The main message of Hebrews 8 is why God gave the New Covenant. This New Covenant was promised by Jeremiah, as Israel was being taken into captivity. We learn both from Jeremiah and here that the New is better than the Old in every way.
The link to both Old and New is found in the Priesthood of the Messiah, which is an essential element of the New Covenant. It His priesthood that makes the New Covenant possible and confirms it.
One of the key reasons the book of Hebrews is so significant is that it deals with a subject that all humanity is familiar with, sin.
In Israel’s past, priests stood for Israel before God by building a spiritual bridge from sinful man on earth to a holy God in heaven.
This bridge was accomplished through the multitude of sacrifices offered daily and the various feasts and fast days. The sacrificial system was God’s ordained means for reconciliation.
Through the Exchanged life: The life (blood) of an animal in exchange for the life of the offeror. Sin brings death but God provided a substitute for the ultimate consequence of sin in the animal sacrifices.
But there was a problem with this method, it was never final. No matter how good the priest was the blood would only cover the sins of the moment.
But the message of Hebrews is that in Messiah Yeshua, our High Priest we have a firm and permanent solution. V. 1 of Heb. 8 alludes to this with the statement that Messiah is seated.
The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
The Levitical priests could never sit. But our Messiah’s last words on the cross were “It is finished.” He was the Passover lamb, sinless and perfect. His sacrifice never needs to be repeated.
So the first aspect of the New Covenant is that it is mediated through a perfect priest.
Where our High Priest mediates is another aspect of the greatness of our Jesus. He represents us before the Throne of God.
In V. 2 we are told that Yeshua intercedes for us is in the True Tabernacle of God. Who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.
The word “True” here means that it is not a copy of what is in heaven. When Moses received from God the design of the Tabernacle on Mt. Sinai, it was a copy or a reflection of the heavenly Tabernacle.
The Tabernacle symbolizes several things: The Tabernacle was a sign of God dwelling among His people. The Tent of Meeting was designed in a small way to reflect the dwelling place of the Lord.
Secondly the Tabernacle symbolizes the Messiah Himself. The Messiah’s Presence on earth was His Tabernacling among us. In Him the fullness of God dwells bodily, and as we abide in Him, so we abide in our Heavenly Father. And the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, makes that possible.
God not man built the Tabernacle of the Messiah. That is one of the reasons why Yeshua was born of a virgin. Unlike all men He was sinless, and His birth came in a way that would avoid the curse of man.
God in Messiah dwelt amid His people Israel just as the Tabernacle did. Two Reasons are given why the New Covenant and Priesthood are better.
1. It is a reality, not a representation any longer. Read 3‑5
Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. {4} If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. {5} They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
The priests ministered in the tabernacle which foreshadowed what was to come. But When the Messiah Ascended into heaven, he entered the reality of what the Temple pointed to. This is the significance and importance of Resurrection Sunday.
The Tabernacle was only an image, a reflection of what is in heaven. But Messiah when He rose from the dead is in Heaven in the Real Tabernacle. So the first reason is that His sacrifice and life (blood) is a reality not a shadow.
2. The reason the New Covenant and the Priesthood of Yeshua is superior is that It is a better Covenant.
Hebrews 8:6-9 But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. {7} For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. {8} But God found fault with the people and said : “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. {9} It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.
The Old Covenant was less than the best. The Law while holy, righteous and good failed and is unable to bring change into peoples lives.
Even the most righteous of men were filled with guilt the closer that they came to understanding and obeying Torah. But the Messiah brought a brand-new arrangement that God promised thru the prophet Jeremiah. In Jer. 31:31-33:
Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
4 reasons are given as to why this Covenant is better than the Mosaic Covenant.
1. It gives us an internal motivation and power instead of 613 external commandments to keep.
v.10 “I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts.” The Ruach Ha Kodesh dwelt under the Mosaic Covenant in the Tabernacle.
In the New Covenant the Spirit of God dwells in us. It is the indwelling presence of God in our lives through our faith in the Messiah that the power to walk in God’s ways is given to us.
This overcomes the reaction we normally have that says I can’t measure up. Amazingly the same power that caused Yeshua to rise from the dead lives in us.
2. The New Covenant is based on a close relationship instead of one that is fearful or distant. “And I will be their God, and they shall be my people”
When the Mosaic Covenant was given in Mt. Sinai it was a fearful scene. Ex 19:10‑16
(Hebrews 12:18-23) For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, {19} and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. {20} For they could not bear the command, “IF EVEN A BEAST TOUCHES THE MOUNTAIN, IT WILL BE STONED.” {21} And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, “I AM FULL OF FEAR and trembling.” {22} But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, {23} to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
The coming of the New Covenant was in familiar territory, it was in Jerusalem on the day of Shavout. The Spirit of God came to dwell in the Jewish disciples of Yeshua.
It gave these men the ability to communicate in a language they had never spoken or studied. It undid the curse of the tower of Babel which divided humanity, now making it possible to unite them. God drew near to man, in fact came to dwell within man!
3. The New Covenant provided confidence and assurance instead of insecurity and failure.
Hebrews 8:11 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
Every man can know and be certain of where he stands with God. 1 John 5:13 “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.”
4. It emphasizes forgiveness and Mercy instead of failure and error.
Hebrews 8:12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Now the classic response to our assertion that God has brought about the New Covenant is “Where is the peace on earth, where is the promise of Israel? V.13 begins to answer that.
Hebrews 8:13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.
The New Covenant that God made with Israel is available to all who will come to Messiah both Jews and Gentiles.
During this time, God is dealing with Gentiles primarily. The new covenant currently is individual. When a person makes receives Yeshua into his heart and life, he personally experiences God’s peace.
A peace the world cannot give and a peace the world cannot take away. But the time is coming when He will deal with Israel again as a Nation; we are at the dawn of that Day.
But sadly, it will come through great tribulation, and much judgment and death. But today all men can have peace, and joy if they will come to the Prince of Peace, Yeshua.
He brings to all who will receive Him a greater covenant, one of peace, supernatural power, and God’s love and grace. The question remains, Will we receive Him?
