PERFECT AND HOLY
Opening Prayer
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for carrying out your plan for my redemption. Thank you for your Son, who gave himself for me.
Read HEBREWS 10:1–10
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All
10 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.’”[a]
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.
Footnotes
- Hebrews 10:7 Psalm 40:6-8 (see Septuagint)
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Call to mind a time when you had to decide whether or not to do something really difficult or costly. How did you approach the decision? What did you do?This passage continues to compare the different natures of the sacrifices of the old covenant with that of Jesus. The author wrote, with reference to Psalm 40, that God was not pleased with all the animal sacrifices (v. 4)—the implication being that he was pleased with the sacrifice that Jesus made. Another difference was that the animals involved had no choice. Jesus, however, made a personal choice to sacrifice himself on our behalf. The cost of choosing to do that is clearly seen in the accounts of Gethsemane, when he pleaded, ‘Take this cup from me.’ Still he submitted himself to his Father’s will and purpose (Mark 14:36).
I find verse 2 really interesting. It says that for all who have found salvation in Christ (i.e., ‘cleansed once for all’), there is no longer any need to feel guilty for our sins. That’s the difference between Christ’s sacrifice and Old Testament sacrifice. Once dealt with, our transgressions are removed far from us (Psalm 103:12).
Apply
Are there sins from your past that have been forgiven, but continue to weigh on you? Remember that those sins have not only been covered; they have been removed forever.
Closing prayer
Lord God, I lift up to you those I know who are haunted by the memory of past sin, finding it hard to receive forgiveness. Help them to know that complete freedom from guilt is theirs in Christ.
Book and Author Intros
Extras
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