Hebrews 9:24-28 - For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.

There are some popular poems and short stories that suggest that Christ has sacrificed Himself many times on many different worlds, doing more or less the same thing there that He did here but for many different species. I sort of hate those poems. One crucifixion was bad enough; I can't bear the idea of Jesus going through that kind of suffering again and again and again!

But I think there's an even deeper problem with that idea, which is that it tends to treat Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection too lightly—as if what He did was enough to save one world, one species (humanity), but that's all. To affect the whole of creation, they think He needs to repeat His efforts over and over again, like a high price that is still somehow not enough, that must be paid again and again. And that doesn't make sense.

Because Jesus' gift of Himself on the cross is infinitely valuable; no one could ever set a price on what He did for us. There is no sin that His blood will not cleanse, no death that He will not raise us from—if only we will let Him. Jesus' payment to bring us into God's kingdom is so incredibly over the top that it wouldn't matter if every creature in the whole cosmos had sinned; the life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God must surely pay for all.

And so we can rest, trusting in Jesus, because we know His suffering for us was enough. What He did for love of us, He did once and forever. And now we can be sure that no sin we commit, no wickedness in our heart, no trap in our lives is enough to keep Him from saving us to the uttermost, from washing and dressing and bringing us safely home into His Father's presence. That act of love was enough; and now we look forward to the celebration when Jesus returns, "not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him."

WE PRAY: Heavenly Father, reminds us how all of our sins have been paid for by Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.

Reflection Questions:

1. Are you ever tempted to think that your own sin or shame is too much for Jesus to deal with?

2. How do you find comfort when you are overwhelmed by your own neediness?

3. Jesus did all this because He loves and delights in you, and wants you with Him forever. Read John 17:24 as you think about this fact.

Today's Bible Readings: Jeremiah 41-42    Hebrews 11:1-19

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