For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”
When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
“This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds,”
then he adds,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Hebrews 10:1-18 ESV
As we have been journeying through the central section of the book of Hebrews, where the author has been instructing us in the wonders of Christ’s great priesthood, you may have noticed a distinct lack of “application.” That is intentional. As we have seen and will continue to see, the exhortations of Hebrews are just as striking as its expositions, yet they have been entirely absent since the beginning of chapter 7. This is because the author is focusing entirely upon Christ’s true and better fulfillment of the Day of Atonement and the new covenant that He has guaranteed. In other words, he has been explaining the gospel to us, how Christ has redeemed us from the curse of our sins and purified us before God. Thus, these chapters, which again form the very heart of Hebrews, are all about what Christ has done and not at all about what we must do.
Of course, while we are saved through faith alone and not by works, we know that a living faith will never be alone but will yield the fruit of good works. And the author will continue to exhort us to those good works as soon as next week. Yet for now, the Holy Spirit is aiming to fix our minds upon Jesus and the eternal salvation that He has secured for us.
WE HAVE BEEN SANCTIFIED // VERSES 1-10
For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.
After concluding with a glimpse at our blessed hope in the return of Christ, the author picks up his teaching on the sufficiency of Jesus’ sacrifice. Particularly, he is returning to the point where he left off at the end of verse 26: “But as it is, [Christ] has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” With that once for all sacrifice in mind, the author again returns to the insufficiency of the old covenant sacrifices here in verse 1. Because the animal sacrifices were merely copies and shadows of the reality in Christ, they could never make the worshipers who offered them perfect. Seeing someone’s shadow on the ground will alert us to that person’s presence, but it would be foolish to begin a conversation with their shadow. Similarly, the animal sacrifices under the old covenant were shadows that indicated the coming of Christ, but as shadows, they were never intended to remove sins. Indeed, they cannot.
Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
If the blood of animals was sufficient to purify the guilty conscience of the worshiper, there would be no need to repeatedly offer those sacrifices. Again, their repetition proves their insufficiency, the impossibility for them to take away sins. Instead, the purpose of the Old Testament animal sacrifices was to be a yearly reminder of sins.
In this way, the animal sacrifices of the old covenant were more similar to our present taking of the Lord’s Supper than we might think. Both have no efficacy in and of themselves; rather, both point beyond themselves to Christ. Indeed, both were/are reminders. Yet the reminder of the Lord’s Supper is far superior to the reminder of the animal sacrifices. The sacrifices reminded people of their sins, keeping the deadly consequences of rebelling against the Creator always before their eyes and creating a longing within them for the promised Savior to deliver them once and for all. With the Lord’s Supper, we now look back upon that finished work of Christ to redeem us from our sins and now look forward to His return to make all things new. Therefore, let us give thanks to God that He has still left us a tangible reminder of Jesus’ once for all sacrifice.
Verses 5-10 now set their sights upon that better sacrifice that Christ made by Himself, and the author begins with a citation from Psalm 40:6-8.
Before we discuss that citation, I think it is worth noting that the author seems to be using Old Testament passages throughout his sermon-letter that not only fit his exposition but also would serve to comfort and encourage his readers, which (we ought to remember) were about to enter a new time of persecution from Rome and were evidently considering returning to Judaism since it was a legally recognized religion. If they mediated over the full Old Testament passages from which the author cited, they would find much to strengthen them.
In Psalm 2, they would be reminded of Christ’s sovereignty over the nations: “Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.”
In Psalm 95, they would read of God’s supremacy and shepherding hand over them: “For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hands are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”
In Psalm 110, they would read of Christ’s coming judgment over the nations: “The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings of the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.” Indeed, that day of his wrath is the same day upon which He “will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
With all of that in mind, it would be a fruitful meditation to read carefully through Psalm 40 while considering how it might comfort a fearful people who have been commanded to preach the gospel even when doing so may lead to suffering or even death. But since I cannot now speak in detail of such things, I commission that to you as your own personal time of meditation.
Verse 5 introduces verses 6-8 of Psalm 40 as being words that Christ spoke when He came into our world, and yet Psalm 40 is attributed to David. Are these then the words of David or of Christ? The answer, as you may have guessed, is yes. About this, one commentator notes:
It is not as if Christ, and not David, were the speaker: David speaks; but Christ, whose Spirit already dwells and works in David, and who will hereafter receive from David His human nature, now already speaks in him.[1]
Therefore, Jesus through David spoke of His coming into the world, His incarnation, saying:
Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’
Here we find Christ declaring that He has come into the earth not to offer the sacrifices of bulls and goats but to obey God’s will. Psalm 40 is not an isolated passage regarding the superiority of obedience over sacrifices and offerings. Psalm 51:16-17, Isaiah 1:11-13, Isaiah 66:3-4, Hosea 6:6, Amos 5:21-24, and Micah 6:6-8 are all well-known passages with the same message.
Psalm 50:13-14 is also notable, where God asks: “Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most high, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
But Samuel’s rebuke of Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22 is perhaps the most concise: “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.”
Again, the importance of obedience over even offerings and sacrifices is not uncommon throughout the Old Testament. “But our preacher views Psalm 40 in a wider perspective, as a timeline of redemptive history that has progressed chronologically from a defective sacrificial system to the final sacrifice offered by Christ.”[2] And that is the point that the author makes in verses 8-9:
When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second.
The parenthetical phrase (these are offered according to the law) is a reminder that God actually commanded those sacrifices to be given. Those offerings and sacrifices were made in obedience to the law that God gave Israel. However, those laws had but a shadow of the good things to come. Again, God commanded the sacrifices to be made in order to remind His people continually of their sin and their desperate need of a Savior, who would save them entirely from their sins, a Savior who could Himself perfectly obey God’s will. Our Lord did this, removing the sacrifices of animals through the sacrifice of Himself in obedience to the will of God the Father. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. This was what was prophesied of in Isaiah 53:10-11:
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
That is what Christ’s once for all sacrifice has accomplished. He is the Righteous One who has made “many to be accounted righteous” by bearing our iniquities.
PERFECTED FOR ALL TIME // VERSES 11-14
But verse 10 is another verse that signals and summarizes what follows; therefore, verses 11-18 give the best comment on that verse.
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
These are tremendous words that form the final contrast that the author will make in this core section of Hebrews between Jesus and the Levitical priests. As R. Kent Hughes notes:
Significantly, there were no chairs in the tabernacle–no provision whatsoever to sit down. Priests stood or kept moving, because their imperfect work was never over. But Jesus, in exact fulfillment of the Melchizedekian prophecies in Psalm 110:1–“The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.'”–sat down forever at the right hand of honor and power (cf. 1:3, 13; 8:1). Jesus rests. Our salvation, as we have said, is a “done deal.” Our perfection is accomplished. And in the timelessness of eternity our holiness will go on and on.[3]
Indeed, pay special attention to the beauty of verse 14, particularly in its grammar. As Richard Phillips notes:
Verse 14 tell us the effect of Christ’s work and uses a different tense, the perfect tense: “By a single offering he has perfected” us. The perfect tense signifies a completed past action that has an ongoing effect into the present and future. Something of vital significance has happened, and its effects continue now and forever. Here the effect is that we have been made perfect. Finally, we have a present participle: “those who are being sanctified.” This signifies a present activity that continues into the future.”[4]
Once for all Christ has perfected and made righteous His people, which are those who are being sanctified. Regarding those who are being sanctified, I do not believe that the author is referring to our progressive sanctification throughout our Christian life; rather, as he did in verse 10, he is referring to our definitive sanctification, the fact that we have been sanctified or made holy. The continued action then is that Christ’s single offering is continuing to bring many sons to glory to this day.
Furthermore, we should clarify the idea of being sanctified. God has not willed the sacrifice of His Son to make us righteous in His sight so that we can do whatever we please without any fear of hell. No, in Christ we have been sanctified, that is, we have been made holy. Of course, our holiness is not like God’s holiness. He alone is truly holy. He is unique and set apart; there is none like Him. Our holiness is a secondhand holiness. God, the Holy One, makes us holy by setting us apart for Himself. Thus, we are who are being sanctified are those who “belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.” Or as 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
We should also pause to place this marvelous statement in alignment with how the author oriented us from the beginning. Recall the glorious sevenfold description of Jesus as the eternal Son of God from Hebrews 1:2-3:
but in these last days [God] has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
In the midst of all those wondrous descriptions of Christ, “after making purification for sins” is easily bypassed, yet that has been the author’s central topic.
THERE IS NO LONGER ANY OFFERING FOR SIN // VERSES 15-18
To conclude our study of the Christ’s work as our great high priest, the author returns us to Jeremiah 31’s promises of the new covenant. Again, he does this because the priesthood and the covenant go hand-in-hand. Christ’s atoning sacrifice as our great high priest is also the blood that inaugurated the new covenant for us, for like a will it went into effect via His death. Thus, with this assurance of the sufficiency of Christ’s once for all offering, we read:
And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
“This is the new covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the LORD:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds,”then he adds,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
You will remember that the full text of Jeremiah 31 that was cited in chapter 8 contained four promises, the middle two being left out here. First, this forms a sort of chiasm with verse 14. The writing of God’s laws upon His people’s hearts parallels with those who are being sanctified, for it is by giving us a new heart with the law written upon it that God causes us to walk in His statutes (Ezekiel 36:27). Remembering their sins and lawless deeds no more parallels with us being perfected for all time by Christ’s single offering, for He has “put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (9:26).
Second, the author clearly intends for the promise of God no longer remembering our sins to be at the forefront. The phrase in verse 15 for after saying prepares us for what he says after the phrase then he adds. Indeed, the point of citing verse 16 is ultimately to remind us once more of the new covenant that God promised through Jeremiah, but the author wants us to hone in on the final promise of the new covenant: I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. Since that promise now stands under the new covenant, the author concludes in verse 18 by saying, “Where there is forgiveness of these [that is, sins and lawless deeds], there is no longer any offering for sin.”
My favorite line of the Odyssey comes when Odysseus reveals himself to his son, Telemachus. After being away for twenty years, Odysseus is able to identify himself to others by his scar or by memories that only he and them would know, but being an infant at the time of his departure, Odysseus and his son were strangers to one another, meaning that Telemachus had to take his father’s declaration on faith, which Odysseus made by telling his son: “No other Odysseus will ever return to you” (16:232).
In a similar fashion, the author of Hebrews has now given us a portrait of Jesus and His perfect sacrifice that alone is sufficient to forgive sins, which we must now either receive by faith or willfully choose to neglect such a great salvation. No other option remains. There is no third way. Whether we look back to sacrificial system under the old covenant or look forward for another means to deal with the guilt and consequence of our sin. No other Savior will ever come to us. Indeed, since Christ has secured our eternal salvation and sat down at the right hand of Majesty, the final Word has spoken, and the final offering has been made. Any other attempt outside of Christ to make offering for sins is a blaspheme against the sufficiency of our Lord.
Brothers and sisters, as we come to our King’s Table, let us consider our Savior and great high priest who has secured our eternal salvation and guaranteed the new and better covenant for us by the once for all sacrifice of Himself. Through this bread and this cup, let us look upon Him by faith that we may taste and see His goodness.
[1] Cite in Geoffrey Wilson, New Testament Commentaries Vol 2, 411.
[2] ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12, 139.
B. C. Newton 