The Divine Incarnation. Heb. 10:7-10. (108)
Though that work involved immeasurable humiliation, untold anguish, though it entailed not only Bethlehem’s manger but Calvary’s cross, He hesitated not. As a child, as a Man, in life and in death, He was “obedient” to His God. Our disobedience was voluntary, so the satisfaction which He made for us was voluntary. Though what He did was done out of love for us, yet chiefly in subjection to God’s will and out of love to Him. “I love the Father; and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do” (John 14:31).
- When Peter drew his sword and attempted resistance, the Savior exclaimed, “The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” Jn 18:11. He was not dragged, as an unwilling victim to the hall of judgment, but was “led as a sheep to the slaughter” Acts 8:32. The Spirit of prophecy says—“The Lord God hath opened Mine ear, and I was not rebellious… I gave My back to the smiters, and…I hid not My face from shame and spitting” Is. 50:5, 6.
- At Gethsemane, when looking into the awful cup which He was to drink and saw in it the wrath of God and His being made a “curse.” Then, He manifested His unquenchable love to us, by making known more clearly what He suffered on our behalf, He cried, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.” nevertheless, not My will, but Thine.” Thus, the only object before Him was doing the Father’s will.
- “Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin Thou wouldest not, neither hast pleasure therein, which are offered by the law; Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second” (vv. 8, 9). Repetition is here made that the conclusion drawn might the more plainly appear. Granting that the Levitical sacrifices were “offered by the law,” nevertheless, God rejected them as the means of making real expiation of sin and the saving of His church. David spoke as one of His prophets, what He had decreed in eternity. The Son, the Mediator, was saying, “Lo I come to do Thy will, O God.” “Lo I come” from Heaven to earth, from the “form of God” to the “form of a servant;” come forth like the rising of the sun, with light and healing in his wings, or as a giant rejoicing to run his race. To “do Thy will,” to perform Thy counsels, to execute what Thou requirest, to render that entire service of love which Thy people owed unto the law, to perform the great work of redemption. Heb. 7:18, 19; 8:7–13; 12:27, 28.
- “He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second.” The Levitical offerings were unefficacious to accomplish the purpose of God; the incarnate Son had. The Greek word for “taketh away” is even stronger than the term applied to the old covenant—“made old” and “vanish away” Heb. 8:13. It is usually applied to the taking away of life Acts 16:27. Dead things are not only useless, but prove harmful carrion, fit only to be buried! Thus, it was with the Mosaic shadows. So also, the final word is used in connection with the one offering of our Lord’s: it has “established” the will of God concerning the Church, placing it on such an immutable foundation that it shall never be moved or altered.
- “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (v. 10). “By,” or “in which will” refers not to Christ’s, for the preceding verse speaks of the will of the Father, to offer the perfect and acceptable sacrifice. Moreover, the “will” is distinguished from the “offering” of the Redeemer. The “Thy will” of v. 9 refers to the eternal agreement between the Father and the Son in connection with the covenant of redemption, the performing of His “commandment” Jn 10:18. “In which will” gives the sphere in which the great sacrifice was offered and in which the elect are “sanctified.” Pink Arthur W
“In the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” “Sanctified” positionally, restored to God’s favor, standing accepted before Him. The death of Christ was a “sacrifice” Heb. 7:27, 9:23, by which He put away sin 9:26 and provided for the purging of our conscience 9:14 and the setting apart of our persons unto God 10:14. All these passages affirm that the death of Christ was a sacrifice by which the elect are separated as a peculiar people unto the worship of the living God. “It has replaced the ancient sacrifices, with the actual removal of the punishment. It puts us in the position of a people near to God, a holy people…” (G. Smeaton). “Sanctified includes a full expiation of sin, a complete dedication to God, a real purification of our natures, a permanent peace of conscience unto which belongs the privilege of immediate access to God. All that the will of God ordained for the good of His Church is communicated to us through the satisfaction or offering of Christ, but this is only apprehended by an understanding enlightened and a heart opened by the Holy Spirit.
