Again there are many scriptures. Perhaps pre-arrange for people to take part by sharing in readings. (Some people might welcome the opportunity to practice before the meeting.)
Last time we looked at the role of Priest, Sacrifice and Temple. Today we will be looking at the covenant.
Read Hebrews 8:6-13
6 But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.
7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said (from Jeremiah 31:31-34):
‘The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
11 No longer will they teach their neighbours, or say to one another, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’
13 By calling this covenant ‘new’, he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
Was there something wrong with the Old Covenant? (Verse 7 see Hebrews 7:18-19)
There was actually nothing wrong with the covenant.
Then what was the problem? (Verse 8)
The People
There were two parties to the old covenant; it was between God and his people.
What had God promised?
Selected from exodus 23:
‘See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. I will take away disease from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.
I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.
I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River.’
What were the people required to do?
Keep the Ten (plus plus) Commandments e.g.: you shall have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:3)
What had the people promised?
‘Everything the Lord has said we will do.’ Exodus 24:3
Who broke the covenant – God, or the people?
But God was prepared to try again: 2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
But they didn’t and so the covenant couldn’t help them.
Look back to Hebrews 7:19 ‘(for the law made nothing perfect)’
The covenant could not make righteous those who broke it, nor could it give power to the people in order for them to keep it.
So what is the New Covenant?
The New Covenant is a new relationship between God and humans mediated by Jesus to all who have faith, and believe in his death and resurrection.
Jesus Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant, and His death on the cross is the basis of the promise.
Luke 22:20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Read Hebrews 9:1-10
1 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 2 A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, 4 which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
6 When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. 7 But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. 9 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshipper. 10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings – external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
God is Holy. Under the old covenant access to him had been severely restricted. Symbolically, God dwelt in the inner sanctum of the Temple. Women and Gentiles could only enter the outer courtyards. Ordinary men were allowed a little nearer; only priests were allowed into the temple itself; but to go beyond the curtain, ‘the veil’, was forbidden. This was for the High Priest only, and then only on the Day of Atonement.
But all this only served to reinforce the distance that existed between a Holy God and his sinful People. Something had to change.
Read Hebrews 9:11-15
11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, so obtaining eternal redemption.
13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance – now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
Why was blood so important in the sacrificial system?
The life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11).
The punishment for sin was death, but an animal could be substituted for a person – hence ‘sacrifice’ rather than ‘offering’. But it was never enough; it had to be continually repeated.
But the Sacrifice of Jesus was once, for ever. Note the word ‘eternal’ in verses 12, 14 and 15; and note too (in verse 15) that the legal ownership of forgiveness of sins and a restored fellowship with God has passed to us as our inheritance.
Read Hebrews 9:16-22
16 In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.
18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.’ 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
In our culture the emphasis on blood is unsettling, but to the Hebrews it would have been an essential part of their religious ceremony. To us blood stains and has to be washed out. To them it was part of the cleansing ritual.
Cleansing from sin, breaking a covenant (vs 18–21) and consecration in God’s service (v 22) were all marked by the sprinkling of blood on the altar, and even on God’s people. Every day, hundreds of animals were slaughtered as sin-offerings and the priests would pour out this blood on the altar.
Read Hebrews 9:23-26a
23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world.
Look again at verse 23: It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
The Tabernacle and even the Temple, were only copies. They, the articles within, even the priests needed repeated cleansing and sanctifying.
But when Christ entered the heavenly tabernacle it could not have been impure; so why was it necessary for ‘the heavenly things’ to be purified with ‘better sacrifices’?
Perhaps it is made clearer if we substitute the word sanctified for purified. The Idea is that the things of heaven had to undergo a sanctification in order to accept sinful people, now cleansed by the blood of Christ.
Read Hebrews 9:26-28
But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
All people without exception have to die and face Judgement.
But Christ died once, a perfect sacrifice, not only cleansing from all sins those who accept him as Lord and Saviour, but preparing a ‘Not Guilty’ verdict when it is our turn to face him in judgement (2 Corinthians 5:10).
Do we have to wait for the end times before we can enjoy unrestricted access to God?
No – now we have Christ in us, and we are in Christ, so we ourselves are God’s Temple (1 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Ephesians 2:21)
