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v. 11. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins;
v. 12. but this Man, after he had offered one sacrifice for Sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God,
v. 13. from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool.
v. 14. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
v. 15. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us; for after that He had said before,
v. 16. This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them,
v. 17. and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
v. 18. Now, where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
That the one sacrifice of Christ has been acknowledged and accepted as such by the heavenly Father is illustrated and demonstrated by His being exalted to the right hand of God: And every priest, indeed, stands day after day ministering and often offering the same sacrifices, inasmuch as they are unable ever to remove sins entirely: but this Man, having brought one sacrifice for sins, has seated Himself for all time at the right hand of God, waiting, so far as the rest is concerned, till His enemies be made His footstool. The point here made in addition to the nature of the sacrifices of old is that pertaining to the action of the priests themselves. There was the never-ceasing, yet ever ineffectual and unavailing service of the Jewish priests. Daily they stood in their ministrations, again and again they offered the same sacrifices; it became a matter of almost deadly mechanical routine, Deu_10:8; Deu_18:7; Jdg_20:28. In spite of all this they could never take away, entirely remove, the sins of the people by all their offerings; the best they could do was to comfort the worshipers with the antitype of the perfect sacrifice of the Messiah. But Jesus is no longer standing in the performance of the works of His office, as the priests of old were obliged to. One single offering He made, one single sacrifice He brought; but so great, so perfect was the value of this one offering that its perfection is indicated by the fact of Christ's sitting down at the right hand of God as one who has quite finished His work and knows that its power and worth will last throughout eternity. As the Victor over all His enemies, He is quietly and confidently waiting to see them all laid at His feet, to be made His footstool, Psa_110:1; 1Co_15:25-27. There is, then, no need of any further sacrifice: For by a single offering He has perfected for all time them that are sanctified. The fact that He gave Himself into death as the Substitute of mankind once, the fact that He paid the price of all men's ransom with the price of His holy blood once, that is sufficient. No more needs to be done, no more can be done. Salvation, the reconciliation of man with God, is secured forever. In the one sacrifice of Christ there is a cleansing sufficient for all men, both to bring them into fellowship with God by imputing to them the perfect righteousness and holiness of God through faith, and to keep them in this fellowship by renewing their hearts by daily contrition and repentance and causing them to dedicate themselves, their lives, to God anew with every further day of their lives. The sacred writer now offers proof from Scripture to show that the one sacrifice of our Mediator is final: But there testifies to us also the Holy Spirit; for after saying, This is the covenant which I will covenant toward them after those days, says the Lord, Setting My laws upon their hearts, and upon their minds I shall inscribe them, (He adds,) And their sins and their iniquities I shall remember no more. Note that the words here quoted, taken from Jer_31:33-34, are directly and explicitly ascribed to the Holy Ghost, the real Author of the Holy Scriptures. Through Jeremiah the Lord expressly stated that after those days, when the period of the Old Testament should come to an end and that of the New Testament be ushered in with the incarnation of Christ, He would make a new covenant with His people, with those whom He had chosen for His own. The terms of this covenant are plainly stated and consist only of such things as God intended to do in the interest of mankind. He wanted to set His laws, the Gospel proclamation of the New Testament, upon their hearts; this wonderful message of redemption He wanted to inscribe in their minds, make it known to them by faith. And by that token, by their acceptance of the assurance of their salvation, all their sins, all their unrighteousnesses, all their iniquities, all their trespasses, all their guilt should be forgotten and never again be remembered. That is Gospel, glorious, saving Gospel-truth, not the opinion of some fallible man, but the assurance of the Holy Ghost, of the eternal God Himself.
And so the author fittingly concludes, from the entire discussion which began with chapter 5: But where there is forgiveness of these, there no longer exists an offering for sins. Where there is forgiveness of sins, where this glorious state of the complete and eternal remission of sins obtains, as it truly does in our case since the perfect sacrifice of Christ has been made and accepted, there a further offering of sins is useless and senseless, and the contention of the Romish Church, with its doctrine of the sacrifice of the mass, becomes actually blasphemous. We no longer have need of a Levitical priesthood, we no longer have need of any further sacrifices for sins, since the fact of the adequate, perfect offering of Christ is so soundly established. No matter how long the earth may still stand, the assurance of the forgiveness of sins is ours, and throughout eternity this fact will be the theme of our endless praises before the throne of the Lamb: We have remission of sins, we have the grace of God, we have eternal salvation