I. Introduction
A. Hebrews 7-9 the most difficult part of Hebrews.
1. But remember what he said when he was about to dive into this section in Hebrews 5:11–6:1: “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. 1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity.”
2. Let us therefore remember our need to put our thinking caps on and pay close attention to what this letter says.
B. Mothers of young children
1. I was talking to a friend recently and asking him what his pastor was presently preaching on at his church. He said the preacher was doing a series on a very difficult book of the Bible, two chapters at a time. When I remarked that those seem like very big chunks to handle each week, he said that his wife wasn’t really enjoying it but was left asking, How does this relate to me as a mother of small kids? That really got me thinking about MY sermons and how they relate to mothers of small children.
2. And so I decided to make a deal with you. You try your best to follow the passage as I explain it, and I’ll try to add an application each week for those who are feeling like they have their hands full, and are just trying to survive each day. Only for that you’ll have to wait till the end.
II. Introduction to Hebrews 8
A. Though we are reading all of Heb.8 this morning, July 26th we’ll have another sermon on 8:8b-12.
B. God and covenants
1. God enters into covenants with groups of men: Adam&Eve, Noah, Abraham.
2. Covenants aren’t just another ancient Jewish thing. They are the way God deals with man.
3. Covenants are based on divine promises and requirements.
4. Though there are a number of covenants in the Bible, there are two main covenants emphasized in the Bible: called the old covenant (with Moses) and the new covenant (with Jesus).
a. Old covenant represented by the Exodus of Israel from Egypt, their travel to Mt. Sinai and the law Moses received there from God.
b. New covenant represented by the coming of Jesus, His death and resurrection, and the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
(1) This new covenant was promised in the OT, e.g. in Jeremiah 31:31-35. “I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 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.”
(2) This is the passage quoted in Hebrews 8:8b-12.
III. Explanation of Hebrews 8:1–13
A. 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.
1. Bruce's translation: "This is the sum of our argument thus far: this is the kind of high priest we have—one who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven."
2. “the true tent that the Lord set up, not man”
a. The OT tabernacle was set up by man, though according to God’s instructions.
(1) It was made based on a heavenly pattern apparently shown to Moses in a vision: “See that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.” (Ex.25:40) (This was the interpretation of Ex.25:40 taken by the ancient rabbis.)
(2) This true tent set up by the Lord, not by man, is where God sits upon His throne, and Jesus sits at His right hand.
b. By contrast with all material sanctuaries, this one is called the true or “real sanctuary” (NEB), the only one which is not an imitation of something better than itself, the only one whose durability comes anywhere near to matching the eternity of the living and true God whose dwelling-place it is. This “real sanctuary” belongs to the same order of being as the saints’ everlasting rest of chs. 3 and 4, the better country and well-founded city of 11:10, 16, the unshakable kingdom of 12:28. — Bruce
B. 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.
1. The nature of his offering, however, is not stated until 9:14 (although it has been mentioned already in 7:27), because in the meantime there are further points of contrast between the old order of worship and the new which have to be elucidated. – Bruce
C. 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.”
1. Jesus functions as a priest in this real, heavenly sanctuary, not in the “copy” sanctuary here on earth. “On earth Jesus was a layman, excluded by the law from all priestly functions.” – Bruce
2. For the earthly sanctuary from the outset was designed to be nothing more than a “copy and shadow” of the heavenly reality. This is how our author understands the divine injunction to Moses, regarding the details of the tabernacle in the wilderness. – Bruce
D. 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.
1. Jesus is a better mediator of a better covenant with better promises.
2. This is the main point of the whole epistle: Christ is far superior to every other system, every other savior, every other excitement, every other anchor. He is just SOOO much better than anything and anyone else!!
3. Here we go with this word ‘covenant’ again. First mentioned once at the end of chapter 7, it is used 7 times here in chapter 8 and seven more in chapter 9.
E. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
1. The first covenant was SUPPOSED to be faulty; it was purposely faulty, designed to prepare for the better covenant.
2. The faultiness of this first covenant is seen in the quote from Jeremiah 31:31-35, which follows.
F. 8 For he finds fault with them when he says:
1. This is where in v.8b-12 he begins to quote Jeremiah 31:31-35 — “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.”
2. This is a great example of inferring from Scripture.
G. 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.
1. This verse is one reason why it is thought that this epistle was written before the great calamity of 70AD, when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its temple and massacred the Jews there, and ended Judaism as it existed in the days of Jesus. This verse seems to imply that this event had not happened yet but was close at hand.
2. “growing old” and “ready to vanish away”
a. It seems that God gave the Jews 40 years to come to grips with Jesus — the 40 years from Jesus’ death to 70AD.
b. Jesus' prediction of Israel's demise (Matt.23:34–24:2; Luke 19:41-44; 21:5-32) was about 40 years before it took place, which is the Biblical period of testing/probation.
3. This, of course, is very central to our author's point. His readers were thinking about going back not only to an inferior covenant, but to a temporary one, on the verge of becoming obsolete.
IV. Application
A. OT Christianity
1. I know it might seem like I have been talking a lot about the danger of OT Christianity.
2. I'm not making this stuff up because I have some intellectual interest in the relationship between the old covenant and the new covenant. This is what this section of the book of Hebrews is about!
3. And it's amazing how much of the NT is about this. Why? Do you think maybe the Holy Spirit knew this would be a perpetual temptation in His church to go back to old covenant ways?
4. There are apostolic letters which were lost and therefore did not make it into the NT. Paul refers to several in his letters to the Corinthians. Why did God not preserve these lost letters for us? Because of historical accident? — that’s just the way things happened? NO! It was because we didn't need them. But He did preserve the ones we have because we do need them.
5. God inspired and preserved the epistle to the Hebrews partly because He knew that down through history there would be a perpetual struggle in the church with OT Christianity.
6. Christianity isn’t about grafting Jesus into OT Judaism. It's a new covenant! The old covenant is over. The new wine demands new wineskins. (Luke 5:37-39) And the new wineskins are new not just for the sake of being new but because the old wineskins can’t hold new wine.
7. As v.13 says, the first covenant is obsolete and has now vanished away.
8. Galatians 4:1-7 says that the old is slavery and the new is adoption as sons and receiving the inheritance of the Father.
9. Is all this really irrelevant to us since there are virtually none today who argue for a return to the Mosaic covenant today?
a. In my opinion, one of the ways the Bible is being dismissed and disregarded today is by those who are claiming that if we understand what the NT is really talking about, we’ll realize that it’s speaking to problems, struggles & issues which existed in the church 2000 years ago but don’t exist anymore. The implication being, that much of what the Bible says is irrelevant to us. This leaves us largely on our own, having to figure things out for ourselves, with only limited guidance from the Bible.
b. But this is not what the Bible tells us about itself. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” – 2Timothy 3:16–17
c. The Bible’s not an ancient document talking about ancient issues with little present-day relevance. It is God’s word to us! It is as relevant to us today as it was to original readers.
d. This doesn’t mean we can just read our own situation into the Bible, but it does mean that we can approach the Bible with confidence that it does speak to our situation.
B. For those who have their hands full and are just getting by
1. You have been blessed to be made a member of the new covenant, which is a covenant of rest and not a covenant of heavy burdens — resting in Jesus, in His care, in what HE has done, not in what you do.
2. You have a real savior, not a theoretical one or a distant one.
3. He knows you intimately and loves you infinitely. And He wants you to know and love Him too.
4. A mother of young children is juggling a lot and can’t make it to church several times a week for every activity. But the great thing is that this building is not God’s house. The sanctuary where Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father’s throne is in heaven — which does not make it inaccessible but completely accessible to all who come to Jesus.
5. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” – Hebrews 4:16
6. However, there is also something very difficult about being a part of the new covenant.
a. It’s not just a covenant of grace, it’s a covenant of suffering. It’s a covenant of following Jesus to the cross. It’s a covenant of dying to this world and dying to yourself.
b. That means your life makes sense. There’s a reason for all the sacrifice and the inconvenience and the hardship.
c. Jesus doesn’t call princesses to be His disciples. He doesn’t spoil His children. He doesn’t spare His children from all pain or give them everything they want.
d. He wants to make you STRONG in His power and in His love. He wants to teach you to trust His care even when it seems like you’re dying.
e. He calls you to trust in a Savior you can’t see. He calls you to love & rejoice in an invisible King.
f. You can’t see Him but He’s there – as real as real can be! His grace has brought you safe thus far, and grace will lead you home!