9 Our Surety
9
Our Surety
One of the most important titles of our Lord Jesus is used only once in the Scriptures, and yet its message permeates all of the Bible. It’s found in Hebrews 7:22: “By so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.”
That verse is right in the middle of a rather complex chapter about the present heavenly priesthood of Jesus Christ. Today the Lord Jesus Christ is our High Priest in heaven, interceding for his people. The Old Testament priests died and therefore were unable to continue in their ministry, but this is not so with our High Priest. Jesus lives forever and therefore can minister forever. Hebrews 7:24 states, “But He [Jesus], because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.” This is why he is called the believer’s “surety”: he will live forever to represent us before the throne of God.
Someone who becomes “surety” for another assumes a responsibility for that person, usually with reference to paying a debt. In many cities, wherever there’s a courthouse, you’ll find a jail, and near that jail you’ll usually find the offices of the bondsmen, the people who sell the bail bonds. These men are available to become surety for the people who have to post bond. The judge orders the accused to post a $10,000 bond, so the bondsman will post the bond and the accused will pay him for his services. The bondsman becomes surety for the accused, assuring the court that the accused will appear at the trial. The Greek word means “to make a pledge, to offer security, to undertake an obligation for another.”
However, suretyship is different from mediation. Jesus Christ is also our mediator (Heb. 8:6; 9:15; 12:24), but that’s a different ministry from being our surety. A mediator gets two estranged parties together, but the mediator isn’t obligated to pay a price in order to do so. The surety is the one who is the guarantee that the price will be paid; he is the security. Our Lord Jesus Christ today is our surety in heaven.
We want to examine three different aspects of the truth of Christ’s suretyship: explanation—what it means; illustration—where we find it in Scripture; and application—what it means to believers today.
The Explanation of Suretyship
Often in the Book of Proverbs Solomon warns about becoming surety for somebody, not even a friend and especially not a stranger. “My son, if you become surety for your friend, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, you are snared by the words of your own mouth; you are taken by the words of your mouth. So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; for you have come into the hand of your friend: go and humble yourself; plead with your friend. Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler” (Prov. 6:1–5).
When I was in pastoral ministry, a young man I had led to Christ came to me for help in a matter of “surety.” In his preconversion days, Harry had signed a note for a friend. Now the “friend” had suddenly left town and couldn’t be located. I showed Harry what Solomon wrote about the matter, and all he said was, “I guess when you’re lost, you don’t know those things.” But it also gave me an opportunity to remind Harry of what Jesus Christ had done for him when he became our surety.
We owed God a debt we couldn’t pay. We had broken his law, defied his will, wasted his gifts, and broken his heart; we were bankrupt. But Jesus Christ came to this earth to save bankrupt sinners like us. In fact, he became poor for us. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).
Jesus became poor in his birth, exchanging the glories of heaven for the sufferings of earth. He became poor in his life, and he was especially poor in his death. He became the poorest of the poor that he might make us the richest of the rich.
On the cross Jesus paid the debt that I couldn’t pay. When I trusted him, he freely forgave me that debt and became my surety. As long as Jesus lives—and that will be forever—he guarantees my salvation. As my surety, he assures me that I cannot be lost. “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost [forever, completely] those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).
Too often we read Hebrews 7:25 as though it says that he saves sinners from the uttermost, no matter how wicked they have been, and certainly that fact is true. But that’s not what Hebrews 7:25 is saying. Yes, Christ can save any sinner from the uttermost; but Hebrews 7:25 assures us that he saves sinners “to the uttermost.” In other words, he saves us completely, and he saves us forever. Why? Because he is our eternal surety.
My salvation is not wrapped up in my good works. My salvation depends on my Savior’s finished work on the cross. As long as Jesus Christ is alive, I am saved. How long is he going to live? He will live forever because he has come “according to the power of an endless life” (Heb. 7:16). We are saved to the uttermost because Jesus is our surety.
We need this kind of assurance because Satan accuses the saints before God (Zech. 3:1–5; Rev. 12:10) and sometimes accuses us in our own hearts. He asks God, “Did you see what that Christian did? Did you hear what he just said?”
God the Father says, “Yes, I did.”
“If you are a holy God,” argues Satan, “you will have to condemn him for that sin.”
Then Jesus says, “I am his surety. He cannot be lost because I am the guarantee that he will be saved forever. I paid for all his sins when I died for him. See—behold my wounds!”
The fact that Jesus paid our debt on the cross and stands at the throne as our surety is no excuse for us to sin. Anybody who claims to be a child of God and enjoys deliberately living in sin is simply not a child of God at all. “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Rom. 6:2). “Whoever abides in Him does not sin [practice sin]. Whoever sins [practices sin] has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous” (1 John 3:6–7).
When Satan accuses you and your conscience condemns you, confess your sins to the Lord. Remind yourself that Jesus is your surety at the throne of God. He has assumed your debt and paid the full price for your redemption.
Illustrations of Surety
The Bible contains many illustrations of various doctrinal truths, and I’ve chosen three events that illustrate Christ our surety, two from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament.
Joseph’s Brothers
Joseph’s brothers hated him and sold him into slavery (see Gen. 37–46), but Joseph ended up in Egypt where God blessed him richly and caused him to become the second ruler in the land. A famine came, and Joseph’s brothers had to go down to Egypt to get food. Joseph recognized them, although they didn’t recognize him and Joseph set in motion a plan that would lead to his brothers’ repentance and reconciliation.
To make sure that all of his brothers would come to Egypt, Joseph did two things: He kept his brother Simeon as a hostage, and he demanded that they bring their youngest brother, Benjamin, with them when they returned to get Simeon (Gen. 42:20). The sons of Jacob returned to Canaan and told their aged father what had happened, and Jacob didn’t like it one bit. He refused to let them take Benjamin. After all, Jacob had lost Simeon and Joseph, and he wasn’t about to forfeit Benjamin as well (Gen. 42:36–38).
At this point in the drama, Reuben stepped up and offered to take care of Benjamin. “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him [Benjamin] back to you: put him into my hands, and I will bring him back to you” (Gen. 42:37). But Jacob refused his offer, for what good would it do to kill two innocent boys? Would that bring back Joseph and Benjamin and Simeon?
That was all well and good until the famine became worse. Their food from Egypt ran out and Jacob’s family started getting hungry. Finally the boys convinced their father that they had to go back to Egypt and take Benjamin with them. Judah stepped up and said something wonderful: “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever” (Gen. 43:8–9).
Reuben offered to sacrifice his two sons if he didn’t bring Benjamin home, but Judah offered himself as the surety! What a difference! But that’s what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. He says to God the Father, “I am surety for these for whom I have died.” And God the Father says, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, and I will accept you as their surety.” Just as Judah was the guarantee to Jacob that Benjamin was safe, so Jesus is the guarantee to his people that they are safe.
Satan and Joshua the High Priest
When the Jewish remnant returned to their land after the Babylonian captivity, they were often in great difficulty because they didn’t trust the Lord and obey his Word. God couldn’t bless them as he wished because they weren’t keeping their part in the covenant he had made with them. Israel was a sinful nation and deserved to be forsaken.
The prophet Zechariah had a vision concerning the sins of the nation and the forgiveness of the Lord (Zech. 3:1–5).
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the LORD said to Satan. “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the LORD stood by.
The high priest was never to wear filthy garments because he represented the people before the Lord. On his turban was a gold plate which read “HOLINESS TO THE LORD” (Exod. 28:36–37). But when the Jewish remnant sinned against the Lord, they were no longer a holy people, and this was revealed in the condition of Joshua the high priest. No wonder Satan was able to accuse him before God!
But Joshua had a surety at the holy throne of God. It was Jesus Christ, who here is called the Angel of the Lord. Satan stood at Joshua’s right hand to accuse him, but Jesus stood at God’s right hand to act as surety for the high priest! On the basis of that suretyship, God could forgive the people, cleanse their high priest, and give them a new beginning. It’s the Old Testament version of 1 John 1:9.
Jesus has promised to be the surety for his people, and he will never disappoint us. We are saved and safe as long as he is alive, and that will be forever. He paid the price for our salvation and carried those wounds with him to glory.
There for me the Savior stands,
Holding forth His wounded hands;
God is love! I know, I feel,
Jesus weeps and loves me still.
(Charles Wesley)
Paul and Onesimus
This is a New Testament picture of the beautiful truth of Christ’s suretyship. The story is found in a little letter that Paul wrote to his friend Philemon, a man Paul had led to faith in Christ. Philemon lived in Colosse and had a slave whose name was Onesimus. Onesimus robbed his master and fled to Rome, but by the providence of God he came in contact with Paul and was converted to Christ.
Paul wanted to keep Onesimus in Rome to assist him in his ministry, but he knew he had to send Onesimus back to Philemon so he could make things right with his master. Knowing that Philemon had complete authority over his servant, Paul wrote this letter to prepare the way for Onesimus’s return. In this letter, Paul offered to be surety for Onesimus.
If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account. I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay. . . . (Philem. 1:17–19)
Paul said, “I will be surety for Onesimus. I will stand for him. When you look at Onesimus, remember that you are looking at Paul. I will pay his debt.”
The Lord Jesus Christ is our surety in heaven. He says to God the Father, “If they owe you anything, I have paid it. Receive them the way you would receive me.” By his grace, we have been made “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6).
The Application of This Truth
Now let’s look at this truth by way of application. What does it mean to God’s children today that Jesus Christ is our surety in heaven?
God’s Assurance
The suretyship of Jesus is the assurance that God will keep his salvation covenant with his people. God has made a covenant of grace with us through the Lord Jesus Christ. “By so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant” (Heb. 7:22). Salvation isn’t the result of some kind of an agreement between sinners and God. It’s the result of an eternal covenant between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Because of this eternal covenant, salvation involves all three Persons in the Godhead (Eph. 1:3–14; 1 Peter 1:2).
The people to whom the Book of Hebrews was written were tempted to trust in their temple, their ceremonies, their priests, and their sacrifices—the things that belonged to the old covenant. The writer said, “No, you don’t need to look back. Jesus Christ is all you need. He is everything. He is your hope, he is your Savior, he is your Lord, and he is your surety.” Because the Jewish high priest died, he couldn’t be the surety of anything eternal; but Jesus Christ lives forever and is God’s assurance to us that his covenant is secure.
We know that God keeps his covenant because God cannot lie (Titus 1:2) and can never do anything that’s wrong. But to give us extra assurance that our salvation is secure, he says to us, “My Son is the surety. As long as he is alive, the covenant is secure.”
Our Assurance
Christ is our assurance to God. We make promises to God that we don’t always keep. Jesus Christ is our assurance to God. We can’t keep ourselves saved any more than we could save ourselves to begin with! But Jesus Christ represents us at the throne of God, saying to God the Father, “I am their surety. Whatever they owe you, I have paid. Receive them as you would receive me, because they are my children.”
Because of this, we Christians have the wonderful assurance that we cannot lose our salvation. We have a High Priest in heaven who lives forever. He stands before the throne of God as the guarantee—the pledge, the security—for our salvation. He is our surety forever.
This truth should never make us careless. God doesn’t give us assurance to make us careless. Anyone who is truly born again wants to live a godly life. That’s why Jesus is interceding in heaven for us today. We can come to him at any time and know we are accepted. We can come to him with any need and know that he will hear and answer.
Just as Judah said to his father, “I will be surety for the lad and will not come home without him,” so Jesus Christ says of us, “I am your surety, and you’re going to come home with me. I’m building a home for you, and you will live there forever because I am your surety.”
“Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). The ever living High Priest is our everlasting surety, the surety of a better covenant, a covenant that will never fail.