October 22 Commentary

Sunday School Lesson: Explore the Bible - October 22

Tell the truth By Bob Orgeron 10/18/2006

Focal Passage: Hebrews 8:1-9:28 Superior ministry (8:1-6a). In verse 6, the ministry of priests in a sanctuary made according to the heavenly pattern is obviously one of great dignity. Jesus’ ministry in the heavenly tabernacle is of incomparably greater dignity and worth. He chooses to bring this out by using a comparison of the two covenants. Jesus is the mediator of a “superior” covenant. Christ mediates between people and God. It is He who establishes the new covenant, Hebrews 7.22; says … Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. This new covenant is better than the old because it is “founded on better promises” — it concentrates on spiritual things (e.g., the forgiveness of sins). Superior covenant (8:6b-9:1-10). We are told of a completely new covenant with four significant differences outlined in verses 10-12. First the kindness and the love of God are brought out by the reference to taking the people “by the hand” in verse 9, … to bring them out of Egypt. The metaphor is that of a father or mother taking a little child by the hand to lead him or her to safety. From the failures of the past, the vision turns to the future — a covenant made with “the house of Israel.” The prophet looked for a time when people would not simply obey an external code but would be so transformed that God’s own laws would be written in their inmost beings. The second point in the new covenant is that there will be a close relationship between the God who will be “their God” and the people who, he says, will be “my people.” When people have been saved at the awful cost of Calvary, they are the people of God in a way never before known. In verse 11 we find the third significant feature of the new covenant, which is all who enter it will have knowledge of God; there will be no need for anyone to instruct his or her “neighbor.” Everyone in the new covenant will have his or her own intimate and personal knowledge of God. Verse 12 is the fourth significant thing about the new covenant in that in it sins are forgiven. “For” shows how important this point of: God’s forgiveness is. It is because sins are really dealt with that the blessings enumerated earlier become possible. God’s wrath no longer rests on sinners and God does not bear their sins in mind. They are completely forgotten, because of the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. In verse 13 the writer picks out the word “new” and sees it as making his essential point. It implies that something else is “old” and that the old has to be

replaced; it means that the old one is “obsolete” and ineffective, unable to meet people’s needs. The writer now concentrates his attention not on the temple but on the longvanished tabernacle. In verse 1, the writer is contrasting two ways of approach to God—the old covenant that has been superseded and the new one that Jesus has now established. The old way not only had regulations but also a sanctuary described as “earthly.” This sanctuary belonged to this world in contrast to the heavenly sanctuary where Jesus ministers. In verse 8 the limited access into the Most Holy Place was meant to bring home the fact that ordinary people had no direct access to the presence of God. However, people do have such access through the finished work of Christ. In verse 9, This is an illustration for the present time. That is, the real meaning of the tabernacle can now be understood. The writer is here contrasting the limited access that once was with the free access to the presence of God that Christ has made possible for His people. The trouble with the sacrificial offerings of the old covenant was that they could not “clear the conscience of the worshiper.” The ordinances of the old covenant had not been able to come to grips with the real problems of man. The new covenant Christ brought has replaced all the deficiencies and inadequacies of the former. May each of us rejoice and celebrate our incredible freedom in Christ Jesus our Great High Priest. — Orgeron is pastor of Park Avenue Baptist Church, Nashville.