Hebrews 10:1-10 NKJV – For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, [and] not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those [sacrifices there is] a reminder of sins every year. 4 For [it is] not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. 5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. 6 In burnt offerings and [sacrifices] for sin You had no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come–In the volume of the book it is written of Me–To do Your will, O God.’ ” 8 Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and [offerings] for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure [in them]” (which are offered according to the law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once [for all].
V1 “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, [and] not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.” All the Old Covenant is a shadow: the Tabernacle, the Priesthood, the atonement, the Law, etc. The law refers to Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law addresses only the shadows. The Greek word for “shadow” is (G4639) σκία skia, which means shadow. (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Abridged – Little Kittel)) “In the more common transferred sense it means ‘shadow’ in contrast to ‘reality’ and denotes the worthlessness of things. It is also used for the ‘shade’ of a dead person.” The real Temple, etc. is in heaven. The earthly Temple was a material construction based on the actual Temple in heaven. It is a copy of it. The good things to come is the ministry of the Lord Jesus in the Heavenly Temple. Since Mosaic Law contains only the shadow, not the reality, the sacrifices offered there are only a shadow of the real sacrifice that happened in the Heavenly Temple where the Lord Jesus presented His own blood. The shadows of the earthly Temple and worship is not permanent, so must be repeated. The reality of the Heavenly Temple is permanent. Animal sacrifices are the shadow and temporary, but the offering of Jesus on the Cross is the real thing and permanent.
V2 “For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.” The earthly sacrifices had to be repeated proving that it was not complete and final. So, a permanent solution was given by God through Jesus Christ our savior. Earthly sacrifices only covered sin and restored fellowship with God. Sin requires death. The temporary solution is the animal sacrifices which look ahead in time to the Lord Jesus, the God-Man, who offered human blood. Jesus is our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). The goal of sacrifice is forgiveness and pardon from sin. The earthly sacrifices fail, but the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus succeeded. Our guilt has been removed, our conscience is clean. That’s how God views it, but we still struggle with the past sometimes. Let us remind ourselves that Jesus said, “It is finished.”
V3 “But in those [sacrifices there is] a reminder of sins every year.” The conscience cannot be purified by earthly sacrifices. Barclay (beware) comments: “So the writer to the Hebrews says with prophetic vehemence: “The sacrifice of animals is powerless to purify a man and give him access to God. All that such sacrifices can do is to remind a man that he is an uncured sinner and that the barrier of his sin is between himself and God.” So far from erasing his sin, they underline it.”
Compare Psalm 40:6-9.
V4 “For [it is] not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” Since this was so, God had already planned for the Messiah to be the Passover Lamb as the writer explains next.
V5 “Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me.” Human sin needs a human death and shed blood. Jesus is the Messiah.
V6 “In burnt offerings and [sacrifices] for sin You had no pleasure.” Because these offerings were shadows not the real sacrifice that accomplishes atonement for all sins and cleanses the conscience.
V7 “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come–In the volume of the book it is written of Me–To do Your will, O God.” Jesus is a voluntary sacrifice. It was God’s will (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to bring a permanent redemption from sin and guilt. It was prophesied and completed. God does know the future.
V8 “Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and [offerings] for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure [in them]” (which are offered according to the law)…”
V9 “then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second.” The first is the Mosaic system and the latter is Christianity. This is God’s will and Messiah’s will. Praise God, Jesus came to do God’s will. This is a principle for us–to do God’s will.
V10 “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once [for all].” Because of Jesus’s sacrifice and our faith (the condition God required for salvation), we have been sanctified, made clean and pure, justified, forgiven.