Did you ever stop to think, if you are a believer, that Jesus' perfectly obedient life was lived for you? That when God views you through Jesus your representative, he sees you as perfectly pleasing to himself? That is the astounding message of Hebrews 10:4-14.
* * *
The New Testament author of Hebrews says it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin (10:4). "Why is that?" we ask. Because animals, being amoral creatures, are incapable of offering God what he most desires from his human creatures -- an obedient human life, lived in right relationship to the Creator from first to last. If the Israelites had obeyed God in covenant loyalty, there would have been no sacrifices of bulls and goats. Animal sacrifices were remedial -- they were never God's first choice (1 Sam. 15:22; Psa. 51:16-17; Jer. 7:22-23).
The stringent physical qualifications required of a sacrificial animal symbolized the pure life that God had wanted from the person bringing the animal (Lev. 17:11-12). The ritual sprinkling, pouring or smearing of the slain animal's blood reminded the guilty person bringing the animal of the "wages of sin" which he actually deserved to receive (Lev. 4:6, 8; Rom. 6:23). Because the sacrificial animal represented the person who brought it, that individual ritually placed his hands on the animal's head and confessed his sins -- symbolically transferring his guilt to the animal that would take his place (Lev. 4:4). The sacrificial system thus provided a preview of Jesus Christ, the coming "Lamb of God" who would carry away in his own body the sin of the world (John 1:29, 36; 1 Pet. 2:24).
Jesus came into the world to give the Father his first choice, to provide what God had always wanted but had never received -- a life of perfect human obedience, a life lived fully in right relationship with God himself. So Hebrews 10:5-7 quotes Psalm 40:6-8 as if from the mouth of Jesus. "You do not prefer animal sacrifices," he says in effect to God, but "a BODY you prepared for me" -- a human body in which to live a fully obedient human life in right relationship with God. "I have come," says Jesus, "to DO YOUR WILL, O God." In verses 8-9, the author observes that the Psalm mentions two subjects. First he mentions animal sacrifices ("sacrifices and offerings"), then he mentions human obedience ("come to do your will"). Jesus "takes away the first" -- animal sacrifices -- "in order to establish the second" -- perfect human obedience, which was always God's first choice.
Did you ever stop to think, if you are a believer, that Jesus' perfectly obedient life was lived for you? That when God views you through Jesus your representative, he sees you as perfectly pleasing to himself? That is the astounding message of Hebrews 10:4-14.
* * *
Hebrews 10:10 is a gospel gem! The author has already told us that Jesus came to do God's will in a human body -- to offer God the living sacrifice of a sinless and obedient human life. Now he tells us that Jesus' obedience was for our benefit. "By this will" -- this life of perfect human obedience, this life lived fully in right relationship with God according to God's own wishes and desires -- "we have been sanctified [this 'religious' word means to be counted as holy, to be made presentable to a holy God], through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all."
The word "will" (thelema) in these verses means "desire" or pleasure." It is not the word (diatheke) for a "will and testament." The "first" and "second" things mentioned here do not refer to an old and a new law, system or covenant, but to the two subjects being discussed: "first" = animal sacrifices; "second" = faithful human obedience. Jesus lived completely according to God's desires, then offered his human body (in which he obeyed God) to God on the cross. And God accepted Jesus' perfect obedience as the present he had always wanted first from humanity but had never before received -- a human life lived wholly in right relationship with God, a faithful and obedient life from first to last.
Because Jesus represented us in all that he did -- in his perfect doing and in his perfect dying -- God relates to all who trust in Jesus based on the life-record of Jesus' faithful and obedient life. In Jesus' own historical life, God sees everything he ever wanted in human performance and character. And because Jesus represented all who trust in him, God counts us "holy" based on his perfectly-fulfilled "will" as lived out by Jesus our substitute and Savior.
Did you ever stop to think, if you are a believer, that Jesus' perfectly obedient life was lived for you? That when God views you through Jesus your representative, he sees you as perfectly pleasing to himself? That is the astounding message of Hebrews 10:4-14.
* * *
Above all else, in Hebrews (as in the Old Testament), a high priest is one who acts as a representative of all his people. God sees what the high priest does, and he regards it as done by all the people whom the high priest represents. The holy clothing or vestments of the Mosaic high priest from Aaron forward symbolize this truth. The high priest displayed 12 precious stones on his chest and shoulders, engraved with the names of the tribes of Israel (Ex. 28:9-12, 15-21, 28-29). Where he went, all Israel went -- in his person. What he did, his people did -- through his representation. When God accepted the high priest's offerings, he accepted the people whom the high priest represented.
Aaron and his successors also wore a turban with a golden plate on the front, inscribed with the words "Holy to the LORD" (Ex. 28:36-38). Since Aaron and all his descendants were also sinners like us, this was a symbolic or ceremonial holiness pointing to something else. That symbolic holiness was a preview of Jesus Christ, the high priest who was to come. Unlike Aaron and his descendants, Jesus is actually holy in his own life and character. Because Jesus (as high priest) represents all his people, his own holy life counts for all those whom he represents (Heb. 4:15; 7:26-28).
When we take Communion or Eucharist, we consume two elements, not one. These remind us that Jesus offered both his BODY (representing his faithful doing of God's wishes) and also his BLOOD (representing his perfect dying as the atonement for sin). When we eat the bread, we may thank God that Jesus Christ lived a life of perfect obedience -- in our stead and to our account -- and that by it God sees us as holy. When we drink the wine, we may thank God that Jesus Christ died the sinners' death -- in our stead and to our account -- and that by it God forgives all our sins. By Christ's sacrifice offered one time, we are made perfect for all time and eternity (Heb. 10:14). Hallelujah! What a Savior!
To read more about grace through Jesus Christ, click here.