This was our blessed Lord’s motive for coming into the world! He was not only willing to do God’s will, but also able to do it.

Moreover, He not only lived to do God’s will, but He was ready to die for doing God’s will. What a Savior! The citation of this passage in Hebrews 10 emphasizes that with Christ’s coming into this world an entirely new order of things has been introduced, in which there is no failure at all. It is the very opposite of that which was linked with the first Adam and marred by disobedience.

Another remarkable thing is that the ears mentioned in Psalm 40:6 are identified with the body in Hebrews 10:5. Is this not to underline the perfect obedience of the Lamb of God? The One who was to be the perfect Burnt-Offering (Ps. 40), as well as the perfect Sin-Offering (Heb. 10), was characterized by total commitment to God’s will and by unreserved loyalty to His God. Is this not a great challenge for our lives too? Did you ever notice the parallels as well as the progressive development in these three well-known passages which speak about the ears of the Servant?

1. Psalm 40 speaks of His obedience with regard to His coming into this world to do God’s will.

2. Isaiah 50 mentions His daily life as a disciple in God’s school, in perfect submission and devotion; here He is our model to follow. Next, the focus is on His sufferings and His obedience to death, where we cannot follow Him. Loyalty to the will of God may lead us to be persecuted or killed, but the Lord is absolutely unique as the true Servant-Son in His commitment to God’s cause, including His death for the glory of God.

3. In Exodus 21, in the illustration of the servant whose ear was to be pierced with an awl, we find that love was the true motive of our dear Lord, love even to death.