Built on Better Promises

English Standard Version Chapter 8

8 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.

Introduction

I love how this chapter opens, “Now the point we are saying is this...” All that stuff Jonathan preached about last week? Well, it was all to understand what this chapter begins to explain. It was a setup. The point of Jesus being the perfect high priest, holy, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens is that He is able to secure a salvation, a future, a fulfilled promise for those who trust him, because he keeps it in a realm beyond our reach or any disastrous circumstance that we might face. The place and the promise of God are rooted in heaven.

Why is this important? It’s important because it is the only way we will ever have any real confidence that our relationship with the Lord is safe and secure. All the work in securing it is finished. All the barriers have been torn down. All the promises fulfilled, and all the shadows given way to their reality. This is the hope we have in the midst of the storms of life, the moments of crisis, even crises of faith. This is the power to pull us from despair as we hold onto these truths when despair would seek to swallow us or the enemy seek to condemn us.

Out with the Old, In with the New

As we’ve talked about already with regard to the historical background to this book, the church was in the midst of a growing crisis. All that was synonymous with Old Testament Israel was about to be wiped out by the Roman army. In particular, the temple would be destroyed, so much so that no stone would be left on another. This was a huge blow to the Jewish people as the temple was central to their formal worship. Though many had scattered throughout the known world and gathered on the Sabbath in synagogues, it was toward the temple that they bowed and prayed. It was in the temple that the sacrifices for sin would be brought and were they returned for the annual festivals. The high priest was there, serving both to bring their sacrifices before God that their sin may be atoned for and to intercede for them before the Lord. All that was about to be undone.

The writer of Hebrews is preparing the church to face this challenge. But there is more to the story as we see here. It wasn’t just that their was this growing threat to worry about. It wasn’t that the writer of Hebrews was clever enough to foresee it and come up with some alternate ideas for worship. The destruction of Jerusalem was part and parcel to God’s plan. The temple in Jerusalem was never meant to be permanent, nor the Levitical priesthood. It was to serve for a time. It was necessary for the old to go. The time of fulfilment was come. Jesus is revealed as the true high priest who has entered, not the earthly but the true temple.

It was necessary for the old to go. The time of fulfilment was come. Jesus had accomplished all that was necessary.

English Standard Version Chapter 8

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.

The old was temporary. It was never meant to be permanent. As we’ve seen, Moses built according to the pattern he saw while up on the mountain. That was the true temple, the true throne room of God.

The old was temporary. It was never meant to be permanent. As we’ve seen, Moses built according to the pattern he saw while up on the mountain. That was the true temple, the true throne room of God.

English Standard Version Chapter 8

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.”

The old was temporary. It was never meant to be permanent. As we’ve seen, Moses built according to the pattern he saw while up on the mountain. That was the true temple, the true throne room of God.

The old was temporary. It was never meant to be permanent. As we’ve seen, Moses built according to the pattern he saw while up on the mountain. That was the true temple, the true throne room of God.

The covenant at Mt. Sinai is referenced in the same way.

English Standard Version Chapter 8

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.

The reality is both the temple, the earthly high priests, and the covenant given on Mt Sinai were not meant to be permanent, as the last verse in the chapter indicates.

English Standard Version Chapter 8

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.

The writer is highlighting this because this event is about to take place and the church must be prepared. It is a major event in the history of redemption.

What does it mean?

It means there is a greater reality than the temple in Jerusalem, a greater temple. That was a copy, not the real thing. The real temple is beyond the reach of any army, any storm, any enemy. Nothing can bring it down and nothing ever will. That’s what it means. God is beyond time and space. Even as Jesus explained, “store your treasure in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy and where thieves cannot break in and steal.” This doctrine is vital to putting your trust in God, coming into play when things in life don’t go as you hope. When things get hard and your foundations feel shaken, you remember that your true treasure can never be lost. It is secure beyond the disasters that plague our fallen world. The storms of this life cannot touch it.

Christ’s more excellent priestly ministry

The role of the high priest was finally reaching its fulfillment when he would not represent the people in an earthly copy but in the heavenly throne room. Jesus, interceding for us, bearing our names upon him, stands at the Father’s right hand. There are no barriers to his prayers as he offers them for you. And as he offers them, he understands who you are at the very core of your being. He understands on the one hand because he is God and sees what’s in your heart even more than you do, and on the other hand because he’s faced the same temptations and suffering that you face, and felt the guilt and shame that you feel. He understands you far more thoroughly than you do yourself. And still there he stands, at the Father’s right hand, interceding for you.

In the Old Testament, the day of atonement happened once a year. It was the only day in which the high priest, and him alone, went behind the veil where the mercy seat of God resided. He would make atonement for the people in the midst of their sin. Jesus did that, once for all, upon the cross. But that is not all the priest would do.

English Standard Version Chapter 16

12 And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil 13 and put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die.

Incense was a symbol of the prayers of the saints. We see this both in the Old Testament,

English Standard Version Psalm 141

2  Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,

and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!

and in the New Testament.

and in the New Testament.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

The incense was strictly regulated. Not just anyone’s incense was accepted. Only “authorized fire” was allowed before the Lord. Jesus work of high priest is now the work of intercessor, offering the true authorized fire, the sweet incense of our prayers, eternally before the Lord as he sits enthroned upon the true mercy seat. He is the reason we can know we are forgiven, our prayers are heard, and that they are sweet before the Lord.

Better

A Better Covenant

English Standard Version Chapter 8

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.

Just as the position of the high priest was finally filled permanently by Christ, the mediation/administration of the covenant is consummated by Christ. Here we see that the old covenant, specifically referencing the Mosaic covenant and specifically referring to the means of its being mediated/administered, the old had limits. In view is the typological character of the covenant under Moses, in particular the civil and ceremonial laws with regard to living in the Promised Land of Canaan and the laws of cleanliness, the sacrificial system, and the earthly tabernacle. All of these pointed to understanding the relationship God was to have with his people. But they were signs at best.

Paul calls them a guardian, explaining that the law was put in place until Christ came. It was never capable of conforming a person to Christlikeness. As he writes in Galatians,

English Standard Version Chapter 3

19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made,

The law restrained sin just as the sacrificial system pointed to the need for sin to be atoned. But neither had the power to transform the soul or purify the heart. They did reveal the need for both, however.

This new covenant is described by Jeremiah and quoted here.

English Standard Version Chapter 8

“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.”

Where as the Mosaic covenant laws were written on stone, the new covenant laws are written on the heart. The transformation of character, if there could be such a thing, stemming from the Mosaic covenant was external. The transformation of character stemming from the new covenant is internal. So often we still try to get people to conform with external means. Peer pressure, threats of discipline, performance requirements are all external means. We do this as parents, teachers, accountability partners, etc. But real transformation, real character transformation happens when the heart has been touched by God, and that couldn’t happen under the Old Covenant. It was never meant to. All of it was a placeholder, a means of preparing God’s people to understand the condition of their hearts and the need for God’s grace.

That internal work happens when the Lord is merciful toward our iniquities, when he remembers our sins no more. That doesn’t mean that God forgets your sin. It means he won’t bring them up in judgment ever again. That sin has been atoned for once and for all. It has been wiped away. The picture of the Day of Atonement, the one time the high priest goes behind the veil is a great picture of what Jesus actually accomplished. And as this becomes understood in your life it has the power to change you. It sets your life on a new course, a course in pursuit of the precious love of God that you’ve tasted. It gives birth to a growing desire to please the Lord.

With the new covenant, that grace flows through the priestly work of Christ. He is seated at the right hand of God. He is the priest like Melchizedek, both priest and king, the mediator for God to the people and for the people to God, and is seated, showing the work is finished.

Better Promises

The new covenant is superior to the old, the writer says, because its built on better promises. We’ve hinted at some of these. God’s people will know him, not through the external teaching of a priest, but through the internal presence of the Holy Spirit.

In another sense, this refers back to the promises given to Abraham in the covenant God made with him. He said, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” This promise came to Abraham through faith as opposed to law-keeping. That promise is still in view. That covenant is everlasting. The administration of the Mosaic covenant is fading, which was tied to the keeping of the civil and ceremonial laws. But the promises tied to the Abrahamic covenant, promises received by faith, are now realized by faith. Jesus has done the work to bring you to God.

One commentator explains how Jesus is the end of religion. Religion is what people do in order to bridge the gap between them and the divine, however they might define that. Even the Mosaic covenant fit that description. It was regulated by the work of priests and the continual offering of sacrifices. It was regulated by the cleanliness laws and the keeping of feasts. But each of these things were fulfilled in the work of Christ. He was the clean Son of God their cleanliness pointed to. He was the true high priest who offered once for all a sacrifice that would truly atone for sin. He was the fulfillment of each of the covenant feasts. He became the bridge between man and God. The time for doing in order to reach God is over. God came down and did all that was necessary to bring you to God. The time for religion is over and the time for a new relationship, “I will be your God and you will be my people” has started.