HEBREWS 8:1-13 - Better By Far

(READ HEBREWS 8:1-6)

Introduction

Palm Sunday is the day that we observe Jesus’ riding into Jerusalem at the beginning of the Passover Week. We read Matthew’s account earlier in our worship, and it is striking how—even here in the chaos and turmoil of Jerusalem at Passover—we see Jesus exalted in the same ways He is exalted in the Book of Hebrews.

Consider for a moment the account from Matthew’s Gospel that we read. (Keep your place in Hebrews 8, but turn with me for a moment to Matthew 21—page 826 in the pew Bible.) As Jesus comes into the city, riding on a donkey’s foal, Matthew connects this with the kingship of Israel, quoting from the prophet Zechariah

Matthew 21:5 (LSB)

“SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, ‘BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU, LOWLY, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY, AND ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A PACK ANIMAL.’”

John’s account of the Triumphal Entry shows that the crowds that day understood the significance of Jesus’ kingly appearance on a donkey’s foal, saying that they

John 12:13 (LSB)

took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.”

This tracks very closely with what we have seen in Hebrews about Christ’s kingly position, doesn’t it?

Hebrews 1:8 (LSB)

But of the Son He says, “YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER, AND THE SCEPTER OF UPRIGHTNESS IS THE SCEPTER OF YOUR KINGDOM.

And notice further in Matthew’s account that Jesus is also hailed as a prophet, isn’t He? It’s there at the end of the account in Matthew 21:10-11:

Matthew 21:10–11 (LSB)

And when He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

A prophet is one who speaks God’s words to mankind—Jesus was not just a prophet; Hebrews reminds us that He is the very Word of God:

Hebrews 1:1–2 (LSB)

God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days spoke to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds,

So we see Jesus here in the Triumphal Entry lauded and worshipped as king and as prophet, just as we see in Hebrews as well. But I think it is appropriate, in light of everything we have been learning here in Hebrews about Christ, to understand His entry into Jerusalem on this day as His appearance as the ultimate high priest, Who was bringing the sacrifice of the final Passover lamb.

Michael Card wrote a song many years ago that captures this moment perfectly—it is called “Ride On To Die”:

Sense the sorrow untold, as you look down the road / At the clamoring crowd drawing near

Feel the heat of the day, as you look down the way / Hear the shouts of Hosanna the King

Oh, daughter of Zion your time’s drawing near / Don’t forsake Him, oh don’t pass it by

On the foal of a donkey as the prophets had said / Passing by you, He rides on to die

(Copyright 1984, Mole End Music)

So on this Palm Sunday, as the crowds are raising their voices to glorify Christ as Prophet and King, let us raise alongside them our rejoicing over Christ as our great High Priest—so that we see Him in all His glory as Prophet, Priest and King. May these verses from God’s inspired Word lead you to

Fill your MOUTH with PRAISE for the excellencies of your SAVIOR

Now, as we fit Hebrews 8 into the argument of the entire book, we find that the author is continuing to build his case for the superiority of Christ’s high priesthood—he was dealing with a group of Jewish Christians who were beginning to waver in their commitment to Christ and were thinking of going back to observing the Old Testament Law, you’ll remember.

So in Chapter 7 we see the arguments for why Christ’s priesthood is superior to Aaron’s—there is nothing to be gained by going back to the Old Testament Law, since Abraham submitted to a superior king, Aaron was surpassed by a superior priest.

The author picks that point right up in the first verse of Chapter 8:

Hebrews 8:1 (LSB)

Now the main point in what is being said is this: we have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

Everything the author has said in the last couple of chapters comes down to the point that Jesus Christ is

I. A more excellent PRIEST (Hebrews 8:1-3)

Look with me at verses 1-3:

Hebrews 8:1–3 (LSB)

Now the main point in what is being said is this: we have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the holy places and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer.

Right away we see a contrast between our High Priest and the Levitical priests who were serving in the Temple—priests who have to offer up sacrifices daily, for their own sins and for the sins of the people. Instead, we have a priest who sat down because

His WORK is FINISHED (cp. Heb 7:27)

This was the author’s main point in the previous chapter:

Hebrews 7:26–27 (LSB)

For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.

If you read through the descriptions of the Old Testament tabernacle in Exodus 25-27(and later the Temple of Solomon in 1 Kings 6), you will find detailed descriptions of every piece of furniture in them—but you will never find a description of a chair, will you?

Because, as we said before, those priests’ jobs were never done. There were always more sacrifices to offer, always more blood to be sprinkled, always more ashes to clear. But when Jesus Christ completed His offering, there were no more offerings to bring! He sat down because, as He said on the Cross, “It is finished!”

Christ is a far more excellent high priest because His work of atoning for your sin, Christian, is done forever. Your redemption has been accomplished for all time. And when your High Priest seated Himself at the right hand of the Majesty on high, He did so by the invitation of His Father:

Psalm 110:1 (LSB)

Yahweh says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I put Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.”

Christ sat down as your great High Priest who finished His work of sacrifice forever, and He sat down as your great King who is even now putting all His enemies under His feet—His work is finished, and

His REIGN is ETERNAL (cp. Psalm 110:1; Heb. 1:3)

When we began our study in Hebrews 1 we read that Christ

Hebrews 1:3 (LSB)

who is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power; who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

This connection between sacrificing and reigning is found over and over in Hebrews—there in Hebrews 1:2, again in our text this morning, and later on in Hebrews 10:12:

Hebrews 10:12 (LSB)

but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD,

When Christ rode into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday, he was bringing the Final Sacrifice of blood to atone not for His sins, but for the sins of all His people. And after He had made that sacrifice (not with the blood of bulls or goats but with His own body and blood), He would then rise three days later as the eternally reigning Son of God. As Paul wrote in Romans 1:4,

Romans 1:4 (LSB)

[He] was designated as the Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord

By His death He supplied the final sacrifice for sin, and by His resurrection He ascended to reign for all eternity, seated at the Right Hand of the Majesty on high—Christian, your great High Priest sits on that throne today not only to reign over all things, but to intercede for you at God’s right hand!

On this Palm Sunday, fill your mouth with praise for the excellencies of your Savior—He is a more excellent priest, and we read in verses 4-6 that He serves in

II. A more excellent SANCTUARY (Hebrews 8:4-6)

Look with me at Hebrews 8:4-6:

Hebrews 8:4–6 (LSB)

Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “SEE,” He says, “THAT YOU MAKE all things ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN WHICH WAS SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN.” But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

When He rode into Jerusalem that Palm Sunday, Jesus was presented as the Final Word of God, the King of Israel, and as the final High Priest, bringing the final Passover Lamb to sacrifice. But the writer of Hebrews is quick to point out that Jesus’ priesthood was not tied to the Temple in Jerusalem! That Temple (and the Tabernacle that preceded it) were only shadows of the True Tabernacle in Heaven. Our Savior is

Hebrews 8:2 (LSB)

a minister in the holy places and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

This was vitally important for the recipients of this letter to understand—born and raised under the Old Covenant Law, they had grown up looking to the Temple as the absolute center of their relationship with God. The Temple in Jerusalem (as the Tabernacle in the wilderness before it) was the symbol of YHWH’s dwelling with His people, an enduring monument to His steadfast love and covenant faithfulness to them, the means by which they could seek atonement for their sins and come before Him to offer the worship that is due His Name. But the writer of Hebrews is warning them that that Temple was only a shadow of the Real Temple. And what happens to shadows when light comes? They are done away.

Part of the warning that the writer of Hebrews is delivering to his readers is that

The Old Covenant Temple was SLATED for DESTRUCTION (cp. Leviticus 14:40-45)

And I want to suggest to you this morning that part of why Jesus must be seen as a High Priest on Palm Sunday is because of the priestly work He did in cleansing the Temple that day. Following on in Matthew 21 from our reading earlier, we learn that

Matthew 21:12–13 (LSB)

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”

Now, you may recall that this was actually the second time that Jesus cleansed the Temple, isn’t it? The first time was right at the beginning of His earthly ministry, right at the same time of year, just before the Passover. We read in John 2--

John 2:13–16 (LSB)

And the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”

Now, I say this was a priestly activity on Jesus’ part because of what we read in Leviticus 14 about cleansing a house that has become infected with leprosy. If you want, you can turn with me to Leviticus 14 (page 92 in the pew Bible). If a form of leprosy showed up in a house, the priest was to go in and inspect the stain. Verses 40-45 describe the process:

Leviticus 14:40–45 (LSB)

then the priest shall command them to tear out the stones with the mark in them and throw them away at an unclean place outside the city. “And he shall have the house scraped all around inside, and they shall pour out the plaster that they scrape off at an unclean place outside the city. “Then they shall take other stones and replace those stones, and he shall take other plaster and replaster the house. “If, however, the mark breaks out again in the house after he has torn out the stones and scraped the house, and after it has been replastered, then the priest shall come in and look again. If he sees that the mark has indeed spread in the house, it is a leprous malignancy in the house; it is unclean. “He shall therefore tear down the house, its stones and its timbers and all the plaster of the house, and he shall take them outside the city to an unclean place.

Jesus came at Passover to the House of YHWH at the beginning of His ministry in John 2, and found the leprous stain of sin and corruption had infected His Father’s house. So He cleansed it; driving out the corruption. Three years later, He makes His second priestly visit to the House at Passover and finds the corruption has returned and spread. And so He cleanses it again, and the next day pronounces its condemnation in Matthew 24:1-2

Matthew 24:1–2 (LSB)

And coming out from the temple, Jesus was going along, and His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. And He answered and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

And so the writer of Hebrews warns his readers not to center their faith on the Old Covenant Temple, which was slated for destruction; instead, they must look to the true sanctuary; the New Covenant Temple, because

New Covenant Temple was RAISED in RIGHTEOUSNESS (cp. John 2:18-22)

So what is the Temple of the New Covenant? Jesus Himself gives us the answer at the first cleansing of the Temple in John 2:18-22. As He is scouring His Father’s House of the leprous stain of corruption and sin,

John 2:18–22 (LSB)

The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this sanctuary, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking about the sanctuary of His body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

For centuries God’s Old Covenant people came to the Tabernacle and the Temple to shed blood for the atonement for their sin. But now we have a covenant that is better by far—the Temple where our atoning sacrifice took place is an eternal Temple—Christ Himself is your Temple!

He is the center of your relationship with God—He is the enduring symbol of the dwelling of YHWH with you, He is the enduring monument to God’s steadfast love and covenant faithfulness to you, He is the means by which you sought and received full and complete and final atonement for your sin, He is the One you come to in order to offer the sacrifices of worship and praise that are due His Name! The Old Covenant Temple has been done away with forever; but now God’s people have a more excellent sanctuary where by His death and resurrection a more excellent priest ministers:

Hebrews 8:6 (LSB)

But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

Fill your mouth with praise for the excellencies of your Savior—He is a more excellent priest, He is a more excellent sanctuary, and His covenant with you has been enacted on

III. More excellent PROMISES (Hebrews 8:7-13)

Look with me at verses 8-9:

Hebrews 8:7–9 (LSB)

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, He says, “BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL COMPLETE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH; NOT LIKE THE COVENANT WHICH I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS IN THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; FOR THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DID NOT CARE FOR THEM, SAYS THE LORD.

At Sinai in the wilderness, Israel made promises to God, and God made promises to Israel. But the only promises that were kept were the ones God made—His people broke their promises to obey Him and love Him only and serve Him. Over and over they broke their covenant promises to YHWH, and so He kept His promises to punish them.

The Old Covenant promised to PUNISH our DISOBEDIENCE (vv. 7-9)

The author quotes from Jeremiah 31, where God says of Israel

Hebrews 8:9 (LSB)

THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DID NOT CARE FOR THEM, SAYS THE LORD.

And just like Israel in the wilderness, disobeying God for 40 years, we too live lives of broken promises before God. As one commentator is fond of saying, “We contribute nothing to our salvation but the sin that made it necessary!” And so this is why Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday—to provide the sacrifice that would take away that sin once and for all! The punishment that God promised to bring on disobedient mankind fell on the Man Jesus Christ. In His death, we are delivered from the penalty of our disobedience—and there is no more need for any further sacrifice for sin; He is the LAST High Priest, and better by far than any that came before Him.

The best the Old Covenant could do was promise to punish disobedience—but look in verses 10-12 of our text to see the great promise that we have in the New Covenant:

Hebrews 8:10–12 (LSB)

“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 INTO THEIR MINDS, AND UPON THEIR HEARTS I WILL WRITE THEM. AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. “AND THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERYONE HIS FELLOW CITIZEN, AND EVERYONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’ FOR ALL WILL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST OF THEM. “FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE.”

Where the Old Covenant could do no more than punish our disobedience,

The New Covenant promises to PROVIDE our OBEDIENCE (vv. 10-12; cp. Matt. 26:39; Mark 14:36)

The Old Covenant promises were not the problem—the problem was with the people who made the promises! Even Moses himself, who built the shadow tabernacle in the wilderness, who gave the people God’s Law, could not himself obey it! His body fell in the wilderness, never having set foot in the Promised Land because of his disobedience.

But the New Covenant that God has made with us through Christ is a covenant that will provide the righteousness that it demands! The New Covenant calls us to obedience, and then furnishes that obedience for us! In the New Covenant, God makes an unconditional promise to be our God and we His people; He makes an unconditional promise to put His Law on our minds and hearts; He makes an unconditional promise to be merciful to our iniquities; an unconditional promise to never remember our sins again! And all of those New Covenant promises have been sealed up and guaranteed by the blood of the Last Passover Lamb, the Last High Priest, Jesus Christ!

When He came to Jerusalem that day, He came in perfect obedience to His Father, having lived a life of perfect obedience in every way—and when He came to the end of this week, as He prayed in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane:

Mark 14:36 (LSB)

“Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.”

He was fulfilling the perfect obedience that you and I could never accomplish. And when you come in repentance and faith to Him, God counts that perfect obedience to you! Fill your mouth with praise for the excellencies of your Savior Who has promised not to punish you for your disobedience, but to guarantee your obedience in Him!

Fill your mouth with praise for the excellencies of your Savior who has provided in Himself a better sanctuary—not a house of stone and timber on top of a mountain somewhere, but the sanctuary of His own body. There is no need for a Temple in Jerusalem anymore—no need for a temple anywhere on this planet! Because the day has come that Jesus prophesied to the woman at the well in John 4:21

John 4:21, 23 (LSB)

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father... But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

The shadow temple has been obliterated by the Light of the glory of Jesus Christ, Who is Himself your sanctuary before God, the Temple that was raised up three days after being destroyed by sin; the Tent of Meeting where, like Moses, all of His people can now come and meet with Him face-to-face!

On this Palm Sunday, fill your mouth with praise for the excellencies of your Great High Priest who has accomplished more than any priest before Him; He has not only covered the guilt of your sins, He has borne your guilt and has atoned for your sins once and for all! Let that praise not only fill your mouth when you come here to worship, but let the praise of your excellent Redeemer characterize all of your speech. Let His excellent greatness be your song and your strength as you negotiate a world hostile to His kingship, a world deaf to His prophetic call, a world sunk in the depths of sin that only His High Priestly sacrifice of His own body can atone for!

On that day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem, there were people muttering and carping about the praise He received:

Luke 19:39–40 (LSB)

And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But Jesus answered and said, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones will cry out!”

Christian, your heart was once a heart of stone, wasn’t it? You were once dead in trespasses and sins; alienated from God in this world, a child of wrath and object of loathing to Him—but through Jesus Christ your heart of stone has become a heart of flesh! So let that formerly stony heart cry out in praise to Him!

And if you are here this morning apart from faith in Christ, won’t you hear this Gospel-invitation today? Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday in order to bring the blood sacrifice that will wash away all of your sins, release you from your guilt before God, credit you with perfect obedience, melt away your heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh that delights to obey Him—won’t you make this the day when your heart of stone cries out? See here in God’s Word the excellencies of your Savior: The excellencies of His priesthood, the certainty of His promises, the perfection of His dwelling with you and in you forever—come (and welcome!) to Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

2 Corinthians 13:14 (LSB)

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. AMEN

FOR FURTHER REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

Write down something you learned from this morning’s message that is new to you, or an insight that you had for the first time about the text? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Write down a question that you have about the passage that you want to study further or ask for help with: ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Write down something that you need to do in your life this week in response to what God has shown you from His Word today: ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________