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The Epistle to the Hebrews |
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Chapter 8
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The High Priest in the Heavens
1Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a
high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne
of the Majesty in the heavens, 2a minister in the sanctuary and in
the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. 3For every
high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it
is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer.
The writer had just previously stated how it was fitting to have "a
high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and
exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high
priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for
the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He
offered up Himself" (Hebrews 7:26-27), therefore he now
clarifies his main point, namely, that Yeshua is that high priest.
Subsequent to Yeshua's ascension, and parallel to His kingly reign
from the heavens, is His ministry of intercession as high priest in
the heavenly tabernacle. The writer is using rather lofty and
mystical terms but his intention is to explain how the
Melchizedekian priesthood can exist and how Yeshua can minister as
Melchizedekian priest and yet not contradict the Torah. The
difficulty is resolved by the fact that the Melchizedekian
priesthood does not replace the Aaronic priesthood but is
administered on a whole different level and in a whole different
location. The sanctuary and tabernacle in which the Melchizedekian
service is carried out is not in the Jerusalem Temple but the
tabernacle in the heavens. The writer also alludes to the sacrifice
that Yeshua has offered, which he will expand upon later.
A
Copy and a Shadow
4Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since
there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; 5who serve
a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned
by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, "SEE," He
says, "THAT YOU MAKE all things ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN WHICH WAS
SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN."
Interestingly, contrary to what is commonly assumed by Christian
commentators, the writer does not indicate that the Aaronic
priesthood is done away with. Rather, the writer emphasizes that
there already are priests here on earth, the Aaronic priests. He
makes it clear that Yeshua would not be a priest if He were on
earth, not only because
He does not descend from the tribe of Levi,
but also because there already are priests for the earth. The Temple
in Jerusalem is a reflection of the heavenly tabernacle.
A
Better Covenant
6But now He has obtained a more excellent
ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator
of a better covenant, which has been enacted on
better promises.
The better covenant that the writer is referring
to is the promised New Covenant of Jeremiah
31:31-34. The New Covenant contains much
better promises than the previous national
covenant made with Israel: the Mosaic covenant.
We would do well to look at the superiority of
the New Covenant not in the supersessional or
dispensational sense but rather with the
dichotomy of This World and the World to Come in
view. This is best exemplified in the concepts
of what the writer to the Hebrews calls "protos"
and "deutero."
The Protos and Deutero
7For if that first covenant had
been faultless, there would have been no
occasion sought for a second.
At the beginning of our study, we looked at how
in Jewish thinking there are really two periods
of time in human history: This World and the
World to Come. The writer to the Hebrews has
devised a clever way to understand this concept.
He uses the Greek word "protos" to
describe and identify This World and the Greek
word "deutero" to describe and identify
the World to Come. The words
protos and deutero simply
mean "first" and "second" but, as we'll see, the
writer uses them as short-hand terms referring
to things of This World and the World to Come.
We should note that in this verse the word
"covenant" is not actually in the original Greek
text. This is because he is not only referring
to the protos (first)
covenant but to everything that encompasses the
protos system.
The Protos (First)
 This
World
The
Torah written on stone
The
Mosaic Covenant
The
Aaronic Priesthood
The
Jerusalem Temple
The
animal sacrifices
The
fallen state of man
Mortality
The
Messiah is hidden in the Torah
Under
the condemnation of the Torah
No
regenerative work of the Spirit
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The Deutero (Second)
The
World to Come
The
Torah written on human hearts
The
New Covenant
The
Melchizedekian Priesthood
The
Heavenly Tabernacle
The
one sacrifice of Messiah
The
glorified state of man
Immortality
The
Messiah is revealed in the Torah
Under
God's forgiveness and grace
The
regenerative work of the Spirit |
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The Deutero
Covenant
8For
finding fault with them, He says, "BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE
LORD, WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND
WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH; 9NOT LIKE THE COVENANT WHICH I MADE WITH
THEIR FATHERS ON THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM
OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; FOR THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT,
AND I DID NOT CARE FOR THEM, SAYS THE LORD. 10"FOR THIS IS THE
COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER
THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS, AND
I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY
SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. 11"AND THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERYONE HIS FELLOW
CITIZEN, AND EVERYONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, 'KNOW THE LORD,' FOR ALL
WILL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST OF THEM. 12"FOR I WILL
BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO
MORE."
The fault that the writer references in verse 8 is the fallenness of
man. Human beings, apart from the deutero work
of the Spirit based upon the deutero sacrifice
of the Messiah, have no hope of entering in to the World to Come.
All of the elements of the protos can
never bring about the deutero.
What specific aspect of the protos required
God to make sure there would be a deutero? Did God make a
mistake by giving the Torah and the (Mosaic) covenant associated
with the Torah? No, the covenant He gave at Sinai was not faulty.
Rather the people to whom He made the covenant with can be faulted
because man is a fallen creature. The Mosaic covenant, which we can
call the protos covenant,
does not promise any internal work of the Spirit. The covenant God
made with Israel at Sinai is made up of two very simple
stipulations:
1) Obey the Torah and you will be blessed.
2) Disobey the Torah and you will be cursed.
The "problem" with the covenant from our perspective is that we are
a sinful people and will always fall into disobedience of God's
perfect Torah. This does not leave us in a very hopeful position.
Let's make sure to remember that God's covenants are eternal and
cannot be changed. God cannot simply change the Torah to make it
easier or for any other reason. The Creator cannot change and the
expression of that Creator, the Torah, cannot change. On the other
hand, God can change His creation, that is, His people.
Let's take a look at the writer's quote of Jeremiah
31:31-34 and see what
the better promises of this better covenant actually are. Firstly,
we should note that the covenant is made with Israel, not some new
entity. It will not be like the covenant He made at Sinai because
Israel broke that covenant. This new covenant will be characterized
by the Torah written on the hearts of Israel. Not only that, this is
a covenant made with all of Israel, from the least to the greatest,
for all will "know" God. To "know" God is to be in covenant
relationship with God. How will all this be made possible? Verse 34
states that God will remember their sins no more. To quote the
Apostle Paul: "all Israel
will be saved" (Romans 11:26).
Israel as a nation will experience what the remnant in each
generation has been given a taste of. The better promises of the
better covenant are that God will change the hearts of all Israel,
so that Israel will live in obedience to the Torah, thus forever
receiving the blessings of the first covenant.
Out
with the Old, in with the New
13When He said, "A new covenant,"
He has made the first obsolete but whatever is becoming obsolete and
growing old is ready to disappear.
The word "covenant" is, again, not actually in the text of the
Greek. Why do you think the writer has not included the word
"covenant" even though he had just referenced the "new covenant" of
Jeremiah? I believe it is because he is not merely referring to the
covenant but to all of the elements of the deutero.
The very fact that there is a coming new covenant must indicate a
coming new order. The protos is
made obsolete by the deutero.
We could paraphrase this verse this way:
By saying "a new," God essentially made the whole protos
system obsolete and when something is obsolete, it will one day
completely disappear. (paraphrase of Hebrews 8:13)
The protos, in
reality, has not disappeared yet but, with the first coming of the
Messiah, it is as if the "future has invaded the present" and we
have a guarantee of the better covenant; through Yeshua we have a
guarantee of the deutero. |
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