Hebrews 8:1-13--Jesus, High Priest of a Better Covenant

​Hebrews 8 English Standard Version (ESV)
Listen:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Heb.8.1-Heb.8.13
Jesus, High Priest of a Better Covenant
8:1 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.

---

We see once again that Jesus is our High Priest ministering in Heaven in the "Holy of Hollies" there (in the throne room of God) as heaven s the real temple of God that the earthly tabernacle and temple were meant to represent.  But we too now are temples of the Holy Spirit and Christ's ministry through the Holy Spirit continues within each and every one of us and as we read in Peter's epistles, we have been made members of a royal priesthood.  Does that sound familiar?  Where else have we read about priests who were royalty?  It would do us well to understand this royal priesthood and to understand the ministry that we are partakers of through the New Covenant of Jesus's death and resurrection.

The author of Hebrews then reminds us that just as the temple was but a shadow of what is in heaven so the first covenant was just a shadow of the New Covenant that was to come, and we know that the first covenant wasn't enough because Christ is not ministering on earth according to the Levitical law, but He's overseeing the new temple with a new ministry and a new covenant in the very presence of God in heaven.  No longer does a man need to be appointed to come before the Ark of the Covenant that represented the presence of God in the temple, because the Son of God has been chosen to minister before the very throne of God.

So what about this New Covenant?  Is this something that we only discover in the New Testament (New Covenant and New Testament mean the same thing if you didn't know that already)?  Was this something hidden from the children of Israel or did they always know that something better was coming?  Maybe not all of them knew and not all of them figured out what it meant, but the promises have been there all along, especially in the book of Jeremiah where God is giving hope to the people that are returning from exile.  The block-quote here is from Jeremiah 31:31-34 but God reminds His people at that time that He will never break His covenant with His people Israel.  He says "only if the heavens can be measured and the foundations of the earth can be explored" would He do such a thing (Jeremiah 31:37.  So let's not think for a moment that the New Covenant has anything to do with God hating His people, the Jewish people, or breaking His first covenant, because He will never do that.  But the New covenant is all about what the quote says.  "My law will be written on your hearts" instead of on tablets of stone, and God promises to give us a new heart and to make all things new.  It is a covenant that will be "caught" and not just "taught" because it will give us a new identity that everyone will see and every area of our lives, all that we do, say and think, will be an act of worship to the Father through the Son who as our High Priest offers our gifts and sacrifices to the Father for us.  But here's the kicker....it is a covenant where sins are not just covered over or transferred onto a scapegoat who is chased into the wilderness, but our sins are removed as far as the east is from the west and are paid in full so that God chooses to remember them no more.  That is a far better covenant, and it opens the door to all who believe by faith no matter their bloodline...we will see this a little bit more when we get into Paul's epistles.  God is not finished with the vine that is Israel, but God has now cut off the branches that were dead and thrown them into the fire and pruned the branches that are good to make sure they bear much fruit and He has grafted in branches from a "wild" vine (the Gentiles) so as to make the vine that now represents both Israel and the Church universal stronger.  We are one people of God but all come to God one way through one covenant and that is through Christ.  So we will learn in Romans there is no longer Jew or Gentile, there are simply those who are in Christ and those who are outside of Christ, but all of us who are in Christ are alike chosen by God to be His covenant people and to be His ambassadors of His covenant--a covenant not just of law, but of grace and mercy--here on this earth so that He may bring many sons to glory.  Be members of this royal priesthood that serve before your fellow men that teach them this covenant and help bring them to God by teaching the Word of God to them.  This is not just the responsibility of the pastors, deacons, elders, and evangelists, but of all who are members of the kingdom of God.  Remember the Great Commission....."Go and making disciples of all nations and all peoples (the Greek word here is "ehtnos" which we would translate as ethnicity or culture)....teaching them everything I have commanded you...."  Take the gospel to every culture that that is counter-cultural to the kingdom of God and live as aliens and ambassadors like Jesus did for us when He came into this world from His Father to reach us and make a way for us.  For the Jew first, but also for the Gentile.