Hebrews: The Daily Discipline of a Devoted LifeSample

You may be feeling a little overwhelmed by now with this very detailed argument of how Jesus the priest fulfills all that the Old Testament ceremonies were pointing to. This passage is the conclusion of an argument the writer began back in chapter 5, and we’re nearly at the end. From 10:19 onwards, the writer stops his exposition and starts his practical application, challenging us to be confident in Christ. But hang in there for one more passage! 

The writer constantly quotes from the Old Testament to prove the supremacy of Christ. The Gospel is as much in the Old as the New Testament (‘the New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed’* ). In verses 5–7 the writer quotes from Psalm 40:6–8 to show that a human being sacrificing himself was the real thing God wanted all along and to which all the Old Testament sacrifices were merely signposts: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me’ (v. 5). 

Even the Old Testament itself seemed to be saying that true forgiveness needs more than the repetitive, never-ending sacrifices and offerings prescribed in the law, and a mysterious human being emerges from Psalm 40 saying, ‘I have come to do your will, O God’ (v. 7) through this ‘body you prepared for me’. Looking back through the lens of the New Testament, we can see how beautifully Christ has fulfilled this psalm – he was given a body precisely so that he could sacrifice himself to deal with our sin. He willingly accepted the call of God to lay down his life, no matter how painful it would be. 

Now that the ultimate sacrifice of Christ has arrived, the writer makes the bold claim that temple sacrifices are therefore obsolete. There is now no point in Jewish priests daily and repeatedly offering ‘the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins’ (v. 11). History records that in AD 70, the Roman legions laid waste to the Jerusalem temple, and temple sacrifices have never been offered since that point – as if God were underlining the truth of Christ’s all-sufficient sacrifice. 

So where does all this leave us today? The writer has an interesting turn of phrase. Christ’s death ‘has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy’ (v. 14). Our redemption is complete through Christ (‘made perfect’), but we are called to grow in holiness every day (‘sanctified’, ESV), to reflect in daily life who we are positionally in Christ. We are justified forever, but sanctification, growing in holiness, is an ongoing process. 

Reflection

How are you doing in the process of sanctification? What is getting in the way? 

*St Augustine, Writings Against Pelagius, chapter 27.