Chapter 8:1-13

The Epistle To The Hebrews: A Study Guide

By Pastor James P. Vold

Hebrews 8:1-13

8 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, 2a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. 3For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. 4For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; 5who 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.” 6But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. 7For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8Because finding fault with them, He says: “ 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 9“not acording to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord. 10“For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel: After those days,” says the Lord, “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.11“None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 13In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. (Heb. 8:1-13 NKJ)

In the previous three studies we noted Christ’s superiority to Aaron and the contrast developed in:

A Summary Identification
The Preparation For The Priesthood
Problems With People
Promises To The People
The Contrast Between The Order Of Aaron And The Order Of Melchizedek

F. Christ Is Superior To Aaron In Place And Basis Of Priesthood (Heb. 8:1-13)

In this study, the writer gives a simple summary in verse one. We have a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. Note that God the Father is identified by the significant title, The Majesty. Verses two through five describe the place of the priest’s ministry and comment about the operation of that ministry.

The place is indicated as the tabernacle pitched by God, not by man. That is contrasted with the earthly tabernacle which is said to be a shadow of heavenly things. Proof of this is God’s command to Moses: See that you make all things according to the pattern showed you on the mount [Sinai]. It seems that earth’s little tabernacle is (was) an object lesson to help us understand the operations in Heaven.

The operation is indicated in the words, to offer gifts and sacrifices. This, if it were an earthly function, Jesus could not do because the Levitical law did not allow a member of the tribe of Judah to perform the duties of a priest.
Jesus offered the one sacrifice in the giving of Himself for us. He continues to offer gifts as He takes our love, worship and service and presents them to the Father on our behalf and with His blessing. How wonderful to know that as we approach God, all our thoughts about Him, all our works for Him, and all our adorations of Him are passed through the nail- scarred hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In verses six through thirteen, we note that the priesthood of Christ is based on a New Covenant. His more excellent ministry is authorized by a better covenant which is based on better promises.

That such a new covenant is needed is demonstrated in a quote from Jer. 31:31-34, where God clearly promises a new covenant to Israel who had been given the old or Mosaic covenant. The new is needed because there is fault in the old.
The provisions of the New Covenant are summarized as:

Internal rather than external. The law is written on hearts instead of being inscribed on stone tablets.
Intimacy rather than distance. I will be their God and they shall be My people.
Intelligence rather than ignorance. They shall not teach each other because all, from the greatest to the least, shall know God.
Permanent rather than temporary. The pardon is permanent because in mercy God will remember sins no more. (Contrast this with Heb.10:3 where it is noted that the Levitical system made remembrance of sins each year.)
These promises of the New Covenant made the Old Covenant archaic (ancient) and thus rendered the whole Levitical priesthood obsolete (discarded, no longer in use). To reject Christ for the old system is to leave the new and effective (producing a desired result) to claim the discarded and ineffective (not producing the effect intended)

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