Hebrews 10:1-14 - Shadows Are Real
- Chad Werkhoven
- 4 hours ago
- 4 min read
The old sacrificial system wasn't just a symbol, it was a shadow.
Hebrews 10:1-14 (NIV)
CONTEXT: Yesterday we read the passage (Hebrews 9:22-28) that precedes today's.
10 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’ ” (Psalm 40:6-8)
... 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
Canons of Dordt
Point 2 - Limited Atonement
Article 3: The Infinite Value of Christ’s Death
This death of God’s Son is the
only
and entirely complete
sacrifice and satisfaction for sins;
it is of
infinite value and worth,
more than sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world.
Summary
It's easy to think that the Old Testament was merely symbolic; that all of the rules, regulation and transfer of guilt to sacrificial animals whose blood was poured out as a kippur (atonement) was just a grand drama pointing us to what would later be accomplished by Christ. And in some senses, that's true. As our passage today indicated, those activities were not the realities themselves. In fact, they could never make anyone perfect, no matter how often they were repeated, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
But those Old Testament practices were more than just symbolic. Symbols are abstract designs that artistically point to a concept, the way the red stripes on an American flag remind us of the blood spilled to attain freedom. The red on the flag comes from ink; it only symbolizes blood. We understand the bread and wine of communion as symbols which signify Christ's body and blood; they neither are nor become actual flesh and blood.
But our passage today describes doesn't describe those gruesome procedures repeated day after day as mere symbols. Rather, it calls them a shadow of the good things that would come. A shadow is more than just a mere symbol, it's an extension of something very real.
The sins requiring atonement were very real. The fact that atonement required the shedding of blood (yesterday's passage) became very evident as the very real lifeblood drained out of a very real animal. The ceremonies put in place by God in accordance with His law to account for the sins of His people were real payments, it's just that they were just not sufficient payments. They were a shadow of the payment Christ made.
Dig Deeper
A shadow takes its form from that which cast it, even though the shadow's form is often compressed, elongated, or not the exact image of the original shape. If you only saw the shadow of something, it would be hard to accurately describe that object's details. The book of Hebrews changes the angle of the light, so we can see Christ's perfect sacrifice and not just its shadow. It's in this light that the accuracy of the previous understandings derived from the shadow become evident.
First, the shadow accurately made clear that it is God's will that His people be made holy through sacrifice. Sin must be atoned for, and blood sacrifice is the currency. It's likely that those who lived in that shadow understood this concept better than we do, since they saw the grotesque reality of this every time they witnessed those sacrifices, which were an annual reminder of sins.
But being in the shadow made it hard for those living in it to understand that it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Nor did the endless repetition of those sacrifices do anything to achieve the holiness that God's will desired.
But, praise be to God, we now clearly see the wonderful object that cast that long shadow: the one sacrifice by which Christ has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. As the Canons put it, the death of God’s Son is the only and entirely complete sacrifice and satisfaction for sins. It's no longer known just by its shadow; it's now the light of this dark world.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, by whose will we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will live in the light of Christ rather than the shadow of the law;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Matthew 27
