Hebrews 10:3

Hebrews 10:3

An annual reminder of sins

At first sight it seems unlikely that we can add anything to the simple pronouncement contained in this verse. Those endless, daily processions of men queuing to bring their sacrifices before the Lord, the lines of bleating, bellowing animals awaiting their fate, were all pointless and frankly, quite useless. Why? Because no sooner had the sacrifices been made than they needed to be made again, they did not bring an end to sin, and they could never erase future transgressions either. The same could be said of the great Feast Days, particularly the Day of Atonement, no sooner had the High Priest emerged from the Most Holy Place as an end to a year of unintentional sinning, then someone in the camp started to break the Law and the penalty score was renewed! It was all so pointless, such a waste of time, endless in its inability to really make a difference and to solve the chasm between men and God. 

The writer here in Hebrews sees another problem with the whole system of the Law in that events like the Day of Atonement caused the people to be reminded of their wrongdoing, of all the occasions when they might have broken God’s Laws, even though they did not mean to. Who wants to be regularly reminded or is it God's purpose to constantly make us take note? To be fair to the Jews, they kept the whole meaningless system going, they continued, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, to make their offerings and seek restitution and absolution for their sins. It must have been a drudge for many of them, no sooner had a Day of Atonement passed then the next must be anticipated. All of this was precisely carried on because the Lord God had commanded it. Hats off to them all and, thank God, we do not have to pursue the same repetitious practices to earn favour with Him. Shame on any church denomination or priesthood that insists that such things are still necessary and that we have to engage in rituals and rites to gain our salvation!

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