Hebreus 10:5-10

DISCOURSE: 2309
CHRIST SUPERSEDING THE LEGAL SACRIFICES

Hebreus 10:5. When he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt-offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

THERE is not any important truth contained in the New Testament, which was not before revealed in the Old. But we have an advantage over the Jews, in that the obscurity, which was cast over the language of prophecy, is removed by the interpretations of men divinely inspired to explain the sacred oracles. Hence we are enabled to see, what the Jews could never comprehend, though plainly and repeatedly declared to them, God’s determination to abrogate the Mosaic economy, in order to make way for the Christian dispensation. This was declared by David, while the law was yet in full force: and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews both quotes his words in proof of this point, and confirms them by additional declarations to the same effect.
We shall consider,

I. The quotation as explained by the Apostle—

In his comment on David’s words the Apostle throws great light upon,

1. What is expressed in them—

The Psalm beyond all doubt refers to Christ: for it was not possible that David should boast of his own obedience as superseding the law; since a compliance with the law constituted a very essential part of his duty. If it be thought that what is spoken in ver. 12. is adverse to this construction, it must be remembered that the sins of the whole world were Christ’s by imputation [Note: Isaías 53:6.]; and therefore they might justly draw from him that complaint.

In the Psalm David speaks in the person of Christ, whom he represents as addressing the Father to this effect: ‘Thou didst never design the legal sacrifices to take away sin; that office thou hast assigned to me: and I have most willingly undertaken it, nor will ever relinquish my services till I have completed all that I have undertaken.’

That the sacrifices were never ordained to take away sin is plain, from the contempt poured upon them by God himself in comparison of moral duties [Note: 1 Samuel 15:22.Oséias 6:6.]; yes, and absolutely too, if unaccompanied with suitable dispositions in the offerers [Note: Isaías 1:11; Isaías 66:3.].

That Christ was sent into the world for that end appears also from the very first promise made to man, that “the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head [Note: Gênesis 3:15.].”

That he willingly undertook the office is declared by David much more strongly than in the passage as quoted by the Apostle. In the passage as quoted in my text, it is merely said, “I come to do thy will, O God:” but in the Psalm it is written, “Lo, I come; I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea thy law is within my heart.” All which additional expressions shew the zeal with which Christ undertook our cause, and executed the arduous work that was assigned him.

That he would never relinquish it till it was accomplished was also strongly declared in those words, “Mine ears thou hast opened,” which refer to the custom of boring the ear of a servant who refused to be liberated at the day of release, and engaged to abide for ever in his master’s service [Note: Êxodo 21:5.]. The Apostle, in citing the passage, varies it in words, though he adheres to it in sense. He says, “A body hast thou prepared me;” that is, It was necessary to the completion of my undertaking, that I should have somewhat to offer in sacrifice; and therefore thou hast prepared for me a body in the womb of a pure virgin, that being free from the taint and corruption transmitted to all the posterity of Adam, it might be fit to be offered in sacrifice for the sins of the whole world [Note: The Apostle’s meaning is precisely expressed, Filipenses 2:6.].

But, to the inconceivable advantage of the Church, the Apostle brings forth from David’s words,]

2. What is implied in them—

[Here we see the benefit of having an inspired commentator on the Old Testament. No Jew could have conceived all that was designed to be revealed in these words: but we are informed by God himself, that “when it was said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God,” it was designed to intimate, that all the legal sacrifices should be swept away, and the whole Jewish economy be superseded by the Christian dispensation: “He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.” This was an explanation of God’s hidden purpose, an explanation, which no uninspired man could have dared to offer. But in several other parts of this epistle are similar explanations given, and not in a way of conjecture, but of authoritative declaration. Thus, from the mention of a new covenant which God would make with his people, the Apostle infers, “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away [Note: Hebreus 8:8; Hebreus 8:13.].” In another place, having cited God’s declaration that, to those who laid hold on that covenant, their sins and iniquities he would remember no more, he draws this inference; “Now where remission of sins is, there is no more offering for sin; and consequently all the Jewish sacrifices are swept away [Note: Hebreus 10:17.]. Again, in another place having cited the words of the Prophet Haggai, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven,” he says, “This word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things which are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain [Note: Hebreus 12:26.].”]

Thus we have obtained a deep insight into the recondite meaning of our text, and may with confidence proceed to consider,

II.

His declaration founded upon it—

There are two important points which the Apostle deduces from these words of David; namely, that salvation flows,

1. From God’s will as the source—

[Sanctification imports a setting apart of any thing for God. Hence the tabernacle with all its vessels are said to have been sanctified [Note: Êxodo 40:10.]; and Christ himself says, “For their sakes I sanctify myself [Note: João 17:19.]:” and it is in this sense that the term “sanctified” is used in the text [Note: Comp. ver. 14.]: it means a separation for God, in order to eternal salvation.

Now it is solely from the “will of God” thus made known to his Son, and thus fulfilled by him, that any of the children of men are made partakers of salvation. It was not possible for any such plan to have originated with any other than God himself. When God’s dealings with the fallen angels were considered, who would have imagined that man, partaking of their iniquity, should yet be rescued from their doom? Supposing that such a thought could have entered into the mind of man, who could have contrived such a way of maintaining the honour of the Divine government, and of making the discordant attributes of justice and mercy to harmonize in the salvation of man? If such an expedient as the substitution of God’s own Son in the place of sinners could have been devised, who could have dared to propose it to the Deity; or have prevailed upon him to acquiesce in it? The more this is considered, the more will the salvation of man appear to be totally independent of man himself (as far as respects the contriving or the meriting of it), and to be the fruit of infinite wisdom, sovereign grace, and unbounded love [Note: 2 Timóteo 1:9.]. From the first laying of the foundation to the bringing forth of the top-stone, we must cry, Grace, grace unto it [Note: Zacarias 4:6.]

2. From Christ’s sacrifice as the means—

[It might seem that men, under the law, were accepted on account of the sacrifices, which were offered according to the Mosaic ritual. But, not to mention the impossibility that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin [Note: ver. 4.], the very repetition of those sacrifices shewed their insufficiency for the removal of guilt, or for the satisfying of men’s consciences [Note: ver. 1:3.Hebreus 9:9.]. They had no effect but as they led the offerers to the Lord Jesus Christ, or expressed their faith in his all-atoning sacrifice. All who have ever found acceptance with God, whether before the law, or under it, or since its abolition, have been admitted to mercy purely “through the one offering of Jesus Christ.” Nothing but that could ever satisfy Divine justice; nothing but that could ever atone for one single sin: nor can any creature, to the end of the world, ever obtain favour with God, but in consideration of that sacrifice presented to God for us, and pleaded by us as the one ground of our hope [Note: Atos 4:12. 1 Coríntios 3:11.]. Here I cannot but call your attention to the minuteness and force of David’s statement, and to the redoubled force and energy expressed in the Apostle’s citation of it. David enumerates the different kinds of sacrifices, in order to shew, that none (whether those burnt without the camp [Note: Levítico 16:27.], or those consumed on the altar [Note: Êxodo 29:38.], or those of which but a small part was burnt, and the rest was divided between the priest and the offerer [Note: Levítico 7:1; Levítico 7:19. The word “all” includes the offerers. See Levítico 7:15 and Números 18:11.]) were of any avail to take away sin. And twice does the Apostle repeat this enumeration of them, in order the more abundantly to manifest the eternal purpose of God to liberate us from the Jewish yoke, and to establish throughout the world the purer dispensation of the Gospel; so that all, whether Jews or Gentiles, should henceforth “know nothing as a ground of hope, but Jesus Christ and him crucified.”]

Infer—
1.

How vain is men’s confidence in any services of their own!

[To have been baptized in our infancy, to have attended punctually the outward duties of the Sabbath, and to have waited occasionally upon the Lord at his table, are deemed in general satisfactory evidences of our conversion to God, and sufficient grounds for our hope towards him. But, if the whole multitude of legal institutions, framed by God’s own order, and according to a model shewn to Moses in the mount, were of no value as recommending men to God, how much less can the few services which we perform be sufficient to procure us acceptance with him? But it may be said, that moral services are more pleasing to God than ceremonial: true; but we are not told that God willed them, any more than the others, as means of effecting our reconciliation with him. It was the incarnation and death of Christ that God “willed;” and, in a remarkable correspondence with the text, he thrice, by an audible voice from heaven, said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased [Note: Οὐκ εὐδόκησας, ver. 8. with ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα. Mateus 3:17.]. Let every self-righteous hope then be banished; and let us learn to glory in Christ alone [Note: Gálatas 6:14.]

2. What encouragement have all to devote themselves to God through Christ!

[We have the united testimony of Prophets and Apostles that God willeth the salvation of men through the sacrifice of his own Son, and that Christ as willingly offered himself a sacrifice in order to effect their salvation. What more can be wanted but that we go to God in that new and living way, which is so clearly pointed out to us? We can have no doubt of God’s willingness to save, or of the sufficiency of that salvation which he has provided for us. Let nothing then keep us back from God: but let us look to Christ as the propitiation for our sins [Note: 1 João 2:2.], and plead the merit of his all-atoning blood. Thus, sanctifying ourselves in his name, we shall be perfected before God [Note: ver. 14. with Hebreus 9:12.]; being sanctified also by the Holy Ghost, we shall be acceptable in the sight of God and our Father for ever and ever [Note: Romanos 15:16.]