Hebrews 8 Lesson

THE MAIN POINT OF HEBREWS

The Hebrew writer begins Chapter 8 with the following summary of the Book of Hebrews:

• “Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.” – Hebrews 8:1.

This statement tells us three things about Jesus:

1. That He is our High Priest,
2. That He is seated at the right hand of God,
3. That He resides in the Tabernacle of God.

In this chapter, the Hebrew writer once again uses the word “better” to describe the new covenant that we have with Jesus:

• “He is also the mediator of a BETTER covenant.” – Hebrews 8:6(a).
• “Enacted on BETTER promises.” – Hebrews 8:6(b).

As followers of Jesus, we have a new covenant, enacted on better promises.

This covenant fulfills the Law that was spoken about by the earlier prophets, as we see in the following scripture:

• “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” - Hebrews 5:17.

We need to go back to the Book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament to appreciate how this New Covenant was prophesized about long before Jesus came to earth:

• “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” – Jeremiah 31:31-34.

CONSISTENCY BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS

You will notice that the words used by Jeremiah are the exact same words the Hebrew writer used in Hebrews 8:8-12.

Isn’t that interesting?

Considering the fact that the Book of Jeremiah was written approximately six hundred years before the Book of Hebrews, it is not just interesting, it is amazing!

What Jeremiah prophesized about in 600 B.C. is exactly what happened when Jesus came to earth some six hundred years later!

It is not every day that a prophet speaks about something happening, and then it is fulfilled six centuries later!

God knew all along that Jesus was going to come to earth, become our High Priest, and save us from our sins.

It was part of His plan from the beginning of time. 

This serves as an important reminder that God sees things that we cannot see and why we should trust in His plan for us.

As it says in the Book of Isaiah:

• “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways, My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8-9.

CONCLUSION

Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament by establishing a new covenant enacted on better promises.

The Hebrew writer wrote about this in the following passage:

• “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises ” – Hebrews 8:6.

Jesus is the mediator of the “better covenant” that the prophets spoke about in the Old Testament. 

It is a better covenant enacted on better promises (Hebrews 8:6).

And with this new covenant securely in place, Jesus has taken His proper place at the right hand of God, where He will remain for all eternity!

We will end today’s lesson with the following five scriptures that talk about Jesus’ permanent place next to His Father in Heaven:

1. “From now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” - Luke 22:69,
2. “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” - Hebrews 12:2,
3. “Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.” - Romans 8:34,
4. “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” - Colossians 3:1,
5. Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of Heaven.” - Mathew 26:64.