City Life Starter

Written by Efe Abbe

The Word

¹¹ And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. ¹⁴ For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

¹⁵ And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,

¹⁶ “This is the covenant that I will make with them
    after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
    and write them on their minds,”

¹⁷ then he adds,

“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

¹⁸ Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Hebrews 10:11-18 ESV

Reflection

Today we get to the climax our author’s case. That Jesus is greater than anything else this congregation could turn to for salvation: nothing and no one else has solved our sin problem.

Humans rebelled from the garden of Eden and God mercifully set His prescient plan for our salvation through Jesus in motion (Genesis 3). In the interim, before God’s ultimate salvation was revealed, He gave the Law as a “guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). While God required the exacting Mosaic rituals to approach Him, they could not remove sin – rather they served as an ongoing reminder of sin and the need for a permanent solution.

Our author’s implied question to this congregation is: “Since Jesus came and did away with sin once and for all, why would anyone want to go back to exacting rituals that couldn’t take away sin?”

Application

When I read v. 14 “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified,” my soul is eternally lighter. Even though we still feel our ongoing struggle with sin – the “being sanctified” part – we can rest because Jesus took away our sins, once and forever.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thank You for lovingly taking away my sins. I owe You all of me, so please take my heart and help me to trust Your eternally permanent salvation, even as You are making me holy, amen.