The book of Hebrews tells us many times that Christ has dealt with sin once for all (Heb. 1:3; 2:17; 7:27; 9:26; 10:12). The repeated mention of the fact that Christ, through His sacrifice, has put away sin was necessary because of the strength of the Jewish tradition in the ancient times. The Jews only knew to go to the altar and offer the sacrifice for sin. Daily, the sacrifices for sin were offered; they were also offered yearly on the day of atonement. Thus, the mind of the ancient Jews was occupied with the sin offering. Because of the strength of the Jewish tradition regarding the sin offering, after dealing with the matter of the accomplishment of the sacrifice for sin in chapters seven, eight, and nine, the writer gives us a further conclusion in 10:1-18.
The main point of this supplementary conclusion is that the Hebrew Christians had to realize that none of the sacrifices offered by the Levitical priests could put away sin or perfect the worshippers. Even their Old Testament predicted in Isa. 53:10 and Isa. 53:12 that Christ would come to be the sacrifice for sin, that is, to replace and terminate the Levitical sacrifices. Since Christ, the unique sacrifice, has done this, it would have been foolish for the Hebrew believers to go back to the temple and offer the sacrifice for sin again. Sin has been put away and has become a history. Therefore, 10:18, speaking of sins and lawlessnesses, says, “where forgiveness of these is, there is no longer an offering for sin.” This is a logical conclusion.
In God’s economy, Christ did two main things: He put away sin, which had come in to frustrate God’s eternal purpose, and He imparted Himself into us as the divine life which is working within us and spreading into all the inward parts of our being. The main thought in 10:1-18 is that Christ has put away sin, accomplishing what all the Levitical sacrifices were unable to do. Having put away sin once for all, Christ has now imparted Himself into us as the divine life, so that through the working of this divine life we may become the corporate reproduction of Himself.
The law of the Old Testament was not the reality; it was a shadow of the coming good things (v. 1). These coming good things are what Christ is and does. What the law had could not accomplish anything. It is Christ, the reality of all the shadows in the Old Testament, who has accomplished everything for God’s economy.
The law, by its continual and yearly sacrifices, was unable to perfect those who drew near to God (vv. 1-2). The sacrifices offered according to the law could not purify the offerers’ conscience of sins. However often they offered the same sacrifice for sin, their conscience could never be at peace and they could never be perfected before God.
The sacrifices offered according to the law could not put away sins; rather, they reminded the people of them. Every year on the day of atonement the Jews were reminded of their sins. God’s intention in these sacrifices of shadow was to remind the Jews that they were sinful and that they needed Christ, the Messiah, to take away their sins. According to God’s intention, whenever they offered the sacrifice for sin, they should have looked unto Christ. The law’s sacrifices were just a reminder of their sins, not a purifier of them.
As the law’s sacrifices were a shadow, not the reality, it was impossible for their animal blood to take away sins (v. 4). It is the precious blood of Christ, the real sacrifice for sin, that takes away sins. Therefore, it would have been vain for the Hebrew believers to go back to Judaism to offer sacrifices for sin again.
All the sacrifices offered according to the law were a shadow of Christ. At the fullness of time, Christ came with a body of blood and flesh to replace the sacrifices of the law. In the flesh, He offered Himself to God once for all to take away sins. Verses 7, 9, and 10 tell us that it is the will of God to take away the first, the animal sacrifices of the old testament, so that the second, the sacrifice of Christ of the new testament, might be established to replace the sacrifices of the old testament. Hence, it would have been foolish for the Hebrew believers to go back to offer the animal sacrifices which had already been replaced by Christ.
Christ, as the real sacrifice for sin which has taken away sins, has sanctified us through the offering of His body once for all (v. 10). Sin had separated us from God, but Christ, through His redemption, has separated us from sin and has brought us back to God. This is to sanctify us unto God. Christ has thus sanctified us once for all.
Verse 11 says, “Every priest stands daily, ministering and offering often the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.” The priests in the old covenant stood daily and offered the same sacrifices again and again, because what they offered could never take away sins. Their standing was a sign that the taking away of sins had not been accomplished. It was Christ’s offering of Himself that has accomplished the taking away of sins.
While the old covenant priests stood daily offering the same sacrifices again and again, Christ has put away sin (9:26) by offering Himself to God as the unique sacrifice for sin. Hence, as verse 12 says, He “sat down forever on the right hand of God.” His sitting in heaven is a sign and proof that the taking away of sins has been accomplished. His sitting there is forever. He no longer needs to do anything for sin, for He has done it once for all. His sitting down forever after having offered one sacrifice for sin is in contrast with the priests’ standing daily, offering the same sacrifices again and again.
Verse 14 says that by “one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified.” Although the other sacrifices never perfected anyone, Christ’s unique sacrifice has perfected us forever. Through His offering, Christ has not only sanctified us once for all but also perfected us forever. Through that one sacrifice of Christ, we have not only been separated from sin and brought back to God but also have been perfected before God.
At this point we need to read verses 15 through 17. “And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after having said, This is the covenant which I will covenant with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their hearts and upon their minds I will inscribe them; Then He says, And their sins and their lawlessnesses I will by no means remember anymore.” In this section of the Word, the writer was trying his best to prove to the Hebrew believers that there was no longer any need of offering the sacrifice for sin, because Christ had accomplished the putting away of sins. The problem of sin has been solved. Now he stresses this fact by pointing out that in Jeremiah 31:33 and 34, which he had quoted in chapter eight for the inward law of life, the Holy Spirit also testifies to this effect. In Jeremiah 31:33 and 34, after the Holy Spirit said that God would put His laws upon our hearts, He then said that God would not remember our sins any more. This proves that the Holy Spirit testifies that our sins have been taken away and that the problem of sin has been solved. Not only in Isaiah 53:6, 11, and 12 was there the prediction that Christ would bear our sins, but also in Jeremiah 31 there was the testimony of the Holy Spirit that our sins would be taken away and that God would no longer have any remembrance of them.
According to our natural understanding of the new covenant, the forgiveness of sins is the first item. However, it is the last item, even a supplementary one. The new covenant is mainly concerned with three things: with the law of life which is written into our being; with God being God to us and us being a people to Him; and with the inner ability of knowing God. These three things are eternal. But some brothers and sisters, still remembering their sins, may ask, “What about our sins?” They need a supplement telling them to be at peace about their sins, for God will not remember them any longer, because they all have been taken away by the sacrifice of Christ. Here, in chapter ten, after repeating the main item of the new covenant, the inward law of life, mentioned in chapter eight, the Spirit says that the Lord will by no means remember our sins and lawlessnesses. Since the Lord will by no means remember our sins any more, we should not remember them either. But it is difficult for us to forget our sins. Although God forgives and forgets our sins, and although we may realize that our sins have been forgiven, we cannot forget them. The remembrance of our sins is still subconsciously deep in our being.
What does it mean to forget our sins? It is to consider ourselves as never having sinned. Since believing in the Lord Jesus, have you ever considered yourself to be so sinless? God does. When we go to Him, saying, “Father, I wish to repent of my sins,” He may say, “What are you talking about? Are you not one of My children? None of My children has ever sinned.” To forgive sins means to forget them, to think of them as never having existed. Not only does God forgive our sins; He no longer remembers them. Not only in His administration are our sins put away, but they even have vanished from His memory. In eternity the Father will say, “I have many sons who have never sinned. In My divine memory there is no such thing as sin.” Only God has this kind of forgetfulness. The more we try to forget our sins, the more we recall them. You may still remember the day you stole money from your father. While we still remember it, if we go to our Father about it, we shall discover that He has forgotten it. Hallelujah! Have you ever realized that we all have a share in such a wonderful forgiveness? How marvelous it is! Yet this is just a supplement to the three main items of the new covenant, the most important of which is the law of life. God is our God, and we, His people, have the inner ability to know Him. From now on, we should forget sin and not talk about it. Any local church which still talks about sin is not up-to-date. We must not be a sin-talking church but a life-law-talking church. Sin is history and life is here. We now have the law of life within us.
Since Christ has accomplished the sacrifice for sin and has terminated it, there is no longer any offering for sin (v. 18). This does not mean, as some Christians misinterpret this verse, that if we sin after being saved, there is no longer any offering for our sin and that we will not be forgiven anymore. It means that since Christ has accomplished the offering for sin once for all and has terminated it, there is no longer the need to offer any sacrifice for sin. This was a strong word to the early Hebrew Christians who were considering going back to their old custom of offering the sacrifice for sin. They should have known that the offering for sin had been accomplished and terminated by Christ. Their need was not to go back to the shadow of the animal offerings, but to come forward to partake of the resurrected Christ and enjoy all He had accomplished for them through His offering of Himself to God.
Today we also need to see that our sins have been taken away by the death of Christ and that the problem of sin has been solved once for all. Since sin is over and has become a history, we no longer need to be bothered by it. Our attention must be turned from the Christ on the cross to the Christ in the heavens. We must enjoy the heavenly Christ as our life and all we need in following Him and running the heavenly race. When we enjoy the Christ who is in the heavens, we are truly under the new covenant participating in all the bequests of the new testament. This is the goal of this book.
