Hebrews 8-10

[These are notes I used in a class on Hebrews sometime in the late 1990s at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX.]

Knowing Scripture
A Better Covenant, Sanctuary, and Sacrifice

Reading Assignment: Hebrews 8-10
INTRODUCTION
As we have seen the theme of Hebrews is to show the superiority of new covenant Christianity to old covenant Judaism. The new covenant is not a radical break with the old covenant; rather it is the fulfillment and realization of all the old covenant anticipated and foreshadowed. With the coming of Christ, the seed promised to Eve (Gen 3:15) and Abraham (Gen12:7) had arrived. The bud of promise in the old covenant blossomed into the flower of the new covenant.
In chapters 1-7, the writer of Hebrews has shown the superiority of Christ to all the major characters of the old covenant era. Christ is God’s final and ultimate prophet (1:1-2), superior to angels (1:4-14), superior to Moses (3:1-19) and superior to Aaron/the Levitical priesthood (4:14-5:10) because he is a priest in the order of Melchizedek (7:1-28). In chapters 8-10, the writer goes on to show that Christ is superior to the old covenant ministry and patterns of worship. He has instituted a new and better covenant (Heb. 8; Lk. 22:7-38), serves in a better sanctuary (9:1-14), and offered up a better sacrifice (9:15-10:18). This section of Hebrews is difficult to understand because it is so steeped in the imagery and language of the old covenant. The writer presupposes some familiarity with the Old Testament, especially the Pentateuch (Gen. – Deut.). However, these chapters are also a delight to study because they so clearly point to Christ who has accomplished our redemption.

A BETTER COVENANT
The old covenant was glorious but it was a fading, temporary, and derivative glory (2 Cor. 3:1-18). The radiance of Christ’s covenant far outshines any previous covenantal administration. Comparing the old covenant to the new covenant is like comparing the moon to the sun. Just as the moon is only a dim copy and has no glory of its own, but depends on the sun for its light, so the old covenant could only reflect the splendor and majesty of the coming covenant. There was nothing inherently wrong with the old covenant itself; the fault was with the people who broke the covenant and failed to trust in the realities to which it pointed (8:8).
The writer of Hebrews tells us that because Jesus has received a better ministry than old covenant priests, he is the mediator of a better covenant with better promises. Hebrews 8:8-12 quotes Jeremiah 31:31-34, showing us the two aspects of this better covenant:

• First, the law of God will be written on the minds and hearts of God’s people. Under the old covenant, the law was written on tables of stone, but with the fuller outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the law will be inscribed internally, thus giving the people of God a new power for obedience. In other words, the new covenant will bear the fruit of faithfulness the previous covenant so often lacked, producing deeper intimacy and knowledge of God (8:8-11).
• Secondly, the new covenant will bring forgiveness. God will fully and finally blot out the sins of his people and remember them no more. The old covenant sacrifices were repeated, continually reminding the people of their sin but now Christ has once for all accomplished our redemption (8:12, 9:12, 10:2-10).

BETTER SANCTUARY
Old Covenant worship took place in an earthly tabernacle, and later an earthly temple. There were daily offerings, weekly offerings, monthly offerings, yearly festival offerings, and special offerings that were performed in the tabernacle by priests. The tabernacle served as God’s dwelling place, or sanctuary, on earth. God’s presence was concentrated in the Holy of Holies, inside the tabernacle. Hebrews 8:5 tells us this earthly tabernacle was only a copy or shadow of God’s heavenly dwelling place. All the furniture of the tabernacle and the rituals connected with it were designed by God to prefigure Christ (9:1-14).
The high priest of the people under the old covenant would enter the Holy of Holies, the inner room of the tabernacle, once a year on the Day of Atonement (see Lev. 16). There he would offer a blood sacrifice for his sins and the sins of the people. But these sacrifices in the earthly tabernacle merely provided external cleansing; they could not “clear the conscience of the worshiper” (9:7-10). The sacrifice of Jesus Christ, however, was offered in a heavenly sanctuary and does cleanse us from sin (9:11-14, 24). Jesus Christ now serves “in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man” (8:2). When Jesus died on the cross, the veil separating the inner sanctuary of the Holy of Holies was torn in two (see Mt. 27:51), thus opening up a way sanctuary of the Holy of Holies was torn in two (see Mt. 27:51), thus opening up a way for us to enter. Because Christ has entered into the heavenly sanctuary as our priest and mediator, we may follow him into the presence of God (10:19-25).
The earthly tabernacle of the old covenant has now given way to heavenly tabernacle of the new covenant. God made this clear when he destroyed the earthly temple in 70 A.D. The writer wants his Jewish reader to see it is foolish to settle for a replica of heaven when you can enter heaven itself. The church must realize her privilege and right to enjoy God’s presence. Worshippers in the new covenant can now “draw near to God” because Christ shed his blood for us and continues to intercede for us.

A BETTER SACRIFICE
Old covenant sacrifices were repeated regularly, showing their inadequacy. Priests stood in the temple daily performing ceremonies (10:1, 4, 11). The blood of animals could not pay for sins, but only serve as a continual reminder of sin (10:4).
The blood of Jesus, however, has accomplished what all the previous sacrifices could only foreshadow. The animal sacrifices portrayed and illustrated the way of atonement, for “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (9:22). But now the blood of Christ “obtained eternal redemption” for us and will “cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death” (9:12, 14). Jesus was able to pay for our sin because he was fully God, and therefore sinless, (10:7; 7:26-27) and because he was fully man, and therefore one of us (10:5). Jesus, our high priest, offered himself up as a sacrificial victim on the altar of the cross, to seal our forgiveness. His death was a once for all event, effectively accomplishing the salvation of God’s people and paying for their sins, past, present, and future (9:12, 26, 28; 10:10).
Because Christ’s work is complete he is now seated at the right hand of God and waits for his enemies to be made his footstool (10:12-14). The benefits of Christ’s cross are given to us, who live nearly 2,000 years later, but the benefits of the cross were in some sense retroactive, saving believers who lived under the old covenant as well (9:15; see also Rom. 3:25). In other words, even believers in the old covenant era were saved by the power of the new covenant.

CONCLUSION
The old covenant administration was never an end in itself. The entire structure of the old covenant (the tabernacle/temple; worship ceremonies of sacrifices and cleansings; the priesthood; the land; etc.) was simply a blueprint of the gospel, illustrating Christ’s person and work. The ceremonial system was a tutor intended to lead the people to the coming Redeemer God had promised (see Gal. 3:24). Christ has now accomplished our salvation by his death once for all on the cross. As a result God’s people live under a better covenant, with better promises and worship God in a better sanctuary.