IX. Sanctification and Forgiveness Once and For All (Hebrews 10:1-18)
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IX. Sanctification and Forgiveness Once and For All (10:1-18)
10:1-4 To help his readers press on and keep following Christ, the author is going to great lengths to demonstrate the superiority of Christ’s priesthood, his sacrifice, and the new covenant he mediates. After all, if you don’t keep growing with Jesus, there’s nowhere else to go. Christ’s eternal Melchizedekian priesthood is better than the temporary Levitical priesthood (7:11, 28). The new covenant accomplished what the obsolete old covenant could not (8:6-13). Unlike the repeated sacrifices of the Old Testament system, Christ’s sacrifice atoned for sin once and for all.
The law can’t save you. It was a shadow of the good things to come. It can’t perfect the worshipers through sacrifices repeated year after year (10:1). That doesn’t mean the law was evil. The law was good. But we need to understand the purpose of the law. It reveals our sinfulness and weakness. The law can’t fix you; it can only condemn. Have you ever had a police officer pull you over and congratulate you for obeying the speed limit? Of course not! His job is to reprimand you for breaking the law. The law’s job was to prove that you and I are sinners based on the holy standard of God.
The sacrifices offered in accordance with the law couldn’t purify your conscience (10:2). The law couldn’t make you good, and the sacrifices couldn’t take your sin away permanently. Instead, the annual sacrifices were a reminder of sins (10:3). For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (10:4). God didn’t provide the law and the Old Testament sacrificial system to fully and finally address the problem of sin but to prepare and point the way to something better.
10:5-10 Jesus Christ came to accomplish what the old covenant, its priests, and its sacrifices could not. He was uniquely prepared to provide a once-and-for-all sacrifice to please God and satisfy the demands of his holiness. The quotation from Psalm 40:6-8 in 10:5-7 supports this. Jesus came to do the will of God perfectly. And by his perfect obedience, we have been sanctified . . . once for all time (10:10).
Everything you have broken, he has kept. If you have trusted in Christ, he dwells in you; therefore, you have the fulfillment of God’s standard within you. By Christ’s death, you have been sanctified—that is, you’ve been set apart for God’s purposes and glory. You’ve been set apart to be Christ’s kingdom companion and to live your life in submission to his lordship and kingdom agenda.
10:11-12 The Levitical priests were fighting a losing battle. They offered the same sacrifices time after time, which could not take away sins (10:11). This, however, was all part of God’s plan so that, at the right time, he could send this man—“the last Adam” (1 Cor 15:45)—to offer one sacrifice for sins forever and then sit down at the right hand of God (10:12). Israel’s high priest never sat down because his work was never done. But Jesus finished the job. And when he sat, it was in the seat of authority to exercise his kingdom rule.
10:13-14 From his throne, this priest-king is waiting until his enemies are made his footstool (10:13). At Christ’s return, everyone—those who submit to him now and those who don’t—will be placed under his authority, and he will rule in his millennial kingdom. Let his righteous program, then, be what guides your decision-making and actions. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified (10:14). By his grace, he accomplished God’s purposes for you and set you apart for his use. He has defeated Satan and sin so that nothing separates you from God. He has redeemed you forever: your salvation cannot be lost. Why give your life in service to anyone else?
10:15-18 Here the author quotes again from Jeremiah 31 (see Heb 8:8-12). Through the new covenant work of Christ, God puts his laws on your heart (10:16). That means God’s standard is within you. That’s why you experience conviction when you sin by breaking his law. Moreover, he has also given you the Holy Spirit to enable you to obey. As you grow in your Christian faith, you become more aware of the fact that you fall short of God’s standard but increase in your desire to obey him.
At the heart of the new covenant is this beautiful promise: I will never again remember their sins (10:17). The sin debt is paid. There is complete forgiveness. No further offering for sin is needed (10:18). Thus, you are freed to walk with the Lord, to please him, and to pursue his purpose for your life.