God s New Covenant Hebrews 8:1-13 Hebrews is one of the most encouraging and challenging books of the New Testament. Hebrews was written by believers, to believers, and for believers, and is jammed packed with spiritual truth to any serious believer who desires to mature in his or her faith. Warren Wiersbe The epistle to the Hebrews is a book we need today. It was written at a time when the ages were colliding and when everything in society seemed to be shaken. It was written to Christians who were wondering what was going on and what they could do about it. The stability of the old was passing away, and their faith was wavering. Written during a volatile time in history, the book of Hebrews targets Christians who were tempted to abandon their faith and slip back into the old ways of Judaism. Thus, the author of Hebrews challenges them to be bold and understand how Jesus is so much better than anything else Judaism had to offer. The book of Hebrews serves an overall two-fold purpose: 1) To EXALT Christ 2) To ENCOURAGE Christians In Hebrews, Christ is exalted as majestic and Christians are encouraged to be mature. Thus, majesty and maturity are two recurring themes. Within the first four chapters, the writer of Hebrews shows us that in Jesus we have a better PERSON He is better than the angels, He is better than Moses. Then, in chapters 5-7 he shows us that in Jesus we have a better PRIEST. Jesus is our faithful High Priest who can identify with us and help us in our weakness. Now, beginning in chapter 8-10 he shows us that in Jesus we have a better PLAN believers are beneficiaries of a new covenant that is based on the finished work of Jesus on the cross. Since creation, God s relationship to man has been defined by specific requirements and promises. God tells people how He wants them to act, and He makes promises about how He will act toward them. Within Scripture, we find several instances of specific provisions that define the different relationships between God and man. These relationships are called covenants. Covenant an unchangeable, divinely enacted legal agreement between God and man that stipulates the conditions of their relationship
A covenant is different from a contract. Illustration In modern times we define a host of relations by contracts. These are usually for goods or services and for hard cash. The contract, formal or informal, helps to specify failure in these relationships. The Lord did not establish a contract with Israel or with the church He created a covenant. There is a difference. Contacts are broken when one of the parties fails to keep his promise. If, let us say, a patient fails to keep an appointment with a doctor, the doctor is not obligated to call the house and inquire, "Where were you? Why didn't you show up for your appointment?" He simply goes on to his next patient and has his appointment secretary take note of the patient who failed to keep the appointment. The patient may find it harder the next time to see the doctor. He broke an informal contract. According to the Bible, however, the Lord asks: "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!" (Isaiah 49:15) The Bible indicates the covenant is more like the ties of a parent to her child than it is a doctor's appointment. If a child fails to show up for dinner, the parent's obligation, unlike the doctor's, isn't canceled. The parent finds out where the child is and makes sure he's cared for. One member's failure does not destroy the relationship. A covenant puts no conditions on faithfulness. It is the unconditional commitment to love and serve. Rather than comparing a covenant to a contract, a better comparison would be a will. Though many people may be involved with its provisions, a will is determined by one person the one whose will it is. A beneficiary has no part in determining the benefits. He can only accept or reject he cannot change what the will provides for him. So it is with God s covenant. God s dealings with His people can be reduced to basically two covenants the old covenant and the new covenant. The law of Moses and the entire Levitical system was the old covenant. Now, there was nothing wrong with the old system. What was wrong was the way Israel responded to it. It was never meant to be permanent only temporary. The entire sacrificial system was intended to point them to Christ. The old covenant was given to show God s people that they could not keep it, so they would be ready to receive a Savior, who would be the Mediator of the new and eternal covenant.
The fact that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament and Mediator of the New Testament is the subject this passage in Hebrews. 1. The new covenant introduces a better PRIEST (8:1-2a) Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary The opening phrase in verse 1 ties the rest of the verse in with what he has just written in chapter 7 about how Jesus is our perfect High Priest. First, it speaks of His MAJESTY. Under the Old Covenant, the job of the priest was never finished because the sacrifices he offered were never permanently effective. They had to be repeated over and over again. When Jesus Christ offered up His sacrifice, He could sit down because His work of redemption was finished. Hence, verse 1 says that our High Priest is now seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. What this means is simply that as far as our salvation is concerned, Jesus has taken His seat. He Himself has accomplished all that can be accomplished and has done all that needs to be done. John 19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, It is finished! And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. Notice that Jesus did not say, I am finished! He said, It is finished, referring to the work of offering Himself up as man s sacrificial substitute for sin. Now, He could sit down at the right hand of the Father. Hebrews 10:12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. John MacArthur The right hand of a monarch symbolized honor, exaltation, and power. To stand at his right hand was honor, but to sit there, supreme honor. Second, it speaks of His MERCY.
For the Jewish audience, this idea of sitting at the right hand may have brought to mind the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was like the supreme court for the Hebrews. When its members sat in judgment, a scribe sat on either side of the presiding judge. The scribe on the left was responsible for writing out condemnation if someone was found guilty. The scribe on the right was responsible for writing out acquittal if someone was found not guilty. Jesus is sitting at the Father s RIGHT hand, the place of mercy! John 3:17-18 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but He who does not believe is condemned already, because He has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Third, it speaks of His MINISTRY. Verse 2 refers to Jesus as a Minister of the sanctuary, meaning that although His work of salvation for man is finished, He presently works. QUESTION: If Jesus has finished His work and is seated in heaven, does that mean He has nothing to do now at present? Is all of His work finished? His SACRIFICE is finished; His SERVICE is ongoing. To say it another way, He is seated as our Redeemer, but He is also standing as our Helper. It is Christ who is our Mediator that brings us into the presence of God. v. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. Under the Old Covenant, the priest offered blood offerings that were for cleansing from sin. Yet he also offered gift offerings which represented love and commitment to the Lord. No person could offer up their own sacrifice for worship they had to go through the priest. The application, then, is that none of us can praise God or thank Him or dedicate ourselves in worship, obedience, and service to Him apart from the priestly work of Jesus Christ. Anything of value that we do must be done through Christ. John 15:5 For without Me you can do nothing.
Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. 2. The new covenant involves a better PLACE (8:2b-6a) A Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant The PICTURE of the earthly tabernacle The point being made is that every high priest has an appointed place where he ministers and serves. Under the Old Covenant, that place was the tabernacle and later the temple. Those priests who ministered in the tabernacle were actually serving in a sanctuary that was a copy of the heavenly sanctuary. Exodus 25:40 And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain. While those who were stuck in Judaism were hung up with the temple and all of its associated rituals, the writer of Hebrews is saying that the true sanctuary is in heaven and the sanctuary under the Old Covenant was only a picture that pointed to reality. John Phillips The only purpose of that model in the wilderness and the elaborative service associated with it was illustrative. The entire fabric of worship connected with it was intended to be a shadow of the ultimate reality in heaven. The whole Levitical ritual was meaningless if divorced from Christ. The PERMENANCE of the eternal tabernacle Jesus is Minister of the sanctuary and true tabernacle which the Lord built, and not man. The Hebrews were holding on to a shadow while rejecting substance. They were caught up with a picture rather than the Person it represented.
Now, since the Lord Jesus is ministering in an eternal sanctuary and not the earthly copy, He is ministering in a much better place. Why be preoccupied with an earthly sanctuary when you can fellowship with Christ in an eternal sanctuary? As believers, we are all too prone to get preoccupied with this world. Hebrews 13:13-15 Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. Instead of trying to find comfort and satisfaction in this world, we are to turn our eyes away from the things of this life and seek fellowship with Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary. We have a better place! 3. The new covenant institutes a better PROMISE (8:6b-13) He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Illustration Booker T. Washington describes meeting an ex-slave from Virginia in his book Up From Slavery : "I found that this man had made a contract with his master, two or three years previous to the Emancipation Proclamation, to the effect that the slave was to be permitted to buy himself, by paying so much per year for his body; and while he was paying for himself, he was to be permitted to labor where and for whom he pleased. "Finding that he could secure better wages in Ohio, he went there. When freedom came, he was still in debt to his master some three hundred dollars. Notwithstanding that the Emancipation Proclamation freed him from any obligation to his master, this black man walked the greater portion of the distance back to where his old master lived in Virginia, and placed the last dollar, with interest, in his hands. In talking to me about this, the man told me that he knew that he did not have to pay his debt, but that he had given his word to his master, and his word he had never broken. He felt that he could not enjoy his freedom till he had fulfilled his promise." Promise a declaration of what someone will do; to pledge oneself to do, bring about, or provide; speaks of divine assurance of good The Bible teaches that God is a God of promise. A promise from God is a statement we can depend on with absolute, rock solid confidence.
2 Peter 1:3-4 As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises In Jesus Christ, the believer has been given GREAT and PRECIOUS promises. The key word here in Hebrews is BETTER promises. Under the Old Covenant, the man Moses was the go-between who mediated the relationship between God and the people. Thus, the hear from God, the people had to go to Moses. Under the New Covenant, Jesus Himself is our Mediator, our Go-Between! In verses 8-12 he quotes from Jeremiah where the Lord promised a new covenant with His people. Jeremiah 31:31 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. In other words, in relationship to His people through the New Covenant in Jesus Christ, God promises to do some things according to the writer of Hebrews. What are these better promises? First, the promise of the PROVISION of God v. 8-9 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. This is the promise of grace. Under the Old Covenant, God was always faithful to His people, but His people were not always faithful to Him. There came a point when Israel did not continue in God s covenant with them. So, what does God do? He graciously makes a new covenant when He could have destroyed man from the earth! The new covenant does not depend upon man s faithfulness to God but on God s faithful promise to man. We see this illustrated in the example of Abraham s faith in God when he was tested to offer up his son Isaac.
Hebrews 11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, In Isaac your seed shall be called, concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. Abraham s faith in God s promise was such that when Isaac asked him about the lamb for sacrifice, Abraham answered, God will provide Himself a lamb! Thus, Abraham named the spot Jehovah Jireh. Genesis 22:14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. God s I will is mentioned three times in verse 8 and a total of six times in chapter 8. To all those who trust Jesus Christ, God says, I will! Isaiah 41:10 I will help you. Second, the promise of the POWER of God v. 10a 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 in their mind and write them on their hearts This is the promise of inward change. Under the Old Covenant, the law could PROCLAIM God s righteous standard, but it never could PROVIDE the power necessary for obedience. Sinful people need a new heart and a new nature within and this is exactly what the new covenant provides. When a sinner trusts in Jesus Christ, he receives a new nature within, and this new nature creates a desire to love and obey God. Ray Stedman Right there is the answer to the problem of human motivation. Have you discovered that the problem in your life is not uncertainty as to what is right; you have known that a long time. The problem is you don t want to do it! It is a problem of motivation. Motive and motor come from the same word. When a person is saved, God places within that person a new motor!
Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. I m able to WORK OUT what Christ has WORKED IN. Isaiah 41:10 I will strengthen you. Third, the promise of the PRESENCE of God v. 10b-11 and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. What an answer to the search for meaning and purpose that is innate within every person. Every person without exception has a hunger to belong. Here, we find the HOPE that the aching longing of the human heart desperately needs. Man asks, Who am I and where do I fit in? God replies, I will be your God, and you shall be My people. The new covenant means that God can be KNOWN through Christ. Ray Stedman Here is the answer to the sigh of humanity for a hero. There is in the human heart a desperate hunger for a hero. We want to look up to someone, we want to know someone great personally. God says, I Myself will satisfy that in your life. You can know Me. This is the promise of a personal saving knowledge of God and a true possession of His presence. God has established His covenant with believers that assures them of His abiding presence with them. Hebrews 13:5 I will never leave you. Within every believer there is a resident Helper, a resident Friend, a resident Comforter, and a resident Teacher He is the Holy Spirit. Fourth, the promise of the PARDON of God v. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.
This is the promise of complete forgiveness. No forgiveness can be found under the law because the law wasn t given for that purpose. The law was given to convict man of his sin. Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. It is impossible for us to become forgiven and holy people by keeping the law of God in our own power we can t. The law cannot provide forgiveness. It only establishes a perfect standard, thereby showing us our need for God s grace. Under the New Covenant, those who have placed their faith in Christ and His work on the cross on their behalf are totally forgiven by God for Christ s sake. Remember No More literally means that our sin is no longer held against us Illustration Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, was reminded one day of a vicious deed that someone had done to her years before. But she acted as if she had never even heard of the incident. "Don't you remember it?" her friend asked. "No," came Barton's reply, "I distinctly remember forgetting it." God deals with us on the basis of grace and mercy, not law and merit. This means that once our sin has been forgiven, God expunges it from our record and it is never brought up before us again. The matter is settled for all eternity. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Fifth, the promise of the PLAN of God v. 13 In that He says, A new covenant, He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. The point that the writer of Hebrews is making is that this was the plan of God all along. The Old Covenant was a SYMBOL, and the New Covenant is a SON. The Old Covenant symbol was not bad. It had a beautiful, God-given purpose. It pointed to the Son, represented the Son, foreshadowed
the Son before He came to earth. But now that the Son has come, the symbol has no more purpose, and God means for it to be discarded. Illus. of a picture of a friend Hence the phrase, Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. The writer of Hebrews more than likely didn t know just how prophetic verse 13 would be. Within five years, in A.D. 70, the temple would be completely destroyed by Rome, and the sacrificial system would come to an end. The Jews haven t had a temple or a priesthood ever since. It had all become obsolete. God s new covenant can never get old, nor will it ever disappear. Up until the end of time, there will always remain a perfect sacrifice for sin, and sinners can always come to Jesus and find total forgiveness and eternal blessing. This is the plan of God. Romans 8:28 All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Jeremiah 29:11 I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. According to the writer of Hebrews, the New Covenant involves the promise of God s provision, God s power, God s presence, God s pardon, and God s plan. What more could we say of those better promises that we have in Jesus Christ? God s hand -- "I am thy shield" (Gen. 15:1) God's goodness -- "No good thing will He withhold from them that work uprightly" (Psalm 84:11) God's faithfulness -- "The Lord will not forsake His people for His great name's sake" (1 Sam. 12:22) God's guidance -- "The meek will He guide" (Psalm 25:9) God's leading -- "And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them" (John 10:4) God's rest -- "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28) When you are finding yourself in need God has promised His provision for you. When you find yourself weak and helpless God has promised His power within you. When you find yourself lonely and afraid God has promised His presence in and around you.
When you find yourself wrestling with guilt God has promised His pardon of you. When you find yourself questioning the circumstances and happenings of your life God has promised His plan for you. Thank God for His better covenant and better promises in Christ.