Once & for All

The writer continues to show that Jesus had dealt with sin completely. Here we will see that he focuses on the assurance the new covenant brings. Because of Jesus superior sacrifice believers can rest in their salvation.

v. 1 “the law is but a shadow” this has already been said many times in the book. The Law was always meant to pint the Jewish people toward a coming Savior. They should have never been satisfied in the Law. They should have been looking for a King and a kingdom.

“It can never” That’s important. The Law has never nor will it ever be sufficient. Look what it cannot not do:

“make perfect those who draw near” it can’t save anyone.

Look what is happening:

The people are drawing near to the Temple bringing their sacrifices.

The priests are continually making the sacrifices

v. 2 Here is the proof that no one has been made perfect through the Old Covenant:

The offerings keep being offered

The worshippers are not cleansed

The worshippers had a guilty conscious even when they left the Temple.

That is easily understood when we think of the fact that we sin every day. One would have to live at the temple and have an endless supply of sacrifices to keep up with the load of sin he bears each day.

v. 3 The sacrifices themselves were a reminder of The Law’s inability to remove sin. “Every year” refers to the day of Atonement. But there were also various daily sacrifices that reminded the people of their sin (10:11).

v. 4 It was necessary for animals to be sacrificed because it sent a message to the people. The message was “You need your sins atoned for by blood but this blood is not good enough.”

Clearly it was not a problem with the volume of blood shed. No matter how many goats and bulls were sacrificed sin would not be atoned for. An average cow has about ten gallons of blood in it. The average human has about 1.5 gallons of blood. Jesus shed far less blood than was shed under the Old Covenant when He atoned for our sin. Animals could not be a proper substitute for humans and that was the real problem. 3

v. 5-7 The writer quotes from Psalm 40:6-8. This is a wonderful prophecy of Christ.

We see what God truly desires. It is not sacrifices and offerings. It is not burnt offerings and sin offerings. These things bring God no pleasure.

Look at verse 7 and we see what God desires. He desires obedience. The Father prepares Jesus a body, this is the incarnation.

Jesus perfectly obeys the will of the Father.

Jesus can be a sacrifice for our sins because He has a body.

v.8-10 This is commentary of Psalm 40:6-8

Christ does away with the Old Covenant by taking upon Himself a body and becoming the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world. This pleases the Father. Sin is dealt with and the human race has a federal head who has completely obeyed the will of God.

Believers are now completely sanctified once and for all through the sacrifice of Jesus. By the way, thank God for that phrase “Behold I have come…” in verse 7. If Jesus didn’t come, we would all be in trouble.

We could not please the Father. Jesus is the only One who could. Thank God He came.

v. 11 When Hebrews was written the Temple was still in operation. There was so much work to do it took multiple priests working all day. There was a High Priest but He couldn’t do it all. There were priests to help him but they couldn’t do it all. There were Levites to help them, but they couldn’t do it all. Notice the wording here:

“offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sin”.

They’re doing the same thing over and over and never accomplishing their goal. They cannot accomplish it because the sacrifices they are offering are not sufficient.

v. 12 Look at how much better Jesus is.

He is one man and He accomplishes what the high Priest, the priests and the Levites could not accomplish.

He offers one sacrifice and it is better than all the other sacrifices made.

He sits down. The others constantly stand because they are busy. Jesus completes His work and sits down at the right hand of the Father.

v. 13 Now Jesus is waiting for His next act. That act is the subjugation of His enemies. When He returns, He will destroy His enemies and gather those who belong to Him unto himself.

v. 14 By His one offering He has made all that belongs to Him perfect.

I love the phrase “for all time”.

Just as Christ made a single offering, we must only be saved a single time. His salvation is perfect. We are saved forever. Notice it is Christ who saves us, not just His sacrifice. “He has perfected” means that not only is Christ our sacrifice He is our Savior. This is important because under the Old Covenant you would not identify the sacrifice as your Savior. The Sacrifice was dead. It could do nothing for you. Christ is our risen Lord. He is our sacrifice and our Savior.

v. 15-18 The writer quotes from Jeremiah 31. Notice that the writer assumes the inspiration of the Old Testament “The Holy Spirit bears witness...”

He’s already mentioned this in 8:8-12. We won’t discuss it much. The point is Jeremiah prophesied of a New covenant and Christ has inaugurated that covenant. This New Covenant removes sin completely and eternally. It also transforms the believer so that he/she desires to and has the power to live in obedience to God.

There is no need for any more offerings to be made at the temple for forgiveness of sin. Sin has been dealt with under the new Covenant.

v. 19-25 The writer has laid the foundation of the book with great doctrinal truth. We will see a shift in the book. But before that we have a summary of all He given us and some practical truth as well. Let’s look at it.

“therefore” in light of these great doctrinal truths.

We have confidence to approach God “the holy places”. This confidence comes from our faith in the blood of Jesus.

This new and living way is made possible because Jesus sacrificed Himself for us (20). The writer is capitalizing on the Jewish understanding of the Tabernacle. There was a veil that separated the people from the Holy of Holies. That veil was torn on the day Jesus was crucified.

The writer is likening the flesh, the body of Jesus, to the veil in the Temple. Jesus’ flesh was torn (pierced) so that we may have access to the presence of God. Now we will see three action steps we are to take as we understand what Christ has done for us. These three steps are identified with the words “let us”.

Let us draw near to God. Because we understand we now have access to God we should draw near to Him (21-22).

“true heart” in sincerity

“full assurance of faith” trusting solely in Christ.

Let us hold fast (23).

“the confession of our hope” These were people who claimed to know Christ. They made a confession of faith in Him.

“without wavering” we are tempted to give up and forsake the Lord. When we consider how faithful the Lord has been to us that temptation should flee.

Let us consider one another (23).

“How to stir up one another to love and good works” There should be a desire to encourage other believers to continue in the faith. We should not discourage our brothers and sisters in Christ.

“Not neglecting to meet together” This seems to be the way the writer is telling the Hebrew Christians to encourage one another. Come to church and encourage one another to continue in the faith. The Day is the second coming of Christ. That Day is approaching. Christians should not forsake church because Christ is coming soon.

It is inconsiderate not to come to church. It is inconsiderate to God because He has commanded it.

It is inconsiderate to Christ because He sacrificed Himself for the church.

It is inconsiderate to the Spirit because the Spirit works through the body.

It is inconsiderate to the Pastor/Sunday School teacher because they have prepared a message for you.

It is inconsiderate to your brothers and sister in Christ because they need your encouragement.

We are saved once and for all. How will we respond to our salvation? Will we respond by:

Drawing near to God in a personal relationship.

Holding fast to what we believe in.

Encouraging others to continue in faith and good works.