A Commentary on the Book of Hebrews, Part 24

Moving on to the next chapter:

CHAPTER 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. 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. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. 8 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; 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Because the audience for this sermon was a group of Jewish Christians who were thinking about abandoning the faith of Jesus Christ to return to the Temple form of worship, the preacher is comparing to Law to the fulfillment of the Law in Christ. The Law was a shadow or image of the New Covenant that Jesus ushered in. That means that everything, every word, in the Old Covenant has a fulfillment in the New Covenant. From the layout of the Tabernacle to the choice of animal or plant for each sacrifice has some significance.

But the Old Covenant, the Law, could not remove sin from the participants, only cover it for one year. That means that the sacrifices had to be repeated every year for the same sins as the year before. There was a covering, but not a remission. In the New Covenant, Jesus made a permanent sacrifice, once for all humans, that removes not only the guilt of sin, but the cause of sin in a person’s soul. Under the New Covenant, Jesus removes the bondage that death had over the humans of the Earth, a bondage caused by the disobedience of Adam in the Garden of Eden. So there becomes no more need of annual sacrifices because the cause of the sin, along with the guilt it brought, is removed from the sinner and eradicated from existence.

The prophet said God does not desire sacrifices and burnt offerings, but righteousness and love. God never took any pleasure in the slaughter of bulls, goats and sheep. Nor does He take pleasure in the self flagellation of a penitent soul seeking atonement. God’s pleasure comes from the love we share with one another, which ultimately springs from Him. Therefore, the sacrifices and feasts of the Old Covenant were ended when the New Covenant was established. The fact that it took about forty years for the Temple to be destroyed is not relevant to timeline of God, for with God time has no meaning.

Because God said He does not want burnt offerings and sacrifices, the preacher says, Jesus came to bring about the end of them according to His will. So the ending of the Temple sacrifices was to satisfy the will of the Father. But it wasn’t done without replacing them. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ makes the Old Covenant sacrifices moot, unnecessary. To avoid redundant worship, God allowed the Temple to be destroyed by Titus. But that took place after this sermon was delivered.

Are you trying to do something other than what Christ has done to make your way to heaven? If so, why? Just allow the work of Christ, His saving grace, to take the place of all the Old Covenant worship in your life. And live in Him, life more abundant.

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