PM Home Bible Study Group; June 24, 2015
Hebrews 8:7-13
Theme: In the light of the Lord Jesus’ High Priestly Mediatorship, the writer highlights the glories of the New Covenant.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated.)
In our last study, we considered the ministry of the Lord Jesus as our High Priest—one who does not serve under the priestly order of the Old Covenant established by Moses, but under the priestly order of Melchizedek. As the writer of Hebrews says; “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises” (Hebrews 8:6).
This leads the writer to go on and speak in greater detail of the New Covenant. Quoting from Jeremiah 31:31-34, he writes;
For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded 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 in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away (Hebrews 8:7-13).
So; to fully appreciate the ministry that the Lord Jesus performs to us as our High Priest, we need to spend some time understanding the New Covenant that the Lord Jesus administers on our behalf.
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First, let’s consider the Old Covenant. It was established by God with the people of Israel shortly after the time of the Exodus. As they stood before God at Mount Sinai, He told them;
“You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:4-6).
The terms of that covenant—as it concerned Israel—was then given to them in the form of God’s law. This law was written in the Book of the Covenant, and ratified by Moses through blood. As it says in Exodus 24:7-8;
Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words” (Exodus 24:7-8).
But it was a covenant that the people continually broke. They did not keep true to their terms of the agreement. There was no fault to be found in the covenant of God, or in His law. Rather, the fault was found in the people with whom the covenant was made—people who did not keep God’s law.
And yet, it’s clear from the Scriptures that God had a plan for His people—one that was established long ago. And that plan was the New Covenant. It was established on better promises. In the passage that we’re studying this evening, the writer of Hebrews quotes the promise of this New Covenant from the prophet Jeremiah. But it is also spoken of in other places in almost the same words. In Ezekiel 36:22-32 for example—and in almost the same words that were spoken in Jeremiah 31—God said;
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!”’” (Ezekiel 36:22-32).
This New Covenant is called by a couple of other names in Scripture. It is called “an everlasting covenant”, for example, to show that it is one that—unlike the Old Covenant—will endure and will be perpetual. In Jeremiah 32:40, God promises this about Israel:
“And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me” (Jeremiah 32:40; see also Isaiah 61:8).
In Jeremiah 50:5, it’s promised that the people of Israel will one day respond by saying,
“Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord
In a perpetual covenant
That will not be forgotten” (Jeremiah 50:5).
It is also called “a covenant of peace”; because as a result of it, God’s people finally enjoy peace with Him and He with them. In Ezekiel 34:25, God promises of Israel, “I will make a covenant of peace with them . . .” That this covenant is the same as the “everlasting covenant” is shown from the promise of Ezekiel 37:26; “Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them . . .” Consider what God says to His people in Isaiah 54:8-10;
“With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment;
But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,”
Says the Lord, your Redeemer.
For this is like the waters of Noah to Me;
For as I have sworn
That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,
So have I sworn
That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the Lord, who has mercy on you (Isaiah 54:8-10).
The reason that the people would stay true to this covenant—whereas they had failed in the first—will be because of the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. He is very much involved in this New Covenant. In Ezekiel’s prophecy of the dry bones, God made this promise concerning the new life He gives to His people Israel:
“I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it” (Ezekiel 37:14).
In Isaiah 59:21, God says;
“As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore” (Isaiah 59:21).
And perhaps the most important thing for us to notice in this New Covenant is that it is embodied in the Person of Jesus Christ Himself—the promised Messiah. In Isaiah 42:6, God the Father makes this promise to the Messiah:
“I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness,
And will hold Your hand;
I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the Gentiles . . .” (Isaiah 42:6).
Note that the Lord Jesus is, Himself, given as a covenant to the people—and not only to the people of Israel, but also beyond them to the Gentiles. In Isaiah 49:8-9, God promises to Him;
“In an acceptable time I have heard You,
And in the day of salvation I have helped You;
I will preserve You and give You
As a covenant to the people,
To restore the earth,
To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages;
That You may say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves’” (Isaiah 49:8-9a).
Jesus very consciously presented Himself as the Minister of this New Covenant through the sacrifice of His blood. In His last supper with His disciples, just before going to the cross, He told them; “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” Matthew 26:28; see also Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20). And we today are called upon—as followers of Jesus—to accept His sacrifice for us as the ratification of the New Covenant. In fact, every time we enjoy the Communion Meal together, we are saying ‘yes’ to the New Covenant. In the passage that we, as a church, often read just before partaking of the Communion Meal, we find Paul’s words to the Corinthians:
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
The Apostle Paul taught us to live under God’s grace in the light of the New Covenant. He contrasted the New with the Old in this say:
For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all (Galatians 4:24-26).
He viewed that Old Covenant as a covenant that kills through the letter of the law; but the New Covenant as a covenant that gives life through the Spirit. And he saw himself and the preachers of the gospel as ministers of this New Covenant:
And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:4-6).
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So; with this background in mind, let’s now consider what the writer of Hebrews tells us about this glorious New Covenant.
First note . . .
I. THE NEED FOR THE NEW COVENANT (vv. 7-9).
A. The writer is writing, of course, to Jewish Christians who would have been very familiar with Old Covenant realities. But all his talk about a ‘new’ one must had got them to thinking about why it was needed. He explained, “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.” It’s important to affirm in this that the “fault” of the Old Covenant was not with the covenant itself. Paul explained it well in Romans 7:
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good (Romans 7:7-13).
The ‘fault’ with the Old Covenant, then, was in the people with whom it was made. They could not keep the terms of it; and needed to be under a New Covenant that could be fulfilled for us by Another. As he said in Romans 8:3-4;
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:3-4).
B. Affirming, then, the need for a New Covenant, the writer quotes from that primary ‘New Covenant’ scripture passage in Jeremiah 31; and writing of the people of Israel under the Old Covenant, he says;
Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord (Hebrews 7:8-9).
Note that, in this, God shows great mercy. He could have simply destroyed the disobedient, covenant-breaking people of Israel with whom He had made the covenant; and He would have been absolutely just in doing so, because they didn’t keep true to it. But instead, He established a New Covenant—one that was “established on better promises” (Hebrews 8:6). What a merciful God He is!
Note next, then . . .
II. THE TERMS OF THE NEW COVENANT (vv. 10-12).
We can identify three specifics of this New Covenant—and because they have their basis in the gracious work of God, we can say that they make this covenant “unconditional”. The Old Covenant was conditioned on the obedience of the people—which is why it failed. But of this New Covenant, God specifies the following:
A. It will be a covenant in which the people themselves are changed. God says; “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 in their mind and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (v. 10). In the Old Covenant, the people’s relationship with God was conditioned on their obeying the strict letter of the law—a law of hand-written requirements that was contrary to themselves (Colossians 2:14). But in the New Covenant, God doesn’t simply change His law so that they can keep it. Rather, He changes them so they can keep His law. They are not under the burden of the letter of the law, but are led instead by the indwelling Holy Spirit to keep the law on the basis of an internal transformation. As Paul wrote;
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God (Romans 8:12-14).
B. It will be a covenant in which a Levitical priesthood is no longer needed. God says, “None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them” (v. 11). Theologically, we would call this the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer. Each man or woman in Christ is now able to know God intimately on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ. The apostle Peter spoke of the realities of this New Covenant when he said;
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10).
C. Finally, it will be a covenant in which total forgiveness of sin is given. God promises, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (v. 12). No longer will sacrifices and offerings of animals and blood be needed; because the requirements for full atonement are fulfilled in Christ. As Paul wrote;
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace . . . (Ephesians 1:3-7).
There is now “no condemnation” for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1).
That leads us to . . .
III. THE EFFECT OF THE NEW COVENANT (v. 13).
The writer of Hebrews now offers this word: “In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away (v. 13). The old is gone. The new has come. There’s no need to cling to what God has taken away. As Paul put it in 2 Corinthians;
But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious (2 Corinthians 3:7-11).
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This New Covenant is a promise to Israel. It’s important to remember that. But it’s also important to remember that we have been graciously grafted into that covenant through faith in Jesus. One day, Israel itself will enjoy the full blessings of it. As Paul wrote in Romans 11:25-32;
For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”
Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all (Romans 11:25-32).
Let’s live faithfully, then, as New Covenant people under the New Covenant priesthood of our High Priest Jesus Christ!