Hebrews 10:4

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

The fact which has stood out in the entire discussion till now, namely, that all the acts of worship in the Old Testament cult were only figurative, symbolical, typical, is here restated in order to stress the finality of Christ's one sacrifice: For the Law, having merely a shadow of the good things to come, not the actual figure of the things, can never make perfect, with the same sacrifices which they offer year by year perpetually, those that draw near. The Law with all its rites, ceremonies, sacrifices was but a shadow of the really good things to come in and with Christ; what it offered was inadequate, unsubstantial. With the appearing of Christ the better covenant was ushered in, for He brought the reality, in Him salvation was realized. In the Old Testament, indeed, the coming of the great spiritual blessings was intimated and prophesied, and the believers placed their hope of salvation in the Messiah that was to be manifested. But they were still obliged, year after year and generation after generation, to bring the same sacrifices, to renew their offerings, to expiate their sins by symbolical acts, to reconcile the God of the covenant through the blood of bullocks and goats, all of which, in itself, could not make the worshipers perfect, just as no repetition of the shadow can amount to the substance.

To emphasize this truth, the writer asks: Otherwise they would surely have ceased to be offered; because of the no longer having a consciousness of sins the worshipers that were once cleansed. If the worship, the sacrifices, the offerings of the Old Testament had succeeded in making the people that partook in them perfect, if they had actually been cleansed from their sins and of the consciousness of guilt, then they certainly would not have sought a renewal of the sacrifices year after year. It was because the entire cult of the Jews had power only in so far as it foreshadowed the perfect sacrifice of Christ that it was of any benefit at all. Being, however, only a type, the annual repetition of the sacrifices of atonement became necessary.

It remains true, then, as the author concludes: But in them there is a remembrance again of sins every year, for it is impossible that the blood of bullocks and of goats should take away sins. The sacrifices being unable in themselves to work perfection in the worshipers, their annual repetition became really an annual reminder of sins. The writer seems to have in mind especially the great Day of Atonement, on the tenth day of the seventh month in the Jewish year. On that day, in the most solemn and impressive Temple service in the entire year, the trespasses of the entire people were confessed before the assembled multitude, their sins were ever again recalled to their mind. The sacrifices of the day mere able to symbolize, to point forward to, the one perfect Sacrifice which took away the sins of the world; but they themselves were not able to produce this glorious effect. They were insufficient, inadequate; they could not remove the guilt that burdened man's conscience. The Old Testament believer that wanted to be sure of his salvation could reach this happy state only by trusting in the coming Messiah.