1 CHRIST S SACRIFICE ONCE FOR ALL Hebrews 10:1-18 It is with deep respect that the author of Hebrews compares and contrasts the Old Covenant practices with the final work of Jesus Christ. Like Paul, our conception and understanding is still incomplete and imperfect, even as he writes to the church in Corinth in his great poem on love: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known (1 Co 13:12). While there are aspects of the life and ministry of Christ that we may not fully comprehend, what is made clear in the Bible as a whole, and in the book of Hebrews more specifically, is that wholehearted obedience is the sacrifice that God desires above all others. Even the best of humanity has fallen short of that ideal. Jesus Christ is the One, the only one, who completely obeyed the Father to the point of death. A VOLUNTARY SACRIFICE (10:1-10) The Hebrew believers to whom the Book of Hebrews was primarily written made a means into an end. What God intended to help them better understand the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God, became an end in and of itself. And so they preferred the externals of faith, such as the law with its rules and regulations, to the substance of faith the sacrifice of Christ. They became content with the Aaronic priesthood and animal offerings and ignored its fulfillment in the death of Jesus, the Messiah. The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for Me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, `Here I am it is written about Me in the scroll I have come to do your will, O God.' First He said, Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them (although the law required them to be made). Then He said, Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Heb 10:1-10).
2 We see in verses one through four the explanation of the old order; that is, it is a shadow of the reality we find in Christ. This points to the insufficiency of the legal sacrifices to take away sin. In verses five through ten we are given the detail of the reality of the new order in Jesus Christ and His administration of the covenant of grace. Here the writer addresses the purpose and will of God, as declared by the Psalmist, in relation to the salvation of the world by the incarnation of Christ and our sanctification through that will. While the tabernacle in the desert provided a picture of the sacrifice of Jesus, it could only do so up to a point. A picture is only a picture. It hardly takes the place for the person it pictures. In the same way, the law and the tabernacle could never satisfy the spiritual needs of the people. Only the living Christ can do that. The law served its purpose in revealing sin. However, mankind needed to experience and know not only the reality of sin, but some means of attaining forgiveness of those sins. The law was unable to remove guilt from the conscience or impurity from the heart The sacrifices of the old covenant were unable to actually remove sin because they were based only on the death of animals. This is why these sacrifices were only a shadow of the good things that are coming not the realities themselves. While a shadow indicates a reality, in and of itself it has no substance. Though the offerings were not the reality themselves, they did witness to the person of Christ and His sacrifice. They were His shadow which indicated He was soon to appear. It is remarkable that all the offerings and sacrifices which were considered to be of an atoning or cleansing nature, offered under the law, are here enumerated by the psalmist and the apostle, to show that none of them nor all of them could take away sin, and that the grand sacrifice of Christ was that alone which could do it. By rejecting the sacrificial system of Old Testament times as complete, the writer also, by implication, rejects every other religious system as a means of obtaining forgiveness and salvation. The good things that are coming points to Jesus as the perfect sacrifice. The animals that were put to death were unwilling sacrifices and therefore inadequate substitutes for humans made in the image of God. This is why It is impossible, says the author, for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. Seven hundred years earlier, God spoke through Isaiah the prophet saying, "I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats" (Isa 1:11). Because of sin, one's life was required. Every dying animal meant a life was taken. Unless the sin could actually be removed, the sinner must die. To save the sinner from such a fate, a substitute was required. Such a substitute the author now finds described in the words of Psalm 40.
3 Hebrews 10:5-7 is a quotation from Psalm 40:6-8 in the Septuagint, ascribing to Christ His complete willingness to sacrifice Himself to remove our sins. It is clear, then, that Jesus saw Himself described in the Suffering Servant passages of the Old Testament (it is written about me in the scroll), and willingly set Himself to fulfilling that role in His incarnation (Here I am.... I have come to do your will O God). God willed not the sacrifices under the law, but He willed that a human victim of infinite merit should be offered for the redemption of mankind. That there might be such a victim, a body was prepared for the eternal Logos; and in that body He came to do the will of God, that is, to suffer and die for the sins of the world. As the apostle grounds the fact that it was God s will that Jesus, His one and only Son, should taste death for everyone in the words of the psalm, we see that it is the will of God that that system shall end. Why? Because its essence is contained in its sacrifices, and God says He will not have these, and has prepared the Messiah to do His will, i.e. to die for people. It logically follows that the introduction of the Messiah into the world is the abolition of the law, and that His sacrifice is that which shall last for ever (v. 10). Wholehearted obedience is the virtue God desires in sacrifices (1 Sa 15:22; Isa 1:11-14; Am 5:21-22). Religiosity is not enough! Although God instituted the animal sacrifices of the past, He did not delight in them. The focus of Jesus life and ministry was His Father s will. This was true even though He knew it would lead to forsakenness, pain and death. It is only through the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ that we believers have been made holy. Holiness is obtained by faith, not by self-righteous effort Therefore, as Paul affirmed, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!" (Ro 8:1). A PERFECT SACRIFICE (10:11-18) The author continues by drawing a comparison between the priesthood of Christ and that of the Jews (vv. 11-14) and then points to the new covenant which God promised to make, and the blessings of it (vv. 15-18): Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool, because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being
4 made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First He says: This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds. (vv. 11-17). Then he adds: Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin (v. 18). As pointed out earlier, the tabernacle contained no chairs because the priests were not permitted to sit since they performed their ministries while standing. This symbolizes the fact that their work was unfinished. This meant that their repeated sacrifices could not finally remove sins (vv. 11-12). But when Christ had offered Himself as a sacrifice for all time, He sat down at God's right hand (1:3; 8:1; 12:2). He did this because there was nothing more for Him to do (vv. 13-14). And His sacrifice made His followers holy (sanctified). Such holiness is both an accomplished fact (10:10) and a continuing process (10:14). We may not understand such a mystery, but we can revel in its reality, as the writer intends us to do. All progress in the spiritual life comes from personally apprehending a fact that is already true. To put it simply, we must see what we already are by God's grace, in order to manifest that fact by godly behavior. The phrase Since that time He waits for His enemies to be made his footstool (v. 13) means until all that oppose His high priesthood and sacrificial offering shall be routed. Those who refuse to acknowledge the supremacy of His power as universal and eternal King and who refuse to receive Him as their atoning and sanctifying Priest will be eternally punished. There is also an oblique reference here to the destruction of the Jews, which was then at hand (A.D. 70). To show that such a condition completely fulfills the promises of the new covenant, the writer quotes again Jeremiah 31:33-34, introducing it with the words The Holy Spirit also testifies... This reveals once more his conviction that the prophets wrote by the inspiration and authority of God. Hebrews 10:16 highlights the new understanding of morality which regeneration gives (1 Jn 5:20); and verse Hebrews 10:17 reminds us again of the wonder of total forgiveness of sins. This leads to the simple but conclusive statement of Hebrews 10: where sins have been forgiven, no further sacrifice would do! The Aaronic priesthood; the tabernacle with its typology, its cleansing rituals and animal sacrifices; and the dietary limitations of Israel all found completion in the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus and his Melchizedek priesthood. The new covenant is in force for all who truly believe. "The old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Co 5:17). APPLICATION 1. Our salvation is complete because Jesus sacrifice was complete. He is the Lamb without blemish who was sacrificed once for all. Therefore we are free to worship and serve our living Lord in peace and joy.
5 2. We should demonstrate wholehearted obedience as Jesus did. He came to do His Father s will, so must we. Our attitude must be the same as His. Just as he stated, "Here I am, I have come to do your will."