Hebrews 8
Hebrews 8:1-13
1 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,
2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.
3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer.
4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law;
5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “SEE THAT YOU MAKE ALL THINGS ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN.”
6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “BEHOLD, THE DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH—
9 NOT ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT THAT I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS IN THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; BECAUSE THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DISREGARDED THEM, SAYS THE LORD.
10 FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR MIND AND WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.
11 NONE OF THEM SHALL TEACH HIS NEIGHBOR, AND NONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’ FOR ALL SHALL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST OF THEM TO THE GREATEST OF THEM.
12 FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.”
13 In that He says, “A NEW COVENANT,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
The way to the heart of God, walking in His righteousness and fulfilling His will in every moment, has been made possible for us in the new covenant that doesn’t do away with this same heart of God, just the way to it. The content of the covenant’s details has been transferred from a written page to a written heart, with the same intended purpose: living as a child of the Most High. With a High Priest to take us where those written pages could never go, we become the representation of the Father’s heart as it becomes written on ours. With His desired actions and behaviors as still the purpose, this new way makes them possible in a better process where the old way becomes obsolete. As we are one with Him and His body, the Word becomes one with our own flesh, not changing truth to some personal inconsistent variable, but establishing it as the Rock that has always been, just as a foundation for daily walking and living. Fulfilling Jesus’ prayer for unity, adherence to this new way will be known by those who become one from the same Master’s instruction, joined to both Him as the Head and each other as His body. How great is this way where all He has spoken becomes discovered in His Word from a heart that is made to understand and display it for His glory. So grateful that we’ve been enabled and guided by one Spirit in unity with the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, unchanging in His holiness and goodness.
What exciting times to live in- the time of the new covenant! When we enter that new life in Christ, the Lord’s laws are imprinted on our minds, as the Amplified says: even our innermost thoughts and understanding. And deeper so, His ways are engraved on our hearts. In verse 10 Amplified translation goes on to say that this engraving of His Laws, His word which is His will effects the regeneration of our hearts…whew, a transformation of who we are, our hearts made new. I can’t help but think about that in the natural as well. When things on the inside shift, be it perspectives, mindsets; what we meditate on, it continues to shift the outside, how we show up and even our physical experience. I wonder if there’d be physical heart disease if there was a constant heart regeneration. Regenerating our hearts changes the generations.