Better Covenant…Better Hope
This morning, Debbie made some cinnamon rolls to take to some of our neighbors who have helped during the recent snow storm. I did get out this afternoon to the fitness center, before we headed to the Saturday evening service at Timberline. Last night it was good to have Braden Wahr come join us for a visit and meal out. Braden is working for American’s For Prosperity in Washington, D.C. and was a former aide for me at the Capitol.
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… “But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree He is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been legally enacted on better promises.” Hebrews 8:6 HCSB
[Jesus] “…will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.” Hebrews 9:28 HCSB
When we read the Book of Leviticus with all the requirements of the law and what it takes to please the Lord and obey Him, we are glad to read the Book of Hebrews and the good news of a “better covenant” and a “better promise” and a “better sacrifice that has been provided through Jesus.
Hebrews chapter 8 opens up showing how Christ is the “better priest.” He has a history not tied of Aaron, but an everlasting covenant that finds itself from God. Jesus, like the earthly priests, did not have to offer a sacrifice for Himself, because He was without sin. He did not offer the sacrifice of an animal substitute, He offered the sacrifice of His own blood.
As a result, a Jesus told His disciples in the upper room, He was establishing a “new” covenant. So we read,
“…if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one. But finding fault with His people, He says: Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel…. By saying, a new covenant, He has declared that the first is old. And what is old and aging is about to disappear.” (Heb. 8:7-8,13 HCSB)
Hebrews chapter 9 opens referring to the law given to Moses with the covenants, and the Tabernacle with the ark and the sacrifices and the all the requirements. It then point out, “This is a symbol for the present time…” (Heb. 9:9 HCSB) We also read, “…the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the actual form of those realities…” (Heb. 10:1 HCSB)
The writer of Hebrews describes how Jesus did not enter an earthly Tabernacle, or Temple but a heavenly one. “For the Messiah did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that He might now appear in the presence of God for us.” (Heb. 9:24 HCSB)
The results of all this? The “old” covenant provided for a “covering” of sin. The “new” covenant provide a “cancellation” of sin. As a result the scripture is fulfilled that says, “I will never again remember their sins and their lawless acts…” (Heb. 10:17 HCSB) Through Christ is true “justification.” What some one described as a meaning, “just-as-I-had-never-sinned.” It all happened at the cross, when Jesus said, “It is finished!”
“He has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” (Heb. 9:26 HCSB) So, we are assured, “…he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” (Heb. 7:25 ESV)
Because of that we have hope and a future. This hope is that judgment before God is avoided and we can anticipate a future of an eternity in God’s presence. “And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment— so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.” (Heb. 9:27-28 HCSB)
Those of us who have parents or grandparents that remember the Great Depression, understand from them the “before and after” of hardship to the blessing we enjoy and take for granted today. It is difficult for us who have been blessed to relate to the sufferings of the past. I believe in a spiritual sense that is the challenge when we move from the “old” covenant to the “new.” May we always hold dear and have grateful hearts what Christ has done for us and what He has provided so we can enjoy is so freely!