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Never Enough (10:1-4)
The old covenant, the priesthood, and the sacrifices – all based on the Law – are the parable. They were “a symbol for the present time” (Hebrews 9:9). However, cast on their pages was a shadow of the good things to come. The Law didn’t contain the good things – grace, forgiveness, eternity, and so on – in and of itself but the light of God cast a shadow of the reality in heaven onto the pages of the Old Testament Law or the Torah.
Since the Law didn’t contain the good things, it could “never perfect the worshipers” because “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1, 4). The sacrifices didn’t have the power to cleanse our conscience and purify our inner self; only the blood of Jesus could do that. Again, the Old Testament was a time when “gifts and sacrifices [were] offered that cannot perfect the worshiper’s conscience” (Hebrews 9:9). But, “how much more will the blood of the Messiah... cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:14).
The sacrifices were necessary, though, because “in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year” (Hebrews 10:3). God gave the Law as a definition for sin and to reveal the regulations required to atone for sin. Consider this hypothetical situation with me… After revealing the nature of sin and the method of atonement, God could have left it at that until the time came for Jesus to come to earth. However, by having the people make the sacrifices day after day, their sins were ever before them. Year after year, as the high priest entered the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement, they were reminded of their sinful position before Holy God and their desperate need for salvation.
Jesus left a similar reminder for us today. The days of the Old Testament sacrifices are long behind us. And yet, Jesus called us to remember another sacrifice when He said, “This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19). With each Lord’s Supper, each cup reminds us of His poured out blood and every bit of bread remembers His broken body. We humbly remember Him in that moment as the weight of our own sin reveals the inadequacy of our works and our desperate need for salvation.
Jesus is Enough (10:5-10)
King David figured out a lot of stuff before his time; this is one of those times. The Spirit inspiring him to write as he did may have had something to do with it as well. Either way, Jesus – the Word made flesh – spoke through His ancestor David in Psalm 40. The author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 40:6-8 here in chapter 10.
David knew the sacrifices and offerings didn’t satisfy a righteous God; they would never atone for sin. Only the Savior who came to do the will of the Father would satisfy the need for atonement for sin. Only the sacrifice of the Son would fully cleanse and forgive us from sin’s filth.
David figured this out long before Jesus was born. Even still, many of us today don’t get it. We may not offer animal sacrifices to atone for our sin but we still try to attain salvation through works. Even many who believe in salvation by faith fall into the trap of adding works to their salvation. They formulize…
- Grace plus right behavior will give me eternal life.
- Grace plus tithing a certain amount will lead to salvation.
- Grace plus not doing bad things will grant me God’s favor.
- Grace plus serving in ministries will earn me a spot in heaven.
No, no, no! Grace plus nothing. Period. We can’t add anything to it. The Messiah alone purifies us because that is the will of the Father which Jesus established when He took away the time of the sacrifices. “By this will of God, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all” (Hebrews 10:10).
His Victory is More than Enough (10:11-14)
The sacrifices served as a constant reminder. The priests sacrificed day after day, year after year, even though those sacrifices would never clean away the filth sin left upon our hearts and minds. Not so with Jesus, though. He sacrificed one time and the job was done. “‘It is finished!’ Then bowing His head, He gave up His spirit” (John 19:30). And unlike any other priest in the history of the Jewish priesthood, He sat down after making the sacrifice because for the first time, the Priest completed the work of sin’s atonement.
“He is now waiting until His enemies are made His footstool” (Hebrews 10:13). Permit me a moment of humorous honesty here. The New Testament is full of references to Jesus completed sacrificial work leading to the establishment of His enemies as His footstool. I guess I always pictured this as a reference to Jesus kind of kicked back and relaxed with His feet propped up. The only mental picture I know in our current culture for a footstool is a piece of furniture also known as an ottoman. I started wondering this week, however, if the Old Testament used this phrase in a different way than how we use it today. After all, we should use the Old Testament to understand the New, not modern day culture.
My suspicions were correct. A footstool has nothing to do with furniture. The cultural idea is to stomp on something with the foot. Similar words mean to crush an item with the foot or to stomp it into pieces. Most commonly, a victor would place his foot upon the neck of the enemy after battle as a sign of triumph and defeat of the enemy.
The Old Testament refers to a footstool six times. At first glance, though, none of them seem to refer to placing one’s foot on the neck of the enemy as a sign of victory. They all refer to the Ark of the Covenant and/or the Most Holy Place as the Lord’s footstool. For example, look at the first time it’s used, “Then King David rose to his feet and said, ‘Listen to me, my brothers and my people. It was in my heart to build a house as a resting place for the ark of the Lord’s covenant and as a footstool for our God’” (1 Chronicles 28:2; for other uses read Psalm 99:5, 110:1, 132:7; Isaiah 66:1-2; and Lamentations 2:1).
Although possibly not evident at first, I see a gut-wrenching connection between the cultural use and the Scriptural use. A connection that fits right in with all we’ve learned through this study in Hebrews.
The temple… the Most Holy Place… the Ark of the Covenant… down to the mercy seat of God… is where God stamped His foot upon the neck of His enemy and declared His victory over sin and death. Satan was defeated when Jesus shed His blood upon the mercy seat of God in the true tabernacle before God’s presence.
Let’s bring this up to modern day. The temple is destroyed; we don’t know where the Ark is hidden away. Remember though, that our priestly service remains because our body is the temple of the Spirit of God (Romans 12:1, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17). Friend, Jesus will stomp on the neck of sin and death in your life! He defeated them to no longer control you or have power over you. His blood purified you inside and out once and for all. In the end, He will – in all His power and majesty; Jesus is not a wimp! – stomp His foot on the neck of Satan and powerfully declare, “You are defeated. You have no power over this life anymore because she is Mine and is covered by My blood.”
“Death has been swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).
No More – Enough is Enough (10:15-18)
Whew. Ok, that last part was intense but we have to push on to the end.
The Holy Spirit confirms the testimony that all of this is true. The New Covenant, as presented in Jeremiah 31:33-34, contains five parts. We studied them in an earlier section. The last two parts of the covenant affirm that He will grant us mercy when we distort and twist His truth and He will grant us grace even though we mess up every time we try to live right. “Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:18). Once and for all, God forgives and cleanses us from every type of sin because of Jesus’ sacrifice. Nothing we can offer, no sacrifice we can make, no work we can try to accomplish will ever add to that. The work is done.
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