10-19-12. Hebrews 8:1-13. JESUS: HIGH PRIEST OF A NEW COVENANT-my devotional

Key Verse: 8:6                                                                                            Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF

“But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.”

Dear God. Thank you for blessing this week thus far. Thank you for being with us. I thank you for helping my kids to find Christian groups that they can all be part of outside of Sunday worship service. May they all grow in their faith and in their walk with you. Thank you for upholding the cheerleaders from Texas. They can continue using Bible verses at games. May our free speech be protected in this country.  Please grant me one word to hold onto as I study these daily bread devotionals from Hebrews. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: Shadows and Reality (1-6).

Verses 1-6, “Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ² and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being. ³ 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. ⁴ If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. ⁵ 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.”⁶ But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.”

At the writing of Hebrews, the temple, with the priests giving gifts, carrying out ministry and mediating the old covenant, was going strong. The Roman General Pomey entered theTemplein 63 BC. Here is an account of what he found,

“Pompey entered theTempleinJerusalemafter conquering the city while inJudea. Josephus writes of this event:

“Of the Jews there fell twelve thousand; but of the Romans very few. Absalom, who was at once both uncle and father-in-law to Aristobulus, was taken captive; and no small enormities were committed about the temple itself, which, in former ages, had been inaccessible, and seen by none; for Pompey went into it, and not a few of those that were with him also, and saw all that which was unlawful for any other men to see, but only for the high priests. There were in that temple the golden table, the holy candlestick, and the pouring vessels, and a great quantity of spices; and besides these there were among the treasures two thousand talents of sacred money; yet did Pompey touch nothing of all this, on account of his regard to religion; and in this point also he acted in a manner that was worthy of his virtue. The next day he gave order to those that had the charge of the temple to cleanse it, and to bring what offerings the law required to God; and restored the high priesthood to Hyrcanus…” (Ant.XIV.IV.4)

http://endued.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/pompey-enters-the-temple/

Tacitus entered the Temple in 70 A.D. ““…he went into the holy place of the temple, with his commanders, and saw it, with what was in it, which he found to be far superior to what the relations of foreigners contained, and not inferior to what we ourselves boasted of and believed about it;” (Wars VI.V.7)

The temple was a great place. But it was not the place where Jesus was to minister. Yes, Jesus is our High Priest, but the temple he serves in is not a temple made by human hands. The temple he serves in is a temple before the throne of God. Jesus is carrying out his ministry in the true tabernacle set up by the Lord in heaven. His ministry, his sacrifice of himself, and the covenant he mediates are all far superior. As the day grows brighter, the shadows recede. Now those shadows are gone. We see Jesus for who he truly is. He is the perfect High Priest, offering up sacrifices that bring us in to the new Covenant with God. We have eternal life in the Kingdom of heaven, because of what Jesus has done and is doing. I pray that the young people of this nation may know what Jesus, their high priest has done for them and commit their lives to him.

Part 2. Old and New Covenants (7-13).

Verses 7-13, “⁷ For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. ⁸ But God found fault with the people and said: “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. ⁹ It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors 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. ¹⁰ This is the covenant I will establish with the people 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. ¹¹ No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. ¹² For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”¹³ By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.”

God found fault in the old covenant because God’s people did not remain faithful to it. God planned a new covenant, prophesied by Jeremiah (in Jeremiah 30). This new covenant could not fail, as it did not depend on people and what they do, but on God. In this covenant he writes his laws on our minds and hearts. He is our God and we are his people. He forgives wickedness and does not remember our sins anymore. Since a superior covenant has come, the old one is obsolete.

I thank God. He made a covenant with us that can not fail. It is because it is not based on what we do for God but it is based on what God does for us. How refreshing! It takes the pressure off of me because I can not be faithful to the old covenant. I have a great tendency to be a law breaker. I can not be faithful to God day after day for the rest of my life. There is just no way. I will fall away from the Lord very quickly. That means that I will have no peace in my heart and only a fearful expectation of judgment. I would only cover up my failings and live in self righteous justification. But my heart is now free because of this new covenant. All other religious systems place the on us on us, we must stand on our own strength. But an honest assessment of our own humanity tells us that this is fleeting and weak. Only Jesus and the New Covenant through the Gospel can truly free our souls. Our consciences can be set free with no “cover ups”; “no denials”; “no self-justifications”; no condemnation, where our regrets are changed to God’s sovereignty. Can you image a life in which our inner psyches are set free like this? We can actually walk with the Lord, in love and in truth in the freedom of the Gospel. We truly are a new kind of people created by God.

Prayer: Father, thank you for Jesus and the new covenant he mediates. Help me trust in him today.

One Word: Jesus mediates a superior covenant