Hebrews 8 Jesus' New Covenat

Intro

God has a picture of an ideal church

It would be different than the Jewish temple

Instead of the law and sacrifices, it would the word and the Spirit

It would be a group of people who are filled with the Spirit, growing in their knowledge of His Word, and loving each other

What’s interesting is that this is what was foretold some 600 years before Christ

A prophet by the name of Jeremiah told the Jews about a new covenant that wouldn’t be written on stone tablets, but on our hearts

Jeremiah was an interesting dude

He was the last prophet before the fall of Jerusalem

He was in constant friction with the leaders of Judah and we know more about his suffering than any other prophet

He constantly prophesied the demise of Jerusalem

Then he spends several chapters in his book telling about how God would revive dead bones and transform hardened hearts

That major facet of that plan was His new covenant

We are going to look at that today

Read Hebrews 8:1-3

Transition: Covenant

We continue in our parade of better things

We’ve seen Jesus is better than the Angels & Moses

We’ve also seen that Jesus is better than the law and offers a better hop

Today we are going to look at a better covenant

What is a covenant

If you want the formal theological defintion:

A solemn disposition, institution, or apportionment of God to man

The laymans definition: A promise from God of something He will do irregardless of our performance

It is covenant not in the sense that God came to an agreement or compromise with fallen man as if signing a contract.

Rather, it involves the declaration of God’s unconditional promise to make Abraham and his seed the recipients of certain blessings

God has made an unconditional covenant with the followers of Jesus

He will write His Word on the hearts of His people

In this covenant we see Jesus fulfill two roles

Minister of True Tabernacle vs. 1-3

The first role that Jesus fulfills is as a Minister in the True Tabernacle

vs. 1 High Priest Seated at the Right Hand

First, we see Jesus as the high priest seated at the right hand of God

We have a High Priest who serves us from a position of all authority in heaven

The right hand is the position of power

It’s where we get our phrase “right-hand man”

Along with that authority he has complete, unhindered access

He is ministering to us from that place

This makes what Paul tells us in Colossians more powerful

Colossians 3:1 ESV

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Notice Jesus is also seated

I’ve mentioned this before but the OT priests never sat down in the taberbnacle

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.

vs. 2 Minister of the True Tabernacle

Jesus doesn’t serve as a priest in an earthly tabernacle or temple.

He serves in the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, the original made by God.

Hebrews 9:24 ESV

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

The tabernacle of Moses was a copy of this original, and it was made by man

Imagine how beautiful that place is

vs. 3 Offered Sacrifice

Sacrifice for sin is essential to the concept of priesthood.

They would first offer a sacrifice for themselves and then for the people

Since Jesus is a High Priest it is necessary that this One also have something to offer:

Though Jesus never offered a sacrifice according to the Law of Moses He did offer a better sacrifice – the sacrifice of Himself.

Jesus represented a superior priesthood and offered a superior sacrifice. He laid down His own life to atone for sin.

Hebrews 9:11–12 ESV

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

A Mediator of a Better Covenant vs. 4-6

Jesus offers a better covenant because He is the Mediator

Mediator means “one who stands in the middle between two people and brings them together.”

Ascribed to Christ

1 Timothy 2:5 ESV

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

In Paul’s language, a mediator is one who unites parties or who mediates for peace

Christ is thus called the “mediator” because in man’s behalf He satisfies the claims of God upon man

There was no power in the old covenant

The new covenant is empowered by the Spirit

vs. 4-5 Shadow of Heavenly things

Jesus was not qualified to serve in the inferior earthly priesthood.

There are priests – plenty of them – who were qualified to serve in the priesthood according to the Law of Moses.

They served in the copy and shadow of the heavenly things:

Yet Jesus is the only One qualified to serve in the superior heavenly priesthood.

The earthly service, though it was glorious in the eyes of man, was really only a copy and shadow of the superior heavenly service.

Copy and shadow of the heavenly things:

Exodus 25:40 tells us that Moses’ tabernacle built on earth was made according to a pattern that existed in heaven.

This was the pattern which was shown to you [Moses] on the mountain (Exodus 25:40).

Therefore, there is a heavenly temple that served as a pattern for the earthly tabernacle and temple.

Jesus’ ministry as our High Priest takes place in this heavenly temple, not in the copy and shadow built on earth.

First century Jews took tremendous pride in the temple and did so for good reason: it was a spectacular architectural achievement.

However glorious the Jerusalem temple was, it was of man

Therefore it was nothing compared to the glory of the heavenly temple that Jesus served in.

vs. 6 Mediator of a Better Covenant

He has obtained a more excellent ministry:

No earthly priest could take away sin the way Jesus did.

Therefore Jesus’ ministry is far better than the ministry of the priesthood under the Law of Moses.

Mediator of a better covenant:

Jesus has mediated for us a better covenant, a covenant of grace and not of works, guaranteed for us by a cosigner (Hebrews 7:22).

Covenant marked by believing and receiving instead of by earning and deserving.

Jesus is our Mediator for this better covenant.

Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant because he “brought the two parties together.”

Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant, a better covenant, bringing us to God the Father.

Jesus’ covenant is a better covenant, better than any of the previous covenants God made with men.

Hebrews 7:22 ESV

This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.

The covenant of Jesus fulfills the other covenants described in the Bible.

There is an eternal covenant between the members of the Godhead that made possible the salvation of man

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).

The redemptive plan of God was fulfilled in the New Covenant (Luke 22:14-20).

Which was established on better promises:

Jesus has better promises for us.

These are promises to see us through the most desperate and dark times.

These are promises that become alive to us through the Spirit of God.

These are promises of blessing and undeserved favor instead of promises to curse and judge.

Failed at the Old Covenant vs. 7-9

Jesus brings a better covenant because Israel failed at the Old covenant

vs. 7 Failed at First covenant

It is in the nature of man to come up with things that are “new” but not needed.

God isn’t like that. 

The fact that God established a New Covenant proves that there was something lacking in the Old Covenant.

vs. 8 Make a new covenant

In this passage from Jeremiah 31, God shows that something was lacking in the Old Covenant – because a New Covenant was promised.

In the days of Jeremiah the New Covenant was still in the future, because he wrote “Behold the days are coming.”

In its context, Jeremiah’s prophecy probably comes from the days of Josiah’s renewal of the covenant after finding the law (2 Kings 23:3).

This renewal was good, but it wasn’t enough because Jeremiah looked forward to a new covenant.

Quotes Jer 31:31-34

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.

A new covenant: This covenant is truly new, not merely “ improved” in the way things are marketed to us today.

Today, products are said to be “new and improved” when there is no substantial difference in the product.

iPhone 15

But when God says “new,” He means new.

Written on Our Hearts vs. 10-13

Jesus brings a better covenant because it written on our hearts, not on stone tablets

vs. 10 Written by Spirit

Zechariah 8:8 ESV

and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.”

Isaiah 54:13 ESV

All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.

vs. 11-12 Full of Grace and Mercy

The New Covenant features transformation from within, not regulation through external law.

The Old Covenant came in with such awe and terror that it should have made everyone obey out of fear.

But they sinned against the Old Covenant almost immediately. The New Covenant works obedience through the law written in their mind and on their hearts.

I will be their God, and they shall be My people:

The New Covenant also features a greater intimacy with God than what was available under the Old Covenant.

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

Their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more:

The New Covenant offers a true, complete cleansing from sin, different and better than the mere “covering over” of sin in the Old Covenant.

vs. 13 First covenant obsolete

He has made the first obsolete: Now that the New Covenant has been inaugurated, the Old Covenant is thereby obsolete.

What is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away:

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.

The system of sacrifice under the Law of Moses soon did vanish away with the coming destruction of the Temple and the Roman destruction of Jerusalem.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.