Hebrews 6:20 reveals that Christ is our Forerunner. The Lord Jesus as the Forerunner took the lead to pass through the stormy sea and to enter into the heavenly haven, “into that which is within the veil” (v. 19), to be the High Priest for us according to the order of Melchisedec, the order of the priesthood that is in both humanity and divinity. As the Forerunner, He has cut the way into glory.
“By so much also Jesus has become the surety of a better covenant” (7:22). In this verse Christ is the surety of a better covenant. Christ’s being the surety of a better covenant is based on His being the living and perpetual High Priest. The word surety here means that Christ has pledged Himself to the new covenant and to all of us. He is the bondsman, the guarantee that He will do everything necessary for the fulfillment of the new covenant.
“Wherefore also He is able to save to the uttermost those who come forward to God through Him, seeing He is always living to intercede for them. For such a High Priest befits us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and become higher than the heavens” (7:25-26). Having passed through the heavens (4:14) and even being higher than the heavens (7:26), the Lord Jesus is always living to intercede for us. Christ as our High Priest undertakes our case by interceding for us. He appears before God on our behalf, praying for us that we may be saved and brought fully into God’s eternal purpose.
“We have such a High Priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the holy places, even of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man” (8:1-2). The heavenly Christ is ministering in a tabernacle pitched by the Lord and not by man. This tabernacle, this sanctuary, is in the third heaven, in which is the heavenly Holy of Holies. Christ, as a Minister of the true (heavenly) tabernacle, ministers heaven (which is not only a place but a condition of life) into us, so that we may live a heavenly life on earth as He did while He was here.
“Christ having come a High Priest of the good things that have come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hand, that is, not of this creation, nor through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, having found an eternal redemption” (9:11-12). Since Christ as the Lamb of God took away the sin of the world (John 1:29) by offering Himself on the cross as the sacrifice for sins once for all (Heb. 9:14; 10:12), His blood, which He sprinkled in the heavenly tabernacle, has accomplished an eternal redemption for us. Through this, Christ “found an eternal redemption.” Here the word found really means obtained, procured. By sprinkling His blood in the heavens before God, Christ has found, obtained, procured, eternal redemption for us.
Christ appeared the first time to take away our sin and our sins, and He will appear a second time apart from sin (9:24-28). Hebrews 9:24 says that Christ is now appearing “before the face of God for us.” He “has been manifested for the putting away of sin by His sacrifice” (v. 26b). This indicates that He is the sin offering. Verse 28 goes on to say that He has been “once offered to bear the sins of many.” This indicates that He is also the trespass offering.
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