Haikus through Hebrews, chapter 10

A viewing-over of chapter 10...

The law a shadow,

Perfecting none, condemns and

Necessitates Christ

For by his single

Offering he perfects all

Who are sanctified

A new covenant:

Laws put on hearts and written

On minds, forgiveness

With boldness enter

We by the blood of Jesus

Through opened curtain

Fully assured faith

Hearts clean from guilty conscience

Washed with pure water

Hold unswervingly

To hope confessed, for he who

Promised is faithful

Provoke each other

To love and charity and

See the Day draw near

Set aside the law

Do the will of God, spurn not

The Spirit of grace

Compassion in pain

An abiding possession

Confident reward

We do not shrink back

We live by faith so we may

Receive what's promised

"Acts of sacrifice, in the end, don't do anything.  They do not cleanse your conscience, and they do not set your heart on the things of God.  The routine sacrificial system, then, was not empowered to or designed to cleanse the Israelites' hearts any more than good works are empowered to or designed to cleanse our own.  Even our most rigorous of attempts reveals the hardness of our hearts and the insurmountable brokenness inside them.  This whole enterprise is a blessed exercise in frustration, but it is one that points beyond itself.  Hebrews 10:1 tells us the law is just the shadow of the good things to come.  Similarly, the shadow of good works ought to proceed from the light of the good news."  -from page 67 of The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler with Jared Wilson (Crossway, 2012)

*Important Note: Please read through the whole of Hebrews (I recommend the English Standard Version or New American Standard Bible) for contextual significance (and significant context!). There is a lot of Scriptural meat found outside these 17 syllables.  I pray that the Spirit will cover over any errors made on my part, and most importantly, that He will speak truth to your heart.  To God alone be the glory!

10:1

The law is but a

Shadow of good things to come

Not the very things

10:1 (continued)

And thus can never,

By the same sacrifices

Offered year by year,

10:1-2

Make perfect those who

Draw near.  Otherwise, they would

No more be offered,

10:2

For the worshipers,

Once cleansed, would no longer have

Consciousness of sins?

10:3

But instead through those

Sacrifices there is a

Reminder of sins

10:4

It's impossible

For the blood of bulls and goats

To take away sins.

10:5

Consequently Christ

Came into the world, saying,

"You did not desire

10:5 (continued)

"Sacrifices and

Offerings, but a body

You've prepared for me.

10:6

"In burnt offerings

And sin offerings you have

Taken no pleasure.

10:7

"Then I said, 'Behold,

I have come to do your will,

O God, as it is

10:7-8

"'Written of me in

The scroll of the book.'"  After

Christ had said above,

10:8

"You did not desire

Animal sacrifices

Or sin offerings,

10:8 (continued)

"Or burnt offerings,

Or other offerings for

Sin, nor were you pleased"

10:8-9

(Though the law required

Them to be made), then he said,

"Behold, I have come

10:9

"To do your will, O

God."  He does away with the

First covenant to

10:9-10

Establish the next.

By this will of God we have

Been sanctified through

10:10

The offering of

The body of Jesus Christ

Once and for all time.

10:11

Every priest stands day

After day ministering,

Offering the same

10:11 (continued)

Sacrifices time

After time, which can never

Take one's sins away.

10:12

But when this priest had

Offered one sacrifice for

Sins forever, he

10:12-13

Sat down at the right

Hand of God, waiting from that

Time onward until

10:13-14

His enemies be

Made his footstool for his feet.

For by a single

10:14

Offering he has

Perfected forever those

Who are sanctified.

10:15

The Holy Spirit

Also testifies to us;

For after, saying,

10:16

"This the covenant

I will make with them

After those days, says the Lord:

10:16 (continued)

"I will put my laws

Into their hearts, and in their

Minds will I write them.

10:17

"And their sins and their

Lawless acts will I never

Again remember."

10:18

And where these have been

Forgiven, there is no more

Offering for sin.

10:19

Therefore, brothers, since

We have boldness to enter

The Most Holy Place

10:19-20

By the blood of Jesus,
By a new and living way

He opened for us

10:20-21

Through the curtain, which

Is his body, and since we

Have a great high priest

10:21-22

Who rules over the

House of God, let us draw near

With a sincere heart

10:22

In full assurance

Of faith, with our hearts sprinkled

Clean from an evil

10:22-23
Conscience, and bodies
Washed with pure water.  Let us
Hold firmly to hope

10:23

We confess without
Wavering, for the one who

Promised is faithful.

10:24

Let us consider

One another to provoke

To love and good deeds,

10:25

Let us not give up

Meeting together, as is the

The habit of some

10:25 (continued)

But encourage one

Another, and all the more

As the day draws near.

10:26

For if we go on

Sinning deliberately

After receiving

10:26

Knowledge of the truth,
There no longer remains a

Sacrifice for sins,

10:27
There is only the
Terrible expectation
Of God's judgment and

10:27-28

The raging fire that
Will consume his enemies
For anyone who 

10:28

Rejects the Law of

Moses dies without mercy

On testimony

10:28-29

Of two or of three
Witnesses.  Just think how much
Worse the punishment

10:29

Will be deserved for
Those who have trampled under
Foot the Son of God,

10:29 (continued)
And has regarded
As unclean the blood of the
Covenant by which

10:29 (continued)

He was sanctified,
And who has insulted the

Spirit of God's grace?

10:30

For we know the One

Who has said, "Vengeance is mine,

I will repay," and

10:30-31

Again, "The Lord will

Judge his people."  It is a

Terrifying thing

10:31-32

To fall into the

Hands of the living God!  But

Recall the former

10:32

Days after you were
Enlightened, when you endured

A great conflict with

10:32-33

Sufferings, sometimes

Being publicly exposed

To reproaches and

10:33

Afflictions, and at

Other times you were sharers

With those so treated.

10:34

You sympathized with
Those in prison, cheerfully
Submitting to the

10:34 (continued)

Violent seizure
Of your property, because
You know that you have

10:34-35

A better and more

Permanent possession.  So,

Do not throw away

10:35-36

Your confidence, for

It will bring a great reward.
You need endurance

10:36

So that when you have
Done the will of God, you may
Receive what's promised.

10:37

For in a very

Little while the one who is

Coming will return.

10:37-38

He will not delay.

But my righteous one will live

By faith.  But I will

10:38-39

Take no pleasure in
Anyone who turns away.
But we don't belong

10:39

To those who turn back
And are destroyed, but those who

Have faith and are saved.