Title: What Does God Desire?
One of the most frustrating feelings in life is doing something over and over again and never actually solving the problem.
Imagine if every time your “check engine” light came on, instead of fixing the engine, you just put a piece of tape over the light.
For a moment, it feels resolved. But the problem is still there.
That’s essentially what the Old Testament sacrificial system was designed to reveal.
Not that sacrifice was meaningless—but that sacrifice by itself could never permanently solve the sin problem.
That’s the tension of Hebrews 10.
The sacrifices were real.
The worship was real.
The law was real.
But they were never the final answer.
And now the author of Hebrews says something shocking:
God never ultimately desired the sacrifices themselves.
Not because the sacrifices were bad, but because they were shadows pointing toward the One sacrifice God actually desired: Jesus Christ.
5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,
“You have not desired sacrifice and offering,
But You have prepared a body for Me;
6 You have not taken pleasure in whole burnt offerings and offerings for sin.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come
(It is written of Me in the scroll of the book)
To do Your will, O God.’”
8 After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and offerings for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law),
9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second.
10 By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.
(Read/Pray)
Septuagint:
This quotation is taken from the Septuagint version of Psalm 40:6-8 (the Septuagint is the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament that was the most commonly used Bible in the first century. This would have most likely been a very familiar passage to the original audience of Hebrews.
Original Quotation:
Pslam 40:6-8
6 You have not desired sacrifice and meal offering;
You have opened my ears;
You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
It is written of me in the scroll of the book.
8 I delight to do Your will, my God;
Your Law is within my heart.”
When King David writes this Psalm, he is very thorough to include all FOUR types of offering (sacrifice, meal, burnt, sin) to demonstrate that NONE of the sacrifices are what God ultimately desires.
v 5 “But you have prepared a body for me…”
Guzik:
What pleased God could only come through Jesus, the incarnate Son of God. In the incarnation the body of Jesus was perfectly prepared and suited to live as fully man and fully God.
“There is no question that the author is convinced about the reality of the pre-existence of Christ.” (Guthrie)
“His incarnation itself is viewed as an act of submission to God’s will and, as such, an anticipation of His supreme submission to that will in death.” (Bruce)
V. 10 “Once for all time”
If you haven’t noticed, this is a huge theme, the author repeats over and over in Hebrews: Christ’s work was “once for all time”
Unlike the sacrificial system, Jesus’ work was complete once for all, with no need for repetition.
It may not seem like it on the surface, but this is actually an area where protestants and Catholics have disagreed and debated for centuries.
Anyone know why?
The one sacrifice does the work that the many failed to do. One wonders how priests who claim that the ‘mass’ is the sacrifice of Christ’s body repeated explain this verse.” (Robertson)
But wait a minute Pastor Ben didn’t you just tell us last week that Jesus’s role is at the right hand of the father continually interceding on our behalf? How then can you argue that what Jesus is doing is not being repeated.
That’s a great question and I want to answer it carefully because it’s necessary that we understand the difference between Jesus is sacrifice on the cross and his work that is ongoing currently on the right hand of the father.
“The heavenly high priest has indeed a continual ministry to discharge on His people’s behalf at the Father’s right hand; but that is the ministry of intercession on the basis of the sacrifice presented and accepted once and for all, it is not the constant or repeated offering of His sacrifice.” (Bruce)
V. 9 “He takes away the first to establish the second…”
Edwards:
- In taking away the first priesthood, which God had no pleasure in; not only taking away the curse of the covenant of works, and canceling the sentence denounced against us as sinners, but taking away the insufficient typical priesthood, and blotting out the hand-writing of ceremonial ordinances and nailing it to his cross.
2. In establishing the second, that is, his own priesthood and the everlasting gospel, the most pure and perfect dispensation of the covenant of grace; this is the great design upon which the heart of God was set from all eternity.
Conclusions:
- Like all good teachers, the author of Hebrews clearly understood his audience. He does something very clever here by building his argument on the foundation of the Old Testament with the quote of Psalm 40, he actually uses the Old Testament to demonstrate the superiority of the new covenant in Christ.
2. A biblical example of this would be the stoning of Stephen. Everybody who was present loved the first part of what Stephen said in act chapter 8, because it was praising the patriarch and the covenant of God the father. But those some people who were cheering Steven on immediately turned on him and murdered him when he then transitioned and said Christ is the fulfillment of this law.
3. Essentially, this is a move to establish credibility with the audience. If I am a stranger and I walk up to Andy and tell him I just mowed with the greatest mower I’ve ever mowed with. Andy would probably say oh that’s great. But if I responded by saying I own a landscaping company, I’ve owned it for the last 25 years and in that 25 years, I’ve operate on Scagg, Walker, hustler, X Marc, John Deere, and ventrac. And this new mower is greater than all of those combined.
4. So What Does God Desire?
CG/Discussion Questions:
- Hebrews says God did not ultimately “desire” sacrifices and offerings. What do you think God actually wanted from His people all along?
- In what ways do people today still fall into “religious repetition” instead of resting in Christ’s finished work?
- What is the difference between Christ’s completed sacrifice and His ongoing intercession for believers? (It’s VERY important to me that you understand this.)
- The old covenant sacrifices reminded people of sin repeatedly. How does the gospel change a believer’s relationship with guilt and shame?
- What are some practical ways Christians can unknowingly act as though Jesus’ work was “not enough”?