The New Covenant Hebrews 8:1-13

A New High Priest High Priest at God’s right hand (Hebrews 8:1-6) In the sanctuary, holies, heaven In the church, the greater part of the true tabernacle An offering within the heavenly sphere He could not make an offering on earth (Numbers 18:1-7), but ministered in the true tabernacle The tabernacle had to be made according to the pattern so it would be a good shadow of the archtype He is the mediator, go between, for God and man under the new covenant (1 Timothy 2:5)

The Fault of the First Covenant If the first covenant had been perfect, there would have been no need for another (Hebrews 8:7-8) Man could not find justification under it (Romans 3:30; Galatians 2:16; 3:11) When fault was found, a new covenant was promised by God’s grace Promised, as Jeremiah 31:31-34 attests Both covenants arose out of the one made with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) Milligan suggests the old fulfilled the physical elements while the new fulfilled the spiritual

Rejecting God as Lord God could no longer deal with people who wanted to come to him through the covenant made at Sinai (Hebrews 8:9) Because man continually broke that covenant In breaking the covenant, they rejected him as Lord Therefore, God was forced to reject them as his people

Better Qualities of the New Covenant The law of Moses was written on tables of stone, but the new would be implanted in the mind of man (Hebrews 8:10; Exodus 34:1,23) Thus, man will no longer be obeying just the written letter of the law Under the new covenant, man will obey the spirit of the law which he will know from within himself (2 Corinthians 3) Under the new covenant, man would no longer need a physical image to worship, but have a God seen through the eye of faith (Hebrews 11:1-6)

Physical vs. Spiritual Covenants Under the physical covenant, each member of the kingdom had to be taught to know God (Hebrews 8:11-12) Now, one must know God’s will and be taught of God to be a part of the kingdom (Isaiah 54:13; John 6:44-45; 14:1-6, 15; Hebrews 11:6) Sin could not be removed under the old covenant (Hebrews 9:9; 10:4) Under the new, God cannot remember our sins as Jesus’ blood washes them away (Hebrews 9:9; 1 John 1:7-9; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 1:5)

The Usefulness of the Old Testament As history, the Old Testament is still valuable and full of lessons concerning God’s dealings with man (1 Corinthians 10:12) But, as a covenant, its usefulness to man is past Jesus took it out of the way as a religious institution (Colossians 2:14) and, as Milligan would point out, it died as a civil institution at the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70