Hebrews 8 (2014) We ve cncluded ur study f the Order f Melchizedek priesthd We learned that Melchizedek is a title given t the priest f Gd Mst high This priesthd predated the Levitical priesthd And it cntinued cncurrently with the priests f the Law Until it was inherited by Christ, Wh came in the frm f man specifically t enter int this rder I knw this teaching challenged many f us, as the writer himself indicated it wuld I ve heard frm sme f yu and I ve received email frm thse wh listen n the internet that the study f Melchizedek was nt what they expected r had heard in the past I get that, since I t was surprised by what I learned It s nt uncmmn fr Bible students t apprach ur studies with certain assumptins that ultimately prve incrrect And when ur assumptins run squarely int the revelatin f the Spirit in the wrd f Gd, we shuld expect a bit f a shck frm time t time That reminds me f the stry f an elderly man wh lay dying in his bed. When ne day, death s agny was suddenly pushed aside as he smelled the arma f his favrite hmemade chclate chip ckies wafting up the stairs. Gathering his remaining strength, he lifted himself frm the bed. Leaning against the wall, he slwly made his way ut f the bedrm, and with intense cncentratin, supprted himself dwn the stairs, gripping the railing with bth hands. In labred breath, he leaned against the drframe, gazing wide-eyed int the kitchen. There, spread upn the newspapers n the kitchen table, were literally HUNDREDS f his favrite chclate chip ckies! Was I heaven? Or was it ne final act f heric lve frm his devted wife, seeing t it that he left this wrld a happy man? 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Hebrews 8 (2014) 2 f 13 Mustering ne great final effrt, he threw himself tward the table, landing n his knees in a rumpled psture, ne hand n the edge f the table. The aged and withering hand quivering, made its way t a ckie near the edge f the table; feeling the warm sft dugh actually made the pain f his bnes subside fr a mment. His parched lips parted; the wndrus taste f ckies was already in his muth; seemingly bringing him back t life. He reached fr anther ckie. When suddenly his hand stung with a sharp pain, causing him t drp the ckie and recil in surprise. He up lked t see his wife, standing ver him, hlding the spatula she has just used t smack his hand. Stay ut f thse ckies! she said, They re fr yur funeral! S if yur assumptins abut the rder f Melchizedek were rudely dismissed, then please frgive me But I stand cnvinced that this is the pint f the writer s teaching And as we mve ahead in the teaching, I think yu will see that it is this revelatin f Christ acting as part f anther priesthd that is s imprtant t understanding the rest f the authr s teaching S we ve established Christ as ur High Priest in a better rder, ne that predated and preempted the Aarnic priesthd And as all priests are called t d, Jesus perfrmed the wrk f a priest in ffering sacrifice t Gd n behalf f men But in Jesus cases, He gave Himself as a perfect sacrifice nce fr all And nw He has seated Himself at the right hand f Gd having perfrmed His priestly duties Fr unlike the priests wrking fr the cvenant f Law, Jesus has n need t repeat His sacrifice But if Jesus has served as ur High Priest in perfrming service t the Gd Mst High, then where did He perfrm this wrk? Fr every priest fficiates befre an altar 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Hebrews 8 (2014) 3 f 13 And we knw Jesus was nt a member f the Aarnic priesthd S He never fficiated at the earthly tabernacle, because He wasn t qualified t d s accrding t the Law Therefre, where did Christ fficiate in His capacity as ur High Priest? That questin begins a three-chapter sectin that explres the implicatins f having a High Priest Wh belngs t a different rder As he said, Jesus wasn t a priest in the rder f Aarn, s then He must have cme under a different Law Fr where there is a change in priesthd, there is by necessity a change in Law als And if He serves under a different Law, then He must als have had a different tabernacle in which t serve - Since the earthly tabernacle was instituted under the Law And likewise, the sacrifice that Jesus ffered must have been different than thse ffered under the Law S let s mve frward with the writer int chapter 8, where is he begins with the questin f where Jesus served and under what cvenant Heb. 8:1 Nw the main pint in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, wh has taken His seat at the right hand f the thrne f the Majesty in the heavens, Heb. 8:2 a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lrd pitched, nt man. Heb. 8:3 Fr every high priest is appinted t ffer bth gifts and sacrifices; s it is necessary that this high priest als have smething t ffer. Heb. 8:4 Nw if He were n earth, He wuld nt be a priest at all, since there are thse wh ffer the gifts accrding t the Law; Heb. 8:5 wh serve a cpy and shadw f the heavenly things, just as Mses was warned by Gd when he was abut t erect the tabernacle; fr, SEE, He says, THAT YOU MAKE all things ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN WHICH WAS SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN. Take nte f the way the writer begins this chapter: Nw the main pint...is That pening phrase refers back t all we ve been learning abut Melchizedek in chapter 7 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Hebrews 8 (2014) 4 f 13 And we ve learned a lt abut the rder, the fact that that Jesus inherited it and serves perpetually in this rder That He hlds it frever because He will never die again And since this rder predated the Aarnic rder, even the Levitical priests recgnized the superirity f the Melchizedek rder Which the writer prved when he reminded us that Abraham, the great-grandfather f Levi, gave tithes t Melchizedek But even after we ve learned all this, the writer nw tells us that we haven t heard his main pint as yet In ther wrds, understanding Jesus as the fulfillment f the rder f Melchizedek is fundatinal t understanding the rest f the writer s arguments In fact, after we re dne examining this entire epistle, we re ging t see that getting chapter 7 right is central t understanding mst f the chapters that fllw And the main pint is this: Jesus is a priest appinted t serve as a minister befre the Living Gd in a heavenly tabernacle The writer calls this tabernacle a true tabernacle And it s nt the tabernacle established by the Law given t Mses and Israel It s the ne built by Gd, nt man It s the tabernacle where true wrship and true sacrifice take place It s the ne that Gd truly ccupies This is the place where Christ serves as a High Priest Ntice in v.3 the writer says that every High Priest is appinted t s they can serve Gd in the cntext f a tabernacle by ffering gifts and sacrifices And since the Father calls Jesus ur High Priest, then it must be that Jesus wuld perfrm the duties f a priest at an altar in a tabernacle 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Hebrews 8 (2014) 5 f 13 And as the writer says in v.4, Jesus had n claim t serving in the earthly tabernacle Accrding t the Law f Mses, Jesus was nt qualified t serve as a priest, since he wasn t brn f Aarn s family He was disqualified frm ffering gifts and sacrifices But it was never the Father s intent that His Sn wuld be a priest under that earthly system Jesus was designated t be a priest f a different rder Nw we start understand the imprtance f Jesus priesthd having a different rigin than the Law given t Mses Being part f a different and better rder means everything assciated with the priesthd must be different as well The Law f Mses established the Aarnic priesthd and it established the tabernacle where they served S if Jesus serves as a different priesthd, then He must be serving in a different tabernacle And if He is serving in a different tabernacle, then the earthly ne must be inferir t the ne that receives Jesus sacrifice And s the writer says in v.5 that the tabernacle n earth was merely a cpy r shadw f the heavenly things In fact, when the Lrd gave Mses the design f the tabernacle He tld Mses t be especially careful t fllw the Lrd s instructins exactly Because Mses was building a tabernacle accrding t a pattern Ex. 25:9 Accrding t all that I am ging t shw yu, as the pattern f the tabernacle and the pattern f all its furniture, just s yu shall cnstruct it. Ex. 25:40 See that yu make them after the pattern fr them, which was shwn t yu n the muntain. If the earthly tabernacle is built accrding t a pattern, then there must already exist anther tabernacle frm which this earthly tabernacle gets it s design 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Hebrews 8 (2014) 6 f 13 Yu may have seen an architect prepare small scale mdels f shpping centers r skyscrapers befre they begin cnstructin Yu haven t seen the real thing as yet, but yu can get a sense f what t expect when yu lk upn that small mdel That mdel isn t the real building, but it s built upn the pattern f the real thing And nce the real building is in place, the mdel has little value except as a curisity The majesty f the real thing far surpasses the glry f the mdel S it is with the earthly tabernacle as cmpared t the Heavenly ne Gd gave Israel an earthly mdel f the Heavenly structure It s inferir in every way t the Heavenly ne its patterned after Fr a time, it served t give Israel and the wrld a sense f what Gd will accmplish n ur behalf in His heavenly tabernacle S until the High Priest f that Heavenly tabernacled appeared, the scale mdel had t suffice But when it was time t reveal that greater priest, then it meant it was time fr the Heavenly tabernacle t becme the fcus fr men Once the real skyscraper is finished, we stp staring at the mdel - Instead, we stare up at the much mre impressive building that the mdel pictured Likewise, nw that the true tabernacle is perating with ur High Priest installed at the right hand f the Father, s Gd s children are directed t ignre the earthly mdel Instead, lk up Even thugh the real tabernacle has entered int peratin, we still can t see it bviusly The Bible says ne day it will appear when we see the New Jerusalem appear in the New Heavens and Earth But until then we have a mdel f ur wn t help us see the glry f the ne in Heaven 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Hebrews 8 (2014) 7 f 13 It s a picture s it desn t take pririty ver the Heaven tabernacle But still it has it serves a gd purpse in helping us appreciate the pwer f Gd t unite us with Himself thrugh the wrk f intercessr, Christ As Paul explains in Ephesians Eph. 2:19 S then yu are n lnger strangers and aliens, but yu are fellw citizens with the saints, and are f Gd s husehld, Eph. 2:20 having been built n the fundatin f the apstles and prphets, Christ Jesus Himself being the crner stne, Eph. 2:21 in whm the whle building, being fitted tgether, is grwing int a hly temple in the Lrd, Eph. 2:22 in whm yu als are being built tgether int a dwelling f Gd in the Spirit. Tday, all members f the bdy f Christ, all believers brn again by the Spirit, are the temple r tabernacle f Gd n earth We are a building built n a fundatin f Gd s wrd, which was delivered by the prphets and apstles And f curse, Christ Himself is the crnerstne f this building The Spirit in us is fitting us int ne anther, like stnes being wrked by a masn until all the sides and crners match up perfectly In ur case, the Spirit is the ne cnducting the mlding prcess in ur spirit, kncking ff the rugh edges f ur nature Wearing away sin and fashining us int men and wmen wh reflect the glry f Christ Cllectively, we are being made int a building wrthy f the King f Kings t indwell But n matter hw mature and hly this building may becme, it s still pales in cmparisn t the glry and hliness f the true tabernacle in Heaven Fr nw, it serves as a reminder f the glry t be revealed As we lk arund and see the changes taking place inside us and amng us, then we gain hpe fr what we ll see in Heaven 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Hebrews 8 (2014) 8 f 13 If Gd can take this fallen, sinful bdy and turn it int smething useful, then what will He d with a tabernacle nt cnstructed by human hands? And similarly, if Gd s dwelling place is intended t reflect glry upn Himself, are we setting ur gal t use ur bdies, ur veyr lives fr that same purpse? We abslutely shuld As Paul tells us Rm. 12:1 Therefre I urge yu, brethren, by the mercies f Gd, t present yur bdies a living and hly sacrifice, acceptable t Gd, which is yur spiritual service f wrship. Nw if the inauguratin f a Heavenly tabernacle with better High Priest ffering better gifts and sacrifices means the earthly tabernacle has been rendered irrelevant and unnecessary... Then what des that mean fr the cvenant that established that earthly mdel? That s the questin the writer wants t explre fr the next three chapters The writer already said in chapter 7 that a new priesthd means a new Law And a nw he s said that a new priesthd means a new tabernacle is perating S what else is new? Heb. 8:6 But nw He has btained a mre excellent ministry, by as much as He is als the mediatr f a better cvenant, which has been enacted n better prmises. Answer? We must have a new and better cvenant The ministry f Christ is mre excellent in every way when cmpared t anything that was given t picture that ministry It s a undeniable truth: a picture r a mdel can t begin t cmpare t the glry f the real thing it represents A picture f a diamnd can t cmpare t the beauty f an actual diamnd 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Hebrews 8 (2014) 9 f 13 A baby dll is nthing cmpared t a real baby And anything given t picture Christ is meaningless when cmpared t Christ Himself S the arrival f Christ inaugurated a new and better cvenant with better prmises than the ne that preceded it Just t be clear, the cmparisn is between the Old Cvenant given t Israel thrugh Mses And the New Cvenant prmised t Israel in Jeremiah 31 The writer says that Jesus is a priest r mediatr in a better rder, in a better tabernacle, under a better law and with better prmises A cvenant is basically a prmise It the biblical mechanism thrugh which smene makes a prmise t smene else The Lrd began making prmises t men in the Garden And He has cntinued t perate thrughut histry by way f a series f prmises This is always hw Gd wrks within His creatin: by a wrd f prmise Gd states in advance what He will bring, and then it depends n men t have faith in that prmise The Old Cvenant mediated by Mses cntained certain prmises fr Israel But the writer says thse prmises weren t as gd as the prmises the Lrd grants us thrugh the New Cvenant Christ mediates And it s because thse earlier prmises were insufficient that Gd saw fit t plan fr anther cvenant And t price that pint, the writer reminds the readers hw Gd annunced the new cvenant in Jeremiah 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Hebrews 8 (2014) 10 f 13 Heb. 8:7 Fr if that first cvenant had been faultless, there wuld have been n ccasin sught fr a secnd. Heb. 8:8 Fr finding fault with them, He says, BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH; Heb. 8:9 NOT LIKE THE COVENANT WHICH I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS ON THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; FOR THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DID NOT CARE FOR THEM, SAYS THE LORD. Heb. 8:10 FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS, AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. Heb. 8:11 AND THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERYONE HIS FELLOW CITIZEN, AND EVERYONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, KNOW THE LORD, FOR ALL WILL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST OF THEM. Heb. 8:12 FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE. The writer s intrduces the text f Jeremiah with a simple lgical bservatin If the first cvenant was faultless, then the Lrd wuld never have spken f anther cvenant He calls the Old Cvenant the first cvenant nt because it was literally the first cvenant Gd gave men Instead, he is simply calling the Old Cvenant the first because it came earlier than the New Cvenant But back t his pint, if the Old Cvenant were perfect in all respects, then it wuld have been the last wrd n cvenants But many years later, the Lrd spke t Israel thrugh Jeremiah abut the need fr a new and better cvenant Once that wuld replace and imprve upn the ne given thrugh Mses in the desert 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Hebrews 8 (2014) 11 f 13 The qute the writer gives us in vs.8-12 is frm Jeremiah 31:27-34 This is the high pint f Old Testament prphecy It s the pint when Israel was suffering under great misery fr their sins under the Old Cvenant And it s in the midst f their well-deserved suffering that the Lrd annunces that He intended t bring Israel a slutin - A new cvenant that wuldn t lead them int further misery fr sin - But instead, it wuld have the pwer t rescue frm that sin and the misery it brught t the natin The writer qutes the Lrd in v.8 declaring that the this new set f prmises wuld be different than the nes Gd delivered t Israel s fathers in the desert That lder cvenant cntained prmises that were cnditinal They ffered the natin the pprtunity fr great blessing under Gd s hand But thse blessings were cntingent n Israel s perfrmance in keeping the Law Unless they kept the Law perfectly, then they frfeited the blessings And incurred curses instead It s nt Gd s fault that His prmises in the Old Cvenant weren t very advantageus fr Israel It was the inability f sinful men t keep Gd s law that made thse prmises s unattractive But that s exactly why the Lrd saw fit t establish new prmises in a new cvenant Ntice in v.9 the Lrd says the peple did nt cntinue in His cvenant By their inability t cntinue in the cvenant, they suffered greatly 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Hebrews 8 (2014) 12 f 13 Nw cmpare the prmises f the Old with the prmises Gd gave Israel in the new beginning in v.10 First, the Lrd will put His law int their minds and n their hearts He means that thse wh enter int the New Cvenant will receive a supernatural understanding and appreciatin fr Gd s Law The righteusness f Gd will literally be infused int their very nature It wn t depend n their ability t keep the Law in their wn effrts as did the first cvenant The effect f this new cvenant will be t literally prduce righteusness withut which n ne will see the Lrd Ntice at the end f v.10 that the effect f this writing is thse in this cvenant will be Gd s peple and He will be their Gd In v.11 the Lrd says that n ne in this cvenant will teach anther t knw the Lrd Because all will knw Him Under the Old Cvenant, Israel had prphets exhrting the natin t knw and fllw the Lrd, because nt all thse in the Old Cvenant knew Him truly That s the weakness f the Old Cvenant The Old Cvenant belnged t all wh were brn int Israel, but being brn int Israel is nt the same as becming a child f Gd Many brn physically int Israel were never brn again int Gd s eternal family because they never pssessed the faith that saves Because that Old Cvenant didn t have the pwer t create faith in the heart It merely set standards that revealed the sin f the peple But the new cvenant is an instrument that brings a prmise f faith t every member f the cvenant It prmises that all will knw the Lrd and all will bey HIm 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Hebrews 8 (2014) 13 f 13 And it brings the prmise that Gd will extend mercy t everyne in the cvenant And He will nt hld their sins against them These are wnderful prmises, prmises that are far better than anything in the Old Cvenant Where the ld made prmises cntingent n human perfrmance, the new is based n Gd s pwer and faithfulness Where the ld led t cndemnatin, the new leads t righteusness That s why the writer says the new cvenant brings much better prmises And this new cvenant is the ne that establishes Christ as ur High Priest and sacrifice fr ur sins The arrival f Christ in the rder f Melchizedek means that the time has arrived fr the new cvenant t cme int effect And as the writer says in v.13: Heb. 8:13 When He said, A new cvenant, He has made the first bslete. But whatever is becming bslete and grwing ld is ready t disappear. The Old gives way t the new Like a scale mdel, it has becme bslete nw that ur High Priest in the rder f Melchizedek has been revealed The prmises f Jeremiah 31 are nt reality, at least fr Gentiles And ne day in the future, they will als becme true fr Israel By faith in Jesus Christ, we enter int this new and better cvenant Next time we cnsider hw the scale mdel f the Old served t teach men abut the greater glry f the New 2014 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.