Epaggelia

Being The High Priest and Minister of The True Tabernacle and sitting to the right of the Majestic Throne in Heaven, (v1-2)  means that Christ has been able and worthy to mediate the requests and needs of every soul in submission to Him, forever, since the day when The Spirit of Christ tore the Temple Veil open; breaking entrance between the Holy and Most Holy Place.. Matthew 27:51 & Luke 23:45. He meets our spiritual needs. Can you think of any greater Spiritual Needs than these three? Firstly;The need for forgiveness. Secondly;The need for our prayer to be heard. Thirdly;The need for our praise to be accepted.

Heb. 8:4-5 refer to The Law of Moses in and of itself was “holy and just and good” (Rom 7:12), but the weakness of man was so pervasive and chronic that none could perfectly observe it.  The “fault,” then, was that the Law provided no adequate restitution for violation. The author then offers a quote from Jeremiah 31:31-34 which indicates that the Law, itself, spoke of its own future eclipse by a new covenant (8:8).  This change of covenant was made possible by the faithlessness of the Jews, “because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord” (8:9). God was then freed from any obligation to maintain the first covenant. So since He made Christ the High Priest, he has now obtained a more excellent ministry.  He is now the mediator (intercessor) of this better covenant. Because this new covenant is superior and Christ is its negotiator, it is established on better promises (Gal 3:19, 20). The first covenant could not adequately bring men to God, it was weak and useless (Rom 8:3, Heb 7:18), it could not accomplish its purpose (Acts 13:39), it could not forgive sins (Heb 10:4,11). So, this is the reason for this new and better covenant. 

The global effect Christ has in the Church results in Jesus being known throughout the world as LORD, Heb. 8:10-12. But a Jew was a covenant member by heritage and circumstances of birth.  His “religion” was outward in the sense that he had no choice but to conform to God’s law with the nation. He was a Jew first, then a believer in God. But under the new covenant, God would first “put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts” and then “I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (8:10).  Further, “None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them” (8:11). In other words, one must first come to a knowledge of God and learn to appreciate Him; then he can enter a covenant relationship with Him. The sad history of the OT is the Jewish nation plummeting time and time again over the precipice of rebellion, immorality, idolatry and self-will.  All the promises and blessings offered them, could not make them faithful without individual conviction and commitment. The new covenant would begin with the individual, not the group. Did God expect the Law of Moses to be taken into the heart?  See Dueteronomy 6:4-9; 11:18.

The Hebrew writer says that the new covenant was established on “better promises” (Heb 8: 6).  Those promises are, in a word, forgiveness (8:12-13). Real permanent forgiveness, as in contrast to temporary annual and repetitive forgiveness from the annual day of atonement.  This is what the apostles went forth proclaiming to the Jews (Ac 2:38; 3:19, 26; 4:12, etc.). From Jeremiah’s viewpoint the first covenant was already obsolete; it was only a matter of time before it would vanish forever.  As the author indicates in various ways, that time has now come, and will never stop, till Jesus arrives again in Judgment.