READ: Heb. 10:1-18: … ‘Behold, I have come—In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God … For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. .. then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
The writer is eager to emphasize the glory of Christ as the High Priest. Our salvation depends on His offering! It is essential to realize that Christ came to earth specifically for this purpose, to bring His offering to fulfill God’s will. Christ says upon His arrival in the world (v.6), “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.”
It is not that Christ became a victim of humanity, but God desired His death. He received from God a body to offer it in obedience. The writer derives verses 5-9 from Ps. 40:7-9. Christ’s obedience is also evident in “You have pierced my ears” (Ps. 40:7); His ears were opened to be obedient, see Is. 50:5.
Christ came to replace and fulfill all imperfect animal sacrifices with the one offering of His body. In doing so, He puts an end to the repetitive, shadowy sacrificial system. Verse 9: He takes away the first to establish the second.
With His one offering of His body, Christ has paid for sins definitively: they are gone before God (vv.17,18). Moreover, He sanctifies His own through it, that is, He redeems and purifies them to be a holy people, set apart, fitting for God, and dedicated to His service (vv.10,14).
This process of sanctification will continue through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit (v.15ff). But it is the one offering of Christ that underpins all of this: by one offering He has perfected – that is glorified – forever those who are sanctified (v.14). Thus, Rom. 8:30 can say, “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
How sure are you of your justification?
Singing: Ps. 40:3