Hebrews 10:1-10 – Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

In Hebrews 10:1-10, the writer makes the case for why Christ’s sacrifice is the greater than the sacrifice of animals or any other sacrifice.

Introduction

The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews, whom I believe was Paul, closes out the Spring Quarter ‘26 lessons speaking of the need for no more sacrifices to God.  Christ was given to atone for the sins of mankind, as nothing else can take away our sins.  This week’s Sunday School commentary will cover scripture from Hebrews 10:1-10. 

What we will focus on learning in this week’s Sunday School commentary:

1. The law being a shadow of the good things to come.
2. The offering God desired from mankind.
3. The good things that are to come.

The Shadow of Good Things

Hebrews 10 opens with the writer stating, “The law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.”

Throughout Paul’s writings to the believers in Rome, he taught that righteousness is only obtainable through Christ.  His brethren would argue against the law of God being a shadow of good because it is righteous.

The good things to come

So, let’s first establish what the “good things to come” that the writer speaks of in this verse are.  

In Revelation 21:3-4, John wrote, “I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’”

In His revelation, Christ makes it clear that the good thing to come is to dwell in righteousness.  When one is righteous, they are without sin–they are perfect.  When one dwells without sin being within them or in their presence, one’s soul dwells in peace.  So, the good things to come will be to dwell in eternal peace and joy with all of God’s children and with our Savior.

How does one go about dwelling in such a place?  Jesus told Nicodemus that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).  To His disciples, Jesus said that in His Father’s house are many mansions that He is preparing so that He may bring us to be with Him (John 14:2-3).

The law’s shadow of good

Now, let’s not misunderstand the teaching from Paul about God’s law.  The law of God is righteous, as it has no other choice since it came directly from the Lord.  However, as Paul stated in Romans 8:3, the law was made weak through the flesh of man.  The law cannot make us righteous because it will constantly point out our faults against its righteousness.

If one were to read the law of God, from Genesis to Deuteronomy, there is no promise of salvation.  Exodus 19 does show that the Lord gave the children of Israel His law, making a covenant with them, that should they keep the law, they would be to Him a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.  Not even in that statement is there talk of deliverance unto salvation, but rather, service unto God and to other nations.

As Paul told the Galatian believers in Galatians 3:19, the law was given to show mankind what is righteous in the eyes of God.  It was given due to mankind living in constant rebellion against the Lord, having been ignorant of what was righteous during the days of Adam to Moses.

So, as the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews stated, the law is a shadow of good things to come; it is righteous and speaks of what is righteous according to God.  However, unlike Christ, the law does not offer a helping hand to lift you to meet its righteousness.  God’s law will find you guilty of disobedience and tell you to get help from Christ to meet its righteous requirement (Gal. 3:24-25).

The shadow of Christ

Moreover, to the point of the law being a shadow, Hebrews 10:1-2 points out the inadequacy of the sacrifices that the law instructed the children of Israel to carry out.  Now, you may be wondering to yourself, how could the sacrifices God instructed the children of Israel to give be considered inadequate?

Well, we have to consider what the purpose was for making sacrifices to the Lord.  Some of the offerings were more voluntary, for example, burnt offerings and peace offerings.  Burnt offerings were often made as a sign of one’s devotion to the Lord.  Peace offerings were made as a sign of thanksgiving and one dwelling in fellowship with the Lord.

Then you had mandatory offerings like sin offerings made on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 23:26-32).  On the Day of Atonement, the blood of bulls and goats was offered up to atone for the sins of all of Israel.  Also, the sins of the people were placed on a scapegoat who was exiled from the camp, carrying away the sins of the nation.

To highlight the law being a shadow of good, the writer spoke of how sin offerings had to be repeated yearly.  If the law was ‘the good thing to come’, then it would have taken away the sin of the people permanently.  

We know that would be the case because Christ’s sacrifice atoned for our sins forever (John 3:16).  As the writer of Hebrews stated in Hebrews 9:24-26, Christ entered heaven, the Most Holy Place, offering Himself in the presence of God to put away sin for many.  

However, in His law, God commanded Israel to repeat their sacrifices to Him because those offerings didn’t do enough to completely atone for their sins.  To this day, if one tried to truly abide by God’s law, they would still be offering up sacrifices to atone for their sins.  

In Hebrews 10:3-4, the writer concluded that the blood of bulls and goats ought to now be considered inadequate to completely atone for one’s sin.  IF the blood of bulls and goats were adequate, then God would have had no reason to give His only begotten Son.

The Most Fitting Sacrifice

Christ was/is the most fitting sacrifice that mankind could have ever offered up to God to atone for our sins.  Now, the question one may likely ask is why Christ was the most fitting sacrifice to atone for our sins?  One may ask, why wasn’t the blood of bulls and goats able to completely atone for the sins of the world?

I’ll give a personal answer to that second question first.  If the blood of bulls and goats could only atone for all of Israel’s sin for just one year, there’s no way the blood of bulls and goats could atone for all of mankind’s sin for everlasting life.  If it weren’t for Christ, sacrifices would still be offered up today.  In Jerusalem, they haven’t offered up animal sacrifices since the destruction of the temple, which occurred a few years after the death and resurrection of Christ.

Now, to answer the question of why Christ was a more fitting sacrifice than bulls and goats, the writer quoted Psalm 40:6-8 in Hebrews 10:5-7 and applied its saying to Christ.  The writer then repeated this thought for good measure in Hebrews 10:8-9.  

If there is anything I want to highlight from the quoted psalm, it will be the saying, “Behold, I have come — In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.”

In Gethsemane, when Jesus prayed about the bitter cup that was set before Him to drink, He prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done (Luke 22:42).”  In my commentary of the Sunday School Lesson – Jesus Prepares for Death – I spoke of how Jesus’ human side desired to turn away from the cross.  Yet, in the end, after He had finished praying, Jesus committed Himself to do the will of the Father.

Jesus’ commitment to fulfill the will of the Father shows the great difference between Himself and animal sacrifice.  The bulls and the goats that were offered up in burnt offerings and sin offerings had no choice in the matter.  I don’t say this in a derogatory manner, but the animals were dumb, lacking the intelligence to understand what their lives were being given for.

Christ, on the other hand, knew that He was committing Himself to do the will of the Father.  Christ knew that His blood would be shed to atone for the sins of everyone who walks the earth.  Christ knew that in His suffering, all who believe in Him would be raised with Him at the last day (John 6:38-40).

As shown in Isaiah 59:15-20, the Lord desired for one to move with intention to intervene for those who make themselves prey to the wicked because they turn from the way of evil.  Paul said, “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:7-8).”

Christ, I repeat, knowingly gave His life for you, which makes His sacrifice all the more special than dumb animals who have no idea that they are even being offered up.  

In that same frame of mind, we see the writer state, “He (Christ) takes away the first that He may establish the second.”  This is to say that Christ showed that His offering was of far more value than that of dumb animals, who had no idea what they were doing.  Christ took away the inadequacy of animal sacrifice to fulfill the will of God, atoning for mankind’s sins.

And so, as the writer concluded in Hebrews 10:10, all of us who turn to Christ and are of sincere faith are forever washed by His shed blood and sanctified – set apart from sin.

Christ’s sacrifice atones for all of our sins, not temporarily, but for everlasting life.   Because He died for us, He has made the path of righteousness possible for all believers to inherit the kingdom of heaven.  

When you have believed in Christ, there is nothing more you need to offer up to God to be saved and forgiven.  Christ has paid the price, opening the doors to the throne of God, where all one should do is go before the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in times of need.  As John said, when one goes before the Lord’s throne, God is both faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.