Heb 10:4-14 | KingComments | STEP | . The word “for” indicates that the writer continues his argument. He compares the many imperfect animal sacrifices of former times with the one and only perfect sacrifice of Christ. He speaks about “the Law” because that is the basis of the whole religion appointed by God for His people Israel in the Old Testament. Of that whole service he says that this “has [only] a shadow of the good things to come”. By that he wants to say that the law surely says something about good things that will be enjoyed in future in the kingdom of peace by God’s people and by the whole creation. However, it is just ‘a shadow’ of it, which means a vague reproduction. This Old Testament worship service is “not the very form of things”. A ‘form’ shows more reality than a shadow. We can say that a form is a faithful reproduction of reality, but still a form is not reality. That becomes clear from what follows. As proof the writer refers again to the sacrifices that were yearly offered on the day of atonement. It is precisely its repetition that proves that a sacrifice that was offered had made no one perfect who drew near to God. By offering the same sacrifices again and again the thought of the necessity for forgiveness and atonement was surely there. At the same time, however, it made it clear that the whole service was imperfect. It did not make those, who performed the service, perfect before God. The sacrifices did not make someone, who brought the offering, perfect in conscience in the light of the forgiveness of his sins. . If there was brought a sacrifice that was sufficient for the one who offered it to get a perfect conscience, then it wouldn’t be necessary anymore to bring another offering. The whole offering service then would have lost its reason of existence. Such an offering would have then made the offeror perfect in conscience: that is a conscience that is cleansed by forgiveness of sins. The result would be that there is no more fear for God concerning any sin. . But what do you see with Israel? There you see that by bringing these offerings again and again every year, the sins on the contrary are continually “a reminder”. There is in fact no sufficient offering. That makes the doctrine and the practice of the mass sacrifice of the roman-catholic church condemnable. In the mass sacrifice the roman-catholic church repeats the offering again and again and its followers are left in uncertainty about the forgiveness of sins. . The blood of animals or a mass sacrifice could or can never ever do anything about the guilt of man. It is not possible that sins are taken away by that. The words ‘take away’ have a powerful meaning. It is the utter removal of sin so that it is no longer part of the situation. It is utterly reprehensible to attribute that effect to any sacrifice a human being brings. . You might ask the question: but why did God prescribe the offerings to His people Israel and what is the purpose and meaning of it? The only meaning of the animal sacrifices is in the reference to the sacrifice of Christ. This is apparent from the beautiful way in which the writer makes the transition from the animal offerings to the offering of Christ. For this he uses some verses from Psalm 40 ( ). The writer, guided by the Holy Spirit, is telling something here that you do not read in Psalm 40. He declares that these verses were spoken by the Lord Jesus, right before He became Man and so came into the world. This quotation also makes clear that this psalm is actually about the Lord Jesus, although David is the poet. Through this quotation it is explained to you what Christ said to God when He accepted to do the will of God. Here you also have a proof of His existence before He became Man. Although the name of Christ is not mentioned, ‘He’ cannot possibly be a reference to anyone else. After all, Christ became Man and came into the world like that. He speaks to God about sacrifices and offerings that were offered under the old covenant, of which He says, God has not desired them. Of course that does not point to God’s commandment to bring those offerings, for God indeed wanted His people to bring them. But God did not desire them or even purposed them to be offerings that could really take away sins. He surely could forgive each Israelite who came with such an offering (and a sincere heart) because He saw Christ in that offering. He Himself actually made Christ available as the true offering by preparing Him a body. That means that it was God Who wanted Christ to become Man. And what is the task for a man to do toward God? To obey. By becoming Man the Lord Jesus committed Himself to execute the entire will of God. If you take one more look at the verse in Psalm 40, then it will strike you that it is written there: “My ears You have opened.” In Hebrew it is literally said: “My ears You have dug”. ‘Dug’ here means prepared to obey. The Holy Spirit, however, as He more often does, has used the Greek translation (Septuagint) of Psalm 40:6-8. In the Septuagint ‘My ears You have dug’ is translated as “a body You have prepared for Me”. Because this translation renders the true meaning it is quoted here by the Holy Spirit. You may say that by doing so the ear is identified with the body. You probably know the saying: to be all ears. That was the case with the Lord Jesus. His body was prepared to do anything with it that God wanted Him to do. The opened ear was the means through which He listened to the will of His God and the body was the means through which that will was performed. The Lord Jesus has taken a body that He will never give up anymore. There are two more verses that deal with the ‘ear’ of the Lord Jesus. The one verse speaks about the ‘piercing’ of the ear ( ) and the other one speaks about the ‘opening’ of the ear ( ). In these three verses about the ear you can see the sequence regarding His life on earth. They deal with 1. His coming into the world: His birth as Man ( ), 2. His going through the world: He opened His ear morning by morning ( ) and 3. His leaving the world: He gave His life for His own to serve them forever ( ). . The body of the Lord Jesus is therefore the true sacrifice (or peace offering) and grain offering. After His agreement to do God’s will the Lord Jesus speaks to God about two more Old Testament offerings. Now He mentions “whole burnt offerings and [sacrifices] for sin”. He also indicates as to them, that God could not be satisfied with those offerings regarding the removing of sins. He determines that the whole offering service of the Old Testament could create absolutely no situation at all in which God could bless man. . When that became evident by the complete failure of man, the Lord Jesus offered Himself to fulfill the will of God. He did that with the perfect knowledge of what is written about Him in the Old Testament. After all, the Old Testament speaks everywhere about Him and about His coming on earth (cf. ; ). He knew that the right moment finally had come now and that it was fully according to the time that God had appointed ( ). It was the right time according to the will of God to perform His counsel that was written in the scroll of the book. The will of God here is: to provide for His people forgiveness, perfection and access to the sanctuary and finally the entrance into the kingdom of peace. Although His coming was established in the counsel, Christ still perfectly offers Himself freely to fulfill all things. He declares that He will do the will of God. Such a statement from anyone’s mouth would be boasting. With Him it is perfection. There is no doubt whether He would be able to do it or not. What He declares in heaven He does on earth. . In this verse the writer explains the quotation. He repeats what the Lord Jesus said “above”, which means when He came into the world ( ). Then He said that God’s will couldn’t possibly be fulfilled by animal or vegetable offerings, although they were appointed by God Himself as offerings. They couldn’t form a basis for God’s plan with man and creation. . Therefore it is that great that a “then” follows with the commitment of the Lord Jesus: “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” God’s plan will be performed by Him Who is coming and Who will bring the perfect offering. And He did that! By what He did, He took away “the first” and put something else instead. The ‘first’ is everything that was appointed by God in the Old Testament for His people. The insufficiency of any of that was evident. When the Lord Jesus came He took the place of the whole service. Everything God had asked of man in that service is perfectly accomplished and fulfilled by Him. He takes the place of all types that God had prescribed; He is the replacement of all of them. The ‘shadow service’ made room for reality and therefore there is no room for the shadow service anymore. Every basis of its existence has been taken away. However, He not only took away ‘the first’, He actually has also established “the second”. He also changed the principle, through which man is now able to draw near to God. To be able to draw near to God the law demanded perfect obedience. On that basis it was impossible to draw near to God. Now that the Lord Jesus has perfectly fulfilled God’s will, He is the basis of our connections to God. Through Him as the new and perfect offering there is a new covenant with a new priesthood that enables us to draw near to God in a new, heavenly sanctuary. Now read Hebrews 10:1-9 again. Reflection: Which differences do you see between the former offerings and the true offering?

‏ Hebrews 10:4-14

I Have Come to Do Your Will

Heb 10:1. The word “for” indicates that the writer continues his argument. He compares the many imperfect animal sacrifices of former times with the one and only perfect sacrifice of Christ. He speaks about “the Law” because that is the basis of the whole religion appointed by God for His people Israel in the Old Testament. Of that whole service he says that this “has [only] a shadow of the good things to come”. By that he wants to say that the law surely says something about good things that will be enjoyed in future in the kingdom of peace by God’s people and by the whole creation.

However, it is just ‘a shadow’ of it, which means a vague reproduction. This Old Testament worship service is “not the very form of things”. A ‘form’ shows more reality than a shadow. We can say that a form is a faithful reproduction of reality, but still a form is not reality. That becomes clear from what follows.

As proof the writer refers again to the sacrifices that were yearly offered on the day of atonement. It is precisely its repetition that proves that a sacrifice that was offered had made no one perfect who drew near to God. By offering the same sacrifices again and again the thought of the necessity for forgiveness and atonement was surely there. At the same time, however, it made it clear that the whole service was imperfect. It did not make those, who performed the service, perfect before God. The sacrifices did not make someone, who brought the offering, perfect in conscience in the light of the forgiveness of his sins.

Heb 10:2. If there was brought a sacrifice that was sufficient for the one who offered it to get a perfect conscience, then it wouldn’t be necessary anymore to bring another offering. The whole offering service then would have lost its reason of existence. Such an offering would have then made the offeror perfect in conscience: that is a conscience that is cleansed by forgiveness of sins. The result would be that there is no more fear for God concerning any sin.

Heb 10:3. But what do you see with Israel? There you see that by bringing these offerings again and again every year, the sins on the contrary are continually “a reminder”. There is in fact no sufficient offering. That makes the doctrine and the practice of the mass sacrifice of the roman-catholic church condemnable. In the mass sacrifice the roman-catholic church repeats the offering again and again and its followers are left in uncertainty about the forgiveness of sins.

Heb 10:4. The blood of animals or a mass sacrifice could or can never ever do anything about the guilt of man. It is not possible that sins are taken away by that. The words ‘take away’ have a powerful meaning. It is the utter removal of sin so that it is no longer part of the situation. It is utterly reprehensible to attribute that effect to any sacrifice a human being brings.

Heb 10:5. You might ask the question: but why did God prescribe the offerings to His people Israel and what is the purpose and meaning of it? The only meaning of the animal sacrifices is in the reference to the sacrifice of Christ. This is apparent from the beautiful way in which the writer makes the transition from the animal offerings to the offering of Christ.

For this he uses some verses from Psalm 40 (Psa 40:6-8). The writer, guided by the Holy Spirit, is telling something here that you do not read in Psalm 40. He declares that these verses were spoken by the Lord Jesus, right before He became Man and so came into the world. This quotation also makes clear that this psalm is actually about the Lord Jesus, although David is the poet. Through this quotation it is explained to you what Christ said to God when He accepted to do the will of God. Here you also have a proof of His existence before He became Man.

Although the name of Christ is not mentioned, ‘He’ cannot possibly be a reference to anyone else. After all, Christ became Man and came into the world like that. He speaks to God about sacrifices and offerings that were offered under the old covenant, of which He says, God has not desired them. Of course that does not point to God’s commandment to bring those offerings, for God indeed wanted His people to bring them. But God did not desire them or even purposed them to be offerings that could really take away sins.

He surely could forgive each Israelite who came with such an offering (and a sincere heart) because He saw Christ in that offering. He Himself actually made Christ available as the true offering by preparing Him a body. That means that it was God Who wanted Christ to become Man. And what is the task for a man to do toward God? To obey.

By becoming Man the Lord Jesus committed Himself to execute the entire will of God. If you take one more look at the verse in Psalm 40, then it will strike you that it is written there: “My ears You have opened.” In Hebrew it is literally said: “My ears You have dug”. ‘Dug’ here means prepared to obey. The Holy Spirit, however, as He more often does, has used the Greek translation (Septuagint) of Psalm 40:6-8. In the Septuagint ‘My ears You have dug’ is translated as “a body You have prepared for Me”. Because this translation renders the true meaning it is quoted here by the Holy Spirit. You may say that by doing so the ear is identified with the body.

You probably know the saying: to be all ears. That was the case with the Lord Jesus. His body was prepared to do anything with it that God wanted Him to do. The opened ear was the means through which He listened to the will of His God and the body was the means through which that will was performed. The Lord Jesus has taken a body that He will never give up anymore.

There are two more verses that deal with the ‘ear’ of the Lord Jesus. The one verse speaks about the ‘piercing’ of the ear (Exo 21:6) and the other one speaks about the ‘opening’ of the ear (Isa 50:4). In these three verses about the ear you can see the sequence regarding His life on earth. They deal with

1. His coming into the world: His birth as Man (Psa 40:6-7),

2. His going through the world: He opened His ear morning by morning (Isa 50:4) and

3. His leaving the world: He gave His life for His own to serve them forever (Exo 21:6).

Heb 10:6. The body of the Lord Jesus is therefore the true sacrifice (or peace offering) and grain offering. After His agreement to do God’s will the Lord Jesus speaks to God about two more Old Testament offerings. Now He mentions “whole burnt offerings and [sacrifices] for sin”. He also indicates as to them, that God could not be satisfied with those offerings regarding the removing of sins. He determines that the whole offering service of the Old Testament could create absolutely no situation at all in which God could bless man.

Heb 10:7. When that became evident by the complete failure of man, the Lord Jesus offered Himself to fulfill the will of God. He did that with the perfect knowledge of what is written about Him in the Old Testament. After all, the Old Testament speaks everywhere about Him and about His coming on earth (cf. Mt 5:17; Lk 24:27).

He knew that the right moment finally had come now and that it was fully according to the time that God had appointed (Gal 4:4). It was the right time according to the will of God to perform His counsel that was written in the scroll of the book. The will of God here is: to provide for His people forgiveness, perfection and access to the sanctuary and finally the entrance into the kingdom of peace.

Although His coming was established in the counsel, Christ still perfectly offers Himself freely to fulfill all things. He declares that He will do the will of God. Such a statement from anyone’s mouth would be boasting. With Him it is perfection. There is no doubt whether He would be able to do it or not. What He declares in heaven He does on earth.

Heb 10:8. In this verse the writer explains the quotation. He repeats what the Lord Jesus said “above”, which means when He came into the world (Heb 10:5). Then He said that God’s will couldn’t possibly be fulfilled by animal or vegetable offerings, although they were appointed by God Himself as offerings. They couldn’t form a basis for God’s plan with man and creation.

Heb 10:9. Therefore it is that great that a “then” follows with the commitment of the Lord Jesus: “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” God’s plan will be performed by Him Who is coming and Who will bring the perfect offering. And He did that!

By what He did, He took away “the first” and put something else instead. The ‘first’ is everything that was appointed by God in the Old Testament for His people. The insufficiency of any of that was evident. When the Lord Jesus came He took the place of the whole service. Everything God had asked of man in that service is perfectly accomplished and fulfilled by Him. He takes the place of all types that God had prescribed; He is the replacement of all of them. The ‘shadow service’ made room for reality and therefore there is no room for the shadow service anymore. Every basis of its existence has been taken away.

However, He not only took away ‘the first’, He actually has also established “the second”. He also changed the principle, through which man is now able to draw near to God. To be able to draw near to God the law demanded perfect obedience. On that basis it was impossible to draw near to God. Now that the Lord Jesus has perfectly fulfilled God’s will, He is the basis of our connections to God. Through Him as the new and perfect offering there is a new covenant with a new priesthood that enables us to draw near to God in a new, heavenly sanctuary.

Now read Hebrews 10:1-9 again.

Reflection: Which differences do you see between the former offerings and the true offering?

Sanctified by the Will of God

Heb 10:10. So the Lord Jesus has fully accomplished God’s will. He thereby created a completely new situation. The old imperfect system has been replaced by what He Himself did. He is the center of God’s blessing. The will of God can be executed, because of what He has done and because of Who He is. And what is that will here? God wanted a new generation of priests that would be able to draw near to Him in His holy presence. The Lord Jesus has taken care of that by accomplishing God’s will. He has met all of the holy conditions of God.

In that way He has given to God a righteous foundation to sanctify us. God has “sanctified” or separated us for Himself on the basis of the offering of His Son. The power of the offering is eternal. Therefore our sanctification is “once for all”, which means continuous, everlasting, forever. We belong to God forever, in accordance to the powerful effect of this sacrifice.

God’s will was the sacrifice of Christ. God’s will was also that we would be sanctified by the sacrifice of Christ. ‘Sanctified’ means ‘set apart’ and means here that we are made fit to be in God’s presence, to be in His sanctuary. Isn’t it impressive that considering that, God had prepared a body for the Lord Jesus? Only by preparing Him a body the Lord Jesus was able to offer Himself as ‘a sacrifice’. With that in mind He said, when He instituted the Supper, of the bread after He had broken it: “This is My body which is given for you” (Lk 22:19). Every time when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper we may remember that.

Heb 10:11. How totally different did the Old Testament services happen and how disappointing were the results. In the tabernacle and in the temple the priests stood continuously before the altar. Thus they exerted their ministry standing, which indicates that their work was never finished. They were not allowed to rest from their work. Time after time new sacrifices had to be offered: daily, weekly, monthly and annually. It was a cycle of offerings which was repeated over and again. And added to that the offerings the Israelite had to bring personally whenever he had sinned again.

The conclusion of the writer is simply shocking: they can never possibly take away sins. With this conclusion he erased the whole Jewish service. If someone from the readers would ascribe any value to it, he would enormously dishonor God and damage himself as well. That goes also for you and me. You shouldn’t want to have anything to do with it either. And you surely will not want to if you carefully take a look at what’s the opposite of that whole insufficient service.

Heb 10:12. To demonstrate that to you the writer places opposite to all those priests who daily brought the same sacrifices the Priest Who offered only one sacrifice for the sins. And because this was a perfectly adequate sacrifice, He “for all time”, which means permanently, uninterruptedly, continuously, “sat down”. That shows the perfect rest which is the result of His work. Christ does not have to stand up anymore to bring such a sacrifice again.

And where does He sit? “At the right hand of God.” Therein God’s perfect recognition and the acceptance of His work are expressed. That He Himself went to sit there indicates the glory of His Person. He does not arrogate this place Himself, but He knows that He has fully responded to God’s will and can therefore be there. God gave that place to Him (Psa 110:1).

Heb 10:13. But Christ does not remain seated forever. From the moment He went to sit and after that (“from that time”), He is waiting until the moment He will rise again. When He rises it will not be to offer Himself again, but to realize in judgment the final and definite results of His sacrificial work (Isa 33:10-12).

You also saw this in the concluding verses of the previous chapter (Heb 9:26-28). The reason there to appear for the second time is also not to die again for the sins. There His second appearance is related to the salvation of the believers. Here it is in relation to the subjection of His enemies. The Lord Jesus is waiting for that.

The writer again refers to the impressive verse from Psalm 110 (Psa 110:1). There you hear how God promises Christ to make His enemies His footstool. The Lord Jesus is waiting for the fulfillment of that promise patiently and persistently (2Thes 3:5; Rev 3:10). Only at God’s time He will rise and not earlier.

Heb 10:14. The word “for” indicates the reason why Christ was able to take the place at the right hand of God. He “has perfected for all time those who are sanctified”. Here you have the content of the will of God. Through the offering of Christ everyone who is sanctified is made perfect in conscience, a conscience that is free from any burden of sin and fear for the judgment. Those who are sanctified are those who are separated for the service to God, the priestly service in the sanctuary. On that place you are put and that “for all time”. That means that there never is any moment, in which you, as one who is sanctified, will not stand in the complete value of the work of Christ before God.

Perhaps you feel at times that some doubt rises whether you are really a child of God. You still disappoint yourself so often. Then read this verse and believe what it says. Doubt is only taken away by faith that God has perfectly accepted the work of the Lord Jesus and that its testimony is given in writing by the Holy Spirit in the Scripture.

The value that Christ and His work have to God, determines how God sees every person who has confessed his sins and has accepted Christ as the propitiation for his sins. Therefore it doesn’t depend on your feeling or view, but on your faith in God and what He has said about His Son. If you do not believe what God says here in His Word, you make Him a liar (1Jn 5:10). Therefore do not allow anyone to rob the assurance of your salvation by erroneous teachings, in particular Christians who take the law as rule of life. Throw your anchor in God’s Word.

Heb 10:15. Added to this testimony of God in His Word the testimony of “the Holy Spirit” is given, Who also “testifies” to the perfectly accomplished offering and its effect. You will experience this testimony inwardly in your heart if you believe God’s Word. There is always a perfect match of the Word and the Spirit. Both the Word and the Spirit always point at the Lord Jesus and His work. You can read the Word, while the Holy Spirit gives you the inner conviction that what you read is the truth.

Heb 10:16. The testimony that the Holy Spirit gives here is based on the Word and it is from the book of the prophet Jeremiah. It is the testimony to “us”, who are first of all the Hebrew readers from that time and then the remnant in future. The quotation from Jeremiah relates to that. In chapter 8 (Heb 8:10 ; 12) this quotation was already given attention to. It is a good thing to read the explanation about that again. It mainly deals with the effect of the new covenant in the millennial kingdom of peace. Here the quotation is rather meant to indicate that under the new covenant an inward work of the Holy Spirit is happening in the heart and in the mind of the believers.

It is wonderful to see that each of the three Persons of the Godhead has His own place and His own share in order to present you as believer perfect before God.

1. God is the source of your salvation. It was His will to sanctify you.

2. He was able to sanctify you because His Son has accomplished the necessary work for that purpose.

3. Of God’s will and of the work of the Lord Jesus you obtained knowledge and you took part of it through the testimony of the Holy Spirit in your heart.

You can also put it like this: The assurance that God will remember your sins and lawless deeds no more, is

1. because of the irreversible will of God and

2. because of the perfect sacrifice of Christ and

3. because of the absolute testimony of the Holy Spirit.

Heb 10:17. Before Christ accomplished the work sins were remembered or reminded (Heb 10:3). After all, there was formerly no offering that could blot out sins radically. But through the offering of Christ they don’t exist anymore to God. If God doesn’t remember the sins anymore, then every necessity for a new offering is missing.

Heb 10:18. This verse is the conclusion from the quoted prophecy from Jeremiah 31 and from the whole previous argument. Because the one offering has worked forgiveness no other offerings can be offered anymore to work forgiveness. What has been forgiven does not need an offering for sins anymore. No sin has been left that still needs forgiveness and therefore an offering for the penalty of all sins is already paid in full. Therefore each right of existence of the Old Testament offering service has been nullified. It has no value and meaning anymore.

Now read Hebrews 10:10-18 again.

Reflection: Are you entirely sure that God has sanctified you once for all through Christ and His offering?