Gilbert Jorgensen’s Weblog

Yesterday I was pondering the last two cries that Christ uttered from the cross.

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30 (ESV)

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last. Luke 23:46 (ESV)

Immediately, he gave up the ghost. In those last words he is still a sacrifice, having completed the work that the Father gave him to do.

The writer of Hebrews tells us,

27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. Hebrews 7:27-28 (ESV)

If we look at these three passages as a whole, we will get the complete thought of the writer of Hebrews here. Not only did Christ offer up himself as the perfect sacrifice, but he did it "once for all" — forever.

Pastor Ray Stedman notes,

That means the cross is a timeless event. It is not simply an historic occurrence that we may look back upon and study as we would the Battle of Waterloo or Gettysburg. It is an intrusion of eternity into time. It is timeless. It is as though it is going on forever and had been going on since the foundation of the world. It is therefore eternally contemporary. Christians are quite accurate when they speak of a cross as "a contemporary experience."

Every age can know for itself the meaning of this cross. It reaches back to cover all history so that it can be said that Jesus is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," (Revelation 13:8 KJV). Thus all those of the Old Testament who had not yet known of the historic presentation of Christ could be saved, just as we are saved today, for the cross reached backward into time as well as forward. The cross of Jesus Christ, from God’s point of view, is the central act of history, everything flows from that. From that great event all hope is flowing, all light is flaming, it is to it that all events must look for meaning.

This is what I mean when I say that Christ ministers in a new dimension, an eternal dimension, performing a contemporary act that is always meaningful.

Hebrews further tells us,

1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.
3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.
5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain." Hebrews 8:1-5 (ESV)

Pastor Ray Stedman further observes,

As the writer says, the point of emphasis in what he has been saying is not duration but location! The question is: Where is this kind of ministry of Jesus Christ available? Where do you find it? He answers that it comes from the risen Christ who is at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister of the true sanctuary which God made and not man.

Now if the picture you get from that is that we are poor struggling mortals left here on planet Earth, and Christ is somewhere out in space in heaven, "out there", then you miss the entire point of the argument of the writer here. I confess that for many years this was the concept I held, and, therefore, I greatly missed the whole point and blessing of what the writer says.

It is true, of course, that Jesus Christ is in heaven, but where is heaven? Well, heaven is not "out there" somewhere, remote in space. It is not some spatial location which can be pinpointed on some other planet in some distant galaxy in the great reaches of space. Heaven is within. Heaven is this new dimension which is as present on earth as it is anywhere else. "The kingdom of heaven," Jesus said, "is within you," Luke 17:21).

I propose that Adventism does God a great injustice by proposing that God resides in a far, far away place called heaven accessed by going through Orion, and that since Christ’s resurrection 2000 years ago He has been confined to a small physical building in heaven called the heavenly sanctuary. What kind of God is that? May I suggest that God is not restricted to our notion of time and space?

It is my belief that there is a spiritual realm that we are but dimly aware of. Adventism, in its attempt to produce a physical application to everything including Christ’s ministry points us in a totally wrong direction. It puts heaven far away, but we are told that God will dwell with his people. Not in some far away place, sequestered till the second coming in a 24-hour a day review of people’s records, past, present and future — for the past 163 Years, 6 months, and 29 days!

There is so much more to this subject of where heaven is, but I would like to leave you with one additional thought.

The writer of Hebrews tells us,

Hebrews 3:1-6 (English Standard Version)
1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,
2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house.
3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.
4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)
5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,
6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

Notice that last sentence, "And we are his house …"

Where is heaven? Where does God dwell? By looking for a physical sanctuary in heaven we totally miss the spiritual message God has for us, and its illustration. By looking for a physical heaven somewhere on the other side of Orion we totally miss the point that God lives outside the confines of time and space. As New Covenant Christians, he dwells within us. We are His house. We are each temples of the living God.

Here you have just a little taste. In future posts I would like to explore this thought futher.

References: Ray Stedman, The New Constitution (A study of Hebrews 7:27-8:13)