December 11 Hebrews 8-10

December 11, 2014 

Hebrews 8-10 Jesus serves a better covenant!

The Old Covenant served its purpose. 

Through the tabernacle (the tent where priests offered sacrifices in the presence of the Lord), and later the temple (the building that took the place of the tabernacle), God’s people received a picture of sin and the atonement required to cover it. But there were problems with this. These atonements, these animal sacrifices, had to be offered repeatedly, for people kept sinning. And what’s more, the priest themselves were sinners, and were required to make offerings for their own repeated sins as well. 

The writer of Hebrews quotes a passage of hope from the Old Testament: The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel. (Hebrews 8:8 quoting Jeremiah 31:31) This New Covenant will be different from the old and will make possible a real change in people!

In Hebrews 9 and 10, we get the details of the new covenant. It includes a new temple (the temple of Jesus body), a more effective sacrifice (the blood of Jesus), a perfect priest (Jesus himself), and a real change in the people whose sins are being paid for, “cleansing our consciences from acts that lead to death!” (Hebrews 9:14). Where the Old Testament priests offered sacrifices every day, Jesus offered an effective sacrifice for sins once for all. Because of this, we need not sin any more (Hebrews 10:26); we need not be among those “who shrink back and are destroyed.” (Hebrews 10:39)

Praise the Lord of the New Covenant!

Your fellow traveler through the New Testament,

Pastor Gary