Day 2256 – Hebrews 13 – Christ’s Covenant…New, Never Obsolete – Daily Wisdom

Welcome to Day 2256 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Hebrews-13 Christ's Covenant...New-Never Obsolete – Daily Wisdom
Putnam Church Message – 07/23/2023

“Christ’s Covenant…New, Never Obsolete”

Hebrews 8:1-13

As we continue our extended series through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament, we compared the Levitical and Melchizedekian priesthood last week. We saw that Jesus Christ established a perfect and permanent priesthood as our Great High Priest.

This week we move beyond to the New Covenant that Christ brings to us. The New Testament, or New Covenant, is the Good News, commonly called the Gospel.

Let’s read Hebrews 8:1-13.

Now the main 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,  and who serves in the sanctuary, the true Tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

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. If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 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.” But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
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.
This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”

By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

Paula and I started working with technology in 1980, so we have been involved with business and personal computers from the beginning. I’m still constantly astonished by the technology we take for granted today—everyday devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops that we used to see only in science fiction. Over the decades, I’ve observed an endless parade of new technology come and go, each advancement growing old and being replaced by the newest development. Little thumb drives replaced 8” floppy disks with millions more storage capacity. Cassette tapes replaced records; CDs replaced

Welcome to Day 2256 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Hebrews-13 Christ's Covenant...New-Never Obsolete – Daily Wisdom
Putnam Church Message – 07/23/2023

“Christ’s Covenant…New, Never Obsolete”

Hebrews 8:1-13

As we continue our extended series through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament, we compared the Levitical and Melchizedekian priesthood last week. We saw that Jesus Christ established a perfect and permanent priesthood as our Great High Priest.

This week we move beyond to the New Covenant that Christ brings to us. The New Testament, or New Covenant, is the Good News, commonly called the Gospel.

Let’s read Hebrews 8:1-13.

Now the main 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,  and who serves in the sanctuary, the true Tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

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. If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 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.” But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
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.
This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”

By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

Paula and I started working with technology in 1980, so we have been involved with business and personal computers from the beginning. I’m still constantly astonished by the technology we take for granted today—everyday devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops that we used to see only in science fiction. Over the decades, I’ve observed an endless parade of new technology come and go, each advancement growing old and being replaced by the newest development. Little thumb drives replaced 8” floppy disks with millions more storage capacity. Cassette tapes replaced records; CDs replaced tapes; digital downloads replaced CDs. Steaming media is replacing digital files, and it will continue. The same is true with other forms of technology— Smart TVs, telephones, self-driving cars, robotic mowers, and even robotic vacuum cleaners and coffeemakers.

That’s the problem with technology. We clamber for the latest gadget or upgrade, enjoy being “cutting edge” for a few months, and then find ourselves carrying around outdated or obsolete technology. I remember when color TV was the hot item. Then it was big-screen TVs. Then LED flat screen. Then plasma. Soon, it will be augmented and virtual reality that we wear like glasses.

Everything seems to become obsolete—everything artificial, human, or earthly. Anything made out of, or dependent on, breakable parts, corruptible materials, or changing conditions will eventually break down, deteriorate, or become irrelevant. No wonder our Savior wisely warned us, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal” (Matt. 6:19). Anything subject to change or corruption is not worthy of our trust.

What’s true in the physical realm is also true in the spiritual. The author of Hebrews will make this point patently clear in chapter 8, when he demonstrates that the Mosaic covenant—established under specific conditions, for a particular people, at a particular time—was never meant to last forever. He quotes an Old Testament prophecy (Jer. 31:31-34) that anticipates the replacement of the old covenant with the new, proving to his Jewish readers that the one has become obsolete, replaced by another that will never pass away. This section ties in beautifully with what has been said about Christ’s superiority in His person and work. (Heb. 7:22), “Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God.” which assures us that whatever the new covenant includes, it is superior to everything that has come before it.

8:1–2

Summing up in a sort of bullet-point fashion the major subjects treated thus far, the author of Hebrews begins, “Now the main point of what we are saying is this” (8:1):

We have a great High Priest who is greater than those of the old covenant. (8:1)
Our High Priest sits in the heavens at the right hand of God. (8:1)
He ministers in the true Tabernacle made by God, not man. (8:2)


The phrase “the True Tabernacle” is not meant to contrast something genuine with something counterfeit, as if the old, earthly Tabernacle in which the Levitical priests performed sacrifices was false. Instead, the term refers to the reality behind a copy or representation. Just as a photograph of my family is merely a visual representation of my real, flesh-and-blood family, the earthly Tabernacle, and earthly priesthood represent the real, heavenly Tabernacle and heavenly priesthood.

 

Where did this heavenly Tabernacle come from? The author says the Lord Himself “pitched” that Tabernacle. Like the earthly realm, the heavenly realm is a creation of God. But whereas the earthly Tabernacle—the holy “tent of meeting,” which initially hosted Levitical priests and their sacrificial worship—was put up and taken down by human hands (Exod. 33:7; Josh. 18:1), the heavenly Tabernacle was erected by God himself. As such, while the earthly Tabernacle was self-evidently a temporary dwelling, the heavenly Tabernacle was designed to be permanent.

8:3–6

In Hebrews 8:3–6, the author further unpacks the distinction between the earthly and heavenly tabernacles, /the temporary and eternal,/ the changing and changeless./ The Aaronic, Levitical priesthood served in the sphere of “a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven” (8:5). The author means this quite literally, asserting that Moses commanded the earthly Tabernacle to be built as a symbolic representation of the heavenly sanctuary he saw on the mountain (Exod. 25:40; see also Acts 7:44). The earthly Tabernacle is an accurate representation—but only a model—of the heavenly reality.

Just as a shadow is cast by something of real substance, the old covenant rituals represent a more significant reality behind them. Suppose Jesus is serving as a High Priest. In that case, He must have something to offer—“gifts and sacrifices” (Heb. 8:3). But these can’t be the same as those shown in the earthly sanctuary established under Moses—the blood of animals offered on a physical altar. Had Jesus’ priestly ministry been established in the earthly copy rather than in the heavenly original, He wouldn’t even have qualified to be a priest (8:4). Jesus wasn’t from the tribe of Levi and, therefore, couldn’t offer gifts in that old covenant system “prescribed by the law” (8:4).

In 8:6, the problem is resolved. Christ is a high priest and offers “both gifts and sacrifices” (8:3), but not in the earthly Tabernacle according to the old covenant Law established by Moses. Instead, Jesus “is superior to the old one” as the eternal High Priest in a heavenly tabernacle. Logically, Christ’s “new covenant is established on better promises” (8:6).

8:7–13

The logic of the author’s argument in Hebrews 8:6 is powerful and compelling:

Christ is superior in His person and work because …
He has a ministry superior to that of the old covenant priesthood because …
He is the Mediator of a covenant superior to the old covenant because …


His new covenant was established on superior promises.

At this point in the argument, however, the final assertion—upon which everything rests—requires a biblical defense. The Jewish Christians who were the original audience of this letter were likely being wooed by unbelieving Jews who were completely loyal to their rabbis’ teachings and fervently dedicated to preserving the Mosaic covenant—including its sacrifices and priesthood. Any challenge to this system would be the target of criticism and attack. Therefore, if the author of Hebrews asserted that there had been a change in covenants with the coming of the Messiah, and if he stated that this new covenant is superior to the old, he would need to back this up with solid Scripture to prove his point.

The Nature of Biblical Covenants

Hebrews 8:6–13

We don’t have to read far into the opening pages of the Bible before we discover that God deals with His people through covenants. Bible scholars have often designated the God-ordained covenants as either “conditional” or “unconditional,” indicating the degree to which humans were responsible for keeping part of the deal.

For example, God’s promise to Noah to never again destroy the world by water was unconditional—God didn’t require anything of Noah to keep that promise (Gen. 9:9–11). In contrast, the covenant of the Mosaic Law was explicitly conditional because the people of Israel obligated themselves to keep all of its commands to receive temporal blessing from God and avoid the temporal curses associated with disobedience (Exod. 24:7). The Abrahamic covenant was unconditional in that God alone obligated Himself to its promises (Gen. 15:12–18). However, for any particular generation of Abraham’s descendants to experience the blessings of the covenant, they had to trust and obey (Deut. 28; see also Gen. 26:4–5).

As we span the history of God’s covenants with humanity after the Flood, we see that they all build toward the ultimate fulfillment through Jesus Christ and the new covenant, His final covenant. In His covenant with Noah, God promised never again to destroy the world by flood (Gen. 9:8–17), thus physically preserving humanity so that He may spiritually redeem His chosen ones. Later, God covenanted with Abraham to make his descendants more numerous than the stars, to give him the Promised Land, and to bless all nations through him (Gen. 12:1–3). At Mount Sinai, under Moses’ leadership, the Israelites promised to obey God’s Law, thus agreeing to the conditional covenantal terms He had stipulated (Exod. 24:3). This temporary institution of the Law would help preserve Israel as a nation until the fulfillment of Abraham’s covenant. God’s covenant with David expanded on the Abrahamic covenant, specifying that the promise of blessing made to Abraham would be mediated through the royal family of David (2 Sam. 7:12, 16; 22:51). And finally, Jesus Christ, the Mediator of “a superior covenant” (Heb. 8:6), came as the One through whom all of the covenantal promises of God would ultimately be fulfilled. After the supper, Jesus took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you” (Luke 22:20).

This is why the writer of Hebrews quotes extensively from Jeremiah 31:31–34. His point is to demonstrate from the Old Testament Scriptures themselves that the covenant under Moses was imperfect and required replacement by a new covenant that was faultless (Heb. 8:7). In this context, the term “faultless”—applied exclusively to the new covenant—does not imply that the old covenant was sinful, but that it was insufficient. It could not accomplish eternal salvation nor bring about perfect righteousness. It was adequate for what it was meant to do—to serve as a standard and reminder of human sinfulness (Rom. 7:7; Heb. 10:3) and to hold back wickedness among God’s people until the coming of the Messiah (Gal. 3:19). However, as a means of bringing everlasting righteousness, it was insufficient. The new covenant with Israel and Judah would not be like the old covenant established at Sinai after the Exodus (Heb. 8:8–9). Indeed, if it was to be a superior covenant, it couldn’t be like the Mosaic covenant that was so easily broken repeatedly.

Using the author’s quote from Jeremiah 31, Hebrews 8:10–12 gives at least four ways the new covenant is superior to the old, thus rendering the old covenant obsolete with its laws, priesthood, Tabernacle, and sacrifices.

First, the new covenant offers internal motivation and power instead of external lists (Heb. 8:10). The old covenant, with hundreds of commandments, statutes, and ordinances, was addressed to a people with hard, unregenerate hearts. They were obligated to keep the stipulations of this covenant whether they felt like it or not. The motivations to obey were external consequences in the form of rewards for obedience and punishments for disobedience (Deut. 28). In stark contrast, however, the new covenant involves an internal transformation by which the laws are written on people’s hearts. Submission to God and His will comes as a result of faith and love, not fear of judgment.

Second, the new covenant is based on a close relationship instead of a distant fear (Heb. 8:10). God gave the commandments, statutes, and ordinances to the people of Israel from a place of remote distance—from the top of Mount Sinai, through Moses, on tablets of stone, and from the lips of the priests and prophets. The people did not enjoy a close, Father-child relationship with God because of their constant disobedience within the old covenant system. In contrast, the new covenant involves a new relationship of intimacy, fellowship, and mutuality—more similar to Moses’ unique “face-to-face” relationship with God, described as “as one speaks to a friend” (Exod. 33:11).

 

Third, the new covenant provides confidence and assurance instead of insecurity and uncertainty (Heb. 8:11). In the old covenant system, some within the nation of Israel knew the Lord intimately and personally—in a saving sense—as Father and Friend, others in Israel knew Him only as the Judge and Lawgiver who would smite them if they sinned. In other words, the situation under the old covenant was that of a “mixed company” of both believers and unbelievers—all marked by the external sign of circumcision, but not all having experienced the “circumcision of the heart” (Deut. 10:16; Jer. 4:4). In contrast, people enter into the new covenant community not by the external sign of circumcision, but by the inner transformation of the new birth. This means each member of the new covenant community can have confidence in their relationship with God, knowing Him intimately and loving Him truly. This brings assurance of salvation and security concerning our place in the family of God, a family of brothers and sisters with one heavenly Father.

Fourth, the new covenant emphasizes forgiveness and mercy instead of failure and wrongdoing (Heb. 8:12). The iniquities and sins that—without the sacrificial system—separated an unholy, guilty people from a holy, perfect God was no basis for an eternal relationship. When you read the history of Israel under the old covenant, it seems that if it wasn’t one step forward and two steps back, it was two steps forward followed by a stumble and fall! In contrast, the new covenant erases the sin and guilt of God’s people once and for all time. Through the work of Christ, they are the recipients of His mercy and grace…and their sins will never be brought to mind.

All of these striking marks of the superiority of the new covenant over the old send a clear and compelling message: The new covenant renders the old covenant “obsolete” (8:13). Though the priesthood and sacrificial system were still in operation at the time the letter to the Hebrews was written, the inauguration of the new covenant through the coming of the Messiah meant that the old covenant was “growing old” and was “ready to disappear.” It would disappear in a most dramatic, violent manner when the Roman army destroyed the temple and ended its sacrifices during the Jewish revolt in AD 70.

Application: Hebrews 8:1–13

The Good News of the New Covenant

The good news of the superior new covenant starkly contrasts with the bad news of our sinfulness revealed by the old covenant Law. The bad news is that every one of us has made a mess of our lives and has fallen short of the glory of God, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Rom. 3:23). The Law functions as a mirror to reveal our sins, but it can only condemn. It can’t cleanse. Only Jesus, the Mediator of a better covenant, can take away the stains of sin revealed by the Law. That’s the powerful, superior grace and mercy of the new covenant that the tablets of the Law could never accomplish. Let’s take another look at the four ways in which the new covenant is superior to the old, asking how these wonderful truths apply to each of us personally.

First, because the new covenant provides motivation and power, we can have confidence that God’s Spirit within us can overcome our weaknesses and inadequacies. We remember that trusting and obeying Him isn’t done in our own fleshly strength. God works in us to shape our desires and accomplish what He wills (Phil. 2:12–13). We’re not asked to conjure up halfhearted obedience performed with a begrudging grin, but God himself produces spiritual fruit through His abiding Spirit—"love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control” (Gal....