How is it possible to have a clean conscience, to no longer struggle with guilt? Israel sacrificed animals in an effort to clear their conscience, but the author of Hebrews shows that this did not really do the job. Instead, it merely reminded them, year by year, that they were sinners.
Hebrews 10:1-4 states:
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.
The author of Hebrews points out that the law “has but a shadow of the good things to come” and therefore it “can never…make perfect those who draw near” through yearly sacrifices. Instead, they remain conscious of their sins because the sacrifices remind them of their sins every year.
“All they are is a reminder of sin. So far from purifying a man, they remind him that he is not purified and that his sins still stand between him and God” (William Barclay)
Verse 4 categorically states, “for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Something else had to happen for sins to be taken away. That solution for sin and a guilty conscience was presented in Hebrews 9:26, “he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
If you want your sins taken away, it only happens because Jesus Christ sacrificed himself on a Roman cross and satisfied the wrath of God that demanded a payment for our sins.
Animal blood has no permanent ability to take away sins. God designed the system of animal sacrifices to point ahead to His ultimate provision through the sacrifice of His own Son. Animal sacrifices could “cover”(kophar, from which we get the concept of “atonement”) sins; but could not “take away sins” in a final sense. What is “impossible” under the Old Covenant is now possible through Jesus Christ.
As eternal God, the self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ has infinite value. As a human being, His sacrifice can atone for human sin in a way that the blood of animals never could.
Leon Morris says this word “‘Take away’ (aphaireo) is used of a literal taking off, as in Peter’s cutting off the ear of the high priest’s slave (Luke 22:50), or metaphorically as of the removal of reproach (Luke 1:25). It signifies the complete removal of sin so that it is no longer a factor in the situation. That is what is needed and that is what the sacrifices could not provide” (p. 96)
Just as ineffectual as the animal sacrifices Israel offered are the sacrifices we make to try to appease God. We don’t kill animals, but we may try to kill off the sinful parts of ourselves in hopes that God may be satisfied. We try to carry it out by ourselves, on ourselves. We try to pull ourselves together and discipline ourselves to do the right thing, and when we don’t, we just try harder, or we ask God to help us—all in an effort to be adequate before God. But we’re never even satisfied with ourselves, so like the priests of old, we try again and again.
The Rev. Arthur Dimmsdale, the tragic figure in Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, offered up such self-sacrifices to assuage his guilt. Hounded by guilt for committing adultery, “He kept vigils, likewise, night after night, sometimes in utter darkness; and sometimes viewing his own face in a looking-glass, by the most powerful light which he could throw upon it. He thus typified the constant introspection, wherewith he tortured, but could not, purify himself.”
It is interesting that the word “reminded” (10:3) is the same Greek word used in the institution of the Lord’s Supper, where Jesus says, “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24). While we are instructed to examine ourselves and confess our sins before taking the elements, the gospel transforms our remembrance from one of guilt to one of grace (Philip Hughes, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews [Erdmans], p. 394). The Lord’s Supper reminds us that the penalty we deserve for our sins was put completely on Jesus Christ. His death accomplished what the blood of animal sacrifices never could accomplish, namely, it took away all of our sin and guilt!
A. W. Pink asks…
“Why did God appoint unto Israel sacrifices so ineffectual? … First of all, they served to keep in the minds of Israel the fact that God is ineffably [too great to be described in words] holy and will not tolerate evil. They were constantly reminded that the wages of sin is death. They were taught thereby that a constant acknowledgment of their sins was imperative if communion with the Lord was to be maintained. In the second place, by means of these types and shadows God was pointing out to them the direction from which true salvation must come, namely, in a sinless Victim enduring in their stead the righteous penalty which their sins called for. Thereby God instructed them to look forward in faith to the time when the Redeemer should appear, and the great Sacrifice be offered for the sins of His people. Third, there was an efficacy in the O. T. sacrifices to remove temporal judgment, to give ceremonial ablution [cleansing], and to maintain external fellowship with Jehovah. They who despised the sacrifices were ‘cut off’ or excommunicated; but those who offered them maintained their place in the congregation of the Lord” (p. 531)
The old covenant simply could not “make perfect those who draw near” (v. 1). It was good, as far as it went. But it was frustratingly inadequate.
Therefore, God did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to live a perfectly obedient life and then stand in our place on the cross, taking the punishment for our sins and satisfying God’s wrath against our sins.
Now, in verses 5-10, we are introduced to a conversation which took place between God the Father and Jesus the Son before Jesus came into the world.
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'” 8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
In summary, these verses are telling us that Christ’s bodily obedience and sacrifice are now established in place of animal sacrifices. This is what sanctifies us.
It is God who provided the appropriate sacrifice and not man. This is a quotation from Psalm 40:6-8 in the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, and it is applied to Jesus Christ in His incarnation.
In Psalm 40 David is speaking to God, so here we have God’s Son, the greater David, in recognition of the problem with humanity, lying helpless in their guilt, speaking to the Father upon His entry into the world. These then, are intimate words, spoken between God the Son and God the Father, and the writer of Hebrews lets us listen in.
What a high place this gives Scripture! Our pre-incarnate Savior quoted Psalm 40 as being prophetic of his thoughts at his human birth.
Note the parallel statements and how Christ took on a body to do God’s will (v. 9) and “by that [same] will” something wonderful happened to us—“We have been sanctified [set apart, dedicated to God] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
The emphasis here is not upon our obedience (or disobedience) but upon the complete obedience of Jesus Christ, from before the incarnation (by which Christ came into the world) to his death (v. 10).
Beginning with the word “consequently,” the writer explains how Christ understood the inadequacy of the sacrificial system, recognized what needed to be done and decided to do it.
He realized that God was not “pleased” with the animal sacrifices (v. 8), but was pleased with his bodily sacrifice for sins. Why? Because he delighted to do God’s will.
So here Christ announces his conclusions and intentions, “when he comes into the world,” which implies his pre-existence before his life on earth. 1 Peter 1:20 speaks of this, saying that His sacrifice was determined before the creation of the world, “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world…” The Apostle John concurs, explaining about unbelievers in the tribulation in Revelation 13:8 that “everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.”
The phrase “a body have you prepared for me” is not found in the original quotation. Psalm 40:6 in Hebrew reads, “you have given me an open ear.” Our author is quoting from the Septuagint. Apparently, the Greek translators rendered an interpretive paraphrase of the Hebrew text, using a part (the ear) and expanding it into the whole (the body).
While some would believe that this refers to the practice in Exodus 21:1-6 that describes the actions of a master whose servant did not want to be set free, but rather continued to willingly serve his master. The master bored a hole through the earlobe of the servant, which was a sign that the servant preferred to remain with his master. The idea is that our Lord was like a willing servant.
The problem with that explanation is that only one ear was bored, while the verse (Psalm 40:6) speaks of both ears. Furthermore, the verb used in Exodus 21 means “to pierce,” while the verb in Psalm 40:6 means “to dig.” The picture is rather that of God’s opening the ears of His servant so that He would be obedient to the cross (Isaiah 50:5ff).
The Septuagint rendering puts the emphasis on God’s preparing a body for Jesus so that He would offer the suitable sacrifice for our sins, thus supplanting the Old Testament sacrifices. Neither the sacrifices nor the law could accomplish the redemption that was needed. And thus God sent His Son.
Paul says it like this in Romans 8:3
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
Upon His flesh God condemned sin. Jesus paid for our sins on the cross!
This need for a body also reminds us that all that we have to offer to God is our bodies (Romans 12:1), so that Jesus can now live out His perfect obedience through us.
Whatever the explanation may be, Christ said in essence, “My Father, the Old Testament sacrifices have proven unsatisfactory, so you have prepared a body for me, that I might become a pleasing sacrifice.” (The author reiterates this idea in verse 8, noting that the Father was not pleased with the old sacrifices although they were “offered according to the law.”) The fact was, though God had instituted blood animal sacrifices (Exodus 24), he had never been pleased with them and did not see them as ends. He had established them as object lessons to instruct his people about the sinfulness of their hearts, his hatred of sin, the fact that sin leads to death, the need of an atonement, and his delight in those whose hearts were clean and obedient and faithful. But there was nothing appealing to him in the sight of a dying animal. God had no pleasure in the moans and death-throes of lambs or bulls. What he did find pleasure in was those who offered a sacrifice with a contrite, obedient heart. (Kent Hughes, Hebrews, Volume 2, p. 23)
Not only was Jesus given a body in which to show His obedience to the Father, but His will was aligned with that of the Father. Having verbalized what the Father wanted—Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death—our Lord now states his joyous resolve: “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book’” (v. 7).
Our Lord did not obey the Father grudgingly or under duress but with joy! Later, in 12:2, the writer tells us that Jesus endured the cross “for the joy that was set before him.” The angels sang at the Incarnation (Luke 2:13ff.) because they were reflecting and expressing Christ’s joy. He had come to die, and that could logically have produced an angelic dirge. But the angels gave out an anthem instead, because of the anthem of Christ’s heart—“Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God.’” There is “in Deity Itself the joy of obedience: obedience which is a particular means of joy and the only means of that particular joy.” Jesus willed to be subordinate to God!
It is true that this was not an easy choice. He struggled in the garden. But His own will was absorbed in the divine will. It was His pleasure to say, “Not my will but yours be done” (Lk 22:42). It was His meat and His drink to do the will of Him that sent Him, and to finish His work. Although He was Lord and God, He became a lowly servant for our sakes. Although high as the highest, He stooped low as the lowest. The King of kings was the servant of servants that He might save His people. He took upon Himself the form of a servant, and girded Himself, and stood obediently at His Father’s call. (Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon Commentary: Hebrews, 272)
“To do thy will, O God is the aim of the perfect man. It has only partially been fulfilled by even the most pious of men, except by Jesus. What was seen as the most desirable aim by the psalmist, becomes an expression of fact on the lips of Jesus” (George Guthrie)
The point of these passages is not that God hated sacrifices, but that He does not want ONLY sacrifices and that He does not want them FOREVER. They were designed, by their very nature, to be temporary and to be anticipatory of that which would come later. He takes pleasure in the One who came to do His Father’s will (10:7). The Son came to do the will of the Father and to accomplish that which would ultimately give pleasure to the Father. Do you remember what took place at the baptism of Jesus? A voice was heard from heaven: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well‑pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
The writer of Hebrews makes clear that there was nothing wrong with the sacrifices, for they were “offered according to the law” (10:8).
The writer of the book carefully cites the prophecy from Psalm 40 and then he goes back through it to pick out the part he wants to underscore. The portion he wants to emphasize is that the coming of the Messiah as a replacement to the Old Testament sacrifices was a part of the will of God. Now that Christ has come, the Old Testament sacrifices are no longer needed.
The old system, the Old Covenant, is no longer in place. Now that Christ has come a new era has dawned. Now, forgiveness comes through Jesus Christ and His offering of His own body on the cross.
When Jesus came in fulfillment of God’s will, he did away with the “first” system in which sacrifices were offered repeatedly, and in its place established a “second” and superior way to atone for sin: namely, the blood that Jesus himself shed on the cross. The “first” is thus a reference to the Old Covenant of Moses and the “second” is a reference to the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.
The author introduces the results of Christ’s willingness to do God’s will by saying, “And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (v. 10). Jesus’ sacrifice “once for all” is emphatic, and the writer wants us to see that its results are equally final, for the phrase “we have been sanctified” refers to an enduring, continuous state (perfect tense). Our salvation is a completed thing—a “done deal.”
Our sanctification – our being set apart to God – is founded on the will of Jesus, not our own will. It is founded on the offering of Jesus, not on our own offering or sacrifices for God.
It is important for us to understand what the author of Hebrews means by being “made perfect” and “sanctification.” In both cases he is not referring to our present lifestyle, that we live perfectly and saintly; rather he is referring to our position in Christ. Because we put our faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit baptized us into Christ and God sees us now dressed in His Son’s righteousness.
“Indeed it can be said that sanctification in Hebrews is almost equivalent to justification in Romans, both referring to our position, not to our condition. But there is this vital difference of standpoint: that justification deals with position in relation to God as Judge, while sanctification deals with position in relation to our fellowship with God and our approach to Him in fellowship” (W. H. Griffith Thomas, Hebrews: A Devotional Commentary, p. 125. Cf. Dods, 4:344; Hodges, “Hebrews,” p. 804)
Next week we will examine some more of the results of God’s perfecting work through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Grace Still Amazes 