SCRIPTURE: HEBREWS 8
THE HIGH PRIEST OF A NEW COVENANT (vs. 1-13)
We have a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.
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. If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 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.” 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 promise
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 Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, ” declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel 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. 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. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”: By calling this covenant “new”, he had made the first one obsolete and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.
THOUGHTS: (From Life Application Study Bible)
There is a comparison between the old and the new covenant. The old covenant was the covenant of law between God and Israel. The new covenant is the covenant of grace – Christ’s offer to forgive our sins and bring us to God through his sacrificial death. This covenant goes beyond Israel and Judah to include all the Gentile nations. It is new in application because it is written on our heart and in our mind. It offers a new way to forgiveness, not through animal sacrifice but through faith in Christ.
Under God’s new covenant, God’s law is inside us. It is no longer an external set of rules and principles. The Holy Spirit reminds us of Christ’s words, activates our conscience, influences our motives and desires and makes you want to obey Him.