The Great High Priest of the New Covenant

Hebrews 8:1-13

Main Idea: Jesus Christ ushers in a superior priesthood and a superior covenant, which the old covenant and its earthly priests anticipated.

1. The Superiority of the Great High Priest (8:1-5)
   1. The seat of the high priest
   2. The sanctuary of the high priest
2. The Superiority of the New Covenant (8:6-13)
   1. The better covenant mediated
   2. The better covenant fulfilled

God made a series of covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. For a congregation of Greek-speaking Jews, these covenants were of utmost importance. But this author tells his audience that Israel’s great covenantal history culminates with Christ, the guarantee of a superior covenant. For the writer’s audience, it would have seemed virtually impossible that a covenant better than the covenant made with the patriarchs could exist. Yet the author shows them the need for a greater covenant by pointing to the need for a greater priest.

The Superiority of the Great High Priest

Hebrews 8:1-5

Anyone who has ever translated a document from one language to another knows how difficult translation can be. In some sense, one reason modern day Christians think Hebrews is difficult to understand is because we constantly need to “translate” the author’s and the audience’s assumptions into our own day so that we can follow the argument better. At the beginning of Hebrews 8 the author greatly serves us by showing us the central thrust of his argument: “Now the main point of what is being said is this.” In other words, the arguments and flow of thought in the first seven chapters may have been difficult to follow. But the author simplifies all of it to show us that “we have this kind of high priest.” For the last seven chapters, he’s told us what we’ve needed. Now he tells us we have exactly what we need. We need Jesus as a great high priest who mediates a new and better covenant.

The Seat of the High Priest

In verse 1 the author says Christ is seated “at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” This makes his priesthood completely different. The old priesthood was a terrestrial priesthood, which focused on the earthly calling of the priests. They became priests because they were born into the tribe of Levi. Priests from that tribe fulfilled this role over and over and from generation to generation.

But Christ, the great high priest, serves in an exalted status never occupied by those earthly priests. As such, he’s seated at the right hand of God on high. Paul describes Christ’s exalted position in Philippians 2. He writes that Christ humbled himself by taking on human form, even to the point of dying on a cross (v. 8). Because of this obedience, God has highly exalted Jesus and has given him a name that is above every name (v. 9). Christ’s seat at the right hand of the Majesty—a title for God—demonstrates his exalted status. This imagery of “sitting at the right hand” is from the ancient world when kings would surround themselves with powerful nobles. The person to the right of the king was the most powerful and the most prestigious noble in the royal court. Thus, Christ’s place at the right hand of God is a supremely exalted position.

From his seat at the right hand, Christ continues his work as Redeemer. Too many Christians think Jesus has already done all that he’s going to do for us. We look back to the cross and the resurrection and assume this is where his work ends. But two very important aspects of his work aren’t finished. For starters, Christ didn’t accomplish in his earthly ministry all the Messiah was foretold to accomplish. This didn’t make his mission a failure. Rather, Revelation tells us a spectacular fulfillment is coming. We’re still waiting for Christ to vindicate his church and judge the nations, so this aspect of his work is yet to be finished.

Additionally, Christ is not done mediating for his people. While Christ’s atoning work is finished, his advocating work is not. This mediatory work is the primary occupation of Christ in heaven. As Jesus sits at his Father’s right hand, he intercedes for us. What a tremendous encouragement to reflect on Christ’s active and ongoing work for his people!

The Sanctuary of the High Priest

In verse 2 the author mentions the “sanctuary” of the high priest. “The true tabernacle that was set up by the Lord and not man” isn’t just poetic language; it’s very specific and exceedingly important. The word tabernacle is rarely used in modern American vocabulary, and it often sounds like some sort of spiritual buzzword. At its most basic, a tabernacle is the same as a tent. More specifically, tabernacle refers to the tent where God met with his people after the exodus from Egypt. Israel needed a tent as a place of meeting for several reasons. The most important reason was that they were wandering in the wilderness in those days. God had not yet commanded them to build the temple because they weren’t in Jerusalem yet. Thus, the tabernacle provided a mobile place to meet with God.

Hebrews tells us Christ fulfills his ministry in a tabernacle that the Lord set up. It’s not a tabernacle on earth; it’s a superior tabernacle in heaven. The tabernacle on earth was real, but it wasn’t the place where full salvation was won. Full salvation takes place in the true tabernacle in heaven. Man does not make it. Only the Lord does.

Verses 3 to 5 detail the priest’s duties in the tabernacle. It’s here the author’s argument gets really interesting. When the priest went into the tabernacle, he didn’t go empty-handed; he took a sacrifice. He had to “have something to offer.” But Christ didn’t fit the mold of a typical Levitical priest. The law stipulated that the high priest was to come through the Aaronic line, through the tribe of Levi. But Jesus is from the tribe of Judah, not Levi. He’s not an earthly priest from the line of Levi that brings his offering to an earthly tabernacle. He ministers in the heavenly tabernacle, so Jesus brings a superior offering. This is what verses 4 and 5 are saying. The priests on earth, Levitical priests, “serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things” (8:5).

Since the author wrote to Jewish Christians immersed in Greek culture, it’s important to note the language of shadow. His audience probably would have been familiar with Plato’s parable of the cave. Plato (ca. 429–347 BC) argued that our knowledge is like that of a man who is kept in a fire-lit cave and only sees the shadows of real objects when he looks at the cave’s walls. Plato believed we only know things as shadows of the original; the real object cast the shadow in the firelight.

The Old Testament never presents the tabernacle as a shadow of something more real. The New Testament, however, emphasizes its shadowy nature. Repeatedly the author of Hebrews shows us how to read the Old Testament. In this instance, he’s showing us how to understand the Old Testament tabernacle. Like the Levitical priesthood, the tabernacle of old was inadequate. It displayed dimly the glory of God while pointing to something greater.

Verse 5b notes that a careful reading of Exodus reveals a “pattern” for building the tabernacle. This pattern helps us see that the earthly tabernacle was modeled after something else—namely, the heavenly tabernacle. God commanded the building of a tabernacle in which he would dwell among his people. Moses was to build the tabernacle in exactly the way God showed him (Exod 25:9,40). In Exodus 26 God issues remarkably detailed plans for the tabernacle. By using the language of shadows and copies, the author of Hebrews shows us that these detailed plans and specifications were meant to reflect deeper realities. The plans laid out in Exodus 26 were like plans for a replica of the real thing, which is the heavenly temple. As such, the earthly tabernacle was like a shadow dancing on the wall of a cave. But we have a great high priest who does not offer sacrifices in a shadow. Jesus ministers in the true tent that the Lord set up. The heavenly temple is his sanctuary.

The Superiority of the New Covenant

Hebrews 8:6-13

As the writer will soon show us, Christ’s work allows us to directly and confidently enjoy God’s presence. We no longer have to come before God in a tabernacle made by human hands. Because Christ has fulfilled the tabernacle’s purpose, we can draw near to the very throne of God. Heaven is God’s true tabernacle. This great truth permeates the pages of the Old Testament. The King who ransoms his people from their iniquities and brings them peace with God has ushered in the new covenant by his blood. And that covenant is of far greater excellence than the first.

The Better Covenant Mediated

The old covenant wasn’t without fault. Its faultiness wasn’t like a machine in need of repair, though. Its faultiness was rooted in its incompleteness. The old covenant was faulty because it was not final. If it were the final covenant, there would have been no need for a better covenant.

Further, the old covenant came up short because it could not provide a priest who would make ultimate and full atonement for the sins of God’s people. The old covenant’s fault and failure to provide a final sacrifice for sin should have been obvious. After all, under the old covenant there remained an unrelenting need for constant sacrifices. This endless repetition of sacrifices demonstrated the covenant’s incompleteness and its inability to deal with sin once for all time. This makes Christ’s statement on the cross all the more breathtaking. When he cried, “It is finished” (John 19:30), he was announcing that the wrath of God toward the sin of his people was finally paid in full. Never again would there be a need for animal sacrifice, for Jesus paid it all.

Furthermore, even the high priest of the old covenant had to make unrelenting sacrifices for his own sins before he could make a sacrifice for the sin of his countrymen. In the light of the new covenant, that’s no gospel. But the author of Hebrews is now declaring that the final priest has come, not to atone for his own sins, but to save his people. Indeed, a better priest with a better ministry has come to mediate a better covenant enacted on better promises. Jesus’s ministry of inaugurating the new covenant is “superior” precisely because of these “better promises.” In the new covenant God will write his law on the hearts of his people (rather than on tablets of stone). As a result, all covenant members will know the Lord, and sins will be dealt with completely.

The Better Covenant Fulfilled

The new covenant promise is laid out in Jeremiah 31:31-34. The author of Hebrews leads his readers to this text in verses 8-12. Jeremiah wrote to show that the Lord had long ago foretold the day when his final priest would come. The covenant community should have inferred from the sacrifices of old that a final sacrifice and a final priest—who would not have to sacrifice repeatedly—were coming. Thus the author of Hebrews uses Jeremiah 31:31-34 to ask his readers, “Were we not told? Why did you not see?” This is similar to the way he uses Genesis 14 and Psalm 110 to show them they should have been anticipating a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. God spoke through Jeremiah to announce the need for and the coming of a new and better covenant.

The picture Jeremiah paints is one of eschatological peace. This peace would come through the mediator of a new and better covenant. The terms of this new and better covenant would bring a peace infinitely greater than what the old covenant could produce. The extraordinary promise of the new covenant was not that God would dismiss the old covenant but that he would be merciful toward our iniquities and remember our sins no more (Jer 31:34).

Our greatest problem is sin, for it severs us from the presence of God. Our sin and his holiness are incompatible, yet God promised to reconcile sinful people to himself through the mediator who would inaugurate the new covenant. He chose to do this through his Son, Jesus Christ, the mediator who established the new covenant in his blood (Luke 22:20). In him, the extraordinary promises and the better covenant were fulfilled. The Lord is merciful to his people because Christ suffered and died in their place, and they are now hidden in him forever by virtue of their faith and repentance. In Jesus all the new covenant promises belong to God’s people.

Reflect and Discuss

1. What main point has the author been making up until now? How does Hebrews 8, particularly verse 1, connect to the previous chapters and summarize the author’s main point?
2. How do the old covenant and the earthly priesthood anticipate the new covenant and a superior priest? Why do we need a superior covenant and priest?
3. Where is our great high priest now located? What makes that seat so significant? How does Christ’s position help you persevere in your faith, particularly in times of trial and suffering?
4. Did Christ’s work for us end with his death and resurrection? If not, then in what ways is Christ still at work? How is his current work significant for your life?
5. How does the author of Hebrews use the language of “copy and shadow”? Why is that language important? How does it relate to a heavenly tabernacle? What deeper realities do the earthly tabernacle and the contents of Exodus 26 communicate?
6. Explain the differences between the earthly tabernacle and the heavenly tabernacle. Why is it significant that one is made by earthly hands and the other is set up by the Lord? Why is the work of Jesus in the heavenly tabernacle superior to the work of priests in the earthly one?
7. What does it mean that the old covenant is not “faultless”? Where else in Hebrews have we seen the author point to the old covenant’s faultiness?
8. In what ways is the priesthood of Jesus Christ better than the earthly priesthood? Why is it important that he’s better? What makes the new covenant “much more excellent”?
9. Look at the promises of Jeremiah 31:31-34. List ways the new covenant is better than the old. In what ways did Christ fulfill each of these promises? How does the new covenant deal with our greatest problem once and for all?