The Obedience of the Son: The True Sacrifice Text: Psalm 40:6-10
Introduction: The Shadow and the Substance
The Old Testament sacrificial system was a bloody affair. It was a constant, smoky, noisy reminder that sin is a deadly serious business. Every day, the priests would offer up bulls, goats, and lambs, and the blood would run in rivers. The entire system was designed by God to be a giant object lesson, a tutor to lead Israel to Christ. But the problem with object lessons, when they are repeated for centuries, is that men can begin to mistake the lesson for the reality. They can start to think that God is somehow appeased by the smell of burnt goat fat, that He is some kind of divine bureaucrat who is satisfied by the meticulous performance of a ritual.
But the prophets were sent to constantly rattle this cage. Samuel tells Saul that "to obey is better than sacrifice" (1 Sam. 15:22). Isaiah says that God is sick of their sacrifices when their hands are full of blood (Is. 1:11-15). God is not interested in the outward motion if the inward devotion is absent. The entire sacrificial system was a shadow, a placeholder, a promissory note pointing to the one, true, final sacrifice that would actually take away sin. The sacrifices were not efficacious in themselves; they were valuable only because they pointed to Christ.
In our text today, we have one of the most remarkable Messianic psalms in the entire Psalter. The speaker here is David, but he is speaking prophetically in the voice of a greater David. He is speaking as the Messiah, the Son of God. And what He says here cuts right to the heart of the entire system of worship, both then and now. The author of Hebrews picks up this very passage in Hebrews 10 and uses it as a sledgehammer to demolish the idea that the old covenant sacrifices could ever perfect the conscience. This psalm is the voice of the Son, reporting for duty, ready to accomplish what all the blood of bulls and goats could never do.
This passage teaches us what God truly desires. It is not ritual, but relationship. It is not external compliance, but internal delight. It is the glad, wholehearted obedience of a Son, which is the only sacrifice that has ever truly pleased God.
The Text
Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I desire to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my inner being.” I proclaim good news of righteousness in the great assembly; Behold, I do not restrain my lips, O Yahweh, You know. I do not conceal Your righteousness within my heart; I speak of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I do not hide Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly.
(Psalm 40:6-10 LSB)
The Divine Dissatisfaction (v. 6)
The Messiah begins by stating a foundational truth about God's economy.
"Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required." (Psalm 40:6)
This is a startling statement. Did not God Himself command these very sacrifices in the law of Moses? Yes, He did. So what does this mean? It means that God did not desire them for their own sake. He did not desire them as the ultimate end. They were a temporary provision, a shadow pointing to the substance. God is a person, not a process. He desires a relationship, not a ritual. The sacrifices were meant to be an expression of a repentant and obedient heart, but Israel had turned them into a substitute for it. They thought they could sin as they pleased, bring a goat to the temple, and wipe the slate clean. But God says here, through His Son, that this is not what He is after.
Instead of these external rituals, what has God done? "My ears You have opened." This is a rich Hebrew idiom. It literally means "ears you have dug for me." It speaks of a readiness to hear and obey. It brings to mind the image of the willing slave in Exodus 21, who loves his master and refuses to go free. His master is to take an awl and pierce his ear against the doorpost, marking him as a servant forever. This is the voice of the Son, gladly taking the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7), whose entire being is oriented to hearing and doing the will of His Father. The author of Hebrews, quoting the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), renders this phrase as "a body you have prepared for me" (Heb. 10:5). This is not a contradiction but a divinely inspired commentary. To have opened ears in a body prepared by God is to be perfectly equipped for a life of complete obedience. The Son was not just given a command; He was given the very physical means to carry it out.
The point is this: God is not interested in the dead offerings of animals. He is interested in the living offering of an obedient life. The problem with the Levitical sacrifices is that the animal being sacrificed had no say in the matter. It was a dumb beast. But Christ, the true sacrifice, offered Himself willingly.
The Willing Volunteer (v. 7-8)
In response to the inadequacy of the old system, the Son steps forward.
"Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I desire to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my inner being.”" (Psalm 40:7-8 LSB)
"Behold, I come." This is the great announcement of the Incarnation. This is the turning point of all history. The Son, seeing that the shadows are insufficient, volunteers for the mission. He steps out of eternity and into time. And He does so according to plan. "In the scroll of the book it is written of me." From Genesis 3:15 onward, the entire Old Testament is a scroll that unrolls to reveal the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is the seed of the woman, the lamb of Abraham, the Shiloh of Jacob, the prophet like Moses, the suffering servant of Isaiah. Jesus Himself told the disciples on the road to Emmaus that all the Scriptures spoke of Him (Luke 24:27). His coming was not an accident or an afterthought; it was the fulfillment of a plan laid down before the foundation of the world.
And what is the nature of His mission? "I desire to do Your will, O my God." The word here is desire, or delight. This is not the grudging, resentful obedience of a slave who fears the whip. This is the joyful, loving obedience of a Son who delights in the will of His Father. Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work" (John 4:34). This is the core of true worship. It is not about what we can get from God, but about delighting in who He is and what He commands.
This delight is not a superficial feeling; it is rooted deep within His being. "Your law is within my inner being." For us, the law is often an external standard that we strive to meet and constantly fail. But for Christ, the law of God was the very constitution of His soul. It was written on His heart. He did not have to consult a rulebook to know what to do; He simply acted out of His own perfect character, which was in perfect conformity to the character of His Father. This is the promise of the New Covenant for us: "I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it" (Jer. 31:33). Through our union with Christ, what was true of Him becomes increasingly true of us. We are being transformed into those who delight in the law of God from the heart.
The Public Proclamation (v. 9-10)
This inward delight in God's will inevitably leads to an outward proclamation.
"I proclaim good news of righteousness in the great assembly; Behold, I do not restrain my lips, O Yahweh, You know. I do not conceal Your righteousness within my heart; I speak of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I do not hide Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly." (Psalm 40:9-10 LSB)
The one who delights in God's will cannot keep it to himself. True faith is never a private affair. The Messiah here declares that He has been a preacher, a herald of good news. He has proclaimed righteousness "in the great assembly." This refers to the public worship of God's people, but in its ultimate fulfillment, it refers to the Church, the assembly of the saints throughout all ages.
What is the content of this proclamation? It is the character of God. He proclaims God's righteousness, His faithfulness, His salvation, His lovingkindness, and His truth. This is not a man-centered gospel. It is not about self-improvement or feeling good about yourself. The good news is news about God. It is the news that God is righteous and has provided a righteousness for us in Christ. It is the news that He is faithful to His covenant promises. It is the news that He has accomplished a great salvation. It is the news that His lovingkindness (His hesed, His covenant loyalty) and His truth are the foundation of our hope.
Notice the passionate, unashamed nature of this proclamation. "I do not restrain my lips... I do not conceal... I do not hide." The gospel is public truth. It is meant to be shouted from the housetops. There is a holy compulsion to speak. When God has done such a great work of salvation, to keep silent would be a crime. This is the heart of the evangelist, the heart of the missionary, and it is first and foremost the heart of Christ. He is the great evangelist, and we, as His body, are called to continue this work of public proclamation. We are to speak of His faithfulness and salvation in our own great assemblies, and from there, to the ends of the earth.
Conclusion: The Only Acceptable Offering
So what does this mean for us? It means that the entire sacrificial system has been fulfilled and rendered obsolete by the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ. His perfect, delighted obedience, even unto death, is the only offering that has ever truly satisfied the justice of God. We do not come to God with the blood of animals, or with our own pathetic attempts at self-righteousness. We come to God through Christ alone.
But it also means that our response to this great salvation must mirror His. God is not interested in our empty religious rituals. He is not impressed by our church attendance or the checks we write if our hearts are far from Him. What He desires is what the Son offered: a life of delighted obedience. He wants us to have our ears opened to His Word. He wants us to say, "Behold, I come to do Your will, O God." He wants His law to be written on our hearts, so that obedience flows from a new nature, not from a slavish fear.
And this inward reality must have an outward expression. If we have truly tasted of God's righteousness, faithfulness, and salvation, we will not be able to keep it to ourselves. We will speak of it. We will proclaim it. We will refuse to restrain our lips. We will tell our families, our neighbors, and our city what God has done. We will gather in the great assembly, not to offer the blood of bulls and goats, but to offer up the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name (Heb. 13:15).
The Son has offered the perfect sacrifice. The question for us is whether we will receive it by faith, and then, by that same faith, offer our own bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship (Rom. 12:1). This is the only reasonable response to the one who said, "Behold, I come."