Hebrews 10:1-18
Have any of you seen the movie “Ground-hog Day.” It is a comedy about an arrogant weatherman played by Bill Murrey, who gets stuck on Ground-hog day in Puksatony, Pennsylvania. He hates it. Every day he gets up and it is the same day, the alarm clock is playing the same Sonny and Cher song, “I got you Babe.” It’s winter outside and everyone does the same thing they did yesterday, because it’s not really yesterday, it’s the same day over and over again. After a while he tries to kill himself, and he does! But still he keeps waking up again to Ground-hog day anyway. Finally, after years of the same day, he gets it right. He learns the lesson of humility and the spell is broken. He is set free from the unending reliving of the same day.
Have you ever thought about all the things you and I have to do over and over and over again? Laundry, dishes, taking out the garbage, getting a haircut, housework, brushing your teeth, and listening to the same preacher every Sunday… the list continues on and on.
I remember hating to mow the grass as a kid. We had a section of yard that was over the leech field and it used to grow grass like crazy. You could practically watch the grass grow. It had to be mowed again every three days it seemed to me. Over and over and over until finally winter came and set me free for a season.
There are many things we do that we must do over and over, but there are some things that we only get one shot at. Some things only happen once in a lifetime. In fact, the very rarity of them makes them uniquely valuable and outstanding. This contrast is how the Hebrew writer depicts the value of Jesus’ sacrifice in comparison with the Old Covenant sacrifices. The endlessly repeated sacrifices of the Old Covenant could never accomplish what the precious once for all, forever sacrifice of Jesus did completely. What the old sacrifices actually did was foreshadow the once for all, forever offering of Christ.
Look at Hebrews 10:1-4
1For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
Jenny’s dad is a big photographer. He takes pictures all the time and Jenny’s folks have several pictures of the kids and grandkids up all over the house. Pictures are great, but the very best picture can never replace the person it depicts, but it’s job is to represent that person and bring that person to mind. Just as the sacrifices of the Old Covenant depicted something beyond themselves that they could never replace. It wasn’t a shadow of God’s grace that saved us, but the very presence of God in Jesus Christ full of grace and truth who came to save us. All the blood of all the animal sacrifices of all the hundreds of years could do nothing to take away a single sin. They were never intended to. They were pointing beyond themselves to the perfect sacrifice with perfect blood.
Now the Hebrew writer shows that the Old Testament foretold this all along. Listen to verses 5-10.
5Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:
“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
But a body You have prepared for Me.
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
You had no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—
In the volume of the book it is written of Me—
To do Your will, O God.’ ”
8Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), 9then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Let me ask you a question. If God didn’t want sacrifices and offerings, why did he command them in the first place? I mean, God did inspire Moses to command that Israel offer sacrifices and he specifically detailed who and how and when and what and where they were to be offered. Sacrifices were not optional in the worship of the Old Covenant. They were central. They were foundational to cleansing and forgiveness. So what is going on when the Old Testament also says that God did not desire them nor did they please him.
You already know don’t you? We’ve already said it. God was picturing what he was going to do. God never intended for the animal sacrifices to take care of sin. He had a much greater plan for a much better sacrifice. One that would actually do what these only pictured. In other words, these sacrifices were actually for the benefit of the people, not for the removal of sin against God. The ritual of doing these over and over were important as a reminder and as a prophecy of what God would do that the people could never do. And he did it! Jesus was given a body to do God’s will and to establish a will that would remove all sins of all time for all who put their trust in God under the old covenant and now also under the new covenant established in Christ.
By the way, we who live on this side of the cross where the new covenant stands, are still practicing over and over and over a picture of Jesus sacrifice aren’t we? What am I talking about? What do we do every Sunday that proclaims his death? The bread and the cup! The Lord’s supper! Can eating this bread and drinking this fruit of the vine take away your sins? No. But it reminds us of when our sins were paid for. We still need pictures and reminders don’t we. We easily forget. I think that there is only one act of worship that you do and I do only one time. Do you know what it is? The Bible says, there is one Lord, one faith and one… baptism. Eph. 4:6. This is the once for all, forever act of obedience that Jesus commanded us to do in faith, which represents his death, burial and resurrection. In this simple act we embrace the benefits of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for us. It is the only act of worship in the Bible that comes with these words:
1 Peter 3:21-22 And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you – not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience – through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him.
Just think of it. Jesus death as a sacrifice for your sins and mine is available for anyone who would receive it in faith and baptism in Jesus’ name. Could anything be simpler? And yet could anything be more profound? A once for all, forever event is received in a once in a lifetime corresponding act of obedience. After which Jesus death for our sins is remembered in a weekly observance of a simple but profoundly significant meal and a celebration of fellowship.
Look at Hebrews 10:11-18
11And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. 15But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, 16“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 18Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
The priest stood doing his work. There were no seats in the tabernacle. The whole system of the Old Covenant was unending in labor. This signified that the sacrifices would never be completed. They would never take care of the sin problem.
But Jesus has a seat. He is the only priest who ever finished the job of sacrificing. His seat is right there with God. Now he waits. There are two classes of people mentioned in the verses that follow.
1. There are the enemies who are ultimately crushed under his feet
2. There are those he has perfected forever, who are being sanctified. These are they who receive the blessing of the new covenant.
A. He puts his laws into their hearts and in their minds
B. He remembers their sins no more
The offerings for sin are over. The day of opportunity to be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, the one true sacrifice is here. As time rolls by all are classified as either the enemies or the forgiven. Which side will you find yourself on? It all depends on your response to the once for all, forever sacrifice.
