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Heb. 10
December 31, 2009
  
Heb 10:1-39
10:1 FOR SINCE the Law has merely a rude outline (foreshadowing) of the good things to come — instead of fully expressing those things — it can never by offering the same sacrifices continually year after year make perfect those who approach [its altars].
1. The law, with all its ceremonies and sacrifices, was only a shadow of spiritual and eternal good.
2. The Gospel is the image or thing itself, as including spiritual and eternal good.
3. A shadow or general outline limits the size and proportions of the thing to be represented.
a. Such is the Gospel when compared with the law.
b. Such is Christ when compared with Aaron.
c. Such is His sacrifice when compared with the Levitical offerings.
d. Such is the Holy Spirit, ministered by the Gospel when compared with its types and shadows in the Levitical service.
e. Such is the heavenly rest when compared with the earthly Canaan.
4. The law was only the shadow of the incredible blessed things that were to come.
2 For if it were otherwise, would [these sacrifices] not have stopped being offered? Since the worshipers had once for all been cleansed, they would no longer have any guilt or consciousness of sin.
1. These sacrifices had to be continually offered because they referred to Christ.
3 But [as it is] these sacrifices annually bring a fresh remembrance of sins [to be atoned for],
4 Because the blood of bulls and goats is powerless to take sins away.
1. Common sense must have taught them that the blood of bulls and goats could never satisfy divine justice, or take away guilt
a. This is what God intended for them to understand which the following quote from the Psalms proves. (Ps 40:6-8
5 Hence, when He [Christ] entered into the world, He said, Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but instead You have made ready a body for Me [to offer];
1. Jesus said to the Father when he was about to be incarnated that it was never your will that the sacrifices under the law would make atonement for sin, they were only to point out my incarnation and consequent sacrificial death; the body you prepared for me was by miraculous conception in the womb of a virgin according to thy word; The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent.
6 In burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no delight.
1. God could never be pleased with the victims under the law, He could never consider them as atonements for sin.
7 Then I said, Behold, here I am, coming to do Your will, O God — [to fulfill] what is written of Me in the volume of the Book. [Ps 40:6-8.]
1. Anciently, books were written on skins and rolled up.
a. Among the Romans these were called volumina, from Volvo, I roll; the Pentateuch, in the Jewish synagogues is still written in this way.
2. They are two wooden rollers; on one they roll on, on the other they roll off, as they proceed in reading.
3. The books tell of the coming of Christ and His accomplishing the will of God, not only in “the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent, and “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, but in all the sacrifices and sacrificial rites mentioned in the law.
8 When He said just before, You have neither desired, nor have You taken delight in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings — all of which are offered according to the Law —
9 He then went on to say, Behold, [here] I am, coming to do Your will. Thus He does away with and annuls the first (former) order [as a means of expiating sin] so that He might inaugurate and establish the second (latter) order. [Ps 40:6-8.]
1. The offering of Jesus once and for all, He took away the first to establish the second covenant; He took away the first dispensation that he may establish the second;
10 And in accordance with this will [of God], we have been made holy (consecrated and sanctified) through the offering made once for all of the body of Jesus Christ (the Anointed One).
1. There is no name given under heaven among men, by which we can be saved, but Jesus the Christ; we believe in Him, find redemption in his blood, and are sanctified unto God through the sacrificial offering of His body; This is the will of God.
2. God has prepared the Messiah to do His will; to die for men.
11 Furthermore, every [human] priest stands [at his altar of service] ministering daily, offering the same sacrifices over and over again, which never are able to strip [from every side of us] the sins [that envelop us] and take them away —
1. The office of the Jewish priest is here compared with the office of our High priest.
2. The Jewish priest stands daily at the altar repeating the same sacrifices, our High Priest offered Himself once for all, and sat down at the right hand of God.
3. The Jewish priest offered imperfect sacrifices; Our Lord’s sacrifice was perfect; complete.
12 Whereas this One [Christ], after He had offered a single sacrifice for our sins [that shall avail] for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
13 Then to wait until His enemies should be made a stool beneath His feet. [Ps 110:1.]
1. Until all that oppose His high priesthood and sacrificial offering shall be defeated, and acknowledge, in their punishment, the supremacy of His power as universal and that He is the eternal king.
2. These are all those who refused to receive Him as their atoning High Priest.
14 For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy.
1. By Jesus’ death on the cross, He procured the forgiveness of sins, (The perfect sacrifice, no other sacrifice is necessary to cleanse those that have received the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus’ sacrificial offering.
2. These, having received redemption through that blood, have no need of any other offering; this was a complete atonement and title to eternal glory.
15 And also the Holy Spirit adds His testimony to us [in confirmation of this]. For having said,
1. The words are quoted from Jer. 31:33-34 and by this we know Jeremiah spoke by the inspiration of the Spirit of God.
16 This is the agreement (testament, covenant) that I will set up and conclude with them after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint My laws upon their hearts, and I will inscribe them on their minds (on their inmost thoughts and understanding),
1. Those born again would be sanctified and perfected forever through the atonement of Christ.
a. These would be holy for the law would be in their hearts and written on their minds, not just external rites and ceremonies as under the Old covenant.
b. These “peculiar people” would be of holy character and set apart.
17 He then goes on to say, And their sins and their lawbreaking I will remember no more. [Jer 31:33,34.]
18 Now where there is absolute remission (forgiveness and cancellation of the penalty) of these [sins and lawbreaking], there is no longer any offering made to atone for sin.
1. Where sin is pardoned, there is no further need of a sin-offering; every believer on Christ has his sin blotted out and needs no other offering for that sin.
2. There is now no need for another sacrifice, or act, to take away that (sin) which is already taken away, but now, through faith we receive forgiveness through that one sacrifice of our Lord Jesus.
19 Therefore, brethren, since we have full freedom and confidence to enter into the [Holy of] Holies [by the power and virtue] in the blood of Jesus,
1. The apostle now fully shows the superiority of Christ’s priesthood to that of Aaron and his successors and to show what influence the doctrines which he has already stated in this letter should have on the hearts and lives of all who believe on Christ’s work in his life, death, and resurrection.
2. Instead of entering the Holy of Holies with fear and trembling as the earthly high priest did, we, genuine believers, can come to the throne of God with confidence, because we have been justified through the blood of Jesus and have a right to all the blessings of the eternal kingdom in this life and the next.
20 By this fresh (new) and living way which He initiated and dedicated and opened for us through the separating curtain (veil of the Holy of Holies), that is, through His flesh,
1. No human has ever before entered into the heaven of heavens except Jesus in his resurrected state was the first.
a. He thus opened the way to heaven to mankind, His own resurrection to glory being the proof and the promise for us.
2. New and living way: An allusion to the blood of the victim newly shed, uncoagulated, and consequently proper to be used for sprinkling.
a. The blood of the Jewish victims was only good for sacrificial purposes as long as it was warm and fluid, and might be considered still possessing its vitality.
b. If it grew cold, it coagulated, lost its vitality, and was no longer proper to be used sacrificially.
3. Christ, is here represented as newly slain, and yet living, the blood ever considered as flowing and giving life to the world.
4. Christ is living, and ever alive to make intercession for us; therefore is a new and living way.
21 And since we have [such] a great and wonderful and noble Priest [Who rules] over the house of God,
1. The house of God is the Christian church, or all true believers in the Lord Jesus.
2. There is none but the Lord Jesus who can govern the church, and He has never given it into another’s hands.
3. He is over the house, He is the president who instructs, protects, guides, feeds, defends, and saves the flock.
4. Because of this we have confidence that with Him is the fountain of life, and he has all power in the heavens and in the earth.
22 Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water.
1. Sincere heart: deeply convinced of our need of help.
2. Full assurance of faith: being fully persuaded that God will accept us by the sacrificial death of Christ and that Jesus gives us full authority to expect every blessing we need.
3. Have our hearts sprinkled, not our bodies as was the case among the Hebrews.
4. Having that deep sense of guilt which our conscience felt all taken away.
5. The high priest before he entered the inner tabernacle, or put on his holy garments, was to wash his body in water, and the Levites were to be cleansed in the same way.
6. The body cleansed with pure water was an emblem of the purification of the soul by the grace and Spirit of Christ; baptisms.
23 So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word.
1. Original language: Let us hold fast the profession of faith without wavering; He is faithful for that promised.
2. The Greek word for faith is not pistis as in the previous verse but “elpidos” Greek for to anticipate, expectation or confidence.
24 And let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities,
25 Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching.
1. Assemble together is a gathering together of the redeemed of the Lord.
a. This word is used one other time in the New Testament (2 Thess 2:1) and means the gathering together of the redeemed.
26 For if we go on deliberately and willingly sinning after once acquiring the knowledge of the Truth, there is no longer any sacrifice left to atone for [our] sins [no further offering to which to look forward].
1. If we deliberately, for fear of persecution or from any other motive, renounce the profession of the Gospel and the Author of that Gospel, after receiving the knowledge of the truth that Jesus is the promised Messiah, there is no more sacrifice for sin. (Since the Jewish sacrifices are abolished.)
27[There is nothing left for us then] but a kind of awful and fearful prospect and expectation of divine judgment and the fury of burning wrath and indignation which will consume those who put themselves in opposition [to God]. [Isa 26:11.]
1. From this is evident that God will pardon no man without a sacrifice for sin.
28 Any person who has violated and [thus] rejected and set at naught the Law of Moses is put to death without pity or mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. [Deut 17:2-6.]
29 How much worse (sterner and heavier) punishment do you suppose he will be judged to deserve who has spurned and [thus] trampled underfoot the Son of God, and who has considered the covenant blood by which he was consecrated common and unhallowed, thus profaning it and insulting and outraging the [Holy] Spirit [Who imparts] grace (the unmerited favor and blessing of God)? [Ex 24:8.]
1. The punishment that those suffered that rejected the law of Moses was a trifle in comparison to this. (In justice the punishment should be in proportion to the offence.
2. Trampled underfoot the Son of God: Treated Him with the utmost contempt and blasphemy.
3. The blood of the covenant: the sacrificial death of Christ.
4. Insulted the Holy Spirit: Sin against the Holy Spirit which has no forgiveness!!!!!!!!?????
30 For we know Him Who said, Vengeance is Mine [retribution and the meting out of full justice rest with Me]; I will repay [I will exact the compensation], says the Lord. And again, The Lord will judge and determine and solve and settle the cause and the cases of His people. [Deut 32:35,36.]
1. The Lord will judge: the Lord will avenge and vindicate the cause of Christianity by destroying its enemies.
31 It is a fearful (formidable and terrible) thing to incur the divine penalties and be cast into the hands of the living God!
1. To fall into the hands of God is to fall under his displeasure: He who lives forever can punish forever.
2. All the persecutors and enemies of God’s cause and people, may expect the heaviest judgments of an incensed Deity and these, not for a time, but through eternity.
32 But be ever mindful of the days gone by in which, after you were first spiritually enlightened, you endured a great and painful struggle,
33 Sometimes being yourselves a gazingstock, publicly exposed to insults and abuse and distress, and sometimes claiming fellowship and making common cause with others who were so treated.
1. There was tremendous persecution to the churches of God in Judea. (1 Thess 2:14-15)
2. They behaved with great courage, and when others became victims of the persecutions, the rest took their part and acknowledged themselves as believers of the same Gospel for which those victims suffered.
3. Many would have denied their faith and not be exposed to these afflictions, but these were of a courageous and noble spirit.
34 For you did sympathize and suffer along with those who were imprisoned, and you bore cheerfully the plundering of your belongings and the confiscation of your property, in the knowledge and consciousness that you yourselves had a better and lasting possession.
1. They were deprived of their inheritances, turned out of their houses and plundered of their goods.
2. They not only endured this, but they rejoiced in this because they knew they were children of God, and the Spirit Himself bore witness to their spirits that they were heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
3. They had Christ in their hearts, and knew they had a kingdom not of this world.
35 Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward.
1. There is a reference here to cowardly soldiers, who throw away their shields, and run away from the battle.
2. Your shield is your faith in Christ, which gives you the knowledge of salvation; keep it, and it will keep you.
3. The Lacedemonian women, when they presented the shields to their sons going to battle were accustomed to say; “Either bring this back, or be brought back upon it.”
a. This alluding to the custom of bringing back a slain soldier on his own shield, a proof that he had preserved it to the last, and had been faithful to his country.
4. What does God say to us? “Cast not away your confession of faith; this is your shield, keep it, and it will always be your sure defense; for by it you will quench every fiery dart of the wicked one.
5. The church of Christ speaks this to all her sons.
6. Keep the shield and the glories of heaven our yours, this will be your reward; but remember that it is the mercy of God that gives it.
36 For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised.
1. God provides the grace, but we must exercise it.
2. The grace or principle of patience comes from God; the use and exercise of that grace is of ourselves; We must be workers together with God.
37 For still a little while (a very little while), and the Coming One will come and He will not delay.
1. In a short time Messiah will come, and execute judgment upon the rebellious.
38 But the just shall live by faith [My righteous servant shall live by his conviction respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, and holy fervor born of faith and conjoined with it]; and if he draws back and shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight or pleasure in him. [Hab 2:3,4.]
1. He that is justified by faith shall live, (shall be preserved) (refer to Rom 1:17, and Gal 3:11)
2. If any man turns away from this doctrine of the Gospel, and shipwrecks his faith, God’s very heart is grieved by him.
3. As cowards are hated by all men, those that slink away from Christ and his cause, for fear of persecution or worldly loss, grieve the Lord, and will be destroyed according to verse 39.
39 But our way is not that of those who draw back to eternal misery (perdition) and are utterly destroyed, but we are of those who believe [who cleave to and trust in and rely on God through Jesus Christ, the Messiah] and by faith preserve the soul.
1. We are not cowards, but courageous; this form of speech refers to the faithful, the believers.
2. We talked about this before, but it is remarkable that not one Christian life was lost in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem.
3. All the unbelieving Jews and also those who had turned away from Christianity perished; and all genuine Christians escaped with their lives.
4. This important information casts light on many passages in the New Testament, and manifests the grace of God in a very conspicuous way.
5. A prophet gave a revelation to the whole congregation of the church of Jerusalem, that they should depart the city and inhabit a certain city which they called Pella, beyond Jordan.
6. When all these Christians abandoned Jerusalem, the city and that wicked generation who had dealt so wickedly with Christ and His apostles, were utterly destroyed.
7. These Christians that went to Pella, held fast to their faith, preserved their shields, and continued to believe to the saving of their lives as well as the saving of their souls.
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