Hebrews 7:26-8:13
A Sermon
Scott Lindsay
Some of you will be old enough to remember a time when there was no such thing as video games or personal computers. There were no X-Boxes, or GameCubes, or PlayStation 3's or 4's or whatever number they are up to now. You could not play “virtual” basketball, “virtual” football, or “virtual” soccer. There was no “virtual” way to do anything. You either did the thing for real, or you didn’t.
Perhaps one exception to that, at least when I was growing up, were these massive contraptions that would sit on top of your kitchen table and which consisted of plastic figures of athletes that were mechanically operated by means of long steel rods that you could push in and out and twist to the left or the right, or else there were these levers that you could move back and forth.
One of the more popular versions of this sort of game was “NHL Hockey.” And what you would do is drop this little black “puck” onto the surface of the board between these two central players and, before the puck could even hit the surface you wouldbegin madly spinning your player round in a circle in the hopes that you would be the first one to make contact and send the puck ricocheting off to the side where you would then move to another set of controls to make that player do something useful. And so on and so forth until, by some combination of chance and skill, you landed the thing in the goal. That was the theory, at least.
And it was usually pretty comical to watch, at least when I played, because I was forever grabbing the wrong control, or, if I managed to get hold of the right one, I would end up spinning it the wrong way, or spinning it too late or too early, or too hard, or too soft. The truth of the matter is: I stunk at the thing. It was an absolutely maddening game that I could only stand to play for 3 or 4 minutes at a time before I walked off in sheer frustration. Nevertheless, that was it. That was as “virtual” as our virtual reality got.
Now imagine that a person grew up with one of these games in his/her house and, for whatever reason, never knew or discovered that there was actually a real game called “hockey” that real people played with real pucks and sticks and skates and pads. Imagine that the person in question’s only experience of “hockey” was the kind that you played on top of your kitchen table by means of this rather primitive device.
And then imagine that one day you broke the news to this person that what they had was not the real game of hockey but was, in fact, only a copy, a model, an approximation of what the real thing was like. And then imagine that they went with you to a real hockey match, or else went with you to an arena and played a real live game of hockey with other people.
That experience and revelation, no doubt, would, or at least should, forever change the way they felt about, and thought about, the table top version back at home. Surely a person in such a situation would see that, no matter how good the copy was, the real thing was so much better, had so much more to offer, and was, in the end, much more gratifying.
Well, that sort of illustration is the approach taken by one New Testament scholar as he introduces his comments on Hebrews chapter 8, and in particular as he discusses what is said there about the earthly temple in Jerusalem and its relationship, as a copy, to the true temple in heaven. Like the person who has only ever known the tabletop hockey game, the readers of this letter to the Hebrews, as the writer knows, have never seen the true heavenly temple, but only its earthly copy. All of that, of course, is fair enough. Indeed, how could they have seen the heavenly temple?
However, the problem that the writer of Hebrews sees is that his readers, in the midst of their present difficulties and suffering, seemed to have lost sight of the fact that the earthly temple - and all that went with it - was only a copy - and not the real thing. His fear was that they were being tempted to return to that which was only a shadow - a mere shadow - of a greater reality. They were flirting with the notion of treating the copy AS the real thing. Among other things, is a central concern within the verses before us this morning.
Now, for those of you who have been with us over the past couple of months, you will know that we are in a section of Hebrews which is continuing with the overall theme of the superiority of Christ. Now we have seen this superiority in a number of areas already, but, most recently, we have been looking at his superiority as high priest to all the priests that had served the people of God before now.
Starting back in chapter 4, the writer of Hebrews has shown how Christ’s priesthood is superior for all kinds of reasons: Because it is not a part of the Levitical priesthood but is of another order that is superior to it - the order of Melchizedek, because of Jesus’ suffering that came from his obedience, because he was tempted as we are, yet never gave into it, because it was confirmed by an oath that God himself made, and because of the fact that it is permanent and eternal, and not interrupted by death.
To that already impressive list we will add three further reasons for the superiority of Christ’s priesthood:
1) Because of Christ’s sinless character,
2) Because the temple that Christ serves in is the real thing, and not a copy, and
3) Because Christ’s priesthood is linked to a covenant that is new and better, and not obsolete and fading away.
Those three matters will occupy us this morning, but before we have a closer look, let’s do the most important thing you can ever do before you look at the Scriptures - talk to the Author.
Let us pray.
First Move - As we continue to explore the priesthood of Christ, the first thing I want you to see from the verses before us this morning, is that, in addition to everything else we have already seen, Christ’s priesthood is better because of Christ’s sinless character. Listen to Hebrews 7:26-28:
For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
Now, there is a bucket load of theology in those verses. As one writer (Teodorico) has described them they are “an outburst of the joy of humanity which has at last found the high priest qualified to understand its weaknesses and to come to its aid.” However, that being said, there is really no need to complicate things here. These verses are simply telling us that Christ was exactly what fallen humanity needed. We needed our sins dealt with by someone who was himself a human, and yet who did not share humanity’s guilt; someone who could fully and finally deal with it, once and for all. Christ was the perfect man for the job. That is what the writer means when he says, “it was fitting that we should have such a high priest”.
Christ’s perfect, sinless humanity set him apart from us and meant, on the one hand, that as our high priest, and unlike the Old Testament priests, when he goes before God as our representative, he does not have to deal with his own sin first. Flowing on from that, because of his sinless character he was not only our first and only perfect priest but, in offering up himself, offered the only completely perfect, utterly flawless, absolutely sufficient sacrifice. The perfect priest, offering the perfect sacrifice. It is really not much more complicated than that.
That is the first thing I want you to see.
II Second Move - The second thing I want you to see is not only that Christ’s priesthood is better because of his sinless character, but also because, while all the priests that came before served in the earthly, man-made Temple, Christ serves in the heavenlytemple, not made by human hands but by God himself:
Hebrews 8:1-5Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent1 that the Lord set up, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain."
As was noted in the introduction, the writer of Hebrews is concerned to show or remind - or perhaps both - his readers that the temple that they are so tempted to return to is, in fact, nothing more than a copy of a better, heavenly one. He does this by reminding them of what happened back at the beginning - when the “tent” or Tabernacle was first constructed.
Now, the Tabernacle, if you do not know, was basically this really, really fancy tent that the people of God carted around with them in the wilderness and which served as the precursor to the more permanent Temple that would be constructed once they settled in the Promised Land. When God first gave the instructions to build the Tabernacle, He also, at that time, gave Moses a glimpse of what the heavenly temple was like. Why? Because the heavenly temple was the original of which the earthly temple was to be a copy.
And Jesus, who could not have been a priest in the earthly temple, according to the laws of succession pertaining to the Levitical priesthood - could be and wasa priest in the heavenly Temple, and according to a different and superior order of priesthood - that of Melchizedek.
Nevertheless, although he was a priest of a different order, his priesthood still had some things in common with the Levitical priesthood that preceded it. Just as with Aaron and all the Levitical priests that came after him, Christ’s priesthood was also one that centered around the very important issues of sin and sacrifice. The difference between Christ’s priesthood, and the ones preceding it, was not that one offered gifts and sacrifices and the other one didn’t. The difference was in the effectiveness and quality and frequency of the sacrifices offered.
The Levitical priests offered sacrifices that addressed but could not really atone for human sin - as Christ’s sacrifice did. The Levitical priests offered up goats and lambs which were unblemished but which, in the end, were still brute beasts and therefore nothing like the sacrifice which Christ made - which was his perfect self - the “Lamb of God” sent to save sinners. The Levitical priests offered their sacrifices over and over again, never getting the job done. Jesus offered one, and only one, completely sufficient sacrifice.
In short, all that the Levitical priests did was a mere shadow of the things which Christ did. It is fitting that they served in the temple which was a shadow of the real thing. And it is equally fitting that Christ served, and continues to serve, in the perfect heavenly Temple, not the earthly shadow. Why? Because He is the perfect priest, offering the perfect sacrifice, and ministering in the perfect temple.
That is the second thing I want you to see.
III Third Move - The third thing I want you to see is that Christ’s priesthood is better, not only because of his sinless character, and not only because he serves in the real, heavenly temple as opposed to the earthly, temporary one, but also because while all the former priests were linked to the former covenant, Christ is linked to the new and better covenant:
Hebrews 8:6-13But as it is, Christhas obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says:"Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Now, before we look at what it means to talk about Christ as the priest of a new and better covenant, it would be good to perhaps remind ourselves of what a covenant is. The word “covenant” is the Bible word used to describe the relationship between God and the people with whom he chooses to be in relationship. God’s “covenant relationships” with his people are always, fundamentally, a function of his grace and mercy.
In other words, when God decides to covenant with a person, or with a people, he never does so because of something in them that merits or mandates his being in relationship with them. The Bible makes it clear that when God decides to covenant with a person or people, it is always because of something in him, that is, in God. It is a result of his sovereign decision to set his love on a particular person or people, for reasons that are entirely his own.
At the same time, while all of God’s covenant relationships are initiated because of his un-deserved mercy, once initiated, they are always accompanied by both blessings and curses that carry within them the expectation of faithfulness on the part of God’s people. The blessings are what happenbecause of God’s people being faithful to the God who has covenanted with them. The curses are what happen when God’s people are not faithful to the God who has covenanted with them. The story of the Bible is, in many ways, the story of God’s determining to be in covenant relationship with a particular people, how sin and the fall affected that, and what God did to undo the effects of sin and the fall and so reconcile his people to himself, that they might be with him forever.
As we look at the developing storyline of the Bible, we can see how it is punctuated, at various places, by the issuing, and restatement, and expansion of God’s covenant relationship with his people, starting with Adam, and then moving through to Noah where the things he said to Adam are re-affirmed, and expanded upon. Next comes Abraham to whom God’s covenant blessings are re-affirmed and, once again, expanded. Then Moses and David according to the same pattern, and then finally all the way to Christ.
Having said that, it is important to be clear about the fact that, while there are various administrations of God’s covenant - through various persons like Adam, Noah, Abraham, etc - it still remains, essentially the one covenant, and not several different and distinct covenants. As Hebrews 13:20-21 says:
Hebrews 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in usthat which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.