An Object Lesson
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, may Your Spirit give me insight to understand Your Word as I read and study it now.
Read Hebrews 10:1-10
[1] The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming-not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. [2] Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. [3] But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. [4] It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. [5] Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; [6] with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. [7] Then I said, ‘Here I am-it is written about me in the scroll- I have come to do your will, my God.'” [8] First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”-though they were offered in accordance with the law. [9] Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. [10] And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.
Reflect
How does the writer say we have been made holy?When I taught children at Sunday School, I often used felt boards. I would place brightly colored figures backed in felt onto the background. The children would listen, enthralled, as they watched the illustration of the story. A figure of Jesus helped them “see” Jesus and how he acted. It wasn’t the real thing, only a picture, an illustration. Sadly, many people today see Jesus like that–as a picture. They have not seen past the illustration to meet the real Savior. The Old Testament sacrifices were only illustrations of the real thing, mere shadows. If they really removed people’s sins forever, what would this have meant (2)? During the Day of Atonement, the high priest showed the people an object lesson. He symbolically laid their sins on the back of a “scapegoat,” which he sent out into the wilderness, lost forever (Lev. 16:10). This illustrated the removal of humankind’s sins, but it was an illustration, not the real thing. No animal could act as a substitute for people. Only a person–a perfect human–could take away our sins (5-9). And as he was perfect, there is no need to repeat the sacrifice (10).
Apply
Have you laid your sins on the only one who can remove them forever? Confess any sin you’re aware of now.
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, how grateful I am that You did what was needed to take away my sin now and forever.
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