Day 718: Think how much more! - Hebrews 8 vs 1 -9

1-2 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent (tabernacle) that the Lord set up, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. 5-6 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 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.

7-9 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. Hebrews 8:1-9 English Standard Version

The writer was showing his mainly Jewish Christian readers how Christ is more excellent than everything they'd known before. Now he says that Jesus is even a greater High Priest than the ones who had served God since the days of Moses. Why is that? (vs 1-2)

It’s because He carries out His role as High Priest not in a holy place on earth, but at God's right hand in heaven. He is in the very presence of the Father. Which leads to a question. What was the role of the High Priest in the tent tabernacle during the days of Moses, and thereafter in the temple which Solomon built in Jerusalem. (vs 3)

They offered gifts and sacrifices for sinners. That means that Jesus would therefore also need something to offer God. But there was still another problem. Can you see what that was? (vs 4)

There were other priests already on earth already making the offerings required by the law. Doesn't that exclude Jesus from being a priest? How does he answer that objection? (vs 5-6)

He points out that the tabernacle on earth was only a copy of the true holy place in heaven. Moses was given clear instructions for what the tabernacle on earth should look like so as to teach the people something of what it was to come before God in His majestic glory. Because Jesus ascended to heaven itself, and is now the believer's mediator in God's very presence, His role as High Priest is more excellent than all others. Do we realize what a privilege it is to have Jesus as our priest?

The writer links this superior role of Jesus to the more wonderful new covenant it is associated with. God willing I'll look at that in the next post on Hebrews. Today I want to jump ahead and finish with what the writer says in Chapter 9, for it's there that he comes back to his point in vs 5 about a priest needing something to offer. Look at how he describes what Jesus had to offer. He says:

“Christ has become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which wasn't made by human hands and is not part of this created world. And with His own blood - not the blood of goats and calves - He entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever! Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer, cleansed people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.” Hebrews 9:11-14 (Paraphrased) That is something to think about!