The Superior Covenant
Notes
Transcript
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,
and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.
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.
If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.
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.”
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.
For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.
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.
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.
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.
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.
For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
The major concept we are looking at today is this new covenant. But to really understand covenant, we need to go back to the basics. What is a covenant? How is it made? Because without a proper understanding of these concepts we will never grasp how wonderful this new covenant truly is.
What is a Covenant?
What is a Covenant?
Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.
This verse is significant in that it is the first of twenty occurrences of the word covenant here in Hebrews. Twenty occurences, most of them found in this chapter and the next. This is a major concept with which the original audience or recipients of this letter were familiar. Unfortunately, we are not as familiar, so it is easy to miss the significance of this chapter.
What do you think of when you think of covenant?
Contract
++To agree upon (Two parties negotiate and agree to terms)
++Limits and restrictions
++Liabilities
διαθήκη: Covenant or Testament (Will)
++One party with all the power decides
++That party bestows what is theirs
++Responsibilities
The word used for covenant here is διαθήκη. This is the word used to translate the Hebrew word in the Old Testament for covenant, though in Greek culture was used primarily for a will, or testament.
How is a covenant made?
How is a covenant made?
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—
The word covenant occurs in Genesis 6 and Genesis 9 with Noah.
Then, again here in Genesis 15, and Genesis 17 with Abraham.
Everywhere you see the expression in English, ‘made a covenant,’ it is the translation of the Hebrew expression from their culture. The literal translation is to ‘cut a covenant’.
That is displayed graphically in Genesis 15, which takes place right after Abram’s encounter with Melchizedek in Genesis 14.
After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”
And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”
He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.
But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—
the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
This was the second time God told Abram what He, God, was going to do for him. God initially made promises to Abram which we find in Genesis 12, and Genesis 13.
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.
All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.
I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.
Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
Notice the one-sided nature of these promises. God, the all powerful Creator and Lord of all, tells Abram what He, God is going to do.
Then, God affirms the promises with a covenant.
Abram’s only requirement was to enter into this covenant by accepting it.
It is later in Genesis 17, that God reaffirms the promise and now makes a conditional element to the covenant for Abraham’s descendants:
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,
“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.
This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.
For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring.
Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.
Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
Abraham accepted the Lord’s covenant with obedience to the command to keep the Lord’s ways, and circumcision.
Notice, that those of his descendants who do not keep the covenant, are removed from God’s covenant of blessings.
The next covenant we see is the one God makes with Israel at Mount Sinai, through Moses.
Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,
you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak.
The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.
Mosaic Covenant / Old Covenant
Mosaic Covenant / Old Covenant
Mosaic Covenant was conditional, they had to keep the laws. To enter into God’s covenant of blessings, of being their God, and they his people, they needed to enter by faith, which would be shown in their obedience.
However, they were unable to keep the laws, so God, as a part of the covenant, gave them the tabernacle and sacrificial system. The sacrifices had to be make continually, because they were continually sinning. And, those animal sacrifices were reminders of their sins, and unable to remove the punishment. It was simply looking forward to the one sacrifice that God was going to make once for all to remove all of their sin. Concepts that we are going to find in Hebrews as we continue to study.
But, as we study the Old Testament, we find that they continually abandoned not only God’s laws, but also the worship of God around the tabernacle, and the sacrificial system. And, when they did use the sacrifices, it became a ritual and viewed as a show of their righteousness, rather than a reminder of their unrighteousness, and their need for a righteousness from God. So God found fault with them.
The Old Covenant became an instrument of condemnation rather than blessing because of human weakness and sin.
So, let’s go back to Hebrews.
Superior Priest in a Superior Tabernacle
Superior Priest in a Superior Tabernacle
As we saw in Heb 7, Jesus is a Superior Priest, and he is not serving in the earthly tabernacle like the one in whic the Levitical priests serve. Hebrews 8.1-5 speak of this and this concept will be further developed in Hebrews 9.
Let’s focus on the main point of Hebrews 8, the Superior Covenant.
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.
For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.
The Old Covenant had a problem
The Old Covenant had a problem
So, God declared he would make a new covenant.
The New Superior Covenant
The New Superior Covenant
For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.
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.
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.
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.
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.
For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
What makes this covenant superior? Jesus!!
Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.
Jesus the Guarantor of the Superior Covenant
Jesus the Guarantor of the Superior Covenant
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,
in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.
Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
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.
For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
