Hebrews Chapter 10

Replacing Shadows with Realities

¹ The Law has a shadow of good things to come, not the very things themselves; so, by the same sacrifices every year, it can never make the ones perfect that are drawing near. ² Otherwise, wouldn’t those sacrifices have ceased to be offered? The worshipers wouldn’t feel like sinners anymore because they would’ve been cleansed once and for all. ³ But every year the sacrifices remind people that they’re still sinners. ⁴ The blood of bulls and goats can’t take away sins.                                                                                  

Heb 10:1-4

            ⁵ So when he comes into the world, he says,

                        “You didn’t want sacrifice and offering;

                                    you prepared a body for me.

                        ⁶ You didn’t delight in whole burnt offerings

                                    and sacrifices for sins.

                        ⁷ Then I said,

‘God, I’ve come to do your will;

                                                it’s been written about me in the scroll’” [Ps 40:6-8, cp. LXX].

⁸ When he says above, “You didn’t want or delight in sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sins,” which are offered according to the Law, ⁹ then he says, “I’ve come to do your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second. ¹⁰ By that will, the one-time offering of Christ’s “body” has made us holy.                                                                              

Heb 10:5-10

            ¹¹ Every day, priests stand ministering and offering the same sacrifices over and over that can never take away sins. ¹² But he offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down on the right hand of God, ¹³ and is waiting till his enemies become his “footstool.” ¹⁴ By one offering, he permanently perfected the ones he sanctified.

            ¹⁵ The Holy Spirit also testifies. After he said,

             ¹⁶ “This is the covenant I’ll make with them

                                    after those days:

I’ll put my laws in their hearts

                                    and write them on their minds’” [Jer 31:33];

¹⁷ then he says,

                        “‘I won’t remember their sins

and lawless deeds anymore’” [Jer 31:34].

¹⁸ Where there’s forgiveness for sins, there’s no more sacrificing for them.                  

Heb 10:11-18

Obtaining a Clear Conscience

¹⁹ So we have confidence about entering the Holy Place by the blood of Jesus. ²⁰ We go in by the new and living way that he has opened for us through the curtain, that is, his flesh. ²¹ We have a great priest over God’s house; ²² so let’s draw near with a true heart in full confidence that comes from trust. Let’s draw near with hearts sprinkled from a guilty conscience and bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let’s hold onto our hope confidently without wavering; we can trust the One that promised. ²⁴ Let’s think carefully how we can encourage one another to love and good works. ²⁵ Let’s not quit going to church like some do; let’s encourage one another, especially as we see “the time” coming close. ²⁶ If we keep on sinning deliberately after we know the truth, there’s no more sacrifice to be offered. ²⁷ There’s a fearful dread of judgment and the furious fire that will consume God’s opponents. ²⁸ Anybody that disregards the Law of Moses, dies without mercy at the testimony from two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much more severe punishment do you suppose people deserve who trample the Son of God under their feet, regard as unclean the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and insult the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ We know who said,

            “Revenge is my business;

I’ll take care of it” [Deut. 32:35];

      and,

            “The LORD will judge his people” [Deut 32:36; Ps 135:14].

³¹ It’s a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.                                    

Heb 10:19-31

Confidence in Hardships

            ³² Remember the earlier days when you first saw the light and suffered such hardships. ³³ You were publicly shamed with insults and difficulties and shared with other people that were abused that way. ³⁴ You sympathized with people in prison and accepted it joyfully when authorities confiscated your possessions, because you knew you had a better possession that lasts. ³⁵ So don’t lose confidence; an important payment is coming. ³⁶ You need to hang in there so, once you’ve done God’s will, you’ll obtain the promise,

                        ³⁷ “In a little while

                                    the One that’s coming will come,

                        ³⁸ and my righteous one will have life by faith.

If he gives up,

                                    I won’t be pleased with him” [Hab 2:3-4].

³⁹ We aren’t among those who “give up” and get destroyed; we have “faith” to the preserving of our “life.”        

Heb 10:32-39