Jeff,
The verse is from Hebrews 10. The audience the author of Hebrews was writing to was the Jews. The large majority of people in the early church were Jews who had come out of a lifetime of Judaism. They had been raised on the Law of God, the sacrifices, the feasts, and the rules and regulations of this religion. But when Christ had come, He initiated the new covenant which God had been promising.
The multiple sacrifices were done away with by the single sacrifice of Jesus. The priesthood had been replaced by Jesus' priesthood, after the order of Melchizedek. The earthly temple, which had kept people out of God's presence, became obsolete when the way into the heavenly temple was opened by Christ. These Christians that came from Judaism had received an incredible blessing - they no longer needed to offer sacrifices, to perform the rituals, or to be bound up under the Law.
However, their belief in Jesus Christ did have a terrible consequence:
- Their Jewish friends forsook them.
- Their Jewish families banished them.
- Their Jewish coworkers ostracized them.
- The Jewish synagogues disfellowshipped them.
- The Jewish leaders persecuted them.
- The Jewish authorities confiscated what belonged to them.
What the author of Hebrews had seen is that many of these Jews that had professed faith in Christ were about to give up on Christ. They were starting to think that it would be easier to go back to the old ways, to what they knew, to what they remembered as the "good times," to restore those relationships that had been broken.
He has been warning them that to do so would be to forsake Jesus, to put Him back on the cross, to subject Him to open shame, and to give up their salvation.
This is the context that we must keep in mind, as we begin to read at verse 26
If these Jews, who had received the knowledge of the Truth, knowingly rejected Christ and instead decided to go back to the temple and offer sacrifices for their willful sins, they could expect nothing from God but judgment.
Christians have often had these verses blasted at them when they struggle against sin in their lives. "If you don't start living holy, brother, then you're not saved! God is going to send you to the lake of fire!" But in reality, if you are trusting in Jesus Christ to forgive your sins, you need not fear God's fury of fire. It is those who reject Christ, turning their back on His sacrifice who no longer have a sacrifice for their sins.
(BTW, it is a favorite verse of those who claim that we can lose our salvation. As if Christ is not greater than our sin. Our God is greater than sin and if He has chosen you, He will surely see your salvation on to completion.)
Hebrews 10
1The 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. 2If it could, 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. 3But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7Then I said, 'Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll--
I have come to do your will, O God.' "[1] 8First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). 9Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16"This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds." 17Then he adds:
"Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more." 18And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. 19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
26If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." 31It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
There is more on this here:
calvarychapel.com
-Jason |
