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.
Hebrews 8
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, 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, 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 put 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.
Hebrews 8 Intro – J. Vernon McGee
Hebrews 8:1-4 – J. Vernon McGee
Hebrews 8:5 – J. Vernon McGee
Hebrews 8:6 – J. Vernon McGee
Hebrews 8:7-13 – J. Vernon McGee
Hebrews 8:1-13 – The Mediator of the New Covenant
Such a High Priest (vs. 1-6). He sits because His work is finished so far as His sacrifice is concerned. His place is at God’s right hand—the seat of power. By faith we, too, may serve in the inner sanctuary of the spirit. Before you start building, and while engaged in building, your life-work, see that your eyes are fixed on the divine ideal and pattern.
Such a new covenant (vs. 7-13). It is as superior to the former as Christ’s priesthood is to Aaron’s. A covenant is a promise, made on conditions to be fulfilled, and attested by an outward sign, like the rainbow, or circumcision, or the Lord’s Supper. The covenant under which we live is between God and Christ on behalf of those who belong to Him. We have a perfect right to put our hand on every one of these eight provisions, and claim that each be made good to us. We need not ask that God should do as he has said, but with lowly reverence expect that He will—especially when we drink of the cup of the New Covenant at the Lord’s table. (Meyer)
Hebrews 8:5 – God never gives a man a pattern without making Himself responsible for the provision of all materials needed for its execution. Take God’s plan, and then trust God utterly for the needful grace; it is there; it only awaits the claim of your faith. All things are added to the man who seeks first and only the kingdom of God. If the materials are not forthcoming, you may seriously question whether you are not working on a plan of your own. God will not provide for a single tassel of your own addition to His scheme. (Meyer)
Hebrews 8:13—In that He saith, A new covenant, He hath made the first old.
There had been a manifest decay and vanishing away of the first Tabernacle or Temple with its rites and services. At the time when these words were written there were evident symptoms of the approaching collapse of the whole system of which pious Jews had been wont to boast. But the Holy Spirit reassures their failing hearts.
It is well, He seems to say, that these should vanish from the earth; that men may be certified that the old covenant, of which they were the sign and seal, has also gone—gone never to be recalled. Thereupon, the very natural inquiry was suggested If the old covenant has decayed and vanished away, what is the agreement or arrangement under which we are living now? To this inquiry the present chapter is an answer.
Those who believe in Christ are still in covenant relationship with God. A new covenant has been set up, which indeed is as old as the everlasting hills. It is the covenant of love; the covenant which says very little of what man does, and much of the I wills of Jehovah; a covenant which was entered into between God and his Son, standing as Mediator; a covenant which has been sealed with priceless blood.
The provisions of that covenant are enumerated in the foregoing verses: that God will engrave his law on mind and heart, and take us to be his people and be our God, and remember our sins no more. As the decay of the symbols of the Old Testament indicated that it was vanishing, so the ever-fresh beauty of the supper of our Lord, as it was practiced in the first Church, witnessed to the permanence of the New Testament. (Meyer)