The Forerunner

Q: What does the Bible say about Jesus as our forerunner?

The Bible describes Jesus as the forerunner who has entered the Holy of Holies for us, symbolizing His role as a high priest. In Hebrews 6:20, Jesus is specifically called the 'forerunner' who has entered the Holy of Holies. This title signifies His unique role in our salvation, emphasizing that He goes before us, representing us before God. Unlike the high priests of the Old Testament who could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year, Christ, our forerunner, has made a way for us to enter into God's presence at any time. He not only prepares a place for us but ensures that we have access to the Father through His finished work.

Q: How do we know that Christ's work as our forerunner is sufficient?

We know Christ's work is sufficient because He has entered the Holy of Holies and declared, 'It is finished.' Christ's sufficiency as our forerunner is grounded in His completed work on the cross. In the sermon, it's emphasized that when Jesus entered the Holy of Holies, He proclaimed victory by stating, 'It is finished!' This declaration signifies that He accomplished everything necessary for our salvation. Through His sacrifice, He reconciled us to God, allowing us to have direct access to the Holy of Holies, where we can approach God with confidence, knowing that His sacrifice was perfect and wholly accepted by the Father.

Q: Why is the concept of the Holy of Holies important for Christians?

The Holy of Holies represents the direct access Christians have to God through Christ, our forerunner. The Holy of Holies holds significant importance as it represents God’s very presence. In the Old Testament, only the high priest could enter this sacred space once a year to atone for the people’s sins. However, through Christ's sacrifice, He has become our forerunner, granting all believers access to God's presence. This means we are no longer separated by sin; instead, we can approach the throne of grace confidently. The existence of the Holy of Holies signifies that Christ has made a way for all who believe to enter into fellowship with God, reflecting His grace and love.

Q: What does it mean that Christ is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek?

This indicates Christ's eternal priesthood that transcends the Levitical priesthood, ensuring He remains our mediator forever. Jesus being a high priest after the order of Melchizedek signifies His eternal and perfect priesthood. While the Levitical priests were appointed based on lineage and temporary service, Melchizedek’s priesthood represents a greater and perpetual priesthood. In the sermon, it is explained that Jesus' unique and divine qualifications allow Him to mediate between God and humanity forever. He does not require yearly atonement like the Levitical priests, since His one sacrifice was sufficient for all. This aspect of Christ also reassures believers of the permanent and unchanging nature of our salvation and access to God.

Q: How does Jesus as our forerunner prepare a place for us?

Jesus prepares a place for believers in His Father’s house, ensuring our eternal home in Heaven. In John 14:2-3, Jesus explains that He goes to prepare a place for us. This preparation speaks to the reality that our eternal home in Heaven is complete and awaits us. In the sermon, it is noted that when our Lord takes us home, there is no last-minute preparation, as everything is already ready. Jesus, as our forerunner, ensures that those whom He represents will have their place secured in Heaven, emphasizing His proactive role in our salvation and our assurance of eternal fellowship with Him. This evokes a profound comfort for believers knowing that their eternal future is secured in Christ.

Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 6. Let me read
just a few verses, and we're going to look at one particular
verse. In Hebrews chapter 6, verse 16, for men verily swear
by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end
of all strife. wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability, the unchangeableness
of his counsel, he confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable
things in which it was impossible for God to lie, and the two immutable
things is his oath, it cannot change, and his word. He said, My word will not return
unto me void. It will accomplish that whereinto
I have sent it. Those two things cannot change. They are immutable. That by two
immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie,
we might have a strong consolation, strong comfort, who have fled
for refuge. And we have fled for refuge in
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is our refuge. He is our hiding
place. "...who have fled for refuge
to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, unchangeable,
unmovable, and which entereth into that within the veil." is within the veil. Our hope
is seated at God's right hand. Our hope is in the Holy of Holies. That's where our hope is. Our
hope is there. And here's the verse. There's
a name given here to Christ, the first time it's used, and
the last time it's used, the only time it's used concerning
him. Whether the forerunner, that's what I want us to see
this morning, the forerunner. This man, Jesus Christ, is the
forerunner of a multitude of sinners, of that whole host of
heaven that no man can number. This man is the forerunner of
all of them. He's the forerunner, because
it says here, whether the forerunner for us, entered, even Jesus. Oh, what a sweet
name that is. What a sweet name that is. Even
Jesus. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. And for them
He has entered into the Holy of Holies and taken possession
of heaven for the heaven. But as he says here, for us,
for us. Made a high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. What is a forerunner? What is
a forerunner? A forerunner is one who proceeds. He proceeds. A forerunner is
one who goes before. A forerunner is one who prepares. A forerunner is a herald. John the Baptist was a forerunner. Look over in Luke chapter 1. John the Baptist was a forerunner
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a herald He came preaching repentance
toward God, the baptism of repentance, and one day while he was preaching,
the Lord Jesus Christ came out. You can read this over in the
Gospel of John. He said, Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of the world. He was sent to Harold to point
out God's Lamb. the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here in Luke chapter 1, Luke
in verse 11, And there appeared unto him an angel, that is, unto
Zacharias, an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of
the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he
was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto
him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy
wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son. Thou shalt call his name
John, and thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall
rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the
sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong
drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from
his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel
shall he turn to the Lord their God, and he shall go before him,"
that is, he shall go before the Lord Jesus Christ, in the spirit
and power of Elias. to turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to
make ready a people prepared for the Lord." To make ready,
that's the job of a forerunner. To prepare, to make ready. I'll
show you something here in a little bit. But that's what a forerunner
is. A forerunner is one who prepares
the way for others to follow. He goes before, and he prepares
the way for others to follow. That's what he does. Now, in
this last few chapters we've been looking at, our Lord has
been sent forth as a high priest. You look back over here in chapter
4 in Hebrews. I'll just point out a few of
them. In chapter 4, in verse 15, For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
But we have a high priest who can be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. Even Jesus is that high priest. He's that high priest. Now look
in chapter 5. So also Christ glorified not
himself to be made an high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou
art my son, today have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another
place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."
Then back over here in chapter 6 in verse 10, for God is not
unrighteous. Let's see here if I got that
written down right. I think it's verse 20. Whether the forerunner
is for us or not, even Jesus made a high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Now this high priest who is made
after the order of Melchizedek, even Jesus is our forerunner. We have a high priest who is
our forerunner. You know, our Lord carries many
names throughout the scriptures. the Son of God, he's called the
Master, he's called the Son of Man, he's called the Nazarene,
he's called the King of Kings, here he's called the Forerunner,
even Jesus. Even Jesus. There is no name,
as I said, there is no name so sweet to the sinner's ear as
that name, Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sins. I shall call his name Jesus,
Joshua, Savior, Savior. That's what he is to us. Now,
this forerunner, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, is the same Jesus. That's why I believe he said,
You see, he's writing to the Hebrews. They knew. They knew who Jesus of Nazareth
was. They knew who the carpenter's
son was. They knew this was the man who
was despised and rejected by the high priest and the elders. They knew who Jesus was. And that's why he's saying that
the forerunner here is even Jesus, that one who they hated That
one whom they despise. That one whom they put in a tomb.
He is the forerunner. And he's entered into the Holy
of Holies. That's where he is. For us. Even Jesus. Now, he says here, whether the
forerunner is for us entered. Where did he enter? Where did
he enter? When he rose from the grave and
he went, Back to heaven, back to his Father. It says back here
in verse 19, "...which hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within
the veil." You know, up until our Lord was
crucified, he held to the cross, died, buried. went back to glory,
that temple, and the Holy of Holies, and he had that curtain.
No one was allowed in there. No one was allowed in there,
but the high priest, he was allowed in there one time. One time,
once a year, he would take the blood, the blood of atonement. He would lift up the veil. He
would crawl under the veil. And he would offer the blood
of atonement inside the Holy of Holies. And then he would
crawl back out. And he made atonement for Israel
for that year. And no one, no one ever went
into that Holy of Holies. He was only allowed to do it
one time a year. And he had to have blood. He had to go in there
with blood. But now listen. Absolutely no
one ever followed that high priest into the Holy of Holies. No one
was ever allowed to follow him into the Holy of Holies. He was
only allowed to go in there by himself. Aaron could not ever
be called a forerunner. But the Lord Jesus Christ, after
he died on the cross and was buried and he went back to glory,
he went into the Holy of Holies, listen, as a forerunner. as a forerunner. Now a forerunner
represents a people. There's going to be a group following
him. He's a forerunner of a multitude of sinners. And he went into
the Holy of Holies and he took, he absolutely took possession
of heaven. And we, sinners, ungodly, are allowed to come in to the
Holy of Holies. Listen, not the one on earth,
nobody was even allowed in that one, but right into God's presence. We are allowed, think about this
this morning, we are allowed through the blood and the righteousness
of our forerunner to enter into the Holy of Holies, to enter
into God's presence and fellowship, Speak to God face to face at any time, not one time a year,
at any time. We can come at any time, any
time our hearts are empty. Any time we feel impressed or
call upon our Father, we can come into the holy of holies. In fact, we can just get a hold
of that this morning, that we are allowed into God's presence
through our forerunner. Listen, who for us hath entered. He entered there
for a people. He took possession of heaven
for a people, a particular people, an elect people. I love election. If it were not for God choosing
the people, no one would ever be there. We would not be allowed
in God's presence in any way, shape, or form if He had not
loved us and chose us in Christ, given us to Christ, and Christ
represented us, lived for us, died for us, and entered into
glory for us and took possession of heaven for us. And we're going
to be there. Our forerunner lives to see to
it. that everyone for whom he's there
for is going to be there. Oh, he went into the Holy of
Holies unlike Aaron who was not allowed to take anyone with him.
No one ever saw the inside of the Holy of Holies except the
high priest, and that was one time a year. But now there is
a multitude that no man can number that sees and enjoys the presence of God. We talk
about it now, but there's a whole host that's there now. You know,
there are people that we've known over the years whom the Lord
has taken home. They are there right now. They're
alive as we are. I'll say more alive than we are.
More alive than we are. Their worship service is not,
you know, trying to stay awake. I can guarantee you there's nobody
trying to stay awake there this morning. And it's just as real,
and I tell you, that's just as real to me right now as me standing
here. The Lord is seated on His throne. He's taken possession of the
Holy of Holies. And there's a multitude there right now worshiping Him.
And in a little while, we'll be there in the Holy of Holies
where no one was allowed to come. until this forerunner, this mighty
forerunner. If you're going to make somebody
a forerunner, you're not going to take somebody that's weak,
somebody that has a hard time getting up and down. You're going
to take somebody that can run the race. You're going to take
someone that's strong and mighty. And I tell you what the forerunner
is going to do. He's going to be a herald. He's going to walk,
he's going to come into town. You know, the army's gone out,
the victory's been won, and the forerunner is going to go into
town, he's going to herald, we won! We had the victory! When Christ went into glory,
and he went into the Holy of Holies, and he took possession
of that place. You know what he heralds? It's
finished! It's finished! Nothing left to
do. He has saved his people from
their sins. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And when he
entered into the Holy of Holies, he declared, they're saved. It's finished. I have finished
the work that you gave me to do for them. But it's also one who prepares.
Turn over to John chapter 14. One who prepares. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Exercise that same faith in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so,
I would have told you. I go to prepare." That's a forerunner.
A forerunner is one who proceeds. It's one who goes before. It's
one who prepares. I go and prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again and receive you unto myself. Where I am, usually they're going
to have them. He entered for us. He did not
enter that place hoping that a multitude would accept him.
He entered that place, he took possession of heaven for a particular
people. Sinners, ungodly, those whom
he represented. A forerunner represents people,
doesn't he? A forerunner represents someone that he's forerunning
for. And he says, I go to prepare
a place for you. Every one of the Lord's children,
when they die, when we leave this life, we go to a place that's
already prepared. Nothing left to do. It's not
like if you're visiting my house and Vicki says, hurry up, they're
here. You start trying to put some stuff away. You know, I
would like, you know, I'm like, so what? They're here. They live
in the same world I live in. But I've been thankful for you
ladies. You make the house look good.
You hide the stuff in the closets. You put it away. Trying to hurry
up and prepare the place. There is no scurrying around.
When the Lord takes one of His children home, when He brings
one of them home, there's no scurrying around to fix it up. It's done. It's prepared. enter into the
kingdom prepared before the foundation of the world. This matter was settled long
ago, long ago. But our forerunner has taken,
he's galled back to heaven, he's prepared a place for us, he's
heralded it's finished. It's just waiting on us. Plenty of room, no empty seats,
I guarantee, but there's plenty of room. But there'll not be
an empty seat. He'll not lose one whom he is
a forerunner for. A forerunner is one who goes
before. Look over in John chapter 10. Verse 1, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold,
but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
But he that entereth in by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and
he calls his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when
he putteth forth his own sheep, he what? Goeth before them. He goeth before them. And the sheep follow him. They
know his voice. That's the voice of the shepherd.
As I've said often up here, you know the gospel when you hear
it. The sheep know the gospel. They know the voice of their
shepherd when they hear it. They know it when they hear it. Everyone, everyone, for whom
he is the forerunner will be there. Will be there. Not one will be missing. You know, if I had 99, if I had
100 sheep, I had 100 sheep and one went astray, and I brought
99 home, that would be a success story for me. Honestly, wouldn't
it? That's the way we count success. Well, I lost one. But now for
our Lord to lose one, it is an absolute failure. Because God can accept nothing
less than perfection. Perfection. And our Lord offered
up a perfect work. And He's going to have everyone
for whom He entered the veil for. And He is in that veil. He is in the Holy of Holies,
right there, representing us. You see, a forerunner is a representative.
So, He's there representing us. Now, if our forerunner, our representative,
is in the Holy of Holies, it seems like God's right hand,
that I'm as near to God as He is. I am as near to God as the
Lord Jesus Christ is. I cannot be any nearer than he
is. I'm as near as he is. He's our forerunner. He's our
representative. Now, what has he done for us?
What has the forerunner done for us? Well, in short, absolutely
everything. Absolutely everything. I cannot comprehend this, although
I believe it. I believe this. Whatever I experience, whatever you experience, our
forerunner has already gone through it. He's already gone through it.
You and I will never experience anything. We will never go through
anything that he has not already gone through. He's the forerunner. Look over at Colossians chapter
one. Let me read you something here.
In Colossians 1, 18. And he is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. There is nothing
that I'm going to experience that I will have on him. He has the preeminence in absolutely
every area. Absolutely every area. is the
forerunner. Death? He's already gone there. Suffering? He's already gone
there. Heaven? He's already there. He's
my forerunner. Now, it says he entered within
the veil. This means to me, as I said,
I cannot be any nearer now than he is. It also means that since
my forerunner is there, everything needed is provided, and in him
I'm complete. That's what it tells us in Colossians. In him you are complete. Now,
seeing that the forerunner, the Lord Jesus Christ, has entered
into the holy of holies, One who has taken possession
of heaven for us. One of us has taken possession of heaven for
us. Because it says, listen, it says,
let me see if I can find it. In verse 26 of chapter 7, for
such a high priest became us. So one of us has taken possession
of heaven for us. And that being so, let's follow
him. Let's follow after Him. That's
what you do with a forerunner, isn't it? If you send a forerunner,
you're following after Him. He has gone on before us, prepared
the way for us. I go prepare a place for you. Everything's ready. Now let us
be determined to follow Him. To follow Him. What was it He
said over here? The Apostle says over here in
Chapter 6, therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine
of Christ, let us go on. Let us go on. Let us go on and
follow Him. Let us go on following Him. Let
us go on learning of Him. Let us go on maturing and growing
up in Him, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. Our forerunner, even Someone
that you and I can identify with. Someone that you and I can approach. Even Jesus, the forerunner, has
taken possession of heaven for us. Let us follow Him. Let us go
on to know Him. Not that we just made a profession
so we won't end up in the wrong place. But we follow on to know the
Lord. We follow on to know Him, be like Him, and then be with
Him where He is. He's our forerunner. My, what
a forerunner we have. God. God. He read over here in
Psalm 24. Frank read in Psalm 24. And on
down toward the end of that, it said, Who is this King of
glory? Who is this King of Glory? Says the Lord of Hosts. Mighty
of battle. Who is this King of Glory? I'll
tell you who it is. He's our forerunner. Even Jesus. Even Jesus. All right, Mike.

The Forerunner

What does the Bible say about Jesus as our forerunner?

How do we know that Christ's work as our forerunner is sufficient?

Why is the concept of the Holy of Holies important for Christians?

What does it mean that Christ is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek?

How does Jesus as our forerunner prepare a place for us?

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The Forerunner

What does the Bible say about Jesus as our forerunner?

How do we know that Christ's work as our forerunner is sufficient?

Why is the concept of the Holy of Holies important for Christians?

What does it mean that Christ is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek?

How does Jesus as our forerunner prepare a place for us?

Sermon Transcript

About John Chapman

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