…we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God… – Hebrews 10:10,12
We are told by the apostle, that as there was but one priest, so there was only one sacrifice. He “offered one sacrifice for sins.” He Himself was the sacrifice; His body the altar, Himself the priest, Himself also the victim. On Calvary’s tree He presented Himself a substitute for human guilt, and there He bore the crushing weight of Jehovah’s wrath in His own body, on the behalf of all His people. On Him their sins were laid, and He was numbered with the transgressors; and there He, in their stead, suffered what was due to the righteousness of God, and made atonement to divine justice for the sins of His people. This was done, not by many offerings, but by one sacrifice, and that one alone. Jesus offered no other sacrifice: He had never made one before, nor since, nor will He present another sacrifice in the future. His sin offering is one.
The text adds further that, as there was but one sacrifice, so it was but once offered forever, or, as the apostle puts it, “Once for all.” “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” There is in the Scriptures no such idea as that of Christ perpetually offering Himself; (transubstantiation) is a childish invention of superstition. We are expressly told that He offered Himself “once.” Under the law the lamb was offered many times, the same sacrifices were repeated; but our Lord exclaimed, “It is finished,” and concluded all His sacrificing works. He “offered one sacrifice for sins for ever.”
