Hebrews: The New Covenant Administration of Christ Max A Forsythe (c) Anno Domini 2005

From the Pulpit at Pilgrim's Rest Presbyterian Church in America

Shadows & Reality
For the Lord’s Day:  the 26^th of March 2005 

Hebrews 10: 1-10

Introduction:  On one occasion in Europe, three of us were assigned to infiltrate the position of one of our Hawk missile companies by night.  We were to mark our sabotage of essential equipment and raise as much of a ruckus as possible.  When my small squad set out, it was pitch black and the sergeant who directed us mentioned to be wary of the mine field.  Well, it was so dark, we probably walked right through it, but then the machine gunners in a fox hole were sound asleep and if I had known a little more about weapons than typewriters, I would have removed the barrel as evidence that “Kilroy was there.”  While I had not had extensive training in such maneuvers, I am still grateful that I never had to do that type of reconnaissance in the dark for real.  The after action debriefing was informative and my key comment was that we needed a way to see in the dark.

What we really needed were the night-scopes that were being distributed half a world away in South East Asia.  These devices, so common in the last few conflicts were developed in the last months of World War Two.  At Okinawa, the military had introduced a primitive infrared scope for our night fighting patrols.  This added capability not only saved many friendly lives, but caused a full thirty per cent total of enemy casualties on that island.  Even the primitive equipment transformed the military equation for any forces so equipped.  You see, even knowledge of the shadows of reality proved to be of great benefit on the battlefield.

I mention this example of extra sensatory abilities granted by modern equipment, to highlight the intent of the text before us.  There are spiritual shadows and reality in abundance in the brief words before us, and it is just in our perception of which is which in the scriptures, that our own spiritual welfare depends.  Certainly, like Paul our conception and understanding is still incomplete and imperfect, even as he writes to the church in Corinth in his great poem on love:  “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”  (1 Corinthians 13: 12)

But, because of Christ’s ministry on earth – the church was given a better understanding not only of just who the Triune God was, but also: by being allowed to see behind the ordinary scenes of this world, we can better comprehend what He was, is and will be doing on behalf of His chosen people.

Development:  As our commentators allow, there are two things going on in our text for today.  F.F. Bruce outlines our verses in this division.  Verses one through four explain the old order as a shadow of the reality, and verses five through ten detail the reality of the new order in Jesus Christ and His administration of the Covenant of grace.

Now, it is with the greatest respect and sympathy that the author of Hebrews compares and contrasts the Old Covenant practices with the final work of Jesus Christ.  Raymond Brown makes three necessary points about our contemporary relationships to members of other religions – even as he demonstrates the necessary arguments of the Apostles’ day - with the members of the Old Covenant Church.

1.        “It is ‘impossible’ for the sacrificial blood of animals to effect the total cleansing which man needs.  He rejects not only the sacrificial system of Old Testament times … but by implication, writes the same judgment ‘impossible,’ over every other religious system as a means of present forgiveness and eternal salvation.”

2.        “The author of Hebrews writes appreciatively about Judaism even though he cannot recognize it as the way of salvation.  Its laws expose our sin, its history illustrates our dangers and its heroes exemplify our faith.”

3.        He argues that we must establish “some kind of common ground in the basic needs of humanity, before going on … [to declare] God’s distinctive revelation in Christ.”

The common ground with Judaism in New Testament times was an appreciation of the work of the law in making us aware of sin and the necessity for a means to absolve the guilty from every ounce of blood on their hands.  Obviously, the author writes “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”  By itself, any appreciation that this could suffice – would be considered cheap grace by any standards.  In other words – the revelation through the author is that if the old sacrificial order had been able to cleanse the conscience – then the worshippers would have enjoyed unrestricted communion with God.  However, this was obviously not so under the Old Covenant economy, and there were many in the time of Christ who were ready to affirm this obvious statement.

As H.L. Ellison notes, “the relatively easy adaptation of the Palestinian synagogue to the new conditions after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. shows that the principle of the insufficiency of animal sacrifice had been widely grasped.” 

Before we move on to the obvious Christian doctrine – the essential things we have to teach people is not only the reality of sin but some means of attaining forgiveness of those sins.  None of the world’s religions has an effective or realistic methodology to accomplish that.  Certainly, our modern humanists have come a long way in convincing the multitudes that there are no sins, but that fanciful fiction will do no one any good at the end of the age.  Any one who is serious about right and wrong must come to their knees in desperation for a way out of Adam’s natural condition.

Application:  This understanding must bring us to the real substance of what the Messiah Jesus has actually accomplished.  The author of Hebrews quotes Psalm forty carefully as being the words of Jesus in taking up the ministry of becoming the sacrificial Lamb of God.  John Owen tells us that “these verses declare God’s provision to make up for the defect in legal sacrifices as concerns the expiation of sin, peace of conscience with himself, and the sanctification of the souls of worshipers.”

“Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired,
               but a body have You prepared for me;
In burnt offerings and sin offerings
                You have taken no pleasure.
Then I said,
               ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will O God.
               As it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

All eternity is written in that ancient declaration of truth.  Obedience, perfect obedience was, is and always will be the joy of the Father.  Since the fall of Adam, even the best of men have fallen short of that ideal and so in the coming out from Egypt, the good Lord provided a shadow of the great sacrifice to come in the person of the Second Adam.  Bruce encourages the same idea:  “Wholehearted obedience is the sacrifice that God really desires, the sacrifice which He received in perfection from His Servant-Son when He came into the world.  As for the other kinds of sacrifice enumerated in the psalm, they had religious worth only in so far as they were the tangible expression of a devoted and obedient heart; the prophets were never tired of insisting that God did not desire them for their own sake.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the One, the only one - who completely obeyed the Father to the point of death.  Note in the citation of verse seven: “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.”  And in His perfect obedience – the Lamb without blemish was sacrificed once and for all time.  The perfect obedience of Christ cancels, and even abolishes the Old Covenant sacrificial economy in order to establish the better sacrifice on the cross.  And what does the crucifixion and death of our Lord accomplish?  Look at our last verse for this morning:  “And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

Now what does this mean to us today as we gather again for the blessed Supper of our Lord?  Imperfect as we all are, we may all come to the Father through the Son by the Spirit.  The whole history of the Covenant of God is not only fulfilled, but also transformed for all time when Jesus lay down His life on the cross, before taking it up again three days later.  The fact of His resurrection proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that God Himself was with us in the person of His only Son.  And so, in this annual Resurrection season, let us come to the table of the Lord gladly – knowing full well that all of our sins, past – present and future are covered over in the blood of Jesus.  The blood price for our souls has been paid and we are invited to partake of His body and blood that we may grow in grace and knowledge day by day until He comes again.  “Come quickly Lord Jesus, come quickly.”  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES

 Brown, Raymond.  The Bible Speaks Today:  The Message of Hebrews.
Bruce, F.F.  The Epistle to the Hebrews.
Owen, John:  Commentary on the Book of Hebrews.
The Holy Bible:  English Standard Version.

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