May 31, 2026, Sunday School Lesson

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

Lesson Text: Hebrews 10:1-10

Related Scriptures: Psalm 40:6-8; 50:7-15; Isaiah 1:9-20; John 5:19, 30; Hebrews 7:23-8:13

TIME: between A.D. 60 and 69

PLACE: unknown

Golden Text – “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10)

INTRODUCTION

This quarter, we studied how God’s holiness calls down His wrath on sin. We have seen how God diverted His wrath away from sinful humans and poured it out on Christ in their place. We have also seen how God’s wrath comes upon those who reject Christ.

In all these lessons, we see how God’s wrath was perfectly satisfied through Christ’s death on the cross, and nothing needs to be added to it. We are justified by faith apart from the law (Romans 3:21-25). While in Adam all die, in Christ all are made alive (5:12-19).

Last week, we learned from Romans 10 how Christ is the culmination of the law and how the law was never a viable means of obtaining righteousness. This week’s lesson reinforces that principle and introduces Jesus’ role in the temple’s sacrificial system.

Jesus the Messiah’s once-for-all sacrifice means that the work of atonement is complete; the age of animal sacrifices is over. Remember that Christ said on the cross, “it is finished” (John 19:30)! Jesus’ anguished cry is for us a call to rejoice in what Christ has accomplished!

LESSON OUTLINE

1. THE LAW IS A SHADOW – Heb. 10:1-4

2. CHRIST IS THE FULFILLMENT – Heb. 10:5-7

3. EXPLANATION OF CHRIST’S ACTION - Heb. 10:8-10

QUESTIONS

1. What is the overall argument of Hebrews?

2. How did the author of Hebrews view the law?

3. What reveals the limitations of Old Testament sacrifices?

4. How were sins forgiven in the Old Testament?

5. Why does the quotation from Psalm 40 trip some people up?

6. What does having a body prepared by the Lord mean in Hebrews 10:5?

7. What did God truly take joy in, even in the Old Testament?

8. How do we know Psalm 40 is not exclusively about Jesus?

9. Why can we be confident in our understanding of Hebrews 10:5-7?

10. What does it mean that Christians have been perfected?

ANSWERS

1. As part of Hebrews overall argument that Jesus is better than any alternative, the author said that Jesus is “an high priest…after the order of Melchisedec” (6:20; cf. 8:1) and that He has a new and better covenant (8:6-13).

2. The author of Hebrews had repeatedly quoted the law favorably. He knew it had been a true expression of God’s will, pointed forward to what was to come, and was not in contradiction to later revelation. Nevertheless, the law was incomplete. It was powerless to save (7:18).

3. But the fact that God required those sacrifices annually revealed their limitations.

4. When a priest made a sacrifice for a person’s specific sin, that person was forgiven, as noted frequently in Leviticus (cf. 6:10). By faith in God, forgiveness was granted. But the sin offering could never atone for the person’s sinful nature and provide a right standing with God. Only Christ’s death could provide that.

5. What trips people up is that while Hebrews says God prepared a body for Christ (Hebrew 10:6); Psalm 40 says, “Mine ears hast thou opened” (vs.6).

6. Likewise, in Psalm 40, having an ear prepared by the Lord (to hear the Lord) likely means the same thing as having a body prepared by the Lord (to obey the Lord) in Hebrews 10:5.

7. Even in the old Covenant, when God’s people sinned, He wanted true repentance, not just sacrifices (Ps. 51:16-17). God did not take joy in mere physical offerings. Rather, He took joy in true repentance an obedience.

8. Psalm 40, a psalm of David, originally referred to the experiences of the Israelite king. The psalm is not in its entirety a direct prophecy of Christ, for in verse 12, the psalmist complained about the troubles he was in because of his sins, and Jesus did not sin.

9. After quoting Psalm 40, the author of Hebrews explained the meaning, so we need not wonder whether our understanding is correct. Hebrews 10:8 repeats the gist of verses 5 and 6, and verse 9 emphasized the point of verse 7 – and the whole quotation – that Messiah fulfills God’s will.

10. We have been perfected through the offering of the body of Christ once for all, Hebrews 10:14 says that Jesus has perfected (in the past) those who are being sanctified (in the present). Although we are still being increasingly conformed to Christ’s image, Jesus has given us new life and transformed us into a new creation.