A New High Priest and a New Covenant - Wow!

The writer of Hebrews continues his emphasis on the superior priesthood of Jesus. In chapter 8, his focus is on the foundation of Jesus’ superior priesthood which is a superior covenant proclaimed in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Take a moment to savor this most precious passage, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

The New Covenant is much superior to the Mosaic Covenant because it is based on grace not works. The old covenant was tied to obedience but was not able to effect a change in the hearts of people. The New Covenant can change hearts because God’s promises are unilateral. God effects change through the finished work of His Son, our great Savior and High Priest.

The promises are almost too good to be true but they are! They work on the inside instead of the outside. They empower the people of God to live like people of God. Carefully consider the better promises of the New Covenant revealed by Jeremiah:

• An inner desire to obey God - Charles Spurgeon, Is it not a wonderful thing that God shall ever make it as natural for us to be holy as once it was natural for us to be unholy, and that then we shall find it as much a joy to serve Him as once we thought it a pleasure not to serve Him, when, indeed, to deny ourselves shall cease to be self-denial?

• A personal relationship with God - Donald Hagner, The law is internalized, and a new intimacy of relationship between God and his people becomes possible.

• A personal knowledge of God - Douglas Mangum, No longer would any of God’s people need to seek out an expert or someone from an elite class of society to experience intimate, personal knowledge of God. All from the least to the greatest are able to know him.

• Forgiveness of sins - Ray Stedman, Any sin called to our attention by our conscience needs only to be acknowledged to be set aside. Provision for God to do so justly rests on the death of Christ on our behalf, not on our sense of regret or our promise to do better.

These are wonderful promises made by God to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Some believe the New Covenant is not for the Church while others believe the Church is spiritual Israel. I believe Warren Wiersbe rightly declares that the New Covenant is for Jew and Gentile, All who are "in Christ" share in the New Covenant which was purchased on the cross. Today the blessings of the New Covenant are applied to individuals. When Jesus comes in glory to redeem Israel, then the blessings of the New Covenant will be applied to that beleaguered nation.

Jewish Christians were starting to wonder if Jesus Christ was worth the threat of persecution, why not turn back to Judaism and the Mosaic Covenant? The writer forcefully declared that the New Covenant is worth it. Jesus, the superior High priest of the New Covenant, alone can take one beyond religion and into personal relationship with the living God. Amazing promises were made by God and they are being experienced every day by those who have placed faith in Christ alone.

I encourage you to join the study of Hebrews under the Books of the Bible tab. We have a better priest and better promises. We are blessed!