JESUS HAVING SAT DOWN
Hebrews 1:1-4; 10:11-18; 12:1-3
In reading these passages it was in mind to convey an impression of the greatness of the Lord Jesus: the greatness of His Person, the greatness of His work and the greatness and the glory of His present position. You may have noticed that each of these scriptures refers to Him having sat down at the right hand of God. I do not know about you, dear friend, but it thrills my heart to think that even at this very moment there is a living Man seated at the right hand of God. He has gone where no man has ever been before. No other man is worthy to take that place. I wanted to speak of the first passage in connection with what the Lord Jesus has done for God; and I wanted to speak of the second one in connection with what He has done for sinners; and the third in connection with what He has done and the place He has taken for saints.
We must begin with what the Lord Jesus has done for God. If it were not for what He has done for God, there would be no hope for sinners such as ourselves. There would be no question of mercy for the sinner, no question at all of having our sins forgiven, if it were not for what Jesus has done for God. Think of the affront to God that there should be sin in the world, and that you and I should have sinned against Him. Think of God in His greatness, the Creator of all things, the One on whom we depend for everything: the scripture says that He gives “to all life and breath and all things”, Acts 17:25. What an affront to Him that we should do our own wills, that there should be some will in operation other than His. You see, every sin of ours is an act of rebellion against God, it is a challenge to His holy throne. Think, too, of how the incoming of sin has stained the whole universe. The scripture says that “the heavens are not pure in his sight”, Job 15:15. In the light of that, you can see that before there could be any question of mercy for the sinner, God must be vindicated. And the blessed news in the gospel is that Jesus has done just that.
What this first scripture brings out is that He has done it Himself. It says, “having made by himself the purification of sins”. You notice that in this scripture it is not the forgiveness of sins, it is the “purification” of them. I believe the allusion is to what took place on the great day of atonement, which we can read about in Leviticus 16. You remember that the high priest had to take two goats, one for Jehovah and one for the people. The one for Jehovah was offered first. Its blood was taken in and sprinkled on and before the mercy seat, and then it says that “he shall make atonement for the sanctuary” (v.16). The whole tabernacle had to be cleansed. Before there was any question of the sins of the people being dealt with, and the bringing forward of the scapegoat and the confession on it by the high priest of the sins of the people, before any of that, the first great matter was to uphold what was due to God. And the blessed news in the gospel is that Jesus has taken that on. What a matter that is, “made by himself”: He did it alone, He did it unaided. Who could help Him? Who was there who could have any part in this mighty work of vindicating God in the very place where He had been so offended by sin? But Jesus has done it, and He has done it through the giving of Himself.
These early verses range over the greatness of His Person. There is the great forward look: He is “established heir of all things”. There is the great backward look: that He was the One by whom God “made the worlds”. And there is the present position: that He upholds “all things by the word of his power”. What great and glorious matters these are. But “having made by himself the purification of sins” is the greatest of them all, because that involved the giving of Himself. That involved His precious sufferings and death and the shedding of His blood. And in the shedding of His blood there is established the great, eternal, universal witness – a witness to men and angels – that God Himself has been glorified. He has not overlooked anything, He has not had to pass anything by, there is no question of compromise: the blood of Jesus is the eternal witness to the righteousness of God, the great outstanding evidence that every claim of holy justice has been satisfied, and that God has been glorified. I believe it right to say that God has been more glorified by Jesus than if sin had never come in. How great Jesus is! How great is the work He has done!
So it says He has ‘set himself down on the right hand of the greatness on high’. We often speak about what God has done with Jesus, in raising Him from among the dead and giving Him that position. But, as I said, this scripture emphasises what He has done Himself. Think of how great He must be to take this place Himself, to set Himself down. We might say, speaking reverently, He could do that without presumption. He was equal to taking that place, and that is where He is at this very moment, set down at “the right hand of the greatness on high”. And the blessed news in the gospel is that because of what He has done for God, He has put God in the glorious position, now, of being free to show mercy to whomsoever He will. I would say that there has never been a better time to be saved than today. If there is anyone here today who is unsure about where they stand with God, if you have not settled with Him as to your sins, now is the moment to do so. There has never been a better time, when God has been so glorified through the work of Jesus that He is blessedly free, righteously free, to show mercy even to the guiltiest of sinners. I trust that from this first scripture we might get some impression of the greatness of Christ, and the greatness of what He has done for God.
In chapter 10 we have the work He has done for sinners. This is where we come to you and me. As we often say, the gospel is a matter between you and God, it is a matter between me and God. It is a question of you and your sins, and me and my sins. We all begin as guilty sinners. As guilty sinners our sins stand between us and God. Verses 16 and 17 of Hebrews 10 are a quotation taken from the great fundamental chapter of the new covenant, Jeremiah 31 (vv.33,34). The writer is quoting the words of God Himself. In verse 17, God says of certain persons, “their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never remember any more”. Pausing there for a moment, the first thing to note is that God does not say that of everyone. He does not say that He will not remember everyone’s sins. It is of particular persons that He says, ‘their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never remember any more’. So that establishes this important point, that there are men and women on the earth today of whom God has pledged never to remember their sins again. That is a very blessed thing. Now, I raise the question with you, dear friend, as to whether you are among that number? We are all sinners, that is where we all begin; but we can see from this scripture that there are two classes of sinners. There are sinners of whom God has promised not to remember their sins, and then there are sinners whose sins remain outstanding between them and God. There are only these two classes. You could walk up and down the streets of this city, and every single man and woman you came across would be in one of those two classes. He or she would either be a forgiven sinner or an unforgiven sinner. The gospel is preached because it is God’s desire that through repentance and faith we should come into this class, that we should all be among those of whom God can say “their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never remember any more”. I thank God that, through grace, I number among them. It is not due to any merit on my part. It is entirely of the grace of God. But I thank God I number among those of whom He can say, “their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never remember any more”.
It is a blessed thing to know that your sins are forgiven, very blessed. You might ask, ‘Well, how do you know? How can you be sure?’ I want to draw attention to these little words, “any more”: “their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never remember any more”. The reason I know is that my sins were remembered before God once. Every one of them was remembered before Him. ‘Oh’, you say, ‘when was that?’ It was when Jesus bore them. You see, Jesus took my place. There on the cross Jesus stood where I should have been, and in wonderful love He took all my sins upon Himself. He put Himself in the position of answering to God for the things I have done. And, I say this simply, I love Him for it. Think of Him charging Himself with all my guilt and all my responsibility, and undertaking to answer to God for it, to receive from God what I, as a guilty sinner, deserved. And there in those terrible hours of darkness all my sins were remembered before God, when He poured out upon Jesus His holy judgment of sin. And Jesus bore my sins in His body, bore every one of them as if they were His own. He Himself was spotless, we would jealously guard that; but in the abounding of love, He took my place and bore all of my sins out of God’s sight.
Now, someone might say, ‘It is wonderful that He was ready to do that, but how do you know that that has settled the question of your sins before God?’ Jesus might do a great work; He may, in such wonderful love, be prepared to sacrifice Himself, but surely we need to know that things are settled with God. After all, God is the One we have offended. The answer is to direct our hearts to Christ’s present position. It says, “But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down in perpetuity at the right hand of God”. I have spoken already about what a blessed thing it is that there is now a living Man at the right hand of God, but think of this, the Man that is there is the One who once bore my sins. I look up and I see the God whom I have offended, but there at His right hand is the Man who bore my sins! Not any man – we speak reverently – but the very Man who once bore my sins in His body is now seated at the right hand of God. Can there be any doubt about my sins being settled? Would Jesus be there at this moment if He had not entirely satisfied God? He could not be at the right hand of God with my sins on Him, could He? That is impossible! The very fact that He is there is the great, eternal witness that His work is done.
The writer emphasises that He has “sat down”, and he draws the contrast with what prevailed in the tabernacle system. Hebrews 10:11 says, “every priest stands daily ministering, and offering often the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins”. I understand the brethren here are reading the book of Exodus and, God willing, you will come to the detail of the tabernacle furniture, and you will notice that there were no seats in the tabernacle, no places to sit down. The simple reason for that was because the work of the priests was never done. If the tabernacle system had functioned as God intended that it should, you can understand that the priest’s work would never be done. Here would come a guilty Israelite with his sin-offering and the priest would do what was necessary to offer it up, and then here would come another Israelite and there would be another offering, and there would come yet another one, and perhaps the first one was coming back because he had sinned again! You can understand that there would be no time to sit down. There would be the priests constantly offering the same sacrifices which, as the writer says, “can never take away sins”. But that is used to make this blessed contrast with the one mighty sacrifice for sins, and that having offered it He has sat down at the right hand of God. Why? Because His work is all done!
It thrills my heart to be able to testify to the finished work of Christ. If there is an anxious soul here, someone worried about their sins or their guilty past, we can tell you that all that needed to be done in order that sinners like you or I might be saved, has been done. It has been done by Jesus, and He is now sitting at the right hand of God. Think of Him coming down from heaven, and as a blessed Man suffering and dying in the sinner’s place, and then going up to where He was before and sitting down! It is my privilege today to point to Him: one mighty sacrifice, one glorious Saviour, and one way of salvation – one free and finished way of salvation – that is offered through Him.
It says He has “sat down in perpetuity”. He does not need to get up again to offer another sacrifice. And then notice that the word “perpetuity” is used again in verse 14: “For by one offering he has perfected in perpetuity the sanctified”. In other words, the clearance that we as sinners may know is just as permanent as the place that Jesus has at the right hand of God. If you can dislodge Him from that place, then you can call into question my salvation, but you will never do it! My perfect clearance before God is just as enduring as the place that Jesus has at His right hand. How great these things are! How great is the Saviour! How great are God’s glad tidings!
I would also draw attention to the reference to the Holy Spirit: “And the Holy Spirit also bears us witness of it”. Here we have what we might refer to as the most basic service of the Holy Spirit. There are many things that could be said of the Holy Spirit. It is a wonderful matter to have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, and you could never exhaust all that the Holy Spirit is and does. But I think this scripture presents the most basic service of the Holy Spirit, and that is to give us the consciousness of the forgiveness of our sins. I had to do with a man recently, and was seeking to exercise him about his soul. I asked him, ‘What is going to happen to you when you die? If you were to die today, where would you go?’ And he said, ‘I think I would go before Jesus, and I hope that I would be forgiven, I hope I will’. But we need have no doubt about it. We have spoken about the greatness of the present position of Christ, and then the work of the Holy Spirit is to impart to us the consciousness that our sins are forgiven: “the Holy Spirit also bears us witness of it”. The forgiveness of sins is something to be enjoyed. David says, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven”, Ps.32:1. I have met plenty of persons who have had their sins forgiven, but I have not met so many who are enjoying it. That is what the Holy Spirit would do. If there is anyone here who has not received the Holy Spirit, I would like to interest you, exercise you, as to receiving this wonderful gift.
We have spoken about what Jesus has done and the place that He has taken for God. And we have spoken about the work that He has done for sinners. I want to refer, in this final scripture, to the place that He has taken for saints. The passage refers to the race from earth to heaven that believers have part in. It is not a sprint, but rather an obstacle course. There are difficulties to be overcome and obstacles in the way. That is what the path of faith involves. The point is not to win this race – none of us here will get to the end first – the point is to reach the end of the course. We have to go all the way through to the end. Do we not find that that becomes increasingly a test to us? I think it does. We are in the last days, and as to them the apostle Paul says, “difficult times shall be there”, 2 Tim.3:1. I think that to keep going on in the course of faith becomes increasingly a test.
Now, the writer refers to the great cloud of witnesses, some of whom are named in the previous chapter. It is important to remember that they are witnesses, that men such as Abel and Enoch, and Noah and Abraham, are speaking to us. They are speaking to us today, and testifying to the triumph of faith in difficult circumstances. But great men though they were, they did not have what we have. That is what the writer goes on to, when he speaks of Jesus as “the leader and completer of faith”. Those named in chapter 11 set forth particular features of faith: the patience of faith; the obedience of faith – it says Abraham “obeyed to go out” (v.8); the calculations of faith – you get that with Moses. But when we come to the Leader and Completer of faith, we see every feature of faith set forth in all its excellence. He is the One who has begun and finished the whole course of faith. And not only has He marked out the path we are to tread, but in His present position He sets out where the journey ends.
It says that He “endured the cross, having despised the shame”. This scripture refers not to His atoning sufferings but to His martyr sufferings, that is, what He suffered at the hands of men. It is in that regard that He is an example for those in the path of faith. How did He get through? It was “in view of the joy lying before him”. Jesus was looking beyond the shame and suffering that were immediately before Him, looking at what was on the other side of the cross, and you get the impression from this scripture that it sustained His soul. I trust that I speak carefully of our blessed Saviour. It was in view of the joy lying before Him that He endured the cross. What He had to face we cannot fathom, and yet this scripture suggests that He was looking beyond it, He was looking forward to what He was to enter into. I think therein lies the secret for us, for the passage says, “consider well him who endured so great contradiction from sinners against himself, that ye be not weary, fainting in your minds”.
“Fainting in your minds” is a remarkable expression. To a large extent that is where the conflict is: it is in our minds. Doubts and fears may assail us; we worry about what may be before us, what the future may hold. We may give way to discouraging thoughts, or even unbelieving thoughts – I speak feelingly of these things – and it can result in us fainting in our minds. Now, what is the answer? It is to consider Jesus well: the writer says, “consider well”; and to understand that He has not only marked out the path for us, but in His present position He sets out for us where the journey of faith ends. It says He “is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”, that is, having overcome everything He has reached that glorious position. God would impress us with His appreciation of the way that Jesus went right through to the end in the path of faith. God would say to us, as it were, ‘See in Him, and in the place that I have given to Him, what it means to Me when persons go on in the path of faith’. I say these things as a little encouragement for us, dear friends and brethren, that our eyes might be fixed on Him, fixed on Him where He is.
May we think more of what He has done for God, rejoice in what He has done for sinners, and draw from Him all that we need as His beloved saints so that we continue all the way to the end in the path of faith, not fainting in our minds, but running with endurance the race by looking steadfastly on Jesus, the Leader and Completer of faith.
Preaching of the gospel, Glasgow
19 October 2025
Richard Brown