Daily Meditations

Hebrews 8:7 The battle of the Covenants It’s a good point that is being made here. In modern parlance we would say, “If it ain’t broke, you don’t need to fix it!” In other words, if the Law, the sacrifices, the rituals and the ordinances of the old Jewish Covenant made with Abraham, Moses and the Israelites was working fine, then God would have not needed to replace it. But it was not working fine. It was constantly failing the people who found it impossible to meet the Covenant’s demands. They had spent centuries examining it in detail and trying to make it simpler and easier to uphold, hence the Mishna (written code of Jewish oral law) and the Talmud (the recorded oral thoughts of centuries of debate by the various Rabbis). The Law had become increasingly complex and, in their attempts to understand it and simplify it, the teachers and the scribes had made it impossible for the people to obey it! As we have seen, the Old Covenant only covered sins committed in ignorance and the whole...

Hebrews 8:6 A superior Covenant Oh dear, I wonder how this verse and its associates went down with Jewish readers of this Epistle! If they had fully embraced the Gospels and the work of Messiah, then no problem. If, however, they were still sceptical, (and the whole point of the letter is that some were) then statements like verse 6 would be hard to accept. For the point being made is that the ministry of Yeshua, and the Covenant that He initiated, is far superior to all that had transpired under Moses and the Levitical system of the Law. This whole verse seems to revolve around one word – mediator! In fact, the entire letter concentrates on the supremacy of Christ and how He has initiated and mediated a superior way of relating to the Lord God.  Moses was able to intervene before the Lord on behalf of His people on numerous occasions, however, he could only bring temporary respite, in the same way the sacrifices and offerings at the Tabernacle were only temporary, they had to be c...

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...