A Better Priesthood; a Better Covenant

Defining Some Terms

how they were understood in that time, in that culture

Covenant—An agreement between two parties that specifies requirements for at least one party, and includes blessing and curses for obedience and failure

Oath—The practice of promising something, often with the invocation of some negative consequences for failing to fulfill the promise made

Law—Culturally of divinely prescribed regulations for living. The regulations always carry a punishment for disobedience

Why is this Covenant Better?

The old had the provisions of the Levitical Law: bulky, a lot of hard work

The new one is of grace; best explained in

Jeremiah 31:31–34 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and 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, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Why is this Priesthood Better?

This one—Jesus—is a priest by oath

A priest forever

No more transition of one for another

He is a Son who has been made perfect forever

Hebrews 5:8–9 ESV

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

We Now Have a Better Covenant

Administered by a Better Priest