Beginning at verse one, the law through Moses is explained by contrasting it with the heavenly. The law provides only a shadow of good things to come. They are not the true image of those “good things.” For that reason, those who approach the law, which provides only the band-aide solution of yearly sacrifices, can never obtain perfection. Had any person obtained perfection thereby, the sacrifices would have ceased to be offered. With the goal of perfection obtained, there is no longer a need for purging. The effective sacrifice purges once, and after that, the worshiper has no more “conscience of sins.” It is precisely on the issue of “conscience of sins” that worldly sacrifices fail. As verse three explains, worldly sacrifices retain the “remembrance” of sins from year to year. The conclusion, found in verse five, is that it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to abolish sin.
The author turns his attention to the area of redemption where it rises above the law. The author uses the 'law and prophets,' the written word of God, to make his case against the law. This is seen in verses five through nine. Referring to Psalms 40:6-8, we are shown the establishment of a new plan. We are shown the advent of the one who is written of in “the volume of the book.” Through the prophet, David, the son of God converses with God. It is the son who says to the father, “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.” All of the sacrifices and burnt offerings, according to the son of God, were offered by the law.
Compare Hebrews to Psalms. “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” We clearly see the point the author is making in verse nine. The point is this: the son of God took away the first and established the second. “Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God,” is the author's paraphrasing of Psalms 40:8.
Verse ten uses the phrase, “By the which will,” establishing a predetermination on the parts of God and his son, as shown through texts the Hebrews, themselves, used commonly to establish truth. The author's point was that old testament truth established new testament truth. Put in modern thought, Jewish truth proves Christian truth, that truth being that we are sanctified, once for all time, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.
Continuing at verse eleven, the author shows us that even though the worldly priest does his work daily, even though he sacrifices the same animals over and over and over, his work will never permanently erase sin. In stark contrast, Jesus, with his single sacrifice that covered all sin forever, took his rightful place on “the right hand of God.” The right hand signifies the power of God, and in that power, Christ set a work in motion that will ultimately bring all enemies of the truth under his feet. In contradiction to the enemies of truth, the sanctified are perfected and exalted by a single offering. For them, the work is sealed with a guarantee that is eternal. These are the claims, but don't take his word for it: there is a witness.
The author calls forth a trusted witness. A witness is called that the Hebrews revere. The mind, the word, the will of God is called to the witness stand. The Holy Ghost comes forth to give irrefutable testimony. In verses fifteen through seventeen, the witness testifies, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” This is the truth, not for the enemies of truth, but exclusively for the sanctified. The same laws, once externalized on tablets and in physical customs, will for the sanctified be internalized.
By the work of Jesus, we, as bold priests, now enter into “the Holiest,” a place formerly reserved and not within common reach, a place out of bounds and off-limits. We now enter the Holiest by a “new and living way,” which the High Priest has consecrated just for us. He has set a special place for the sanctified, an exalted place for his own. We may pass through the veil into the presence of God. What is the veil? Formerly, it was a covering to a room in the tabernacle which God entered. Now, it is the flesh of the son of God, beyond which God is ever-present.
In verses twenty-one through twenty-three, the author commends that we draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith because we, as the lesser priests, have a High Priest who is in charge of the house of God. A true heart and a full assurance of faith stem directly from our sanctification. In other words, having our hearts sprinkled and our bodies washed with the purest of water, our evil conscience has been taken away. We are clean, we are sanctified. Now, it is up to us to “hold fast the profession of our faith,” and be as faithful as he who promised. The sanctified have a job. Our daily course involves consideration of one another, helping one another to achieve love and good works, coming together in single-minded self-maintenance of all who are sanctified, and exhorting one another so much the more as we approach the goal of our faith. These works are brought forth in verses twenty-four and twenty-five.
The sacrifice of Jesus was the final sacrifice. If, after receiving the knowledge of the truth, and being set free from an evil conscience; if, after being sanctified and exalted, we fall back and sin willfully, there is no further remedy. We have been given a one-time gift, precious and irreplaceable. It is a flame we can ill afford to lose. For us, the flame is warmth, light, and life. We can not let it go out. If we do, all we can look forward to is the judgment and fiery indignation that will devour all the enemies of the truth.
A point of reference is brought forth. It only took two or three witnesses to condemn, without mercy, a person who rejected the law that Moses delivered. The author asks a sobering question. If we, who have been sanctified by the son of God, should act hatefully and disdainfully against the Spirit of grace that we have been shown, if we should grind Jesus beneath our heel and count the blood he shed on our behalf as common and vulgar, what greater condemnation and punishment will we be thought worthy of?
Verses thirty and thirty-one put on display the Hebrew national consciousness. It was and is a matter of recorded history. They were uniquely acquainted with their God. They knew him well. He was the one who said 'vengeance belongs to me.' He not only said it, he made good on it. He said 'I will recompense,' and 'the Lord shall judge his people.' All of that vengeance, and recompense, and judging is in their written history. As history, it is not isolated in the past, it crosses over into current events. The author touched on current events that his audience knew well. They lived it, as did the author. Verses thirty-one through thirty-five connects history to current events. The Hebrew national consciousness knew it was a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. They are exhorted, however, to call into memory their own experiences, their former days just after their spiritual illumination.
What had they endured for their faith? They were a laughing stock to the unenlightened. They were afflicted, reproached. They suffered abuse even while they banded together for mutual help and self-protection. They suffered loss alongside their companions, and in a statement that suggests the author was Paul, they “had compassion” on the author in his “bonds,” and “took joyfully the spoiling of their goods.” It was not an easy choice they made, but the author was assured that they believed in a “better and enduring substance” in heaven. That faith has persisted through the ages in all the faithful. We are, therefore, exhorted not to cast away our confidence. It will be rewarded.
Continuing at verse thirty-six, The author lays out the long road ahead. In the end, Jesus will come to us. He will not delay. In the end, we will receive the promise. Between now and then is the work of doing the will of God. It is not an issue we may file under 'instant gratification.' We will rise up day after day, and each day, the work will be before us. It is the long game. We can expect callouses and broken hearts. We will lean heavily on our patience. We will do the reps until our patience is muscular and well-defined. When we awake tomorrow and find that the work is still before, that we are not yet done, we may rely on our patience with confidence.
The long game will prove who is who among us. The long and, at times, arduous road ahead, that is to say, our daily lives, will be and must be lived in faith. We are on a road that gives but two directions. We can continue forward in faith to claim the promise, or we can forsake the goal and turn back. If we draw back from the prize, if we turn and face the direction from which we have come, what may we expect at the end of that journey? It will be the very thing from which we first fled. It will be an unfulfilled life and an empty, ignominious death. We fled from perdition and laid our hopes on the promise of God, that at the end of our labors should be the reward. The author ends this chapter by telling us plainly that giving up is throwing away all hope for the salvation of our soul. After you have worked many years toward the saving of your soul, after you have invested so much of yourself into that goal through faith and hard work, giving up leaves nothing in your reach save eternal punishment, and you've no one to blame but yourself.
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