Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2
a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.3
For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4
Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. 5
They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 6
But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that
is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7
For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
8
For he finds fault with them when he says:[c]
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah,
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”
13
In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
When you wake up in the night, it is dark in your room and you see vague outlines of the dresser and the bedpost, you might trip on your shoes, as you make your way
out. The room is your room, the same room as when you turn on the light but with the lights on, you now see more clearly.
The administration in the NT, the fullness of Christ is better because it is more clear. We see what the prophets longed to see, we see what Abraham saw but not as
clearly, and as mentioned these promises are confirmed to us.
God established the old administration with Moses, it stayed in effect until the fullness came after which the new administration has less outward manifestation and
there are fewer sacraments. The old administration under Moses was twisted by the people to be something it never was supposed to be, the way of salvation. It was not to be this way…ever. It is not that in the OT a person saved themselves but in the NT, now
God saves you.
When this boils down perhaps the question is simple: Was Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hannah and Ruth…Old covenant or new covenant? The blessings and/or characteristics of the
New Covenant would be evident in their lives so we would say they are new covenant, but they lived in Old Testament times…So what does all of this mean?
Perhaps you have been wondering when Pastor Skogen is going to move on from this New Covenant/Old Covenant discussion, after all, is it really that important? Some
think that the OT and NT are pitted against each other and that the OT saints were spiritual infants, that we have so much more spiritual depth and maturity than they had.
But faith and salvation do not work that way. It is true that as the author of Hebrews says in chapter two that seeing how the confirmation came in the fullness of
Christ that we should not escape if we neglect so great a salvation.
Hebrews 11 gives us a list of the greatness of faith and what it works in men, and the greatness it worked even in the old administration of the Covenant. And then
the author says since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us run the race, looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
Second, we must remember that the salvation of Scripture knows only one way, faith in the promises of God. It was the same for Moses, Abraham, and the saints of the
OT as was for Peter, James and John and for you and me; The same covenant of grace.
The difference between the Old and New, the difference between all men and women is the issue of belief and unbelief. Hebrews told us that the wilderness people had
a problem and it was not that they were under the old covenant. Rather, we are told bluntly: they had no faith. They did not believe. (Hebrews 4:2)
So, the point? We have Jesus. No more shadows, types and pictures. The reality has come and we are His and He is ours.
Prayer: Father, I too often shrink back from the sacrifices that would mark my life as belonging to none but Jesus. I know the claims of Jesus are absolute and
immediate, give me strength of mind and heart to embrace the life that Jesus so beautifully lived that I too might know the joy of surrender and the hope of the kingdom of heaven, through Jesus my Savior, Amen.
Hymn: The Deer’s Cry.
