Sermon Tone Analysis

*Hebrews 10:1-4…* For the Law, since it has /only /a shadow of the good things to come /and /not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? 3 But in those /sacrifices /there is a reminder of sins year by year.

4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

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*Commentary*

            There was in inherent problem with Judaism in the mind of the author, and it wasn’t his opinion that he aired.

He was a Jew himself by race, and he was clearly writing to Jewish Christians – ethnic Jews who had converted to Christianity.

They had, however, grown weary as Christians.

They had suffered terrible persecution (10:32-34) and were leaning towards going back into the rituals of Judaism.

But since Judaism was inferior in all respects to Christianity the author made a clear case, using Jewish Scripture and comparing Jesus to that Scripture, that falling back into Judaism was not only stupid but also eternally damning (6:4-6; cf.

10:26-31).

The law that Moses gave to the people of Israel was only a “shadow” of what God had planned to bring forth in Jesus Christ.

“Shadow” is a pale reflection of the real thing which is sharp and distinct.

Orthodox Jews kept the Mosaic Law to the best of their abilities, but even the best of them could not keep it in its entirety.

The Law commanded that sin be atoned for by sacrificing animals day after day and year after year.

If a person sinned they were to bring an animal to die in their place, for God had made this provision for them so that they themselves would not have to die.

But these animal sacrifices were a mere “shadow of the good things to come.”

They in and of themselves were incapable of making anyone perfect.

Those who drew near to God with animals were attempting to be forgiven in order to be perfect.

But their attempts to do so were pale reflections – “shadows” of the perfect sacrifice named Jesus Christ.

One of the ways the old covenant sacrifices revealed their inadequacies was that they needed to be offered regularly.

And even though they were offered regularly the people continued to sin.

Their guilty consciences were never eased as was evident by the fact that once the atonement on Yom Kippur was accomplished the Israelites still went home guilty of sin.

If the old order of animal sacrifices was so good then they would not need to be offered regularly – year after year.

But because the animal blood did not cleanse, consciousness of sins remained.

The only thing the old covenant sacrifices did for Israel was to remind them of their sins.

The animal blood could not remove sin, but it served as a stark and horrible reminder of sin.

This in itself stood in stark contrast to God’s New Covenant inaugurated by Jesus Christ and foretold by the prophet Jeremiah (31:31-34).

In the old covenant sin was remembered in the regular sacrifices, but in the new covenant sin is forgotten eternally!

God not only removes sin in the New Covenant through the one death of His Son, He also remembers sins no more (Heb.

8:12).

So whereas it is impossible for animal blood to atone for man’s sins eternally and bring him into a right relationship with God (v.

4), it IS possible for the blood Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God and the perfect man, to bring man into fellowship with God.

What was impossible in the old covenant is now possible in the New Covenant: eternal forgiveness and salvation.

*Food for Thought*

God wants His children to be reminded of their sins – all of us.

Just reading the Ten Commandments is a reminder that we have fallen short of God’s glory.

And when we remember our sins we can then be reminded once again of God’s goodness, grace, and mercy in Christ.

*Hebrews 10:5-10…* Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “Sacrifice and offering You have not desired, But a body You have prepared for Me; 6 In whole burnt offerings and /sacrifices /for sin You have taken no pleasure.

7 “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (In the scroll of the book it is written of Me) To do Your will, O God.’ ” 8 After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and /sacrifices /for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure /in them/” (which are offered according to the Law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.”

He takes away the first in order to establish the second.

10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

*Commentary*

Now because it is “impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (v.

4), Jesus came into the world to sacrifice himself to make forgiveness of sins possible.

So, God established the Law to reveal sin, and sacrifices offered annually were a reminder of sins (v.

3).

But since the blood of animals did not actually provide forgiveness for sins (v.

4), God had to provide an avenue of forgiveness.

This He did through the death of His Son Jesus Christ (v. 5).

When Jesus came into the world, he fulfilled Psalm 40:6 – a Messianic Psalm written by David.

He announced that God “prepared” a body for him.

The term means “to produce; to furnish completely.”

God the Father summoned His Son and furnished the body needed to clothe Him so that he could die and provide the perfect sacrifice.

Therefore, God provided a sacrifice to satisfy His wrath for sin in order to give His creation the forgiveness they needed.

He took no pleasure in animal sacrifices, so He actually provided the worship He required (v. 6).

And the eternal Son of God came in accordance with the prophecy and fulfilled the Word of God (v. 7).

The author of Hebrews loved to use the OT to solidify his point with his Jewish audience, but he most often used the Septuagint (LXX) to do so – the Greek translation of the Hebrew OT.

Now the Hebrew of Psalm 40:6 actually says, “My ears you have opened” (as opposed to “a body you have prepared for me”) showing that the Greek translators translated the Hebrew idiom (“ears you have opened”) so that the Greek readers could understand in their own vernacular.

Clearly the Greek translators regarded a part of something (in this case “ears”) as representative of the whole (i.e., the body).

After all, ears receive God’s Word which affects the whole body, so they qualified as significant for the whole body.

And a body was required for the final sacrifice.

Now when Jesus peformed God’s will in sacrificing himself for the forgiveness of sins, “He takes away” the first order (animal sacrifices) in order to establish the second.

Literally, “He kills” the first order – that of killing animals.

So what is dead cannot be on par with what is alive.

This means that the old covenant of the Jewish system is now worthless.

And worthless sacrifices cannot exist alongside the one perfect sacrifice in Christ.

One cannot tolerate the other.

Once God killed the first order, He “established” the second.

He put it in place and authorized the new system through Jesus Christ who is far superior to that which He replaced.

* *

*Food for Thought*

What Jesus did “once and for all” was “sanctify” believers (v.

10).

This perfect tense verb means that Christ made us holy one time and forever.

This contrasts all other religions where salvation is sought through works.

Now whereas the Apostle Paul spoke of sanctification as the process of growing as a Christian, Hebrews speaks of it as the /process/ which leads to salvation.

All believers have a testimony of how God led them to Christ – how He led them to understand that Christ did everything.

How freeing it is to know that God did it /all/, and /all/ to Him we owe.

*Hebrews 10:11-18… *Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but [Jesus], having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.

14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart, And on their mind I will write them,” /He then says,/ 17 “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer /any /offering for sin.

*Commentary*

One can almost hear the sarcasm in the author’s voice when he speaks of the Jewish priests who stood daily serving in the tabernacle and temple continually offering blood sacrifices over and over… “time after time the same sacrifices.”

But at the end of the day, no matter how many sacrifices had been made, sacrifices “can never take away sins.”

This is the inferiority, not only of Judaism, but of all religions whereby one’s works are counted on to make one holy.

The superiority of Jesus Christ, however, is that his sacrifice was offered once, and then he was finished (cf.

John 19:30) and sat down.

This stands in stark contrast to the priest in v. 11 who “stands /daily/ ministering” because his job is never complete.

Jesus, on the other hand, did his job, then he sat down at the right hand of God.

This act of sitting had been prophesied by David in Psalm 110:1 where God the Father invited the Son to sit at His right hand.

So since sitting is a mark of completed work, Jesus, as the great High Priest of the order of Melchizedek, finished his work and sat down.

There were simply no more sacrifices needed to improve on his work or to supplement it.

The Jewish high priests couldn’t do it with blood, so Jesus Christ did.

Now while sitting at God’s right hand Jesus waits for his enemies to be made “a footstool for his feet.”

Of course his death conquered the devil – “him who had the power of death” (Heb.

2:14), and Christ’s death triumphed over the demonic realm (Col.

2:14-15).

In contrast, Jewish sacrifices never defeated anyone!

But now Christ awaits the future day when all scoffers will bow their knees to Him (Phil.

2:10) – when they become a footstool for his feet (v.

13).

Verse 14 reveals that Christ’s superior sacrifice for sins made believers perfect.

Now obviously this only refers to the salvation of believers, for none is truly perfect in the sense of being entirely sanctified.

Christ’s death removed sin forever granting believers total security and assurance of salvation.

Believers will still fall into sin on occasion, but Christ’s sacrifice has already made them perfect in that they have nothing else to offer by way of works.

So, since “there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin” (v.

18).

Forgiveness has been granted; perfection given.