Hebrews & James by Thomas Lea

Author:Thomas Lea
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Published: 2010-05-06T16:00:00+00:00

II. COMMENTARY

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The Power of Christ's Permanent Sacrifice

MAIN IDEA: Because the sacrifice of Christ is endlessly effective, it produces people with spiritual stamina, liberal love, and conspicuous commitment.

The Permanence of Christ's Sacrifice (vv. 1–18)

SUPPORTING IDEA: Christ's sacrifice is permanent because it demonstrates a chosen obedience and true forgiveness.

1. Permanent in Contrast to Old Testament Sacrifices (vv. 1–4)

10:1. The Old Testament law had impressive ceremonies supported by centuries of tradition. It preserved an awareness of divine holiness and revealed the need for atonement. Nevertheless, the repetition of offerings and sacrifices on the annual Day of Atonement never brought the worshipers into a permanent relationship with God. Why? Old Testament sacrifices reminded of sin but did not remove it.

Hebrews emphasizes that the Law was only a shadow of God's good blessings and not the reality. A shadow can never reveal its object, but it can provide an outline of reality. Whenever the reality comes, the shadow is irrelevant. Because the Law was only a faint outline of the glories of the coming gospel, it was a temporary element in God's plan.

10:2. This verse highlights the imperfection of the Law by asking a question, If the Law made the worshipers perfect, then wouldn't offerings cease because the worshipers would no longer have felt guilty for their sins? If the offerings had reached their goals, they would have stopped. These sacrifices dealt only with infractions committed since the last offerings. They left the root cause—sin—untouched. Their repetition showed their inadequacy.

10:3. Every offering announced the inadequacy of the previous offerings. It reminded the worshipers to get ready for the next annual offering. Only the sacrifice of Christ could abolish the consequences of sin permanently. An annual reminder of sin could only produce people who could say, “We've got to do something about this sin problem.” But nothing was ever done. When Christ came to die for sin, believers were blessed by an experience with a God who no longer remembered their sins (Heb. 8:12).

10:4. Why were the animal sacrifices so ineffective in removing sin? Animal sacrifices could never remove sin because they were never intended to take away sin. They were intended to foreshadow Jesus, who would later come to die to take away the sins of believers. Only the death of the perfect God-man could take away sin. The psalmist had grasped centuries earlier that “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps. 51:17). God accepted the perfect sacrifice of Christ because it represented a broken, contrite expression of obedience to his will.

2. Permanent Based on Obedience (vv. 5–10)

10:5–6. The failure of animal sacrifices to secure forgiveness led to the explanation of a better approach. The answer comes from Psalm 40:6–8 and applies to our situation. The words of the psalm express Christ's mission after he entered the world in the incarnation. Christ's sacrifice lasted because it showed a volitional commitment to do God's will. Jesus showed a continuous awareness that he was to do the Father's will, and he pursued it relentlessly.

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