Hebrews 10
10
The Sacrifice of Jesus
1-10The old plan was only a hint of the good things in the new plan. Since that old “law plan” wasn’t complete in itself, it couldn’t complete those who followed it. No matter how many sacrifices were offered year after year, they never added up to a complete solution. If they had, the worshipers would have gone blissfully on their way, no longer dragged down by their sins. But instead of removing awareness of sin, when those animal sacrifices were repeated over and over they actually heightened awareness and guilt. The plain fact is that bull and goat blood can’t get rid of sin. That is what is meant by this prophecy, put in the mouth of Christ:
You don’t want sacrifices and offerings year after year;
you’ve prepared a body for me for a sacrifice.
It’s not fragrance and smoke from the altar
that whet your appetite.
So I said, “I’m here to do it your way, O God,
the way it’s described in your Book.”
When he said, “You don’t want sacrifices and offerings,” he was referring to practices according to the old plan. When he added, “I’m here to do it your way,” he set aside the first in order to enact the new plan—God’s way—by which we are made fit for God by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus.
11-18Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem. As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God and waited for his enemies to cave in. It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process. The Holy Spirit confirms this:
This new plan I’m making with Israel
isn’t going to be written on paper,
isn’t going to be chiseled in stone;
This time “I’m writing out the plan in them,
carving it on the lining of their hearts.”
He concludes,
I’ll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins.
Once sins are taken care of for good, there’s no longer any need to offer sacrifices for them.
Don’t Throw It All Away
19-21So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is his body.
22-25So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.
26-31If we give up and turn our backs on all we’ve learned, all we’ve been given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ’s sacrifice and are left on our own to face the Judgment—and a mighty fierce judgment it will be! If the penalty for breaking the law of Moses is physical death, what do you think will happen if you turn on God’s Son, spit on the sacrifice that made you whole, and insult this most gracious Spirit? This is no light matter. God has warned us that he’ll hold us to account and make us pay. He was quite explicit: “Vengeance is mine, and I won’t overlook a thing” and “God will judge his people.” Nobody’s getting by with anything, believe me.
32-39Remember those early days after you first saw the light? Those were the hard times! Kicked around in public, targets of every kind of abuse—some days it was you, other days your friends. If some friends went to prison, you stuck by them. If some enemies broke in and seized your goods, you let them go with a smile, knowing they couldn’t touch your real treasure. Nothing they did bothered you, nothing set you back. So don’t throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It’s still a sure thing! But you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion.
It won’t be long now, he’s on the way;
he’ll show up most any minute.
But anyone who is right with me thrives on loyal trust;
if he cuts and runs, I won’t be very happy.
But we’re not quitters who lose out. Oh, no! We’ll stay with it and survive, trusting all the way.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Hebrews 10
10
The Perfect Sacrifice
1Since the law has only a shadow of the good things # Col 2:17; Heb 8:5; 9:11 to come, and not the actual form of those realities, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. 2Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, once purified, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5Therefore, as He was coming into the world, He said:
You did not want sacrifice and offering,
but You prepared a body for Me.
6You did not delight
in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings.
7Then I said, “See —
it is written about Me
in the volume of the scroll —
I have come to do Your will, God! ” # Ps 40:6-8; Jr 36:2; Heb 1:6 # Ps 40:6-8
8After He says above, You did not want or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and sin offerings (which are offered according to the law # Mk 12:33; Heb 10:5-6), 9He then says, See, I have come to do Your will. # Other mss add God He takes away the first to establish the second. 10By this will of God, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. # Jn 17:19; Heb 7:27; 9:12
11Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. # Nm 28:3; Heb 5:1 12But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. # Rm 8:34; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; Heb 1:3; 8:1; 12:2; 1Pt 3:22 13He is now waiting until His enemies are made His footstool. # Ps 110:1; Mt 22:44; Mk 12:36; Lk 20:43; Ac 2:34-35; 1Co 15:25; Heb 1:13 14For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified. 15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. For after He says:
16This is the covenant I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put My laws on their hearts
and write them on their minds,
17He adds:
I will never again remember
their sins and their lawless acts. # Jr 31:33-34: Heb 8:10,12 # Jr 31:33-34
18Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
Exhortations to Godliness
19Therefore, brothers, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus, # Eph 2:18; Heb 9:25 20by a new and living way He has opened for us through the curtain (that is, His flesh # Jn 10:9; Heb 9:3,8), 21and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, # Heb 2:17; 4:14 22let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. # Ezk 36:25; Heb 9:14 23Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. # 1Co 1:9; Heb 3:6 24And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, 25not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, # Ac 2:42; Rm 13:11; Heb 3:13 and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Warning against Deliberate Sin
26For if we deliberately sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, # Nm 15:30; Dt 17:12; Heb 6:4; 2Pt 2:20-21; 1Jn 5:16 27but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries. # Is 26:11; Zph 1:18; 2Th 1:8 28If anyone disregards Moses’ law, he dies without mercy, based on the testimony of two or three witnesses. # Dt 17:6; Heb 2:2 29How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, regarded as profane # Or ordinary the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and insulted the Spirit of grace? # Mt 12:31-32; Eph 4:30; Heb 6:6 30For we know the One who has said, Vengeance belongs to Me, I will repay, # Other mss add says the Lord # Dt 32:35 and again, The Lord will judge His people. # Dt 32:35-36; Ps 135:14; Rm 12:19 # Dt 32:36 31It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God! # Mt 16:16; Lk 12:5
32Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings. # Php 1:29-30; Heb 6:4 33Sometimes you were publicly exposed to taunts and afflictions, and at other times you were companions of those who were treated that way. # 1Co 4:9; Php 4:14; 1Th 2:14 34For you sympathized with the prisoners # Other mss read sympathized with my imprisonment and accepted with joy the confiscation of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves have a better and enduring possession. # Other mss add in heaven # Mt 5:12; 1Pt 1:4-5 35So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. # Heb 2:2; 11:26 36For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised. # Lk 21:19; Heb 12:1
37For yet in a very little while,
the Coming One will come and not delay.
38But My righteous one # Other mss read the righteous one will live by faith;
and if he draws back,
I have no pleasure in him. # Hab 2:3-4; Lk 18:8; Rm 1:17; Gl 3:11; Rv 22:20 # Is 26:20 LXX; Hab 2:3-4
39But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and obtain life.
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