Hebrews 8: Christ Is Priest Of A Better Covenant
®
(http://bit.ly/6saVTM)
Theme: Remain Confident in Christ
A) Reasons
2) Because He is a better priest (4:14 - 10:39)
B) Priest of a better Covenant (8:1-13)
Verses 1-5 conclude Christ is a better priest because His work
is a finished work, and because He ministers in the heavenly
tabernacle rather than the one on earth (2-5). More will be
said about these facets of Christ's priesthood in the
following chapters. Verse 6 introduces the subject of chapter
8, i.e. Christ is priest of a better covenant.
In Genesis 12:1-3, God made a covenant with Abraham which
included the promise of land, seed, and blessing. Later,
these covenants were expanded in the Palestinian (Deut.
30:1-10), Davidic (2 Sam. 7:12-16), and New Covenants (Jer.
31:31-34). These covenants contain the framework for God's
dealing with literal, national Israel in the past and future,
but the New Covenant also explains spiritual promises which
extend to church age Gentiles through faith in Christ, the
seed of Abraham (Gal. 3). There are several reasons the
promise of this New Covenant is better than the old.
1) Because it changes your heart (8-11). Romans 7 indicates
the OT Law cannot incline you to obey God. When you hear
God's will in the Law, it compels your fallen nature to rebel.
This shows your inability to meet God's standard in the
strength of your flesh, and that you deserve condemnation. As
such, Galatians 3 says this Law was a tutor to lead us to
Christ so we could be justified by faith rather than personal
merit. Under the New Covenant, God imparts a new regenerate
nature (2 Cor. 5:17). When you trust Christ, the Holy Spirit
indwells you, and faith in Christ's death and resurrection
empowers you to yield your members as instruments of
righteousness to God (Rom. 6:1ff.)
2) Because it gives you understanding (11). 1 Cor. 2:6-16
says the Holy Spirit takes spiritual truths from the word of
God and reveals them to the understanding of those who trust
Christ. As such, every believer, under the New Covenant, has
"the mind of Christ" (16 NAS). This is better than the Old
Covenant, which required the people to "teach everyone his
fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, 'know the
Lord' (Heb. 8:11).
3) Because it removes guilt (12). The Law reminded people of
sin as the offerings had to be repeated day by day. As such,
you could not serve God with a conscience clear from guilt. By
contrast, the New Covenant includes a provision whereby God
"will remember their sins no more" (12 NAS). Christ's once
for all atonement satisfies all God's righteous demands
against all sin of all time (1 John 2:2), giving God a
righteous ground for forgetting one's sin altogether. To
forget sins does not mean that God has no recollection of
them, but that He no longer holds them against us, because
Christ's death satisfies all His righteous demands against
them. As such, the New Covenant enables you to serve God with
a clear conscience.
God has declared the Old Covenant obsolete by introducing the
New Covenant, which changes the heart, imparts understanding,
and removes guilt. Christ is a better priest because He is
priest of this better covenant.
--
Have you heard Christ died for our sins, and God raised Him
from the dead? Did you know God saves you from hell and
gives you eternal life through faith in this finished work alone,
not your merits (Jn. 3:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-3; Eph. 2:8-10; 2 Thess.
1:8-9)? This is so man cannot boast, and God alone gets the
glory (Eph. 2:8-9).
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Mordecai <mldavis(please dont spam)@internode.on.net> wrote:
>
> � wrote:
>
>> > On Sat, 12/19/09, at 6:55:39AM,
>> > Mordecai<mldavis(please dontspam)@internode.on.net> wrote:
>> >
>>> > >
>>> > > � wrote:
>>> > >
>>>>> > >> > Hebrews 8
>>>>> > >> > (http://bit.ly/6saVTM)
>>>>> > >> >
>>>>> > >> > Theme: Remain Confident in Christ
>>>>> > >> >
>>>>> > >> > A) Reasons
>>>>> > >> > 2) Because He is a better priest (4:14 - 10:39)
>>>>> > >> > B) Priest of a better Covenant (8:1-13)
>>> > > WOOHOOO!
>>> > >
>>> > > Randy has finally decided that there is a better way ... a better covenant!
>>> > >
>>> > > Now randy, tell us all about the better salvation that JC brought and
>>> > > explain WHY it is better.
>>> > > Not just claim it.
>>> > > This means you have to ... think and not just parrot "the many witnesses
>>> > > which prove you to be correct" namely dead commentators ...
>>> > >
>>> > > What is better about it?
>> >
>> > Why do you remove the answer to your question from the post, then
>> > ask me to produce it? Your question is a rhetorical lie.
> You did not give an answer to the question I ASKED.
[I do admit this particular paragraph is in glaring error:]
In Genesis 12:1-3, God made a covenant with Abraham which
included the promise of land, seed, and blessing. Later,
these covenants were expanded in the Palestinian (Deut.
30:1-10), Davidic (2 Sam. 7:12-16), and New Covenants (Jer.
31:31-34). These covenants contain the framework for God's
dealing with literal, national Israel in the past and future,
but the New Covenant also explains spiritual promises which
extend to church age Gentiles through faith in Christ, the
seed of Abraham (Gal. 3). There are several reasons the
promise of this New Covenant is better than the old.
[That makes it seem as if the contrast is between the Abrahamic
covenant, and the New Covenant of which Christ is the mediator,
when in reality, the New Covenant is the fulfillment of the
Abrahamic covenant of faith.
The contrast _should_ have been stated as between the MOSAIC
covenant, and the New Covenant Christ mediates. The Law was
added 430 years later than the Abrahamic covenant, because of
sin, and as a tutor to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3), so that
we might be justified by faith, as was Abraham. Thus, the
Abrahamic covenant did not become obsolete, but the MOSAIC covenant.
That the New Covenant of which Christ is mediator, is superior to
the _MOSAIC_ covenant, however, is evident in the following
considerations:
God has declared the Old _MOSAIC_ covenant obsolete by
introducing the
New Covenant, which changes the heart, imparts understanding,
and removes guilt, which the _MOSAIC_ covenant did not do. Christ