15 Our Great High Priest

In Hebrews chapter 8, the author continues to show how Jesus is the superior High Priest, and how the New Covenant is far superior to the former.

1 Heavenly High Priest

The author begins by providing more clarity as to what he’d been previously discussing in how Jesus now functions as our heavenly High Priest:

Hebrews 8:1-2

The author was making a point, showing that we presently have a High Priest in heaven, seated at God’s right hand. He was re-emphasizing a point that he made at the beginning of his letter:

Hebrews 1:3

While Jesus is indeed our heavenly High Priest, He didn’t perform High Priestly functions during his earthly ministry, even though the Father had declared the Son as High Priest long before Jesus came to earth:

Psalm 110:4

It wasn’t until He ascended into heaven, that Jesus began operating as our High Priest.

• His High Priesthood is so much different that of the Levitical priesthood, since the earthly priests’ ministries were highlighted by the works they performed on behalf of the people. However, Jesus’ High Priesthood was marked by the authority He had from the Father. That was shown by the fact, that He performs His priestly duties while sitting next to the Father.
• While the Levitical priests’ duties required constant activity, the Lord’s priestly duty of interceding on our behalf, can be best performed with close proximity to the Father. Additionally, by being seated, Jesus is showing that opposed to the Levitical priests’ constant work, Jesus offered a one-time-only sacrifice at Calvary.

Therefore, Jesus performs His duty of continuous intercession:

Hebrews 7:25

That verse shows that Jesus is also our permanent intercessor.

This shows how Jesus is therefore the minister of a different type of sanctuary, since it was not constructed by man, but God Himself.

2 A Better Priesthood and Sacrifice

Once again, the author contrasted the imperfect Old Covenant, with the perfect New Covenant:

Hebrews 8:3-6

He speaks of the gifts and sacrifices priests would receive and offer on behalf of the people.

• Gifts were freewill offerings received from the people. Some examples would be, thanksgiving offerings, and fellowship offerings.
• Sacrifices would be those made for personal and corporate sins.
• While earthly priests received from the people, that which was to be sacrificed, from the hands of the people, Jesus provided both gifts and sacrifice.
• Jesus provided the gift of salvation.
• Likewise, the Lord gave Himself as the sacrifice for sin:

2 Corinthians 5:21

The author then spoke of how, everything under the Law was but a “shadow” of that which is in heaven. He speaks of how God instructed Moses to even construct the temple according to a design of that which is in heaven.

In verse 6, the author summarizes what he’d previously spoken of, that Jesus has a “more excellent” ministry.

The main reason His ministry is more excellent is found in the fact that He is the “Mediator” of this greater covenant.

And the reason this covenant is better, is because its established in His blood, and based upon God’s grace:

Ephesians 2:8-9

The word we have translated as “Mediator” comes from the ancient Greek word <mesites> which describes someone who “stands in between two people for the purpose of reconciling or bringing them together”.

In effect, the Old Covenant was a temporary mediator between man and God, whereas with Jesus being the perfect, spotless Lamb of God, the New Covenant is an eternal and complete bridge between God and man.

3 A New Covenant

Hebrews 8:7-13

In verse 7, the author makes one of the more obvious statements, by suggesting that if the Old Covenant had been perfect, there certainly wouldn’t have been a need for a new one.

This points to the fact, that the purpose of the first covenant was to point to mankind’s sinfulness, and therefore the need for a Savior. However, while showing man’s sinfulness, the Law did not provide the means by which one might be saved. Therefore, it was “incomplete” or “imperfect”.

It’s here in the text, where the author quotes a portion of Jeremiah 31, which was the first Old Testament prophecy where the Lord stated He would establish a New Covenant.

Verse 8 shows us that the New Covenant would cover the entirety of Israel.

What makes this most interesting, at the time when Jeremiah gave this prophecy, the northern tribes (Israel) had already been defeated by the Assyrian armies. Therefore, we can see that the prophecy was to be fulfilled long after Jeremiah’s time.

And it really points to New Testament Jews, those who were alive when the letter was written, as well as those of our day.

In the latter part of verse 9, we have another interesting statement, as the Lord speaks of disregarding His rebellious people, but doesn’t mention discarding the Covenant, which God would never do:

Hebrews 8:9

But the Lord states that rather than writing the commandments on tablets of stone (as it had been with the first Covenant), the New Covenant would be written upon the hearts and on the minds of His people.

That points to intimacy, and the fact that the individual would have established a personal relationship with God.

Verse 11 shows the natural extension of that personal relationship since there wouldn’t be the need to teach one another to “know the Lord.”

Jesus illustrated this relationship, when equating it to a shepherd and his sheep:

John 10:14

In verse 12, the Lord promises to no longer hold His people’s sins against them, which is another by-product of having a personal relationship with Him. It also shows how we are justified and accounted as righteous upon conversion:

Romans 3

Finally, in verse 13, the author recaps the chapter, as he shows how the New Testament made the Old obsolete.

But not only was it now obsolete, it was already about to pass away:

Hebrews 8:13

• This was a statement which showed definitively that the Old Covenant had been ended in God’s eyes. (Even though the Jews were still holding to the ceremonial traditions and system of worship).
• Most Bible scholarship asserts that the letter to the Hebrews was written between 63 and 65 AD. And secular history asserts that the city of Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in 70AD by Rome, thus ending the ceremonial system of worship.