Hebrews Chapter Ten, Reminders

Hebrews 10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

 

Before going forward, we must pause and summarize. Beginning with Hebrews 9:22, a very pivotal verse for redemption’s plan, the writer informs his readership that shedding of blood alone remits sin. By its very definition, shed blood (or death) is a one time sacrifice, because death prevents it from being repeated.

Hebrews 9:23, 24 tells us that shedding blood was necessary, both for the limited, temporal covenant given to Moses and Israel, as well as the eternal, permanent covenant given through our Lord and Savior. The succinctly revealed reality of verse 22 is reiterated in verses 25 and 26. We are assured that Jesus “put away sin” by His sacrifice, so further sacrifice of any kind is no longer necessary for the sake of one’s salvation.

 

A comparison is made between how people die once, and then go on to judgment, and how Christ died once, to bear the sins of those who would otherwise be judged in Hebrews 9:27, 28. An assurance is given that He will come a second time, but it will have nothing to do with salvation, since this matter was settled forever by Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself.

 

Hebrews 10:1, 2 remind us that the Law only possesses a shadow, and made nothing perfect in regards to our very real guilt before a holy God. The repetition of Jewish sacrifice was itself a sign of its impotence to cleanse the penitent; otherwise repeated offerings would have been unnecessary. The worshiper would have sacrificed, received that which he sought, and need sacrifice no more.

 

Now in verse 3, this thought continues to be built upon. Verses 1 and 2 demonstrate the inability of repeated sacrifice to remove guilt. Moving one step further, the writer asserts that, rather than relieve the penitent of guilt, it exacerbates it by reminding the worshiper of why they need their guilt expunged. Later, we will find this verse’s corollary in Hebrews 10:11, where we read, “And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.” Thankfully, what religion cannot do, no matter how frequently it is attempted, God did at one time in history by the offering of His Son.

 

So, the Jewish sacrifice, though commanded by God, did not save, and served as a national reminder of moral guilt to the contrite worshiper. In short, this passage, beginning with Hebrews 9:22, demonstrates in very unambiguous language that works cannot save or retain salvation. Our salvation is grounded in the person of Jesus Christ and His work. Adding to His work removes its efficacy, because we are denying the merit of what He has done on our behalf. The Jewish Christians of the first century, still steeped in the history of their people, looked back to Moses and the Law. The author of Hebrews, wanting to remove this stumbling block, penned a systematic defense of Christ’s superiority to everything beneath Him that could be considered a proxy or addition to the necessity of one’s salvation.

 

When the Jewish worshiper offered a lamb to the priest, placed his hand on its head, and watched it die, he knew that its death was symbolic of his own. His sin was being transferred to the lamb, and that animal had its blood shed to preserve the life of the worshiper, as God commanded. The Law was a teaching tool, to make Israel ready to receive the true Lamb of God, who would come to take away not only Israel’s sin, but the whole of the world by the sacrifice of Himself, John 1:29, 1 John 2:2.

 

The slain lamb anticipated the true Lamb, the Lamb of God’s election that He would provide Himself to atone for sin forever. The Father Himself made Christ a sin offering, Isaiah 53:10. The purpose of His suffering was to take on our punishment vicariously, Isaiah 53:5. The prophet wrote that our united iniquity was laid on Christ, so it was Christ that suffered the judgment God would mete out upon sin in our place Isaiah 53:6. We had turned to our own way. We had gone astray, We had all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, Romans 3:23. And as such the believer is freely (without cost, no payment, no works involved) justified through the redemption (to purchase back, to recover) that is in Christ Jesus, Romans 3:24.

 

We see an excellent example in Genesis chapter 22. Abraham is commanded by God to bring Isaac to Moriah to sacrifice him. Abraham, by faith, obeyed God. But what the patriarch said to his son was impressively telling. When Isaac wondered where the lamb for the burnt offering was, Abraham replied, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering,” Genesis 22:8. God didn’t need sacrifice. He desires obedience from faith. Abraham, in faith, was willing to obey God regardless of the cost, fully trusting in Him. God did provide a ram in a thicket to offer in place of his son, verse 13.

 

The lesson Abraham learned, and we should as well, is simply, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,” 1 Samuel 15:22. Or, “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings,” Hosea 6:6. If we truly knew God, then we would obey Him. His command to us, the work that His saints should “do” is, “believe in Him whom He sent,” John 6:28.

 

Repetitive sacrifice may be a symptom of wanton ignorance of God’s will and person. We reject God’s revealed will and replace it or supplement it with our own, which the Jews of this time were very guilty of, Romans 10:3. This letter is a powerful cautionary note to the religionist who believes that by “doing” works over and over again, it merits something. And it does: namely, God’s wrath because we are ignoring God’s revealed will for how men are saved. Instead we want to contribute to our salvation by the endless parade of sacrifice that is impotent and a tacit reminder of our utter failure to produce a righteousness suitable for God’s standard, Isaiah 64:6.

 

His remedy? Rest in Him, Matthew 11:28. “For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His,” Hebrews 4:10. Abraham was not justified by his works, but by the faith made manifest by his works. He believed God, and his actions corresponded with that faith, James 2:22. To continue offering works when Christ was already sacrificed on our behalf is not an act of faith. It is an act of betrayal and rebellion, by departing from the living God because of flagrant disobedience. Later we read, “For if we sin willfully after we receive the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,” Hebrews 10:26. The Hebrew Christians were in danger of slighting the Spirit of grace by trying to add to the Christian foundation of Christ alone. But further sacrifice would merely remind one of (and increase) the guilt we all have as sinners in need of salvation.