WWUTT 1841 We Have Such a High Priest (Hebrews 8:1-3)

We have a great High Priest, who is a mediator of a better covenant with better promises. And knowing this, we have fellowship with God through Jesus Christ when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it. Visit our website at www .wutt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Reading Hebrews 8 and the Main Point of Christ’s High Priesthood

Thank you Becky. Coming back to our study of Hebrews, we're in chapter 8 this week. Little bit shorter chapter, just 13 verses here. So I'm going to start off by reading all of Hebrews 8 out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

This is 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 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 days 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, from the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.

When he said a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete, but whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. Some complicated things we're reading about here in the book of Hebrews, but some beautiful things as well.

For we come to understand the love that God has for us in his son, who is being spoken about here in chapter 8 as a greater high priest of a greater covenant. And that's really what Hebrews chapter 8 is about.

Jesus is our high priest of a new covenant. So we have this chapter divided into two parts, and you probably recognize where the division was. Part one is verses 1 through 6, and that is a summary of Christ's superior priesthood, which we've really been reading about the last few chapters.

But the preacher comes back to summarizing it here before jumping into the next part where he lays out how Christ is a high priest of a superior covenant, a new covenant with better promises. And that's in verses 7 through 13.

Now we're going to continue talking about the new covenant even into the next chapter when we get into chapter 9. So we're summarizing a previous concept, and then we're jumping into a new concept, which will even continue on into later chapters, summarizing once again how Christ is a greater high priest.

Christ’s Superior Priesthood and His Heavenly Ministry

So let's look at this first section here, verses 1 through 6, where it says in verse 1, now the main point in what is being said is this. We have such a high priest. We have such a high priest who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens.

Now this is summarizing, again, everything that was said about Christ being of a superior priesthood, one that was greater than Aaron and the Levites. Remember that Christ is a high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

So that's what we've been reading about in the last few chapters. And the preacher summarizes all of that here by saying, here's the main point. Here's the reason why I'm going over all of this with you, because we have such a high priest.

We have such a high priest. This is not theology for the sake of theology. We're not just going about all this stuff, or the preacher's not just preaching on these things to show you my vast knowledge of all of this, how I'm able to bring these Old Testament concepts into this New Testament era in which we live.

The whole purpose of this is so that his hearers will recognize this is the high priest that we have. The high priest we have is not walking into the Holy of Holies in the temple and sacrificing on our behalf.

Our high priest is greater and is serving in the heavens, seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. This is to make the hearers all the more filled with awe of the one that we worship. He who is doing all of this on our behalf.

It's not just, oh, well, that's neat that God does all of these things. He's doing it for us. We have such a high priest who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. When our high priest is ministering, he is doing so for us, and he is doing so sitting at the right hand of God.

In 1 Timothy 2, verse 5, we read, there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the witness for this proper time. Christ gave himself as our ransom.

He who died for us, who is risen from the dead, has ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. He has done this to ransom us to himself. It would be good enough if Jesus were to have died for us just so we get out of hell.

That would have been good enough. I mean, praise God that he dies for us. He rises again from the dead so that all who believe in Jesus will not perish. We will not perish under the judgment of God in eternal hell.

Praise the Lord. But God does so much more for us than that. It is in Jesus Christ that we've now been adopted as sons and daughters of God. We're adopted into his family. Before this, before we came to faith in Christ, we were enemies of God.

We were the objects of his wrath. But by faith in Jesus, we've not just been rescued from hell. We have been ransomed from hell. That we become the possession of God and we are his sons and daughters and therefore heirs with Christ.

We talked about that earlier this year when we were in Galatians. We read that also in Titus chapter three, that we've become fellow heirs with him of his eternal kingdom. In first John three, beginning in verse one, we read this.

See how great a love the father has given to us that we would be called children of God and we are for this reason, the world does not know us because it did not know him beloved. Now we are children of God and it has not been manifested as yet what we will be.

We know that when he is manifested, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure. This is what we have in God.

This is what we have in Christ Jesus, not just the promise of deliverance from his wrath, but we have become objects of his love. We are his sons and daughters whom he has brought into his family by his grace, a greater covenant with greater promises that we're reading about here in Hebrews chapter eight.

And, and the preacher is laying out here for his hearers. This is the high priest that we have. He is our advocate. He is advocating for us before the father. Also in first John, this would have been the chapter right before first John two, one, my little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

And if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. There is only one savior, and that is Jesus Christ.

For anyone who lives in the world, our salvation comes only through one man, the God man, Jesus Christ. He is the propitiation for our sins and he is our advocate before the father. An advocate is one who speaks favorably on behalf of another.

So consider that Jesus being seated at the right hand of the majesty on high is speaking favorably of us before God. That is what he is doing for us as our advocate. This is our high priest. We have such a high priest, a minister in the holy places and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

That's Hebrews eight to once again. Now, now this is very important to recognize as we're going to be talking about this better covenant and this greater high priest that we have. He is a minister in the holy places in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

It's truly fascinating here that the preacher chooses the tabernacle and not the temple. The temple was still standing. The temple was in Jerusalem. And at the time of this particular sermon that we're reading here in, in the book of Hebrews, that temple was still there.

But the preacher doesn't reference the temple. He references the tabernacle. Since we had been talking previously about Moses, Moses being that high priest for Israel and Jesus being a high priest that is even greater than Moses.

So hence why it's necessary in, in the, uh, you know, to be consistent here that the preacher would reference the tabernacle and not the temple for Moses never saw the temple. Moses was given the dimensions and the order of the tabernacle.

Hence why you have this statement that comes up a little bit later on where it is said that, uh, Moses needed to make all things according to the pattern, which was shown to him on the mountain. That's what said in verse five.

So hence we have this reference to the tabernacle. Now the tabernacle, was the place where God dwelled with his people. The temple was a more permanent location, but still that one place where God dwelled with his people, the tabernacle was a type in a shadow of the temple.

And the temple is a type in a shadow of Christ. They're both types and shadows of Christ. But the, the tabernacle is the predecessor. This was the first one that was given the very place where these sacrifices would be made on behalf of the people and where God would speak to his people through the prophet Moses, who would speak with God face to face there, as he ministered before the Ark of the covenant.

So all of this in, in reference to the tabernacle, Jesus tabernacles with us, that word tabernacle means for God to dwell with his people. So Jesus tabernacles with us. When we read in John one that he put on flesh and dwelt among us, literally he tabernacled with us.

So hence that's another reason why we want to use this illustration of the tabernacle and not so much the temple. The temple comes in as well, but tabernacle is what's being used here as, as this is the tent and Jesus put on a tent to dwell with us when he put on flesh to dwell with us.

So he is a minister in the holy places in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. And once again, recognizing the importance of this illustration is to see that this tabernacle is permanent.

The Lord pitched the tabernacle means that he's done something which man cannot undo the tabernacle as it was given to Moses doesn't exist anymore. And there's even some sense in which the people understand the temple will not exist for much longer either, because Jesus had prophesied how the temple was going to be thrown down.

Even it was going to be destroyed. It had been destroyed before it could be destroyed again. So those things that are made by human hands are not permanent, whether it's temple or tabernacle. But here we have an understanding of a tabernacle, which the Lord has pitched in the heavens, not a tabernacle that man has pitched on earth.

And again, all of this very, very important because we understand how this is a better covenant with better promises and promises that are permanent. It's a permanent covenant with permanent promises.

We don't have to worry about it passing away because the Lord has established these things. And so they will be forever. Just as it was said previously that Jesus is a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

So the place where he ministers is forever. So the covenant that we have with him through this ministry of this high priest is also permanent and lasts forever. This all for our great comfort that we understand this salvation that we have in Christ is permanent.

It will not be taken away as said in John 10, no one will snatch them out of my hand. So we have in verse three here, Hebrews eight, three, for every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices.

So it is necessary that this high priest, Jesus also have something to offer. Now, something like this was said earlier in Hebrews five, one for every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

And so it's being said here that even Jesus has something to offer. Now that's not going to be explained until a little bit later on in chapter nine, verses 24 and 25. I'm going to go ahead and read that just so you know, you know that it's there.

The explanation of this comes a little bit later on, but we won't get to it until we're in chapter nine. So it said there in Hebrews nine, 24 and 25, for Christ did not enter holy places made with hands, mere copies of the true ones, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us.

Nor was it that he would offer himself often as the high priest enters the holy places year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise he would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world.

But now once at the consummation of the ages, he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. So that's what Jesus offers. Even in this ministry that he does on our behalf, he has offered himself.

And he has done this once. He does not continually need to keep doing this. And this just goes to show or, or goes to continue to elaborate on how this is a better high priest of a better covenant with better promises.

So coming back again to verse three, every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. And the reason for this, the main purpose of this is so we understand the reason for the appointment to this office.

It's necessary to understand all of this, not just that Jesus came and died and rose again and ascended into heaven and all who believe in him will have everlasting life. But we see and we understand how the types in the shadows pointed to this and how Christ fulfilled all of this, how all of it was necessary so that we know there is no other way that we can come to salvation in Christ.

But through this, all of this is being laid out so that the hearers will, will be secure in their faith. They will know that there is not another savior. It's Jesus Christ. Remember once again to the warning that was given in Hebrews chapter two, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation that salvation for spoken by the Lord was confirmed to us by those who heard God also testifying with them both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.

All of this to say, there is not another savior. There is only Christ. And so laying all of this out, the preacher is doing this for the purpose for, for the, the pastoral ministry for his hearers that they will know Jesus is the savior and they will not fall away from him.

They will not fool themselves into thinking there's another way for me to gain this access into eternal life or come into the presence of God. They will see it was only Christ, only he could do it and he fulfilled it.

And so therefore it's only through Christ that I can have it. Then I can have this access to God that I can know that he is advocating for me before the father that I, that I can know I have such a high priest.

It is Jesus who is ministering on my behalf. And so when we know that we come into his service as the, as the, the priesthood that we are supposed to be, remember what I referenced last week from first Peter two, nine, that we are a Royal priesthood.

We are part of this priesthood in Christ Jesus that, that we've been given as well so that we may offer sacrifices unto God. And that sacrifice is ourselves, not that we would die for God, but that we would live for him as said in Romans 12, one in view of God's mercies, present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to the Lord.

This is your spiritual act of worship. So as we have this high priest doing this for us, what are we to do? We are to trust and believe in him. And if we trust in him, then we will listen to him and we will obey him.

Now what said a little bit later on, this is what we're going to get to later in the week. But we understand that God's law did not disappear. Okay. It didn't, it didn't just vanish after Christ fulfilled all of these types and shadows that were talked about in the law.

But what would come with this better covenant is that the law of God would be written on our hearts. It's not something that's outside of us, nor is it something impossible for us to do, but now it is written on our hearts and our desire is for it to obey what God has commanded to us.

Look again, kind of looking ahead at verse 10, 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 is fellow citizen and everyone is brother saying, know the Lord for all will know me from the least to the greatest of them.

And that's us. Now we know the Lord. And that we belong to the Lord is recognized by the fact that we know him and desire to obey him and walk in his ways. And in his precepts, we cannot gain access to God by any work of ours.

It is only by the work of Christ in what he has accomplished. But now in light of that, let us live as living sacrifices unto him. Let's conclude there. And we come back into our study of Hebrews eight tomorrow.

Heavenly father, we thank you for all of this goodness that you have shown to us in Christ, this better covenant with better promises. So help us to live in these ways today, not go after things in this world and not think that there is some other thing that we need to do or some other way that we can accomplish to bring us into your presence.

We have been brought into fellowship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord. May we walk in his ways today. It's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen.

Thank you for listening to, when we understand the text with pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .tt .com and click on the gift tab in the top right corner of the page.

Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study. When we understand the text.