Hebrews 8:3-13
Chapters
8, 9 and 10 will discuss the heavenly covenant, sanctuary and sacrifice.
8:1
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,
This
verse begins the theme for the next two and a half chapters up to 10:18.
“The point of what we are saying” is
literally “Now a summary over the things being said”. The author has said all that he said to get
to this topic and explain it.
What
was his point? What is all this
information pointing at?
The
author is going to now explain two important things:
The
seated Christ in Hebrews:
1. 1:3 – “The son is. . .After he had provided
purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
2. 8:1 – “We do have such a high priest, who sat
down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. . . .
and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer.”
(8:1,3)
3. 10:12 – “When this priest had offered for all time
one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of
God.”
4. 12:2 – “for the joy set before him endured the
cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God”
____________
5. PSALM 110:1 – “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I
make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’”
8:2
and who serves in the sanctuary, the
true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.
A
contrast is made between the “true” (real) and the shadow or image.
Between
God’s and man’s.
8:3
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.
The
next chapter will spend more time on this offering
8:4
If he were on earth, he would not be a
priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.
Jesus
was a simple layman when compared to the temple priests.
Even
the
8:5
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."
“copy” is “’upodeigma” means a pattern or a copy (also used in 9:23)
“shadow” is “skia” means a shadow or a shadowy outline, a shadowy
reflection, or a shadowy suggestion.
Moses
saw the actual temple in heaven
Exodus
25:9; 26:30; 27:8.
In
25: 40 it says “which is being shown you” literally means “which you are caused
to see.”
The
priests serve at a sanctuary that is a shadow because the whole Levitical order
is a foreshadowing of the true spiritual order.
Today this new age of the spirit is the true spiritual order being
manifested.
8:6
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.
“mediator”
is “mesithV” in the papyri from the time of this writing this
word is a common business term referring to am arbitrator or a go between.”
1) Jesus is superior.
2) New Covenant is superior.
3) Ministry is superior.
4) Promises are superior
“ministry” is “leitourgia”
(leitourgia”) and means “service, ministry, religious or sacred service. This is the common word used to refer to the
temple service of priests.
The
author has mentioned better promises.
These
promises will be drawn out of the New Covenant contract found in the Old
Covenant.
8:7
For if there had been nothing wrong
with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.
8:8
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
and with the house of
A
promise of a new covenant within the Old Covenant indicated that something was
wrong.
Jeremiah
was the prophet that foretold this.
8:9
It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
and I turned away from them, declares the
Lord.
Ratification
of the Old Covenant recorded in Exodus 24:1-8 (This is referred to in Heb.
9:18-20)
Jeremiah
reminds his listeners of the terms of the covenant in Jeremiah 7:23
Jeremiah
24-26 explains the problem: evil hearts and stiff necks.
Jeremiah
11:6 – Jeremiah tries to call them back to their covenant.
Jeremiah
watched in 621 as Josiah tried to force a revival to the covenant. Josiah knew God. Jeremiah knew God. But, the people did not.
Jeremiah
31:31 God promises a new covenant.
8:10
This is the covenant I will make with
the house of
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.
Promise Number One:
“I
will put my laws in their minds.”
Not
memorization as in Deuteronomy 6:6-9
The
people planned on being obedient (Ex.24:7)
The
problem was not the law but the weak flesh and sin nature as in Romans 8:3
Ezekiel
11:19-20
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.
Promise Number Two:
“They
will all know me.”
This
was a matter of personal experience
In
Judges 2:10 the generation that came into the land produced a generation that
did not know the Lord.
Hosea
4:1, 6 there was no knowledge of God in the land and disaster was coming.
This
promise includes every member of the society knowing God.
This puts God on a one to one relationship with everyone.
No
one is hearing second hand
8:12
For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."
Promise Number Three:
“I
will remember their sins no more.”
Even
in Exodus 34:6-10 God is merciful and forgiving.
“Remember”
in Hebrew means more than to mentally recall something. It means to follow that recall with action
either good or bad. God remembers sins
and punishes them or He remembers good deeds and rewards them.
Cornelius
Acts 10:4, 31
8:13
By calling this covenant
"new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and
aging will soon disappear.
2
Corinthians 3:6, 14
Jesus
had spoken of the temple being thrown down.
Stephen
also had spoken of the temple’s destruction.
It
has now been thirty years and these prophecies may have seemed to have faded
and their literal fulfillment may have been replaced with a spiritualized
understanding.
Now
thirty years later the author of Hebrews breathes new life into this promise.
The
Old Covenant was now obsolete. It and
its sanctuary would soon disappear.