Meditationen am Gnadenstuhl: Easter Tuesday - Hebrews 10:4-18

Tuesday after Easter

Daily Lectionary Readings: Exodus 15:19-16:12; Hebrews 10:1-18; (Sirach 34)

Hebrews 10:4-18:

[4] For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

[5] Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,

but a body have you prepared for me;

[6] in burnt offerings and sin offerings

you have taken no pleasure.

[7] Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,

as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

[8] When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), [9] then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

[11] And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. [12] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, [13] waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. [14] For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

[15] And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,

[16] “This is the covenant that I will make with them

after those days, declares the Lord:

I will put my laws on their hearts,

and write them on their minds,”

[17] then he adds,

“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

[18] Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. (ESV)

Hebrews 10:4-10 Christ’s Sacrifice Replaces the Law’s Offerings

v.4 The blood of animals cannot remove sins. The conscience remains convicted. The sacrificial system was only a partial temporary pardon with guilt and shame remaining.

v.5-9 Verses 5-7 quotes Psalm 40:6-8. Sin requires death, and the Law does not solve the problem. The sin of a man requires the death of a man. Therefore, note that God never intended the old covenant sacrificial system to address our sin. Instead, the Lord intended to create a human body through the Spirit for the Son to become incarnate. In this body, the Son does the will of the Father. Therefore, Christ becomes a sacrifice that pleases the Father and, in laying down His life, provides a complete solution for sin.

V.10 We are sanctified (made holy) by the sacrifice of Christ, once and for all. We offer nothing in contribution, only belief. Nothing else is acceptable to God but the death of a man – either your own or Christ's.

Hebrews 10:11-18 Christ Perfects Us By His Single Sacrifice

v.11 Reinforcement of the repeated theme that the liturgical service of the Old Covenant priests could never completely remove sins.

v.12-13 Whereas Christ is portrayed in high priestly and kingly language, enthroned after His offering Himself as a single sacrifice for all sins. From conception to enthronement was an offering for sin.

v.14 We are perfected, then, for all time for liturgical service. Remember all that stuff about consecrating priests in the Old Testament? Now we are consecrated priests – able to draw near to God in the divine service directly and continue to be sanctified by the frequent reception of the Means of Grace.

v.15-17 The preacher recalls the prophecy of Jeremiah 31:31-34 seen before in Hebrews 8:8-12. The Holy Spirit bears witness to what Christ has achieved. Therefore, Scripture is inspired by Him. The Spirit bears witness to us through the Old Testament, and the prophesied promises are granted to us. God does not remember sin – after Christ, He does not hold it against us. What was promised through Jeremiah is delivered in the Divine Service as we hear God speak and write the Law upon our hearts. And where sins are forgiven, there is no longer any offering for sin. There is nothing for God to remember, punish, or condemn; therefore no stain on their conscience.

v.18 Referral to the Jubilee Year – amnesty from all debts and release from all indebtedness, including indenture (see Leviticus 25:9-10). The Jubilee is a type of the once for all sacrifice of Christ.