A More Better Covenant
Hebrews 8:4-7 NLT
4 If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law. 5 They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.”
6 But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.
7 If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it.
The book of Hebrews is a book of betters. Jesus is better than angels, Moses, the Mosaic law, and the priests. And Jesus is the High Priest of a more better covenant.
The priests under the Mosaic law served in an inferior system. The NLT calls it a copy, only the shadow of the real system of worship in heaven. Everything we see in the old covenant is a shadow that points to the real that we have in Christ. Moses was told to make the temple in the wilderness according to the pattern that God showed him. The earthly temple was a copy of the true temple in heaven. The earthly priests, a copy of what we now see in Jesus, our great High Priest. And the old covenant was not greater than what we have now in Jesus. Our new covenant is greater, and the promises surrounding it are greater.
Under the old covenant, there was a reminder of sins made every year as the high priest entered the Holy of Holies to offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people. The blood of the lambs and calves would cover sins for a year. Under our new covenant, Jesus entered the most holy place in heaven with His own blood. Jesus does not have to do that every year. His blood was better than that of animals, and our sins are forgiven forever.
Under the old covenant, people had to keep a religious law in order to be right with God. But under our new covenant, we have been made righteous, given the gift of righteousness. We did not have to work our way to God; we were able to draw close based on what Jesus has done for us.
Under the old covenant, God’s people were servants of God. Under the new covenant, we are sons and daughters of the Most High. Under the old covenant, people were forgiven; under the new covenant, we actually become new creations, new spiritually.
Under the old covenant, the Holy Spirit would only come on prophets, priests, and kings in order to anoint them for service. Under the new covenant, all are born of the Spirit with the Holy Spirit living in them. And under the new covenant, all believers have the opportunity to be immersed, anointed by the Holy Spirit to be a witness that Jesus is alive. Thank God for the better new covenant established on better promises.
Prayer
Thank You, Father. I am not under the old system but the better system, better covenant, and I have been given better promises.