S19 || Majesty at the Right Hand of God || Hebrews 8:1-8 || Session 19

A single claim reframes everything: Jesus serves right now as our high priest in the true tabernacle—the one God set up, not man. From that vantage point, Hebrews chapter 8 unfolds a better ministry, a better covenant, and better promises, showing how the Old Testament doesn’t get replaced but revealed in full through Jesus Christ [Messiah]. We walk through the text line by line to explore why the earthly sanctuary was only a copy and shadow, how Psalm 110 and Jeremiah 31 anchor the argument, and what it means that The Law moves from stone tablets to living hearts.

We also tackle a question that splits commentaries and coffee tables: who is the new covenant for? By following Jeremiah’s wording—“the house of Israel and the house of Judah”—and Jesus’ words at the table of His last Passover supper—“the new covenant in my blood”—we make space for both biblical specificity and gospel breadth. Israel is named, The Church is grafted in, and all of it centers on union with Jesus. The first covenant wasn’t flawed; the people of Israel were. The new covenant doesn’t lower the bar; it changes the heart, producing real righteousness through The Spirit.

Along the way, we challenge a popular but thin habit of reading the Old Testament [Hebrew Scriptures] through a New Testament lens that erases its original meaning. Hebrews doesn’t rewrite the Hebrew Scriptures; it lets them speak and then shows their fullness in Jesus. That approach deepens assurance: our mediator is seated at the right hand of Majesty, His once-for-all sacrifice secures access, and His present ministry anchors our hope beyond the veil. If you’ve wondered how priesthood, sacrifice, Israel, and The Body of Christ fit together without forcing the text, this conversation offers a clear, Scripture-first path forward.

If this helped you see Hebrews with fresh eyes, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves Bible theology, and leave a review with your key takeaway so others can find it too.

Chapters

• 0:17 Why Hebrews Elevates Jesus
• 0:48 The Ongoing Value Of The Old Testament
• 2:58 Does The New Testament Reinterpret The Old?
• 5:25 Hebrew Scriptures In The Early Church
• 7:52 Introducing Hebrews 8: High Priest And Tabernacle
• 10:22 The True Tabernacle In Heaven
• 12:14 Present-Tense Priesthood And Dating Hebrews
• 13:24 Copies, Shadows, And Moses’ Pattern
• 15:42 A Better Ministry, Covenant, And Promises
• 17:16 What Was Faulty In The First Covenant?
• 18:50 Who Is The New Covenant With?
• 22:12 Israel And The Church As Beneficiaries
• 27:14 Abrahamic Roots And Christ’s Fulfillment
• 31:34 Closing Reflections And Next Steps

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:17

We're studying the book of Hebrews. The book lifts Jesus up to his high rightful position. The book talks about him as being fully God and fully man. It talks about him being a priest and a king. We see today as we get to Hebrews chapter 8, Jesus has a better ministry and he begins to talk about a new covenant. But before we get into the bulk of Hebrews chapter 8, I wanted to point out a general concept here. And now it's as good a time as any to bring this up. The book of Hebrews, of course, talks a great deal about Old Testament things, and it mentions many, many Old Testament passages and uses them to support the high position of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think the first lesson we can learn is that the Old Testament is indeed valuable for us in the church age to study. The Old Testament is too often neglected today. Hebrews explains many very lofty, very profound concepts about our New Testament salvation, about the person of Jesus Christ that we wouldn't know otherwise without the book pointing out all these many Old Testament passages. The book of Hebrews demonstrates some of the greatest theology that can be known about Christ, and it points out that it is found in the Old Testament. So we neglect the Old Testament at our own peril. It's really at our own loss that we don't spend more time in the Old Testament. Too many times I've seen churches and pastors and Christians that they just wave it off with a wand. That's Old Testament stuff. Why do we need to study that? My friend, I submit the book of Hebrews in its entirety has huge amounts of very profound things that are brought out through the Old Testament, and we wouldn't know them otherwise. I'm also reminded of Jesus after his resurrection was walking with two of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. And it says he brought out how the Messiah, the Christ, was found in the law and the prophets. So there's large amounts of teachings in the Old Testament that are valuable to us about the person of Jesus Christ, how we're saved, the end times. I mean, it goes on and on about things that are relevant today, even in New Testament theology that's found in the Old Testament. The next thing that I think is very important to point out is that all of these passages in Hebrews that quote the Old Testament, they never reinterpret the Old Testament passage. It quotes it, it points out truth from it, but the book of Hebrews never changes the meaning of the original Old Testament passage. In every single instance, the Old Testament passage, when it's quoted in Hebrews, means the exact same thing that it meant when it was first revealed. The reason we bring this up is because there's some Bible interpreters today that falsely claim that you have to have the New Testament in order to have a lens through which to reinterpret the Old Testament. The New Testament is standalone, but so is the Old Testament. We bring things out, as the book of Hebrews says, but when it brings these things out, it doesn't change the original meaning. The original meaning as given still means the same thing today as it meant when it was first given back in the Old Testament days. For example, the book of Hebrews several times quotes Psalm 110, verse 4, that says, You were a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Quotes that a handful of times. Well, Hebrews is merely mentioning the original meaning. Hebrews isn't changing the interpretation of when it was given. Psalm 110 said the Messiah was a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. And likewise with many of these other passages, it's quoting extensively about the tabernacle and its ceremonies and the implements in the tabernacle, and it's bringing points out about those. But it is not the case that we have to have the New Testament to reinterpret the meaning of the Old Testament. No, no, the Old Testament means today the same thing that it meant when it was first given. Now, there's some more elaborate and more nuanced meaning now that we have revealed about Christ, but the meaning is still the same as it did when it was originally there. We know more about it simply because Christ has revealed more, but the meaning hasn't changed.

SPEAKER_02: 5:22

You're spot on on what you're talking about, Glenn. And one thing to bring out is that what we call the Old Testament is the Hebrew scriptures. This was the body of books that were used during Jesus' time and also for all of these new Christian converts that were mainly coming from Judaism at the time. So whenever they're referring back to Scripture, things like that in the New Testament, they're referring back to the Hebrew Bible. And that bulk and body of work does what? It tells about God, Yahweh, and how he interacts with the nation of Israel. Through that, we see the relationship of how God works with people, how he works with nations, who he is, his characteristics, all of that, his attributes, his love, his mercy, his grace, what he does with people when they're disobedient, how they're disciplined, all of those things we get from the Old Testament. And the New Testament that we look at today, it's a body of books that have been put together. But at the time, there wasn't this body of books that people, this was something that progressed over a period of several years. I do believe that this is what the apostles were teaching as they went out and ministered to the people and spread the gospel and spread the word. So we have the word written down as they wrote letters or epistles to other believers throughout Greece and Rome and the Judean-Sumerian area that's there, but it wasn't put together for them to study. So I think that's something that people overlook is that at the time that we're talking about here, yes, the writer of Hebrews is giving them something that's been taught and something that's there, but it's something that's individual to these people that are written. He's referencing back to the Hebrew scriptures. Why? Because that's what they had, and that was what was meaningful at the time for them. So his purpose, I think, goes right along with what you're saying, and I totally agree with it. His purpose is not to reinterpret the Old Testament through the things that he's writing to these Hebrew people in the post-Jesus Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. He is bolstering his argument with the Old Testament scriptures. It's not the reverse way, like you've been saying. He's not trying to reinterpret what the Old Testament scriptures were saying. I think you're spot on.

SPEAKER_01: 8:04

We do not need the New Testament as an interpretive filter to determine the true meaning of Old Testament passages. Now, the New Testament will give us a more full, multifaceted, multicolored meaning to many of these passages, but the original meaning is the original meaning. That brings us to Hebrews chapter eight. And chapter eight continues speaking about Jesus as high priest. This time it's going to tell us that Jesus has a better ministry with a better covenant that's founded on better promises. So, Steve, can you read the first two verses of Hebrews chapter eight?

SPEAKER_02: 8:42

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.

SPEAKER_01: 9:02

Verse one again reminds us that Jesus is the high priest that sits at the right hand of the heavenly throne. How glorious is that! Jesus is full of majesty, He is exalted, full of splendor, and eminently glorious. He is infinite and he's majestic, so he's infinitely majestic, but to see him is overwhelming. Remember on the Mount of Transfiguration, the apostles hid their eyes because of the power of his glory. Majesty here speaks of honor, strength, power, and greatness. A king is majestic. Therefore, when it says the throne of majesty, that speaks of Jesus being king of majesty, the king of kings and lord of lords. He is full of all power and glory. That the high priest would take a majestic throne is unique to Jesus. That is only because he is of the order of Melchizedek. That's all in verse one. Verse 2 speaks of quote, the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched. The tabernacle on earth was modeled after the one in heaven. We mentioned this when Moses went up to Mount Sinai, he got not only the Ten Commandments, but he got the model for the tabernacle and the entire ceremony system for the Old Testament. The people who complain about the idea of a future millennial temple on earth have to answer the question about the everlasting tabernacle in heaven. If there's an everlasting tabernacle in heaven that's not blasphemous, then why would it need to have a reason for justifying a future one in earth when they all just represent what Jesus truly did at the true tabernacle? The Old Testament tabernacle and temple reflected the true one in heaven. And the millennial temple in the future will do the exact same thing, reflect the true one in heaven. In the beginning of verse 2, Jesus is actively ministering in the heavenly tabernacle. In the middle of verse 2, the tabernacle in heaven is the true tabernacle. The one on earth was a copy of the one in heaven. And Steve, any other things about those two verses? There's just so much here. It's so rich.

SPEAKER_02: 11:34

Arthur says there in verse one, now the main point in what has been said is this. So this is a summation of things that he's been talking about so far, in that we have a high priest who's taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heavens, a minister in the sanctuary. So this picture that we're given here is that Jesus is at the right hand of the throne of God the Father, and he is a minister and a high priest. There's nothing here so far in Hebrews that talks about Jesus on a kingly throne. Now, yes, we brought up and mentioned that the order of Melchizedek is both a priest and a kingly role, but the focus in Hebrews is on Jesus as a high priest in that role. So as we start into chapter eight, this is something that the author says is the main point that he's going to get to.

SPEAKER_01: 12:37

In the next section starts in verse three, it starts a new topic that the high priest offers sacrifices, so therefore Jesus offers a better sacrifice. Note that this entire section is in present tense, saying these actions of the high priest are ongoing. This gives us a clue as to the writing time of the book of Hebrews, was most likely prior to the destruction of the temple in 70 AD by the Romans. If it were many years afterwards, it would have been in past tense, but it's not. So, nevertheless, this speaks of Jesus as our high priest with a better sacrifice founded on a better promise. I'm reading in verse three. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. Now, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law, who serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle. For see, he says, that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain. So, Steve, it mentions here that the earthly priest offer and for what purpose. So, what what were they offering and what purpose were they offering it?

SPEAKER_02: 14:07

I believe what he's saying here in verse three goes with what we were talking about in our last session over in chapter seven, where it says that the high priest had to offer up sacrifices for his own sins before he could offer the sacrifices on behalf of the people. And here in verse three of eight, he says, pretty much, I think the same thing that every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So he's saying here is that the high priest has to still offer up something that has to be taken into the Holy of Holies. He can't just go in there without anything. There has to be something that has of benefit for him to gain access to it. Now we're going to see that that happens to be the blood of the sacrifice, but that is something that he has to have in order to gain access into the Holy of Holies. And as we continue to go through chapter eight, we're going to see that Jesus did just that. And what he has to offer is greater than any of the human priests that anything they had to offer here on earth.

SPEAKER_01: 15:18

And this section begins talking about these better sacrifices. And chapter nine is going to go into a lot of detail about these sacrifices, but it starts out here as kind of a foreshadow of what's to come. The Old Testament priest had morning sacrifices, they had evening sacrifices, people would bring voluntary sacrifices during the day, and the priest had to handle all of those. The priest also received these gifts. So since the high priest goes behind the veil in the Holy of Holies and offers blood there on one day a year, Jesus also does the same thing in the heavenly tabernacle. That's what it's saying here in these verses. So, next question. Verse 4 if Jesus were on earth, why would he not be priest? Well, we've talked about this before because he's not of the right tribe. Jesus was of the tribe of Judah, and to be a priest, you had to be of the tribe of Levi. So here, according to the law, is the phrase it uses. Only the Levites can offer sacrifices. He mentions here a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things. Steve, what is he saying in that phrase? He's going to flesh this out as he goes on, but what is a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things?

SPEAKER_02: 16:40

I believe it's referring back to verse two, where it talks about Jesus as being a minister in the true tabernacle, the one that the Lord pitched and not man. The things here in verse five that says is a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things, that's the heavenly things. And he goes on to say he warned Moses that as he set up the tabernacle here to do it precisely as God had laid out to him to do it, because it was a shadow. It was a copy of what is actually in heaven.

SPEAKER_01: 17:15

Exactly. When Moses went up on Mount Sinai, he not only got the Ten Commandments, but he got the model for the tabernacle, which was later turned into a temple. And the earthly one was a copy and a shadow of the true temple in heaven. We're going to learn more about that as we go on. The next chapter tells about more things that are better in Jesus. So I'm starting at Hebrews 8:6. 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. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, he says, Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and I did not care for them, says the Lord. 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 into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people, and they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brothers, saying, Know the Lord, for all will know me, from the least to the greatest of them, for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. When he said a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete, but whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready. Does it disappear? So in verse 6, Steve, what are the things it mentions that are better about Jesus?

SPEAKER_02: 19:09

It says there that his ministry is a better ministry, it's a more excellent ministry, and he is also a mediator of a better covenant that has been enacted on better promises. So we see this elevation of Jesus and who he is and what he has done and his purpose is much better than the present covenant, the Mosaic law that the people are under. Jesus is the mediator and implementer, and has brought to completeness this better covenant and better ministry between God and people.

SPEAKER_01: 19:50

It mentions a better ministry, better covenant on better promises. The covenant is going to be talked about here. He's also going to bring it up again in chapter. Chapter 10. So again, Hebrews goes over some of the same ground as a spiral staircase, just getting higher and higher. The next section is going to expand on these things. It speaks of a new covenant. Look at verse 7. Steve, what's the first covenant talked about there in verse 7? Because it's contrasting the first covenant with a better one. So what was the first one?

SPEAKER_02: 20:25

The first covenant spoken of here is the Mosaic covenant, or what's also referred to as the law. It was the 613 laws or rules, statutes, and ordinances that God gave to Moses there at the time on Mount Sinai for the people to live by. They were to do all of these ordinances, statutes in order to have blessings. They didn't keep them, they would have cursings. And it was also so that they could live longer in the land, the promised land that they were going to.

SPEAKER_01: 21:01

And we have to remember as we keep repeating, who is the book written to? Well, the book's written to Jewish believers in Jesus Christ, Hebrew Christians. So when verse 7 says, if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. It would be very obvious to the readers, the listeners, that the first covenant is the entirety of the Mosaic law. That's the first covenant it's talking about because that's what they would eat, sleep, and breathe. It was ingrained into the fabric of the community was the Mosaic law. So it said there in verse seven, if that first covenant had been faultless, it's implying there was a fault there. So what is the fault with the Mosaic Law?

SPEAKER_02: 21:49

I think he answers that in the first part of verse eight. He says, for finding fault with them, then he talks about there's going to be a new covenant. So the law itself wasn't faulty. It was the people trying to keep the law. They were the ones that were faulty. They were not going to be able to keep the law. We've talked about that many times. If you break one of the laws, you broke all of the laws. So the law itself wasn't faulty. It was put there for a purpose and it served its purpose, but the people were faulty. They weren't going to be able to keep the law on their own.

SPEAKER_01: 22:25

And we've just referred people to the book of Galatians, the book of Romans 4 and 5 talks about this. If the Old Testament law would have been sufficient, if all we had to do was obey God and keep the law, then Christ would not have had to have died. The problem is we can't keep the law. None of us are able. So the law is a good law. It's just the fault lies with the weakness in us. It is weak through our flesh. So that's the problem here. So Christ had to die because we can't keep the law. So in this section, we need to not lose the main point. The most important idea here is this contrast between the old and the new covenants. The old covenant, the Mosaic Law, is conditional, written on stones, and did not produce righteousness. The new covenant in Christ is unconditional, written on living hearts, and does produce righteousness. There's a great contrast between the old and the new. Steve, next question, in the end of verse 8: who is this new covenant with?

SPEAKER_02: 23:35

It says here that the new covenant is with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Now that speaks of all 12 tribes of the nation of Israel. He's bringing these back from the divided kingdom. This is all quotes, mostly from verse 8 to the end of where you read from the book of Jeremiah. So it's very clear that the new covenant is with the house of Israel, all 12 tribes, just like what the first covenant was with, this new covenant is with the nation of Israel as well.

SPEAKER_01: 24:10

Hebrews 8:8 is quoting Jeremiah 31. A couple of chapters into the future in this book, it's going to again quote the same passage or parts of it out of Jeremiah 31. Unless there's any doubt exactly where or exactly who this is speaking of, Hebrews 8:8, I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day which I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. So he's talking about ethnic national Israel that had to be brought out of Egypt. And Jeremiah 31 says, I'm going to make a new covenant with that same group of people, Israel and Judah. And here in Hebrews 8, and again in chapter 10, he's saying that ultimately this new covenant is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Therefore, the new covenant mentioned in Jeremiah 31 and Hebrews 8 is with ethnic Israel. Further, the entire context of Hebrews is talking about things specific to Judaism. So Hebrews is clearly saying that the new covenant is through Jesus over the years. There's been two or three or four major ways of explaining this. And I'd like to list them off here just quickly, and then we can evaluate which one we think is the best way of doing it. One that has been taken over the years is that when it says a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah, some Bible teachers have said that this is only for Israel, not the church. The passage speaks of Israel, they say, but the new covenant is fulfilled in Christ. Both Jews and Gentiles are in Jesus. So this view is inadequate simply because Gentiles are also in Christ. Another view is that this is only for the church. This is held by large groups of Christians saying that the new covenant is fulfilled in Christ, the church is in Christ, so therefore it's fulfilled only in Christ. The problem is that there's too many passages in here that clearly speak of ethnic Israel. Again, with their fathers that I took out of Israel. Further, if we just go back to Jeremiah 31 and read more than just these couple of verses, you'll find the entire context of the chapter, two or three dozen times, mentions very specific things that can only be fulfilled in Jerusalem specifically and in the nation of Israel. It talks about things like the Kidron Valley. It talks about Ephraim, Samaria, Zion, the Tower of Hananel, and the spots on the wall. There's too many things that are specific to national Israel right out of Jeremiah 31. You either have to just ignore all that, which uh many people do, and held that it's only for the church. So we find that that's inadequate. So we would hold that when it says here this new covenant, it is for both the church and for Israel. So, Steve, any elaboration on that? Can you help me out with explaining this a little better?

SPEAKER_02: 27:31

Well, I think that to put it simply, is everything you've been saying is correct. The covenant is with the nation of Israel itself. As I mentioned, just like the first covenant was, pretty clear that it's the nation that he brought out of Egypt. But we as believers in the body of Christ, and we as Gentiles, we are benefactors of this new covenant. And how are we benefactors? Well, we get a new heart. We have the law written on our heart. We're a changed person, we're born again, and we're brought in by being grafted into the olive tree. But the olive tree isn't chopped down, it's still there that says the root is still Jesus Christ. So I think as we go through here, we can see that the covenant itself was written to the nation of Israel, just like the first one was. Us as Gentiles, that that first covenant of the law wasn't written to us, but we benefited from it. As Paul said, it was a tutor, it was a tutor to the nation of Israel in order to show that they couldn't keep the law. We're benefactors by looking from the outside at it and seeing, okay, there's no way that any man would be able to keep that law. So we're beneficiaries in that regard, but the covenant itself is written to the nation of Israel with us being benefactors of it. And I think that's kind of just a way to be able to put it there and associate it as always, is that the church, the body of Christ in this particular age is a benefactor of this covenant that God is making with the nation of Israel, the new covenant.

SPEAKER_01: 29:15

If we ask a question, how could this new covenant be for both national Israel and the church? We would give the following response. In the upper room, Jesus spoke of the new covenant in his blood. So it's clearly in Jesus. And so therefore, all that are in Jesus are beneficiaries of the new covenant. I think that's what Hebrews is saying here. We can't confuse Israel and the church. We can't conflate them simply because there's too many references specifically to national Israel in Jeremiah 31 and in Hebrews. So we must remember also that the Abrahamic covenant, which preceded the Mosaic covenant, had three parts. God promised Abraham that he would have a great nation that would come from him, that all the nations of the earth would be blessed, and that the land would be inherited by Abraham's descendants forever. Therefore, when Christ fulfilled the Abrahamic covenant, the church fulfilled the second one, which is all the nations of the earth will be blessed. You don't have to have one without the other. We also need to emphasize that it is not the case that Jews are saved in a New Testament sense merely because they are descendants from Abraham. The only people that are beneficiaries of the Abrahamic covenant are those that are in Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:6 says the apostles were ministers of a new covenant. So therefore, the new covenant is in the church, and it is also for the believing remnant of the nation Israel that are believing in Jesus Christ. What we can't do is read Hebrews 8 and Hebrews 10 through systematic theology glasses that misses Israel. We also can't have like some of these hyper dispensationalists say that people are saved just because they're Jewish. No, no, you have to be in Christ. So the new covenant, Steve, is for both the church and for Israel, and they're all fulfilled in Christ.

SPEAKER_00: 31:25

And I think that's very profound. It is, and it's very comforting, and it's something that we can take great peace in in knowing that. And we're going to have to stop here because of time, but there's so much more rich ground that we're going to reason through next time. Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.