26. Hebrews Part One
April 2007
Topics:
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ, High Priest
The Old Covenant
The First “Dispensation”
Comparisons
The Priesthood in Heaven
The Ministry of Jesus is Superior
New Covenant and Old Covenant Contrasted
Much has been written about the book of Hebrews. There is deep meaning in every passage. It is not an easy study. My purpose here is to make underlying principles as clear and easy to understand as possible, yet be true to the Bible and to be interesting. There may be details that are not covered. Please use the www.covenantforum.com to make comments and ask questions on any and all points of interest to you.
The Christian church in Jerusalem began as a Jewish church. Their worship, even their teaching, centered largely around the temple. Regular references to the temple are made in the first five chapters of Acts. Opposition began to grow, and nothing is said about the temple after Acts five until Paul attempted to fulfill certain vows in the temple, recorded in Acts twenty one. This caused a riot. He was arrested, imprisoned and sent to Rome.
These Jewish Christians probably continued to keep the feasts and were faithful with the Jewish ceremonies. There was no issue about this until Gentiles began to come into the church. Then the question arose: How much of the ceremonial law should the Gentiles be expected to adhere to?
A council was held in Jerusalem. After discussion, James, presiding at the council, summed up their conclusion:
19 "Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
20 "But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood" (Acts 15:19-20).
Following this a group of men were chosen to return with this message to Antioch, a largely Gentile church.
It would be good if we could say that this solved the problem. However, it is hard to break a habit and especially if it is reinforced by centuries of tradition. There were Jewish Christians who could not make this change. They believed that to become a follower of the true God, one had to become a Jew. They were not satisfied to follow their own convictions in private. Thus, certain of them began visiting the churches that Paul had raised, urging a return to the ceremonial law.
The everlasting gospel is that Jesus gave His life a sacrifice on Calvary to pay the price for the sins of every man. The ceremonial law, which served only to point to Jesus Christ, thus met its purpose and was no longer needed or in force. Paul wrote in his epistles and in Hebrews a response to those Jewish Christians who held onto ceremonies and keeping of the law as a means of salvation. To continue these services was a denial of the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice.
It was because of these "Judaizers" that Paul made such a strong emphasis on faith and grace. Extensive passages are found on this issue in his epistles, especially Galatians. The book of Hebrews was written directly to these Jewish Christians. In Hebrews the subject was dealt with extensively and completely. Paul was sympathetic and persuasive. His first priority was to win Jewish Christians to a full and complete commitment to Jesus Christ.
Who was the book of Hebrews written to? The opening salutation does not come until Hebrews 3:1, "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession Christ Jesus."
Paul was extremely humble and tactful in this salutation. Who were the "holy brethren"? Who were partakers of the heavenly calling? They were the Jews, for whom Paul always had a special regard. He recognized that Jews depended on Moses as the greatest prophet and the founder of their nation. But Jesus Christ "was counted worthy of more glory than Moses" vs 3. Moses was faithful as a servant but Christ is the Son.
Paul begins immediately to describe the work of Jesus Christ. Whereas the Jews looked back to the words of the prophets, God had now "spoken unto us by his Son." He is the very God, Creator, above all the angels; yet He was made a man, a little lower than the angels. He even "tasted death for every man .... that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Hebrews 2:9, 14).
The early chapters of Hebrews tell of the Divinity of Jesus Christ, His authority, His incarnation and life on earth, and His status above even Moses and the angels. Beginning in chapter four, His priesthood is set forth. Chapters 8, 9, and 10 emphasize the superiority of the priesthood of Jesus Christ; showing that only through Christ are the centuries of sacrifices of any avail.
Christ "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb 4:15). This sinless life He offered at Calvary. He ascended to heaven and sat down in the Father’s throne (Heb 1:3) as a "priest forever after the order of Melchisedec" (Heb 5:6). The ceremonial law had met its purpose, and even the Aaronic priesthood had come to an end. It is the priesthood of Jesus Christ that is emphasized in the following chapters.
Priests were from the tribe of Levi and specifically from the family of Aaron. The Jews were meticulous about genealogies to assure that a man was qualified before he served as a priest (Ezra 7:1-5; 8:18-21). Jesus’ priesthood was of a different type (Heb 7:11-17). He was a priest-king without genealogy or descendants (Heb 7:3) directly appointed by God (Psalm 110:4).
When Jesus ascended to heaven, the honor that He had with the Father was fully restored. He sat "on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens" (Heb. 8:1). Hebrews 8:1-5 emphasizes the superiority of His priesthood. The sanctuary and the priesthood established with Israel was only a pattern or shadow of the real priesthood and sanctuary in heaven. It is only in this heavenly ministry that sin is forgiven and lives are cleansed.
On earth, Jesus was very kind, very approachable. Jesus recognized need even when the person himself did not. He was always ready to help. This was the beginning of His priestly ministry. His life demonstrated that God is love. In heaven as our High Priest, He is the same.
15 "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
16 "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:15-16).
In Hebrews 8:6 Jesus is said to be "the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." The first covenant is said to have been faulty. Please note that in the King James Version, "covenant" is in italics, meaning that this word is not in the original language. But something was "first."
Let us begin by talking about that first "covenant."
A correct understanding of the Old Covenant at Sinai is important. Please see article number eight. The old covenant focused on the promises of Exodus 19:5-6 but substituted the weak human promises of Exodus 19:8 for the power that God promised in Exodus 19:4. It was the attempt of the people to do what only God could do. As such, it was doomed to failure from the start.
The covenant was faulty, not because God offered a faulty covenant. In fact, this same covenant is referenced in 1 Peter 2:9 for the Christian church. It was faulty because it depended on the promises of the people. This covenant was then broken by the worship of the golden calf at Sinai. Moses interceded four times until the everlasting covenant was reinstituted and God promised to go with Israel into the promised land.
After Sinai, the people understood that there were ten commandments they were to keep. They failed to understand the preamble of Exodus 20:2, "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of th eland of Egypt," which indicated that God would fulfill the promises of the ten commandments in their lives by His power. Instead, they endeavored to keep the law in their own power. In so doing they even added over 600 regulations to the ten.
The people also focused on the sacrifices and ceremonies intended to point to Jesus Christ, the Messiah. They made these rituals the sum and substance of their religion and failed to recognize the Redeemer when He came. The sacrifices and ceremonies were not the covenant. They were an illustration or a parable of the covenant. We can also use the term "dispensation" to refer to the round of ceremonies which made up their worship form.
By worshiping God through ceremonies, the people were daily reminded of a Redeemer to come who would cleanse them of sin. But, it was so easy to forget. So easy to think that they were cleansed and were saved by the ceremonies themselves.
After Jesus came, it was hard to give all this up. Did Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary really mean that sacrifices and ceremonies were done away? How could a person worship God if he did not do ceremonies? It was hard for Jewish Christians to fully comprehend that Jesus wanted to write the law on their hearts.
Hebrews is a book of comparisons. There were TWO:
• Sanctuaries; the heavenly and the earthly (Heb 8:1-5).
• Apartments; the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place (Heb 9:6-7)
• Ministries; the daily ministry and the yearly ministry (Heb 9:6-7)
• Dispensations; the typical (sacrifices and ceremonies) and the reality (Jesus’ sacrifice and His ministration as High Priest in heaven). See Heb 9:11-15.
• Covenants; the old covenant of human promises at Sinai and the new (everlasting) covenant with the law written on the heart by grace (Heb 8:7-13).
There are many references not listed that deal with each of these comparisons.
The sanctuary and the ministries on earth were a copy and a symbol of the reality of the sanctuary and the ministries in Heaven. The daily ministry had to do with the forgiveness of sin by the blood of the sacrifice. The yearly ministry had to do with the cleansing of the sanctuary of the accumulated sins. Before the yearly Day of Atonement, the sins of the people must have been already forgiven. It was a work of judgment during which forgiven sins were forever removed from the record book.
When Jesus ascended to heaven He is described as being on the "right hand" of the Father (Acts 7:56; Rom 8:34; Eph 1:20; Heb 1:3; 8:1). Did Jesus begin His priestly ministry in the Most Holy Place at that time? Did the judgment begin at that time? NO! These chapters focus on the inadequacy of the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament period which were symbolic and intended only to point to Jesus’ true sacrifice on Calvary.
Jesus’ first ministry in heaven was to intercede for the sins of His people, a first apartment ministry. The book of Hebrews says little about the second apartment ministry (Heb 9:23-24). What we know about the second apartment ministry is best described in the books of Daniel and the Revelation, where it is also called a "judgment." This deserves a separate discussion.
What then does it mean to be on the "right hand" of God? It means the same as what it means in human terms. The right hand is the hand that does the work. The left helps. Your "right hand man" is the one who is closest to you in whatever project you are doing. For Jesus, it is the first position beside the Father.
"Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens" (Hebrews 8:1),
The sanctuary service on earth was but a shadow of heavenly realities. The sanctuary and the temple on earth were made after a pattern of what is in heaven. The sanctuary services were but an illustration, pointing forward to Jesus’ priestly ministry in heaven. The earthly services had no efficacy in themselves. They served only as the outward sign of an inward change, and pointed forward to the coming reality of Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary and His priesthood in Heaven.
"Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount" (Hebrews 8:5).
The Ministry of Jesus is Superior
6 "But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
7 "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8 "For finding fault with them (the people), he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:" (Hebrews 8:6-8, NIV),
There is a contrast here between the superior ministry of Jesus with a ministry under the "first covenant" that was "faulty." What is this "better covenant"? If the Sinai covenant was faulty, are God’s people bound by any of its provisions, e.g. the ten commandments? Does grace now supersede the law of the Old Testament?
A correct understanding of the Old Covenant at Sinai is important. Please see article eight. The old covenant referred to the promises of Exodus 19:5-6 but substituted the weak human promises of Exodus 19:8 for the power that God promised in Exodus 19:4. It was the attempt of the people to do what only God could do. As such, it was doomed to failure from the start. Moses interceded four times until the everlasting covenant was reinstituted and God promised to go with Israel into the promised land.
After Sinai, the people understood that there were ten commandments they were to keep. They failed to understand the preamble of Exodus 20:2, "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of th eland of Egypt," which indicated that God would fulfill the promises of the ten commandments in their lives by His power. Instead, they endeavored to keep the law in their own power. In so doing they even added over 600 regulations to the ten.
The people also focused on the sacrifices and ceremonies intended to point to Jesus Christ, the Messiah. They made these rituals the sum and substance of their religion and misunderstood the Redeemer who was to come.
After Jesus came, it was hard to give all this up. Did Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary really mean that sacrifices and ceremonies were done away? How could a person worship God if he did not do ceremonies? It was hard for Jewish Christians to fully comprehend that Jesus wanted to write the law on their hearts.
Not all Christians understood that a Christian must be born again, become a new creature. To be a Christian seems to be much simpler than to go through the rituals of the Jewish temple. However, have we today done a better job of committing ourselves to Christ than did the Jews of that day? Have we forsaken the world and fully accepted true fellowship with God as is our privilege? Do we take the responsibilities of the "Christian Covenant?" (More on that later).
For a Christian, life cannot be "business as usual." If the sum and substance of religion is to go to church once a week and put some money into the offering plate, he is living by the old covenant! Not that these are bad. They aren’t. But God has so much more in mind for His people.
New Covenant and Old Covenant Contrasted
The promises of the covenant God offered at Sinai (Exodus 19:4-6) are repeated in 1 Peter 2:9 and applied to the new converts to Christianity. There was no fault in the covenant God offered to Israel, or else why would God offer this covenant again to the Christian Church? The fault lay not in the covenant, but in the presumptuous response of the people at Sinai.
By the time of Christ, the sanctuary services and ritual had become an "external" religion. Salvation was earned by doing the rituals and keeping the letter of the law. There was no love, faith, or grace. Lives were not changed. Jesus’ major sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, showed that God desired a religion from the heart. The sacrifices were of no use unless there was an accompanying change in the life. The sacrifices served only as an object lesson to show how their salvation was purchased by the blood of Christ.
Under the new "everlasting" covenant the law is again put into our hearts, and we begin to partake of the divine nature. This process begins on this earth. It is now that Christians develop the character they will possess for eternity. In the new earth, there is no further rebellion. Keeping the law is natural and universal. "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). The new covenant is fully implemented. Even God will remember our sins no more.
The covenant of grace is "new" because it was not ratified until the sacrifice of Jesus Christ at Calvary. The "old covenant" was ratified at Sinai by the sacrifices of animals. The timing of this old covenant is indicated in the phrase "they continued not in my covenant," referring to the worship of the golden calf at Sinai, to the repeated apostasy of Israel during its history, and culminating with their rejection of Jesus Christ.
10 "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11 "And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12 "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more" (Hebrews 8:10-12).
This is a promise of what God will begin to do by grace with His people, here and now. This promise does not reach complete fulfillment until Christ comes again, and His kingdom is established. See Jeremiah 31:31 and Zechariah 8:8. The promise that everyone shall know the Lord, that God will remember their sins no more is future. The phrase in Jeremiah and Hebrews "and will be their God, and they shall be my people" points forward to the same promise God makes in the New Earth (Revelation 21:3).
"In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away" (Hebrews 8:13).
The subject of this passage revolves around the covenant. However, it is impossible for the everlasting covenant to "wax old." To call the everlasting covenant "new" is to recognize that its principles had been so far forgotten by the people that it was again "new" to them. I would propose that the "new" and the "old" referred to the dispensations of the covenant.
The old dispensation was that of sacrifices and ceremonies, looking forward in faith to the Redeemer. The new dispensation was to look back in faith to the sacrifice Jesus made on Calvary and to emphasize anew the change in the life through grace.
The promises of this covenant are what God will do for His people. The underlying and repeated promise is that "they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." (See Genesis 17:8; Exodus 6:7; 33:14-17; Leviticus 26:12; Deut 29:13; Jeremiah 11:4; 24:7; 30:22; 32:38; Ezekiel 11:20; 14:11; 36:28; 37:23; Zechariah 8:8; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Hebrews 8:10; Revelation 21:3).
E. J. Waggoner states that:
"The (Sinaitic covenant) is called the first or old covenant, not because there was no covenant that preceded it, but because it was the first that was made "with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah"—with the whole house of Israel as such. The covenant with Abraham was (made) more than four hundred years earlier, and it embraced everything that God can possibly bestow upon any people. It is by virtue of that covenant with Abraham, confirmed by God’s oath, that we now come with boldness to the throne of grace, and find strong consolation in all our trials (Heb. 4:16, 6:13-20). All the faithful are children of Abraham (Gal 3:29).
"But Israel of old proved unfaithful, and forgot or despised the everlasting covenant made with Abraham. They wished to walk by sight, and not by faith. They trusted in themselves, rather than in God. In the test, when God reminded them of His covenant with Abraham, and as a help to their faith in the power of His promise, reminded them of what He had already done for them, they presumptuously took upon themselves the responsibility for their own salvation, and entered into a covenant from which nothing but bondage and death could come. God, however, who abides faithful, even though men believed not, used even this as an object lesson. . ." (Waggoner EJ: The Everlasting Covenant. p. 372).
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