Daily Meditations

Hebrews 8:5 A copy and a shadow There are two potent verses in Exodus that probably are never given the attention they deserve. Exodus 25 describes the precise instructions given by God to Moses about the building of the Tabernacle and the furnishings within it. Twice the Lord says to Moses , “Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.”  V9, v40. When God instructs us to follow a pattern, it is always in the context of it being a shadow or an earthly replica of a heavenly reality. Throughout the centuries of Jewish worship and rituals it didn’t seem to dawn on anyone that all their sacred objects and their sacrificial offerings were merely reflections of a greater, spiritual reality. The sanctuary was just  “a copy, a shadow of what is in heaven. ” It took the coming of Christ Jesus, and the revelations to the Apostles, to unlock this mystery and to explain it all so that we might understand. This is exactly what the author of Hebrew...

Hebrews 8:4 Jesus is no earthly priest We have already discussed this point! Yeshua was in no way qualified to be a human priest of God Most High. That is why the religious leaders and the priesthood of Jesus’ day rejected Him. He was not of the tribe of Levi so He could not be a priest. He was not officially trained as a Rabbi and did not align Himself with any of the prominent teachers of His day. He exhibited few of the skills of a scribe and was most certainly unconnected to the Sadducees and Pharisees. He failed all the criteria required to be a religious leader in the culture of those days. He was not even a zealot for He had no political affiliations or motives. Small wonder that the Jewish leaders questioned His integrity, and in a culture that relied on traditional values, Jesus was found to have fallen short of every qualification used at the time. And yet He left them all gasping at His knowledge and His wisdom, even when He was a 12-year-old boy, visiting the Temple for the...

Hebrews 8:3 Gifts and sacrifices We need here, to establish the difference between gifts and sacrifices, especially in the context of the high priests. Gifts are voluntary, they always have been, they reflect the esteem the receiver holds in the mind of the offeror and also the love and affection that exists in their relationship. Gifts are, therefore, for our nearest and dearest or those for whom we feel a sense of gratitude and respect. Tithing is giving, and there were numerous other ways in which individuals could show their gratitude to the Lord God including offerings of grain, flour, oil and bread. Livestock was killed and the priests were allowed to keep part of these if the offering was a voluntary peace or fellowship offering.  Whilst the Levitical priests were not farmers or landowners, there is an inference that they too made offerings to the Lord to express their gratitude and devotion to Him.  Sacrifices obviously are different, and all priests, including th...

Hebrews 8:2 Set up by the Lord. We would be correct in thinking that the content of verses like these would be mind-blowing for most Jews. They had completed centuries of religious rituals, following the letter of the Law and their own oral traditions, seeking to do things correctly and to make themselves blameless before the Lord. Now they were being told that all their hard-earned religion amounted to very little, it was merely a reflection of a reality that exists outside of this world. It was being suggested that their ancient faith was just a sham, a shadow of the heavenly reality. This was earth-shattering news for them, and we can’t blame them for finding it hard to digest, especially as the ramifications flow over to us Gentiles. Firstly, the Jews are being asked to believe that the real Tabernacle is in heaven. This is not built by human hands; it is constructed by the Lord Himself.  Secondly, they are all being asked to grasp the fact that the Levitical priesthood was als...

Hebrews 8:1 We do have such a High Priest This chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews begins with a rather unsettling comment. After all that we have covered in recent studies we find that we have yet to get to the main point! We’ve deliberated over explanations of the qualifications of God’s Son, the provision of spiritual rest, the efficiency of the Word of God, the establishment of the priesthood and the covenant with Abraham, the role of a High Priest and the appointment of Jesus Christ to be that person for the church forever. If we thought that was sufficient material for a fairly complex letter, then we are being reminded that all this is just an introduction! If that is not enough, now we are reminded that we are about to get to the main point!  Firstly, the author wants to stress to his Jewish readers that every quality required by an earthly High Priest has been met in Christ Jesus - and some. He has demonstrated that despite any misgivings they might have and despite His ...

Hebrews 7:28 Men are weak, the Son is perfect This last verse of chapter 7 is a kind of summary of all that has gone before. The footnote in my Bible gives three excellent reasons why  “men in all their weakness”  cannot compare with the Son, in fulfilling the roles of the priesthood.  Firstly, men are mortal, we do not live forever, Christ on the other hand is eternal and His priesthood will never end.  Secondly, human beings are tainted and scarred by sin, no man or woman has ever been able to rid themselves of this terminal and pervasive disease. However righteous a priest might be, he is still imperfect and unable to meet the holy standards that define the Lord our God. For that reason, all human priests have had to offer sacrifices for themselves as well as for the wider population.  The third distinguishing difference between the Levitical priesthood and that pioneered by the Lord Jesus is that the human priests could only offer animals to God as substitut...