18 Necessity of Christ’s Death

In Hebrews chapter 10, the author continues showing how the Old Covenant was a mere shadow of what would come under Jesus in the New Covenant.

1 Need for a Better Sacrifice

The chapter begins with the author once again showing that the Old Covenant sacrificial system was insufficient, which was emphasized in that it required repeated sacrifices:

Hebrews 10:1-4

While sin remains mains greatest problem, the sacrificial system was unable to remove sin. Therefore, a better (more excellent) sacrifice would be necessary.

This pictures the innate shortcoming of all religions.

The Lord’s desire wasn’t simply to cover sins, but to remove them. Again, showing that a perfect sacrifice would be necessary.

2 Fulfillment from Christ’s Death

Once again, the author used an Old Testament prophecy to show how Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant:

Hebrews 10:5-10

In verses 5-7 he quotes a portion of Psalm 40:

Psalm 40:6-8

The passage shows how the Father had appointed the Son to be Savior before His coming into the world.

• The passage shows the insufficiency of continual sacrifices.

The repeated sacrifices could only cover but not permanently remove sin, yet a sacrificial death would be necessary to remove sin.

The Father’s plan all along was to have His Son be the sacrifice which would remove sin:

Revelation 13:8

In verse 9, we’re shown the perfect obedience of Jesus to His Father’s will.

Verse 10 presents us with great doctrinal truths:

Hebrews 10:10

• We see that we’re sanctified (set apart) by Christ’s sacrifice.
• We see the one-time only sacrifice of Jesus was sufficient to remove our sins.

3 The Perfect Sacrifice

Hebrews 10:11-18

Once more we see how the repeated Levitical sacrifices fell far short, in that they could only cover, and not remove sin.

In verse 12, the author repeats that Jesus performed a single sacrifice, and then in showing the sufficiency of that singular act, He sat down at the Father’s right hand.

This was also seen in the following prophetic psalm:

Psalm 110:1

But sitting at the Father’s right hand also showed the following:

• Shows Jesus to be in the place of highest honor.
• It shows the great trust the Father placed in the Son.

Verse 14 reinforced what was presented in verse 10, that Jesus completed the work in us.

Yet, it extends the thought, by showing that sanctification has a threefold aspect:

• We were sanctified by Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary
• We are being sanctified (continually being set apart for the Lord).
• We will be sanctified, which will be the culmination, when we will be perfected when we stand in the Lord’s presence in heaven.

In verses 15-17 the author shows how the Holy Spirit declares the Word of God:

Hebrews 10:15-17

• This section presents another great doctrinal statement in showing that the Holy Spirit is God.

While verse 15 speaks of the Holy Spirit witnessing, in verse 16, the author shows the words as coming from the Lord, which again shows how the Spirit is God:

John 14:26

Verse 17 shows that our sins were completely forgiven.

In verse 18 we since Jesus’ perfect sacrifice remits our sin, there is no longer a need for sacrifice:

Hebrews 10:18