His Incomparable Covenant
Jesus inaugurated the superior New Covenant through his Death and Resurrection, rendering the old covenant obsolete – Hebrews 8:6-13.
The
definitive “Word” that God has spoken “in the Son” surpasses
all past revelations made in “the prophets,” including Moses, the Great
Lawgiver. Only Jesus “achieved the purification of sins,” therefore, he “sat
down” at the right hand of God as our Great High Priest and instituted the long-promised
“New Covenant.”
The Letter to the Hebrews contrasts
the perpetual priesthood, New Covenant, and once-for-all sacrifice of
the Son with the multiple priests, obsolete covenant, and repeated
animal sacrifices of the Levitical code, all of which proved incapable of
purifying us from sin or “cleansing our conscience from
dead works to serve the living God” – (Hebrews 9:14).
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[Mountain Dawn - Photo by James Wheeler on Unsplash] |
God promised a new priesthood “after the order of Melchizedek.” This promise demonstrated that the Levitical Priesthood would never achieve the “purification of sins”; otherwise, there would have been no need for a new priesthood.
Under the “former” legislation, the
people received the Law with its regulations for sacrifices, the calendar, and priesthood.
The promise of a new order of priests also meant “a change of law” was necessary
- (Hebrews 7:11-14).
The Levitical Priesthood depended on lineal
descent and multiple generations of priests since all men die. In contrast, the
priesthood “after the order of Melchizedek” is perpetual since it is
based on the endless resurrection life of the “Son.” Jesus did not
become “our High Priest” until his sacrificial Death and Resurrection.
The Son was installed by the oath of God (“The
Lord swore and will not regret: You are a priest everlastingly”); therefore,
his priesthood is not “transmissible,” there will never be another
priest “after the order of Melchizedek.” Jesus is our one and only High
Priest.
Moreover, the Son is the “Guarantor of a
better covenant,” and Jesus is well able to save his “brethren” to
the uttermost since he “lives evermore to intercede for us” - (Psalm
110:4, Hebrews 7:15-25).
Unlike his predecessors, the Son “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens” and became the minister of “the Real Tabernacle,” and not of a temporary tent “made by hands.” He intercedes continually for us in the greater and true “tent pitched by God.”
The animal sacrifices of the Levitical Legislation
constituted only “glimpses and shadows of the heavenly realities,”
therefore, they could never cleanse the sinner’s “conscience” of the
stain of sin - (Hebrews 8:1-6, 9:14).
HIS BETTER COVENANT
Having attained a more distinguished
ministry, Jesus became the “mediator of a better covenant legislated on
better promises.” If the “first covenant” had been faultless,
there would be no need for a second covenant to replace it. Having found fault
with the former covenant, the Lord announced that He would “conclude a New Covenant”
with His people, one that would never require modification or replacement -
(Hebrews 8:7-13).
In the Letter, the “New Covenant” is
expressly stated not to be “according to the covenant” made at Sinai. It
is not a “renewed” version of the Law given through Moses, but an entirely new covenant
designed to achieve the “purification of sins” and inaugurated by the
Son himself rather than another in a long line of prophets, priests, or even the
angels of God:
- “For to which of the angels said he ever, ‘You are my Son. This day I have begotten you?’ And again, ‘I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son’?” – Hebrews 1:5).
Under the “New Covenant,” all
citizens of the Kingdom know God since His righteous requirements have been inscribed
on their hearts by the “Spirit of the living God.” As promised, God has
“circumcised our hearts” rather than our “foreskins” so we now
love Him with all our heart and soul as promised in the Law of Moses - (Deuteronomy
30:6, Jeremiah 31:31-33, Ezekiel 36:22-27, 2 Corinthians 3:1-3).
By establishing the “New Covenant,”
Jesus “made the first one obsolete.” This means the covenant established
at Sinai ceased to be in effect for us because of the superior sacrifice,
covenant, and priestly office of the “Son.”
Since the “New Covenant” achieved the “purification of sins” and “cleansed our conscience,” its benefits far surpass those of the old Levitical Code. To return now to that outdated system would mean abandoning the supreme benefits of the New Covenant established by the Son of God through great personal sacrifice.
Not only so but forsaking the Assembly
after we have received the knowledge of the truth would amount to “trampling
underfoot the Son of God and the blood of the covenant.” The Lord will
judge His people, and in the end, the apostate will discover just what a “fearful
thing it is to fall into the hands of a Living God” - (Hebrews 10:31).
The Letter
to the Hebrews makes clear that returning to the Levitical System means abandoning
the superior New Covenant established by the Son of God. If we “drift away”
from this foundation, we will “receive just recompense” far worse than
any punishment received under the Mosaic Law for “disobedience and transgression.”
Instead of
abandoning the Son, we must continually “look away unto Jesus, the Founder and the Perfecter of our faith, who for
the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and has sat
down at the right hand of the throne of God” as our Great
High Priest who unceasingly intercedes for us in the very presence of God – (Hebrews
12:2).
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SEE ALSO:
- "Then He Sat Down" - (Jesus is the Son whom God appointed as our merciful and faithful high priest after his suffering and death)
- Once and for All - (The New Covenant results from the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus and his superior priesthood based on his resurrection life)
- "Not made with hands" - (Jesus is the High Priest of the greater heavenly sanctuary made without hands that prefigured the Tabernacle in the wilderness)
- L'Alliance Incomparable du Christ - (Jésus a inauguré la Nouvelle Alliance par sa Mort et sa Résurrection, rendant l'ancienne alliance obsolete - Hébreux 8: 6-13)
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