a finite time two thousand years ago, He also exists outside of time. The text says:  He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.  The living intercession of Christ on our behalf also exists ourside of time. So, it is more than that Jesus once lived and died on the cross as an act of intercession for us and now He prays for us. That Jesus always lives to make intercession for us, is that He eternally, forever died for our sins and He eternally, forever prays for us. Jesus death on the cross also exists outside of time. He is the Lord and Savior even of those who lived and died before Him; those who believed in God by faith, looking forward to what He would do. In John 8:56-58 Jesus says:  “Your father Abraham rejoiced  to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”     Those who lived since the cross believe by faith in what He has done. They looked to the future work, while we trust the finished work. But with God and Christ, it has always been the same. Isaiah 44:6 says:  Thus says the LORD, the King and Redeemer of Israel, the LORD of Hosts: "I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God but Me.”  Revelation 1:8 says:  "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."   Revelation 22:13 says:  "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

The text says:  For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;  who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.  Other religions focus on what people need to do to become like God. They follow the steps of others who did not achieve what they themselves tried to attain. For those who believe in Christ, we become like God through Him. John 3:16 says:  “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  So  we too, who believe in Christ, become eternal like Him. In Jeremiah 1:5 God says: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you.”   In Psalm 139:13-16 the psalmist says:  You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.   Even before we were born, we were made to be like God. In Genesis 1:26-28 it says:  Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  God blessed them.  Through the cross, believing in Christ and trusting in the eternal, finished work we are redeemed from sin and restored to what God intended from the beginning.

In John 17:20-24, Jesus, the one who ever lives to intercede for us, on the night He was betrayed, prayed for us saying:  “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;  that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”  Amen.  Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit; the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty, that I am created in Your image and likeness, that I am eternally, now and forever one with You.   Amen.