Judaism Destroyed

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. - Hebrews 8:13

    “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.” Hebrews 8:13

    This is one of the most important, but least understood texts in the Book of Hebrews. When he established the new covenant, the Lord God made the old, Levitical, legal, ceremonial covenant obsolete. It served its day and its purpose by the will of God; but that old covenant and all that pertained to it is now dissolved. It is no longer of any use to anyone for any purpose. Like an old, tattered garment, it has been laid aside, never to be used again (Gal. 5:1-6).

    Spiritual Worship

    All true worship is spiritual, heart worship. We are no longer under the law. We no longer live under that carnal, legal covenant (Col. 2:6-23; Phil. 3:3). All who know God worship him in spirit and in truth, trusting Christ alone for righteousness, and place no confidence in the flesh.

    The Destruction Of The Old

    The coming of Christ, the coming of the Messiah, meant the dissolution of Judaism. Hebrews 8:13 was more than a prediction. It was an inspired prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple at Jerusalem, and of Judaism. For those people whose entire way of life was defined by this first covenant, this prophecy must have been shocking, at the very least. The Jews understood exactly what the claims of Christ meant. I do not suggest that they believed him. Obviously, they did not. But they understood that his claims and his doctrine meant the complete dissolution of Judaism (John 8:59; 10:30-34; 11:47-54).

    In the Old Testament God commanded the Jews to maintain an elaborate system of sacrifices, priestly services, feasts and rituals and required them to live under a rigid legal system, a system of law that covered every aspect of their lives (political, religious, moral, and dietary). That entire legal system pointed to and typified the Lord Jesus Christ and the work he would perform for the redemption of his people. These things typically, symbolically, and ceremonially defined the gospel and pointed to One by whose coming they must and would be fulfilled.

    The gospel of Christ threatened the very core of Jewish life and religion. By declaring that the Messiah had come, that he is the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, who is God the Son, declared Judaism null and void. The vast majority of the people rejected his claim and despised him, his gospel and his people. That hatred of God resulted in the crucifixion of the Lord of Glory and the persecution of his disciples.

    The claims of the Christ raised a huge question for the Jewish people as a whole. What would become of their way of life? This new faith was incredibly radical. For example, in Acts 6 Stephen proved, irresistibly, by Scripture and history, that the claims of Christ were true, and thus, that the gospel of Christ is true. To stop him, false witnesses were brought in. And what is their charge? They claimed that Stephen spoke against Jerusalem, the temple, and the law (Acts 6:13-14).

    The Threat of Christianity

    There you have the meaning of Christianity, as far as the Jews were concerned. It meant the destruction of their “church,” indeed, of their entire way of life, the vanishing away of the first covenant. They sensed it keenly. When Stephen, as they perceived his words, spoke against Jerusalem and the law; they believed that Christianity threatened the existence of the temple itself and of Judaism; and it did. If the temple fell, then what would become of all the customs and traditions they cherished? What would become their religion? It had to be utterly annihilated. The old had to vanish if it were to be replaced by the new. Few today seem to understand this; but the Jews of that day understood it clearly. Therefore they stoned Stephen to death. They had reason to be afraid. Not only had the Lord Jesus actually said that the temple would be destroyed, he had predicted the entire destruction of Jerusalem (Luke 19:43-44).

    The Cause of Persecution

    Nothing stirs up violence like fear; and the Jews, despising the Word of God, refusing to submit to the righteousness of God in Christ, clinging tenaciously to their legal religion, ritualism, and personal righteousness, had reason to fear Christ, his followers, and the gospel we preach, as do all man-centered systems of free-will, works religion today.

    Though the followers of Christ are meek and peaceful people, people who would rather die than live by the sword, nevertheless at the very heart of our faith is the implicit end of the Jewish way of life, and of all other systems of works religion. Nothing enrages legalists like a threat to their refuge of lies and the denial of their personal righteousness. It was this perceived (and very real) threat that provoked the Jews to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ and persecute his church mercilessly. And it is this threat that stirs the fears of religious people to this day, enrages them, and inspires the persecution of God’s church in every community where the gospel of God’s free grace in Christ is preached.

    The problem is not that men and women do not understand what we preach. The problem is that they do. They understand that to embrace the gospel, they must count all their former religion dung. They understand that if they embrace the grace of God, they must repent of their dead works, turning from all their efforts to establish their own righteousness. They understand that if they trust Christ, they must cease to trust themselves.

    Just as the Jews’ priesthood, animal sacrifices, carnal ordinances, legal hopes, and temple were utterly abolished by Christ, so when Christ comes in saving power into the hearts of chosen sinners, all their former way of life, all their former hopes is utterly abolished, never to rise again.