" 1For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins."
Hebrews 10:1-4
The contrast between the frequency of the old offerings - signifying their insufficiency - and the once-for-all offering of Christ continues here. In passing we may note the similarity of the teaching to that in the Epistle to the Romans. Here the Apostle states: 'The law.... can never... make… perfect'; in Romans 8:3 Paul says, 'What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh...' It is a perfect parallel, with only this difference, that in Hebrews it is the ceremonial law, with its sacrificial enactments, while in Romans it is the moral law with its inexorable sanctions that is in mind. In both however, the central lesson is the same - what the law (ceremonial or moral) could not do, Christ has done, once for all, in His death and resurrection. The statement in 3 is likewise significant from this standpoint. It means that the whole Old Testament system is an eloquent witness to its own insufficiency, and that is why God instituted it. This is what the Apostle is teaching. 'The blood of bulls and goats' in its very impotence was pointing away from itself to Christ's coming and His sacrifice as the only power sufficient to remove the sins of the world and procure forgiveness for men. (For the reason why the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin, see Note on 9:11-15).