The Book of Hebrews
Part 27: Made Perfect Forever (Heb. 10:1-18)
I. The Passing Shadow
Though there are a number of encouraging things still to come, Hebrews 10 marks the culmination of the letter. It is like the crescendo of a powerful song; a final chorus carrying the heart of everything sung out thus far. It begins with a mention of darkness and grows into an explosion of light…
1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? —Hebrews 10:1-2
After dealing with so many elements of the Mosaic law, the author sums up his thoughts by saying the law is “a shadow of the good things to come,” The law is compared to a state of darkness. A shadow results from something blocking the path of light. This is fitting since the law reveals the state of man who has turned from the light of God and sought to live by his own willpower.
When the Bible talks about shadows it is usually in connection to death—as in the “shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4, Matthew 4:16, Luke 1:79). Death is also the result of turning from the light—or, stated differently, the life of God. This is interesting because the law is connected biblically to death. Paul refers to it as a “ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones” (2 Corinthians 3:7).
- It’s important to note here that Paul makes clear the law itself is not evil. It simply exposes evil (see Romans 7:13).
In Hebrews, we’re looking at the law with its covenants of warnings and promises, overseen by priests, carried out through sacrifices, and situated at a temple. All of these elements are the shadows of “good things to come.”
Jesus Christ is the good things to come. He is the fulfillment of the Law. The covenants, priests, sacrifices, and temple all point to him. The “good things to come” are here now. As we learned in the last session, the old world and the old age has ended with Christ. Up until 30 to 70 AD—the divine forty-year window of Christ’s coming and the temple’s destruction—the world was in complete shadow. Christ came and brought light.
The light is God’s true nature (identity). Jesus is called the “very form of things.” The word for “very form” is the same term used in Colossians when Jesus is described as “the image of the invisible God.” Jesus reveals the true glory of God which the law only points to through dark shadows.
Jesus is also the true blueprint image of man. He reveals the light of humanity’s true identity as sons and daughters of God. The law also gave us dark outlines of what a son or daughter is supposed to look like, but Jesus came to reveal the fullness of it.
The whole world has lived under a dark shadow of a false (or, at best, incomplete) understanding of God and one another.
Thankfully, shadows are temporary things. Even though darkness can appear so strong and permanent, it is a fading reality. The shadows of our false ways and false gods are breaking up, because Christ has brought the dawn of a new age.
The church is now called to be the vessel through which the dawn grows and the new day fully appears on earth. Now the nations—the “gentile” world—are still in the shadows, but the darkness will never overcome the light. Soon enough, the light will rise in humanity completely and the truth will overcome all deception.
II. An End to Sin Consciousness
From here, the author continues to explain the failure of the law, not wanting anyone to remain in the shadows but to come into the full light of the Gospel’s revelation. He says that if the law and its sacrifices were successful then the worshiper would no longer have consciousness of sins?
This is the key verse to understand the concept of a “sin consciousness.” The writer is saying that if animal sacrifices under the law truly cleansed people, they would no longer be conscious of their sins. But he is making the case that we now have this perfect sacrifice in Christ, therefore we can live without a consciousness—an awareness or knowledge—of sin!
The real shadow that has fallen over the world is a consciousness of darkness. We feel guilt and disconnect from God, and this leads to all of our problems. We then use the law to try to break through the shadows, but this is like using a broken flashlight to illuminate a dark room—it doesn’t work.
The words preceding this statement say the law could not “make perfect” those who draw near to God through it. Whether they understand who God is or not, people are trying to draw near to their Creator, and they recognize the need to become “perfect” in some way. In other words, the world looks for a sense completion and wholeness in who they are—shalom. They have some internal sense this is required in order to be in relationship with a perfect Creator.
This verse is insinuating that Jesus gave us this perfection already… This will be confirmed before the chapter is over.
To come out of a sin consciousness is to come out of the shadows. To wake up to our righteousness—to being complete and perfect before God—is to come into the light of a new era. Religion, law, fear, and punishment all represent the old era which has come to an end. We are called to be people of a new world, a new Kingdom realm.
The writer goes on to demolish the religious system that is coming to an end:
3 But in those sacrifices (of the Old Covenant) there is a reminder of sins year by year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; 6 in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.’”
8 After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have not desired, nor have you taken pleasure in them,” (which are offered according to the Law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. —Hebrews 10:3-9
We cannot imagine how offensive this paragraph would be—and how difficult to take in—for someone who honors the “holy law of God.” This is saying God does not take pleasure in the very things he said to do in Moses’s law. Nonetheless, the writer is quoting from the Old Testament itself, so it’s hard to argue with it.
This is why we need to understand how the law was a way in which God entered our fallen systems of alleviating our sin consciousness. The effort to get rid of this sense/awareness of being “bad/not-good-enough” was a universal and powerful reality that produced sacrificial systems with covenantal contracts and priesthoods and temples.
God tolerated this and gave a divine but temporary system with the promise of something greater to come. This system was the shadow of a greater reality.
This greater reality is referred to in this passage as his “will.” This is speaking of God’s true desire from the beginning. This brings us back to the revolutionary concept in Hebrews 9 where we learned the New Covenant was actually God’s “will and testament.” In eternity, God willed to give his creation life knowing we would embrace darkness and death.
God chose to bestow grace and forgiveness on us, and to give this as a gift through His Spirit. God willed—he planned—to enter into the darkness of law and death (see Galatians 4:4) in order to give us eternal life. This is why Jesus had a “body prepared” that would bear our darkness and destroy its power forever.
When he says he takes away the first in order to establish the second, God is removing the first temporary covenant of the law and replacing it with his eternal plan—the New Covenant.
Even though the New Covenant is called the “second” covenant, this was God’s original plan. This is similar to Jesus being called “the last Adam” in 1 Corinthians 15. Jesus came after Adam in physical time and space; however, he existed eternally before Adam. In the same way, the New Covenant came “second” in physical time and space, but it existed in the heart of God before creation came to be…
This leads to the next verse in Hebrews 10:
10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. —Hebrews 10:10
God’s plan was always to give life to us no matter what. That life is found in his Son. His plan was for us to be in union with his Son, the source of life. Thus, he always planned for us to be set apart in him, by him, and through him.
In other words, God planned for us to freely inherit Jesus’s nature and identity. His perfect, righteous, complete, restful self is ours—just because that’s what he wanted for us; and he wanted this because he’s very kind and loving. (Another way of saying “by the grace of God.”)
But this meant there would be an exchange. Jesus would take our broken identity onto himself—onto his body. This is because God knew in advance we would turn to a false identity—you might say a shadow of our true selves. So he willed (planned, desired) to give us back our true identity through a death and resurrection. God planned to come and take our choice of embracing darkness onto himself on a Roman cross and carry it into the grave.
Then when he rose again, we rose with him, forgiven and restored.
We are all “sanctified,” or set-apart, through what Jesus did once and for all. Jesus stands victorious as humanity’s true identity. There is no work to do to make this happen because he already decided it—and did it.
Our calling is to simply believe it … to be happy about in it … to rest in it and find peace …
III. The Revelation of Being Perfect
The writer then sums things up again. Here is where we arrive at the heart of the entire letter:
11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. —Hebrews 10:11-14
In this passage we’re reminded of the Old Covenant priests who stood and did their work day in and day out as representatives of the people—and their work was never done. Jesus is the perfect representative, the eternal One (who Melchizedek pointed to) who finished by work and took his seat. Now, for all time, our sins are completely forgiven and forgotten.
This is the most glorious news imaginable. It is the answer to all shadows of sin consciousness. It is what we are called to rejoice and enter in to. However, a major stumbling block for people is the continuation of sin and evil in the world. This verse addresses this.
The writer goes back to quoting a key passage from earlier in the letter—Psalm 110. This is where David writes of the Messiah, a king-priest in the order of Melchizedek who took his seat triumphantly and eternally and now waits for people to enter into his rest.
When people enter into rest, when they receive the light of Christ, those who were once enemies become a “footstool.” A footstool is a place for feet to rest upon. In other words, when people receive the Gospel, they become God’s resting place.
This answers the question of why there is still darkness. The new age has come—but it has come like the dawn upon a city still sleeping. It is just beginning. The gift of light, love, and forgiveness needs to be received in hearts, and until people fully return to the One who loves them and gave himself for them, they will empower a defeated enemy to operate through them.
Satan holds no more authority to accuse us with demands of destruction, sickness, and death. Disease, addiction, death, and all forms of darkness are now illegal. They are a fading reality that is holding on by a thread through people continuing to have a sin consciousness. People are stuck in unbelief and blindness, and this allows darkness to temporarily exist.
The Gospel sets humanity free. If the whole world were to fully agree with God tomorrow about his work of salvation—war, famine, poverty, and death would stop.
One day, this will happen. Christ is waiting patiently, having already settled the matter. Our true identity has already been redeemed and revealed. The issue is now waking people up to what is said in Hebrews 10:14. This verse is the treasure of the chapter. It states the entire message of the letter to the Hebrews in one glorious sentence:
14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. —Hebrews 10:14
This is the message of the finished work on the cross. Through Jesus’s death on our behalf, we are perfected now. Because Christ (not Adam) is the sanctified Priest of humanity, we are completely righteous. Our sin and disease and brokenness were put to death on the cross already. This is the truth we’re called to receive.
The shadows of law and fear stain our conscience and get us to think we are imperfect, lacking, evil, missing something. As a result, we continue to live according to what we believe. The Good News shifts our perspective and changes.
14 For this reason it says,
“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.” —Ephesians 5:14
In this light, there is absolutely no striving. There is no fear. Sin has no more hold on you. This is what happens when the human heart awakens to the truth of Hebrews 10:14, which is the crescendo of the entire letter. Here it is in another translation:
14 And by his one perfect sacrifice he made us perfectly holy and complete for all time! —Hebrews 10:14 TPT
We are perfectly holy and complete forever. The only way we could ever become guilty again is if Jesus, the eternal Center of the cosmos, falls away. Jesus is forever the truth of our being. He is forever united to humanity. The human race forever sits at the right hand of God in Christ.
Of course, we are still growing into this identity. We’re learning to awaken on every level of our being to this truth. But the truth is still the truth no matter what. We are perfect. Our hearts are good!
From here, the writer quotes another passage of the Old Testament that came up earlier. Psalm 110 has already been restated; now in this final “chorus” we come back to Jeremiah 31 as well. Jeremiah 31 is the key prophecy in the Old Testament about a New Covenant. The author quoted a big portion of it in chapter 8 but now he just summarizes it to give the main point:
15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us (within the law itself); for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them,” He then says, 17 “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin. —Hebrews 10:15-18
As we said before, the New Covenant was the eternal promise planned before time and space. The plan to write the law on our hearts was already given when God made us in his image. This image would be marred and hidden, but God promised to regenerate and renew it when a person receives the gift of his love (see Titus 3:5).
When someone receives Jesus’s love and the truth of his finished work on the cross, the Holy Spirit comes and restores the original image, awakening it to life again.
In other words, we enter into the perfection already inside of us. Our perfection is our identity as his beloved children. There is nothing that can be added or taken away from that. We are perfect because we are his kids.
When we receive our Father’s forgiveness and the settled fact that he has forgotten our sins, we return to this truth ourselves. In this, we discard the old identity as something that doesn’t even exist in the mind of God. Even if you feel you’re still struggling with something, it is what God believes that matters the most—not our feelings or thoughts. True “repentance” is lining up with the mind of our Father.
This is what is being communicated through Jeremiah’s prophecy of a New Covenant, which the writer is reiterating. He then says the following: Where there is forgiveness, there is no longer any offering for sin.
It is finished!
Here’s a paraphrase of what is being communicated here:
Listen closely, the author says. As I said in the beginning, pay close attention and do not be distracted by any other “word” or by any religious spirit.
The entire system of the law—of earning God’s pleasure and love, of trying to be a perfect child of God—is over and done. Because the truth is out, and it is sealed with the holy blood of your older brother, our true Priest and King, Jesus.
The sin that blocked your perfect and true identity is forgiven and forgotten. You are not a sinner in God’s eyes. You are not evil, dirty, or lacking anything. You are a holy child of God, brother or sister to Christ Jesus himself.
So come out of the shadows! Don’t let your consciousness be filled with accusations against you. Do not let the enemy mow you down with fear. You are perfect right now. Learn to enter into the rest of being God’s redeemed child.
As the King says to his Bride in the Song of Songs: You are altogether lovely, my darling, and there is no flaw in you (Song of Songs 4:7).
Follow-up Encounter:
Look again at the truth of Hebrews 10:14 put into prophetic poetry in the Old Testament:
You are altogether lovely, my darling, and there is no flaw in you. —Song of Songs 4:7
As you prepare to take communion, ask God for a sweeter and deeper drink of the truth that you are perfect.
Receive communion with this truth splashing around your heart. Give praise and thanks for how he sees you—for who you truly are.