Hebrews 8:1-13
1 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;
2 A minister of the sanctuary,a and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
3 For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.
4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:
5 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.
6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant,b 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, 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:
9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will putc 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.
13 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.
Contents: Aaronic priests a shadow of Christ who mediates a better covenant.
Characters: God, Christ, Moses.
Conclusion: We have in our Lord Jesus Christ such a High Priest as no other people ever had, all others being but types and shadows of Him. He is the author of a new covenant, better than the old, which was not efficacious; established on better promises; obedience to it springing from a willing heart and mind rather than from fear; securing the personal revelation of the Lord to every believer and guaranteeing the complete oblivion of sins through His finished work.
Key Word: Better covenant, Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 8:13
Strong Verses: Hebrews 8:12.
Striking Facts: Hebrews 8:4. There are no earthly successors to the priestly tribe of Aaron, for the reason that it is now a heavenly office centered in Jesus Christ. The earthly priesthood is out of commission, for with the atoning death of Christ the vail was rent.