In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open ear. Burnt
offering and sin offering you have not required.
Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll
of the book it is written of me: I delight to do
your will, O my God; your law is within my
heart.” I have told the glad news of deliverance
in the great congregation; behold, I have not
restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. I have
not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I
have spoken of your faithfulness and your
salvation. I have not concealed
your steadfast love and your
faithfulness from the great
congregation.
(Psalm 40:6-10)
God set up a system of
sacrifices and offerings
for His Old Testament
people, Israel, in order
to atone for, or cover
over, their sin. These
sacrifices and offerings
paid the price for sin,
which is death (Romans
6:23), and thereby averted
the wrath and judgment of
God. However, we know from
the book of Hebrews that these
Old Testament sacrifices were ultimately
insufficient to pay the full price for people’s sin
against God. “For it is impossible for the blood of
bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4).
Knowing this Old Testament background helps
us see the beauty of today’s passage. Psalm 40
talks about one who delights to do the will of God,
someone with the law of God written on his heart.
This is a description of the One who came to be a
perfect sacrifice, a perfect offering for our sin. And
we know from the rest of Scripture that only Jesus
Christ fits this description.
Christ’s delight was to do the will of God perfectly,
and He in fact did God’s will without sinning
(Hebrews 4:15). The law of God was written on His
heart and He obeyed the Father completely during
His earthly ministry. Therefore, Christ alone could
be a sacrifice for sinners by offering His life on the
cross to pay the price for our sin.
The author of Hebrews cites today’s passage in
order to show that Christ’s sacrifice is superior to
all the sacrifices and offerings that came before
(Hebrews 10:5-14). Those sacrifices had to
be offered repeatedly, but not so
with the sinless Son of God. He
was, as Hebrews 10:14 tells us,
a sufficient sacrifice: “For by
a single offering he has
perfected for all time
those who are being
sanctified.”
PRAYING IN LIGHT
OF TODAY’S
PASSAGE
Give thanks to Christ
that He perfectly
obeyed God and died
in order to atone for your
sins.