Hebrews 8. I warned you that the letter to the Hebrews was all about comparisons. In recent chapters we have reflected on how Jesus is the new high priest of a different and better order.

Hebrews 8 opens with concluding imagery of Jesus the Great High Priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up (8:1-2). The tent reference here is to the tabernacle tent that Moses had constructed in the desert. It was the dwelling place of the presence of God among humankind, a place where God was worshiped, sacrifices were made, and priests could meet with God on behalf of humankind. Yet the tabernacle tent was temporary, a mere shadow of the throne room of the Almighty (the same could be said of the later temple that King Solomon had built). They serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things (8:5). Now, the resurrected Jesus Christ is enthroned and serving in the true tabernacle, the dwelling place of God in the spiritual realm.

Hebrews 8 then begins a multi-chapter commentary on Jesus as the mediator of a new covenant. Why did we need a new covenant? The old covenant, the Mosaic law, was impossible to keep and never made anyone perfect (8:7-8). Therefore God, who established the Mosaic system, decided he would make a better system to replace the old way.

An extensive quote from Jeremiah 31 reminds us that God had a plan to change the system long before Jesus came to earth! God promised that the days are coming when I will establish a new covenant… (8:8) In speaking of the new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete (8:13). 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 (8:6).

What are the better promises that the new covenant is based on? There are many (see discussion of Jesus as high priest) but the one highlighted here is that our hearts are permanently changed by the presence of the Holy Spirit living within us! 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… they shall all know me… I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more (8:10-12). The promise is that we are forgiven, and we have the possibility of knowing God personally. That is amazing!

How are you as a rule-keeper? I am terrible at keeping all the rules. The more rules there are, the more I want to break them… my heart is just rebellious, I guess. If I had lived under the old covenant, I would never have made it. I would have died in the desert with thousands of others, guilty of complaining and breaking some rules. I am here to tell you that I desperately needed a new heart. I needed the presence of the Holy Spirit to change my heart, I needed (and still need) to be forgiven. And I love that it is possible to know God and talk with him at any time!

Let us rejoice in the new covenant and the possibility of having our rebellious hearts changed!