THE NEW COVENANT

Hebrews 8:1-13 / Keywords 8:12

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

 

8:1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

3 Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. 4 If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”[a] 6 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.

7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said[b]:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,

    when I will make a new covenant

with the people of Israel

    and with the people of Judah.

9 It will not be like the covenant

    I made with their ancestors

when I took them by the hand

    to lead them out of Egypt,

because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,

    and I turned away from them,

declares the Lord.

10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel

    after that time, declares the Lord.

I will put my laws in their minds

    and write them on their hearts.

I will be their God,

    and they will be my people.

11 No longer will they teach their neighbor,

    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’

because they will all know me,

    from the least of them to the greatest.

12 For I will forgive their wickedness

    and will remember their sins no more.”[c]

13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

Footnotes

a. Hebrews 8:5 Exodus 25:40

b. Hebrews 8:8 Some manuscripts may be translated fault and said to the people.

c. Hebrews 8:12 Jer. 31:31-34

1. For the people of Israel, God instituted the priestly service to provide for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus serves in the true tabernacle. Through him, we may go directly and personally to God in prayer. He serves before the very throne of God in heaven. Jesus offered himself for the sins of the world. His priestly service is not of earth, but of heaven, and his ministry is superior. By his death, Jesus established a new covenant between God and his people. This covenant is far superior to the old covenant. This covenant rules over sin and binds men inseparably to God himself.

 

2. The first covenant was incomplete. The laws given in the Old Testament were God-given, to reveal his glory to a nation of slaves. But the people disobeyed God’s call and compromised with the culture and religion of Canaan. The covenant of law could not help them; it only condemned them. Jeremiah spoke about the new covenant, and Jesus established it with his own blood, shed for the sins of the world. The Holy Spirit, given to all who repent and believe, writes God's law on our hearts. The new covenant enables each person to have a personal relationship with God (11). God promises to forgive our sins (12). We may know the Lord, and this is eternal life (Jn 17:3). The new covenant is superior and perfect.

 

Prayer Lord, thank you for providing the new covenant in Jesus’ blood. Bind me to you.

One Word Bound to God by the new covenant