Hebrews 8
The new and improved promise.
The letter of Hebrews was written to first century Jewish Christians. They were familiar with the ceremony and practices in the temple. The writer was reminding them that Jesus is the new way of life. What he brings to them and us is a vast improvement over the past.
“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.
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[b]:
“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.”
The new covenant will include God writing his laws on our minds and hearts. And….
“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.”[c]
13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.”
The new and improved way to God is through Jesus. We no longer need the flesh and blood of animals to pay for our sins. We have the sacrifice of Jesus. We no longer rely on a line of men just as fallen as we are to go to God for us. We can go to Jesus who is our priest and our mediator and our sacrifice. He lived the human experience and did not miss the mark, he did not sin.
Jesus, he knows us, knows what it’s like to be us, loved us enough to die for us and stands before God the father on our behalf.
Repeat after me: Jesus loves me. That is what this book is all about.
Peter’s Posts 