Our Most Vital Relationship - Hebrews 8
I find that in pastoral ministry, there are two categories of problems that people face. One category consists of problems within ourselves. Fear, doubt, loneliness, lust, pride, and so on. Physical ailments, aging, mental and emotional suffering. Idolatry related to work, material things, worldly pleasures and comforts. Possessing a lack of faith, lack of love or hope or zeal for God. The list of challenges we face related to ourselves goes on and on.
The other category, though, deals with our problems not with ourselves but with others. It deals with our relationships. Broadly speaking, a relationship simply refers to a connection of some kind that you have with someone else. We all have many different kinds of relationships, and different kinds of challenges and problems with each kind.
Think about all the trials, confusion, pain, and disappointment related to or produced from your relationships, whether at home, or work, or among your friends, neighbors, or extended family. Just as sin produces a host of problems within us, it produces a host of problems within our relationships.
In fact, sin affects every relationship, and so relationships are easily damaged or destroyed, and they require effort to be maintained. Think about how you’ve seen sin damage and destroy relationships. Even people who have been close for a long time can fall out. People who were once very devoted to one another can drift apart or lose touch.
Some relationships are more difficult than others, obviously. Even the closest of relationships - spouse to spouse, parent to child, sibling to sibling - are affected by the presence and the power of sin. Perhaps those are affected the most.
And so it should be no surprise that our most vital relationship, the relationship with the most at stake - our relationship with God - is affected by sin as well. The Scriptures teach that all the problems in the world began with a damaged relationship; and since that time, sinful humans do not possess within ourselves what is necessary to secure a good relationship with the sinless one true God or to perpetuate a relationship with Him.
But Jesus does. Jesus Christ came to rescue our most vital relationship, to rescue us from sin and death and to restore our relationship with God. In fact, Jesus Christ is the only One who could do this. You cannot restore yourself to God, and given the choice, you would never naturally choose to do so.
Again, consider all the challenging dynamics of all of your human relationships. Consider your failed relationships, your lost ones, the ones that at this moment hang by a thread. Think about all the conflicts between people in the world. Some will be mended; some will not. But Jesus has intervened and continues to intervene so that you and I can have a giving and receiving relationship with God, so that we can have peace in what is our most vital, most necessary relationship.
But how does Jesus Christ intervene as only He can? That is the subject of Hebrews 8. Two things we see about Jesus in Hebrews 8, which you can see listed on page 6 and 7 in the WG. Only Jesus can sustain the existence of our most vital relationship, and only Jesus can deliver the benefits of that relationship with God. And what’s more, as we learn about how Jesus intervenes in our relationship with God, we learn about how to pursue sound relationships with each other. So let’s look at these.
Verses 1-2 summarizes the previous chapter. After a period of persecution and suffering, many of the listeners were apparently returning to Judaism or thinking about it, thus turning away from Jesus Christ. Going back to the Hebrew religious system appealed to them, with the priests continually offering sacrifices to God for sin according to the Law of Moses, which was apparently still happening.
Incidentally, that would end in 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. Scholars think Hebrews was written not too long before that. But the writer of Hebrews explains that the old sacrificial system is actually already done.
It was not the singing competition American Idol. AI was a big deal for many years, but in 2016 it was cancelled. They made a huge production out of saying “goodbye.” And then in 2017, just a year later, the show came back on a different TV station, and it continues to run.
The old Hebrews sacrificial system had a good run, but God is done with it. It will never come back. The writer of Hebrews explains that the priests were no longer valid or legitimate because one great high priest, Jesus Christ, replaced them all permanently. Look again at verse [1] Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, [2] a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.”
He associates Jesus’ priestly ministry with heaven and the old priests ministry with earth. The old priestly duties were carried out in a tent that men constructed, what was called the tabernacle. They later constructed a temple. But Jesus’ priestly work is done in heaven, which only God could construct. And look at verse [3] For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.”
“This priest” is Jesus. The old priests offered the dead bodies and blood of animals as an atonement for sin, following the law of Moses. Jesus, of course, offered his own body and blood in fulfillment of God’s oath to Abraham. Notice verse [4] Now if he [Jesus] were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.” Earth vs. heaven. The lesser compared to the greater.
The law stated that priests came from the tribe and bloodline of Levi. Jesus descended from Levi’s brother Judah. And the priests of Levi were good for a time; they were necessary to intervene in the relationship between God and the people. They fulfilled the commands of God.
But what they did was only temporary. Why? Look at verse [5] They [the old covenant priests] serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.” From eternity past, there was always heaven, with the eternal God seated on his throne with the heavenly beings all around. There God dwelt in all His glory. Then God gave directions to Moses for the construction of something that was an earthly model of God’s heavenly dwelling. It was a model or copy of heaven.
It was like a temporary shadow of the eternal thing. Notice the rest of verse 5, “For when Moses was about to erect the tent [that was their tabernacle of worship where sacrifices were made and so forth], he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” We don’t know exactly what Moses saw when he met with God on Mt. Sinai, but what he received resulted in the Hebrew place of worship.
Important to note here: God has always, and continues to, dictate to humans how he should be worshipped. Man is not to worship God in any and every kind of way we can dream up. God has given us instructions that regulate true godly worship. God gave instructions to Moses, he obeyed, and it was an excellent, God-glorifying system for a long, long time.
However, notice verse [6] But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry [as high priest] that is as much more excellent than the old.” Why was the old system excellent? Well, for one, God commanded it. But also, it was excellent because it was the way that God had ordained for a relationship to exist between Himself and the sinful people.
The old priests temporarily sustained the existence of the relationship, but what they were doing could not sustain it forever. Jesus now sustains it permanently, and in a much better way. Their priestly duties only delayed God’s wrath against sin. The priestly work of Jesus dealt completely and decisively with God’s wrath against sin. By doing so, Jesus ensures that the relationship between God and his people will always be. Jesus restores the relationship, and he will keep it. Even though we still sin in this life, it is Jesus, only Jesus, who can sustain the existence of that vital relationship.
Recently, I saw Marilyn Key when I was shopping in Walmart. Marilyn is the widow of Charlie Key, who was the director of the Center on National Cemetary Rd. until his death from cancer. She still serves there faithfully. She has been through so much in the loss of Charlie. As we talked, she began to cry as she testified to God’s faithfulness to her through the ordeal.
She told me of a friend of hers who said she did not believe she could handle what Marilyn has been through in losing her husband. Marilyn said she told her friend, “I used to think that also. But you could get through it -- with God. God would carry you through it.” You see, Marilyn grieves, she is terribly sad, but she is not sad like a person who has no hope.
You could lose everyone you know and love, and still possess hope. But if you lose God, you lose hope. That is one reason why our relationship with God is so vital: because without hope, we are utterly undone. We are finished. Jesus, in his high priestly work of sacrificing himself for our sins and continually praying for us and appealing to God on our behalf, sustains our only link to lasting and sure hope.
In Ephesians 2, the apostle Paul speaks to many non-Jewish folks who believed in Jesus but did not grow up in Judaism. Listen to what he says to them: “remember that you were… separated from Christ, alienated from...Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace.” We too were naturally without God in the world. We had no relationship with Him. But Jesus restores and sustains that relationship.
Have you been thinking that it depends on you? Have you been fooled into believing that you are the one holding together your relationship with God? Christians can be deceived into thinking that, but, if you’ve never thought about this or realized it, you may not actually be born again.
The gospel of Jesus Christ says that we are saved by faith alone through grace alone by Christ alone to the glory of God alone. If you’ve never heard that or trusted in Jesus in that way, well then today may be your day of salvation. Don’t look to yourself or anyone else but Jesus alone to secure, protect, and continue a relationship between you and God. We can begin and sustain earthly relationships; only Jesus can do this heavenly work.
And only he can deliver the benefits of it. In these remaining verses, the writer moves to the covenant of God with the nation of Israel. When you see “covenant,” you should think “relationship.” The covenant included the act of God initiating a relationship with the people and also the terms of the relationship.
One reason we as a church believe in what is called “covenant theology” which means that we interpret the whole Bible in light of the covenants and we see a great deal of continuity from the OC to the NC, is because since the sin of Adam, there’s only one way that God can have a relationship with humans, and that is by His grace alone.
The covenant was an agreement with expectations: blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. We read earlier in worship about God’s initial covenant with Adam, a covenant of works, which Adam violated, followed by a covenant of grace, which God further clarified over time. As we go through the Scriptures, we see God’s plan of salvation by grace with more and more clarity through God’s covenant actions toward Noah, and then toward Abraham, and then toward Moses and the people of Israel, and then toward David.
God was developing something; He was building up to Jesus Christ, teaching us about all that Jesus is and all that He has done and will yet do. So you should think of these covenants as connected and progressive, reaching their zenith, their greatest height, their finality, in God’s covenant actions toward and through Jesus.
Now look at the rest of verse 6, “the covenant he [Jesus] mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.” The new covenant is being compared to the stage in covenant history that involved Moses at Mt. Sinai, when God gave the Israelites His law. At that time, for the first time, God put the relationship in writing. He codified it. He didn’t start it there; it goes back to God’s words to Adam after he sinned, but more clearly it goes back to God’s oath and covenant ceremony with Abraham.
Yet, it was at Mt. Sinai where God founded the people of Israel as a nation and a covenant community in the world for the first time. But the promises given by God at that time were not sufficient to keep the community intact, not because of inadequacy on God’s part, but rather, on the part of the people.
What God promised at the time of Moses was coupled with their obedience to the law, which clearly they could not keep because of their own sinful natures. There’s all these laws meant to sustain all the relationships in the covenant community, relationship with God and with each other.
And because of sin, they all just fell apart. Look at verse [7] For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. [8] For he [God] finds fault with them when he says: and here the writer quotes the prophet Jeremiah, chapter 31.
I mentioned last week that the writer of Hebrews undoes the old priesthood with their own holy book; here, he undoes the old covenant with the same brilliant method. What follows here are the benefits of the new covenant which Jesus delivers to those who trust in Him.
There are four benefits listed here. He says, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, [9] not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.” Actually, here God describes the exodus, not Mt. Sinai, as the place of His covenant action. Of course, the exodus fulfilled a promise of God to Abraham.
But why a new covenant? Why the need for something better than the covenant actions with Moses? Look at the rest of verse 9: “For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.” In other words, they neglected God, so eventually, after much patience, He neglected them.
God fulfilled every obligation that He had to the Israelites according to the law and covenant with Moses. For instance, they received the promised land, but there were stipulations, which they violated, and they lost that land. God had delivered them from bondage in Egypt, to that they could worship and know Him. He called them “His people.”
But driven by their own sin, they neglected God, they showed no concern for Him. They did what all people naturally do: sabotage relationships. They wrecked their relationship with God, which doesn’t make them different from any other human left to his or her own devices. But look at verse [10] this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days [after the judgment for being unfaithful to the covenant with Moses], declares the Lord:
Benefit number 1, “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts.” Through Jesus, God’s people can obey His truth and live according to it. When we are born again, He installs new software. His moral law is no longer simply external; he makes it internal. He etches it upon our consciences. His truth is carved not into tablets of stone as with Moses, but into tablets of human souls.
Benefit number 2, “and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Because of this lasting ability to know and obey God, we are inseparably united to Him.
Benefit 3: And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” In the old system, with the tent and later the temple, the presence of God was concealed from the average person. Only the priest could go into that copy of God’s holy throne room.
But through Jesus, we all may enter the presence of God. There is no partiality, no pecking order, no difference between the rank and file and the leaders. You have as much access to God as I do, if you are born again in Jesus Christ.
Interestingly, in the OT there is no reference to Israelites teaching each other. But now, two or more of you can get together, and with the leading of the Holy Spirit, read the Word and encourage and teach and build up each other. God is not saying we don’t need ordained teachers, because even Jesus established the twelve apostles as the original elders of the church, but God is saying that intimate knowledge of him is not just for the priests and prophets.
Each of you can and should have a Bible. If you don’t have a Bible, we want to give you one. In the NC we have leaders who guard the doctrine of the truth and who labor in preaching and teaching. There is biblical precedent for those roles. But you have direct access to God. Jesus delivers this to you.
Now look finally at benefit four that Jesus delivers. Verse [12], God says, “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” We have permanent access to God because Jesus has dealt once and for all with our sins. In the old covenant, God instructed them to repeatedly offer sacrifices for sins as a yearly reminder, a continual way of letting the Israelites know that God had not forgotten about their sins.
But you see, in Christ, God has put the memory of them away for good. He’s not going to bring them up again. I said last week that the writer of Hebrews completely dismantles Judaism. He shows that their old priesthood was now obsolete because of Christ. Look at verse [13] In speaking of a new covenant, he [God] makes the first one obsolete.” In other words, it was done. Gone. “And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”
As I said earlier, they considered going back to the old system because it was still operating in the temple. It would soon “vanish away” at the hands of the Roman army, but in reality, it’s usefulness had already vanished at the wounded hands and feet of Jesus Christ.
I know that talking about broken relationships stings us, some more than others, of course. What will happen with each of our human relationships remains to be seen. But as we go to the table this morning, we deal with the most vital of our relationships, and we see the lengths to which Jesus has gone to mend and keep that relationship.
What a comfort to know that in Christ Jesus we cannot lose God. We have complete forgiveness in Him, and so we should forgive others. Jesus moved toward us because of God’s grace, and so we should move toward others to make peace and show love and bring restoration. Do you know Jesus, and the power and benefits that come from being reconciled to God? Cry out to Him today.
Let’s bow in prayer.