Hebrews 8; The Real Deal

Hebrews 8

[Heb 8:1 ESV] 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,

[Heb 8:2 ESV] a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.

Jesus before his false trial: 

[Mat 26:63 ESV] But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."

[Mat 26:64 ESV] Jesus said to him, "You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven."

Jesus also Shares the Prophecy of David.

[Mar 12:35 ESV] And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, "How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?

[Mar 12:36 ESV] David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, "'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet."'

[Mar 12:37 ESV] David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?" And the great throng heard him gladly.

Requirements for Priests

[Heb 8:3 ESV] For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.

[Heb 8:4 ESV] 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.

Copy & Shadow of reality. 

[Heb 8:5 ESV] 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."

The Temple was a copy/shadow

The World is a copy/shadow. 

Your Body is a copy/shadow.

Our current existence is a copy/shadow of something far greater! Far more real. 

Mortal swallowed up by life

[2Co 5:1 NIV] For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

[2Co 5:2 NIV] Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling,

[2Co 5:3 NIV] because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.

[2Co 5:4 NIV] For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

[2Co 5:5 NIV] Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

We Eagerly Await leaving the shadowlands. 

[Rom 8:18 NIV] I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

[Rom 8:19 NIV] For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

[Rom 8:20 NIV] For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope

[Rom 8:21 NIV] that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

[Rom 8:22 NIV] We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

[Rom 8:23 NIV] Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

[Rom 8:24 NIV] For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?

The New Covenant is better than the old. 

[Heb 8:6 ESV] 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.

What does he mean “faultless?”

[Heb 8:7 ESV] For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

The Answer is in verse 9. 

[Heb 8:8 ESV] 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,

[Heb 8:9 ESV] 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. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.

A Holy God & Sinful Man don’t mix well.  There can be no intimacy. 

After reminding the Israelites how God brought them out of Egypt. 

[Jos 24:19 ESV] But Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.

[Jos 24:20 ESV] If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good."

[Jos 24:21 ESV] And the people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve the LORD."

[Jos 24:22 ESV] Then Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve him." And they said, "We are witnesses."

[Jos 24:23 ESV] He said, "Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Israel."

[Jos 24:24 ESV] And the people said to Joshua, "The LORD our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey."

The New Covenant is Very Intimate! 

[Heb 8:10 ESV] For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

[Heb 8:11 ESV] And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

Eze Prophecy of a time coming. 

[Eze 36:26 ESV] And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

[Eze 36:27 ESV] And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Holy Spirit Indwells You!

[1Co 6:19 ESV] Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

[1Co 6:20 ESV] for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

[Heb 8:12 ESV] For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."

[Heb 8:13 ESV] In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Historical Observations. 

There is no more temple or sacrifices. 

Only rituals that represent Old Covenant rituals 

You true meaning and purpose in life is only in Christ.  Leave dead works. 

[Heb 6:1 ESV] Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

[Heb 9:14 ESV] how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Religion is dead works. Religion defined as man-made rules that can earn Heaven. 

Anything that encroaches on the Finished Work of Jesus Christ is religion. 

Fellowship, Ministry, Worship, Evangelism, Discipleship, is the response of people who are saved. 

It’s how we We Love God and People and make Disciples who Love God and People.