NEED FOR A NEW COVENANT

HEBREWS 8:7–13

For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people

(Hebrews 8:7–8a).

The “first covenant” is the covenant with Aaron through Moses. But behind this covenant, is the one with Adam. There was nothing wrong with that covenant in itself. If Adam had done the earthly work, he would have been rewarded by being allowed to do the heavenly work also. But Adam failed, and his failure was repeated by every new priest and every new person who lived after him. Thus nobody ever accomplished the work of the earthly sanctuary.

Adam did not resist the devil. Adam did not offer the world to God. Adam did not protect his bride. Aaron was supposed to do these things, but he also failed. At the golden calf, Aaron did not resist the people’s desire for an idol. He failed to offer the world (symbolized by the sacrificial animals) to God. Instead he sacrificed to the idol. He did not protect God’s bride.

But Jesus succeeded where all others failed. He resisted the devil. He offered the world to God by offering Himself, the new Adam, the (animal) Lamb of God, the new concentration point of the cosmos. Jesus protected the bride and will always do so.

Thus, Jesus is a Minister of a better covenant, a new covenant made with a New Adam. Jesus fulfilled the terms of the first (Adamic) covenant, both by obeying it fully and by taking its curse of death upon Himself. Now Jesus has moved into a new and better covenant, the Melchizedekian Priest-King covenant of the heavenly sanctuary.

Because Jesus has finished the work, several things follow. God has definitively forgiven our sins. Sins were provisionally forgiven before Jesus finished the work, but now they are fully wiped away for the people of God (Hebrews 8:12). What’s more, God’s law is written on our hearts in a new way, and we are given the Spirit to help us obey them.

With Jesus as our priest, we cannot ever fully fall away. Since the old covenant was completed, it was no longer necessary. From the perspective of the author of Hebrews, it was fading fast and would soon disappear. That happened when the temple was destroyed in a.d. 70.

CORAM DEO

Jeremiah 30–33

WEEKEND

Jeremiah 34–38

Since the new covenant is richer, fuller, and more glorious than the old, consider the following questions: If God required a tithe of 10 percent in the old, should we give less in the new? If God included children in the old covenant by circumcision, does He want them excluded now?

For further study: Ezek. 37:26–28 • Zech. 12:10 • Heb. 10:15–18

WEEKEND