Daily Bread 2011 - Hebrews 8
Daily Bread 2011 – Hebrews 8
3 Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. 4 If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” 6 But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.
What Does This Mean?
In this chapter, the writer clearly delineates the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant and cites a prophecy from Jeremiah 31, where God says that He will make a new covenant with His people. The two aspects that will change are that the laws will no longer be written on stone tablets, but on our hearts and minds. And no longer will someone say, “know the Lord”, for we will all know Him from the least to the greatest of us. How can people know him? The next line gives us what makes all this possible, “For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more.”
So we see the relationship moves from something externally based on laws, to an intimate knowledge of who God is and a relationship based on God’s provision for our forgiveness through Christ. While the Old Covenant devised a system as to which the people could be made right with God, it didn’t provide the power for them to carry out what they knew they should be doing. The difference now is that God’s power lives within us reminding us of God’s desire for us and our lives, and also giving us the power of the Holy Spirit to carry it out.
What Does This Mean For Us?
It means we should spend less time telling people what they need to be doing to please God, and more time teaching them who they are in Christ and how God’s has written the laws on their hearts. This is not just something reserved for pastors or “super spiritual” types, but for the least to the greatest. God has given us the ability to know Him and walk with Him. I don’t think we often reflect on how great of a promise this is, and how superior it is to legalism and trying to appease God through our own efforts.
When we wonder why people in the church don’t act differently, or why there is just as much divorce in the church as in the world etc… The real reason is we haven’t taught the people of God who they are in Christ, and how they have a new power within them to actually live in accordance with God’s will. Does this mean we will stop sinning? No, but it does mean we have the power to stop sinning! Does that sound like double-speak? What I mean is we have the power of Christ in us, so literally we can say no to sin and yes to righteousness. But we still live with a sinful nature that if we allow it can lead us back to powerlessness. But the key thing is that as we realize the new covenant we have been given, and our hearts and minds are reflective on law that has been written on them, we can live out the transformation in our everyday lives.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the new covenant you have given us, but writing in on our hearts and minds. We thank you for the better promises we have been given that we all can know you from the least to the greatest, and you will remember our sin no more. Amen.
3 Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. 4 If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” 6 But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.
What Does This Mean?
In this chapter, the writer clearly delineates the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant and cites a prophecy from Jeremiah 31, where God says that He will make a new covenant with His people. The two aspects that will change are that the laws will no longer be written on stone tablets, but on our hearts and minds. And no longer will someone say, “know the Lord”, for we will all know Him from the least to the greatest of us. How can people know him? The next line gives us what makes all this possible, “For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more.”
So we see the relationship moves from something externally based on laws, to an intimate knowledge of who God is and a relationship based on God’s provision for our forgiveness through Christ. While the Old Covenant devised a system as to which the people could be made right with God, it didn’t provide the power for them to carry out what they knew they should be doing. The difference now is that God’s power lives within us reminding us of God’s desire for us and our lives, and also giving us the power of the Holy Spirit to carry it out.
What Does This Mean For Us?
It means we should spend less time telling people what they need to be doing to please God, and more time teaching them who they are in Christ and how God’s has written the laws on their hearts. This is not just something reserved for pastors or “super spiritual” types, but for the least to the greatest. God has given us the ability to know Him and walk with Him. I don’t think we often reflect on how great of a promise this is, and how superior it is to legalism and trying to appease God through our own efforts.
When we wonder why people in the church don’t act differently, or why there is just as much divorce in the church as in the world etc… The real reason is we haven’t taught the people of God who they are in Christ, and how they have a new power within them to actually live in accordance with God’s will. Does this mean we will stop sinning? No, but it does mean we have the power to stop sinning! Does that sound like double-speak? What I mean is we have the power of Christ in us, so literally we can say no to sin and yes to righteousness. But we still live with a sinful nature that if we allow it can lead us back to powerlessness. But the key thing is that as we realize the new covenant we have been given, and our hearts and minds are reflective on law that has been written on them, we can live out the transformation in our everyday lives.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the new covenant you have given us, but writing in on our hearts and minds. We thank you for the better promises we have been given that we all can know you from the least to the greatest, and you will remember our sin no more. Amen.
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