May 21, 2006
THIS IS THE SUM
Hebrews 8:1

   "Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on 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 pitched, and not man" (Heb. 8:1). Few Bible books give such help to readers as to pause and summarize the preceding verses. But this is really more than a summary, for it should read, "this is the main point"!
   And "such an high priest became us, Who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needs not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this He did once, when He offered up Himself. For the law made men high priests who has infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, made the Son "perfected for evermore." What a contrast! The Lord Jesus Christ was made high priest by God's oath and perfected for evermore compared with men beset with infirmity made priests by "the law of carnal commandment." Such a difference and such a Priest!
   That is not all, for their priestly activities made nothing perfect and their unending duties were discharged while standing in the types and shadows of the heavenly things built by Moses. But this Man is seated in the true tabernacle from whence His more excellent ministry mediates a better covenant based on better sacrifices and better promises.
   Israel's law is changed, its priesthood replaced, its many sacrifices excelled by one which fully pleased God. Their faulty covenant is superseded by a faultless one. Purged worshipers were no longer fearful of death or of God. They are invited to come boldly to the throne of grace by their new reigning King/Priest and find grace to find help in time of need.
   God faulted the first (Old) covenant and promised its replacement with a New Covenant, one they could not break. This New Covenant depended on Christ alone. He was its surety, the One Who would make good all its terms and conditions. "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that He said, A new covenant, He has made the first old. Now that which decays and grows old is about to vanish away." (Heb. 8:1-13) God was ready that it should pass. How strange that Gentiles hold to covenants that were never theirs.

Ivan L. Burgener