Heb 10:10: “We have been made holy [sanctified] through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” [NIV]
The opening verses in Hebrews 10 talk about man’s greatest problem, which of course is sin. That passage (verses 1-9) point to Christ’s atoning work on the cross and describe it as a better sacrifice.
That passage highlights our need for that better sacrifice (rather than the multitudes of animal sacrifices offered down through the millennium), and it emphasizes the provision of that better sacrifice when Jesus offered His body and His blood at Calvary.
Then in verse 10, the author of Hebrews writes of the effectiveness of that better sacrifice in those who place their faith in Christ Jesus. We have been made holy … once for all. We have been set apart, consecrated, sanctified finally and completely.
Most of the time I don’t feel very holy, especially as I compare myself to God’s standards. Most of the time I don’t think I act very holy either. My words, my motives, my desires are often clouded by the world, my own sin-nature, and yes, even the influence of the enemy of my soul.
Still, God has declared I have been made holy once and for all, finally and completely. How can that be? It can be because my holiness is not based on my own feeble efforts to reflect the God of my salvation. My holiness is based on the work of my Savior who offered His body for my sins, and His righteousness for my sinfulness.
When Jesus cried, “It is finished!” from the cross, the holiness of all those who place their faith in Him became finished. While we don’t see it as finished in ourselves, or in each other, God sees it as such. We’ve been set apart, and one day we will experience the culmination of that when we see Jesus face-to-face. As we wait that day, we strive to live a life worthy of our calling, being transformed into the image of God’s Dear Son.
