Wednesday 24th
Hebrews 8
NIV (v6) – ‘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.’
ESV (v6) – ‘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.’
It was back on March 3rd when I took the theme from Hebrews covering the ‘better things’ and from this verse I said that Christ has obtained a ‘better ministry’ for it is based on ‘better promises’.
In a nutshell everything about the new covenant is better than the old covenant. As we have already seen the old covenant was temporal, it was only intended to be until the time arrived when the mediator of a new covenant would come.
The better ministry means that we no longer rely on a priest who himself needs to deal with his own sin first, but we rely on the high priest who knew no sin.
It also means that what needed to take place on a regular basis, no longer needs to take place because we are relying on our high priest who has made a once for all and a once for all time sacrifice on our behalf. It also means that the effects of the sacrifice our high priest has made are not temporal but permanent as we saw yesterday ‘to the uttermost’.
But this verse also talks of better promises, and this is best summed up in the fact that all through the Old Testament and the repeated sacrifices that needed to be made, God had something planned that was going to be far better and as we have seen more effective because its effects would be eternal. And so, the old covenant was just a shadow of something far better that was to come, and of course now we know it came and began at Calvary and continues in heaven. If we need to, we put it this way, in the old covenant the promise was that the sin would be covered, in the new covenant a far better promise, it will be taken away. In the old covenant it was temporal, in the new covenant, a far better promise it would be eternal. And it was Jesus who obtained the far better ministry than that of any old covenant priest in that he was to be the one to put the sacrifice into effect by the offering up of himself and be the one who would provide the eternal benefits, and the priest that did the sacrifice in the old covenant may have died by the time it came to do it the next time and so a another priest would be put into office, but for us another sacrifice is not needed, and our high priest is alive and our high priest lives forever.
Again today I am re-emphasising things I have already mentioned through these devotions on Hebrews, but they are worth repeating to keep reminding our selves that we have become partakers of something that is far better and more effective than the Old Testament saints that have gone on before us ever experienced. And we are reminded in that verse that I have referred to a few times at the end of Hebrews chapter 11, ‘And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.’ (vv39-40) That is good news for them and for us, the day is coming when we shall all receive what God has provided for all who have trusted confidently and faithfully in him. And let us remind ourselves with this Scripture, ‘But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”’ 1 Corinthians 2:9 as I said when speaking the other Sunday, ‘it is out of this world!’
Thank God that Jesus was faithful in fulfilling the ‘better ministry’ so that we can reap the benefit of the ‘better promises.’