For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
By one offering means by Christ's single sacrifice offered once for all on the cross, in contrast to the priests' repeated offerings which could never take away sins, and by it those who are sanctified are perfected forever and made complete before God. That offering was his own sinless body, life and blood given as the divine substitute of infinite worth, bearing the world's guilt and the curse of the law to pay the redemption price and finish the work. When type met antitype at his death, all the God-appointed sacrificial offerings, temple services and priesthood that had pointed forward to him for four thousand years ceased forever and became valueless, as shown when the inner veil was torn from top to bottom. This is the new covenant witnessed by the Holy Spirit, in which God puts his laws into hearts and minds and remembers sins no more, so that those cleansed by the blood may draw near with full assurance and hold fast their faith in love and good works. His death does not make God's law void but magnifies and honors its unchanging claims, and it perfects the sanctified by the Holy Spirit to overcome sin, receive a character like Christ's, and live in consecrated obedience.
Nature of the Offering
By one offering means by a single sacrifice offered once for all, in contrast to the repeated offerings made by the priests which could never take away sins. God removed the first system of sacrifices, offerings and burnt offerings under the law, which He did not desire, and established the second by Christ coming to do God's will in the offering of His body once for all. After offering one sacrifice for sins forever Christ sat down at the right hand of God to wait till His enemies are made His footstool. Where remission of sins is given there is no more offering for sin, for His offering brings forgiveness and God puts His laws into hearts and minds and remembers sins and iniquities no more. Through Jesus' blood those made clean have boldness to enter the holiest and may draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with hearts sprinkled and conscience cleansed from an evil conscience, holding fast the profession of faith without wavering and provoking one another to love and good works.
The offering was His own life, body and blood given on the cross as the one perfect, great and final offering. He is the perfect, spotless, sinless and divine substitute and surety, of greater worth than fallen humanity, whose voluntary suffering could do what no human or angelic sacrifice could. By surrendering His spotless life He bore the world's guilt and sin, the curse of the law, and the separation from the Father that transgression brings, enduring judgment for sin out of love to redeem and open the way to immortal life. His sacrifice was full, perfect and of infinite value, and His blood can cleanse even the foulest stain. It fulfilled what the earlier animal offerings, blood of beasts, temple services and priesthood had foreshadowed as type to antitype, restoring the communication between God and humanity that Adam's sin had broken and opening access to God for guilty sinners through His mediation. It vindicated God's justice and showed God's law to be unchanging.
As the pure and undefiled High Priest without taint of sin, utterly different from the false and corrupted Caiaphas, Christ by that one suffering and death makes those being sanctified complete before God forever. As sin-bearer of the race He bore the guilt of every human being, letting His garment of human flesh be torn while His soul was torn, and by paying the redemption price He opened the way for mercy and justice to meet and made salvation available to all through His merits. That one suffering and death opened a new and living way and removed the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile. That completed perfecting enabled Him to proclaim on the cross with a clear and triumphant voice that the work was finished.
His life, mission and death are the one great sacrifice whose blood alone purchases souls and saves unto eternal life. Christ's single offering of Himself on the cross fully satisfies for believers' sins and secures their standing before God forever. No human giving of possessions or even giving of life itself, no works, pilgrimages, offerings, prayers to saints, images or religious garments can do that work, atone for sin, secure God's favor, or buy entrance to heaven. The one great offering is ample for all who will believe. A cold, legal, loveless, Christless religion with fastings and prayers in a self-justifying spirit, solemn assemblies, rounds of ceremony, external humiliation and imposed sacrifice can never lead souls to Christ but is abominable to God when it proclaims the doer righteous and entitled to heaven by rigorous duties, for it is all a deception.
Perfection of the Sanctified
By one offering those who are sanctified — those being made holy — are perfected forever and made complete before God, their perfection and standing resting permanently on that single sacrifice and not on repeated offerings, and continuing through his intercession for them. After offering one sacrifice for sins forever he sat down at the right hand of God to wait till his enemies are made his footstool. The Holy Spirit witnesses to this work through the new covenant promise that God puts his laws into hearts and minds and remembers sins and iniquities no more. That sacrifice also gives believers bold access to God by his blood, so that those made clean may draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, hold fast their profession without wavering, and receive cleansing from an evil conscience. The sacrificial offerings, blood, and ordinances of the ceremonial law and ritual service were types and shadows pointing forward to him, and he fulfilled them through his crucifixion and his priestly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, for animal sacrifices could not take his place, take away sins, or give rest to the conscience.
This teaching is among the Scriptures that teach growth in grace and give spiritual life to the soul, to be deeply understood and appropriated for a sound Christian experience. It calls for a life consecrated to God and spent seeking to save perishing souls in dependence on the Lord rather than on human agencies, with daily conversion to a life of simple obedience. His one sacrifice is an eternal, fully effective remedy that satisfies divine justice forever and secures redemption and deliverance from sin for those who rely on it with firm, unwavering faith. That grace does not permit continuing in sin, for those who are sanctified need not continue in sin but through prayer may receive grace to overcome. Where such faith abides it brings God’s presence and awakens zeal for good works.
Nothing but his perfect sacrifice can meet the necessities of sinful, erring men, and his atonement is complete, having wrought out a perfect character for them, while their part is to depend wholly on him. His single offering perfects those who are sanctified by giving them, through the Holy Spirit working with, in, and through them, a character like Christ’s character which God can approve. It covers the repenting sinner with forgiveness and clothes him with the perfection of righteousness. With growth of the Christian life there comes the want of a deeper and more perfect experience, and the more fully transformed to the image of God the greater the hatred for sin and the work to save sinners.
End of Sacrificial Types
All the sacrificial offerings, blood, temple services and priesthood were appointed by God as types and shadows pointing forward to the Lamb of God, and Christ was their foundation from the beginning and their great fulfillment, with the light of the cross revealing their true meaning. The repeated Jewish sacrifices were given to teach that forgiveness comes through his blood alone, to prove and test professed faith and obedience, and to proclaim through the generations the gospel of the Coming One who is humanity's Redeemer from the beginning. His suffering was not atonement for himself, but its depth was proportionate to his divine dignity and sinless, exalted character as the spotless Lamb whose life given on the cross fulfilled what the animal offerings foreshadowed. When he came as foretold, the nation blinded and deceived refused to receive him but led him as a lamb to the slaughter.
The whole priesthood was set up to represent his mediatorial character and work in the heavenly sanctuary, whose ministry foreshadowed the reality of his work as High Priest, and he is the center and key to the Old Testament symbols, including the Passover and the bronze serpent lifted up in the wilderness, providing peace and pardon for lawbreakers. His single atoning sacrifice is the center to which all those sacrifices pointed, and his death is the one perfect, great and final offering that sanctifies forever and redeems the world from sin as type to antitype. When type met antitype at his crucifixion in A.D. 31, after being pointed to for four thousand years, the ceremonial offerings and services ceased forever, became valueless in the sight of God and were no longer acceptable or needed, which was shown when the inner veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom because the Lamb of God had been slain for the sins of the world. Christ himself established that system, and in his death type met its antitype, so those temporary sacrifices were to continue only until he was slain as their great fulfillment.
Animal blood itself could not take the place of his sacrifice, take away sins, secure salvation, or give rest to the conscience, for the victims and their blood only symbolized Jesus and pointed to his blood soon to be shed for the sins of the world. The Jewish sacrifices and priesthood represented his death and mediatorial work and opened no access to God apart from his mediation as the perfect, sinless Offering of infinite value who restores the communication broken by Adam's sin. Multiplying sacrifices without repentance and obedience could not honor God, and religious services and ceremonies that represented him had no value if people rejected the Saviour they pointed to. After the fall a system requiring beasts to be sacrificed was established to keep before fallen man that the penalty of disobedience is death, which the serpent made Eve disbelieve, and that transgression made his death as one sacrifice necessary to make escape possible while preserving the honor of the law. That system, with death and additional precepts to suit man's fallen condition that would never have been needed if the law had not been transgressed, was to teach humility in view of man's fallen condition and lead him to repentance and to trust in God alone through the promised Redeemer for pardon for past transgression.
Adam's own offering for sin by God's special direction prefigured the death of God's dear Son as man's sacrifice, and as Adam looked upon the bleeding innocent victim writhing in death he was to look forward by faith to the Son of God dying in his place. Nothing less than that death could expiate transgression of the holy law, and the act of raising the hand to take life which God alone could give gave a deeper and more perfect sense of guilt as a perpetual reminder and penitential acknowledgment of sin, so that in slaying the victim it seemed Adam was shedding the blood of the Son of God by his own hand. Knowing that steadfast obedience would have meant no death of beast or man, he marveled at the infinite goodness and matchless love that would give such a ransom to save the guilty, and in offerings pointing to that perfect offering appeared a star of hope to illuminate the dark and terrible future and relieve its utter hopelessness and ruin. The ceremonies were only the shadow and Christ the substance, the true offering for the sins of men, but Israel had made outward forms all-important, lost the spirit of true worship, and corrupted the rites with heathen traditions without discerning Christ beyond the shadow.
When Daniel's prophecies were given Israel was in captivity with the temple destroyed and its service suspended, and God had brought them into captivity and suspended the service so outward ceremonies would not become the sum-total of religion, to purge principles and practice from heathenism, to cause ritual service to cease that heart service might revive, and to remove outward glory that the spiritual might be revealed. After that true offering had come, to keep performing the typical sacrifices while still looking for a Messiah was useless, meaning rejection of sufficient prophetic evidence, refusal to be taught by the Just One, holding to a self-chosen standard of virtue and purity, limiting Satan's power denied, and yielding to his working to make the nation believe Christ was an impostor while captives he came to set free remained bound. The laws of sacrificial offerings as temporary types in force only until type reached antitype in the greater and wholly perfect sacrifice of Jesus as the Lamb without blemish were abolished at the cross when the handwriting of ordinances was blotted out and nailed to it, while he came not to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfill them. Having carried the blood of his own atonement into the holiest of all, sprinkled it upon the mercy seat and upon his own garments, and blessed the people, having offered himself once he appears the second time to declare that there is to be no more sacrifice for sin, and the same human nature despised as a man of sorrows is then glorified and his priestly character revealed. Jesus is the originator, author and foundation of the entire Jewish system from Adam's day onward and the finisher of the faith now made clear, and his one offering fulfills all prophecies and vindicates the truth and his Father's law instead of making it of no effect, so that in the light of the law he vindicates sinners see themselves as transgressors, die to sin, repent, have faith in him as Saviour, and become obedient to God's claims.
New Covenant and Access
The perfection promised is the new covenant to which the Holy Spirit bears witness, in which God puts His laws into hearts and minds and remembers sins and iniquities no more. That perfecting was accomplished at immense cost, and God desires believers to have all He has provided in that offering. To receive it they must be doers of the Word and work in partnership with Christ, living the great truths with deeper appreciation, for without living them those truths are powerless to influence. The verse also supports strong faith in Christ and confidence in God's promises.
After offering one sacrifice for sins forever, Christ sat down at the right hand of God to wait till His enemies are made His footstool. He who gave Himself now stands in the presence of God as High Priest over the house of God and Head over His beloved household. Through Him and with Him believers may enter the true tabernacle not made with hands, the hallowed temple. Under this finished work comes the covenant of inward law and forgotten sin, so that where remission is there is no more offering for sin.
Because remission brings boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, those made clean may draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Their hearts are sprinkled and their conscience cleansed from an evil conscience. His offering brings forgiveness so no further offering for sin is needed, while God writes His law in the hearts and minds of His people and remembers their sins no more.
They are therefore to hold fast the profession of faith and hope without wavering, because He who promised is faithful. They are to consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. They are not to forsake assembling together but to exhort one another, so much the more as they see the day approaching.
Law Honored Not Abolished
By one offering salvation is provided, but that death does not make God's moral law void. It was necessary because humanity had transgressed that holy law, and rather than ending its authority it magnified the law, made it honorable, and upheld obedience to its precepts. The sacrificial offerings that pointed to him were established by his own direction and met their antitype in the death of the only begotten Son as the perfect sacrifice, so that when the one offering was made those offerings ceased and were no longer acceptable to God. That fulfillment did not bring righteousness to an end, destroy the validity of the Old Testament Scriptures, or lessen human obligation to perfect obedience, but revealed the spiritual nature and immutable character of the law, declared that disobedience and transgression can never be rewarded with eternal life, fulfilled all prophecies, vindicated the truth and the Father's law, and opened a way for men to obey the law and teach others to do the same.
The ceremonial observances given by his specific direction are distinguished from the Decalogue. The original law engraved on tables of stone stands immutable and apart from them, holding its claims upon man in all ages, while the laws of sacrificial offerings were temporary types in force only until type reached antitype in the greater and wholly perfect sacrifice of Jesus as the Lamb without blemish. With that one perfect offering the sacrifices and services of the temple were to cease, abolished at the cross when the handwriting of ordinances was blotted out and nailed to it, for he did not come to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfil them. Human duty in the Christian age is therefore not repealed, relaxed, or limited but more fully defined and simply expressed as loving God with all heart, soul, mind and strength and neighbor as self, and the system of tithes and offerings remains in force to be more fully carried out and extended with greater provisions.
As head of humanity, Substitute and Surety, Christ in his humanity filled up the measure of the law's requirements in repentance, faith, baptism and entire obedience. He thereby gave an example of the perfect conformity required from Adam to the last man, demonstrating that humanity allied by living faith to divinity can keep all God's commandments. He is the originator and foundation of the entire Jewish system from Adam's day onward and the author of all the religion of God's chosen people and the finisher of the faith now made clear. In the light of the law he vindicates, sinners see themselves as transgressors, die to sin, repent, have faith in him as Saviour, and become obedient to God's claims.
Faith and Holy Living
Hebrews 10:14 belongs among the Scriptures that teach growth in grace and impart spiritual life to the soul, and it is to be deeply understood and appropriated for a sound Christian experience. It shows that by a single offering for sins forever Christ perfects forever those who are sanctified, as the One who sat down at the right hand of God to wait till His enemies are made His footstool. The Holy Spirit bears witness to this work through the new-covenant promise that God writes His laws in hearts and minds and remembers sins and iniquities no more. So understood, it supports strong faith in Christ and confidence in God's promises.
It calls for a life consecrated to God and spent in seeking to save perishing souls in dependence on the Lord rather than on human agencies. That consecration requires daily conversion to a life of simple obedience. At immense cost God desires those sanctified and perfected forever to have all He has provided in that offering, and to receive it they must be doers of the Word and work in partnership with Christ. They are to live the great truths presented to them with deeper appreciation, for without living them those truths are powerless to influence.
It applies to people who are not under a yoke of bondage but belong to Christ and keep the Father's commandments. By His life, mission, and sacrifice Jesus made the one great offering that alone saves a soul unto eternal life and purchases sinners with His own blood, which no human giving of possessions or even of life itself can do. Contemplating the greatness of His sacrifice gives comprehension of the greatness of the salvation it provides. Turning untrue to God and the truth after such a purchase does despite to the Spirit of grace and brings disappointment to Jesus.
By one offering means by Christ's single sacrifice offered once for all on the cross, in contrast to the priests' repeated offerings which could never take away sins, and by it those who are sanctified are perfected forever and made complete before God. That offering was his own sinless body, life and blood given as the divine substitute of infinite worth, bearing the world's guilt and the curse of the law to pay the redemption price and finish the work. When type met antitype at his death, all the God-appointed sacrificial offerings, temple services and priesthood that had pointed forward to him for four thousand years ceased forever and became valueless, as shown when the inner veil was torn from top to bottom. This is the new covenant witnessed by the Holy Spirit, in which God puts his laws into hearts and minds and remembers sins no more, so that those cleansed by the blood may draw near with full assurance and hold fast their faith in love and good works. His death does not make God's law void but magnifies and honors its unchanging claims, and it perfects the sanctified by the Holy Spirit to overcome sin, receive a character like Christ's, and live in consecrated obedience.
Nature of the Offering
By one offering means by a single sacrifice offered once for all, in contrast to the repeated offerings made by the priests which could never take away sins. God removed the first system of sacrifices, offerings and burnt offerings under the law, which He did not desire, and established the second by Christ coming to do God's will in the offering of His body once for all. After offering one sacrifice for sins forever Christ sat down at the right hand of God to wait till His enemies are made His footstool. Where remission of sins is given there is no more offering for sin, for His offering brings forgiveness and God puts His laws into hearts and minds and remembers sins and iniquities no more. Through Jesus' blood those made clean have boldness to enter the holiest and may draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with hearts sprinkled and conscience cleansed from an evil conscience, holding fast the profession of faith without wavering and provoking one another to love and good works.
The offering was His own life, body and blood given on the cross as the one perfect, great and final offering. He is the perfect, spotless, sinless and divine substitute and surety, of greater worth than fallen humanity, whose voluntary suffering could do what no human or angelic sacrifice could. By surrendering His spotless life He bore the world's guilt and sin, the curse of the law, and the separation from the Father that transgression brings, enduring judgment for sin out of love to redeem and open the way to immortal life. His sacrifice was full, perfect and of infinite value, and His blood can cleanse even the foulest stain. It fulfilled what the earlier animal offerings, blood of beasts, temple services and priesthood had foreshadowed as type to antitype, restoring the communication between God and humanity that Adam's sin had broken and opening access to God for guilty sinners through His mediation. It vindicated God's justice and showed God's law to be unchanging.
As the pure and undefiled High Priest without taint of sin, utterly different from the false and corrupted Caiaphas, Christ by that one suffering and death makes those being sanctified complete before God forever. As sin-bearer of the race He bore the guilt of every human being, letting His garment of human flesh be torn while His soul was torn, and by paying the redemption price He opened the way for mercy and justice to meet and made salvation available to all through His merits. That one suffering and death opened a new and living way and removed the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile. That completed perfecting enabled Him to proclaim on the cross with a clear and triumphant voice that the work was finished.
His life, mission and death are the one great sacrifice whose blood alone purchases souls and saves unto eternal life. Christ's single offering of Himself on the cross fully satisfies for believers' sins and secures their standing before God forever. No human giving of possessions or even giving of life itself, no works, pilgrimages, offerings, prayers to saints, images or religious garments can do that work, atone for sin, secure God's favor, or buy entrance to heaven. The one great offering is ample for all who will believe. A cold, legal, loveless, Christless religion with fastings and prayers in a self-justifying spirit, solemn assemblies, rounds of ceremony, external humiliation and imposed sacrifice can never lead souls to Christ but is abominable to God when it proclaims the doer righteous and entitled to heaven by rigorous duties, for it is all a deception.
Perfection of the Sanctified
By one offering those who are sanctified — those being made holy — are perfected forever and made complete before God, their perfection and standing resting permanently on that single sacrifice and not on repeated offerings, and continuing through his intercession for them. After offering one sacrifice for sins forever he sat down at the right hand of God to wait till his enemies are made his footstool. The Holy Spirit witnesses to this work through the new covenant promise that God puts his laws into hearts and minds and remembers sins and iniquities no more. That sacrifice also gives believers bold access to God by his blood, so that those made clean may draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, hold fast their profession without wavering, and receive cleansing from an evil conscience. The sacrificial offerings, blood, and ordinances of the ceremonial law and ritual service were types and shadows pointing forward to him, and he fulfilled them through his crucifixion and his priestly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, for animal sacrifices could not take his place, take away sins, or give rest to the conscience.
This teaching is among the Scriptures that teach growth in grace and give spiritual life to the soul, to be deeply understood and appropriated for a sound Christian experience. It calls for a life consecrated to God and spent seeking to save perishing souls in dependence on the Lord rather than on human agencies, with daily conversion to a life of simple obedience. His one sacrifice is an eternal, fully effective remedy that satisfies divine justice forever and secures redemption and deliverance from sin for those who rely on it with firm, unwavering faith. That grace does not permit continuing in sin, for those who are sanctified need not continue in sin but through prayer may receive grace to overcome. Where such faith abides it brings God’s presence and awakens zeal for good works.
Nothing but his perfect sacrifice can meet the necessities of sinful, erring men, and his atonement is complete, having wrought out a perfect character for them, while their part is to depend wholly on him. His single offering perfects those who are sanctified by giving them, through the Holy Spirit working with, in, and through them, a character like Christ’s character which God can approve. It covers the repenting sinner with forgiveness and clothes him with the perfection of righteousness. With growth of the Christian life there comes the want of a deeper and more perfect experience, and the more fully transformed to the image of God the greater the hatred for sin and the work to save sinners.
End of Sacrificial Types
All the sacrificial offerings, blood, temple services and priesthood were appointed by God as types and shadows pointing forward to the Lamb of God, and Christ was their foundation from the beginning and their great fulfillment, with the light of the cross revealing their true meaning. The repeated Jewish sacrifices were given to teach that forgiveness comes through his blood alone, to prove and test professed faith and obedience, and to proclaim through the generations the gospel of the Coming One who is humanity's Redeemer from the beginning. His suffering was not atonement for himself, but its depth was proportionate to his divine dignity and sinless, exalted character as the spotless Lamb whose life given on the cross fulfilled what the animal offerings foreshadowed. When he came as foretold, the nation blinded and deceived refused to receive him but led him as a lamb to the slaughter.
The whole priesthood was set up to represent his mediatorial character and work in the heavenly sanctuary, whose ministry foreshadowed the reality of his work as High Priest, and he is the center and key to the Old Testament symbols, including the Passover and the bronze serpent lifted up in the wilderness, providing peace and pardon for lawbreakers. His single atoning sacrifice is the center to which all those sacrifices pointed, and his death is the one perfect, great and final offering that sanctifies forever and redeems the world from sin as type to antitype. When type met antitype at his crucifixion in A.D. 31, after being pointed to for four thousand years, the ceremonial offerings and services ceased forever, became valueless in the sight of God and were no longer acceptable or needed, which was shown when the inner veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom because the Lamb of God had been slain for the sins of the world. Christ himself established that system, and in his death type met its antitype, so those temporary sacrifices were to continue only until he was slain as their great fulfillment.
Animal blood itself could not take the place of his sacrifice, take away sins, secure salvation, or give rest to the conscience, for the victims and their blood only symbolized Jesus and pointed to his blood soon to be shed for the sins of the world. The Jewish sacrifices and priesthood represented his death and mediatorial work and opened no access to God apart from his mediation as the perfect, sinless Offering of infinite value who restores the communication broken by Adam's sin. Multiplying sacrifices without repentance and obedience could not honor God, and religious services and ceremonies that represented him had no value if people rejected the Saviour they pointed to. After the fall a system requiring beasts to be sacrificed was established to keep before fallen man that the penalty of disobedience is death, which the serpent made Eve disbelieve, and that transgression made his death as one sacrifice necessary to make escape possible while preserving the honor of the law. That system, with death and additional precepts to suit man's fallen condition that would never have been needed if the law had not been transgressed, was to teach humility in view of man's fallen condition and lead him to repentance and to trust in God alone through the promised Redeemer for pardon for past transgression.
Adam's own offering for sin by God's special direction prefigured the death of God's dear Son as man's sacrifice, and as Adam looked upon the bleeding innocent victim writhing in death he was to look forward by faith to the Son of God dying in his place. Nothing less than that death could expiate transgression of the holy law, and the act of raising the hand to take life which God alone could give gave a deeper and more perfect sense of guilt as a perpetual reminder and penitential acknowledgment of sin, so that in slaying the victim it seemed Adam was shedding the blood of the Son of God by his own hand. Knowing that steadfast obedience would have meant no death of beast or man, he marveled at the infinite goodness and matchless love that would give such a ransom to save the guilty, and in offerings pointing to that perfect offering appeared a star of hope to illuminate the dark and terrible future and relieve its utter hopelessness and ruin. The ceremonies were only the shadow and Christ the substance, the true offering for the sins of men, but Israel had made outward forms all-important, lost the spirit of true worship, and corrupted the rites with heathen traditions without discerning Christ beyond the shadow.
When Daniel's prophecies were given Israel was in captivity with the temple destroyed and its service suspended, and God had brought them into captivity and suspended the service so outward ceremonies would not become the sum-total of religion, to purge principles and practice from heathenism, to cause ritual service to cease that heart service might revive, and to remove outward glory that the spiritual might be revealed. After that true offering had come, to keep performing the typical sacrifices while still looking for a Messiah was useless, meaning rejection of sufficient prophetic evidence, refusal to be taught by the Just One, holding to a self-chosen standard of virtue and purity, limiting Satan's power denied, and yielding to his working to make the nation believe Christ was an impostor while captives he came to set free remained bound. The laws of sacrificial offerings as temporary types in force only until type reached antitype in the greater and wholly perfect sacrifice of Jesus as the Lamb without blemish were abolished at the cross when the handwriting of ordinances was blotted out and nailed to it, while he came not to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfill them. Having carried the blood of his own atonement into the holiest of all, sprinkled it upon the mercy seat and upon his own garments, and blessed the people, having offered himself once he appears the second time to declare that there is to be no more sacrifice for sin, and the same human nature despised as a man of sorrows is then glorified and his priestly character revealed. Jesus is the originator, author and foundation of the entire Jewish system from Adam's day onward and the finisher of the faith now made clear, and his one offering fulfills all prophecies and vindicates the truth and his Father's law instead of making it of no effect, so that in the light of the law he vindicates sinners see themselves as transgressors, die to sin, repent, have faith in him as Saviour, and become obedient to God's claims.
New Covenant and Access
The perfection promised is the new covenant to which the Holy Spirit bears witness, in which God puts His laws into hearts and minds and remembers sins and iniquities no more. That perfecting was accomplished at immense cost, and God desires believers to have all He has provided in that offering. To receive it they must be doers of the Word and work in partnership with Christ, living the great truths with deeper appreciation, for without living them those truths are powerless to influence. The verse also supports strong faith in Christ and confidence in God's promises.
After offering one sacrifice for sins forever, Christ sat down at the right hand of God to wait till His enemies are made His footstool. He who gave Himself now stands in the presence of God as High Priest over the house of God and Head over His beloved household. Through Him and with Him believers may enter the true tabernacle not made with hands, the hallowed temple. Under this finished work comes the covenant of inward law and forgotten sin, so that where remission is there is no more offering for sin.
Because remission brings boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, those made clean may draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Their hearts are sprinkled and their conscience cleansed from an evil conscience. His offering brings forgiveness so no further offering for sin is needed, while God writes His law in the hearts and minds of His people and remembers their sins no more.
They are therefore to hold fast the profession of faith and hope without wavering, because He who promised is faithful. They are to consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. They are not to forsake assembling together but to exhort one another, so much the more as they see the day approaching.
Law Honored Not Abolished
By one offering salvation is provided, but that death does not make God's moral law void. It was necessary because humanity had transgressed that holy law, and rather than ending its authority it magnified the law, made it honorable, and upheld obedience to its precepts. The sacrificial offerings that pointed to him were established by his own direction and met their antitype in the death of the only begotten Son as the perfect sacrifice, so that when the one offering was made those offerings ceased and were no longer acceptable to God. That fulfillment did not bring righteousness to an end, destroy the validity of the Old Testament Scriptures, or lessen human obligation to perfect obedience, but revealed the spiritual nature and immutable character of the law, declared that disobedience and transgression can never be rewarded with eternal life, fulfilled all prophecies, vindicated the truth and the Father's law, and opened a way for men to obey the law and teach others to do the same.
The ceremonial observances given by his specific direction are distinguished from the Decalogue. The original law engraved on tables of stone stands immutable and apart from them, holding its claims upon man in all ages, while the laws of sacrificial offerings were temporary types in force only until type reached antitype in the greater and wholly perfect sacrifice of Jesus as the Lamb without blemish. With that one perfect offering the sacrifices and services of the temple were to cease, abolished at the cross when the handwriting of ordinances was blotted out and nailed to it, for he did not come to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfil them. Human duty in the Christian age is therefore not repealed, relaxed, or limited but more fully defined and simply expressed as loving God with all heart, soul, mind and strength and neighbor as self, and the system of tithes and offerings remains in force to be more fully carried out and extended with greater provisions.
As head of humanity, Substitute and Surety, Christ in his humanity filled up the measure of the law's requirements in repentance, faith, baptism and entire obedience. He thereby gave an example of the perfect conformity required from Adam to the last man, demonstrating that humanity allied by living faith to divinity can keep all God's commandments. He is the originator and foundation of the entire Jewish system from Adam's day onward and the author of all the religion of God's chosen people and the finisher of the faith now made clear. In the light of the law he vindicates, sinners see themselves as transgressors, die to sin, repent, have faith in him as Saviour, and become obedient to God's claims.
Faith and Holy Living
Hebrews 10:14 belongs among the Scriptures that teach growth in grace and impart spiritual life to the soul, and it is to be deeply understood and appropriated for a sound Christian experience. It shows that by a single offering for sins forever Christ perfects forever those who are sanctified, as the One who sat down at the right hand of God to wait till His enemies are made His footstool. The Holy Spirit bears witness to this work through the new-covenant promise that God writes His laws in hearts and minds and remembers sins and iniquities no more. So understood, it supports strong faith in Christ and confidence in God's promises.
It calls for a life consecrated to God and spent in seeking to save perishing souls in dependence on the Lord rather than on human agencies. That consecration requires daily conversion to a life of simple obedience. At immense cost God desires those sanctified and perfected forever to have all He has provided in that offering, and to receive it they must be doers of the Word and work in partnership with Christ. They are to live the great truths presented to them with deeper appreciation, for without living them those truths are powerless to influence.
It applies to people who are not under a yoke of bondage but belong to Christ and keep the Father's commandments. By His life, mission, and sacrifice Jesus made the one great offering that alone saves a soul unto eternal life and purchases sinners with His own blood, which no human giving of possessions or even of life itself can do. Contemplating the greatness of His sacrifice gives comprehension of the greatness of the salvation it provides. Turning untrue to God and the truth after such a purchase does despite to the Spirit of grace and brings disappointment to Jesus.