Hebrews Chapter 8
By
Jim Bomkamp
1. VS 8:1 - “8:1 Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a
high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the
Majesty in the heavens,” - The author tells us that the main point is
that we have a high priest who has taken a seat in the heavenlies
1.1.
This verse is primarily a
conclusion to the discussion in the previous chapter. And, in relation to what he has previously
said, Paul now tries to summarize the main point he has been trying to make,
namely that we "have" a high priest who has taken His seat on the
right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. Jesus is our King/Priest.
1.2.
The "main point"
or as some translations render "the sum" here refers perhaps to the
whole of the discussions concerning the priesthood of Christ, that which is
discussed from chapter 4 through 10.
1.3.
The most important part of
our discussion about the high priesthood of Jesus is our having this heavenly
priest seated at the right hand of the "Majestic One" (this is an
appellation of God) of the heavens.
1.4.
Jesus is elevated to
communion with God in reigning - exalted to reign along with God.
1.5.
There must be in this an
implied contrast between the Jewish high priests and our great High
Priest. The Jewish high priests served
at distant intervals, and for a short season.
They were allowed to approach to and stand before the emblematical
throne of God. But Jesus sits
permanently in the presence of the Father and on the very throne of the
Lord.
1.6.
Also in this verse, and
possibly even from the last three verses of the previous chapter, the author
begins an argument to show the superiority of the priesthood of Jesus to the
Jewish priesthood because of its having a better covenant.
1.7.
We Christians need to
realize that heaven is not only a place, but a state of life. The kingdom of heaven can come to us here on
earth and come to us in power. If can be
set up within our hearts if we will allow the Lord to do this work in us.
1.8.
All of Jesus is
heavenly. All of the gifts He bestows,
all of the work He does, all of the life He breathes, all of the power He
exercises is heavenly to us. Jesus is
"passed through the heavens, made higher than the heavens, seated on the
throne in the heavens."
1.9.
We should ever connect
Christ's entering the heavenly life and His ascending the throne with the
descent of the Holy Spirit to us His disciples.
Ascension and Pentecost are inseparable.
1.10.
We all need the Holy Spirit
to minister to and through our lives since we have this great high priest who
ever lives to make intercession for us.
The Holy Spirit is now called to live alongside us as Christians and He
has become our counselor and advocate.
We should seek His aid in all that we do and in every area of our life.
2. VS 8:2 - “2 a minister
in the sanctuary, and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.” - Jesus ministers in the
sanctuary and temple made by the Lord
2.1.
Jesus is a "minister
of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which God hath pitched, not man." The tabernacle was the prototype of the
temple. Its the tent which Moses was
directed to build so that it became the initial place where Jehovah dwelt among
His people. Jehovah though dwelt no
more in the temple than He dwelt in the tabernacle. Because the tabernacle was the initial place
of Jehovah’s dwelling, it is spoken of throughout the book of Hebrews instead
of the temple.
2.2.
This tabernacle was not made
of human hands, or in other words by the schemes and plans of man, but rather
of God alone, and thus it is the true tabernacle.
2.3.
Jesus who is exalted to the
throne as King is also still a servant, He is a "minister of the
sanctuary." He works in men’s hearts
to bring them before the throne of God.
2.4.
We believers in Christ must
let our hearts be cleansed, purified, and made bold to constantly dwell in
heaven in the Holy of Holies, which is made accessible to all who will call
upon the name of the Lord. In the
covenant in which we live, not just one high priest may enter in once each
year, but through Jesus we are called to live continually.
3. VS 8:3 - “3 For every
high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; hence it is
necessary that this high priest also have something to offer.” - High priests must have gifts
and sacrifices to offer
3.1.
How did Christ enter this
sanctuary in the heavenlies? The high
priests under the law entered into their sanctuary after having offered a
sacrifice, likewise also did the great "High Priest of our
profession."
3.2.
Jesus though differed from
other high priests for He was the sacrifice also as He offered Himself,
"holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners," and thus became
the victim as well as the priest.
3.3.
Jesus could not bring the
sacrifices prescribed by the law to offer, for He did not belong to that class
of persons (descendants of Aaron and Levi) to whom the offering of these was by
law restricted. But, none-the-less Jesus
made a superior sacrifice.
3.4.
Jesus’ sacrifice was
Himself, His body. The author writes
about the sacrifice that Jesus offered on behalf of mankind in Heb. 10:5-6,
"5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He
says, “Sacrifice and offering You have
not desired, But a body You have
prepared for Me; 6 In
whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure."
4. VS 8:4 - “4 Now if He
were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer
the gifts according to the Law;” - Jesus cannot serve as an earthly priest
4.1.
This verse has been a
problem verse. But, it simply says that
Jesus is of a different order, and different sphere totally in His priesthood
than the descendants of Aaron or Levi, being Himself of the tribe of
4.2.
The Mosaic Law provided for
no such priest as one according to the order of Melchisidek.
4.3.
Likewise, Jesus is of a far
better type than those priests of the old covenant. His ministry is a far higher ministry than
that of any earthly priest, and the covenant we’ve entered into with Him bears
a blessing greater in proportion to the greater value of its blessings and the
greater personage of the one who serves as priest.
5. VS 8:5 - “5 who serve
a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when
he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See,” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was
shown you on the mountain.”” - The old priesthood and tabernacle served as a
mere ‘copy and shadow’ of the heavenly one
5.1.
The Holy of Holies, and the
Aaronical priesthood were meant to pattern the priesthood of Jesus in the Holy
of Holies in heaven. God was very strict
in commanding to Moses that everything in the tabernacle was to be made exactly
like the pattern given to Moses by God.
Everything about this pattern resembled the high priesthood that would
one day come and last forever, being a perfect priesthood.
5.2.
The priests of the old
covenant were not meant to be lasting but only temporary, hence the prophecy of
the Messiah who would come and be a priest forever (not temporary) according to
the order of Melchizidek, Psalm 110.
6. VS 8:6 - “6 But now He
has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator
of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.” - Jesus has a better ministry
than those priests of the old covenant because the new covenant is better
6.1.
Now, not only is Jesus a
"minister in the sanctuary," and king upon the throne, but He is also
the "mediator" of the better covenant.
6.2.
A covenant defines the
mutual relation of the two contracting parties, and secures the fulfillment of
their engagements to each other.
6.3.
Jesus interposes or mediates
between God and those in reference to whom this covenant is established.
6.4.
By Jesus’ sacrifice and
intercession He does what, according to the principles of this new economy, is
necessary for securing its advantages to those placed under it.
6.5.
This "better
covenant" has been "established " (a word which properly
signifies, 'has been the subject of legislation - has been established by law')
upon better promises, and thus is superior.
6.6.
The "first
covenant," to which the Aaronical priesthood belonged, was established by
law at Sinai, and it had a reference to a variety of promised blessings. The promises referred to the earthly Canaan,
with all its advantages as a good, and large, and fertile country - "a
land flowing with milk and homey;"
and the quiet and peaceful enjoyment of these advantages under the
special protection of God, while they abstained from idolatry, and continued to
observe the law as delivered by Moses.
6.6.1. See Deut. 28:1-13 for a list of the promises of the first
covenant.
6.7.
The covenant to which the
priesthood of Christ refers has also been established by law. It has been promulgated by the divine
authority. The truth with regard to it
"has been spoken by the Son of God, and confirmed to us by those who heard
Him, and God has borne witness to the veracity of this covenant with signs, and
miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will."
6.8.
The promises of the new
covenant are spiritual in nature, and eternal in their duration. They are blessings suited to man as a free
moral agent comprised of intelligence, ability to make moral choices, and
ability to enjoy personal relationship with the creator.
6.9.
The promises of the new covenant do not refer
to an earthly
7. VS 8:7 - “7 For if
that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion
sought for a second.” - The fact of the institution of another
covenant shows the weakness of the old covenant
7.1.
Every work of God is
perfect, viewed in connection with the purpose which the Lord means it to
serve. In this point of view, the first
covenant was faultless. But, when viewed
in the light in which the Jews generally considered it, as a saving economy, in
all the extent of that word, it was not "faultless."
7.2.
The old covenant could not
bring salvation. It could not expiate
moral guilt; it could not wash away
moral pollution; it could not justify,
it could not sanctify, it could not save.
Its priesthood was not perfected - they were weak and inefficient, and
its sacrifices could not take away sin.
7.3.
Those who were God’s people
during the period of the old covenant could only be such and have their sin
atoned for as such because their sacrifices for sin looked forward to and
appropriated that future sacrifice which Jesus made on the cross of Himself
once and for all for all mankind and all sin.
8. VS 8:8-13 - “8 For
finding fault with them, He says, “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, When
I will effect a new covenant With the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah; 9 Not like the covenant which I
made with their fathers On the day when I took them by the hand To lead them
out of the land of Egypt; For they did
not continue in My covenant, And I did not care for them, says the Lord. 10 “For this is the covenant that I will
make with the house of
8.1.
QUOTE: Jeremiah 31:31-34 , “31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in
the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My
covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. 33 “But this is the
covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares
the Lord, “I will put My law
within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and
they shall be My people. 34 “They will not teach again, each man his
neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to
the greatest of them,” declares the Lord,
“for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.””
8.2.
In verse 8 the words
"finding fault," do not appear to refer to God's finding fault with
the Israelites, but to His finding fault with, or declaring imperfect, the
Mosaic economy.
8.3.
This quotation of Jeremiah
31:31-34 does not exactly correspond either with the Hebrew text or the Greek
version of the Septuagint, in common usage when Paul wrote, and as such was
possibly quoted from an imperfect memory of the verse or simply the gist of the
passage is quoted. Being of inspiration
of God, however, there are no problem areas with the verse, which corresponds
fairly closely with the original text.
8.4.
The words in this passage in
Jeremiah 31:31-34 seem quite plainly to be a prophecy foretelling of a general
conversion of the Jews to Christianity which we are warranted to look for from
many Old Testament predictions, and from the declaration of the apostle Paul,
that a period is coming when "all Israel shall be saved," Romans
11.
8.5.
It may be asked, “How does
the Jeremiah 31:31-34 passage answer the author’s object?”
8.5.1. The answer is that the covenant which in the last days of the Christian
dispensation the Jews generally are to be brought under, is substantially the
same covenant which, ratified in the blood of Jesus, has been in effect since
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This
covenant has given a hope to millions that the old covenant never even
scratched.
8.5.2. The problem with the old covenant was really not a problem with the
covenant it was a problem with the people under that covenant.
8.5.2.1. In verse 9, the proof of the faultiness of the first covenant is given,
that it did not secure that those under it should conform themselves to its
requisitions, and thus it did not secure them in the possession of those
privileges, as the peculiar people of God, which depended on the conforming to
these requisitions. They did not
continue in the guidelines.
8.5.2.2. The old covenant provided no power to continue; no power to conquer temptation, or an evil
heart, no power to remain faithful.
8.5.2.3. The new covenant was better than the old one because it was enacted on
better promises.
8.5.2.3.1.
The old covenant was about external
conditions being met, requirements of the law.
8.5.2.4. But, as verse 10 states the new covenant which is superior, is about
internal conditions, for God's law shall be written upon our hearts.
8.5.2.4.1.
Not only does He give us a
revelation of His will, but He also makes us understand and believe that
revelation, and live under its influence through the power of the Holy Spirit,
with a conscience that has been thoroughly cleansed of sin.
8.6.
The whole purpose of the new
covenant is so that it may secure men for eternity, providing all that they
need in order to continue in that covenant.
8.7.
In the words, "I
will be their God, and they shall be My people," the reference is to
the "house of Israel" (as a nation) as verse 8 says. This refers to that future time when all
Israel shall be saved.
8.8.
The words ‘all shall know
Me’ in verse 11 are not to be understood absolutely, but
comparatively. They intimate:
8.8.1. That under that covenant there shall be a striking contrast to the
ignorance which characterized the great body of those who were under the Old
Covenant. Only the high priest entered
into the Holy of Holies of God's presence, but in the New Testament economy we
all know the Lord and the priesthood of every believer is taught.
8.8.2. We (God's people) all know God personally and live in the very presence
of heaven through the one who dwells within the veil, seated in the true Holy
of Holies (of which the former is only a picture).
8.9.
In verse 12, the key to the
new covenant is revealed, God through His mercy remembers men’s sins no
more.
8.9.1. It was sin that always separated man from God, and thus God could not
have men in His presence. But, through
Jesus and His sacrifice for sins once for all, all is covered forever never to
be remembered, thus man may constantly continue in that fellowship for which
God had originally created him.
8.9.2. Our faithful high priest ever lives to make intercession for us,
therefore we may remain in that covenant through Christ.
8.10.
In verse 13, Paul again
confirms that in God's prophecy of a new covenant and in His bringing that
covenant to pass through Christ, there is no more need for the old
covenant. It is passing away since it is
old and obsolete.
8.11.
We Christians who have been placed
under the new covenant must learn to walk by the leading and empowering of the
Holy Spirit in our lives. We cannot live
our life legalistically with rules and regulations. Instead, we must learn to walk as the new
creatures which God says He has made of us.