Hebrews Part 6 – Greater Assurance
Hebrews 8:1-2
Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the
right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle
set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.
A SHORT HISTORY OF CHAIRS?
Early in human history there were no chairs.
People didn’t use them.
But even after chairs were invented they were rare!
Imagine a time before chairs were invented.
Imagine a time 6000 years ago,
The first great cities were emerging.
When ancient people built the great Tower of Babel,
These early human city builders built a great city in what was called the Sumerian Empire.
The Sumerians, ancient people before the Babylonians, Eyptians, the most ancient empire.
Imagine that first Sumerian city, a city of hundreds of thousands of people, and two chairs!
Sumerian people were proud and clever.
They had an empire.
And guess what was at the centre of their empire?
A chair.
Here it is: a 5000 year old chair from the centre of the Sumerian empire.
To sit on a chair was rare, exceedingly rare.
Because people did not get chairs.
Sitting on chair was not normal.
No Sumerian houses had chairs.
There were only one kind of chair.
What was that?
A THRONE!
Let’s move forward a thousand years: 4000 years ago.
Ancient Egypt.
Some of the oldest chairs still existing today are Egyptian.
In four thousand years this building in which I speak will be dust.
But here’s a chair from back there…
In ancient Egypt chairs weren’t normal.
Houses didn’t have chairs, market did not have chairs, shops had no chairs, people didn’t just sit in a chair.
You wouldn’t dare to have a chair!
Chairs weren’t even for architects, doctors, or teachers.
Chairs were extremely rare.
Who got to SIT in ancient Egypt?
Only priests and kings!
You see in the history of chairs, chairs are rare,
Because chairs are only for those in charge!
Let’s Zoom forward another two thousand years.
Now we have come to the time of Jesus Christ.
Two thousand years ago.
Greeks and Romans.
For them chairs were not common either.
An average Greek or Roman house definitely did NOT have chairs.
People reclined or knelt to eat.
Chairs were still rare.
Here’s a Roman chair.
Who got the chairs?
Senators, Emperors, kings, rulers, judges.
That’s who got to sit on a chair.
To sit on a chair was still indeed rare.
And the only ones who dared to put their derrière on a chair were rulers and judges!
What about Israel where Jesus lived?
There a preacher got to sit in a chair called the “Moses seat”.
But no one else got a chair!
To sit in the chair, the Moses seat was a thing of honour (see sMatthew 23:2).
No one else got that!
And no one sat in a chair to eat.
I’m sorry Leonardo Da Vinci, you painted the picture of the last Supper 1500 years after it happened,.
And you got it entirely wrong.
TOTALLY WRONG: NO CHAIRS!
So by the way, anyone who thinks you can find some sort of conspiracy theory,
And get new info about Jesus from Leonardo’s painting is a raving looney!
Leonardo Da Vinci painted it 1500 years later and couldn't even get the furniture right.
So I wouldn't be depending on his paintings for info about Jesus!
The Bible is even clear that they “reclined” not “sat” for there were not chairs in the upper room.
The Gospel stories of the Last Supper say the reclined in the traditional way.
No chairs at the Last supper of Jesus!
Only judges, rabbis, rulers and kings sat.
How times have changed,
Sitting meant something back then,
We’ve all gone to pot you know,
Sitting used to MEAN SOMETHING!
Move forward another thousand or so years.
The middle ages. The year 1000AD.
In the middle ages, Europeans built great Gothic cathederals.
Here’s the inside of a Gothic Cathederal.
Notice anything strange?
No chairs. No seats. No pews.
There was no seating in the great cathederals.
None! That was all added later.
What did people do during worship? Stand!
Later on wooden benches became popular and then pews.
But until around the 1600s people just never SAT for worship.
They stood, because chairs were not for normal people.
Think that through again!
Some Orthodox churches have kept this tradition,
And to this day many Orthodox churches have no chairs.
Originally, no chairs, no seats, because only kings, priests and judges (John 19:13) got a seat!
You didn’t sit.
Sitting was for kings.
Here’s something very rare…
A gothic chair.
This was for kings, princes, nobles, rulers.
No one else got a chair.
No one else could afford a chair.
All those pictures of medieval times and gothic images of chairs are rubbish.
Chairs were rare.
If you saw a chair you’d stare!
Have you noticed a common theme here?
For most of human history chairs have been rare.
Chairs, and being seated, were rare.
Kneeling to eat.
Squatting to talk.
Reclining.
But NOT sitting.
Sometime in the last few hundred years something changed.
Chairs became common,
Everyone started to get chairs.
Mass production made chairs accessible to the masses.
But it’s important to understand this,
Or you will miss some important detail in the Bible.
Chairs are rare.
Only honoured Rabbis, Priests, and Kings get chairs.
Chairs MEAN SOMETHING.
To sit on a chair is a sign of STATUS.
WHY ‘SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND’?
The Christian Church has a basic statement of faith called “The Apostle’s Creed”.
And in that creed we say something about sitting.
Can you remember the words?
And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord…
The third day he rose again and SITS at the right hand of God the Father
When that was written it was powerful words.
Back then to be SEATED meant something.
When the early Christians said these words that Jesus was “seated at the right hand”
They would have TREMBLED.
Those were the days when “being seated” meant something.
They didn’t have chairs.
They didn’t sit in comfortable seats for meetings.
Sitting was a status symbol.
Sitting was reserved for those with authority.
When they said, “I believe in Jesus Christ… SEATED” they trembled.
Because to be seated mean to have power.
To be seated meant honour.
And just as “being seated” was powerful,
To say “the right hand of God” was even greater.
It not saying literally ‘on God’s right hand’,
But it means “in the place of most power”.
The “right hand” means ‘at the place of greatest power’.
So this is double powerful!
No only is Jesus worthy of “being seated”
He has received the right hand seat of glory – the best seat in the universe.
We are studying the book of Hebrews.
And as we read this book the writer wants us to see how much GREATER Jesus is.
So the writer says FOUR TIMES that Jesus has been seated.
And as Hebrews repeats the theme of Jesus “seated” it shows us how powerful this really is.
By saying “he is seated in heaven”
The writer doesn’t want us to think Jesus is far away, or that he’s relaxing.
The writer of Hebrews wants us to understand some amazing things about Jesus Christ.
The first is this:
SEATED MEANS FINISHED, DONE, COMPLETE, ACCOMPLISHED!
Would you read with me?
Hebrews 1:3
After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…
Hebrews 10:12
But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of
God…
The idea that Jesus has become seated means that his work is ACHIEVED.
Like a labourer at the end of their work,
It says he has made one sacrifice that completed the work.
This being seated signifies that it is accomplished!
Remember this.
When you worried if you’re good enough for God.
When you worried if God will ever finish with you.
It’s all accomplished for you!
God’s love is ENTIRELY and COMPLETELY achieved for you.
You never need to worry about that,
Because it is SORTED.
Jesus sorted it on the cross,
Then he “sat down” to declare IT IS DONE!
He even invited you to stop trying to do it yourself and sit down with him…
Ephesians 2:5b-6
by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus
Secondly the writer is saying to us:
SEATED MEANS YOU HAVE A FRIEND IN THE COCKPIT
Hebrews 8:1
We have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven
and who serves in the sanctuary…
The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is seated in a special place.
At the right hand of God.
This is like saying that Jesus is seated in the pilot’s seat.
He is driving the bus, flying the plane, plotting our destiny.
And the great thing about that,
Is that we have a friend in the most holy place,
We have someone like us in the driver’s seat.
Right there, in the place where the universe is driven,
Right there at the centre of all things,
Is a human being who knows what it is like for us.
You have a friend in the driver’s seat.
Notice it says that Jesus is seated as the driver, the pilot,
But also that he “serves”.
So his role seated in heaven has to do with serving,
He’s there so that we have a friend in the centre of heaven!
SEATED MEANS
Hebrews 12:12
Look to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured
the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God…
Revelation 3:21
The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down
with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches…
Kings sit.
When we hear that Jesus “is seated”
We are hearing that he is now king of the universe.
This “being seated” isn’t just declaring things accomplished.
He’s not doing nothing,
No, he’s active, alive, and doing so much,
And the work he does now is to bring all things together.
He’s ruling!
Sometimes we get worried.
We see the world going wrong,
We wonder if God is in control.
But remember that Jesus has “been seated” in the centre of heaven,
Know that he’s conquered evil,
We have a friend in the centre of heaven,
And that he truly is in charge.
So let's live as if Jesus truly is in charge!
Evil may appear to have its way.
But when we say “Jesus has been seated” we remind ourselves that he has won,
And that he truly is King,
Which means we have nothing to fear!
Three things that Jesus sitting means…
1. FINISHED, DONE, COMPLETE, ACCOMPLISHED!
2. YOU HAVE A FRIEND IN THE COCKPIT
3. HE RULES AND REIGNS RIGHT NOW!
Which is most helpful for you today?