The Better Ministry in the Better Place

Transcript

GR 1694
06/16/13
The Better Ministry in the Better Place
Hebrews 8:1-6
Gil Rugh

We are going to Hebrews 8 in your Bibles, Hebrews 8. Just a reminder, the book of Hebrews is written to a congregation of Jewish believers. And under the trials and difficulties they are facing, some of them are contemplating a return to Judaism and the Levitical system of worship that is so central to the Mosaic system. Several things involved in their being pressured to make such a decision, one is the fact of persecution. They have experienced persecution for their faith and they are facing the reality of further persecution. And that always puts pressure on. And none of us like to suffer and so some of these Jewish Christians are thinking maybe a return to Judaism would be an answer. Remember in Rome there was a lot of anti-Semitism, but the Jewish religion was accepted as a legal religion by the Romans. That is in contrast to Christianity which was an illegal religion. As such Christianity was viewed as detrimental to the best interest of the Roman Empire and so would be subject to greater persecution. So these Jewish Christians could think of alleviating some of the pressures and suffering by returning to Judaism. And Judaism seemed like a fair alternative. I mean, they had 1500 years of history as Jews with the Mosaic Covenant. God had given the Mosaic Law to Moses, we'll say rounded off 1500 B.C., 1545, in there. We'll say 1500. So about 1500 years of history living under the Mosaic Law of the Levitical system, the traditions. They had been raised being born as Jews into Judaism from childhood. This had been part of their life in every way. They could look back to the celebration of the holidays, the journeys to Jerusalem for feast times, family celebrations and so on. It seemed, under pressure we often think, wouldn't it be nice to go back to former days. And you know family and friends are there. Serious thing to leave Judaism for Christianity and the separation from those that have been so close—your family, your friends. The pressure that would have been there.

I remember a Jewish man giving his testimony a number of years ago, sharing what happened. He says when I became a Christian, my parents just put a candle in the window to indicate their son had died. Well you put yourself now in the context of persecution and suffering, the difficulties, you are cut off from family and friends in Judaism. Judaism seems like a faith haven.

And then you have the traditions. We as fallen beings gravitate toward something we can touch and handle. And that's true in our religious area. We begin to associate our relationship with God with our physical surroundings and settings. That's the attraction of some of the more liturgical religions. They have the traditions, the Jews had the temple at Jerusalem, they had the priest, they had the ritual that went with it. Some of you have come out of more liturgical backgrounds and at times you've shared. One of the adjustments that you had to face was I didn't feel like I was worshiping, we didn't say the Lord's Prayer, we didn't go through these particular activities. And we begin to associate those external things with worship. And now here they are meeting in a home with other believers, just opening the Word and studying it. What about the priests? What about the temple? What about these things that seem to have such a history and are part of the worship of God?

Come back to John 4, and here Jesus is meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well in Samaria. Many of you are familiar with the account. And He reveals much of her life to her and she is impressed and thinks He must be a Jewish prophet. Perhaps, could it be possible He would even be the Jewish Messiah. So she turns attention again to external things. The Samaritans worshiped at Mt. Gerizim, the worshiped in Jerusalem, of course, at the mount there. And so she asked Jesus, where is the best place to worship? We Samaritans worship up here at Mt. Gerizim, you Jews worship down at Jerusalem. Again the physical places of worship become the focus. Then Jesus says in verse 23, but an hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth. For such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and truth.

Now we sometimes think that God is pleased, anybody who worships in any kind of way should be acceptable and pleasing to God. But God is only looking for certain kind of worshipers. The end of verse 23, such people the Father seeks to worship Him, those who worship Him in Spirit and truth. And just to note, we all have our traditions. Even we gathered here today have our traditions, and we follow a certain order and a certain pattern and we find comfort in that. Some of you have had to adjust our tradition. We changed the seats, that was an adjustment, wasn't it. I know because some of you didn't know where to sit. My seat is not here anymore. And if we're not careful we begin to associate our worship with external things—certain kind of building, certain kind of setting, certain kind of music, certain order of service. We used to end every service with a song. When we stopped ending the service with a song, it was an adjustment because some of you shared that with me—it doesn't seem like we ought to just end without a song. And there is nothing wrong with ending with a song.

But true worship is not these external things, true worship is what is going on in our heart and mind as we have submitted ourselves in faith to the living God and the salvation He has provided in His Son. We must worship him in the realm of the spirit, our spirit and in truth. It's an internal thing.

So you come back to Hebrews 8, this is what these Jewish believers are facing. With the pressure and everything else going on they have been cut loose from precious traditions that had some foundations because God had ordained those traditions in the Mosaic Covenant and the Levitical worship system.

We are in a section of Hebrews, Hebrews 5:1 through Hebrews 10:18 which is the heart of the book. It is explaining true worship, it is explaining the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news concerning Him—who He is, the majesty of His person as the Son of God, the completeness of His work in offering Himself as a sacrifice for sins. So the high priestly ministry of Christ is the subject of these crucial chapters.

As we looked through Hebrews 7 on Christ's high priestly ministry, the focus there if we were going to summarize it would be on His person. He is superior in His person as high priest to the Levitical priests and their priesthood. When we come into Hebrews 8, and this will cover Hebrews 8:1 through Hebrews 10:18, he'll be talking about the superiority of the work of Christ. Now this has been woven in but now he'll begin to break it down and expound it in detail. The sacrifice He has made as high priest is superior to any and all of the sacrifices that were offered in the Levitical system by those high priests.

So you pick up Hebrews 8:1, now the main point of what has been said, now the main point of what has been said. I just want you to note, we have what has been said. It sounds like he is talking about what he has said up to this point. But that's a translation of a present participle. So you would translate it literally, now the main point of what is being said is this. So it's not just what he has said about Christ and His high priestly ministry up to this point, but what he is continuing to say and will say in the coming chapters.

So the main point in what is being said is this, we have such a high priest. It was summarized at the end of Hebrews 7, verses 26-28. For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens, who does not need daily like those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, then for the sins of the people. Because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath which came after the Law appoints a Son made perfect forever. We have as our high priest a Son made perfect forever. That's the main point—we have just such a high priest, the One who is fitting for us, the One who is unique in His person and unique in His sacrifice. The mains point of all this is we have such a high priest. If we have such a high priest, why would anyone be talking about turning away from Him to another priest, to a system which could not do what this high priest has done and accomplished.

Back up to Hebrews 5:8, in the section that began this discussion of the ministry of high priest by Christ and His sacrifice. Look at Hebrews 5:8, although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, we talked about this in Hebrews 7:28, a Son made perfect forever. Having been made perfect He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

The main point, back to Hebrews 8:1, is what is being said, we have such a high priest, the very One we need, a perfect One. Perfect forever. He has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven. The majesty in heaven is a reference to God the Father. He has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven. And in the book of Hebrews, if you have been here for our study, we have gone back and forth in Psalm 110 between two verses—verse 1 and verse 4.

Please turn back to Psalm 110, most oft quoted chapter in the Old Testament because of these verses. Verse 1, the Lord says to My Lord, sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The reference we just read out of Hebrews 8:1, He has taken His seat at the right hand of the Majesty on High. The Lord says to My Lord, Psalm 110:1, sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Then jump down to verse 4, verse 4 was quoted twice in Hebrews 7. The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. And these go together. Here you have a priest of a different order than the Levitical order of priests. And He is One who has taken His seat at the right hand of the God of glory in heaven. That's the point. This is the high priest we have, the very One spoken of in Psalm 110 who is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, the One who will take His seat at the right hand of the Lord of glory, the Majesty on High.

Come back to Hebrews 8. He took His seat. Now in the tabernacle of the Old Testament there were no seats provided for the priest as he went about his ministry, symbolizing the fact that his sacrificial ministry was never over. There were always additional sacrifices to be offered. Where our high priest, the One that we have as believers, has taken His seat in the very presence of God.

Turn over to Hebrews 10, just to jump ahead. He'll refer to some of these things again as he has earlier in Hebrews, and then he'll progress to unfold them. It won't be until we get into Hebrews 9 and 10 that the details of Christ's high priestly ministry and the sacrifice that He has offered will be unfolded in detail. But look in Hebrews 10:11, every priest stands daily, ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. That's the Levitical priesthood under the Mosaic Covenant. You'll note, that priest stands daily, representing the fact his work is never done, there are always more sacrifices, more sacrifices day after day to be offered. Contrast verse 12, but He, referring to Christ, having offered one sacrifice. The contrast, one sacrifice with many sacrifices. He offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down. Verse 11, every priest under the Levitical system stands daily. His ministry of sacrifice was never done. But this high priest has taken His seat in the presence of the God of glory.

This emphasis on Christ being seated at the right hand of the Father is a repeated emphasis in Hebrews. To be seated at the right hand, that's the place of honor, dignity, authority, glory. An expression that would still be common and familiar to us today. If you had a person of royalty and you said, at his right hand was . . ., you'd say that person was given the place of honor. That's where Christ is, the highest possible place and position.

Come back to Hebrews 1. Now remember Hebrews opened up by unfolding the superiority of God's revelation and work in Christ because all prior revelation was given through mere men. But now, verse 2, in these last days God has spoken to us in One who is Son. Unique. Whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. He is the radiance of His glory, the exact representation of His nature. He upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High. Now we pick up that emphasis and we'll begin to unfold more of the significance of it. He has brought together these two aspects. The person of this One, He is the Son, One perfected forever and He has sat down because He has offered a perfect sacrifice. It's indicative of the finality of that sacrifice. When He had made purification of sins He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. The work of sacrifice is done, no more sacrifices for sin, no more sacrifices for atonement. There is one sacrifice, it is done forever.

Down in Hebrews 1:13, to which of the angels has He ever said, sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. See, He is far above the angels, superior to angels because no angels were given the place at the right hand of the Father.

Come over to Hebrews 10, just remind you of that verse we just read. Verse 12, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, He sat down. The finality of that sacrifice. You come to Hebrews 12:2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame. And He has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And in this context it is a motivation to endure, to persevere. Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners so that you don't grow weary. And the ultimate outcome of the finished work of the One who is our high priest.

Back in Hebrews 8. Now the main point, verse 1, in what is being said, we have such a high priest who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. Now he is going to elaborate that, seated at the right hand in the heavens. A minister, a word that we get the word liturgy from, talking about His priestly ministry here, His ministry as high priest. A minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle. He's ministering in this tabernacle, the one that is the true one which the Lord pitched, not man. A contrast is being drawn between the tabernacle under the Mosaic Covenant and where Christ carries on His priestly ministry. Where Christ carries on is the true one, it is in the heavens, it wasn't made by man. Now the authority for the Levitical system and the tabernacle of the Old Testament followed up by the temple. The writer of Hebrews goes back to the original one. The temple followed the same pattern, it was just permanent. The tabernacle was a tent structure that could be moved and transported. It was made by man. The pattern and instructions were given by God but men made it. They were told how to weave the curtains, how to put this together, how to overlay the gold for this or that. It was made by men. Christ is carrying out His priestly ministry in the place made by God Himself. Not a human hand was involved in the construction of heaven where God manifests His presence. The point, He is a priest in the sanctuary in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. The One referred to as the Majesty on High, God Himself made heaven. There is no discussion, no debate about that. Now Jew would have a question of that. We understand where Christ's high priestly ministry is carried out. It's not in a tabernacle that men made, it's in the presence of God in heaven.

Look over in Hebrews 9:24, for Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a copy of the true on, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. So He carries on a priestly ministry but not repeated sacrifice. The next verse in chapter 9 emphasizes that as well, nor was it that He would offer Himself often, in contrast to the high priest of the Old Testament who went in every year. So the contrast of where Christ's ministry as priest takes place.

Look at Hebrews 8:3, for every high priest. You'll note here he is mentioning these points; they will be unfolded particularly in subsequent portions in the detail of the sacrifice. And the place of Christ's ministry in heave will be unfolded in Hebrews 9 and 10. So he refers to them but you think he might develop that. Well the place of His ministry is established. Then he says in verse 3, every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So it's necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. He is going back to when he began the discussion of the high priestly ministry of Christ.

Back up to Hebrews 5;1, for every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. That was the ministry of the high priest—appointed by God to represent men, to bring sacrifices and offerings to God that God would accept to atone for their sin, so that they could have access to God, be acceptable to God, experience forgiveness from God. That was the activity that they were about. They had to bring the appointed sacrifices, representing the people that they served as priests.

So you come back to Hebrews 8:3, every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So it is necessary that this high priest, Christ, also have something to offer. So He has to have an offering.

Turn over to Hebrews 9:11, we won't elaborate this until we get to Hebrews 9. We think, now he's going to start talking about this. No, he's going to give different points that will be broken down later even though I might say when we get to Hebrews 9, we'll look at this. It's future. Hebrews 9:11, but when Christ appeared as high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation. This is what he has just mentioned. Remember, He served in heaven. Not through the blood of goats and calves. So in contrast to the Levitical priests who served in a physical tabernacle on earth with physical sacrifices continually being offered, He through His own blood entered the Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. He entered the Holy Place, not the one on earth but the one in heaven. And He had obtained an eternal redemption. And he continues to contrast down through verse 14. That's the contrast that is required. He had to offer a superior sacrifice in a superior place, if you will.

Come back to Hebrews 8. This priest had to have something to offer. He did, but he doesn't go into that. Now he says in verse 4, doesn't elaborate on what sacrifice He had to offer, he reminds them 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. Christ was not qualified to be a priest under the Levitical system because the Mosaic Law required that the priests come from the tribe of Levi. Christ is of the tribe of Judah. So a reminder, we're talking about Christ's exalted priesthood, but let me remind you, you think you're going to go back to an earthly priesthood and find something, you're turning away from Christ because that's not connected to His priesthood.

Back in Hebrews 7:12, when the priesthood is changed, there will be a change of law also. The point was mentioned in Hebrews 11, the priesthood is at the heart of the Covenant. The Levitical priesthood was at the foundation and heart of the Mosaic Covenant. If you're going to change the priesthood, you can no longer operate under the Mosaic Law or the Mosaic Covenant. It requires a Levitical priesthood. There can be no variation. That is required by the Mosaic Covenant. So if you're going to change the priesthood, you'll have to have a different covenant.

That's the point in Hebrews 8:4. 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, the Mosaic Law, the Mosaic Covenant. Referring to the same thing. He wouldn't qualify as a priest under the Mosaic Covenant. He is not of the tribe of Levi.

Verse 5, and again now the contrast is with those under the Law and the Levitical system without elaborating the details. Those under the Levitical system, under the Mosaic Law, the Mosaic Covenant, they serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect a tabernacle. For see, he says, that you make all things according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain. Important point here. These Levitical priests in the context of the Mosaic Law, they serve a copy and shadow of heavenly things. That's a striking contrast. We've already been told that Christ has taken His seat at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched. This one on earth is a copy, it's a shadow, but it's not the reality. It was in anticipation to prepare the people in their thinking, in their understanding of the need of a high priest who could offer a sacrifice that would be accepted before the throne of God in heaven as payment in full for their sin. But that Old Testament tabernacle was a copy, it was a shadow. It wasn't the reality.

And he quotes from Exodus 25, and I want you to turn back to Exodus 25. Genesis, Exodus, second book in our Old Testament, called the books of Moses or the Law, the first five books of the Old Testament, written by Moses. Look at verse 9, according to all that I am going to show you. What happens is God's instructions here to Moses. He comes up on the mountain, Mt. Sinai, and is given instructions regarding the Law. And Moses started back in Exodus 19. Here God tells him in Exodus 25:9, according to all that I am going to show you as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it. You come down to verse 40 and this is the verse quoted in Hebrews 8:5, see that you make them after the pattern for them which was shown to you on the mountain. Come over to Exodus 26:30, then you shall erect the tabernacle according to its plan, which you have been shown in the mountain. Come to Exodus 27:8, you shall make it hollow with planks as it was shown to you in the mountain, so they shall make it.

Now what I want you to note, there was no room for innovation or change left to Moses or those working with him. It had to be exactly as God gave it. The indication seemed to be that He gave him the pattern on the mountain, here is what it is. Perhaps He had a model presented there by the angels on the mountain. He gets detailed instruction and you must do it exactly as I have said. Just a reminder, we read in John 4:24, God is seeking those to worship Him, who worship in Spirit and truth. It has to be according to His purpose and plan. This fits what is being given in Hebrews. This idea that we come up with our own worship system, our own plan. There may be external variations, but there is only one true worship, only one way to worship the true and living God—that is through the finished work of His Son. There is no variation. God is not pleased. Well at least they go to church, at least they believe in God and worshiping Him. What does that have to do with anything? It has to be God's way. This idea that man comes up with ideas and then God should adjust and accept that is foreign to Scripture. It was foreign under the old system, the Levitical system. And the book of Hebrews is making clear what is acceptable today.

So the Old Testament was a copy and a shadow, give you a pattern and you follow it. That was a shadow. The shadow is not the reality. You are in a room and someone is coming around the corner from another room and the way the light is you see their shadow. You know they are coming; it gives you some idea from that shadow. You may know it's your husband or your wife or one of your kids, but that shadow is not the reality. The copy is not the reality. Sometimes in building they make a model and this is the model so you can see what will be coming in the true building. But the model is not the true building. It is clear, this was a pattern given, it's just a shadow. What we have is a reflection of heaven, the dwelling place of the living God. This earthly tabernacle with its ark of the covenant within the tabernacle where God manifested His presence among His people. But that's not the true, permanent dwelling place of God, that's in the heaven that He has created.

So you come back to Hebrews 8. Moses was to make it according to the pattern he was shown, it was a copy. These Levitical priests serve in a copy, a shadow. And for those 1500 years from the giving of the Law to Moses to the coming of Christ and His life and death and resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of the Father, that was all anticipatory to prepare the way. The Mosaic Covenant was given by God in anticipation of what would take place. Verse 6 gives you the reality, but now He, referring to Christ, the Son made perfect forever, the One who is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High in the heavens. But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry. And the contrast really in the immediate context is with verse 4, now if He were on earth He would not be a priest at all. We could translate that, now on the one hand if He were on earth He wouldn't be a priest at all. Verse 6, but now on the other hand He has obtained a more excellent ministry. So that the One who on earth under the Mosaic Covenant would not qualify as a priest at all is the One appointed by God to acquire a more excellent ministry.

He has obtained. We talk about tenses, sometimes, of the verb and that verb translated obtained is in the perfect tense. It denotes something that happened in the past and the results continue in the present. It is used of something that is settled. And Christ has obtained, by His work that we have already seen in Hebrews and we will see more in detail in coming passages, by his sinless life, the sacrifice of Himself, His resurrection from the dead and ascension to glory, seated now at the right hand of the Father. He has obtained and now has a more excellent ministry. His ministry supersedes in every way that priestly ministry of the Levitical system. He has obtained a more excellent priestly ministry, if you will.

By as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted on better promises. We have emphasized this word better. Back in Hebrews 7:19 we had a better hope; in verse 22 we had a better covenant; now in Hebrews 8:6 we have a better covenant, we have better promises. It becomes an emphasis pervading the book of Hebrews and this letter. Now he says He is a mediator of a better covenant. The word covenant is a key word in Hebrews 8 and 9, it will be used a dozen times—twelve times he will emphasize the covenant, the covenant, the covenant. The contrast between the Mosaic Covenant and the better covenant, the new covenant mediated by Christ and established upon Him.

Back up to Galatians 3:19. Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator. And the mediator, of course, was Moses. He is the one on the mountain in Exodus. And God evidently, as we are told here, communicated and showed him through angels who spoke to Moses what he was to build, how it was to be built and how the ministry of that tabernacle was to be carried out. So Moses was the mediator of the Law, the Mosaic Covenant. You'll note, it was until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.

Now let me just note something about the Mosaic Covenant, don't want you to get confused. The Abrahamic Covenant is the foundational redemptive covenant of the Old Testament. The Abrahamic Covenant, initially we have it in Genesis 12, the opening verses. The promises contained in that covenant are further elaborated in subsequent covenants like the Palestinian Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, the New Covenant. The Abrahamic Covenant and the covenants associated with it are permanent, unchanging. The Abrahamic Covenant, its provision, the covenants part of that Abrahamic Covenant are permanent, unchangeable covenants. As you have mentioned here the Mosaic Covenant is not part of the Abrahamic Covenant. So don't get confused and think that God has changed things and the promises to Abraham now can be altered. The Mosaic Covenant was added later. For example, the New Covenant that we'll be talking about in our next study was not an add-on, it is simply an elaboration and confirmation of part of the Abrahamic Covenant. The Mosaic Covenant was added and it was temporary. Verse 19 said it was added, then the last part of the verse, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made, which is referring to Christ. That's why Paul will say, the Law was our schoolmaster until the coming of Christ. So it was a temporary covenant, it was added some time after the Abrahamic Covenant and it was only for a period of time. The Abrahamic Covenant was established by oath as we've already seen in our prior study, and is unchangeable, and its provisions are unalterable. But the Mosaic Covenant was a later add-on for a purpose because of transgressions, it was mediated through Moses and it would last until the promised Messiah came and carried out His high priestly ministry as we're talking about in Hebrews. So the old covenant was mediated through Moses

Come back to Hebrews, and in Hebrews 7:22 we are told that Jesus has become the guarantee, the security, the foundation, if you will, of a better covenant. Now down in Hebrews 8:6, He has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as He is the mediator of a better covenant. I mean, He's the guarantee of it, He's the mediator of it. And of course everyone would have to acknowledge Moses prophesied of One greater than himself that would come. He is the mediator of a better covenant. He doesn't elaborate yet but he will in subsequent verses, the better covenant and that's where we are going.

So that's the point that will be picked up and elaborated beginning in verses 7ff. If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for the second. But then he quotes from the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31, behold, days are coming, says the Lord, I will effect a new covenant. You see that old covenant planned for its replacement with a new covenant. The New Covenant doesn't replace the Abrahamic Covenant, it further elaborates the provision of the Abrahamic Covenant, as we'll talk about when we talk about the New Covenant. But the Mosaic Covenant was one that was to be replaced. It would only serve until the coming of the Promised One, as we saw in Galatians, who would establish a new covenant based on a new priesthood, the priesthood of Christ. It was not part of the Levitical priesthood.

John 1:17 says, for the Law was given through Moses, that's the Mosaic Covenant, but grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. Now there was grace and truth in the Old Testament. The point is the contrast—the Mosaic Law, the Mosaic Covenant came through Moses but the provision of God's grace and the truth of God bringing salvation could only be realized through Christ. And as we noted, even God's forgiveness of Old Testament saints was based on what would be accomplished in the high priestly ministry of Christ because the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. So the contrast between the covenant given through Moses, the covenant that comes through Christ because of His priesthood. And a change of priesthood required a change of covenant. Back in Hebrews 7:12, when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there is a change of law. So if you believe in the high priestly ministry of Christ, you believe that the Levitical priesthood has fulfilled its purpose of being a shadow, to help prepare Israel for the coming of Christ to reveal to them the seriousness and magnitude of their sin, to remind them of the need they have of a sacrifice to truly take their place, pay their penalty and bring God's forgiveness.

This New Covenant, better covenant is enacted on better promises. And that has been enacted is another perfect tense, it is something that has been done. Certain aspects of Christ's work continue. He ever lives to make intercession for us, we saw in Hebrews 7:26, but His sacrificial ministry is done and this New Covenant has been enacted on better promises. And we'll see the contrast and those better promises which bring the salvation God has promised with a new heart, as we'll see in the New Covenant.

The New Covenant we're talking about here has been enacted. That's a legal term and a covenant is a legal document. When we get to Hebrews 10, we'll see some of the consequences. It was a legal document, we call it a contract, a covenant. And there were penalties associated with breaking that covenant. So Hebrews 10 will say, so everyone who violated the covenant under Moses, died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Now we have the New Covenant enacted on Christ and through Christ. How much more severe punishment do you think they will deserve who violate that covenant? So this word has been enacted would be a legal term, brought about by law. Not the Mosaic Law but it has the authority of God with it and there are better promises associated with it. We will pick that up when we come to verse 7.

So the Mosaic Covenant, the Law, the Levitical priesthood just a copy and a shadow to prepare people for the coming of Christ. Understand the beauty of this, the clarity of it, the simplicity of it—there is no other way of access to God and the receiving of forgiveness from the living God but through Jesus Christ. Now there can be no additions, no subtractions. You can't add to that the Levitical system and well, I still believe it will come through Christ but I'll go through the Levitical priest to Christ. That's a denial of what he is saying, and that is true of every system that puts an order of men between the individual and God. It's a denial of those who think their good works will get them there. The clarity of this is foundation to salvation.

Let me close with reading Acts 4:12. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your graciousness in giving us your Word, providing your Son, then explaining for us so clearly, in such detail the finality of His work as high priest, the beauty of that work in providing for us fallen, sinful human beings your grace to bring forgiveness, cleansing, purifying, transformation that makes us new. Thank you for the security that we have through faith in Christ because He ever lives to represent us. I pray for any who are here, Father, perhaps who have been deluded or confused into thinking that even attending this church means they are saved, being baptized means they are saved, having Christian parents means they are saved. Lord, may the clarity that your salvation is available to each and all who would turn from their sin and place their faith in Him and His finished work, that brings salvation. We pray in His name, amen.