The Jews had revelations given to them from God through the old prophets including Moses during the Exodus from Egypt. Many years later Jesus Christ came to earth through His incarnation teaching a new and expanded message of salvation.
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Hebrews 1:1-3 ESV)
A new perspective on our relationship with God
Indicating the relationship of Jesus to the heavenly Father, we note from the above verse:
1. God now spoke to His people directly by his Son.
2. God appointed Jesus Christ heir of all things.
3. God created the world, including His people through Christ “whom also he created the world” (vs. 2).
4. Christ “is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature”—I want to emphasize exact imprint of the mind, character, power and being of His Father.
5. Christ “upholds the universe by the word of his power”—sustains the entire universe by the command of his power.
Christ’s all-encompassing, and all-commanding power was and remains the same because he is God, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Christ’s participation in the godhead was validated by His miracles to heal, raise the dead and calm the seas. He is far greater than the prophets of old.
Jehovah Witnesses and Muslims claim Jesus was only a prophet and a man, not conceding to the fact that he is God. The portrayal of Christ in Hebrews adds to the facts regarding the deity of Christ and compares with the letter of Paul to the Colossians:
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven”. (Colossians 1:15-20 NIV)
We also see this in the Gospel of John, the first chapter:
“He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made”. (John 1: 2-3 ESV)
When we acknowledge that Jesus Christ is God we can understand why Jesus has the authority to be our mediator on earth, between mankind and His Father, demonstrated when he created all mankind by directing His power over the universe.
The High Priestly Ministry of Christ
Since the fall of man in the garden of Eden, “death has passed unto all men” because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) Man is disconnected from God and needed our Lord Jesus Christ to show us the way to return to Him.
The entire work of Christ is to mediate our reunification to his Father. He achieves this as our High Priest, seated in the place of highest honour in heaven, at God’s right hand. God gave Jesus the seat of universal authority when He said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (vs.13)
This place at God’s right hand belonged to Christ because he was more than just a high priest; he is God’s Son. Until Christ the Jewish priestly ministry advocated with God on behalf sinful man—it was only a representation or shadow of what was to come in Christ. Until Christ arrived on the scene it was only to “serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things” (vs. 8:5). Christ’s ministry is the reality which the shadow-type pointed to.
The ceremonies of sacrificing animals to atone for man’s sin was only a dim illustration of what was coming—only theological symbols of the final great significance of Christ’s work to redeem man as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” as the apostle John pointed out.
Christ, as our High Priest, in lieu of the animal-type offering, made the real and effective sin-offering. He offered his own life to God in our place—the perfect gift that could never be surpassed. “He sacrificed Himself on the cross” (Hebrews 7:27 ESV).
Christ’s sacrifice is all-sufficient; that is, all sins are covered in his once-for-all offering to God. Therefore, his role as priest, his sacrifice, and his service to God all surpass the symbolic plan under the old covenant. The book of Hebrews does not try to describe heaven; instead, it shows how Christ serves in a better, more personal way than any other priest could.
The emphasis on the shadow ministry of the old covenant Jewish practices in the temple are clearly noted as being replaced entirely by the ministry of Christ as our High Priest: “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. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second” (vss. 8:6-7)
Jesus’ ministry emphasized a shift from an old covenant methodology of getting right with God using tradition and symbolism, to an entirely new new covenant (agreement with God) which is superior for several reasons.
What the New Covenant (NC) achieved to supersede the old:
• fulfills, ends, and replaces the priest’s’ ministry and the old covenant;
• Christ’s ministry lasts for eternity, because Jesus is High Priest forever;
• Jesus dies on the cross, and thus the NC requires no further sacrifices;
• Jesus accomplished what all the other sacrifices could not do—it truly atones for our sin;
• The death of Christ provided a substitute death taking the place for our eternal death, ransomed humanity giving us the opportunity to have a personal relationship with God (see vss. 8:10–11).
The old covenant was an imperfect shadow in the progression leading to the reality found in Christ: “if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second” (vs. 8:7) The need for a second covenant implies that the first covenant was faulty. Does this mean that God ordered Moses and Aaron (head of the Levitical High Priesthood) to begin a way of worship that was mistaken or poorly contracted? No, but the old covenant was in every way preparatory for and pointing to the dynamic of the new covenant (see 7:11–19; also Romans 3–4; 9–11).
The new covenant was prophesied long before Christ’s introduction of the New Covenant as coming to replace the old covenant. The following is a quote from the prophet Jeremiah:
“For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with 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” (Hebrews 8:8-9 ESV; cited from Jeremiah 31:31)
Since the people continually broke God’s covenant, God found fault with the old covenant. A part of the covenant involved keeping God’s laws; however, the Israelites chose to disobey (see Jeremiah 7:23–24). When they failed to keep the requirements imposed on them, they broke the covenant. God, however, promised a new covenant that would not be filled with ceremonial laws about sacrifices and other external responsibilities. Rather, it would bring about spiritual reconciliation by producing a change in people’s inner beings by being born again of God’s Holy Spirit.
The old covenant was replaced because it was not eternal, not sufficient to completely deal with sin, and could not provide sinful humanity with a relationship with God. In its time, however, the old covenant was necessary which would lead us to Christ—teaching man that he cannot be saved by trying to be good, but by allowing the Spirit of Christ to dwell within the heart.
Why the new covenant replaced the new covenant?
The old covenant needed to be replaced by a better covenant, as was prophesied by Jeremiah and quoted in the following verses. Hebrews 8:10–12 quotes Jeremiah 31:31–34, which is the longest Old Testament quotation in the New Testament. Jeremiah prophesied about a future time when a better covenant would be established, because the first covenant, given to Moses at Mount Sinai, was imperfect and provisional for its time.
The Israelites could not maintain faithfulness to it because their hearts had not been truly changed. This change of heart required Jesus’ full sacrifice to remove sin and offer us the Holy Spirit’s permanent indwelling. When we turn our lives over to Christ, the Holy Spirit instils in us a desire to obey God in a personal relationship with him, and this is accomplished under the new covenant/agreement. Jeremiah prophesied of the coming change in the covenants—the new to replace the old.
“For 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 neighbour and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more”. (Hebrews 8:10-12 ESV; cited from Jeremiah 31:32-34)
The new covenant made the old covenant entirely obsolete.
When Christ died on the cross the curtain between the Most Holy places was ripped in two during an earthquake indicating the end of the old temple’s sacrificial services: “…behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split” (Matthew 27:51 ESV)
“In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13 ESV) The old one was fulfilled by Christ and completed by him; therefore, it was no longer needed. Old systems, old sacrifices, and the old priesthood now have no value in securing God’s approval.
Under God’s new covenant, God’s law is inside us. The 10 commandment laws are expanded by Christ in the new covenant. The Spirit of the expanded law encompasses and admits that all these ten moral laws were “holy just and good” (Romans 7: 12 KJV) The sacrificial ceremonial laws were changed, not the moral law of God which is His standard. Most great theologians such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Owens, and John Wesley have agreed with this theological premise.
For example, most agree, that Christ’ teaching that “to look at a woman to lust for her”, is the initiating intention to break the law “do not commit adultery” in your heart, which is where the new covenant is directed by the Spirit.
It is no longer an external set of rules and principles. The Holy Spirit reminds us of Christ’s words, activates our consciences, influences our motives and desires, and makes us want to obey. Now we desire to do God’s will with all our heart and mind.
The new covenant has four provisions as noted in Hebrews 8: 10-12:
1. The new covenant provides inward change: “I will put my laws in their minds … I will write them on their hearts.” This means having a new “heart,” and with it a new sense of intimacy with God where he is known as Father and where Christians are known as children of God and heirs. This new heart opens the way for people’s relationship with God to be realized at a personal level (not just through earthly priests as intermediaries). Having these laws written on our hearts motivates us to want to obey God.
2. The new covenant provides intimacy with God: “I will be their God, and they will be my people.” This reveals a positive, close relationship between God and his people. In the first covenant, people continually failed to live up to this relationship. In the new covenant, this relationship is secured through Jesus Christ. Although the promise was always there, it now has a newer and richer meaning because of the provision of Christ offering us forgiveness and redemption from sin and the hope of eternal life (versus eternal death).
3. The new covenant provides knowledge of God: “Everyone, from the least to the greatest, will already know me.” The new covenant brings a new relationship between people and God, making each believer a priest (1 Peter 2:5, 9). Every believer has access to God through prayer. Every believer can understand God’s saving promises as revealed in the Bible because he or she has God as a living presence via the Holy Spirit in his or her heart. There will still be the need for teachers, but every believer will be able to know God—not just priests or a select few.
4. The new covenant provides complete forgiveness from sins: “I will forgive their wrongdoings, and I will never again remember their sins.” People of the old covenant had forgiveness of sins (see Exodus 34:6–8; Micah 7:18–20), but they had experienced an incomplete, not lasting forgiveness as demonstrated by the ongoing need for daily and annual sacrifices for sins to be made for their sins. In the new covenant, sin and its effect of separating people from God are eliminated. God wipes out the memory of sin and reckons sin as if it had never occurred. Sin’s impact on our lives is completely overcome, making it possible for believers to receive the promised blessing. There is no longer any barrier to our relationship with God.
Only relationship-based motives of faith and love towards God through Jesus Christ brings about a true righteousness that could not be known under the old covenant. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19 NIV)
Understanding the shift from the old to the new covenant is a vital truth misunderstood by many well-meaning Christians. It emphasizes a shift from salvation by works, to salvation by faith in Jesus Christ provided by His sacrifice for our sins, replacing the old shadow animal sacrifices, symbolic of the true and sufficient sacrifice “once and for all” achieved in Christ. He ministers to us via the Holy Spirit with an emphasis on living by faith.
Be assured beloved that “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever” (Hebrews 6:19-20 ESV)