WWUTT 1842 A Minister of a Better Covenant (Hebrews 8:4-6)

Christ’s Superior Priesthood in Hebrews 8

Yesterday, we read about how Jesus is a superior high priest. He is seated at the right hand of God. He's in a superior tabernacle. He offers superior sacrifices. Today we read about a superior covenant when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of Hebrews, we're in Chapter 8 this week. And as with yesterday, I'm going to start by reading the whole chapter, which is not very long. This is out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

Hear the word of the Lord. Now the main point in what is being said is this. We have such a high priest who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister in the holy places and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law, who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.

Just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle. For see, he says, that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain. But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, he says, behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant and I did not care for them, says the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws into their minds and upon their hearts I will write them and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen and everyone his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all will know me from the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.

Christ’s Superior Priesthood: Right Hand, Heavenly Tabernacle, and Better Sacrifice

When he said a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete, but whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. So let me recap what we considered yesterday. Just looking at the first three verses of Hebrews eight, the argument that's being presented here is that Jesus as a high priest in the order of Melchizedek has a higher priesthood and is the mediator of a better covenant.

So we read about Christ's superior priesthood in verses one through six. And then the second part of this chapter is the superiority of the new covenant promises. That's in verses seven through 13 with that reference to Jeremiah chapter 31.

So yesterday we considered how Jesus is a superior high priest. First of all, he sits at the right hand of the throne of God. That was in verse one. Now the main point in what is being said is this. We have such a high priest who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens.

So that's number one. I would see a superior high priest because he's exalted to the right hand of God. Number two, he serves in a superior tabernacle. Verse two, he is a minister in the holy places and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched not man.

This is another way that we know that Christ has a superior priesthood. He serves in the heavenly tabernacle, not in a tabernacle or a temple that is on earth. And then number three, he offers a superior sacrifice.

That was in verse three for every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. Now, as I said yesterday, what he offers is not mentioned here in verse three.

It comes up a little bit later on in chapter nine, but we've also had it said previously that he offered himself. So that is the offering. The son of God giving himself is a superior sacrifice to any that has been given in the history of the tabernacle or the temple.

You add up all the lambs and the goats and the bulls and everything else that was sacrificed whether it was the tabernacle or the temple, millions upon millions of animals. And we know that it was millions because even when Solomon dedicated the temple, that was in the hundreds of thousands of animals that were sacrificed during that that week of feasting.

So millions of animals that had been sacrificed in the history of these two locations, whether it be the tabernacle or the temple where God dwelled with his people. And yet Christ, one drop of Christ's blood with his sacrifice on the cross was greater than all of that.

Now when we talk about Christ shedding his blood for our sins, we're not actually talking about mystical properties that are in his blood. The shedding of blood is the giving of life. So it wasn't enough that Jesus shed his blood.

It was that he died, that he gave his life because in the blood is the life, as it said in the book of Leviticus. And we see as we're going through Hebrews, how Christ fulfilled a lot of that law that was written down in Leviticus.

You want a real, a lot clearer understanding of Hebrews, read Leviticus, and then all of these pieces, all of this stuff starts falling into place. And you understand all the more how Christ is a superior priest offering superior sacrifices.

So those were the three things that we considered yesterday. Just looking at verses one through three, Christ sits at the right hand of God. Christ serves in a superior tabernacle. Christ offers superior sacrifices.

Those three things are just what we've considered so far about Christ's superior priesthood. The next part, part four is where we are today, or the fourth quality of his priesthood rather. And that is that he is a priest of a superior covenant.

And that's what we read here in verses four through six. So looking at verse four, now, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law.

So if Jesus were on earth, he would not be a priest at all. Why? Because, and we've talked about this earlier, he was not born in the line of Aaron. He's not a Levite. Jesus was born in the line of Judah, not from the tribe of Levi, or even descended of Aaron.

So according to the law, he's unqualified to serve as high priest on earth. It was necessary instead for him to die, rise again, ascended to heaven, and be seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, where he fulfills what was said in Psalm 110, you are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.

Now perhaps this question has been asked of you before, or maybe you've asked this question. Why did Jesus even ascend to heaven? Why did he leave? Why not stay here after rising again from the dead? Would he not have been able to accomplish more here on earth than what he's accomplishing seated at the right hand of God?

Well, Jesus answered this question to his own disciples in John 16, and we have another answer given to us here, even in Hebrews chapter eight. First of all, in the upper room discourse, before Jesus was to be taken away and crucified, he said to his disciples, this is John 16, beginning in verse five.

Now I am going to him who sent me and none of you asks me, where are you going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away.

For if I do not go away, the advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And that's a reference to the Holy Spirit. If Jesus were still here on earth, then he can only do what he can do wherever he is.

He's not omnipresent. He wouldn't be omnipresent. He would just be, you know, he would still be in that glorified body, of course, but he's only in one spot here on earth, but ascended to heaven and seated at the right hand of the majesty on high.

He's now omnipresent. He can be everywhere all the time and he gives his spirit to us. Jesus goes away to give us the Holy Spirit so that we would be filled with his spirit. And now God is with us, even in us, wherever we go.

So that's the first answer to that question. Why did Jesus leave it all? Well, so that he could give us the Holy Spirit and he is with us always. We don't have to go to the spot wherever he's at on earth.

He's with us everywhere and every single Christian with his Holy Spirit dwelling within us. The second answer to that question is what we're reading right here in Hebrews chapter eight. If he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all because he wouldn't be qualified according to the law and what is required for the for the high priest.

There are those who offer gifts according to the law. It's said here in verse four. Now, at this particular time, when the preacher is preaching this sermon that was written down that we have as the book of Hebrews, the temple was still there.

Sacrifices were still being offered there. We have this statement that comes up at the end of chapter eight. Whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. So that was foreshadowing.

This is coming to an end and it's going to come to an end very, very soon. But in the meantime, at the time that this was preached, there are people who are here on earth fulfilling what was required of the priesthood.

The Levites, they're still ministering in the temple. Jesus would not be qualified to be among them if he were on earth because he was not descended of the tribe of Levi. So there's the other answer to that question.

It is better that Jesus go away from us in a physical sense that he would ascend into heaven and be seated at the right hand of God, where he advocates for us on our behalf. As I referenced yesterday, first John two, one, he is our advocate before the father.

He is our high priest who is ministering on our behalf at the right hand of the throne of God. That is much better for us than if Jesus were still here on earth. So second answer to that question, why was it better that Jesus go away so he could minister on our behalf in the heavenly places?

And amen to that. So we continue on in this section. Again, verses four through six are explaining to us how Jesus is the high priest of a superior covenant. So verse five, the priests here on earth serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things just as Moses.

But Christ doesn't serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. He actually does serve the heavenly things. He is in the heavenly places and we are seated in the heavenly places with him as talked about in Ephesians and Colossians chapter three and other places.

We we are seated with Christ in God, as it says in Colossians three, four, when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. We're seated in the heavenly places. And so Christ is in the heavenly places ministering on our behalf.

Those things that were just copies and shadows, the things that were on earth were copies and shadows of the heavenly things. Christ is actually serving with the heavenly things. So the tabernacle, as I talked about yesterday, this was a type and a shadow which has been fulfilled in Christ.

He has tabernacled with us. He who put on flesh and dwelt among us, he tabernacles with us. And so he is ascended to the heavenly places where he enters in on our behalf into the holy of holies in a tabernacle, not one that is pitched with human hands, but pitched in the heavenly places.

Again, that was mentioned back in verse two. So the priests on earth serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. Jesus is actually serving the heavenly things. Just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle for C, he says that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.

Now that's in Exodus. That's a reference back to the words that God gave to Moses in Exodus. Why was it so important that Moses follow the details exactly as God gave them to Moses when building the tabernacle?

And those details are very, very specific down to the stakes, the ropes, the curtains, what they're made of, the dimensions, even whom God was going to appoint to fashion these things, whether it was building the utensils in the tabernacle or designing the fabrics, any of that stuff.

All of that was designated by God, even who was going to be in charge of all of this. Why did Moses need to follow those instructions to the letter like that to a T? Well, because God is holy. And so deviating from those instructions anyway was not to take God seriously.

It was to decide on your own. I have a better idea in mind of what the tabernacle is supposed to look like. No, that would have been absurd for Moses to respond to something like that. Even a stitching, even a thread be made in a different way.

That would have been an offense. It would have been disobedient to God. These things needed to be followed exactly as God said they were to be followed because all of this was types and shadows of a better one that was to come.

Jesus Christ. And all the meticulousness of everything that needed to be done, how it was going to be constructed, all of the daily procedures and tasks that needed to be done in the tabernacle and then later in the temple, the down to the specific garments that the priests were supposed to wear, how they were to what they were to eat, even all these kinds of things, all kinds of rules and regulations.

But all of this was to demonstrate the holiness that God required of his people that they could not even meet on their own. They were not even able to fulfill all of these meticulous laws that God gave in practicing holiness.

They weren't able to meet all those laws. They could not meet the demands of the law. They failed at every single point when we're talking about Israel, of course, they could not keep the law. They failed at it.

But all of this was pointing to something better. Now, I love that these things are referred to as types and shadows. Now, in verse five, it says they serve as a copy and a shadow. But other translations, you've probably heard types and shadows.

All of these things in the Old Testament are types and shadows of something better that was to come. I love that descriptor. Because indeed, these things were quite inferior to what was to come. I mean, you think if Israel even was able to keep all of that law, let's say they could do everything that God required of them, and they followed it right down to the letter, they still wouldn't be as holy as Jesus Christ is holy.

Because they had sins that they had done before the law had been given to them. So Israel would not have been able to purify themselves even by keeping all of these legal things that God required of them to follow.

Jesus fulfilled all of that perfectly and becomes the spotless lamb to die on the cross on behalf of the sins of his people, of Israel, and even from among the Gentiles, all who would believe and follow in Jesus Christ.

His sacrifice was superior to everything that was done in the tabernacle. As it's going to be said later on in Hebrews, even the blood of bulls and goats was not enough to forgive sins. So when we talk about those things being types and shadows, they were even inferior to the one who was to come.

The Israelites, again, the Jews, they could have done everything to the letter, exactly what God had told them to do, and it still would not have been good enough. God gave them just enough for them to look forward to something better.

He could have laid down way more laws than he did upon his people, but even the few that he gave, they weren't able to keep. They weren't able to fulfill those things and remain holy before God. We needed something better.

And what is better has been given to us. Jesus Christ, we just celebrated, just celebrated at Christmas. The incarnation, as we do every year, Christ born in human flesh, when the fullness of time had come, he was born of woman born under the law, as talked about in the book of Galatians, Jesus fulfilling all these things for us.

And he is the spotless lamb who takes away the sin of the world, as John the Baptist said in John chapter one. So Jesus fulfills all these types and shadows, those things that Moses was given, and he was told, follow this stuff to the letter.

But even the few commands that God gave to Israel, yeah, they're few when you when you think about all the laws God could have laid upon Israel, he gave them just a few, just a little over 600 commands.

They could not keep even those. Jesus fulfills all of that and more. He is the superior high priest of a superior covenant verse six, but now he has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

So Jesus does not serve under the old covenant, which is merely an earthly copy and foreshadowing something even better that is to come. The earthly copy foreshadowed worship in the heavenly places where Jesus is advocating for us, where he ministers on our behalf.

The earthly things were copies and shadows of heavenly things. And Jesus is now as a high priest in the order of Melchizedek, the mediator of a better covenant. Now, let me conclude today by talking about what a covenant is.

And then I'm even going to open with this tomorrow for we'll try to close this out tomorrow in verses seven through 13, understanding how Christ is the mediator of a better covenant. Let's first understand what a covenant is.

The simplest definition of covenant is an agreement. There you go. There's the simple one word definition of covenant. It is an agreement. More specifically, it is an agreement to perform certain actions.

You can also use the word covenant as a verb, like we covenant together to do this or that. I think our church covenant in the church that I'm a part of, I think it says that in the preamble to the covenant, we covenant together to do this.

So it is it's a swearing in the legal sense or in the giving of vows. It is a pledge, a promise, an agreement to do something together. Now, a covenant might be conditional or it might be unconditional.

When God promised Abraham, when he made a covenant with Abraham and said that Abraham's descendants would inherit this land that Abraham was looking at, which, of course, would be the promised land, that was an unconditional covenant.

The descendants of Abraham did not have to do anything to receive that land. But upon entering the promised land, then there was a requirement upon them to do certain things in order to keep that land.

They had to be obedient to God's law. And if they did not follow the law, then they would be driven off the land. As it says in Deuteronomy, I'll even put you in ships and send you back to Egypt, which I swore to you I would not do.

That would be one of the consequences if Israel did not keep the covenant. Another consequence would be that all the plagues that they had witnessed happen in Egypt would happen to them if they did not keep God's law.

God made a covenant with David, and that was an unconditional covenant that David would have a descendant that would sit on his throne forever. The Davidic covenant we read about in 2 Samuel 7, and Christ is the fulfillment of that covenant.

In Jeremiah 31, we have a new covenant that is promised, and we're going to read about that covenant tomorrow. That's what we're going to come back to in Hebrews 8. So I'll refresh your memory again on what a covenant is, and then we will consider how the covenant that we have in Christ is superior.

It is a new covenant, so that even the old covenant is passing away. Even when we open up the pages of Scripture, we are reading about a new covenant and an old covenant. The word testament is synonymous with covenant.

So when you're reading the Old Testament, you're reading about the old covenant. When we are reading in the New Testament, we're reading about the new covenant that we have in Christ that was sealed by the shedding of his blood.

And we're going to come to understand tomorrow how this is a superior covenant, the superiority of the new covenant that is enacted upon better promises, God willing, when we come back to our study in Hebrews 8 on Wednesday.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read today, and we thank you for the new covenant that we have in Christ. Though we may not fully understand these words when we hear them, we come to understand all the more who Christ is and what he has done for us when we open up the word and read it.

And so lead us in an understanding of these things and even what the requirement is for us who are in this covenant with our Lord Christ, that we might live holy and blameless before you in obedience to your word as followers of Jesus Christ.

It is in his name that we pray.

Amen. You can find a complete list of videos, books, devotionals, and other resources online at www .tt .com. Thanks for listening!