HEBREWS 8:6-13
JESUS, OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST, IS MEDIATOR OF THE NEW COVENANT.
In the name + of Jesus.
The old covenant between God and his people was very straight forward: “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today...” (Deuteronomy 11:26-28) The Lord had promised incredible blessing and continual favor upon Israel. He promised to be their God, and he was pleased to call Israel his people. However, the old covenant was flawed—but not because God was incapable of keeping his promises or unwilling to do it. It was flawed because of one word: “If.” If the Israelites would serve him exclusively, they would forever be the Lord's people. If the Israelites devoted themselves fully to the word of the Lord, he would continually bless them. There would be peace, comfort, and blessing if Israel would be faithful to the Lord. If.
When God blessed Israel so that life was cozy and cushy, Israel quickly forgot about the Lord. They turned aside to selfish pursuits. They deceived themselves with their worship rites which became empty gestures to God. Only when the Lord gave them over to their enemies or afflicted them with problems did they return to the Lord. You might think you would do better under the old covenant and collect all the blessings God promises. But you and I are no better. The old covenant does not prove how much good we should expect; it proves how much we are not good. If you devote yourself to doing all the good God demands, you will discover that even with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, you can't do it. If only our minds and our motives were not corrupted by sin. If only our sinful weakness would not be our downfall again. If only. If.
The old covenant reveals our sinfulness to us. It does not bring blessing; it results in a curse. Therefore, God resolved to establish a new covenant through his Son, Jesus. But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6) The first thing we recognize is that the new covenant is not a conditional covenant. It is not based on laws that we have to keep in order to get God's blessing. It is based on better promises. In fact, it is based completely on God's promises. God had promised that he will do all the work to establish his covenant. And since God does all the work, it will not fail. There will be no “if's” attached to it. It will be complete and perfect and flawless.
Jesus, our Great High Priest, is mediator of the new covenant. Since Jesus is both God and man, he is able to represent both parties in the covenant. As man, Jesus stands in for us. He keeps God's Law with his holy, innocent life. God's Law is good, and it shows us what a good person does. Since Jesus has kept all of God's Law, it shows that Jesus is good. In fact, flawless. When Jesus stood on trial before the Jewish courts, no one could find fault with him. When Jesus stood in the Roman court, many accusations were hurled at Jesus. But none stuck. Pilate announced Jesus' innocence no less than four times. But even more than that, God the Father found no fault in his own Son. This man lived the perfect obedient life which God demands. But since Jesus is true God, that innocence is rendered on behalf of all mankind. For, Jesus did not live for his own gain, but for yours.
Jesus, our Great High Priest, is mediator of the new covenant. Throughout the Old Testament, every covenant was ratified by blood. Animals were severed and the parties in the covenant passed through the blood trail to confirm the covenant between them. Jesus, who is both God and man, ratified this covenant by his own blood. The man, Jesus, was nailed to a cross where he shed his blood as one who is cursed for failing to keep the Law. As man, Jesus died under God's curse for sinners. But as God, Jesus' bloody death counts for all people. The innocent blood which Jesus shed answers for all our sins. Therefore, all your sins are covered. All your guilt is blotted out.
Jesus, our Great High Priest, is mediator of the new covenant. There are no “if's” attached to this covenant so that you would ever have to doubt whether you have kept up your end of it. There are no conditions. You cannot fail and mess it up. The writer to the Hebrews quoted the prophet Jeremiah to show that this was always God's plan. “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” (Hebrews 8:10-11)
Jesus, our Great High Priest, is mediator of the new covenant. In this new covenant, the Lord creates in you a clean heart which has been purified in Jesus' blood. He renews a right spirit within you which God enlightens and directs. When the Lord declares, “They shall not teach, ... saying, ‘Know the Lord’” (Hebrews 8:11), that does not mean we no longer need to devote ourselves to the word of the Lord. People who stop hearing the word of the Lord end up being deceived because they end up crafting a god which appeals to them and agrees with them. Their worship becomes an empty gesture to an imaginary god. Just as a builder needs to keep on looking at his plans to get his building right, so also we need to keep on hearing the word of the Lord to be sure we are focusing ourselves on the true God. The word of the Lord is necessary so we can know the Lord. That is where the Lord reveals who he is, what he desires, and what he does. Because God has given you his word, you know the Lord. He is Jesus, God in the flesh. He has established the new covenant by his innocent life and sacrificial death. He pledges, “I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12) These are the works of our Great High Priest, and these are the terms of the new covenant.
One of the major festivals under the old covenant was the Passover. It was an annual reminder that the Lord is the God who saves his people. Israelite families would feast together and remember that the blood of the lamb caused the angel to pass over their homes. By the blood of the lamb, death did not come to them. Many generations of Israelites knew that deliverance only as a story. They had not participated in that deliverance; they could only reminisce.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night he was betrayed, served as the mediator of the new covenant. It is no mere remembrance. This feast is the new covenant. By partaking in it, we receive all the benefits our Lord won for us. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? (1 Corinthians 10:16) We do not reenact a meal. We feast on the body and blood of Christ, given and shed for the forgiveness of sins. In this way, we participate in the body which bore our sin and in the blood which purifies us from all unrighteousness. We ingest the promise of God: “I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)
Jesus, our Great High Priest, is mediator of the new covenant. In this new covenant, Jesus does all the work: He pays for our sins. Jesus makes all the promises: He pardons our offenses. Jesus Christ does not put God's covenant into question with the word “If.” He makes God's covenant a sure declaration. He punctuates God's promises with “Amen!” and ratifies it with his precious blood.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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