Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes detective novels, was a practical joker. One time, he sent a telegram to twelve famous people in London whom he knew. It read: “Flee at once. All is discovered.” Although all twelve were upright citizens, they all quickly left the country.
That story may be fictitious, but it certainly illustrates the fact that a guilty conscience is a common thing. Even in the church many are uncertain about their standing before God because of our past sins. These ghosts from the past stay out of sight for a while, but then they arise up seemingly out of nowhere to haunt us. We are fearful that the truth may leak out.
But even more seriously than whether they are caught by men, they wonder if God has truly forgiven them. They’re not sure how it will go when they stand before Him someday. Will God punish them in this life or in eternity for the sins they have done? Such people need the assurance that our text today hammers home:
Through Christ’s total obedience to God’s will throughout His life and at the cross, new covenant believers receive what those under the Law could not receive: full and final forgiveness and a heart now inclined to obedience.
Our author is clearly using repetition here to drive home this point, for this passage just re-emphasizes truths that he has already taught us. If the original readers were to go back to Judaism, with its sacrificial system, they would forfeit the tremendous benefits that Jesus Christ has secured for them. His death on the cross fulfilled everything that the old system pointed toward.
This section concludes the main argument of the Book of Hebrews. It “expresses the very heart” of the book (Donald Hagner, Encountering the Book of Hebrews [Baker], p. 128).
A teenage boy, whose mother was away on a visit, found himself with time on his hands. He decided to read a book from the family library. His mother was a devout Christian, so the boy knew there would be a sermon at the beginning and an application at the end of the book, but there would also be some interesting stories in between.
While reading the book, he came across the phrase “the finished work of Christ.” It struck him with unusual power, “the finished work of Christ.”
“Why does the author use this expression?” he asked himself. “Why not say the atoning or propitiatory work of Christ?” (You see, he knew all the biblical terms. He just did not yet know the Savior!) Then the words “It is finished” flashed into his mind, and he realized afresh that the work of salvation was accomplished.
“If the whole work was finished and the whole debt paid, what is there left for me to do?” He knew the answer and fell to his knees to receive the Savior and full forgiveness of sins. That is how J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission (now OMF, [Overseas Missionary Fellowship] International) was saved. (Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: New Testament, p. 831).
The tenth chapter of Hebrews emphasizes the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, in contrast with the imperfect sacrifices that were offered under the old covenant. In this chapter the writer presented three benefits that demonstrate why the sacrifice of Christ is better than all the old covenant sacrifices.
First, Christ’s sacrifices perfectly and finally take away sin. In Christ, every believer can have a clean conscience and has free access into God’s presence because Christ’s once-and-for-all sacrifice of himself provides perfect standing with God.
10:1 The sacrifices of the law “can never…make perfect those who draw near.”
10:2 Those sacrifices could not cleanse worshippers and take away their guilty feelings.
10:3 Those sacrifices, rather, provided an annual reminder of their sins.
Verse 4 says “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
10:10 By God’s will through the cross “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” That’s the good news!
10:12 Christ “offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins.”
10:14 “by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
10:17 God promises to remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.
10:18 “Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.” When sins are forgiven once and for all, sacrifices are no longer needed.
All of this adds up to news that sounds too good to be true, and yet it is! In Christ, we receive a complete, final, once-for-all pardon for all of our sins—past, present and future!
This extended portion of chapter 10 falls into four sections:
In 10:1-4, the author shows how the sacrifices of the Law could not completely remove the guilt of sin.
In 10:5-10, he shows that Christ’s obedience to God’s will at the cross set aside the Old Testament sacrifices and provided for us a perfect standing before God.
As I understand it, 10:11-18 consists of an illustration and a quotation that both serve to drive home the same point.
In 10:11-14, the author illustrates the totality of our forgiveness by contrasting the unfinished, repetitive ministry of the Old Testament priests with the finished, all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ. This section parallels the first (10:1-4) by contrasting the unfinished, repetitive ministry of the Old Testament priests with the finished, all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ. The section parallels the first (10:1-4) by contrasting the sufficiency of Christ’s offering with the insufficiency of Old Covenant offerings.
Then, in 10:15-18, our author cites again the Old Testament prophecy of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34) to show that the total forgiveness that it promises means that the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ is totally sufficient and final. This section parallels the second (10:5-10) by showing how Christ’s obedience now becomes our obedience—as He obeyed, we now have a desire to obey.
So let’s begin Hebrews 10.
1 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. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Here we see a need for a better sacrifice. Why? Because the Old Covenant sacrifices, as often and many as there were, could not “take away sins” (v. 4).
First, we see in vv. 1-2 that our author argues that the Law was only the shadow of good things to come, and not the very form of things. For this reason, the repeated sacrifices could not make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, they would have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had a consciousness of sin.
1 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.
Verse 1 begins with the word “for” to show that our author if offering a further explanation of the inadequacy of the sacrificial system contained within the Mosaic Law. The law is a “shadow” of “good things to come.” Earlier, in chapter 8, verse 5, we learned that the earthly tabernacle was a “shadow” of the true tabernacle in heaven.
Paul, in Colossians 2:17, talking about the religious festivals and the Sabbath, says something similar. “These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”
Notice that both passages indicate that things, “good things” are coming which replace the Old Covenant sacrifices. Those former things are “shadows” pointing to greater “realities.” Notice the contrast between “shadow” and “realities.” You cannot depend upon shadows, they are temporary and constantly moving. Being a “shadow” and not a “reality,” the sacrificial system is inadequate when it comes to dealing with human sin.
I may have used this illustration before, but imagine that before I married my wife, I carried with me an 8 x 10 photograph to remember her by. All during our dating and engagement, I could carry that around, look at it and adore her.
Then, we got married and I had her actual presence with me much of the time. Suddenly I had gone from the possession of a one-dimensional portrait to the possession of the real thing, who smiled, talked, laughed and loved—a real, three-dimensional wife—a living being.
But imagine that one day I appear before my wife holding the black-and-white photograph, and I say, “My dear, I’ve missed your picture, and I’m going back to it. I really am attached to the silhouette and the monochrome shading and the matte finish.” Then I passionately kiss the glass protecting the photograph, clutch it to my chest, and exit mumbling my devotion to the picture—“I love you, O photograph of my wife. You’re everything to me.”
Now that would be weird! But it illustrates how absurd it would be for those who had considered pursuing the living Jesus Christ, to go back to the shadow world of Old Covenant sacrifices.
Philip Newell gives another illustration to show how much more valuable the reality, or the true form (eikon in Greek) is to the shadow. He says…
“For example, you need a load of wood: you go to the wood man, and he takes you to a large oak tree in the far corner of the lot. Pointing to the long shadow it casts, he offers to sell you this shadow. Will you take it? Now, if God says that in the Law there was a shadow, not even the very image of the things – and of course, not the things themselves, why will you hold to the shadow?”
The law is a shadow, not the “true form.” “An image, or eikon, like a good statue or a photograph, reveals features and facts accurately. This a shadow cannot do… Now The Law had only shadows.” (Newell)
Leon Morris says…
“The ‘shadow’ [Gr. skia] then is the preliminary outline that an artist may make before he gets to his colors, and the eikon [lit. image, “form”] is the finished portrait. The author is saying that the law is no more than a preliminary sketch. It shows the shape of things to come, but the solid reality is not there.”
In addition, these sacrifices are “continually offered every year,” pointing to the yearly sacrifices of the Day of Atonement, showing the ineffectiveness of the sacrificial system under the Old Covenant in being able to “make perfect those who draw near,” in other words, to remove their guilty conscience. “To make perfect” refers to our standing in God’s sight. In includes total cleansing from sin, so that we have a completely clean conscience. If our consciences remain aware of sins that have not been confessed or forgiven, we will naturally hesitate to draw near to God.
Verses 2-4 shows that Old Testament believers never enjoyed the extent of freedom from sin’s guilt that Christians do.
2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
The ineffectiveness of the Old Testament sacrifices is seen in that they cannot “take away sins” but rather serve as a constant “reminder of sins every year.” If they had been effective, they we would “no longer have any consciousness of sin.” This last statement does not mean that we somehow become blissfully unaware of our sins, but that they are not objectively taken away—they remain on our record.
The sacrifices were endless. A sacrifice was offered every day. Day after day, week after week, year after year. Another year. And another dead lamb, its hot blood staining the altar and the sacrificial knife. Year by year and lamb by lamb. A never-ended parade. Each lamb that was ever slain bore mute and bloody testimony that the blood of lambs can do nothing with regard to cleansing sins.
The fact that they must be continually offered proves that they are inadequate. If they were effective, our author argues, they could have ceased, because worshipers would no longer have felt guilty for their sins; they would no longer have guilty consciences.
So why did they continue to offer them? As it was under the sacrificial system at the temple in Jerusalem, the writer says, guilty consciences persist, so the sacrifices continue to be offered. And in connection with the offering of sacrifices, there is a “reminder of sins every year” or an annual reminder on the Day of Atonement. These sacrifices were a reminder of, not a remission from, sins.
The fact that sacrifices for sins are offered, and offered on an ongoing basis, brings to mind not only sin but the uneasy feeling that these sacrifices may not be enough. After all, if they were enough, how come they have to be repeated?
These animal sacrifices continually reminded the Jews that they were sinners, and were deserving of judgment from God. This should have prepared them for their need for a Savior, primed their hearts to receive a sacrifice that did calm their guilty conscience.
Of course, the author of Hebrews was not the first to understand that animal blood would not atone for sins. Scriptural writers had been alert to this for hundreds of years. David’s repentant words head the list: “You will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:16, 17). Consider also Samuel’s words to King Saul: “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” (1 Samuel 15:22). And Isaiah said:
11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. 12 “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? 13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations– I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.” (Isaiah 1:11-13)
Later Isaiah expressed God’s displeasure at offerings when one’s heart is not right:
3 “He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck; he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig’s blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations; 4 I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them, because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight.” (Isaiah 63:3-4)
Similarly, Jeremiah inveighed against sacrifices presented without an obedient heart:
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people.’” (Jeremiah 7:21–23)
God said through Hosea, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6). And Amos shared God’s thoughts about wrong-hearted sacrifices:
21 “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:21-24)
What the prophets understood, our author is reinforcing. “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Grace Still Amazes 