Sermon: Sunday, 5th April, 2026
Speaker: John Johnstone
Scripture: Hebrews 13:20-21
Today is Easter Sunday when we celebrate God raising his Son from the dead. Often, at Easter, I like to preach from one of the gospel accounts of the women finding the tomb empty, or of one of Jesus’ resurrection appearances. However, this morning I am going to preach on the benediction found at the end of Hebrews. Sometimes we don’t pay attention to benedictions, but we should. A benediction is a proclamation of the blessing of God on the people of God from the Word of God. It’s a scriptural blessing, usually pronounced by a minister, in which God himself declares his favour and sends his people out in his peace. That’s a wonderful thing.
I wonder if benedictions at the end of our services just like the closing music of a TV programme – when the theme music starts playing, you don’t listen anymore. You reach for the remote, you stand up, you start talking. The music isn’t really heard; it just signals, ‘It’s over.’ In church, the danger is that it means just that the sermon is finally over, and we can go and get some coffee and cake and catch up. But that does not mean the benediction has lost its power; it means that we may have stopped listening to it. I would like us to listen very carefully to this wonderful and rich benediction.
Let’s consider what relevance Easter has for us today through these two verses. I’ve chosen them as they speak about God raising the Shepherd from the dead. This lies at the heart of Easter.
‘Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.’ (Hebrews 13:20-21)
Let’s summarise what book of Hebrews is about, so we can locate this benediction in context. Some of the Hebrew Christians who were being written to were discouraged in their Christian walk and were tempted to stop following Jesus and to return to Judaism. The writer argues throughout that ‘Jesus is better’ than anything the Old Testament has to offer.
Jesus is better than the High Priests – he is the Great High Priest.
Jesus is better than Moses – he is the supreme mediator.
Jesus is a better sacrifice than all the Old Testament ones.
In a nutshell, we are being told this: if you could really grasp how supreme and sufficient Jesus really is, both in terms of who he is and what he has done, you would never want to leave him. No one else can do what Jesus can do for us. No one else can forgive sins. No one else has defeated death. Jesus is totally supreme and worthy of our worship.
Let’s see how Jesus’ resurrection impacts our past, present and future.
1. The past: Because God raised the Shepherd, your sins are truly paid for
In verse 20, God the Father is called the ‘God of peace.’ The apostle Paul uses this title quite a lot. For example, ‘And the God of peace will be with you.’ (Philippians 4:9) and ‘The God of peace be with you all. Amen.’ (Romans 15:33) To understand what Christianity is all about, we need to understand how surprising it is that God is a God of peace for us.
What do I mean? Quite simply that I do not deserve to be at peace with God. I have broken his commands again and again. I often take all of God’s good gifts, like health and family and work and medicine and food on the table and a roof over my head and fail to pause to thank God, the Giver of all these undeserved gifts. I’ve offended God many times, by thinking selfish and evil thoughts and by hurting my fellow human beings, even those closest to me. The Bible says that were God to count our sins against us, none of us could stand. If all the wrong things I have ever done were written in a book, the book would be enormous.
When two people fall out – really fall out – you can’t just pretend nothing happened. You can’t just say, ‘Let’s be at peace,’ and carry on as if everything’s fine. Something has to be faced, dealt with, put right. And if the relationship is restored, it’s often because one person takes the first step – absorbing the cost, choosing to forgive, making a way back when it isn’t deserved. That’s why peace with God is so surprising: my sin is not ignored or brushed under the carpet. It’s peace that comes because the cost has truly been dealt with and not by us. We can never earn peace with God. It is a gift. ‘But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ (Romans 5:8:)
The peace that Christians enjoy with God is primarily a spiritual peace. It means that God is no longer angry with us because of our wrongdoing and selfishness and idolatry. Real peace can only be found in God. He is the true peacemaker. How did God make peace with us? If he is so holy and we fail him and one another so often, how did he deal with our spiritual debt and guilt before him?
God made peace with us on Good Friday. When Jesus died, he died to pay for the sins of his people, in order to make peace between us and God. What a wonderful blessing. There’s a lot in my life that is broken and fragile and disappointing; however, I can say to you this morning, that because Jesus died for me, I have peace with God. ‘Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…’ (Romans 5:1)
We read in the benediction today, ‘Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus…’ (Hebrews 13:20) It is Jesus’ blood which washes us clean bringing us peace.
I love this verse in Hebrews; ‘It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.’ (Hebrews 10:4) Our sin is so serious that only an infinite sacrifice could atone for them. The blood of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, is so powerful that it is sufficient to pay for and wash away the sins of anyone who will trust in him. There is power in the blood of Jesus. There is the power of total forgiveness in that blood. Jesus’ death on Good Friday was so much better than any animal sacrifice, because it cleanses us inwardly, in our hearts. It cleanses us forever. This is astonishing. This means that as Christians we can never be more forgiven than we are already at this moment. This is the meaning of Good Friday. This is why the brutal death of Jesus was the best day.
On Good Friday, Christ secured the covenant by his blood. What is God’s special covenant promise? ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’ (Jeremiah 31:34) God is able to forget our sins because Jesus has paid for them.
Verse 20 plainly tells us that God the Father brought Jesus back from the dead. This is significant. It means that God vindicates and accepts Jesus’ sacrifice by raising him. In other words, Easter Sunday is God saying: ‘The work of paying for sin is finished – and I accept it.’ God is the God of peace.
2. The present: Because God raised the Shepherd, you are not alone – he is at work in you
Easter says to us that Jesus is alive, and because he is alive, he is our ‘great Shepherd’. When I was 12, both my elder brothers left home for university, and I felt alone without the siblings I’d grown up with. It is not pleasant feeling alone. As Christians we are not alone. The great Shepherd is always with us. Perhaps we do not always feel that, but it is true, nonetheless.
Easter Sunday means we have a living Shepherd who watches over us all the time. We are needy lambs and sheep. Sometimes we get discouraged and feel like giving up the Christian battle, just like the Hebrew Christians. Sometimes we can be nauseated by hypocrisy in the church or by the suffering in the world. Jesus knows all of that and he cares. He is a tender Shepherd. He is a loving Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. As Psalm 23 reminds us, it does not matter where we are or what circumstances we face, Jesus will be with us. He’s there when the times are good in the green pastures, and when times are tough in the dark valley. He’s there in the presence of enemies and even in the valley of the shadow of death. He promises, ‘Never will I leave you: never will I forsake you.’ (Hebrews 13:5)
Easter also promises this for the present: the God who brought Jesus through death is also the God who equips Christians for life. He ‘equips you with everything good for doing his will…’ (Hebrews 13:5) God supplies you with all the resources you need to live a godly life. St Augustine said: ‘Command what you will and give what you command.’ If God asks us to do something, then he’ll supply us.
God doesn’t call us out onto the track of the Christian life to run the tough marathon only to abandon us. He equips us. This word ‘equip’ speaks of fishermen mending their nets. In other words, God restores us, repairs us, energises us, and gives us new desires. He makes us truly human. He alone can help us to reach our full potential as people. He strengthens our faith and increases our wisdom and love when we ask him to. He provides us with spiritual gifts to use. He redeems us and then he resources us. He gives us what we need, not what we want!
God supplies what is missing in me and corrects what is wrong. This is Easter hope. He makes us more like Jesus. Let’s rejoice that we have a God who equips us. He equips us: ‘… with everything good for doing his will, and… works in us what is pleasing to him’. (Hebrews 13:21)
Notice this balance. We must do God’s will, but as we do it, God equips us. We need to cling onto Jesus and not give up, but as we do so, he clings onto us. God doesn’t save you from your sins and then just leave you: he saves you and then makes you fruitful. ‘…for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.’ (Philippians 2:13)
Imagine getting a flat-pack wardrobe from IKEA, but when you take it out of the box you realise that for some reason the Allen key, or hex key is missing. What is more, you don’t have a screwdriver or a drill to attach it to the wall. You cannot do much without the tools. God knows this and so he equips us with all we need.
Notice too (at the end of verse 21) that all of our energy comes ‘through Jesus Christ’. It is because we are united to Jesus by faith that we have the power to live as God’s people. And the power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power which enables us to change and develop as Christians. ‘And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.’ (Romans 8:11) And this all happens for the glory of God! He alone gets the credit. He alone gets the praise. It is his power!
3. The future: Because God raised the Shepherd, you will be brought safely home
Verse 20 is the only place in the whole of Hebrews where the covenant is called the ‘eternal covenant’. Our salvation is not something temporary. It cannot fail. Jesus has risen! Our security in Jesus is forever and ever. No one and nothing can separate us from his love in this life, or the life to come. Let this sink in! This is the source of my peace. Everything is going to be OK – indeed, better than OK).
Jesus will look after our eternal future. He is the great Shepherd. A great Shepherd does not lose his sheep. He shepherds us in this life and in the life to come. ‘For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’ (Revelation 7:17)
Finally, the resurrection is not just Jesus’ victory, but ours too. The Shepherd who was raised will raise his sheep. We too shall rise from the dead on the Last Day, and enjoy eternal life in Heaven. The One who leads now will lead us all the way home.
To sum up:
• If Christ is risen, your past is not held against you.
• If Christ is risen, your present is not left to you.
• If Christ is risen, your future is not uncertain.