Hebrews 10: Encouragements & Warnings to Persevere  

• v.1-4 Old Testament Sacrifice
• v.5-10 Christ’s Sacrifice of Himself
• v.11-18 Christ’s Sacrifice deals with sins and brings forgiveness
• v.19-25 Three Calls to action
• v.26-31 Warnings against disobedience
• v.32-34 Encouragement to remember their testimony
• v.35-39 Encouragement to Persevere

v.1-4 Old Testament Sacrifice

v.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.

v.2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.

v.3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.

v.4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

[Note: Seeking to put all this into a ‘big-picture’ context, we are reminded of the imperfect law. If it had been perfect, the rituals wouldn’t have had to continue. Entering the Most Holy Place once a year reminds of failure, and animal blood can’t remove sins.]

v.5-10 Christ’s Sacrifice of Himself

v.5,6 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings  you were not pleased.

v.7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, my God.’”

v.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.

v.9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second.

v.10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

[Note: Christ’s body was key to our salvation, not offerings. Prophetically he had declared his availability [Psa 40:6-8] and pointed out that meaningless offerings [from empty hearts] weren’t what God wanted. He put aside legalistic but heartless offerings to do God’s will. His will was that Christ alone would atone for us.]

v.11-18 Christ’s Sacrifice deals with sins and brings forgiveness

v.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.

v.12,13 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.

v.14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

v.15,16 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “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.”

v.17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”

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

[Note: Constant sacrifices didn’t stop sinners sinning, but Christ’s offering of himself completed the work, for his sacrifice cleansed and made us perfect in God’s sight. Prophetically he had spoken of new heart people [Jer 31:33] whose sins would have been dealt with and then their acts [Jer 31:34] and, once forgiven, they need no further sacrifice.]

v.19-25 Three Calls to action

v.19-22 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God,  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.

v.23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

v.24,25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 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.

[Note: So now we can come in close to God by Christ’s work, so let’s do it in [1] full assurance of faith and, even more,[2] let’s be secure in our hope, and yet even more, let’s [3] keep encouraging one another, spurring one another on.]

v.26-31 Warnings against disobedience

v.26,27 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.

v.28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

v.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?

v.30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

v.31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

[Note: But watch out, deliberate sin after all this, means we open ourselves up to judgment, because disobeying the law brought death, so how much worse for someone who knows all this and purposely disregards it. God will deal with such people [Deut 32:35,36; Psa 135:14], and that is a fate to be avoided!]

v.32-34 Encouragement to remember their testimony

v.32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering.

v.33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated.

v.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.

[Note: But, to resist that, remember from where you’ve been, your testimony of overcoming suffering, and the persecution and opposition you’ve experienced; you really went through it!]

v.35-39 Encouragement to Persevere

v.35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

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

v.37 For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”

v.38 And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”

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

[Note: So hold on and you’ll be rewarded, and when you persevere, you’ll receive your promised rewards. Jesus is coming soon. [Isa 26:20; Hab 2:3] Don’t forget we’re called to live by faith [Hab. 2:4]. Let’s not be those who draw back but those who press on.]

[Additional Note: The Flow of Writing: The writer continues on this theme of Christ being our high priest sacrificing himself, by first reminding us that the old covenant just didn’t do the job, sacrifices needing to be continually offered (v.1-4), but Christ’s sacrifice was performing God’s will to bring redemption (v.5-10). The old sacrifices needed doing again and again but Christ’s sacrifice was a one-off (v.11-18) that brought forgiveness and cleansing. With all this in mind the writer calls us to draw near to God, be assured of our hope and to encourage one another to keep going (v.19-25). The other side of the coin is to ensure we are not disobedient because apostasy will bring judgment (v.26-31). To help counter such a possibility, he exhorts them to remember their testimony what they have already been through, and not squander it (v.32-34) but instead hold on and persevere and await Christ’s coming (v.35-39). A chapter of further explanation and subsequent encouragements and warnings. It concludes that faith is the key ingredient to enter into and fully experience our salvation, and so the next chapter will remind us of the people who did just that.]  

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