“Real is Better”
[Hebrews 8:1-7]
April 7, 2013 Second Reformed Church
Would you rather have your favorite
dinner or a picture of your favorite dinner?
Would you rather have your favorite car or a picture of your favorite
car? Would you rather have your spouse –
answer carefully! – or a picture of your spouse? Would you agree that having the real thing
that we want is better – more pleasurable – more satisfying – than merely
having a picture – a representation – of the thing that we want?
When we last looked at the book of
Hebrews, we saw that Jesus is a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek –
not a high priest after the order of Levi or Aaron. And we said that Jesus’ priesthood – the
priesthood of Melchizedek – is a better priesthood than that of Levi or Aaron because
the office is not passed from father to son, but God appoints the priest
directly, and the priest holds the office eternally.
We saw that Jesus, Who acts as High
Priest on behalf of all those who will ever believe in Him, offered up Himself
as the Final and Perfect Sacrifice on the cross, after having lived a perfect
life under the Law, shedding His Blood under the Wrath of God, that we who
believe would be forgiven for our sin and be counted as righteous before God.
We begin this morning with a summary
statement from the author of Hebrews:
“Now 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
tent that the Lord set up, not man.”
“we have such a high priest” We have
a High Priest Who is after the order of Melchizedek, which is a higher and
everlasting order. We have Someone Who
stands between God and us Who has offered up a Sacrifice, Who was a greater
Sacrifice than all of the sacrifices before.
So now, this High Priest is our Mediator based on His Work – a work that
will always stand.
“one who is seated” Notice that this
High Priest is seated. As we look
through the Scripture, we see that the high priest is never seated while he is
carrying out his office. So, we can only
conclude that this High Priest has finished His Work and secured salvation –
reconciliation with God – something that the high priests of four thousand
years before were unable to accomplish.
“at the right hand” This High Priest
is seated on the throne of the Son of God, and so He is the Son of God. He is seated “at the right hand” which means
He is Sovereign – He has full authority and power.
“of the throne of the Majesty” The
author of Hebrews uses the term “Majesty” for God – and, specifically, God the
Father. He also indicates in this name
that God is King, and He is glorified in His Deity – in His Kingship.
“in heaven” Who is in Heaven? Well, God is.
God the Father and God the Son.
And as we look at the context, we see that the human Jesus, the
Incarnate Son of God is the main Person in mind as being in Heaven. This does not mean that Jesus’ body has
become divinized – Jesus’ body is still a real human body.
“a minister” The word that is
translated “minister” literally means, “one who carries out God’s will by
serving others” [Bible Windows]. Minsters carry out God’s Will as servants,
and Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, carries out the Will of His Father by
serving the elect.
“When Jesus had spoken these words,
he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify
your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over
all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is
eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you
have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave
me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that
I had with you before the world existed’” (John 17:1-5, ESV).
In Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer,” He
acknowledges that He is a minister, having been given work by God the Father,
which He had accomplished, and now was looking forward to the day when He would
return to Heaven and the glory which He had put aside in the Incarnation.
“in the holy places” Where are the
holy places? Technically, this is
referring to the holy of holies – that inner sanctum – of the Temple into which
only the high priest would go once a year on Yom Kippur to make atonement for
the sins of the people. The obvious
problem is that there is no Temple – there is no holy of holies, so what is
this referring to?
We may remember that the massive
curtain which went from floor to ceiling and separated the holy of holies from
the rest of the Temple was torn apart as Jesus was crucified: “And the curtain of the temple was torn in
two, from top to bottom” (Mark 15:38, ESV).
This meant there was no more separation of God from His people. There was no going through a priest to find
atonement in God. “For there is one God,
and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1
Timothy 2:5, ESV).
So, “the holy places” are in the
presence of God where Jesus mediates for us before the Father. This is a work which Jesus does constantly on
our behalf, and it points forward to the heavenly Kingdom, when all of God’s
people will be received on behalf of the work that Jesus did and continues to
do on our behalf.
“in the true tent” What tent is
Jesus in? The Tabernacle in the
Wilderness was a tent, but that is long gone.
Peter asked about building Jesus a tent on the Mount of Transfiguration,
but God told him not to. What “tent” is
this?
Usually
the word “tent” refers to a structure or dwelling place like the ones just
mentioned, but Paul also uses the word ”tent” to refer to something else, as we
see in his second letter to the Corinthians:
“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we
have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed
by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this
tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we
would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit
as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 5:1-5, ESV).
Here,
we see that Paul is not referring to a building, but to our bodies. The word “tent” can refer to our physical
bodies, and that is the way the author of Hebrews is using it in this
text: Jesus, the Incarnate Son, is
carrying out His Ministry in Heaven in His risen and physical body. Jesus’ physical body is in Heaven where God
the Triune Spirit has lived from before the Creation.
Now,
someone may question that and ask, “Didn’t you say that the Temple in the
Kingdom is Jesus?” And it is true that
John tells us of his vision of the Kingdom, “And I saw no temple in the city,
for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” (Revelation 21:22,
ESV). However, that does not mean that
Jesus will become a building made out of rocks and metal or what have you in
the Kingdom. What it means is that that
place of God will be with all those who believe – there will be no separation
or levels to navigate to be in the presence of God. As John also tell us, “And I heard a loud
voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be
with them as their God” (Revelation 21:3, ESV).
Still,
we have further confirmation of this in the final phrase of verse two: “that the Lord set up, not man.” What “tent” was set up by God and not by
man? In our context, there can only be
one: “And the angel answered [Mary], ‘The
Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow
you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God’” (Luke
1:35, ESV). The normal process of human
generation was not involved in the creating of the Child, Jesus, in Mary’s
womb. God, Himself, caused Mary to bear
the Incarnate God in the “tent” – the body – that God created through Mary.
So,
what is the author of Hebrews telling us in this summary statement?
Jesus,
the Incarnate Son of God, Who is in Heaven, in His glorified physical human
body, Who is a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek and the Perfect and
Final Sacrifice for His people, is Sovereignly reigning, and mediating between
His people and God the Father.
Did
you get that?
Jesus,
the Incarnate Son of God, Who is in Heaven, in His glorified physical human
body, Who is a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek and the Perfect and
Final Sacrifice for His people, is Sovereignly reigning, and mediating between
His people and God the Father.
That’s
everything we have looked at so far this morning. We should find assurance in knowing
this. If God is the One Who is our High
Priest and our Sacrifice and our Mediator and He has been received and
glorified back into Heaven, in His real physical human body, we should find
that great hope that we are saved in Jesus and we will be raised in our
physical bodies to live eternally with Him.
Now
the author of Hebrews continues with some additional information:
“For
every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is
necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.”
If
Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, is our High Priest – and He was so on earth as
well as in Heaven – while He was on earth, He would have to offer gifts and sacrifices.
That
makes sense, doesn’t it? It’s like
saying if you’re a minister, you have to preach sermons. If you’re a realtor, you have to sell
houses. If you’re a surgeon, you have to
operate. And so forth.
If
Jesus never offered a sacrifice, His being a high priest would be in
question. Similarly, if a piano player
never played the piano, we might wonder.
If a baker never baked, we would wonder.
If a pilot never flew a plane, we might wonder. And so forth.
So,
if Jesus is our High Priest, He would have to offer gifts and sacrifices.
But
there’s a problem:
“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.”
Under
the Law, Jesus does not qualify to be a high priest.
Why
not? After Aaron’s family, who did God
chose to be the priests of Israel? “At
that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant
of the LORD to stand before the LORD to minister to him and to bless in his
name, to this day” (Deuteronomy 10:8, ESV).
According to the Mosaic Law – the Law of Moses – only the descendants of
Levi may serve as high priest.
What
tribe was Jesus a descendant of? “And
you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers
of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel” (Matthew
2:6, ESV). Jesus was a descendant of
Judah. Under the Law, only descendants
of Levi could serve as High Priest. So,
according to the Law, Jesus could not serve as High Priest.
So,
we are at a point where we could realize that Christianity is wrong. We could just throw in the towel and go home,
as it were – after coffee hour, of course.
We can’t say, “Just forget the Law,” as some of us may be thinking,
because God gave the Law. So, what are
we to do?
“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.’”
Do
you remember we began today by talking about the difference between a picture
and the real thing? When Moses went up
on the mountain and God gave him the instructions – the Law – about how to
build the Tabernacle and the Temple and all the implements in them and what the
priests were to do on the holidays, etc., God told Moses, “And see that you
make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain”
(Exodus 25:40, ESV). The Ceremonial and
Judicial Law and especially the Sacrificial Law, though they were real in
themselves, were also patterns – types – shadows – of Jesus and what He would
do. The Old Testament Law, and
especially the sacrifices looked forward to Jesus – they were preparatory for
Jesus.
For
example: If your husband or wife or
girlfriend or boyfriend gave you a birthday card, and in the birthday card
there was a picture of your favorite car, though the picture is real, you would
understand it to symbolize something else.
You would understand that the picture was given to you for you to look
forward to the “real thing.”
If
someone were to give me a card with a picture of Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae, a twenty-one volume
commentary on the whole Bible, which I would love to have in print books, and
which is next to impossible to find, I would understand that I was not just
receiving the picture, but the actual set of books.
So
the Sacrificial Laws – the Ceremonial and Judicial Laws – served as a copy and
a shadow of heavenly things – they were given – ultimately – to point us to
Jesus, High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, and the One Perfect and
Final Sacrifice. So, God ordained the
Law to prefigure Jesus – they were to point us forward – they were patterns of
the heavenly reality.
“But
as it is, Christ has 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.”
The
author of Hebrews argues that the covenant of Jesus is “much more excellent”
than the covenant of Moses – why? John
Owen explains that the Mosaic Covenant and the Gospel of Jesus are not really
two different covenants, but two different administrations of the same covenant
[Owen, Hebrews, vol. 6, 70]. Since the Mosaic Covenant is “a copy and a
shadow” of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they are the same.
For
example, if I had a picture of Carlos’ Mercedes and I asked you what it was,
you would say, “Carlos’ Mercedes.” And
if I were to take you outside and point to the car, you would say it was
“Carlos’ Mercedes.” Similarly, both the
Mosaic Covenant and Jesus’ Gospel have an obligation to holiness and
fruitfulness and a hatred and repentance of sin. The difference between the two is that in the
Mosaic Covenant, the Savior was unknown, but in Jesus’ Gospel, the Savior is
known.
So,
why is Jesus’ Gospel “much more excellent” than the Mosaic Covenant? Because
we do not have the shadow of a Savior Who is to come, but we have the reality
of Jesus Who has come. Specifically, the
Mosaic Covenant had the sacrifice of animals by sinful humans, whereas Jesus’
Gospel has the sacrifice of Jesus – as the Perfect and Final Sacrifice – by
Jesus, the Holy High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. The Mosaic Covenant is endless without the
Savior coming. Jesus’ Gospel is once for
all who will ever believe – final and finished – no more sacrifices need ever
be offered.
Paul
puts it this way: “Now if the ministry
of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites
could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to
an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there
was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must
far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to
have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was
being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have
glory” (2 Corinthians 3:7-11, ESV).
In
other words, if Moses’ face shone with glory after receiving the Law with its
shadows, how much more will the Gospel shine through Jesus and His Gospel and
the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in those who believe? The glory is the same glory, but in the
Mosaic Covenant, the glory was largely hidden, whereas in the Gospel of Jesus,
it is largely revealed.
It
is as though you have a lamp and you put a bucket over it – light is still shining
out, but it is very difficult to see.
Whereas, if you put a lamp shade over the lamp, you will see much more
of the light. The light is the same –
the Covenant is the same – but the way in which it is mediated is different.
But
why are the promises of Jesus’ Gospel “much more excellent” than the Mosaic Covenant? Although the promise of the Savior is the
same in both and the way of faith alone is the same in both, Jesus’ Gospel is
better because we know Who Jesus is and what He did in history to save His
people. The promises are essentially the
same, but the Gospel is better, because it is the fulfillment of the promise.
We
end our reading this morning with the author of Hebrews writing, “For if that
first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look
for a second.” If, as we said, the Covenant
is the same, just revealed – mediated – differently, how can we say the Covenant
is has a fault?
In
this way: the first Covenant – the
Mosaic Covenant – had a flaw – it could be used for an end for which it was not
designed. What does that mean? The Mosaic Covenant was designed to point
people to the Savior. It called people
to holiness and fruitful living and to turning away from and repenting of sin,
but the hope of the Mosaic Covent was the Savior Who was to come – Who would
fulfill the Law. But – here is the flaw
– people tried to merit salvation by keeping the Law – something the Law was
never intended to do.
What
we see this morning is that the Old Testament Law – and specifically the
Sacrificial Law – was given to prompt people to holy living, fruit-bearing,
repentance and hatred of sin, and to point them forward to Jesus, the Incarnate
Son of God, the Promised Savior, Who fulfills the Law, as Holy High Priest and
Sacrifice for His People, and now sits, glorified in His human body, risen,
ascended, at the Right Hand of God, interceding for we who believe, until the
end of the age.
The
Old Testament Law was never meant to be a way to earn salvation. Salvation is the free gift of God through
Jesus Christ.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, we thank You for giving the Law, that all who read it would see the
shadows of the Savior. We thank You for
opening the eyes of those who have believed, so we were able to see past the
shadows to the real Savior, Himself.
Help us to continue to understand better what Jesus did and what He is
doing now and what a great salvation this is.
Help us not to disregard the Mosaic Law, but look to it all the more to
see how You pointed to Jesus through symbols and patterns that those who read
it and encounter Him would know Him for Who He is. And we pray these things in Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
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