Hebrews 8

Hebrews 8:1-6

Christ’s Heavenly Priesthood - The Implications If the Old Testament sacrifices have been forever abolished, as they have, –If the carnal ordinances have been forever put away, as they have, – If the temple and tabernacle have forever been destroyed by the hand of God, as they have, – If the ark of the covenant, the mercy-seat, and all things pertaining to carnal worship have been forever destroyed in accordance with God’s purpose, as they have, what is implied by all these things? What does this mean to us? The implications are obvious; but they are not just implications. Everything implied by these things is specifically stated in Holy Scripture by God the Holy Spirit. “Christ is the end of the law!” The High Priesthood of Christ fulfilled and forever brought to an end all the carnal ordinances of legal worship required under the Mosaic law (Colossians 2:11-23). The tabernacle, the temple, the priesthood, the priestly garments, the priestly service, the priestly sacrifices, holy days, sabbath keeping, the commandments, the whole thing has been brought to its fulfilment and finality by Christ (Romans 10:4). The worship of God has been radically altered. Divine worship is no longer an external, material thing, but an internal spiritual matter. The external is still important, but now the spiritual is radically pervasive. We do not worship God at specified holy places, or upon specified holy days, or under the rigors of legal bondage. We worship God in the Spirit. The believer’s life of faith in Christ is a life of worship (Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:31). All who are born of God live in the Spirit (Romans 8:1-17), walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:17-23), and worship in the Spirit (Philippians 3:3-10). The believer’s very acts of obedience to God are now, in Christ, by his merits and his blood, accepted of God as a sweet smelling sacrifice (Philippians 4:18; 1 Peter 2:5). Salvation is life in the Spirit. It is worshipping God in the totality of our beings. It is the continual consecration of our very lives to Christ. All true worshippers worship God in the Spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24; Philippians 3:3). Worshipping God in the Spirit makes crosses, religious pictures, images, and icons abhorrent. We count nothing holy but Christ. We acknowledge no priest but the Christ of God. We have no altar but Christ himself. We bring no sacrifice to God for atonement and acceptance with him but Christ. We observe no sabbath but the sabbath of faith, finding all our souls’ rest and a total cessation from work in the finished work of Christ. Christ alone is our Door of access to God. Christ alone is our Ark and Mercy-Seat. Salvation is doing business with God in the holy place. Worship is living for the glory of God. Worship is spiritual. It takes place in the heart.

Hebrews 8:7-13

“After This…” It is necessary for us to realize the importance of the Book of Hebrews. Here the Holy Spirit shows us how that all things relating to the carnal, ceremonial, outward, legal aspects of Jewish worship were both fulfilled and forever abolished by the gospel, by the coming of Christ, the accomplishment of redemption by his death at Calvary, his enthronement and exaltation as God’s King upon his holy hill of Zion, and the outpouring of His Holy Spirit upon the nations of the world. That is what this eighth chapter of Hebrews is about. In these 13 verses the Holy Spirit declares that God has abolished the old covenant by fulfilling its types and shadows, by bringing in the new. All the carnal, earthly priests of the Old Testament, all the laws given to Israel, and all the ceremonies of legal worship in the Mosaic age were ordained for and served only one purpose. – They pointed to Christ! They had no other function! In this gospel day, the Lord Jesus Christ has “obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises” (Hebrews 8:6). Our all-glorious Christ is the Mediator of a better covenant, established upon better promises. That better covenant, established upon better promises, is the covenant of grace, the new covenant. Why was this new covenant necessary? That question is answered in Hebrews 8:7-13. The Old Covenant The old covenant had to be replaced by a new covenant, because the old covenant was faulty (Hebrews 8:7). That first covenant was the covenant of the Levitical priesthood. It was a covenant made with physical Israel and delivered to that nation by Moses. It was a typical covenant, only typical and altogether typical (Hebrews 7:11; Hebrews 7:18). The people with whom the old covenant of the law was made were typical of the true Israel of God, the church of God’s elect. The blessings promised in it were shadows, types and pictures, of good things to come. The sacrifices of it were pictures of Christ and his one great sacrifice for sin. The priests, the mediators of that covenant, were typical of Christ, our great High Priest. That old covenant was faulty, deficient, non-saving, non-effectual. It was weak and faulty simply because it was only typical. Its priests were all sinful men. Its sacrifices were only animals. Its offerings could never put away sin. If this covenant, its priests and sacrifices, laws and ceremonies, commandments and ordinances, could have redeemed and saved, there would have been no reason for Christ to come (Hebrews 10:1-4; Hebrews 10:9). The New Covenant The new covenant (Hebrews 8:8) of this Gospel age is the covenant of grace promised back in Jeremiah 31. Finding fault with the people, the priests, the sacrifices, and the ceremonies of the old covenant of the law, the Lord God said, “Behold, the days come, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” This is a direct quotation from Jeremiah 31:31-34. This prophetic passage is referred to again in precisely the same way in Hebrews 10:15-17. This covenant of grace is not called “a new covenant” because it is newly made, or of a new origin. We know that because this covenant is elsewhere called “the everlasting covenant.” It is a covenant made with Christ our covenant Surety before the foundation of the world (Hebrews 13:20; Revelation 13:8). It is called a new covenant because it is newly revealed in this Gospel age. – That which is revealed second was made first. It is called a new covenant, because it is always new and fresh. – It will never grow old, or give place to another. It is called a new covenant, because it gives the believer a new record, a new heart, a new nature, and a new spirit. Indeed, for those who are in Christ, those who are partakers of this new covenant, all things are new (2 Corinthians 5:17). Covenant of Grace This new, everlasting covenant is a covenant of pure, free, immutable grace in Christ. This is the covenant which gave David hope and confidence on his death bed (2 Samuel 23:5). This new, everlasting covenant is immutable and sure, its blessings are all infallibly secured to God’s elect, because this is a one-way covenant. It was made between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit before the worlds were made. In that sense it is a bilateral covenant. However, in so far as we are concerned, it is a unilateral covenant. Its blessings are secured by the will of God alone. This is what the Lord God declared from old eternity that he would do for all his people in this Gospel day by his free, sovereign, saving grace in Christ: –“I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people…I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:9-12). Rejoice!

Hebrews 8:9-13

Covenant Promises In these verses God the Holy Spirit gives us five, blessed covenant promises, promises and blessings of grace which the Lord our God declared from old eternity. These are promises “steadfast and sure” to all God’s elect, promises of grace flowing freely to chosen sinners, “according as God hath chosen us in Christ before the world began.” This is what the Lord God declared he would do for all his people in this Gospel day by his free, sovereign, saving grace in Christ. These are matters as infallibly secure to God’s elect as the very throne of God himself.

1. “I will put my laws in their minds and write them in their hearts.” – God’s laws here cannot possibly have reference merely to the moral law. We know that because God’s moral law is inscribed upon every man’s conscience by nature in creation (Romans 2:14-15; Romans 1:18-20). The laws of God here refer to the commandments of the Gospel, all the commands of Christ with respect to repentance, faith and godliness (1 John 3:23-24). Indeed, the whole Word of God is included. Saving grace gives the believer a genuine love for the whole of God’s Revelation and causes us to cherish it. These things are written not on tablets of stone, but on every believer’s heart and mind. Believers think on the things of God, meditate upon them, love his Word and his way, and walk in the light of his revealed will. “I love thy law, O Lord!” His commandments are not grievous, but precious to the renewed heart (Matthew 11:28-30; 1 John 5:1-4).
2. “I will be to them their God and they shall be my people.” – He who is our God is the God of all creation. He is the God of all men, all angels, and all devils. But this is a promise of special grace, special grace, indeed! Here God almighty promises that he is the God of his covenant people, just as he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus (John 17:21; 1 John 1:3). Yes, we who believe on Christ are his people in the sense that all mankind are his people; but this is a promise of grace. It goes far, far beyond man’s creature relationship to God. We are the sons of God, whom he loved distinctly and chose in Christ. We are the family of God (Romans 8:14-17; 1 John 3:1-3).
3. They “all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.” – Hebrews 1:1 sheds some light on this. In the Old Testament, God spoke to his people through the prophets and the priests. If a man wanted to know what the Lord had to say, he inquired of the prophet. If he wanted to offer a sacrifice, he went to the priest. That is not the case in this gospel age. Every believer has an unction from the Holy One (1 John 2:20). We all have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:14-16). All who are born of God are taught of God; and all who are taught of God are well-taught. They are taught to come to Christ for all things (John 6:44-45). – Every believer is a son of God by adoption. – Every believer is a student of the Word. – Every believer is taught of God. – Every believer is a priest to offer sacrifices of prayer and praise. – Every believer has the Spirit of God dwelling in him. – Every believer has the mind of Christ and discerns all things. The Lord Jesus today has given his church pastors and teachers that we may grow in grace through the ministry of the Word; but those pastors are not priests. All believers know the Lord, pray to the Lord, and walk with the Lord. In Christ, we are kings and priests unto God (Hebrews 4:14-16; Hebrews 10:19-22; Revelation 1:4-6).
4. “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness.” – This refers to our sin. All unrighteousness is sin. The phrase tells us that God will forgive our sins (1 John 1:8-10). God will pardon freely those to whom he is reconciled in Christ. This forgiveness of sin is more than an act of mercy. It is an act of justice. Christ has paid for our sins (1 John 2:1-2). When the Lord God forgives sin he is “faithful and just” in doing so.
5. “Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more.” – What a blessed promise of grace this is! God remembers our sins no more! All our sins of all kinds: – original and actual, before conversion and after conversion, God remembers them no more! They are cast into the depths of the sea. They are cast behind his back. They cannot be found – ever! Then, in Hebrews 8:13, the Holy Spirit tells us one last thing about the old covenant. Learn it and learn it well. – That old, carnal, legal covenant is gone forever! “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.” The establishing of the new covenant was the abolishment of the Levitical covenant. It served its day and purpose; but it is now taken away, never to be used again. As a garment rots and vanishes away, so that old garment of law and works has been put away forever (Galatians 5:1-6). “Christ is the end of the law!” “Children of God, O glorious calling! Surely His grace will keep us from falling! Passing from death to life at His call, Blessed salvation, once for all!”

Hebrews 8:13

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 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 (Galatians 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 (Colossians 2:6-23; Philippians 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; John 10:30-34; John 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.