Buy a computer today. You know that it will be depreciated to nothing in 4 years. And then you will need a new one.
Buy an iPhone today. But you know that Apple are sitting on a much better one that they will release within 6 months of your purchase.
Buy a new car today. Drive out the yard, it’s lost five thousand dollars in value. And in 10 years you will need a new one.
Try to get your TV fixed, and you’ll find you can’t. Just ask Ray. That was his trade. And He will tell you. Sorry, we don’t fix them anymore. Sorry, we don’t know how to fix them anymore. That’s all old technology, an old system. But go to Dick Smith, and for $400 you can buy a new bigger fully imported flat screen one that will work properly on the new Digital Network, because now they’ve turned the analog network off.
Try and get your washing machine fixed. And you find out that for a little bit more money, you might as well get a new one that is lighter, quicker, holds more washing, and uses less water.
Get yourself a law degree. And 20 years later, most of the laws that matter have moved on. And you can’t trust the law text books you bought for thousands of dollars.
Planned obsolescence is what it is called. Technology moves on. Things are built better or cheaper or more efficiently. Old ways disappear. And of course, the built in obsolescence helps the economy keep turning. Consumers will be back for a new one soon enough.
God had instituted a covenant with Israel under Moses. It last 1400 hundred years. But God always planned a newer, better one. Indeed, God through the prophet Jeremiah, 600 years before Jesus, said he will make a new covenant with his people. Just like Microsoft or Apple, God through his advertiser Jeremiah, proudly announced and foreshadowed 600 years in advance the release of Covenant 2.0. The release of Covenant 2.0, or ‘New Covenant’, will make Covenant Mark 1 obsolete. All users will be forced to upgrade, because God will no longer support the first Covenant anymore. And like the release of iPhone 5, or Windows 7, this release was long anticipated.
The New Covenant makes the Old one obsolete and outdated. And the Old Covenant becomes like 1 megabite floppy disks, analog TVs, old mobile phones, music cassettes, and out dated law books. They have a brief stop in the op shops before they end up as landfill. As Hebrews 8:13 says:
By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear. (NIV)
A covenant is simply an arrangement made between two parties. The parties come to an understanding, and then they make promises and set terms to govern their agreement.
While it shares some similarities with a contract, it is not really a contract. A contract doesn’t convey the right feel of a covenant. For us, a contract is arms length and commercial. And we don’t think a contract is appropriate to express the elements of love and steadfast faithfulness and loyalty.
Think of a marriage between a man and a woman, entered for life to the exclusion of all others. You wouldn’t talk about a contract in that context. Because the promises made in marriage are not commercial. To say marriage is simply a legal relationship is to cheapen it. There is not and should be no quid pro quo in marriage, no payment for services rendered.
However, in marriage we have promises expressed in covenants. 18 years ago I solemnly promised to love and cherish my wife. She promised to love and obey me. We had a special ceremony for it. And we were bound together by our promises, by the symbols we used, and by the consummation of the marriage. And in doing those things Kath and I established a covenant relationship called marriage.
I have a covenant relationship with my wife. I am her husband. She is my wife.
I also have a covenant relationship with you as my congregation. Nine years ago I made special promises at my ordination, to preach and pray and read the bible and conduct my family life in a godly way. And three years ago we had a special ceremony, called an induction. Special people were there: the bishop, local councillors, and some you. Again, I promised to preach and to pray and study the bible. You promised to encourage me in it. I am your minister. You are my congregation.
And solemn undertakings and promises govern our relationship together. He has always entered into promises with his people. Hebrews chapter 8 verse 10:
I will be their God, and they will be my people. (NIV)
God entered into a solemn covenant relationship with his people.
Note, God doesn’t negotiate the terms. God sets the term. The relationship is on God’s terms not ours. It is a matter of grace and mercy that God enters this relationship. And it is not for his people to make demands.
So far, we’ve seen that Jesus is simply the best. He’s better than all the rest. Better than the Angels, than Moses, Joshua and Aaron. He is a much better High Priest for us. And as far as Jesus is a better high priest than Aaron, to the same extent God brought in a better covenant than the Old Covenant, brought in under Moses. Look with me at Hebrews chapter 8 verse 6:
But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs [the earthly priests] as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6 NIV).
Jesus is our great High Priest, better than Aaron. He is also the Mediator of a New Covenant, better than the Old Covenant made by God with Israel under Moses. Jesus is the Mediator, because he is fully human and fully God. As Mediator, Jesus brings in the better covenant by his death, resurrection and ascension. He is the guarantee or surety of the new Covenant, and secures it’s ultimate success.
600 years before Jesus, God announced that he would establish a New Covenant. He announced it through the Prophet Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 31:31-34, which the Author quotes. And God gives two reasons for announcing the release of Covenant 2.0.
In dealing with any system or mechanical failure, there are always two fundamental problems: system failure or user error. Why did this plane crash? Why did the Titanic sink? Mechanical failure or user error. Why can’t you use your computer or smart phone? It’s the problem, or you are the problem.
And, likewise, the weaknesses reasons are twofold. Chapter 8 verses 7 to 8:
For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people… (NIV)
There were two problems with the Old Covenant.
First, the Covenant during the time of Moses had inherent weaknesses and defects. There were some very important things it didn’t do. It brought nothing to completion or perfection (Hebrews 7:11,19; 10:1). It’s sacrifices couldn’t cleanse the consciences of the worshippers (Hebrews 9:9). The worshippers still felt guilty for their sins (Hebrews 10:2). And the sacrifices only reminded them of their sins, not deal with them finally and once for all (Hebrews 10:1-4). The Old Covenant only dealt with sin committed in ignorance (Hebrews 9:7). And the sacrifices of bulls and goats could never really deal with human sin (10:11).
And second, the people were disobedient, and at fault (Hebrews 8:7,9). They broke the covenant, which depended on their obedience for it’s effectiveness. So the covenant’s inability to deal with disobedience showed it’s fundamental weakness.
So the New Covenant has three great improvements on the Old.
First, chapter 8 verse 10:
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. (Hebrews 8:10 NIV)
The Lord himself would write the Law on he people’s heart. God’s people would give God obedience from the heart, not enforced by the law.
Second, chapter 8 verse 11:
No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. (Hebrews 8:11 NIV)
They will all know the Lord. There will be no need for a priestly class, for they will all be priests. They will all have direct knowledge of the Father and know him. They don’t need any other Mediator, because they will all share one Great High Priest, their big brother, who gives them all perfect access to the Father. Every believer can now approach God in a personal and direct way.
And third, Hebrews Chapter 8 verse 12:
For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. (Hebrews 8:12 NIV)
Under the New Covenant, God’s people will receive a decisive cleansing from sin. There will no longer be any sacrifice for sins, because their sin’s will have been finally and irrevocably dealt with (Hebrews 10:16-17). The Day of Atonement rituals only served to remind them of their sins, not deal with them finally (Hebrews 10:3). The Old Covenant had no provision for forgiveness of sins of a high hand (compare Hebrews 9:7). Thus, David’s sin of adultery and murder could not be dealt with under the Old Covenant. The only provision in the Old Covenant was for David was stoning for sin with a high hand.
Yet, God still forgave David’s sin. But to do so, God had to go beyond the Old Covenant he himself had set up for Israel. But there has always been another covenant, the New Covenant, under which this sin, and indeed all sin, is forgiven. And under this New Covenant, God did not desire the blood of bulls and goats. What He required of David was a broken and contrite heart. And then, at the right time, God dealt with David’s evil once and for all, at the cross of Jesus (Hebrews 7:27). Because David could only be forgiven under the New Covenant, which has always operated, and of which David was a member.
Sometimes, people learn from things put out to pasture. Country kids learn to drive on the paddock basher. The firemen learn to drive the Old International fire trucks. I give an old laptop to my son to take apart. Some blokes like to take apart an old car and put it back together again. In the shed, there’s an old car lying around in bits, a 20 year work in progress. The HARS Museum at Albion Park does the same thing for old planes. Thirlmere does it for trains. The Powerhouse Museum and Questacon does it for all kinds of stuff. Med students dissect bodies donated for science. That’s how we learn about stuff. We take apart the old stuff to see how it works.
And for the same reasons, Hebrews shows us the components of the old tabernacle to show how it works. And by understanding how the old, obsolete, non-functioning tabernacle works, we will understand how the new real one works.
And that is what Hebrews 9 verses 1 to 10 is all about. In Exodus 25:40, God told Moses to build a tabernacle according to the plan given to him. The tabernacle was a tent with two rooms divided by a curtain. And outside it was a courtyard with a bronze altar and washbasin. The bronze altar was where the Priests killed animals, poured out the blood, and burned the animals. And the first room, the Holy Place, was where the Priest’s daily tended the lampstand and the incense altar[1], and also every week tended to the bread of the presence.
However, behind the ornate curtain was the space called the ‘Most Holy Place’. Located in there was the Ark of the Covenant, a gold box with poles which contained a gold jar of Manna, Aaron’s staff, and the two tablets on which God inscribed the 10 Commandments.
Most of the time, this was the view that most Israelites would have seen: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stiftshuette_Modell_Timnapark.jpg
This view of the courtyard from the entrance of the tabernacle, as far as a clean Israelite worshipper could go, with the bronze altar in the foreground: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stiftshuette_Modell_Timnapark.jpg
The bronze washbasin: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timna_Tabernacle_Sink_and_Altar_of_Burnt_Offerings.jpg
The tabernacle tent proper: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timna_Tabernacle_1.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timna_Tabernacle_3.jpg
The gold table with bread of the presence: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timna_Tabernacle_Table_of_Showbread.jpg
The lampstand or menorah, representing a tree that give light: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Menorah_0307.jpg
The altar of incense, representing continual acceptable prayers: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timna_Tabernacle_Incense_altar.jpg
The Ark of the Covenant: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Arch_Room_Ark_replica_2.jpg
Inside the Ark: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timna_Tabernacle_inside_Ark_of_the_Covenant.jpg
While the Priests entered regularly into the outer room, only the High Priest entered the inner room, the Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place. And he could only go in once a year, on the Day of Atonement. And before he went into that room, the High Priest shed the blood of the very best farm animals for his own sins and for the sins of ignorance the people had committed.
So the first tent, the Holy Place, blocked the way to the second tent, the most holy place (Hebrews 9:8). The first tent meant you couldn’t come into God’s presence and throne room. So during Old Covenant times, the first tent was a ‘Wrong Way Go Back’ sign. The Holy Place said, ‘You can’t come into the most Holy Place’.
God set up the Old Covenant infrastructure with a blockage. There was no way through to God Something wasn’t connected up properly, and on purpose. When God set up the tabernacle, it was ‘access denied’
But not any more. It is now the time of the new order. The time of correction, of reformation, has come (Hebrews 9:10).
We’ve already seen that Christ is our High Priest. We’ve seen what makes him the best possible High Priest.
Now, we are told that his ministry was not in the man made sanctuary. This is true. Jesus was not entitled to enter into the temple, not being of the line of Aaron. But Jesus went through the tabernacle of heaven. The earthly tabernacle was only a model of the one in heaven. Just as your Hornby model railway doesn’t get you to work on time. Or your matchbox cars don’t get you and your family on the road. So also, the earthly tabernacle didn’t deal with your sin, and didn’t get you close to God. The blood of clean farm animals couldn’t deal with sin. So, what Christ did, is he offered his own blood by dying on the cross. By offering himself as a sacrifice for sin, he entered into the heavenly tabernacle. He offered his own blood, and obtained an eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12). And by his death, he ripped the curtain in the tabernacle in two. The first tent, the Holy Place, no longer stands.
So Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, is also the Mediator of our New Covenant. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 15:
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance —now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. (Hebrews 9:15 NIV)
Jesus Christ is our Mediator. He stands between God and humanity. He puts one hand on his Father, and one hand on us, his brothers. And he reconciles us. And his death pays for not only our sins. Jesus’ death also pays for the sins committed under the Old Covenant. David’s sin was paid for by Jesus under the New Covenant. For every Old Testament believer was also a member of the New Covenant. They looked forward to their mediator, the Messiah, dealing with their sin. For there is only one Covenant of mercy, to which every true believer in God belongs.
The Mediator of the New Covenant is better. It is Jesus, not Moses.
The High Priest of the New Covenant is better. It is Jesus, not Aaron.
The tabernacle of the New Covenant is better. It is heaven, the real dwelling place of God. Not just a model made by man. Chapter 9 Verse 24:
Jesus entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. (NIV)
The sacrifice offered by Jesus was better. It was better blood and a better body. It wasn’t the body and blood of bull and goats. The sacrifice Jesus offered was himself, his own body and his own blood. Chapter 9 Verse 26:
... [Jesus] appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. (NIV)
‘Do it right the first time. Do a proper job’. Have you heard that before? If you do a job properly, you should do it right the first time, so you don’t have to do it again. That way, you don’t have to come back and keep doing it. If you keep having to do the job again and again, you haven’t done it properly. And this logic is operating for the author to the Hebrews. The Levitical Priests had to keep offering sacrifices. And it showed they didn’t work. But not Jesus, our High Priest. Hebrews chapter 10 verses 11 to 14:
11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13 Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. (NIV)
Aaron and his descendants have to keep offering sacrifices because they don’t work. Jesus didn’t. He just did it once. Once and for all. And it dealt with the forgiveness of all sins, past, present and future. The sins of Old Testament saints, the sins of New Testament saints. All dealt with.
So consequently, there is no sacrifice left for sins. Hebrews 10:17-18:
Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. (NIV)
So friends, there is no sacrifice left for sins. It’s all been done. God is not angry with you anymore. Did you hear that? In Christ, God is not angry with you anymore. Sins? What sins? I don't remember their sins.
You know friends, when we share the Lord’s Supper, that’s not a sacrifice for sin. We do this in remembrance of Jesus. But we don’t re-sacrifice Jesus. We don’t re-offer Jesus. And to say that we have to keep having a propitiatory sacrifice on an altar again and again is a terrible mistake. Jesus offered himself once. And now he has sat down. Job done once and properly. Again and again is not required and undercuts what Jesus achieved ‘once and for all’.
Nor is Jesus pictured in heaven still sacrificing himself, and we have to re-enact that here in the Lord’s Supper. No, Jesus did his sacrifice once and for all on a hill outside the city wall. And by dying there, he offered himself unblemished to God. And he went into heaven bodily in his resurrection, and sat down. He is not still offering himself in heaven. His work is done. His job is finished. No further need to offer anything. ‘It is finished’.
And because of Jesus’ High Priesthood, each one of us is a priest. We don’t offer propitiatory sacrifices anymore. What we offer is ourselves as living sacrifices. Not to turn away God’s anger against us for our sins. That has already been done by Christ’s propitiatory offering. Rather, we offer God thank-offerings through Christ. Our praising God is a ‘thank offering’. So is our doing good and sharing our material possessions. These are sacrifices of thanks (Hebrews 15:15-16). Indeed, our whole bodies are to be offered as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2). But none of these turn away God’s anger. They are the joyful sacrifices that are only offered after God’s anger is taken away for us by Jesus' once and for all sacrifice.
Let's pray.
[1] Exodus 30:6 suggests that the altar of incense is in front of the curtain, that is, in the Holy Place. However, 1 Kings 6:22 associates the altar of incense with the inner sanctuary. That is, theologically it belongs to the Inner Room, although it was located in the Outer room.