Keys of Truth: Hebrews (Chapter 8)

Chapter summary:
Aaronic priests ministered on earth, in a sanctuary which was a copy and shadow of heavenly realities. Our High Priest, Jesus, ministers in heaven itself (8:1-6). The superiority of Christ's ministry is further reflected in the superiority of the covenant which governs it. The old Mosaic Covenant was flawed. The Old Testament itself predicts its replacement by a New Covenant (vv. 7-9). Under the New Covenant that replaces the old, God promises to "put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts." Under the New Covenant believers will truly come to know God, will be forgiven for all their sins, and will be transformed from within (8:10-13).

The believer's application: God has relegated Mosaic Law to history in order to make us righteous through faith.

INSIGHT: (8:1-7). The priests who offered sacrifices under the Mosaic Covenant acted out on earth what Christ would one day do in heaven itself. Services held in the earthly tabernacle and temple were like shadows cast on a sheet: they reflected the reality hidden behind it, but did so imperfectly. Rightly understood, everything in O.T. faith and worship portrays and was intended to prepare Israel for the revelation of heavenly realities in Jesus Christ.

"The first, flawed covenant" (8:7). The writer argues the very prediction in Jer. 31:31-34 of a "New" Covenant to replace the one given through Moses, proves the first was flawed. The writings of Paul have many analyses of the flaws in Mosaic Law. Essentially, what Law could not do was to transform the believer from within, so that righteousness was "written on the heart."

"Contrasting covenants" (8:8-12). The Mosaic Covenant, or Law Covenant, differed from other biblical covenants. The others announced what God intended to do, irrespective of what men might do. The Mosaic Covenant announced what God would do if the Israelites obeyed and what He would do if the Israelites disobeyed. The weakness of that covenant lay not in God's ability to do His part, but in man's inability to live an obedient life.
The New Covenant is not like the Mosaic (v. 9) in that New Covenant promises are unconditional.
The three unconditional promises in Jeremiah Chapter 31 are:
1) God will transform believers from within, planting His Law on our hearts and minds.
2) He will establish an unbreakable relationship which will make Him "our" God and us "His" people.
3) And God will "forgive... and remember their sins no more" (v. 12).

The New Covenant Jeremiah predicted was instituted by the death of Christ. So in Christ all three New Covenant promises are our present possession, guaranteed by God Himself.

"Remember" (8:12). The word means more than recall. It means to "act in accordance with" what is remembered. Not to remember sins means God will not punish them.