Hebrews 8:1-13

Don’t Turn Back, Everything is Better Now!

Intro |

Have you ever decided to get something new only to realize the old was better?

In Hebrews we are led to see that the OC pales in comparison to the new. In fact, the OC, in all of it’s parts, finds it’s completion in Jesus Christ.

The Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, the Mosaic, and the Davidic covenants all point to Jesus!

So, as important as these covenants were, they were, “a copy and shadow of heavenly things (v.5).”

With that in mind, the author is encouraging his audience not to turn back to a temporal system with temporal priests and temporal sacrifices.

But to hold fast to the new covenant, that is sealed with the blood of Christ, and is able to save to the uttermost.

In the spring I shared how Jesus’ priestly ministry is permanent and perpetual, or eternal and effective—but there is more to it.

1. The Superiority of the New Covenant Priest (vv.1-5)

The author of Hebrews shows the superiority of Jesus as the new covenant priest from an argument of “pride of place.”

A. The Seat

The OC priest’s work was never finished, it was weak, temporal—sacrifice after sacrifice went on from generation to generation, .

But here we are told that, Jesus is seated at the “right hand of the throne of majesty in heaven.”

This is a picture into the throne room of an ancient king. There kings would surround themselves with men of honor and power, and the person to his right was the most honorable/powerful.

From this position of honor and power, Jesus presently ministers/mediates for the church.

I often use the phrase, “the finished work of Christ” to communicate the perfection of Jesus’ earthly redemptive work.

However, this does not mean that the full redemptive plan of God was accomplished then.

Mohler—We look back to the cross and the resurrection and assume this is where his work ends. For starters, Christ didn’t accomplish in his earthly ministry all the Messiah was foretold to accomplish. This didn’t make his mission a failure. Rather, Revelation tells us a spectacular fulfillment is coming. We’re still waiting for Christ to vindicate his church and judge the nations, so this aspect of his work is yet to be finished.”

Just because Jesus is seated doesn’t mean he is passive, yes, his atoning work is finished, but his advocating work is not. From his position of power he mediates for you until he comes to fully and finally vindicate the Church.

You could say, He is seat, but he is not still.

B. The Sanctuary

(v.2) Jesus’ seat of honor and power is in the “true tent that the Lord set up.”

The word tent is a reference back to Moses and the Israelites after the exodus from Egypt.

Israel was wandering in the desert, they had not made it to the promised land, so God instructed Moses (Ex. 26) to construct a temporary tent of meeting until they could build it in Jerusalem.

Under the old covenant system, and in this temporary earthly tent, the priests brought gifts and sacrifices to God on behalf of the people, but also for themselves, for they were sinful too.

(v.5)—Their ministry was important, but merely a copy and shadow of heavenly things.

"a copy and shadow” would have probably been a common phrase for the early readers.

The recipients of this letter would have been familiar with Plato’s parable of the cave. Plato believed that our knowledge is like that of a person in a fire-lit cave who can only see the shadows of real objects projected on the walls. Plato thought that we only know things as shadows of what they really are.

In this case, Plato was right.

This is why when constructing the tabernacle, it was so important for Moses to follow the directions given to him by God. The earthly tabernacle was meant to point people heavenward.

This is what christian worship should be today. Our Church services, from beginning to end should be otherworldly, encourage people to look heavenward, to think deeply, and to see that their is something sacred happening here!

We should be pointing the world to Christ who is the fulfillment of the shadows our culture projects on the walls of our lives.

The Gospel shares of a the better priest, in the better tabernacle, as the better sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Jesus is shown as a superior NC priest by his place seated in the heavenly tabernacle of God.

2. The Superiority of the New Covenant Promises.

Under the OC, Israel was an adulterous nation who had abandoned God and the salvation he offered.

Jer. 3:8 “She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce.

But, God didn’t just find fault with Israel or the old covenant system, he found fault with both.

Both were weak, imperfect, and temporal.

v.8—God found fault with Israel.

v.7—The faulty system needed replacing, not repairing.

v.6—But Jesus’ ministry, in these last days (1:2) “as it is [now]” is a better ministry, a better covenant, and built upon better promises.

To clearly communicate this argument, the writer of Hebrews refers to promises from the OT.

By referencing Jer. 31, the writer is basically saying, “Why are you tempted to turn back, you know this stuff?!”

Through Jeremiah, God promised hope to his exiled people. He would fulfill his promises to Abraham and David—exile would not have the last word.

They knew that the OC people did not continue in God’s covenant and they were judged as a result.

(v.9) “and I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.”

God turned away from them and allowed them to experience the consequences of their choices.

God wasn’t simply looking for heartless obedience to the OC, but a people who obeyed him with hearts of gratitude for what he had done by freeing them from slavery.

This is where the OC falls short because true obedience and gratitude can only come from heart change.

That is why God, in the NC, gives a “better promise.”

Heb. 8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Under the New Covenant, the house of Israel is the Church of Jesus Christ, made up of Jew and Gentile, the new Israel.

So, this better promise is more inclusive than the old, and there is a surety of it’s fulfillment, for God “will put his laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts.”

I can almost here the writer saying, “Don’t turn back, you can’t keep the OC, but God has made it possible in the NC!”

The OC was external, written on tablets of stone, but the NC is internal on the hearts and minds of the Church.

This is foretold in Deut 30:6 “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”

David lived by faith in this coming promises

Ps. 40:8 “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.””

God, in the NC, takes away the fundamental flaw, the human element, the rebellious heart is made new.

Ezek 36:26 “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

God promises, I will be their God, and they will be my people.

In the NC this promise was made to specific people.

That is important because in the OC there was a political/general inclusion to the nation of Israel.

To put it simply, under the OC, not everyone was part of the nation of Israel was part of the Israel of God.

Some were converted by faith, and some were not.

There was a political nature to the OC that doesn’t exist in the NC.

Separation of Church and State (Church of England).

This distinction helps us understand v.11.

Under the OC one could not be sure that their neighbor was truly a follower of Yeweh, so they would need to exhort one another to “Know the Lord!”

NC people are completely different. This group is only made up of those who have been given new hearts and who’s hearts and minds have the laws of God—these are the people Jesus died to save to the uttermost!

There is no distinction in the NC from the least to the greatest, this nation or that, this ethnicity or that—but it includes all for who draw near to the God through Jesus.

Let’s look again at Ezek 36:26-27 “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

This is important when it comes to church membership. The New Covenant church only includes those who have the law of God on their hearts and minds, who have new hearts, and the Spirit of God.

Therefore, it is important for the local church to do the same.

This is why we interview individuals and families before they become members of the church.

This is also why we baptize individuals with a credible profession of faith in Jesus Christ.

And this is why we have a church covenant that reminds us of who God has made us to be in Jesus as we live in his NC community—the church.

Matt 7:16 “You will recognize them by their fruits.

Matt 7:21 ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Lawson, “Not perfect, but purposeful. Not flawless but faithful as evidence that you have been washed by the blood of Christ!

The better priest has secured better promises for his church, and it just gets better as we go!

Heb. 8:12 “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.””

Here we see, under the NC, that God promises to deal with our greatest problem—Sin!

God promises to forget our sins based on his forgiving our sin.

“merciful”—under the OC the priest came into the holy of holies where the golden cherubim sat atop of the ark of the covenant.

This was considered to be God’s throne from which he sat looking over the broken tablets of the 10 Commandments, which were kept in the ark.

Representing sinful people the priest would enter the presence of God where, because of his sin, he didn’t deserve to be, except for the blood of an acceptable sacrifice.

The sacrificial blood was poured on the mercy seat, so that God looking down no longer saw law that was broken, but the blood that covered the sin.

In the NC the blood of Christ has covered our sin, and we can rest knowing that God will remember our sins no more.

Ps. 103:12 “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

In the NC everything is better. All of the shadows are realized in Jesus the better priest, better tabernacle, better covenant, better promises.

In Jesus we have a covenant with God purchased by his blood.

In Luke 22:20 Jesus says, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

This covenant is for you!