Please turn in your Bibles this evening to Hebrews chapter 8 as we continue our study through the Word of God.  As we have seen in our studies so far, this letter was written to Jewish believers who were struggling with their faith.  They were being drawn back into Judaism and the Law because of persecution they were facing.  Unbelieving Jews did this; sometimes it was from their own family.  Also, the temple was still standing and as they saw the priests offering the sacrifices, they may have had this desire to go back to those things.

            Thus, the writer of this letter is systematically dismantling what they held in high esteem showing them that Jesus is superior; He is the substance of what they are to put their faith in. He starts out slowly showing them that Jesus is superior to angels. He then goes to their deliverer, Moses, and shows them how Jesus is superior to Moses.  From there he moves to Joshua, the one who brought them into the Promise Land, the land of Canaan, and he shows them that Jesus is superior to Joshua.

            Now, in a section we began a few weeks ago, starting in Hebrews chapter 5 and continuing on through Hebrews chapter 10, Paul shows them that Jesus is superior to the Levitical priesthood. Now, to us, this may not seem like a big deal, but to the Jews, this was sacred territory.  You see, the priest’s function was to represent God before the people and the people before God. So to get them to see this point, that Jesus is superior to the Levitical priesthood, he has his work cut out for him.

            Paul starts out in Hebrews chapters 5-7 showing them that Jesus is from a better priestly order, not from Aaron but from Melchizedek. We are told in Hebrews 7:14-17 of the superiority of Jesus over the Aaronic priesthood. We are told, “For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood.  And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. For He testifies: ‘You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.’”

            Now as we move into Hebrews chapter 8 Paul is going to take them even farther down this path showing them the superiority of Jesus, that He has a better covenant than the covenant that was made in the Old Testament, the covenant made on Mount Sinai.  So with that as our background, let’s begin reading in Hebrews chapter 8, starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us this evening.

VERSES 1-2

            I don’t believe Paul is making a summary here because when he speaks of the “main point,” KEPHALAION, (kef-al’-ah-yon) in the Greek, it speaks of the chief point, the principle thing – this is the thrust of this letter - the High Priesthood of Jesus Christ and all that it entails!

            Remember that Paul is writing to Jewish believers who were struggling with their faith, being drawn back into Judaism.  And in their minds they might be thinking, “Wait a minute.  We have a better tabernacle.  We have a better priesthood.  We have better offerings. We have better ceremonies.”  Thus, Paul is trying to show them the reality here, they don’t!

            Paul’s point is simple.  “You have the shadow of what was to come, we have the substance. You may have the ceremonies but we have Christ.  You may have the picture but we have the person!”  You see, he is trying to get them to consider Jesus, not to lose sight of all they have in Him and not to move away from the substance and embrace the shadow, which is empty!

            The tabernacle and the temple were only a picture of what heaven is like, the throne of God. It is not that the tabernacle was false but it was a type, a shadow, a picture of the throne of God in heaven.

            One last point before we move on and that deals with our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, who completed the work and sat down at the right hand of the Father, the place of honor, power and mercy.  For the Levitical priesthood, they never sat down in the tabernacle and later in the temple because there was no place for them to sit.  Why was that, did they forget to put in benches, chairs?  Not at all, it was because the work was never completed.

            In Hebrews 10:11 we are told, “And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.”  The sacrifices never ended because they could never take away a person’s sins but only cover them for a time.  And yet, when Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins He cried out, “It is finished!” or “Paid in full!” “TETELESTAI” in the Greek.  And because the work was finished He was able to sit down at the right hand of the Father.  Again in Hebrews chapter 10 Paul makes this point, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”  Hebrews 10:12-14.

            In saying that, what happens when we try to earn our way into heaven, work our way to heaven? It cheapens grace and it says that Jesus is a liar, that He really didn’t complete the work!  That is the perspective you must have if you believe in a work’s salvation and it won’t happen for you or anyone else who has this theology, it is not Scriptural!  You see, the work is finished because our Great High Priest from the order of Melchizedek finished it!

VERSE 3a

            It was the responsibility for the high priest and the priests to offer the sacrifices. If you were not a priest all you could do is give the sacrifice to the priest and then he would present it before God for you.  You could not do this yourself.

We see a good example of this in II Chronicles chapter 26, beginning in verse 16 with King Uzziah, a godly king, but he tried to fulfill a priestly duty, which he was not qualified for. We are told, “But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the LORD his God by entering the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. So Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were eighty priests of the LORD — valiant men. And they withstood King Uzziah, and said to him, ‘It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed! You shall have no honor from the LORD God.’  Then Uzziah became furious; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside the incense altar.  And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and there, on his forehead, he was leprous; so they thrust him out of that place. Indeed he also hurried to get out, because the LORD had struck him. King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He dwelt in an isolated house, because he was a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD. Then Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land.”  II Chronicles 26:16-21.

            The gifts spoke of the grain offerings while the sacrifices spoke of the blood or animal sacrifices.  Now Paul is going to contrast what the earthly high priest does to what our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ has done!

VERSES 3b-5

            Jesus, not being from the tribe of Levi, a descendent of Aaron, could not be a priest according to the Mosaic Law; He could not offer any sacrifices in the temple.  But Jesus is from a superior order, as Paul has already shown us, the order of Melchizedek and He is not only a High Priest but also a King!  Because Jesus was not from the tribe of Levi, He never offered any sacrifices, not even one like I have said, He couldn’t!  Then what did Jesus offer?  He offered His life for the forgiveness of our sins, not in an earthly temple, but a heavenly one!

            You see, the tabernacle and the temple were just a copy of the heavenly temple.  It is as Paul said in Hebrews 9:23-24, “Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.  For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”  Why would anyone want to hold onto a copy when you have the substance? You see, that is the question Paul wants them to think about!

            Now here is the thing.  Just as no Jew could offer God any gift or sacrifice without going through the priest, neither can we without going through Jesus Christ!  Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”  You see, our praise, our worship, our service, anything we do must be done through Jesus or the Father does not accept it.

Paul makes that point in Ephesians 5:20, “giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”   And in Colossians 3:17 Paul once again tells us, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”  You see, apart from Him we can do nothing!

VERSE 6

            The word “mediator” comes from the Greek word MESITES, (mes-ee’-tace) and it speaks of someone who stands between two people and brings them together. He represents both parties. That was the cry of Job in Job 9:30-33, that there was no mediator, no one to bridge that gap between God and man. He cried out, “If I wash myself with snow water, And cleanse my hands with soap, Yet You will plunge me into the pit, And my own clothes will abhor me.  For He is not a man, as I am, That I may answer Him, And that we should go to court together.  Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both.”

            Then as God established the Old Covenant with Israel through Moses and the priests, they became the mediator between God and the children of Israel and the children of Israel and God. But now Jesus has come and He is the mediator not only of a new and better covenant but also of better promises.  What does this mean to us? I think Griffith Thomas hits the nail on the head when he says, “The covenant is ‘better’ because it is absolute not conditional, spiritual not carnal, universal not local, eternal not temporal, individual not national, internal not external.”

            It is in this New Covenant that was established by Christ and His sacrifice that we now have access to the Father and the Father to us for Jesus is the mediator!  It is as Paul said in I Timothy 2:4-6, “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”

            And here is the thing; a covenant is based on a promise, right?  Thus, we see here the promise of God and thus, this covenant is based upon the faithfulness of God and not man to keep it, it is His promise to us, and thus, it can’t be broken!  You see, this is a better covenant than the old and it is established upon better promises – ones that won’t fail because God is the initiator and sustainer of those promises to us!

VERSE 7

            This just makes sense, doesn’t it?  If the Old Covenant was able to save us, then why would there need to be a New Covenant?  That would make no sense.  The point is that the Old Covenant was inadequate because it was based upon man’s faithfulness to keep it and he couldn’t, we can’t!

            In the Old Testament the word for “covenant” in Hebrew was BERIYTH, (ber-eeth’) and it is derived from a root word meaning “to cut.”  We see this played out in Genesis chapter 15 as God makes a covenant with Abraham and he cuts in half some animal sacrifices and the idea is that both parties would pass through the center of them to ratify the covenant. But here only God passed through indicating that this was a unilateral covenant with Abraham, not based on the faithfulness of Abraham and his descendants but on the faithfulness of God.

            Then came the legal covenant on Mount Sinai that came between the promises between Abraham and the fulfillment in his promised Seed, Jesus Christ. This was a legal covenant that was based upon the faithfulness of man, do this and you are blessed, disobey God and you are cursed.  In Deuteronomy chapter 4 we are told, “Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you . . . . Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.  You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”  Deuteronomy 4:1, 39-40.

            Thus, as Moses spoke forth the Words of God to the people, they responded back by saying, “Then all the people answered together and said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do.’  So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.”  Exodus 19:8.  And in Exodus 24:7-8 we are told, “Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.’  And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.’”  They were bound to the covenant by the blood!

            But man failed to keep it and God knew he couldn’t.  Then what was the Law all about? It seems like a cruel joke by God!  The Law was to show man his sinful condition and his weakness to do anything to rectify that problem through his own efforts.  Paul, in Romans 5:20a says, “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound . . .” And in Galatians 3:23-25 we are told, “But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.  Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.”  You see, the Law showed them their weakness and pointed them to the Messiah, to Jesus Christ. It does the same for us today if we are trying to live by the Law; it’s what draws us to Christ!

            Now Paul is going to show them how their own prophets were looking forward to the New Covenant that is not based upon the faithfulness of man to keep but the faithfulness of God!  It is truly a unilateral covenant that God has established with us.

VERSES 8-12

            Paul is kind of rebuking them here for these Jewish believers knew the Old Testament Scriptures; they knew what the Lord said through the prophet Jeremiah. This was no surprise, no shock, even the unbelieving Jews saw this and yet, even today millions of Jews hold onto the Old Covenant, which can’t save them.  The Old Covenant had no remedy for sin but the New Covenant does have the remedy, Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest.

            Jeremiah wrote his book or letter prior to and then into the Babylonian captivity.  The reason the Southern Kingdom of Judah went into captivity was because of their sin, they didn’t learn the lesson from their sister to the north, the Northern Kingdom of Israel who were taken into captivity by the Assyrians a little over 100 years earlier for their sins. Judah followed right along and was taken into captivity by the Babylonians.

            It is possible that Jeremiah wrote these words of the coming New Covenant during the reign of Josiah. He was a godly king and during his reign a copy of the Law was found and they read it and Josiah led a national renewing of their covenant before God.  We see this in II Kings 23:3, “Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant.”  But it was a downhill spiral from there with new kings coming on the scene and they were wicked, evil and led the nation away from God and they moved quickly towards captivity because of their sin!

            Thus, God’s promise is that there is coming a day when God is going to make a “new covenant” with the Jewish people, both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms.  The word “new” is KAINOS, (kahee-nos’) in the Greek, and it speaks of being new in quality, not just a reproduction or a fixing up of something that was old.  Thus, this New Covenant is God’s appointed vehicle for fulfilling the Abrahamic blessings that was not only for Israel but also for all who believe!

            Let’s look at some of the aspects of this covenant a little closer and keep in mind this was spoken by the Lord in the Old Testament, in Jeremiah, and we can find it in chapter 31:31-34.

A.  INSTITUTED BY GOD

Notice that the Lord said, “I will make a new covenant.”  Hebrews 8:8.  This is not man’s doing, but God’s.  Thus, this covenant, like a will is written by God and the beneficiaries of this will are those who believe, specifically here it speaks of the Jews and we will deal with this more in a minute.

B.  A NEW COVENANT

As I said earlier, this is not just a revision of the Old Covenant but a new one.  The Lord even says this, that it is “not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.”  Hebrews 8:9.

C.  GIVEN TO ISRAEL

The Lord specifically said that He will make this New Covenant “with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.”  Hebrews 8:8.  But keep in mind what Paul said in Galatians 3:6-9, “just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’  Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’  So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.”  You see, we were grafted in, (Romans 11:17-24) by faith and thus, we can receive the blessings promised to Abraham!

Yes, right now many of the Jews are missing out on the blessings that are found in the grace of God in this New Covenant. In fact, they are still breaking the Old Covenant laws and are losing out on the covenant blessings that God has for the Jewish people.  But this will not last forever.  Paul tells us in Romans 11:25-27, “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.’”  They will be grafted back in as they receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior during the Tribulation Period.  That is not to say that Jews today are not getting saved, they are, but not as a nation, that is coming!

D.  NOT ACCORDING TO THE LAW

The Old Covenant was based on the Law, thus, blessings for obedience and cursings for disobedience. That is not what we see in the New Covenant.  Hebrews 8:9.

F.  INTERNAL NOT EXTERNAL

In Hebrews 8:10 the Lord said, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”  The Old Covenant was external, written on tablets of stone and obedience to it was based on fear.  The cleansing was ceremonial, it was never complete.  The New Covenant is internal; it is a heart transplant that the Lord gives to us where He writes on our hearts His Laws, not on tablets of stone.  Thus, as we go forth in our daily lives, God guides us as His Spirit dwells in us, and we are obedient out of love not the Law.

G.  A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP

In Hebrews 8:11 the Lord said, “None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.”  Not only do we have God’s Word in us but the Holy Spirit, as I have said. We can have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. For the Jew, this is speaking of the Kingdom Age for they have rejected Jesus as their Lord and Savior at this point.

H.  FORGIVENESS OF SINS – IT IS FINISHED

Look at Hebrews 8:12, the Lord said, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”  What does man need more than anything else in this world?  I’m sure there are a flood of answers out there but only one that is correct, the forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ - it is the capstone of the New Covenant!  No longer is there the ceremonial cleansing but our sins are completely removed, cast as far as the east is from the west to be remembered no more!

            Again, this should not have been a surprise to the Jewish people for the Lord, through the prophet Jeremiah spoke of this New Covenant that was coming and all it entailed, something that the Old Covenant could not accomplish!

VERSE 13

            Remember what Jesus said to His men a few days before He was crucified on Calvary. In Matthew 24:1-2 we are told, “Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.  And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.’”

            What was going to be destroyed?  The temple! As Paul wrote this letter to the Hebrews the destruction of the temple was getting closer, maybe only some 4 to 6 years at this point. In 70 AD Titus and the Roman army came in and destroyed the city, burned the temple to the ground, and to get the gold from the temple they turned over the stones of the temple just as Jesus said would take place.  Now, for over 1900 years the temple has been gone, there has been no grain or animal sacrifices.  There is no atonement for their sins, no covering according to the Old Covenant. Thus, it is obsolete; it has vanished because a better covenant with better promises has come!

            And the reality is the Old Covenant with the sacrifices were done away with as Jesus died on the cross of Calvary paying in full the penalty for our sins and the veil separating the holy place from the Holy of Holies was torn in two from top to bottom by God. Now all have access to God through Jesus Christ!

            For the Orthodox Jew, this is a problem for there is no temple, no sacrifice.  So how do they atone for their sins?  The Jews are very resourceful, and to rectify this problem they say, since there is no temple, and God knows their heart, that they want a temple so the sacrifices can resume, that now, on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, as long as their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds God will accept that until the temple is rebuilt.

            The only problem with that kind of logic is that it is unscriptural.  Notice what Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”  You see, it is not that your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds but there must be the shedding of blood.

            Thus, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world, Jesus Christ gave His life as a sacrifice for us, once for all. We are told in Hebrews 10:4-10, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.  Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me.  In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.  Then I said, “Behold, I have come — In the volume of the book it is written of Me — To do Your will, O God.”’  Previously saying, ‘Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them’ (which are offered according to the law), then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.’ He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

            Jesus Christ has given to us a better covenant with better promises that are based upon His faithfulness and finished work and we can receive those blessings of God by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ!  Praise the Lord for His bountiful blessings to us, that He has given to us a better covenant!