HEBREWS 10:15-22 

To review, let’s read verses 9-14… 

Then said he (the Son), Lo, I come to do thy will, O God (the Father). He taketh away the first (testament), that he may establish the second. By the which will (the second testament) we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath (made provision for those to be) perfected forever them that are sanctified. 

THEME OF THIS LESSON: The expressed love of the Son for the Father and the expressed love of the Father for the Son. 

VERSE 15: “WHEREOF the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us….” (note twice in this chapter the Holy Spirit is personalized 15 & 29) not the inward witness of Romans 8:16, but the outward witness of Scripture as in John 15:26…“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me…”) The Holy Spirit, being the Author of this Epistle, has bore witness to the Hebrew Christians in these last few verses of Christ, the Son of God, being yielded completely in spirit, soul and body to the Will of the Father. Who had prepared for Him that human body that Christ might willingly and lovingly offer up Himself as the Son of man, as the ultimate Propitiation offering for fallen man. Who abundantly satisfied the Just Holiness of the Father for estranged man, once and for all.  

We, being the seed of Adam, are born into this world with a fallen sinful nature condemned under the curse of eternal death for Adam’s original sin.  Jesus Christ’s Propitiation is extending the privilege of forgiveness and eternal life in the rebirth/or enlivening of our personal spirit with the eternal divine nature. This gracious “rebirth” one time event, has a partial reconciliation effect; in that the spirit being now of the divine nature may therefore have ongoing access into His Holy Presence. That is to say by right; through this justifying faith in Christ’s Propitiation, with this stamp or seal of the Holy Spirit, in that His righteousness is imputed to him. This eternally settled matter answers to VERSE 18: “Now where remission of these is (the inherent eternal curse of death for Adam’s sin, and all my own sins to the point of rebirth), there is no more (need of) offering for sin.”   VERSES 19–20 “Having therefore (on this basis), brethren, boldness (liberty) to enter (for the reminder of our entire lives here upon the earth) into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a (this) new and living way which he hath consecrated (newly made) for us, through the veil (where we may now proceed confidently but not without due reverence), that is to say, his flesh… (as the incarnate Son of God in that body prepared) 

And now additionally, that is to say, beyond redemption’s forgiveness, but on the same Propitiation basis, a very necessary provision of forgiveness for ongoing sins for a sincere earnest and repentant Believer determined to hold fast to the confession of his faith. While in the course of his life in this World, he battles in the quest of ATTAINING unto the promised heavenly inheritance for those who overcome being in view (Hebrews  3:1 with Revelation chapters 1-3) VERSE 21–22 … And (now to that end) having (Jesus) an high priest over the house of God (in Heaven); Let us draw near (in enlivened spirit to the throne of grace {Hebrews 4:16} and that conditionally) with a true heart (in spirit and renewed mind in loving obedience to His Word) in full assurance of faith (to be later taken up in chapter 11), having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience (inward conviction cleared by repentance) , and our bodies washed with pure water (an the ongoing outward sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit). 

(VERSE 23 with verse 35) Let us hold fast the profession (confession in hope for the future reward) of our faith (worthy of our great effort) without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised)…Cast not away therefore your confidence (living faith represented in action), which hath great recompense of reward”.  He is faithful as the High Priest of our confession, to secure forgiveness for us for all manner of ongoing besetting sins repented of and to cleanse us from all disinheriting sins, by the washing of the water of the Word and with accompanying strength of grace (the Divine influence of the Holy Spirit upon the heart) unto loving works. And thereby ultimately, through that all-encompassing Atonement, we may be found sanctified wholly, spirit, soul and body; exclusively attained by faith and loving works; worthy of the reward of the first resurrection out from among the dead. Or if living; then worthy to be caught up, in glory as an overcoming son, a joint heir with Christ. (Read 1st John 2:1–2, 4:10; 1st Thessalonians 5:23; James 2:20; Romans 8:17; Revelation 20:4-6. These verses substantiate the idea of how we should have works/fruit after our redemption/justification. It is based on these works done in love that God will judge us in regards to our inheritance.) 

VERSES 16-18 lay out again for the Hebrew Christians the great multi–purpose one–time Atonement work of Jesus Christ orchestrated by the Father. That while He dismisses the First Testament of Moses, He has not forgotten His Oath to Abraham, in the blessing of his seed, and herein establishes also that Christ’s Propitiation is the basis from which the New Covenant with Israel, upon His Return, will then additionally afford. That same one–time Atonement work of propitiation that provides provision for the Gospel Covenant of which we Christians/New Man are now participants. (To clarify, as we’ve said in times past, God has 2 groups of children that are on separate tracks. The New Covenant with Israel was suspended upon their rejection of Him. But it will be established at the time when they accept Him, which will be upon His return, at the end of the Tribulation period, after a period of time where He reveals them to them before He reveals Himself to them.  And the second group being the ‘New Man’ which consists of Christians and Jewish believers in Christ. The New Man is under the Gospel Covenant. So the Propitiation was multi-purposed in that it was on behalf of both the New Man and for Israel.)  

Now what was set before us in VERSES 19-25 is “saved” / new man’s expected and encouraged response from the Believer to that Propitiation of the Father’s Son; in His unimaginable magnanimous expression of Love to him. That of faith, hope and love.  

THE GREAT AND EXCLUSIVE AMENITY OF THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST 

Now at the time of Christ, when He was entering into His Ministry, there were two ways to ATONE OR COVER sins; 1) the Mosaic Covenant with the sacrificing of animals and 2) the just introduced ministry of John the Baptist, who was then preparing the way for Christ. Both, in their varying ways, pointing to Jesus Christ. (Galatians 3:19) John had the invested power of anointing to lead Jews into confession and repentance with atonement of sins declared in water baptism. “Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.”  John’s ministry foretold of the setting aside of the Mosaic Covenant and its ritual, as the One Who it shadowed was about to appear in reality. Jesus Christ was to usher in the kingdom of heavens (Matthew 3:1–2) in the power and authority of the Messiah (Son of God/Son of man…Deuteronomy 18:15 being a clear example of what Christ meant when He said that Moses spoke of Him… “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.”) Jesus Christ would be the One prophesied of, who was to baptize Israel in the power of the Holy Spirit… “He shall baptize you (Hebrews beyond that which can be realized by my conferring in repentance and water baptism) with the Holy Ghost, and with fire…”  (speaks to the inward work of the power of the Holy Spirit and the necessity for purging Matthew 3:11) That is to say, transitionally things were about to change from the earthly and outwardly to the spiritual and that which is inward. AND that in the power of Jesus Christ in the Baptism of the Jews with the Holy Spirit, they were to get a “new heart”. New hearts being an advancement from new spirits. And that being in order that they might have a part in the Messiah’s Kingdom of heavens. That being the proffered inheritance the Hebrews/Jews forfeited with the rejection and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ (the Heavenly Kingdom was offered to the Jews first). “Wherefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” [Matthew 21:43] (This “nation” being the nation of the ‘New Man’.) 

Now Paul, as by way of implied reminder to the Hebrew Christians in verses 16–17, that then in accordance with that rejection, the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom has been taken away from Israel/Jews who are/were partakers of the Mosaic Covenant and were set aside/cut off and now are given to the Gospel Nation of the New Man. Nevertheless, God has not utterly forsaken “faulty” Israel, nor forgotten His now suspended promises through the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, that which Hebrews 8:8-13 declares and Hebrews 10:14-18 echoes. But not until a future day, represented in first the rejection of Jesus Christ, and by extension rejection and suspension of the inward work of the Holy Spirit’s Baptism, and purging fire, that is after the Gospel Nation of the New Man, (to whom the inheritance of the kingdom of heavens was given) is full. “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, there shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness form Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” (Romans 11:25-28 with Isaiah 11:11, 59:21–22) “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people…”  The Holy Spirit’s Baptism with “fire” manifests in purging judgment that will be realized in Jacob’s trouble which is the great tribulation’s time of the leading up to the Second Coming of Christ when He will then establish the New Covenant with them. (The New Covenant which had been suspended upon their rejection of Him). Read Zechariah 13:9… “This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’ Read also Malachi 3:1-6, 4:1 which talks about the purifying by fire (baptism of fire) of the sons of Levi. 

John’s ordained call to repentance of sins and re-birth of the spirit work was represented in his water baptism. But what is in view in Matthew 3:11 is not a setting aside of redemption’s work, but that which is highly additive to Christ’s redemptive work; that is spiritual water with spiritual fire. It is that which is to be realized in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, that which John nor Moses nor Abraham nor Noah nor David’s offerings could afford, in that only by Jesus’ sacrificial offering of Himself with His mediating prayer could the fullness of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and purging fire be realized in man. This power unto NEW HEARTS, beyond the state of renewed spirit with eternal life, is that which neither the Mosaic Covenant nor John’s baptism could never accomplish, in that anything they could do, Christ’s Atonement could do and do better.  Therefore, they were made obsolete, in that Christ’s Atonement fully met and exceeded cancelling the full debt owed to God that they could possibly meet. In that there is no provision in Old Testament’s Covenants whereby His Laws could be indelibly written upon the very character of the being, that is “…the saving of the soul.” (Hebrews 10:39) Which is to say, a holy state wherein he might enter into the welcomed Presence of God; not just in spirit saved, but in his very essence, as Jesus Christ the forerunner has. (Hebrews 6:20) Born Again (renewed spirit) speaks to mere atonement covering of (Adam’s) sin latent in all his seed, and sins individually committed prior to re-birth. This, the blood of animals could cover for propitiation within a repentant seeker of God, and yet it is far inferior, being forever limited in closeness, both in intimacy and proximity, to that which was exclusive to Jesus Christ’s Ministry; the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire unto the salvation of the soul.     

The Holy Spirit’s Baptism should then be comprehended in two ways. Initially in that position of Comforter (John 16:7) and secondly; as Witness and the Executor of the Will in the just purging fires of Christ’s Judgments (as One of the Two Witnesses). “One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established” [Deuteronomy 19:15]  In the first view, of the Baptism as Comforter, that being after redemption’s re-birth, which is to say after the ransom price paid by the blood/Blood; that is in the first and lesser but necessary application. “Now where remission of these (sins), there is no (need) of (further) offering.” These imprisoning debts of sins, once and forever remitted, then no longer a subject and child of satan in his kingdom, one is now granted eternal new citizenship as a child of God. (child of God as opposed to being a first-born son of God) 

Under the Old Testament, this is as far as man’s Salvation could proceed. He was saved, but with no further accompanying sanctifying Baptism of the Holy Spirit being afforded; in that the blood of animals met redemption’s ransom price of a child and heir of eternal life and sanctity in Abraham’s bosom. But only Christ’s Offering of Himself brought the Propitiation and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit only extended in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This Gospel Covenant extends the possibility of a soul granted eternal holiness and intimacy as an exalted son, that which was shadowed in Old Testament in the rights of the first born son. That is to say, in the able and comforting hands of the Holy Spirit where one is to be taught and led into the sanctifying loving character of Jesus Christ, the working out of the salvation of the soul in fear and trembling. That which holds the promise of a future close proximity in intimacy with God.  

“Now where remission of these (sins), there is no (need) of (further) offering.” To what could the Holy Spirit be referring to as being a part of the Atonement of Jesus Christ? Where Christians and where Jews, broken off and restored later, are effectively without sin and consequence; comprehended in these Words… “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”…? Will they be in such a state in the Millennium? Is it our current state? Have we reached, in present Gospel Communion, or will they then in future New Covenant have reached that state wherein God grants this promised complete immunity? No, none are in that state. None have complete immunity. 

We can say definitively from Scripture that there is yet judgment “fire” ahead for every Christian; for the name; Judgment Seat of Christ itself declares its purpose. (For if God remembers the Christian’s sins no more, then why would we have to appear before the Judgement seat of Christ?) Scripture confirms over and over again a future reality where our sins are remembered and numerable. (Read Revelation 22:12… “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” And see 2nd Corinthians 5:10… “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”) That fullness and completeness is a future application of the prophetic Word of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire in Matthew 3:10. That, until sin and death is completely put away, is not then fully realized until after the Millennium for the seed of Abraham, in the complete fulfilling of Ezekiel 38:18-23 with Revelation 20:7-15, and 2nd Peter 3:7. That which the prior inward work of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit manifests at the fiery Judgment Seat of Christ. (1st Corinthians 3:13… “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” See also Hebrews 10:26-27…“For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” And John 15:6…“If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” See also Matthew 3:12…“Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”) The wheat there found worthy, are those souls then saved / perfected, raised incorruptible, and immortal into the very presence of God, as glorified new spiritual beings (1st Corinthians 15). Now having no need for further offering, and their sins and iniquities forever forgotten.  

*Note that when we these are tried by fire, the fire that judges them does not affect them negatively, as when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, (Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah) came out from the fiery furnace un-singed.