Redemption through far Better Blood and Sacrifice
10For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. 11Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. 12But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. THEN HE SAT DOWN IN THE PLACE OF HONOUR AT GOD’S RIGHT HAND. 13There he waits UNTIL HIS ENEMIES ARE HUMBLED AND MADE A FOOTSTOOL UNDER HIS FEET. 14FOR BY THAT ONE OFFERING HE FOREVER MADE PERFECT THOSE WHO ARE BEING MADE HOLY. 15And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says, 16“THIS IS THE NEW COVENANT I WILL MAKE WITH MY PEOPLE ON THAT DAY, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR HEARTS, AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR MINDS.” 17Then he says, “I WILL NEVER AGAIN REMEMBER THEIR SINS AND LAWLESS DEEDS.” 18And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.
Hebrews 10:1-18
This last segment contains some golden comments which when put together wrap up what the writer has been impressing upon us about our amazing Great High Priest of the New Covenant. When we put all of these final pieces together they spell out some amazing promises. It is like his final paragraph before he gets to the practical part in a mind blowing culmination of all he has been talking about. Some of which I have spelt out for you before but let’s gather the pieces in order to fully grasp what he is telling us.
It is not as though this last segment I have included under the heading Redemption through far Better Blood and Sacrifice stands on its own. The statement before it is:-
Then he said, “LOOK, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect.
Hebrews 10:9
I am sure you can see that is a telling statement which leads into . . .
For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
Hebrews 10:10
The power of the quotes from Psalm 40 lead us to the full importance of what Jesus came to accomplish. Little wonder the writer puts the words of Psalm 40 in Christ’s mouth; that’s where they belong. Which is where verse 10, the leading verse of this current segment begins. The power of this is long lasting. I need to explain the use of two curious words found in 10:10 and the significance of the perfect participle with a present indicative verb.
ἡγιασμένοι ἐσμὲν
{have been made holy} {we are}
The perfect participle in conjunction with the present indicative verb is powerful. Arnold Fruchtenbaum put it nicely when he wrote, “We are in a continuous state of sanctification “in Him”. A permanent continuous state of salvation and sanctification, permanently made holy in the sight of God.” The sense of the perfect participle {have been made holy}, is an on-going action from a past event, the result of which means we experience the effect {we are} in an ongoing, durative way into the present and beyond. In other words “we have been made holy, once for all time.” Wow! Hang on to that thought and suck it like a sweetie as my Greek Prof would say.
The writer’s thoughts then flow on to what I told you about in Gem 2124. Now he uses the quote from Psalm 40 again along with all the deep significance I have explained about the fact that Christ sat down, which is expanded by the quote:-
FOR BY THAT ONE OFFERING HE FOREVER MADE PERFECT THOSE WHO ARE BEING MADE HOLY. [10:14]
I need to draw out one more significant word, found in Heb 10:7 in the words [κεφαλίδι βιβλίου] – “It is written of me in the scroll of the book”. “Kephalis” refers to the ‘header’ or the ‘head knot of the scroll’, the part of the scroll which attaches to the rod or the roll which binds it together. But it contains the sense that ‘everything written in this scroll is about Me’. In other words, it is perfectly correct to say all of this applies to Jesus. So when the writer said that Jesus said the words in the quote he was correct in the sense that Christ used the very words that were found in David’s mouth when he talked of the coming Christ or Messiah. All the words apply to him and linking the words of David to Christ was a perfectly acceptable thing to do. But more than that, the way the writer has combined the earlier quotes from Psalm 40 and Jeremiah 31, the inference is even stronger to say that all of this is related to Christ. Of course it is!
Notice now what the author has done by picking out the portions of the two quotes he used earlier to draw his argument to a conclusion. From verse 10:15 the writer chooses to put two parts of the longer Jeremiah 31 quote together and claims “the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so”.
15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying,
16 “This is the covenant which I will make with them
After those days, declares the Lord:
I will put My laws upon their hearts,
And write them on their mind,”
He then says,
17 “And their sins and their lawless deeds
I will no longer remember.”
The writer has pulled out two key parts of the Jeremiah prophecy and placed them in the mouth of the Holy Spirit. One quote from the Writings and one from the Prophets adds the sense that all of the TANAKH is behind the conclusion being drawn. The Holy Spirit of God is also the Spirit of Prophecy.
I tell Deeper Bible classes often to pay close attention to repetition and to Old Testament quotes, especially when the Law, the Prophets and the Writings are used in conjunction. That is a powerful way of indicating all of Scripture is saying this. In this closing before he comes to the application of what he is saying, the writer repeats the quotes from Psalm 40 twice and then uses the quote from Psalm 110 and Jeremiah 31 again in this section before us. Only this time he only quotes a part of the prophecy from Jeremiah; he used it in its entirety in chapter 8. Here at the end of his summary of what Jesus has done for us, he has pulled out two key points.
- The New Covenant will be written on our hearts and in our minds.
- Our sins have been Removed not just Covered and remembered no more in Him.
From this Gem we will move on to the really deep significance of all that has been said to date. This next portion is what relates to all of us as a result of all Christ has done in the passages before it. We will move on to cover the rest of Chapter 10 in the next Gems.
But before I do I can’t resist adding this last segment. What I have to share is too good to omit. I had told you Gems would be delayed because of our current situation – I haven’t had a study or home office to work in until yesterday. I now have a temporary space set up.
I have taken some spare moments I have had to work on this Gem despite all my light and momentary afflictions during this week. I have told you about the significance of Jesus sitting in the last Gem but now allow me to contrast it with Jesus standing. Read Gem 1482 to gain a new perspective on the difference between Jesus sitting and Jesus standing. I have been awake in the early hours of today and pondering this Gem and what I had written yesterday after getting my temporary office set up. I suddenly recalled what I had written on the significance of Jesus standing in Acts 7:56. I felt God was reminding me of what I had written in that past Gem. Of course, there is a little hidden gem of Scripture there. Prof Brown frequently reminded us that no word in Scripture is a throw-away. Every word is there for a purpose. This morning I felt Holy Spirit telling me “maintain your peace and poise in the midst of afflictions”. When recalling the verse in Acts I thought of the significance of Jesus standing. Was He indeed giving Stephen a standing ovation for his faithfulness at his death? Then I thought of this verse:-
Dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Phil 4:8
I am beginning to think that Jesus stands and applauds you when you set aside your natural inclination to get upset, frustrated and even angry over your light and momentary afflictions. “Our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” This morning when I opened up my computer I saw a response from Susan, from the DB 301 Seattle class. She had sent a devotional reading called Kita Harus Tenang Dan Sabar (We Have to be Calm and Patient). I marvel at the chain God used to send that prompt to me in addition to what He had prompted me to think on in the wee small hours. Using a American woman in the midst of an Indonesian church in Seattle to send me that message in the Indonesian language. That message came to Susan completely in Indonesian; she had to Google translate it in order to understand it. She then passed it on to me and her class mates.
Yes I do believe Jesus gives us a standing ovation when we push aside our natural inclinations and think on things from His perspective.
In order to communicate the Good News well you need a personal encounter with the risen Christ to convince you before you can convince others.
Ian
To be in Christ makes you fit for heaven; but for Christ to be in you, that makes you fit for earth.
Major Ian Thomas
Jesus Christ knows the worst about you and yet He is the one who loves you most.
A W Tozer
Put your shoulders back, hold your head high. The same power that raised Christ from the dead lives on the inside of you.
Lavonia Grabau
Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honour at God’s right hand!
Acts 7:56