Hebrews 10:1. For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
This refers to the old ceremonial law, under which the Jews lived so long. They always had to go on, year after year, offering the same kind of sacrifices, because the work of atonement was never done perfectly; men were not cleansed or saved by it, so the process had to be constantly repeated.
Hebrews 10:2. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
There would have been no need to bring another lamb to be offered if the one which was presented had put away sin; there would have been no need of another day of atonement if the sacrifice on the one day had really made atonement for sin.
Hebrews 10:3-4. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Their blood was only a picture, an emblem, a type of far more precious blood, the shadow of the real atonement which was afterwards to be offered.
Hebrews 10:5. Wherefore when he cometh into the world,
That is, the true Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, our Redeemer: «When he cometh into the world,»
Hebrews 10:5. He saith,
According to Psalms 40:6-8,
Hebrews 10:5-9. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me), to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
He takes away the type because the great Antitype has come. He abolishes the offering of bullocks, and goats, and lambs, because HE has come whom they all foreshadowed.
Hebrews 10:10. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Or, «once.» It can never be offered again. The presence of offering up the body and the blood of Christ in the mass is sheer profanity. It has been done once, and there is no need of a repetition. To suppose that it could be repeated, is to imply that it was incomplete on the first occasion; but it was not, for by it we are already sanctified.
Hebrews 10:11-12. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
It was done, wholly done, and done for ever; nothing was to be added to it, and, therefore, Jesus «sat down» in the place of honour and power «on the right hand of God»;
Hebrews 10:13-14. From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
Or, «set apart.» He has fully saved all those for whom he died. His one sacrifice was so effectual that, by it, he has for ever put away the sin of the whole multitude of those that believe in him.
Hebrews 10:15. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us:
And what more veritable witness can we have? That to which the Holy Ghost bears testimony must never be questioned by us.
Hebrews 10:15-17. For after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
What a wonderful covenant that is; not that he will bless you if you keep the law, but that you shall be enabled to keep it, and that he will lead you to do so by putting his law, not on tables of stone, where your eye can see it, but on the fleshy tablets of your heart, where your soul shall feel its force and power, so that you shall be obedient to it. Meditate on those glorious words: «Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.»
Hebrews 10:18. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
If the sins themselves have gone, and God will remember them no more, no further sacrifice is required for them. What need have ye of cleansing if ye are so clean that God himself sees no sin in you? O glorious purgation by the atoning sacrifice of Christ! Rejoice in it, and praise the Lord for it for ever and ever.
Hebrews 10:19-25. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Notice the practical teaching of this great truth. If you have been thus washed, do not defile yourselves again. If, by God's rich mercy, you have been delivered from the transgressions of the past, let gratitude move you to holy living, and endeavor, not only to grow in grace yourselves, but to help others in the same direction, that so the abounding mercy of God may have from us abundant praise. God grant it for his name's sake! Amen.
This exposition consisted of readings from Hebrews 9:18-28; and Hebrews 10:1-25.