Christ the new covenant is greater than the old

Old things can be very attractive.

There is a certain beauty and fascination in an old steam engine, it seems to be a living breathing thing even though it is a fairly primative machine.

Many people are attracted to watch something old, huge festivals often surround such things.

Wether it be a heritage railway, a classic car show, old warbirds or even pioneer villages with horses and carts there is a certain attraction about such old ways of doing things.

Poeple look back at these with a sense of nostalga and maybe a yearning for simpler times.

But in reality, apart from a ride as a tourist on an old steam train or a horse and buggy ride none of us would want to be relient on these things as our regular way of transport.

Steam trains often left their passangers covered in soot, especially if you traveled through a tunnel.

They have to stop regularly for water and coal and they are noisy.

Horse and buggy is a very slow way of travelling and the ride can be very rough.

Being behind a horse can be quite unpleasent.

Likewise watching someone plowing a field with a team of horses is fun.

There is a great deal of skill in working with an animal to get it to work at pulling a plow.

But ask any farmer if they would prefer that method to their modern airconditioned tractor and I can assure you that the tractor wins out every time.

Old things are attractive, maintaining them and showing them is a valuable contribution to our understanding of history.

But they are no longer effective.

There is a better way, a way that radically changes life for the better and is also safer.

When we read the Letter to the Hebrews we need to understand that they had the option of chosing the better way.

A way of faith that was not only better, it was superior in every sense as it radically changed a person relationship with God.

But they were tempted to go back to what they knew from childhood so the writer to the Hebrews wanted to show them the reality of their choice.

The Old Covenant was something glorious to behold

In Hebrews 9:1-5 the writer outlines very briefly how the system worked.

You will notice in verse 2 that he speaks of the Tabernacle.

He is starting at the beginning not with Solomon’s temple but in the wilderness.

At the time of the foundation of the Old Covenant.

The description is of something that was glorious to behold.

Every part had its function and every part had its significance in the life of the people and their relationship with God.

The tabernacle represented the Old Covenant, its practices and its intent

Exodus chapters 25 through to about 31 deal withthe incredible work that went into this structure and all its components.

The elaborate rituals, clothing and proceedures to ensure that this place represnteed all that the Old Coveant intended for the religious life of the people.

Everything was set out and the result would have been something incredibly glorious.

In a similar way the Temple of Solomon that followed and then Herod’s temple, which the receipients of this letter would have been familiar with, were all designed to reinforce the meaning and significance of the Old Covenant.

But there is a very significant issue with all of this.

The Old Covenant was limited in what it could achieve

It was in effect an interim measure.

Not the full deal.

A stop gap.

A temporary arrangement.

Something you do until the permanent solution is available.

As with all interim measures it has some resemblance to the permanent solution but is very limited in its capability and capacity.

Hebrews 9:6-7

Hebrews 9:6–7 NLT

When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room as they performed their religious duties. But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

There are three key limitations to the Old Covenant that these verses raise for us.

Firstly access was limited to authroised mediators and it was limited to certain times.

The priests would deal witht he regular daily offerings on behalf of the people.

This wasn’t somethign the peopel were to do, the sacrifices were made by authorised representatives. So your access to God was through others.

There were set times for daily sin offerings and then at a corporate level only the High Priest could enter into the very presenc of God int he Holy of Holies and then only once a year after a very specific process of preparation.

Secondly the activity was incessant.

One sacrifice was never enough, you had to go back again and again for all sorts of different things.

The nation had to go back every year.

It was an incessant activity, one without end because no sacrifice was ever enough to deal with all your sins now and into the future.

Thirdly it wasn’t individual in that your sin affected you and the nation, the nations sins affected the nation and you.

That is why there were individual, family and national offerings.

Everyone had to be on the same track for the system to truly work.

It was an imperfect system that constantly reminded the individual, the family and the nation that they could never really live up to God’s perfect standards.

Even though some, especially in the time when this letter was written thought they had the perfect system of rules and regulations worked out that they could follow, the reality is that no one was ever truly free of the endless requirement to come back again and again.

No one every fully pleased God under thjis system becuause it failed to deal with the core issue.

Sin is at the core of the issue, not external complience with religious ritual.

Through the Old Covenant the Holy Spirit Reveals the need for a better way

That is why the writter to the Hebrews repeatly points out the inferiority of the Old Covenant and its practices.

The core issue is never fully resolved.

Sin lies at the heart of the problem because each person is guilty of rebellion against God and each person is in need of a permanent solution to heir sin.

Hebrews 9:8-10 clearly points out that the entrance to God’s presence is not open to all under this system.

The regulations kept people out instead of allowing them into God’s presence.

Only the High Priest could do that and then only once a year.

This is a fundamental problem if you want a right relationship with God.

You are in effect kept at arms length and permanently reminded that you are not good enough.

That inner problem of sin is never fully dealt with under the Old Covenant.

It didn’t matter how glorious the tabernacle was, it didn’t matter how amazing the temple of Solomon was that followed it, it didn’t matter how elaborate the temple of Herod was that replaced Solomon’s temple.

The truth fo the matter was that each of these foccused on external compliance not internal cleansing.

The Covenant of Christ is superior in every way

The Old Covenant merly pointed to the need for the new

The Covenant of Christ brings redemption for ever v 12

The Covenant of Christ brings the perfect Sacrifice v 14

Look at Hebrews 9:11-15

Hebrews 9:11–15 NLT

So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

There is a simple and profound challenge in this chapter. Old or New - endless repatition or final redemption

This is the choice put before the receipients of the Letter to the Hebrews and it is the choice before us.

Will we live bound to a system of belief that is based on the Old Covenant with its endless cycle of sacrifice and constant reminder of our sin.

A system that can never really bring us redemption but will ultimately confirm our alienation from God.

Or will we embrace the perfect sacrifice of Christ, once for all time that actually sets us free from our sin.

In what way are you bound to Old Covenant thinking.

A common way of seeing that today is the question of doing or being.

Are you doing things for God or being in relationship with him?

Are you settled in Christ’s work on the cross and out of a loving secure relationship seeking to grow closer to him?

Or are you unsettled in the security of your salvation, constantly looking to what you have to do better to please God?

Do you live with this nagging doubt that you might miss out and somehow fall short or do you live in the freedom of knowing that Christ died for your salvation and as a result of his work you will be with him in eternity?

One results in an approach of works, the other in the approach of gracious living.