Shadow and Substance

Congregation: Almighty and most merciful Father, we are thankful that your mercy is higher than the heavens, wider than our wanderings, and deeper than our sin. Forgive our careless attitudes toward your purposes, our refusal to relieve the suffering of others, our envy of those who have more than we have, our obsession with creating a life of constant pleasure, our indifference to the treasures of heaven, and our neglect of your wise and holy law.

Help us to change our way of life so that we may desire what is good, love what you love, and do what you command, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE Numbers 23:1-12 Pastor Austin Prince

Numbers 23:1–12 ESV

1 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram. 3 And Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height, 4 and God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” 5 And the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 6 And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering. 7 And Balaam took up his discourse and said, “From Aram Balak has brought me, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains: ‘Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, denounce Israel!’ 8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced? 9 For from the top of the crags I see him, from the hills I behold him; behold, a people dwelling alone, and not counting itself among the nations! 10 Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!” 11 And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” 12 And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

THE OFFERING OF TITHES AND OUR GIFTS

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.” (1 Chronicles 29:11–14, ESV)

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

†PSALM OF PREPARATION #119E

“Teach Me, O Lord, Your Way of Truth”

SERMON Hebrews 8:1-13

Shadow and Substance

Prayer of Illumination

As we now give attention to your word, open our eyes, that we might behold wonderful things from your law through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: Hebrews 8

Hebrews 8 ESV

1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. 5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. 8 For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. 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. 11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” 13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

After Scripture

As for God, His way is perfect, the word of the Lord is flawless.

Intro:

My favorite movie is Raiders of The Lost Ark. Indy is tasked to search for the Ark of The Covenant and find it before the Nazi’s do. What they were seeking from the ark as an artifact was the power of God. In the movie, they do find it and Indy has respect for it, knowing that you can’t manipulate God. But at the end, the ark ultimately winds up, in the famous last scene, in this giant warehouse where it is lost again forever — and the image eludes to a fact of our real world, that the ark is nowhere to be found in our time — it’s lost and remains lost.

But the fact that the ark truly is missing to this day is actually just fine. Because we aren’t left without the power of God without it. In fact, the ark, and the old covenant that it symbolizes is obsolete, according to our text today.

In contrast to the movie, it’s not the ark’s power that we should take note of, it’s somewhat the opposite. It’s the lack of power with the old covenant that should captivate our thinking today. As the previous chapter told us that the law by itself makes nothing perfect.

It’s to this powerlessness of the old covenant that the writer of Hebrews now turns his attention.

And it’s not a powerlessness that is cerebral. It’s not talking about something on a spec sheet that doesn’t mean much to you, like seeing a car listed with 300 horse power and another with 150 horse power. It’s just abstract numbers. It’s not just abstract theology about different covenants.

No, this is a powerlessness that is felt. Our text today points out a frustration and an impotence of not being able to fulfill the demands of the covenant in ourselves. The faultiness and weakness is with us.

Powerlessness is often the stuff of nightmares. I’ve frequently had the dream where I have needed to fight or protect someone, but when you punch its like your hands are being held back or you are punching underwater. There is an intense weight of burden, but nothing can be done about it. In our flesh and in our sin, that nightmare is lived out in our daily weaknesses.

Do you feel that sometimes, this underwater punch feeling? This passion to do something that you just can’t? This debilitating frailty in yourself?

It is to this deeply troubling weakness that chapter eight presents us with power in three great ways.

Outline:

The power of Christ

The Power of the New Covenant

The Power of the Holy Spirit

1. The Power of Christ

Now, you’ve got to love it when the writer of scripture gives you their main thesis is really clear terms. And that’s what is happening in the first verses of Hebrews 8. It’s the thesis of all of Hebrews.

The writer says,

“Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.” (Hebrews 8:1–2, ESV)

What he is saying is this: All of the things that I have been going on about, all of the failures that I have pointed out in the priesthood (they kept dying and had their own sins), in the sacrifices (repeated), in the feebleness of the entire system has served to do one thing: It has been a dramatic picture of un fulfillment. It has been an illustration in what our needs are. But the fulfillment of all of our need is exactly the priest that we have in Jesus. Jesus is the best possible priest. Our needs are His fullness (A title of a great book by the puritan James Meikle). Our great needs are all met by this great Savior.

And in describing His greatness, the writer slips in this image of Christ as seated at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.

Jesus is seated. In contrast to the priests of the temple, whose work is never done, Jesus is seated. In all of the furniture listed among the temple, where the priests served, (the tables, the altars, the vessels for washing, and the candelabras) there is no mention of a chair. The priests don’t get to sit down because their work is never finished. They would make their sacrifices day after day after day.

And again, that frustrating weakness begins to saturate the minds of the people who see that the sacrifices that they offer don’t cover them for very long, so there is a weakness in the offering, but there is also and obvious weakness in the sinner who requires and offering over and over again.

But Christ, knowing our weakness, laid down not the blood of bulls or goats but His own life on our behalf on the cross, and when this unholy debt was paid in holy blood, Christ proclaimed “it is finished!” And now He is seated at the right hand of the Father, this seat of authority and rule over all the world.

Application:

We might feel like we are punching underwater, but Christ can land the blow. He has bound the strongman and has overcome the world.

He is seated because his work is finished. He is at rest. Not a rest from fatigue, but a rest that enjoys and rules over what His work has accomplished. There is no frenetic energy at his throne as if some work is left to do. All is well and very well. And this is a rest that we are invited to enter into.

The author takes just about every chance he can get to remind us of Christ’s power - that Christ is better.

Transition

And we are also told that He is a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.

And here we are led in to a shift in the argument. The writer is beginning to compare a heavenly tabernacle to an earthly one. And it’s an important point, because it highlights just how much greater Jesus is able to serve us as a minister.

Christ’s work of atonement is finished, but He isn’t done working on our behalf. We should pay close attention to the fact that He is our minister, and He is ministering to us from the true tent/tabernacle that was not made by man.

The tabernacle was where the people would go to be ministered to. It’s where they would see the holiness of God, and see where their sins were atoned for, and smell the fragrant offering for their sins. But in Christ, that ministry becomes so much more profound to us, bringing us confidence and comfort and power for living.

"We've seen Christ's power—now, how does the new covenant make it real for us?"

2. The Power of the New Covenant

Chapter eight compares the ministry of the priests and the ministry of Christ by speaking of them in the terms of covenants. And it compares these covenants in three ways:

the shadow and the substance,

the true and the copy,

and the old and the new nature of the covenants.

Again, these comparisons are a highlight of weakness and powerlessness

First, take Shadow and Substance

Speaking of the priests in verse five, the author writes, “They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” (Hebrews 8:5, ESV)

After Moses was given the law, there are very detailed instructions for a tabernacle that he was to build. What Moses was to build was merely a copy. So what does that establish from the very beginning? If we are paying attention, it means that there are two tabernacles. The original and the one that Moses was to copy. There is a substantive one and then there is the shadow. The real thing and the reflection.

The tabernacle on earth was to be an illustration, but it was never the substance. To minister for the people, the priest would take the blood of a bull and sprinkle it on the ark of the covenant on the day of atonement. But think of Jesus — he never tried in his earthly ministry to enter into the holy of holies. He knew that He didn’t need to. That was just a copy. He was going to minister on our behalf, not before a great image of the throne of grace, the mercy seat, but before the throne itself in the presence of the Father, the substance.

True and Copy

Jesus is said in v. 2 to serve in the true tent. But does that mean that the old tent/tabernacle was a lie?

The old covenant and tabernacle were not lies, but in contrast to the original, they are mere copies. They are not “the truth”, in that sense.

See John 1:16-18 “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ...” (John 1:16–18, NRSV)

It’s not that the law that Moses gave was a lie and Jesus told the truth. It’s speaking about Moses gave a record of God’s holiness, but Christ is the substance of it.

I wanted to include this so that you don’t think that the text is denigrating the old covenant. It’s not saying that it was corrupt. It did exactly what it was supposed to do in showing us the law, and God’s holiness, and the demands of our sin, but it is limited. And it is weak.

Last comparison

Old and New

The text speaks of the covenants in terms of the old and the new.

And this can be a bit confusing. You could think that “new” means a redo, like it’s a take two on the covenant. One that scraps the old and tries again. But it isn’t that. It’s not new in that it is “younger” than the previous covenant, as if the new covenant didn’t exist previously. To go back to our previous comparisons, the new covenant is the substance coming to us — it’s “new” only in that it is new to us.

The original and better, the substance itself is breaking in to serve where the copy was weak.

The old covenant gives us the law, but Jesus fulfills the law.

The old covenant demonstrated a picture of God’s holiness and justice with the sacrifices, and Jesus is the holy sacrifice once and for all.

The old covenant had a tabernacle and temple, but Jesus says that He is the temple that will be torn down and rebuilt in resurrection.

The new covenant is where heaven, the original, broke into our world and it taking the reigns — taking responsibility.

Christ, more excellent than the old - Look at vv.6-7

“But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.” (Hebrews 8:6–7, ESV)

What the old covenant could do well was describe the situation. It got right God’s holiness and justice and the law, but those only highlight the desperation of our need—they can’t fix it. It brings a spotlight to our frailty.

It’s like someone who is starving who sees a billboard for Waffle House and there’s the all-star special with hash browns scattered and covered there on the sign. It is showing you exactly what you need, but it isn’t the food itself. It isn’t the substance. It isn’t the power.

Or, it’s like if you were desperate to get to the hospital and you came to ask me for directions, but instead of giving you directions I just told you how many miles you were away from it. I’m not helping in that sense, but I am measuring your problem. In some ways I am making the problem worse. The old covenant is like that. It was good at showing you how far short you come. It was designed to point you to the substance, always was. The law reveals our need. The law is a tutor, but Christ is the substance.

Christ doesn’t just reveal our need, He Himself fulfills our needs. This is the point, to go back to v.1 — “we have such a priest in Christ”.

He isn’t just the picture of the food, He is the nourishment.

And this is where the author of Hebrews turns our attention to what Christ now does in the New Covenant that brings so much power to our lives.

The Power of The Christian

He quotes from Jeremiah 31, where God foretells of this new and better covenant to come. It says:

“For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.” (Hebrews 8:8–9, ESV)

Where is the fault found?

Our text says, “with them”. The faultiness and weakness was with the people. The old covenant was a shadow, but God’s covenant hadn’t failed. The issue was not the covenant itself, but the weakness of the people.

That weakness was present form the very beginning. Moses received the covenant and the law in Exodus 20, the people respond in Exodus 24 by saying, “all the words that the Lord has spoken we will do”, and the next few chapters are all about how they were to make the tabernacle, and anoint the priests, and Moses is receiving these instructions for a long time on the mountain. A little too long, so the people made a golden calf and started worshipping that.

The people were like an unfaithful bride who breaks the covenant of marriage. But God pursued them further. The new covenant is the true and original covenant, the substance, coming after those who are unfaithful and weak and slaves to sin.

Notice the “I will” nature of this text. This is all a work of God.

“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.” (Hebrews 8:10, ESV)

This covenant is based on His work and suffers no lack of power.

Not only are we told that God will make this new covenant, and that he will remember our sins no more, but also it says something else — God is dealing with the weakness in us. It says (v.10),

“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. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” (Hebrews 8:10–11, ESV)

With the new covenant comes the Holy Spirit, who pulls and aligns our affections to God’s, convicts us of sin, and builds in us faith. No longer is there a barrier, like looking at a picture on the menu, we can taste and see that the Lord is good.

God’s law is not just a code written up for our observation, our hearts grow soft and tender to it — we love the law. “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.” (Psalm 119:97, ESV)

And this knowledge and access to the Lord is not just for prophets or priests or any special class. It’s not just for pastors, but it is for us all.

We are all given a priesthood to know the Lord through Christ.

We are all made a temple for the Holy Spirit.

The law is written on our hearts. We are not just told to know the Lord, we know Him because He dwells within us.

And here is where there is a new power for living, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We know all too well the weakness of the flesh, that nightmare of punching underwater. We know that heaviness of sin that clings so close and feels like it will never go away. The weakness of seeing sin and temptation defeat you day after day. Perhaps its a secret sin or what you think to be a private sin, and it plagues your mind, accuses you and causes you to doubt Christ’s promises and character, or just exhausts you and beats you down. Paul felt this way when he declared in Romans 7,

“For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!..….” (Romans 7:22–25, ESV)

Again, he says in Galatians,

“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” (Galatians 5:17–18, ESV)

Where will power for living come from?

By the mercy of God, we are led by the Spirit and not under the law. It’s not a mere external testimony of God’s love and righteousness and truth that we try adhere to, God is writing His character of holiness upon our lives.

What we say, what we think, how we serve others, how we hold our tongues, how we give generously or serve in hospitality, how we ask for forgiveness, how we seek to show kindness and grace to others, what we watch or don’t watch — God is pulling and compelling us and conforming us into His image.

Shadow and substance motivation:

It is Christ the substance that we must follow and pursue, and not the shadow.

If we pursue obedience just because we know what the law says, we will be frustrated by our ability to obey it.

Just like if you try to have self-control just because you know you should, or you try to be a better mom who is more patient, or a more faithful spouse…

The pursuit of these very good things aren’t gained by pursuing them directly.

You don’t get self-control by pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. You don’t fight the allure of temptation alone — you taste and see that the Lord is good. Knowing Christ, having His character and His law written upon your hearts in joy is what turns us from sin.

We don’t become more patient by our own wills. We become like what we love, and what God is working out in us by the Spirit is a new way to love as He loves. We are compelled to patience, not merely as something that I should be, but something that I want to be, in Christ.

All these things are added to us as we seek first the kingdom — that’s our pursuit. They are gathered to us as fruits of The Spirit, and we can’t try picking just some of the fruit without stepping into the entire orchard. They are all in the storehouse of Christ.

And this work of power, this growth in the Christian life isn’t something that is merely done to us passively.

Our justification in Christ is thought of in passive terms — He has done all the work and we rest in his finished work. But sanctification, which is still ours by faith, is thought of in active terms. If you live by the spirit you must keep in step with the spirit (Gal. 5:25). We offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to Christ. We work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

And this is why it might be so frustrating and discouraging and confusing to see powerlessness in our lives. We are trying to fight sin and overcome these strangleholds in our lives but can feel like something is off since Christ hasn’t fixed this issue for me. We can find ourselves in this place where we are waiting of a change and we think, what’s wrong? Why won’t this go away? What does faith require me to do here?

But this is where we are given power — to yield in ourselves where we once never could. Not to passively do nothing, but to actively obey. This is the new covenant working out in us through faith and obedience.

He is not compelling us to do things that we cannot do. Like a plow, He has gone before us as our High Priest and has taken all of the heavy and difficult and impossible steps, and His voice is beckoning us to follow Him.

But what we should know, is that every time we hear that call, we can know that what we are called to is possible. What we are called to may seem hard, but keep in step with the Spirit.

All of us as Christians should see the evidence of His work in our lives and feel drawn to obedience, and here is where we should submit daily and keep up. Not in a sense of guilt. We aren’t to put this off for another day. He who called us is faithful. When you feel that draw on your life, we should know that He will be faithful to equip us and reward us in that obedience.

If God is leading you to repent of an anxiety, or to love someone who is difficult, or to offer up some fear that you have, or a vice and sin that has become habit that seems so engrossed in who you are. If you are a teen who is entering the dating phase and you being called to purity and self-denial and patience, or if an ambition is pulling you around and you are called to contentment. Whatever it is, when you see the difficulty of that task and the weakness of your flesh, remember that we keep in step with the Spirit. Whatever Christ is pulling us toward is a sure sign that we can, in fact, go there. And He is equipping us to go there by writing new passions on your heart.

Keep in step with the Spirit — Where He leads us is where we need to be willing to go.

There is a new way of living — a way that testifies, as Jeremiah 31 says, that I am their God and they are my people. Christians are marked with new affections and joyful obedience that lives in the powerful light of the new covenant.

Conclusion

There no longer is any debilitating weakness.

No weakness in our salvation - we have Christ who is seated on the throne.

No weakness in our access to God, we have a ministry of the substance, not the shadow through the new covenant in Christ’s blood.

And we have no weakness in our ability to live faithfully in His name, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Charge: Keep in step

†HYMN OF RESPONSE #282

“I Greet Thee, Who My Sure Redeemer Art”

THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

Minister: Lift up your hearts!

Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord.

Minister: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

Congregation: It is right for us to give thanks and praise!

CONFESSION OF FAITH Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A’s 32, 34

Minister: Christians, confess your faith in Christ!

Congregation: I am called Christian because by faith I am a member of Christ and so share in His anointing. I am anointed to confess His name, to present myself to Him as a living sacrifice of thanks, to strive with a good conscience against sin and the devil in this life, and afterward to reign with Christ over all creation for all eternity.

We call Him ‘our Lord’ because - not with gold or silver, but with His precious blood He has set us free from sin and from the tyranny of the devil, and has bought us, body and soul, to be His very own.

INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE

// ad hoc invitation or use below if needed //

As we were reminded from Scripture this morning. God is faithful. And though it does cause us to remember, this table is no mere memorial to that faithfulness. The bread and wine offered here is tangible evidence of that faithfulness as the grace of God, through union with Christ, is given to those who receive these elements by faith. This meal boldly proclaims and exhibits the faithfulness of God, who so loved his own people, sinners as they were, the he became man for their salvation.

No one should come to this table without recognizing that it is his faithfulness, and not ours, that makes us worthy recipients. Those who may come to receive the Lord’s body and blood are those who rely entirely on God’s faithfulness for their hope and assurance.

// ad hoc invitation or use above if needed – typically always use what’s below //

This meal is for those who are sorry for their sin and those who hate their sin. This table welcomes all who belong to Christ through repentance, faith, baptism, and continuing union with his Church. If you do not repent of your sin, you must not come. If you do not believe you have sinned, you must not come. But if you know your sin, and confess it, he is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness and this table is for you. Come, touch, taste and see the faithfulness of God.

PRAYER

DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS

After elements are distributed read the WOI while congregation is partaking.

WORDS OF INSTITUTION AND SHARING OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

M: The Lord Jesus, the same night he was betrayed, took bread;

and when he had given thanks,

he broke it

and gave it to them, saying, “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you:

do this in remembrance of me.”

After the same manner also, he took the cup when they had supped,

saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood:

this do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

†OUR RESPONSE

“Come, Thou Almighty King”

To the great one in three eternal praises be,

hence evermore. His sovereign majesty

may we in glory see, and to eternity love and adore.

†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE

Hear these good words from the Lord:

The blessing of God, the giver of every good and perfect gift; and of christ, who summons us to service, and of the Holy Spirit, who inspires generosity and love, goes and abides with you all. Now and forevermore, Amen.

Grace Notes

Hebrews 8 is a contrast between weakness and power.

The old covenant was true to its purpose, to show us God’s holiness, justice, and mercy, but the covenant itself merely reveals to us our great need but can’t deliver on fulfillment of it. It is a shadow, and not the substance (v.5).

The fault was not with the covenant itself, but what the covenant exposes is a weakness in people (v.8).

And if you take those two things together, a covenant that measures our sin but can’t save us from it, and a people who can’t live up to be faithful to the covenant, we are left with a perpetual ministry of weakness.

But we have not been left to that perpetuity. As a plan from the fullness of time, Christ has come as a Great High Priest, who fulfills the weakness of the covenant and gives strength to His people.

In contrast to priests who must always be at their work, Christ is seated. At the cross he declared “It is finished!”. The frailty in the payments which must be perpetually paid, and the frailty in the people who had the need to pay over and over, have been finalized for all time in the blood of Christ.

Where the priesthood and people were weak, Christ has come in power.

And where the ministry of the old covenant was limited, Christ is our greater minister. The old covenant was like a menu with pictures — it can show you what you need, but it isn’t the nourishment itself. It was a shadow or reflection.

But the new covenant was made in the blood of Christ, the substance. And in Him, we truly can taste and see that the Lord is good.

And for the Christian with his daily living, the New Covenant brings a new kind of power. Quoting Jeremiah 31, we are told of God’s giving of the Spirit, which will put the law on our minds and write it on our hearts.

God is taking a covenant breaking people, a people of weakness and infidelity, and making them into a people who love His law. Our obedience is not because we merely “ought”, but because we “delight” in the law of the Lord. And there lies a new power for living. We don’t wrestle with sin as if it’s a battle between duty and delight, but we fight temptations and indeed overcome temptations by the power of greater affection in Christ. We are compelled by the greater ministry of the new covenant. We are compelled by the Lord on the throne to love and live as He leads. And one thing we can know about his calling upon our lives is that He will be faithful to it. When He calls to obedience, when he calls for repentance or trust, we can be assured that that step of obedience is one that we, indeed, can take. He isn’t calling us to things that we cannot do. Though He may call us to hard things, there is a new power in the Christian, a power to live by the Spirit and keep in step with the spirit.

Reflection on Hebrews 8

Hebrews 8 presents a contrast between the weakness of the old covenant and the transformative power of the new covenant in Christ. The old covenant, while holy and just, served as a shadow, revealing God’s standards but also humanity’s inability to meet them (v.5, v.8). It exposed our sin but lacked the power to redeem us, leaving both the covenant and its people in a state of perpetual weakness. This covenant was like a picture on a menu—vividly displaying what we need but unable to nourish.

In contrast, Christ, our Great High Priest, brings fulfillment and strength. Unlike the priests who labored endlessly, Christ’s work is complete, declaring “It is finished!” at the cross. His once-for-all sacrifice resolves the frailty of repeated offerings and covers the constant and total human failure. Where the old covenant was limited, Christ’s ministry is boundless, offering the substance of redemption, not just its shadow. And in Him, we truly “taste and see that the Lord is good.”

The new covenant, sealed in Christ’s blood, and fulfilled by His taking of full responsibility, empowers believers through the Holy Spirit, who writes God’s law on our hearts (Jeremiah 31). This transforms us from covenant-breakers into a people who delight in God’s law. Our obedience, and ability to do it, flows not from duty but from a greater affection for Christ. This new power enables us to fight temptation, not as a struggle between obligations, but through the Spirit’s strength and ministry.

And in contrast to the weakness of the flesh, which plagues us with fatigue and doubt, when God calls us to obedience, repentance, or trust, He also equips us to respond faithfully. Though the path may be challenging, we can be assured of this: when He calls, we can follow where He leads. In other words, God isn’t calling you to things that you can’t do. Empowered by the Spirit, we live and love as Christ leads, confident in His enabling grace.

Are you reluctant to follow God in some ways?

Perhaps repentance and the giving up of something seems too hard, though you know Christ is calling you to it.

Are you waiting on obedience for another time, a time when you think it will be easier? You who live by the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:25). When He calls, don’t drag your feet on this ministry to you. Keep up, the hard road ahead has been made smooth by the Priest who goes before us.

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