December 4, 2015

“But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Hebrews 9:26b

The Greek word translated as “once for all” is the word “Hapax”. The literal translation is “once for all, never needing repetition”. The implication is clear, Christ has appeared, one time, for all people, for all time, to act definitively and purposely to remove sin from the world through his death and resurrection. It is a firm statement on the salvific work of Jesus for all people, for all time. He has come into this age, to usher in a new age, but this age must be brought to completion. That is where you and I come into the picture. We are the ones who are to be part of the ministry and mission plan to assist Christ in doing the work necessary to bring to completion the work of this age.

The question you may ask is “What is the work that needs to be done?” The answer is multi-layered, like an onion. The more we strip away the façade of the quick fixes by government and see the inner reality of our communities, we come to realize that many of our people are broken, and our communities are broken as well. We cannot fix them alone – we need the assistance of other people, and of course we need the presence of the Holy Spirit. Christ has come, once for all time, to take upon himself the sins of the world. Christ will come again to take us all to the place he has prepared for each one of us (John 14). Just look around you each and every day – you will see where our presence is needed – as co-workers with Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Dave