Remember at the beginning of the message last week we spoke about the chiropractor who wanted to continue working on me and never finish his job? Well there is more discussion of this today. But the author of Hebrews doesn’t only harp on ongoing sacrifices today but also another deficiency found in the ministry of the priesthood. And this may be related to another medical analogy. That is the x-ray. When the doctor wants to see if there is a problem within our bodies usually he starts with an x-ray. And the x-ray can show if there is some problem with our skeletal system. But the x-ray is merely just a shadow of the real thing. The doctor can’t take the x-ray and operate on it and fix the problem because the problem is not with the x-ray. The x-ray is ok. It only shows the problem with our body. And we will see this is the problem with the Old Testament priestly system.
The author contrasts Jesus’ ministry with that of the Old Covenant in three important ways to show the difference between the reality of worshipping God and the shadow of worship. As the author continues through these verses to make his contrast, the contrast will be evident to us as we see Jesus in juxtaposition to ministers of the Old Covenant.
1. Jesus’ Ministry Is Complete (vv. 1, 4)
The first contrast we see is found in the idea noted in verses 1 and 4. Here we note Jesus’ ministry is complete. The author lays out for us two aspects of this contrast.
A. He is sitting
The first aspect to the contrast is the fact He is sitting. In verse 1 the author writes, “Now the main point of what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” What is the significance of the fact Christ is sitting? He has completed His work He came to do. He accomplished that for which the Father had sent Him. He is now sitting at the right hand of the Father, “the majesty in the heavens” as the author calls Him. This hearkens back to chapter 1 when the author said, “When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” He completed His work. We might see Christ as the person who finishes a great project and then sits down to rest. But in reality He is sitting down until He gets ready to rule. If you remember from chapter 7 the author had quoted Psalm 110 saying, “The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’” He used this Psalm to describe the Father’s relationship to the Son in giving Him an eternal priesthood not based on the Old Covenant. But at the beginning of that same Psalm, King David announced, “The LORD says to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” Here King David expresses the Lord’s declaration to the Messiah Jesus to sit and wait until the time He comes to reign.
So we see here the mingling of the two offices of priest and king. Not only does this Psalm show the oath God made to make Jesus priest but also the command He gives to make Jesus King. And now Jesus is sitting because He has finished His work as priest for His people.
B. They continue to offer sacrifice
The second aspect that describes the contrast to Jesus’ completed priestly work is found in verse 4 of Hebrews 8. “Now if He (Jesus) were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer gifts according to the Law.” Literally the verse says that there are those who are continuing to offer gifts according to the Law.” Because this letter was written before 70 AD the author describes the current sacrificial system at the time. The Romans had not yet destroyed the temple. And the priestly system went on as it had for centuries. Daily, the Old Testament priests were offering sacrifice. And they were doing this even though Christ had already made the one complete sacrifice for all sin.
Think about this verse for a moment. “If Jesus were on earth, He would not be a priest at all.” The truth of this passage is there is no room for Jesus in a system that has an earthly ongoing priesthood. The Old Covenant made no provision for Him. And because Jesus completed His sacrifice once for all (as we read in chapter 7) then any priesthood today would likewise exempt Him from its role. He would be discharged from it. Even the Old Covenant priesthood that foreshadowed His coming and sacrifice pushed Him aside by its continuance. Any other priesthood would do the same because it would not recognize His once for all work on behalf of the sins of all people.
This is the first great contrast between the Greater Priest and any other human priest; Jesus’ ministry is complete while the ministry of any other is still ongoing. And we could even say this profanes the work Jesus did. For the Scripture says it is done and yet others say it continues. Jesus’ ministry is complete.
2. Jesus’ Ministry Is Based on Reality (vv. 2, 5)
The second contrast we view in this passage is Jesus’ ministry is based on reality. We find this in verses 2 and 5. There is a reality that is part of the Spirit realm. That which we can see is not the spiritual reality. And so anything portrayed in this physical realm, earth, to describe the spiritual realm is only a figure. Jesus used all kinds of figures of speech to portray the spiritual realities of heaven. And if we don’t understand these are only analogies of the reality then we will get confused. It is like when Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. When Jesus said to him, “Unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” Nicodemus was confused because he immediately began to think of physical birth. He asked, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born can he?” He didn’t understand that Jesus was using a physical term to describe a spiritual event.
The truth the author attempts to convey to us is that Jesus ministered in the real holy place (in heaven) while the sanctuary built on earth by Moses was merely a copy of what is in heaven.
A. He is a minister of the true tabernacle
The first aspect of this contrast is He is a minister of the true tabernacle. Verse 2 notes that Jesus is “a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.” Jesus did not offer Himself in the tabernacle on earth. When Jesus died on the cross He did not place His blood upon any earthly altar. Some heretics claim He actually spilled His blood over the place of the altar in Jerusalem and say they have His blood to prove it. What a sham. Let’s start looking for pieces of His flesh torn off while He was being whipped too! Anyone who would claim to have such an earthly outlook completely misses the point the author of Hebrews makes in these verses. Jesus ministered in heaven itself. He placed His offering in the very throne room of heaven before the Father. And this offering satisfied the wrath of the Father against our sin.
Look at how the author describes Jesus’ place of ministry. It is the tabernacle “which the Lord pitched and not man.” This is not a man made tent. Jesus had no place on earth to minister as a priest. Remember verse 4, “If He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all.” The true tabernacle is one the Lord made and not man.
Now this may be a little difficult to comprehend but the true tabernacle doesn’t exist as a physical place. Everything physical has dimension but not the spiritual realm. Our created world has length and height and width but this is not the case with the spiritual world. And though it is real enough it does not exist in the way we think. We may see descriptions of this throne room in the Scripture but it is not 15 cubits by 15 cubits or any other kind of similar dimensions. The throne is not jasper or emerald. These are only to give us a picture in our minds from a physical standpoint. Jesus said it clearly in John 3 in His discussion with Nicodemus. “We speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” Jesus was explaining the spiritual in physical terms so Nicodemus could understand. Yet these physical descriptions of the spiritual truths are not the real things. They are pictures that bring us to understand the spiritual. And this brings us to the next aspect of this contrast.
B. They minister in a copy and shadow
The second aspect of this contrast is they (the priests) minister in a copy and shadow. Look at verse 5. “They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, ‘See,’ He says, ‘that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.” From the reading at which we looked from Exodus 24-27 we saw that on Mount Sinai God showed Moses a physical pattern of what existed in heaven. But even though Moses was there on Mount Sinai with God he was only able to see a physical pattern of the spiritual realities of heaven. The Scripture says no one can see God and live. What I believe this means is no one who has seen God in all the wonders of His spiritual heavenly glory in his physical body can endure that and not be killed. The holiness of the spiritual reality is too great for any human being in his or her corrupt physical body to handle. Moses was merely shown a pattern of the spiritual realities of heaven. And so any time you read of an individual in the Old or New Testament of having seen God they didn’t see Him in all His glorious nature or they would have been killed.
So the earthly tabernacle first set up in the wilderness with the exact blueprints from Moses was only a physical representation of the realities of that heavenly throne. And it contained, in a measure, God’s glorious presence yet was not the complete picture. It was so important a picture that God made sure no detail was deviated from. Even the type of incense used by the priests was to be a picture of some heavenly reality God wanted expressed. Yet it was only a physical description.
How much greater was our high priest Jesus? He went into heaven itself before God. He saw, not the physical pictures, but the spiritual realities. He saw the ever-glorious throne room of heaven. He brought our perfect sacrifice on our behalf into the presence of God. He then tore down the veil, the wall of partition that separated us from God because of our sin. He opened the way that we might come before Him. We do not come into a man made sanctuary through the intercession of human priests but into heaven itself through the intercession of our greater high priest Jesus Christ.
God has described why any human attempt to show a way into the real holy of holies is ineffective because the glories of heaven cannot be pierced with the clay of earth. This is why Jesus has become the effective priest whereas those on earth could not do so.
What are some applications to this? First, this great gulf of distinction between the physical realm and spiritual realm ought to cause us to rethink how “spiritual” we are. We may often think of ourselves as spiritual and yet our thoughts are fleshly thoughts about spiritual things. We are like the Lord’s disciples who when He tried to explain the greatness and glories of His kingdom all they could think about was which of them was going to be the greatest.
When Jesus told Nicodemus, “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who has descended from heaven: the Son of Man” He meant that no one here on earth had a real clue about what heaven is like. It is so much grander and more glorious than what our puny minds could comprehend God can only use figures and earthly symbols to begin to describe it for us. So streets of gold and pearly gates are simply physical imagery to describe a place beyond our comprehension as humans to understand. Trust me when we get there, if we don’t see gold and pearls we will not be disappointed. After all if heaven is just rocks and the ulcers of shellfish I don’t want to go.
Getting a glimpse of the spiritual realities of heaven and the greatness of God ought to cause us to bow before Him in humility for the great way He has condescended to meet us in our frail physical frame to show us a glimpse of the glories of heaven. It should not cause us to be puffed up at how much we think we know but to be humble at the truly little we do know.
Second, we can understand Jesus Christ has brought us “real” salvation instead of a shadow and copy of salvation through a man-pitched system incapable of bringing us to God. Jesus has brought us into the throne room in heaven. This is what no man equipped system could do.
3. Jesus’ Ministry Is Based on a Better Covenant (vv. 5-6)
The third contrast we view in this section is found in verses 5-6. And this is Jesus’ ministry is based on a better covenant. Actually if we look first at verse 7 we can see this truth confirmed. “For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.” In the New Covenant there is a better covenant even as we defined better from the last message. Here better does not mean one is good and the next is better but the one is ineffective and therefore the new is better by reason of the fact it is effective.
A. Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant
The first aspect of this contrast is seen in that Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant. In verse 5 it says the priests “serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, ‘See,’ He says, ‘that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain.”
Moses mediated the covenant between God and the nation of Israel. But neither was he flawless in his position as mediator. And what we can learn from God’s statement to Moses, “make sure you make all things according to the pattern which was shown to you” we see that Moses’ ministry was patterned after Jesus’ ministry and not vice versa. Moses was to act in a way like Jesus. Which came first the chicken or the egg? Moses in actuality, though his ministry was chronologically prior to Jesus’ was following a pattern already laid down by God the Father for the work of the Son of God.
The contrast is seen in that this ministry was inferior to the ministry of the coming of the Son of God. And this brings us to the next aspect of this contrast.
B. Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant
This aspect of the contrast is Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant. In verse 6 we see, “But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.” The superiority of the New Covenant is based on the fact the promises made under the New Covenant were more extensive than those under the Old Covenant. We will look at those in detail in the next section. But let’s understand what it is that Jesus has done for us in providing the sacrifice of Himself. In the last message we saw Jesus offered Himself once for all on behalf of our sins. Why is this?
When God created us He created us for His glory. He made us to honor Him and have a relationship with Him. But we all chose to go our own way. We chose to do our own thing. Some of us were brought under greater restraint while others of us were more openly rebellious. But whatever the case we all wanted to do our own thing. The Scripture says we were all going astray. The law was initiated to show us the deep penalty of sin. The sacrifice of an innocent substitute, a lamb or goat, for the guilty person was made to show what we deserved. We deserved death but the lamb took our place.
These sacrifices had no real effect upon our sin. They merely pointed to one who was to come. When John the Baptist saw Jesus he directed attention toward Him and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
But how does one receive the forgiveness of their sins? Is it by being taught this in church? Does believing all you were taught about Jesus give you this forgiveness? Does praying to God bring you forgiveness? Does confessing your sins to God bring forgiveness? The answer to all of these questions is no.
We can believe in our heads everything we have been taught about Jesus. And it may actually have been correct teaching. But forgiveness does not come simply by knowledge. You do not receive forgiveness by just recognizing you have sinned and confessing it to God. The reason for this is there is a penalty for sin. This penalty must be paid. The wrath of God must be appeased. And that penalty was paid in the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. The penalty for our sin was offered there and accepted by God.
But forgiveness comes by understanding both the penalty (of death in hell) and the full payment made by Jesus on our behalf. And then one must receive it as a gift. No payments to be made, no attempts to earn it. You must simply humble yourself and in repentance admit you deserve this punishment in hell with no defense or lessening of the sentence. And then in faith you must accept Jesus’ death on the cross as payment for your sin. In this you will find forgiveness and a new eternal relationship with God. And God will dwell in you through His Holy Spirit and allow you to live a new life by the power of Jesus’ resurrected life (to live no longer for ourselves but for Him who gave Himself for us).
This is the better covenant that has replaced the Old Covenant since it could not accomplish God’s finished work. The ministry of Jesus is complete. There is no longer any sacrifice needed to be made for sins. It was done. Jesus’ ministry is based on reality. It wasn’t just a copy or shadow. It was real. Jesus ministered in the true holy place, heaven itself. And He accomplished it all by enacting a better covenant based upon better promises.