He taketh away the first - The offerings, sacrifices, burnt-offerings, and sacrifices for sin, which were prescribed by the law.
That he may establish the second - The offering of the body of Jesus once for all. It will make little odds in the meaning if we say, he taketh away the first covenant, that he may establish the second covenant; he takes away the first dispensation, that he may establish the second; he takes away the law, that he may establish the Gospel. In all these cases the sense is nearly the same: I prefer the first.
Then said he - In another part of the passage quoted. When he had said that no offering which man could make would avail, then he said that he would come himself.
He taketh away the first - The word “first” here refers to sacrifices and offerings. He takes them away; that is, he shows that they are of no value in removing sin. He states their inefficacy, and declares his purpose to abolish them.
That he may establish the second - To wit, the doing of the will of God. The two stand in contrast with each other, and he shows the inefficacy of the former, in order that the necessity for his coming to do the will of God may be fully seen. If they had been efficacious, there would have been no need of his coming to make an atonement.
But One surpassing all that imagination can present came from heaven to this world. Nearly 2000 years ago a voice of strange and mysterious import was heard from the throne of God, “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me.... Lo, I come ... to do thy will, O God.” LHU 34.4
Read in context »The fall of our first parents broke the golden chain of implicit obedience of the human will to the divine. Obedience has no longer been deemed an absolute necessity. The human agents follow their own imaginations which the Lord said of the inhabitants of the old world was evil and that continually. The Lord Jesus declares, I have kept my Father's commandments. How? As a man! “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.” To the accusations of the Jews He stood forth in His pure, virtuous, holy character and challenged them, “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” The world's Redeemer came not only to be a sacrifice for sin, but to be an example to man in all things. He was a teacher, such an educator as the world never saw or heard before. He spoke as one having authority, and yet He invites the confidence of all.... LHU 169.2
Read in context »The fall of our first parents broke the golden chain of implicit obedience of the human will to the divine. Obedience has no longer been deemed an absolute necessity. The human agents follow their own imaginations which the Lord said of the inhabitants of the old world were evil and that continually. The Lord Jesus declares, “I have kept my Father's commandments.” How? As a man. Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. To the accusations of the Jews He stood forth in His pure, virtuous, holy character and challenged them, “Which of you convinceth me of sin?”—Manuscript 1, 1892. RC 56.5
Read in context »Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. Hebrews 10:9. RC 228.1
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