Hebrews, chapter 8, a more excellent ministry

 

Hebrews 8:1 ¶  Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 2  A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. 3  For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. 4  For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: 5  Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

 

Acts 7:55  But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56  And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

 

Paul explains how Christ acts as a High Priest, the High Priest from heaven seated in his description on the right hand of God the Father. He acts as that priest in heaven as He was not a priest on earth until He offered up Himself as the ultimate sacrifice. This is designed to appeal to the Jews, to make them understand. He is the minister of the tabernacle which God in Heaven pitched, and not something man put together but under instructions that mirrored what was done in Heaven. That tabernacle on earth today, as Gill said, would be the Church which is to represent what is ordained in the heavenlies.

 

For the pattern shown to Moses see Exodus 25:40.

 

Hebrews 8:6 ¶  But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7  For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 8  For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 9  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 continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11  And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 13  In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which

decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

 

The difference between the period of the Law given to Moses and the dispensation of the New Testament under Christ is opened up here.

 

Christ is a mediator of a better covenant than the old.

 

1Timothy 2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

 

Hebrews 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

 

Hebrews 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

 

The promises are not to a specific ethnicity of people but to all mankind. The requirements are much fewer and much lighter a burden.

 

Matthew 11:30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

 

And everlasting life is a far better promise than temporal success and blessing. The covenant of grace in the dispensation of the gospel is perfect while the Law given to Moses could not do what Christ did for all men.

 

A new covenant had been promised.

 

Jeremiah 31:31  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

 

This had to be because the Jews failed in the first covenant. It could not save them.

 

2Corinthians 3:3  Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

 

Now all mankind had the opportunity to be united with their Creator not by their flawless obedience but by His own works.

 

John 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

 

Titus 3:5  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

 

God’s Spirit, His very mind, indwells the believer now in a way that was not commonly done in the Old Testament.

 

1John 2:27  But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

 

We are not guiltless. We are forgiven. We are not undeserving of judgment. But God has shed His grace on us through Jesus Christ. And our sins are not set aside every year by an earthly priest but removed from us forever by our Heavenly priest.

 

Psalm 103:12  As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

 

Paul emphasizes the great difference between Old and New Testament, law and grace. We live in a different world judged in a different way by the One who Created it and us.