Jesus: Mediator of a “better” Covenant
“Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, ‘See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.’” (Hebrews 8: 1-6)
Today Jesus serves in a ‘better’ sanctuary, a heavenly sanctuary, greater than any priests on earth ever served in. As a High Priest, Jesus is superior to every other priest. Jesus offered His blood as an eternal payment for sin. He was not from the tribe of Levi, the tribe that the Aaronic priests were from. He was from the tribe of Judah. The priests who offered gifts ‘according to the law,’ served only that which was a symbol or ‘shadow’ of what is eternal in the heavens.
Seven hundred years before Jesus was born, the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah prophesied of the New Testament, or New Covenant – “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah – not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’” (Jeremiah 31: 31-34)
John MacArthur writes “The law, given by Moses, was not a display of God’s grace but God’s demand for holiness. God designed the law as a means to demonstrate the unrighteousness of man in order to show the need for a Savior, Jesus Christ. Furthermore, the law revealed only a part of truth and was preparatory in nature. The reality or full truth toward which the law pointed came through the person of Jesus Christ.” (MacArthur 1535)
If you have submitted yourself to some part of the law and believe if you keep it that it will merit your salvation, consider these words from Romans – “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3: 19-20)
We are in error if we are seeking our own ‘self-righteousness’ through submitting to law rather than embracing and submitting to the ‘righteousness’ of God.
Paul was passionate about the salvation of his brethren, the Jews, who were trusting in the law for their salvation. Consider what he wrote to the Romans – “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Romans 10: 1-4)
Romans teaches us – “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3: 21-24)
REFERENCES:
MacArthur, John. The MacArthur Study Bible. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010.
