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The Epistle to the Hebrews |
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Chapter 8
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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 different level and in a
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 a supersessional or
dispensational sense but rather with the
dichotomy of this age and the age 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 age and the age
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
age and the age 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
Age
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
Age 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 fallen state 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 age 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 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 manuscripts. Why do you
think the writer did not include the word
"covenant" even though he had just referenced
the "new covenant" of Jeremiah? Likely 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 since there is a
promise of better age, 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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