The main items of the Spirit in the book of Hebrews are the speaking Spirit and the Spirit as our foretaste. There is an additional item, however, in 9:14, that tells us that Christ offered Himself to God through the eternal Spirit, “the Spirit the eternal” (Gk.) This means that the Spirit is not only eternal but that the Spirit is eternity. With Christ as the sacrifice, the offering to God, there is no matter of time. We may say that Christ offered Himself to God two thousand years ago, but to speak in this way involves time. Rather, the Bible says that Christ offered Himself to God through the eternal Spirit without the limitation of time. Revelation 13:8 speaks of “every one whose name is not written in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.” Christ as the Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world. This is possible because Christ offered Himself to God through the eternal Spirit.
First Peter 1:19 and 20 says that Christ as the Lamb was “foreknown before the foundation of the world but has been manifested in the last of times for your sake.” To be foreknown is to be prepared. Christ was prepared before the foundation of the world. Revelation 13:8, however, uses a different preposition, saying that the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. He was prepared before the foundation, but He was slain from the foundation of the world.
The last phrase of verse 8 may also be translated, “Written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” It is difficult to decide from the Greek text whether from the foundation of the world modifies the slaying of the Lamb or the writing in the book of life. Certain versions, such as Darby’s New Translation, seem to indicate the latter. However, the best translators agree that from the foundation of the world refers to both the slaying of the Lamb and the writing of the names in the book of life. It was at the time that Christ as the Lamb was slain for our redemption that our names were put into the Lamb’s book of life.
God foreordained us before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), but in His foreknowledge He foresaw that His chosen people would become fallen, so He foreordained Christ as the Lamb before the foundation of the world, that is, before creation. Then after creation, at the foundation of the world, man fell. Therefore, in the eyes of God, Christ was slain from that time. We were ordained, foreordained, and predestinated by God, but we became fallen and lost. Therefore, at the time we fell, Christ was slain, we were redeemed, and our names were written in the book of life.
We may illustrate the writing of our names in the book of life in the following way. As long as a group of people are all honest and faithful, there is no need for keeping a record of their status. However, if some people do not behave properly, there is the need of a record to distinguish between them. Before the fall, everything was proper before God, so there was no need for a record of the names of people according to their status. It was after the fall that a distinction arose between men. God made an eternal redemption for man and presented it to him. Now there is the need of the book of life as a record of those who receive God’s prepared redemption. In the future when God will judge humanity, He will judge according to this record. This is why the book of life is mentioned several times in Revelation. It became necessary due to man’s fall.
Hebrews 9:14 says that Christ offered Himself to God through the eternal Spirit. Eternal spans all time. This word is mentioned several times in Hebrews, including eternal salvation (5:9), eternal redemption (9:12), the eternal Spirit (v. 14), the eternal inheritance (v. 15), and the eternal covenant (13:20). Verse 12 of chapter nine says, “And not through the blood of goats and calves but through His own blood, entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, obtaining an eternal redemption.” The eternal Spirit in verse 14 corresponds to eternal redemption, which is in contrast to a temporary redemption. In ancient times, the people had only a temporary redemption in type. If someone committed a sin, he would go to offer a sin offering. This would afford him a temporal redemption. However, the next day he might commit another sin, requiring him to offer another sin offering. Moreover, if two different persons committed a sin, they would both need to offer two different sin offerings. The redemption they received in type was only temporary, dealing with sins only in specific situations. It was not an eternal redemption.
Christ has now accomplished a redemption which is eternal, dealing with sins wherever there is the need. If we need redemption today, Christ’s eternal redemption is here, and if tomorrow we need redemption again, it is here again. If the Jews need redemption, it is there, and if the Gentiles need redemption, it is there for them also. This redemption is always here to deal with all sins, in whatever condition we are and wherever redemption is needed. This is the proper meaning in the Scriptures of eternal redemption. The redemption accomplished by Christ is eternal, and salvation as the issue of this redemption is also eternal. All this is because Christ offered Himself not through a temporary agent but through the eternal Spirit.
We may compare temporal and eternal redemption to the jurisdiction of governments. What the governor of California says applies only to California, and what the governor of New York says applies only to New York. These decrees are narrow in their scope. However, if the President issues an order, it applies to all the fifty states. Only the orders of the President supercede all jurisdiction. Similarly, that something is eternal means that it applies everywhere, regardless of space and time.
Some offerings were made at Shiloh, and later the offerings were made at Jerusalem. These offerings were subject both to space and time. However, one day Christ came and offered Himself to God, not merely in Jerusalem at a point in time but in the eternal Spirit. We should not say that Christ was offered only at Golgotha two thousand years ago. That is the human point of view. The divine point of view is that Christ offered Himself to God through the eternal Spirit. This offering covers all people, from Adam up to the last one who will be saved, without regard to location or continent and without regard to the generation in which they were born. We have Christ as our offering, who offered Himself through the eternal Spirit.