Christ’s first manifestation was also for the accomplishment of an eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:12 says that “through His own blood” He “entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, having found an eternal redemption.” Christ accomplished this at the time He put away sins. Thus, eternal redemption also is a bequest.
The first manifestation of Christ was also for the consummation of the new covenant (Matt. 26:28). By putting away sin and accomplishing eternal redemption, Christ consummated the new covenant. Hence, the new covenant is also a bequest.
Eventually, the first manifestation of Christ was for the bequest of the new testament (9:16-17). We have seen that when the new covenant was bequeathed, it became the new testament. In His first manifestation, Christ accomplished everything, put all that He had accomplished into a will, and left His will with us. In this will we have, as our bequests, everything Christ has accomplished. Since everything has been accomplished, neither He nor we need to do anything more. If we have this vision, we shall see that within the thirty-three and a half years of His first manifestation, Christ accomplished everything and put it into a will, into the new testament. Do not think that the New Testament is a book of promise or prophecy. No, the entire New Testament is a will. If your grandfather’s will were full of promises and prophecies, it might take eighty years for it to be fulfilled. You might not live long enough for them all to be fulfilled. This is exactly the way many Christians take the New Testament. Today many Christians do not have a will; they have a book of promise and prophecy. They are waiting for the promises and prophecies to be fulfilled by and by. But remember, even Revelation, a book of prophecy, is included in the New Testament which is a will. As I pointed out in the previous message, even in a book of prophecy such as Revelation, many of the verbs are in the past tense, indicating that they have already been fulfilled and accomplished.
We need to have a clear vision and see that Christ has accomplished everything. If we see this, we will not strive for anything, but rest in all that Christ has done. I am happy because Christ has accomplished everything for me. Blessed is he who sees the vision that Christ has accomplished everything for us. Christ is sitting in the heavens because all the work has been done. He is not laboring or striving but restfully sitting there. In the Bible, to sit means that the work is finished. Everything needed for the completion of God’s eternal plan has already been fulfilled by Christ in His first manifestation. All that He has accomplished has been bequeathed to us in the new testament as our bequests.
After He had accomplished the necessary things through His death and resurrection, Christ ascended to heaven and entered into the Holy of Holies in the heavens. Verse 24 says, “Christ did not enter into the holy places made by hand, but into heaven itself.” The tabernacle in the Old Testament was a figure of the true one in the heavens. The earth is the outer court of this true tabernacle. After He had finished His work in the outer court, Christ, as the High Priest, entered into the Holy of Holies of the true tabernacle.
Christ has entered into the Holy of Holies in the heavens so that He might appear before the face of God for us (9:24). Since He has accomplished everything on earth, He is now restfully sitting in heaven before God. The only time we are told that He stood up was when Stephen was being stoned (Acts 7:55-56).