Anticipating a Better Covenant

A Living Faith
What is Faith?
Faith Inspires Gratitude

Hebrews 8:1-7

The Message

A New Plan with Israel

8 ^1-2 In essence, we have just such a high priest: authoritative right alongside God, conducting worship in the one true sanctuary built by God.

^3-5 The assigned task of a high priest is to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and it’s no different with the priesthood of Jesus. If he were limited to earth, he wouldn’t even be a priest. We wouldn’t need him since there are plenty of priests who offer the gifts designated in the law. These priests provide only a hint of what goes on in the true sanctuary of heaven, which Moses caught a glimpse of as he was about to set up the tent-shrine. It was then that God said, “Be careful to do it exactly as you saw it on the Mountain.”
^6-13 But Jesus’ priestly work far surpasses what these other priests do, since he’s working from a far better plan. If the first plan—the old covenant—had worked out, a second wouldn’t have been needed. But we know the first was found wanting, because God said,

Heads up! The days are coming
    when I’ll set up a new plan
    for dealing with Israel and Judah.
I’ll throw out the old plan
    I set up with their ancestors
    when I led them by the hand out of Egypt.
They didn’t keep their part of the bargain,
    so I looked away and let it go.
This new plan I’m making with Israel
    isn’t going to be written on paper,
    isn’t going to be chiseled in stone;
This time I’m writing out the plan in them,
    carving it on the lining of their hearts.
I’ll be their God,
    they’ll be my people.
They won’t go to school to learn about me,
    or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons.
They’ll all get to know me firsthand,
    the little and the big, the small and the great.
They’ll get to know me by being kindly forgiven,
    with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.

By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and his people, God put the old plan on the shelf. And there it stays, gathering dust.

For Reflection

The old plan, legalistic, aimed at group behavior and faith, has been abandoned.  With the Christ event, the new plan begins.  Perhaps God tired of being disappointed.  Perhaps He was tired of feeling the pain of his people when they strayed from obedience.  Perhaps He had accomplished what He had intended through the old covenant.

Was He angry? Probably not.  Was he discouraged?  Absolutely not!  Was He still longing for the reconciliation of His people to Himself?  Absolutely!

He sacrificed Himself and the new covenant was signed in his own son's blood.  No grudge is harbored. His grace and His mercy are offered instead.  He works inside all of us.  Nothing lies between us and God except our own stubbornness to accept his call.  Praise be to God.

Pray

that you reaffirm God's call to you each day.  Pray prayers of re-dedication to His will for you.  Find time each day to discover God's intentions for your life.