Alright, Hebrews chapter 8, the
whole chapter. And once you notice verse 1,
very important here, now, of the things which we have spoken,
this is the sum. We'll work off of that. We have
such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne
of the majesty in the heaven, a minister of the sanctuary of
the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. For every high priest is ordained
to offer gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is of necessity
that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth,
he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer
gifts according to the law, who serve under the example and shadow
of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he
was about to make the tabernacle, see, saith he, thou makest all
things according to the pattern shown thee in the mouth. But
now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, for how much also is
the mediator of a better covenant which was established upon better
promises. For if that first had been faultless,
then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding
fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Jacob, not according to the covenant that
I made with their fathers in the day, when I took them by
the hand, to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they
continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith
the Lord. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel, After those days, saith
the Lord, I will put my laws in their mind, write them in
their heart. I will be to them a God, and
they shall be to me a people. They shall not teach every man
his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord,
for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. For I
will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. In that he saith anew, he hath
made the first whole. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away." We saw, and I emphasize, that
the apostle has come to a place in his writing where it is right
and dignified that he stop and sum up everything that has gone
before, rendering it, some do, a summary, a summation of the
matter which he had been discussing, and I think perhaps discussing,
since chapter 4 and verse 14 of this epistle. And that's been
the priesthood of our Lord and of our Savior. I'm reading in
John Owen, he really bears down on this word, some, here in verse
1 that we have read. King James has it as some. And because it is so expressive,
Owen really bore down on it. This Greek word, he said, is
twice in the New Testament. It is not the same word that
Stephen used in Acts 7 and 16 when Abraham bought a burying
place for a certain sum of money. The word in Hebrews 8 and 1 is
again in Acts 22 and 28, where the captain of the crew tells
Paul, with a great sum, I obtained this freedom. That
is, a certain amount of money did I put out for this. As used
in Hebrews 8 and 1, it literally means the main point, or the
summing up point, the principal thing. The head of the whole
business is what he is about to declare and write. The main
thing. The main thing is we have a high
priest, a great high priest, that is passed into the heaven,
and that one is Jesus, the Son of God. Furthermore, here in
chapter 8, verse 1 and verse 2, He is set on the right hand
of the Majesty on high. He is a minister unto us of the
holy things of God, the holy tabernacle which the Lord pitched
and not man. Hence, the main point of all
of this is Jesus is our great High Priest. He is the High Priest,
but not the High Priest of the old covenant, but of the new. And as such, He does not serve
in an earthly sanctuary, But he serves in a heavenly sanctuary,
the very presence of God. A second thing is here brought
out. He does not offer beastly sacrifices. He offers instead himself. Now already the apostle had made
several comparisons in things showing the excellency of the
priesthood of Christ over that of Aaron and of his sons and
successors. And those comparisons are as
follows. Aaron and his sons, they were
sinners, Christ is not. They offered many sacrifices,
day in and day out, year in and year out, that could not take
away sin, while Christ offered one sacrifice that took away
sin forever. And they, you remember, served
in an earthly tabernacle, one put together by the hands of
men with earthly material, He in the heavenly." They were not
made priests with an oath because they would die, but He is made
a priest with an oath and lives forever. They had commandment
to receive tithes from the people. Abraham, the father of the nation,
actually paid or gave tithes unto that imminent One who was
a type of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that is, Melchizedek. But all of the excellencies of
Christ's priesthood can be summed up and that by one account, and
this the Apostle is about to do. in this great text here in
Hebrews chapter 8. Let me quote John Brown, who
well said, and I'm quoting, "...the superiority of our Lord's priesthood
above that of Aaron is evident from the excellency of the covenant
with which His priesthood is connected." And that is not the
old, but the new. And at the same time, It confirms
the excellency of the new covenant over that of the old. The old
covenant had men with infirmities as its priest, men who were sinners
and men who had their priesthood ended because they were subject
unto death. dying men, ministering old men
they were, but the New Covenant has a priest who is none other
than the very Son of God. Our priest is the very Son of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there is a reciprocal excellence
in the New Covenant and in its priests. Or, if the covenant
is to be perfect, then it has to have not only a perfect priest,
but also a perfect sacrifice that might take away the sin
of the people. Thus, in being a priest of the
new covenant, we find that Christ is, first of all, a surety, in
Hebrews 7 and 22. He is its mediator in chapter
8 and verse 6. His is the blood of the new covenant,
chapter 13 and verse 20. He is the testator of this covenant,
Hebrews 9 and verse 16 and 17. And it's His death and His blood
that give strength and firmness and continuity to this great
covenant. Now, the bequeath passes under
the heirs upon the death of the one that is bequeathing. And therefore, He is the testator. Now, as for chapter 8, it has
two main sections, I think, as we look at it. First of all,
In verses 1 through verse 5, he speaks of the excellency of
the priesthood of Christ, and that excellency stands or is
given by three examples. They are A, verse 1, His great
exaltation. Where is our high priest? He
is set down on the right hand of God. He is in the heaven of
heaven. And then B, we notice in the
second verse, the place of his ministry is the true tabernacle. The heavenly tabernacle erected
without hands, not made by man. And then see, in the third verse
we see, in the sacrifice that he offered by which blood he
entered into the heavenly or the true sanctuary of God. Now, in the sixth verse of our
chapter, the author makes the transition from the excellency
of the priesthood of Christ over the Levitical priesthood to the
excellency of the new covenant or testament over that old that
God made when He delivered Israel out of their bondage in Egypt
and brought them unto Sinai. Now, again, we're reminded here
in verse 6 of the excellency both of the new covenant and
the high priest of that covenant, the Son of God. A covenant or
a testament, the words are interchangeable sometime in our New Testament.
As John Brown wrote, is more comprehensive than the word whereby
it is translated into our English. referring, as Brown said, to
an arrangement. It is a system. It is a constitution. It is an order. It is an economy
that is established and set up by God. So let's reread the sixth
verse. But now hath he obtained a more
excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a
better covenant which was established upon better premises." Now, there
are two great truths that are here for us to consider. Number
one, that Christ has obtained and He exercises a more excellent
ministry than the Levites, Aaron and his son. They too had a ministry,
as we see in verse 5, but they served in the copy they offered
sacrifices and such like. But Christ has obtained and possesses
a more excellent ministry than Aaron and His Son. And then secondly, this more
excellent ministry consists in the fact that He is the mediator
of the New Testament. It's called a more excellent,
a better covenant, better promises. Everything about it is better
and superior to that of the Old. Now, as to the two covenants,
let's not miss how they are distinguished here in the text that we read.
For example, in verse 7, it is first and second, the first and
the second, while it is old and new later on. And he opens the
matter of the covenant in which Christ is the mediator there
in the 6th verse, calling it a better covenant. Well, better
than what? Well, the answer is, better than
the one under which Moses and the Levites did serve. Something
may be good, but something then may be better. Something may
be glorious, but something may be more glorious, and thus it
is with the law and the gospel. Now, the word here means better,
or stronger, or nobler. Thus, or rather, it is the word
in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 9, if I mistake not, it
is better to marry than to burn. There's another example of the
word. Also in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 23, to be with Christ
is far better, far better than to be in this life. And I counted
the word some 13 times in the Hebrew epistle. in regard to
such things as these. Chapter 1, verse 4, Jesus has
a better existence than the angel. In relation to the covenant of
which Christ is the mediator, it offers or it provides A better
hope, chapter 7 and verse 19. It is a better covenant, chapter
7, 22 and 8, 6. It is a better or stronger and
established upon better promises, chapter 8 and verse 6. It has
a better sacrifice, chapter 9, verse 23. It has a better, a
more enduring substance in chapter 10 and verse 34. And it leads
us into a better country. chapter 11 and verse 16, and
has a better resurrection in chapter 11 and verse 35. All of these things connected
with the New Covenant. Now, sound reason will tell us
this, that if the New Covenant were not better, not stronger,
not nobler, what reason therefore that it supersede the First Covenant? What need of a New Covenant if
it is not better, and if the first were perfect, what need
of a second?" Now this argument must have been made, needed to
be made, to the first century Jew to make them embrace the
new covenant in the Lord Jesus Christ since, one, it has come
in the place of the old. no matter their strong resistance. It is come in the place of the
old. Secondly, it is better. It is
better in every way that we might mention or imagine. It excels
the old in all points that might be brought up or might be considered. It stands upon better promises. And as James Haldane wrote, salvation
from sin, spiritual and eternal life. Now again, the apostle
argues his point for the first century Jew and the sake of him. that God's true and elect people
are under a new and a better covenant, and that it came in
all of its excellence and its fullness with and in the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Note the apostles' reasoning
as in verse 7. That if the first had been faultless,
then no place should have been sought for the second. There
had been no occasion, no reason for another to come in its place. And the words, if it were or
had been faultless, had been blameless, or as saying, that
it was not faultless, it was not blameless, it was not perfect,
it could not perfect the worshipper. In Hebrews chapter 7 verse 19,
the law made nothing perfect, But the bringing in of a better
hope did. Hebrews 7 and 11. If perfection
were by the Levitical priesthood, what need that another priest
should arise after the order of Melchizedek. But it was weak
through the flesh, Romans 8 and verse 3. But the covenant ministered
through the Levitical priests could not make the worshipers
perfect, Hebrews 10 and verse 1. Their sacrifices could not
take away sin, Hebrews 10 and verse 4. And it could not remove
guilt. It could not purge the conscience
so that the conscience is free and clear In short, it could
not justify a sinner. The old one could not. It could
not perfect and consummate the salvation of sinners and bring
the elect to a justified standing before God where the conscience
charged them not at all. It was a schoolmaster Paul calls
it in that great Galatian epistle. In verse 8 here continues the
idea of the law not being blameless, or if it had been, there had
been no occasion for the introduction or the bringing in of another. Now the question in verse 8 is
who or what is meant by them? The priest, the nation, the ordinances,
or in the immediate context of verse 7, it was the first or
old covenant that was not faultless and so finding fault, the apostle
writes. Some expositors are comfortable
with this arrangement with the words. Finding fault, He said
to them. That is, the Lord, finding fault,
said to them, that is, He said unto the Jew. One of my Greek-English
interlinear renders the word, for finding fault, He says to
them. Now John Brown, John Owen, see
this as the meaning. James Haldane in the Hebrews
commentary wrote, when the Lord promised to make a new covenant,
He was not faulting Israel because the promises of a new covenant
were virtually finding fault with the old covenant. For one thing, It declared and
set forth the absolute insufficiency of the taking away of sin and
the justifying of the elect before God. There's a similar expression
down in verse 13. When God said that He would make
a new covenant, the first is made old. In other words, to
say new marks the first as being old and vanishing away. to verse
8, where the apostle confirms from the prophet Jeremiah that
a new covenant was to be made with the house of Israel and
the house of Judah. The passage cited there is found
in Jeremiah 31, 31-34, where the prophet declares this, the
days will come, that is, a time will arrive, a certain period
will be reached in history The time appointed will come and
it's called the fullness of time. Remember what the Lord said to
the woman of Samaria at the well, the time is coming and now is. A great change was to take place
and our Lord mentions it to that woman. Think about it. The time
comes and now is, he said unto her. For we do agree, do we not,
that there is a set and a fixed time? Acts 1 verse 7. The times and the season which
the father hath put or holds in his own power. He sets the
time. for all of His mighty works towards
His people and for all of the great providential changes that
He has ordained for them. There is Galatians 4. And verse
4, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His
Son made of a woman and made under the law. Even so, a time
would arrive in the world's history when God would make a new covenant,
when He would bring in a new covenant with the house of Israel. Now, this point is to be made.
There was a clear testimony in their Old Testament Scripture
that a new covenant was to be brought in. The Scriptures that
they relied on for guidance, the Scriptures that they took
to be infallible and canonical, the Scriptures read in their
synagogues every Sabbath day spoke about a new covenant that
was to be brought in from a prophet that they held to be a mighty
prophet of God, that one Jeremiah. It is true that some interpreters
have hailed that the new covenant to be upon their return from
their captivity in the land of Babylon from the language. However,
the author of Hebrews takes Jeremiah's prophecy to refer to that covenant
brought in with Messiah are with Christ. And before we open the
text, let's take note of some things about this covenant that
are very interesting and important. Such as, number one, in verse
9, it would be different from the covenant made with Israel
at Sinai. It would not be simply a repetition
or a restating of that covenant. Verse 10, secondly, it was to
be much more spiritual as God would write His law in their
heart and in their mind, whereas it was written on stone of old. Thirdly, In verse 10, the last
part, God will be a God to the people of the new covenant in
a higher, more noble sense than that of the old. Fourthly, if
you look at verse 11, great light. And great revelation will be
directly communicated to the people of the New Covenant as
opposed to the ignorance of those under the oath. Fifthly, in verse
12, there would be what John Brown called full, free, irreversible
pardon of sin, unquote, connected with the New Covenant. Therefore,
the new covenant will differ from the covenant made with the
ancient patriarchs at Mount Sinai. And there can be no mistake what
is meant here by the old covenant. It followed their deliverance
out of the land of Egypt. You have it in Exodus 19 and
verses 10 through verse 25. Look at Hebrews 8 verse 9 and
the last part explains why the new covenant would not be the
same as the old, because they did not adhere to My covenant."
Again, Jeremiah 31-32. Which My covenant they broke. They broke My covenant. They
did not stay by it. They did not adhere to it. This
in spite of the vow of the people in Exodus chapter 24 and verse
3 all that the Lord has said we
will do and be obedient, they said unto Moses. And they said
it again in verse 7 of that chapter. Deuteronomy 5 and verse 27. As recorded in Exodus chapter
32, after only 40 days, After they stood in fear before
thundering Mount Sinai, they built a golden calf and danced
around it to worship. Imagine that. Forty days later,
a continual course of rebellion. The people did follow. They added
sin to sin. But after accepting God's covenant,
they did not abide by it. They did not keep it. Immediate
generation with whom God made that covenant broke it. Not succeeding
generations down the line. For they added sin unto sin."
Now, the immediate reason that God made a new covenant is not
just because they broke the old one, but because it was insufficient
to bring them to perfection. And this is why the new is not
like the old. And how? It is not like the old. While their rebellion is why
God regarded them not, in Deuteronomy 9, verse 12, they quickly turned
aside, out of the way, they have made a golden image. Wherefore,
God swore unto them in His wrath they would not enter into His
rest. Psalms 95, verse 11, quoted in
Hebrews 3 and verse 11. Now the general nature of the
new covenant is set forth in verses 10, 11, and 12. I will put or give my laws into
their mind and write them in their heart and will be their
God and they shall be my people. That is, God would by an inward
work, an irresistible sovereign work, Put His law, His words,
His doctrine in the hearts, in the inward part of the people
of God, that they might have wisdom in the inward part, Job
38.36. Truth in the inward part, God
desired, Psalm 51 and verse 6. In their inward part, Jeremiah
said, 31-33, God would put His Word. And the meaning is, to
quote a good commentator, I will give them a revelation of My
will. I will give them understanding
of My revelation so that they both believe and live under it
so that they live by the influence of that put in their heart."
And the prophet Jeremiah 32, 40 again, excuse me for referring
so much, but, "...I will put My fear in their heart that they
shall not depart from Me." In Isaiah 54 and verse 13 quoted
by the Lord, in John 6 and verse 45, They shall be every one taught
of God. Every man that hath heard and
hath learned of the Father comes unto me." God will take out the
old stony heart. He will give them a heart of
flesh. For nothing short of effectual
grace will secure the obedience of the covenant children. The
work of the grace of God only can secure the obedience by the
fear of God under that. Those under the first covenant
were but natural children of Abraham, born by fleshly birth
into a commonwealth, as it is called, who had the law. upon
tablets of stone that they heard read, and they were taught orally
by their instructors time and time again. And under the new
there is this advance, Our Excellency, that it will be put into their
heart. I will write my law into their
heart. They are brought by a sovereign
operation of God through regeneration. They're given new hearts. They're
raised up out of their spiritual death and quickened unto new
life. The old covenant bestowed unto
them many external and temporary blessing. The new provides all
spiritual blessing connected with salvation in this world
and in the world to come. And of course, the crowning accomplishment
of the new covenant is full, free, irreversible pardon of
sin and justification. I will be merciful to them, God
said. Two parts. Number one, I will
be merciful to their unrighteousnesses. Two, their sins and iniquity
will I remember No more. Full pardon, lasting justification
flows from the fountain of mercy opened in and with Jesus Christ,
a springing fountain, springing up into everlasting life. Remember, under the Old Covenant,
every drop of sacrificial blood shed only brought the remembrance
of sin unto them. But the new covenant fully provides
for the forgiveness of sin and the purging of it out of the
conscience, which by the sacrifice of Christ is effected. The Lord cast behind his back
and into the depths of the sea of forgetfulness their sin to
be remembered against them no more. And an old preacher I knew
said he cast them into the depths of the sea and he put up a no
fishing sign. ratified by the blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now I ask in closing, which covenant
do you prefer? Legal or grace? Which do you
prefer? Law or gospel? Which priest will
do you better? Aaron or our Lord Jesus Christ? Which will do you better? A natural
birth or a spiritual birth at the hands of the Spirit of God?
Truly, we are under a new and a better covenant. And thank
God for that work and that wisdom.