Hebrews 10 – Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Hebrews 10:1-4

1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshippers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

A. Find Out:

1. What was the Law? v.1a
2. What couldn’t it do? v.1b
3. What would have happened if it could? v.2
4. But what was the sacrifice? v.3
5. Why? v.4

B. Think:

1. What good was the Law?
2. Yet what couldn’t it do?
3. So why do you think the writer is saying all this?

C. Comment:

      When you have lived with something for so long, to accept change means you have to hear about the new thing over and over again. That is why the writer goes round and round this subject, tackling it from every angle.

     He goes back to the subject of the ineffectiveness of the old law of offerings. There were some good things about the Law: it was a means of reminding people that they were sinners and needed God’s forgiveness, it was a means for them to come to God, it was a means for them to obey God. Yet on the other side, the Law was ineffective because they had to keep on bringing the annual sacrifice of atonement, because they were still the sinners they were before.

     The apostle Paul targets this problem in the book of Romans when he tells us in chapter 7 that for all his struggling he just cannot stop doing what he wants to stop doing. In fact, the more he focuses on the wrong the more unable he was to deal with it.

    For the Christian, focusing on a particular sin is not the means of overcoming it. Realising that Christ has dealt with it, committing it to him and walking away from it and focusing on the positives of life and rejoicing in the wonder of the relationship with Christ, is the Christian’s way of overcoming those things. Trying to keep the rules is not the answer, focusing on a relationship with Christ is!

D. Application:

1. Focusing on a sin only strengthens its hold on you.
2. Christ alone can deliver us. He already has! Now enjoy his life.

Passage: Hebrews 10:5-10

5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
    but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
    you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, “Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll –
    I have come to do your will, my God.”’

8 First he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them’– though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, ‘Here I am, I have come to do your will.’ He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

A. Find Out:

1. What had God not wanted? v.5a,b,6
2. What had God done for Christ? v.5c
3. So why did Christ say he had come? v.7
4. So what was being rejected? v.8
5. With what aim in mind? v.9
6. With what outcome, and how? v.10

B. Think:

1. How, in these verses, was the old being rejected?
2. How, in these verses, was Christ to do God’s will?
3. So what was the outcome?

C. Comment:

     It’s as if the writer having stated various principles more than once, now goes into “the small print”, to spell out detail. He’s just said that the old sacrificial system was only a shadow of the coming reality, and that it had not been able to take away sins.

     Now the writer quotes psalm 40, using it as a prophetic utterance of the Messiah. In it he shows that God Himself had known that the sacrificial system did not get to the heart of man, it merely provided a ritual for man to perform to express a reality. When king Saul appeared “religious” (1 Sam 15:15 ,21-23), Samuel declared that God wanted obedience rather than sacrifice. For all of us, the warning is clear: God will not bless our “religious acts” (ritual), He will only bless our obedience. Obedience is the key issue, not sacrifices!

     Instead of yet more sacrifices, God gave His Son a physical body (to offer as a sacrifice) when he came to earth. With that body Christ was to do God’s will, and that was to lay down his life (see also Phil 2:7,8) for the sins of all who would come to him. Thus it is the death of Christ alone that makes men holy, not any religious acts that they might perform. Our part is simply believing that truth. When we believe, then Christ’s sacrifice becomes operative for us. We are then saved.

D. Application:

1. “Being religious” does not help a person become a Christian.
2. Trusting in Christ’s death alone makes us a Christian.

Passage: Hebrews 10:11-18

11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy.

15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

16 ‘This is the covenant I will make with them
    after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
    and I will write them on their minds.’

17 Then he adds:

‘Their sins and lawless acts
    I will remember no more.’

18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

A. Find Out:

1. What did the old priest do? v.11
2. What did the new priest (Jesus) do? v.12
3. What is he now doing? v.13
4. What has he achieved? v.14
5. What has the Holy Spirit done? v.16
6. And what has God done with what effect? v.17,18

B. Think:

1. How is the old and new contrasted by activity?
2. How is the old and new contrasted by outcome?
3. What additionally has been done?

C. Comment:

     Ploughing the same ground yet again, the writer keeps on punching in the truth.

    First, the activity and outcome of the old system: the priest carried on day after day doing the same thing, bringing sacrifices on behalf of the people, yet their sins were not removed, and the people carried on doing them and so needed to come back yet again to offer yet another sacrifice. It was an endless circle of sacrifice, awareness, failure and further sacrifice. 

    Second, the activity and outcome of the new priesthood: Jesus came and offered a once-and-for-all sacrifice of himself, and his death had the effect of bringing both forgiveness and the possibility of a power-relationship. Knowing we are forgiven, and having the power put within us, releases us from the constant worry of the past and enables us to positively live in the present and future. The Holy Spirit has come to dwell within us and He teaches us what is right and wrong, and He empowers us to live for, and serve, God. His presence within is the means by which we overcome today.

   The message the writer to the Hebrews conveys again and again to the Jewish-Christian community is very powerful: don’t go back to the old because the greater new has come!

D. Application:

1. In God’s eyes we have been made perfect by Christ’s death.
2. The Holy Spirit is in the process of making us holy.

Passage: Hebrews 10:19-25

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

A. Find Out:

1. What is the first ground of confidence that we havev.19,20
2. What is the second ground of confidence? v.21
3. What is the first thing we are encouraged to do & why? v.22
4. What is the second thing we’re to do, and why? v.23
5. What is the third thing we’re to do? v.24
6. What’s the fourth thing we’re to do? v.25a
7. What’s the fifth thing we’re to do? v.25b

B. Think:

1. What are the grounds for confidence that we have?
2. What are the consequences in respect of God?
3. What are the consequences in respect of others?

C. Comment:

    If you search through Hebrews looking up all the exhortations, you will find plenty in chapters 2 to 6 but a dearth in chapters 7 to 9. This is because those latter chapters and the first half of chapter 10 are doctrinal argument. That’s why today’s reading starts with “Therefore”. All that follows is based on what’s gone before.

    Because (1) Jesus has opened the way to heaven for us by his shed blood, and because (2) he is our high priest who speaks on our behalf, we therefore have the confidence to come to God. If perhaps we take this for granted, this ability to come to God in prayer without fear but confidently, we need to read the previous chapters again.

    We should hang on to this hope that we have of sharing eternity with Him, because it is a sure hope built on a strong foundation (the previous chapters).

   But there is also a person-to-person outcome of all this as well. There are 5 “let us” exhortations in these latter verses and 3 of them are to do with being part of the church. We are: 1. to stir one another on, 2. to ensure we keep meeting together, and 3. to encourage one another. The isolated Christian cannot be stirred on to greater things, the isolated Christian becomes discouraged. No we need each other.

D. Application:

1. Christ has opened the way into God’s presence.
2. Christ has also opened the way into each other’s hearts.

Passage: Hebrews 10:26-31

26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

A. Find Out:

1. What does continual sinning mean? v.26
2. What can be expected? v.27
3. What happened under the law of Moses? v.28
4. What 3 descriptions are given of present-time sinning? v.29
5. What had the Scriptures said? v.30
6. So what conclusion does the writer make? v.31

B. Think:

1. What sort of sin is mentioned at the beginning of these verses?
2. What is the clear warning that follows?
3. 3. How are old and new covenants compared and used?

C. Comment:

     From exhortation we now move again to clear warning. The book of Hebrews has warning after warning and this one is reminiscent of that found in chapter 6.

     Observe first it is a warning against DELIBERATE RECURRING sinning, not against an occasional misdemeanour where the enemy has tricked us. No, this refers to a deliberate act of the will to consciously go against God and do what is known to be wrong. How do we know if it is wrong? If the word of God says so! Very often your conscience will also tell you (but that isn’t infallible, you can sear your conscience by constant abuse so it is no longer effective).

     So what are the consequences of this deliberate ongoing rejection of God? Very simply, there is no sacrifice that covers that sort of sin. These persons have consciously made themselves enemies of God and therefore all they can expect is the eternal destiny of an enemy of God! Don’t come up with anything about a harsh God here, for this is a clear and deliberate rejection of God by the sinner. They make the choice! They reject Jesus, they reject his sacrifice for them, they reject the Holy Spirit who seeks to draw them back.

    No, be quite clear, this person has foolishly rejected their entire inheritance. It’s their fault!

D. Application:

1. Deliberate sin is outright rebellion and rejection of God.
2. Such ongoing rebellion has only one end, and it’s not in heaven!

Passage: Hebrews 10:32-39

32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For,

‘In just a little while,
    he who is coming will come
    and will not delay.’

38 And,

‘But my righteous one will live by faith.
    And I take no pleasure
    in the one who shrinks back.’

39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

A. Find Out:

1. What does he ask his readers to remember? v.32
2. What had happened to them? v.33a
3. What had they also done? v.33b,34
4. So what does he exhort them to do? v.35,36
5. What encouragement does he give? v.37
6. How will the righteous live and what warning does he give? v.39

B. Think:

1. What picture of their early Christian life is given?
2. How does the writer use that as an encouragement to go on?
3. What further forms of encouragement does he give?

C. Comment:

     Moving on from giving a severe warning against falling away into apostasy, the writer now uses various other forms of encouragement to stir his readers to go on in the faith.

     First he LOOKS BACK. He reminds them of the earliest days of their faith, how they stood for the Lord despite the opposition. They had been publicly insulted, even persecuted, even had their property taken away and some put in prison. Being a Christian had been tough, but they had stood against these things. They had put up with all those things simply because they knew that what they had was better than all of the things the world could offer. Very well, implies the writer, if you went through all that and survived, don’t be put off now.

     Next he LOOKS FORWARD. Look, he says, if you hang on you will be rewarded by God, you will receive all that God has promised His children, and not only that, remember that the Lord himself will be returning sometime as well, so you want to be ready for him when he comes. Remember, you’ve been called to a life of faith.

     For each of us we need to be encouraged by these two aspects. First we can look back and remember and give thanks for all that God has done for us so far, but remember, there’s much more to come which will yet be rewarded by God!

D. Application:

1. God has provided for you thus far. Give thanks.
2. God has much more to give you yet. Be in anticipation.