Hebrews 10:10

Hebrews 10:10

Made Holy - once for all!

There are two phrases in this verse that have mind-blowing consequences for all who believe.  Firstly, “we have been made holy.” Secondly, Jesus was sacrificed, “Once for all.”  Both of these outcomes were impossible under the old sacrificial rituals of the Law but now, through the body of Christ and His willing submission to the Father’s will, our salvation has been made possible. Let’s just think about the implications for a minute.

We all know, that when we take a good, hard look at ourselves we are anything but holy because we define it as being pure and righteous and God-like. However, the word correctly means that we are set apart, we now belong to God. God Himself is holy, He is separate from Creation, His holiness does, of course, mean that He is absolutely pure, and is not stained by any evil whatsoever. What Christ has done for us, through His sacrifice, is to fully wash away our sins, to carry the punishment for them and to set us apart for God. In that context there is an expectation that we will seek to live holy lives and separate ourselves from the evil that surrounds us. Human effort and good intentions are never enough, we need the cleansing and purification that the body of Christ gives us if we are ever to be able to enter the holy presence of our God.

Once again, we can see the purpose of the Law, it foreshadowed the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, but it could never remove the stain of sin completely. Because of the sinful nature of men, it was necessary, under the Law, for sin offerings to be regularly made, because sin was regularly being practiced! So, the old monotonous rituals were carried out with no hope of their ever coming to an end. There is a solution to this dilemma and Hebrews 7:27 puts it like this, “Unlike the other High Priests: Jesus does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself.” That’s it! That is the glorious truth of the Gospel in a nutshell. Jesus has done it all for all time. His sacrifice need never be repeated. His offering is completely acceptable to God as a covering for all who believe and at Calvary the work was completed, “Once For All!” Hallelujah!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Psalm1:5       Our earthly journey will allow us, at times, to stand with the redeemed in holy awe and worship exhilarated by the presence of our Father.  In the Psalmists’ day these “assemblies of the righteous” would have been joyful times of worship at God’s sanctuary where music played, choirs sang and the people joined in the excitement and corporate wonder of being together in God’s presence. If our own church worship is anything, it should be a prelude to the time when we will join with a numberless throng and sing the praises of the Lamb and the One who sits upon the throne of heaven. Many go to events like Spring Harvest, Keswick Convention, New Day and the rest, primarily for this experience of joy and exhilaration.  Our earthly, joyful experiences are but a foretaste of what is to come and we are promised that we will join with heavenly choirs and our song will be “Worthy is the Lamb.”   Such music and exalta...
Read more

Psalm 119:83

Psalm 119:83 Wineskins in the smoke Well, this verse has caught us by surprise! What does it mean? As we will be aware, in ancient times, wine was not stored in purpose-made glass bottles but in animal skins. In order to keep the skin pliable and soft it must not be allowed to dry out for it would soon shrivel and crack. It follows that the last thing you would do with your treasured wineskins is to hang them up over a smoky fire, not only would they quickly wither but the smoke would clearly ruin the flavour and texture of the wine!  What does the author mean when he says that he is like such a wineskin?  It denotes the uncomfortable condition he was in or at least thought himself to be in; being caught in the midst of smoke is very uncomfortable, and he considered himself to be in darkness with sin and afflictions, like a wineskin in smoke, black and sooty. He felt like an empty wineskin with nothing in him. Maybe he was worn out with cares and old age and had become pale an...
Read more

Psalm 119:6

Psalm 119:6 Shameful or shameless The writer of this Psalm clearly describes the dilemma that we all face from time to time. We love to call ourselves believers in the Living God, we align ourselves with His Word and His people. We take some pride in our spiritual walk and the importance of our faith. That is, until we have a moment of honesty, and we truthfully measure ourselves against the standards of the Lord. It is when we look at the true self in the moral mirror that we see the warts and the deformities that have hindered our journey and have made us fall so far short of God’s standards. The moral mirror is, of course, the commands of the Lord, these are, in Hebrew, the “miswot”, the terms and conditions of God’s contract or covenant, and when we honestly appraise ourselves against His standards, we have to be ashamed!  In the verses of the Psalm being “put to shame” suggests public humiliation, there is nothing worse than when others become aware of our sin and our failings...
Read more