The New Covenant of Love: Jesus, Our Perfect Mediator
By Faith: The Book of Hebrews • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 6 viewsBig Idea of the Message: Through Jesus, God reveals the true nature of his love. Application Point: If you doubt if God loves you, or wonder if things are okay with God, remember Jesus, who makes everything okay.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
After a loving rebuke concerning their dullness of hearing, the writer of Hebrews urged his readers to imitate the faith of their patriarch Abraham—who, despite setbacks, obstacles, and poor decisions, did not waver in embracing the promise God made to him. God swore by His own name that He would fulfill that promise, and Abraham saw it come to pass in the birth and establishment of his son, Isaac.
In the same way, God has made another promise—again swearing by His own name—that Jesus is our High Priest, not according to the law, but after the order of Melchizedek, the priestly king who both precedes and surpasses the Levitical system.
Now, the author shifts his focus to what Jesus does as High Priest and where He performs this ministry. The aim of this section is to unveil the new covenant that accompanies this new priesthood—a covenant that reveals the true nature of God’s love as seen in Jesus, our perfect Mediator. We have 4 movements again:
I. A Superior Priest in a Superior Place (8:1–6)
II. A Better Covenant with Better Promises (8:7–13)
III. A Perfect Sacrifice in a Better Sanctuary (9:1–10)
IV. Christ Secures an Eternal Redemption (9:11–15)
I. A Superior Priest in a Superior Place (8:1–6)
I. A Superior Priest in a Superior Place (8:1–6)
So the author of Hebrews opens with a clear transitional statement and shifts from the person of our High Priest to the place and purpose of His ministry. He wanted to summarize what he had been teaching and go on to new ideas. Lets read the first two verses.
1 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,
2 a minister in the holy places and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.
If you notice, he goes back to the wording in chapter 1 verse 3. Because you cannot forget what he has already taught because he is building on it:
3 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,
what he meant by this truth is reasonably clear but he elaborates furthers in what follows:
“…a minister…in the true tabernacle” (v.2)
The implication is that the tabernacle the readers know is not the true one based on a simple fact: it was man made.
Unlike the Levitical priesthood who served in an earthly tabernacle which was not the true one, Jesus serves in heaven itself–the true sanctuary or tabernacle.
Where the earthly tabernacle symbolized access to God, Jesus is seated at the right hand of God which is actual, not symbolic, access to God and with ultimate authority. And He is sitting down. This is a permanent resting place, meaning He is not going anywhere.
My father had a rocking chair in front of the TV in his room. When he came home from work, anything you needed or wanted from him better be communicated before he plopped himself on that chair. Once he was on that, (by the way the rocking chair eventually became a lazyboy) chair, he was not getting up for anyone.
Jesus sitting is significant as we read in 1:3 look:
1 Yahweh says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I put Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.”
No Levitical priest ever sat–because their work was never done. And how could it be done when if it was done in a copy and not the real one.
“who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things…MAKE all things ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN WHICH WAS SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN.” (v.5)
Let’s read exactly what God said to Moses,
9 “According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall make it.
It was a pattern. Think about it, a pattern is not the dress. No one puts on a pattern and walks out the street, your back will be showing. The dress is made based on the pattern.
The tabernacle and sacrifices were always meant to point beyond themselves to the heavenly reality fulfilled in Christ. The old covenant systems was never final.
The “shadow sanctuary” was secured when Moses erected the tabernacle which ended up being a prototype of the temple which would be destroyed in a few years according to the readers perspective. Paul emphasizes this fact when he says:
17 things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
Jesus is the fulfillment:
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt [tabernacled, skēnoō] among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
6 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.
A woman finds a beautiful but fake Louis Vuitton bag in a flea market. Loves her bag, most people cannot even tell that is a fake even though with the passing of time the stitches are starting to unravel, the zipper does not close all the way and there is a tear on the inside of the bag. Yet, she wears her bag with pride for the average eye still could not tell the difference. One anniversary, as she and her husband are out for dinner, he pulls out a perfectly wrapped box with the most beautiful bow on top. With much excitement the woman tears through the box and finds her present. A authentic insanely expensive Louis Vuitton bag. After the disrupting scream, and a kiss to her husband the woman proceeds to take all of her stuff out of the fake bag and put them into her new real bag. And what does she do with the fake back? She tosses it on their way out of the restaurant.
Application:
Let us stop trusting in external rituals and trust in the eternal priest who ministers in heaven on our behalf.
Let us find encouragement in the fact that Jesus didn’t just open the way–He stays in the presence of God as our mediator right now.
Also, let us continually ask ourselves if we are clinging to shadows or living in the reality of God’s love through Christ
Jesus is not just the better priest, but the mediator of a better covenant—one that brings the love of God not just in law, but in transformation. This is God revealing His heart of love—not just His standards.
But what exactly makes this covenant better? The writer now unpacks the heart of it in the next movement.
II. A Better Covenant with Better Promises (vv. 7-13)
II. A Better Covenant with Better Promises (vv. 7-13)
The author now sharpens his argument: not only is Jesus the mediator of a better covenant (v.6), but the old covenant itself was flawed—not because of God, but because of the people.
Do you wonder why your marriage is not perfect? It is because of you. Why is your church not heaven on earth? Because you are part of it. Why is your relationship with your children so hard? Because they have you for parents and you have them for children. Any system, any institution, any relationship that involves a single child of Adam is going to be broken and flawed. The writer says,
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.
8 For finding fault with them, He says, [quoting Jeremiah 31:31-34]“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;
The issue was not with the law itself, the law was as perfect as the law giver
7 The law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple.
No, the problem was not with the law but with those who broke it, which is everyone. The law was good but it could not change the human heart. The law was perfect but it depended on man keeping it perfectly which obviously we could not because of the condition of our heart
9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can know it?
So God had to absorb all of the responsibility if He was going to have any humanity left in His universe. Therefore God promised a new covenant, one that could do what the old one could not do.
To back up this truth, the author takes us to the Old Testament itself, quoting a promise God made through the prophet Jeremiah 31:31-34 the longest OT passage quoted in the NT. And it provides the key into understanding the difference between the two covenants. Lets examine 4 differences provided by the author
1. Internal vs. External
“I will put My laws into their minds and upon their hearts I will write them” (v.10)
In the old covenant the laws were written on stone tablets (Ex 24:12). In the new covenant, they’re written on human hearts. There is a inner inclination to obey God as a result of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This of course originates with God, not with sinful man. Those who are His will see the difference in their inclinations from before they were His and after they became His. This is the basis by which Jesus says,
27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
This is innate. Sheep cant read what’s written on stone tablets but they follow the inclination of their hearts and since the Lord owns their hearts that is what they follow. That is how we know we belong to him.
Those who do not belong to Him, God has not written into their minds and their hearts will not be inclined to Him because they do not know Him.
Some of the Jews kept asking Jesus are you the Messiah? He told them, better yet, He showed them… look at His answer
26 “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.
2. Distant vs. Personal
“I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (v.10)
This indicates a firm relationship with God. The old covenant had priest and sacrifices acting as mediators. Under the new covenant, relationship it restored. No mediators necessary. But you may ask but isn’t Jesus our mediator, yes but He is also God, we covered this. Having a relationship with Jesus is having a relationship with God.
15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.
3. Hierarchical Knowledge vs. Universal Access
“They shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen… saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know Me…” (v.11)
In the old system, the people depended on priests, scribes, and prophets for access to God’s will. The new covenant brings direct, personal knowledge of God to all believers. You do not need any priest to go to God on your behalf and you do not need a prophet telling you what the Lord’s will is for your life because you have His Word and His Spirit.
26 “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
All I do as your pastor is stand here like a parrot just repeating what the Word of God says already. I am not a go between and I have no new revelation to give you. We all follow the same teachings from the same teacher.
4. Conditional Forgiveness vs. Complete Mercy
“For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” (vs.12)
This one is the heart of the matter. The new covenant is built on God’s mercy and not on man’s performance. Thank God because I was performing horribly. I did not even deserve a participation trophy. God did not wait until you were able to clean up your act. He would have waited all the way to your destruction because you would have never been able to clean up your act.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
13 When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.
The old covenant is obsolete, not because it failed God’s purpose, but because it finished its purpose. It pointed to something better—and now that better thing has arrived in Christ.
Application:
Stop striving to earn what Christ has already secured. Start living from mercy, not for merit.
Stop seeing God as some distant unapproachable deity. Instead accept Him as your Father, who writes His love on your heart.
Get out of that cycle of guilt and striving you are stuck in. Rest instead, on the covenant of grace.
The old covenant revealed our guilt—but the new covenant reveals God’s grace.
III. A Perfect Sacrifice in a Better Sanctuary (9:1-10)
III. A Perfect Sacrifice in a Better Sanctuary (9:1-10)
The writer now pauses his covenant argument to give his readers a guided tour of the earthly tabernacle—a layout they were already familiar with. He wants them (and us) to see that everything in it was both limited and symbolic. Yes, it was divinely prescribed, but it was never meant to be permanent. It pointed to something greater.
He describes the layout of the tabernacle which was divided in two chambers. The first one was the Holy Place and the second was the Most Holy Place. He starts describing what is in the first chamber, which his readers would have been more familiar with all of this than we are: You had:
The Lampstand (Menorah) [Pic1]
South side of the Holy Place (Ex 25:31-40)
Provided light for the Holy Place, had seven branches and was kept burning continually.
Symbolized the light of God’s presence and the illumination of His Word (John 8:12, Ps 119:105).
The Table of Showbread [Pic2]
North side of the Holy Place (Ex 25:23-30)
Held 12 loaves of bread re presenting the twelve tribes of Israel, renewed weekly on the Sabbath.
Symbolized God’s provision and fellowship with His people (Jn 6:35)
The Altar of Incense [Pic3]
Just before the veil separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place (Ex 30:1-10)
Burned incense daily, representing the prayers of the people ascending to God. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would take incense into the Most Holy Place with the blood (cf. Lev 16:12–13), which may explain why Hebrews places it with the inner room.
Symbolized intercession, prayer, and the pleasing presence of worship (Rev 5:8, Ps 141:2)
Then the writer describes the second chamber containing:
The Ark of the Covenant [Pic4]
A wooden chest overlaid with Gold inside and out (Ex 25:10-16)
Symbolized God’s covenant with His people
The Mercy Seat (Atonement Cover)
Solid gold cover placed on top of the Ark (Ex 25:17-22)
Two cherubim of gold with wings overshadowing the cover, facing each other.
God said, “There I will meet with you”—this was considered God’s throne on earth (His earthly footstool)
Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat to make atonement for the sins of Israel (Lev16:14–15)
The Ark = God’s covenantal presence among His people.
The Mercy Seat = God’s throne of grace, where atonement is made.
The Cherubim = Guardians of His holiness, pointing to the seriousness of divine presence.
Inside the Ark [Pic5]
The Ten Commandments (Ex 25:16)
Aaron’s rod that budded
Jar of manna
Access was restricted [Pic6]
Only the High Priest, only once a year, and only with blood.
The point of all of this was limited access, limited cleansing (imagine how much blood accumulated on the mercy seat after centuries of this ritual), and repeated rituals. The priest had to make sacrifices for himself first before he could stand before God for others:
8 The Holy Spirit is indicating this, that the way into the holy places has not yet been manifested while that first part of the tabernacle is still standing,
9 which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience,
The tabernacle was a visual metaphor. A symbolic system that pointed forward to something better. Its rituals couldn’t cleanse the conscience. It could address external sins but couldn’t deal with the internal problem. When you kill one cockroach, you have not solved the problem, you just discovered it. Remember what Jeremiah said, that the heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick, or desperately wicked depending on your translation.
So the heart issue has not been solved, and the sacrificing of all of the animals in the world will just make them extinct and we are still utterly sinful. The writer continues:
10 since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, requirements for the body imposed until a time of reformation.
That phrase—“until a time of reformation”—means the old system was always meant to be temporary. It pointed forward to Christ, who would bring the true cleansing.
Application:
Stop living like the veil is still up. You don’t need rituals or people to get to God. Jesus has opened the way.
Take heart: The old system couldn’t cleanse the conscience—but Christ can. Let His blood cleanse not only your sin but your shame.
Now the author brings his argument to a glorious peak:
IV. Christ Secures an Eternal Redemption (9:11-15)
IV. Christ Secures an Eternal Redemption (9:11-15)
After walking us through the limitations of the old system, the author presents the glorious fulfillment–Christ, out Hight priest entering not the shadow of the earthly tabernacle but the real one in heaven. Not with the blood of animals, but with his own blood. Let’s read
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,
12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy places once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
So Jesus did not walk into a copy which was made by human hands, He entered the real, greater, perfect tabernacle that did not represent the presence of God but that is the presence of God.
The levitical priest entered a replica. Jesus entered the real place and he did that by means of His own blood, not by means of the blood of animals that symbolized His blood
And since, this was no symbol, it did not have to be repeated over and over again.
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that He might bring you to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
And it makes sense that this had to be so. The author reasons:
13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh,
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
The author involves all three members of the God-head in redemption.
The old system’s cleansing served for the ceremonially unclean and only made them clean on the outside, but couldn’t touch the conscience. It couldn’t free us from guilt, shame, or the desire to sin. This is what Jesus meant when He said:
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.
26 “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
28 “In this way, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
You cannot just look clean, have a great reputation, which is what people see. Your outward cleanliness must be the reflection of a clean and holy heart. And this is what Jesus does for you.
His love for you caused him to give his life for you so that through His death and resurrection you will have life in your inner selves that manifests itself as an inner desire to live righteously.
You don’t need to keep wondering if you’re “clean enough” to serve God. You don’t have to come to worship dragging a chain of guilt behind you. He sets us free from dead works—all the rituals, the striving, the self-salvation attempts—and turns us into living worshipers of a living God. The author says:
15 And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the trespasses that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
What does all of this mean?
He is the mediator that bridges the gap we could never cross
His death redeems both the past and the present
We are called by God’s choosing and not by merit
We receive and eternal inheritance we did not earn
This is eternal redemption, not seasonal relief. This is the cure, not a treatment for symptoms
Application:
Stop doubting your standing with God. Christ has entered the true sanctuary and has sat down—not because He was tired, but because His work is finished. You are covered.
Let His blood cleanse your conscience. Stop clinging to guilt from sins He already paid for. If you’ve trusted Him, you’re clean—not just ceremonially but inwardly.
Live as one who has inherited eternity. You are not working for salvation—you are working from it. Your Redeemer lives, and He has secured your place.
