Hebrews 8 - Out With the Old and in With the New!

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The High Priest of a New Covenant

8 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

The author continues to show the superiority of Jesus as high priest. As soon as Jesus provided the once and for all sacrifice for our sin, He sat down at the right hand of the Father. Jesus serves in a different tabernacle not made by human hands. 

The tabernacle and the temple of the Old Covenant had beautiful furnishings, but no place for the priests to sit down because their work was never finished. The work of Jesus is finished, therefore He is seated in heaven.

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 priests 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 in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

The tabernacle God called Moses to build was only a replica of what was to come. It was holy because made it holy, as Moses obeyed God in the building of it. The priests offered gifts and sacrifices to appease a holy God though they were unholy. But Jesus' ministry was superior in that of Moses because of the nature of the covenants they operated on. 

The new covenant was better because it was based on grace rather than the law. Though no one could keep the requirements of the Law, God provided a better one through His Son. The covenant Jesus brought was fulfilled by the covenantor himself. The first three covenants God made in the Old Testament came through men.  They contained the promises of God as delivered to men.  

God’s redemptive plan was continued through the covenant He made with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3).

The Mosaic covenant was another step in God’s redemptive plan (Exodus 24:3-8).

The Davidic covenant was yet another step in God’s redemptive plan (2 Samuel 7:1-16).

These are all promises all come from the outside, but the new covenant is written on our hearts. The new covenant is carried out through the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us. The promise of the Holy Spirit was the assurance of salvation based on a gift not works.

7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said: “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.

Though God made a covenant with Israel, they could not fulfill their end of the agreement due to their unfaithfulness. God could not pour out the blessings that would come with their obedience. 

The Lord made it clear that this covenant would originate with God, and not with man. At Sinai under the Old Covenant the key words were if you (Exodus 19:5), but in the New Covenant, the key words are I will. - Guzik

This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” 13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

These verses are a direct quote from Jeremiah 31:31-34, which prophesied the New Covenant and the coming of the Holy Spirit. God would re-establish Israel not based on what they could do, but on His plan for them. Before the Mosaic Law was written on stone tablets, but now the law would be written on their hearts and minds. It was an inside job. 

This new covenant also afforded them with a new intimacy with God. It says they would all "know" God. Also not only a few people like Moses would "know" God, but ALL people. You can only imagine how radical this new covenant was for the people of Israel. They were always taught about the holiness of God and how they would have to go through all kinds of rituals to even be even to enter the outside courts of the temple. The only one who entered into God's presence was the most high priest and he could only enter God's presence one time per year in the holy of holies. 

What made this all possible was the sacrifice Jesus made for our sins. Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, God literally would "forget" our sins and not hold them against us. You can see why this new covenant was infinitely far superior to the old one and obsolete. 

“The best way to make a man keep a law is to make him love the law-giver.” (Spurgeon)

The message was clear to these discouraged Christians from Jewish backgrounds, who thought of going back to a more Jewish faith. They simply can’t go back to an inferior covenant, which was ready to completely vanish away.

How are you tempted to go back to the Old Covenant, where your relationship with God is based on what you do not one what Jesus has done for you? How should our lives look like, as we have received these great promises through faith in what Jesus has done for us?