A Better Covenant, a Better Priest

Whether you’re looking for someone to do your taxes, or to fix an issue with your plumbing, or to cut and style your hair, the main question you’re going to be thinking about is: Can I trust this person? Is he or she going to do a good job? Can this person really do what I need, or want, them to do?

What would you do if someone you cared about hired a tax guy, or an auto mechanic, whom you knew was dishonest and unqualified? Obviously, you’d try to warn your friend. “Don’t do that! Don’t trust in that person.” And you’d probably help point them in a better direction. You’d want them to find a trustworthy and capable person.

The passage we’re looking at this morning carries that very heart because we’ve got the author of Hebrews telling his audience that they need to turn away from the Jewish priestly system and turn to Jesus Christ.

One of the primary goals in studying the Bible is trying to figure out what the author’s main point is. And it’s nice when an author just comes out and tells us, which is exactly what we see in verse 1. It says—Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest.

The main point in our passage today is not that we have a high priest; the main point is to emphasize the kind of High Priest we have. In the first century, the Jews who had rejected Jesus Christ and continued to worship according to the law of Moses had a high priest, but it wasn’t Jesus Christ.

And so, the author of Hebrews decides to do a comparison, which is what we’re going to follow this morning. What’s the difference between having Jesus Christ as a High Priest and having someone else according to the law of Moses? And maybe more significantly, why does this matter?

For many of you, I don’t think these points are going to sound too new, and from what we’ve already seen in the book of Hebrews, it wasn’t new to the first audience either. But there is a deepening understanding each time we come to these. And these are important reminders for us as those who are called to love Christ and as those who are called to minister and teach others.

The role of the high priest was to provide forgiveness for the people and to reconcile them to God. This is what the people hoped in. So, why is it that Jesus is a better High Priest?

Number one, Jesus’ sacrifice is complete.

Jesus’ sacrifice is complete

What kind of High Priest do we have? Verse 1 tells us, we have one who is seated. One who is seated.

Every Jew understood that as long as a priest was working, he never sat down. His work was endless. Some family came forward for a sacrifice, and once that was over, another family came forward. And once the day was over, they did it again the next day.

Even the high priest, as special as his role was to perform the annual sacrifices on the Day of Atonement, didn’t perform sacrifices one time. At a minimum, there was going to be another Day of Atonement the very next year.

Imagine if you took your car in to the mechanic, and a couple days later, the mechanic calls you back, and he says, “Well, we fixed it. It’s done. You’re never going to need to come back for anything. Ever.” That’s impossible, right? Your car is going to break down some day. It’s going to need work again.

But speaking of the forgiveness of God’s people which was accomplished by the sacrifice of Christ’s own life, that’s exactly what has happened. Jesus’ sacrifice is complete. It’s done. That’s why He’s sitting down.

What did Jesus say as He was dying? He said, “It is finished.” His sacrifice was once-for-all. This doesn’t mean that Jesus’ role as a priest is complete, but it means that His sacrifice is complete. His intercessory role as our High Priest continues to point back to that once-for-all sacrifice.

And we need to allow this reality to sink in to our everyday thinking. You are going to sin today. And you are going to sin tomorrow. How does that sin get resolved? How can you be forgiven? Not through some new sacrifice, but through the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That’s why we sing “Jesus Paid it All.” It’s done. We don’t need to earn or win back salvation. Jesus did it already.

When we sin, we want to be restored relationally, but there is no eternal restoration needed. This is what you tell yourself when you confess sin: “Jesus died for me. The debt of my sins is paid. Yes, I’m still fighting against my sin. Yes, I have grieved Him, but my sins are paid for.”

The old hymn has it right. “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh! Precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I see, Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing this my plea, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

There are no hoops to jump through. Just trust in Jesus by faith. Trust fully and only in His death and in His Resurrection. If you’re trusting in anything else, any good works, any external actions, you’ve changed the gospel, and it’s not going to work. Jesus’ sacrifice is complete. Jesus’ sacrifice is enough. His work to provide the payment of our debt is done.

This is God’s call on every single one of us. Stop trusting in yourself. Stop trusting in anything else. Nothing else and no one else can cleanse you from your sin. Trust in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died and rose again.

There’s a second reminder about His sacrifice which proves why He is the better High Priest. Number 2, Jesus’ sacrifice has been accepted.

Jesus' sacrifice has been accepted

It’s one thing to simply say that Jesus cleansed us and restored us to God, but how do we know. We know because God raised Him from the dead and then called Him back to heaven.

Verse 1 tells us Jesus is the One who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. God raised Jesus from the dead, and then exalted Him in heaven with Him.

The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15 says that if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then our faith is meaningless, and we’re all still in our sins. The Resurrection of Jesus is the affirmation of His message and His atoning work. And then, 40 days after rising from the dead, Jesus was exalted by God. He ascended to heaven to the right hand of God. That’s expressing the Father’s approval and the Father’s unity with Him in authority and power. The sacrifice of Jesus has been accepted.

But the writer of Hebrews doesn’t stop there. Yes, Jesus’ sacrifice is complete, and it has been accepted, but what this means for us is that Jesus’ work is also real. And we’ll make this our third reminder about Christ’s priestly work. Jesus’ work is real.

Jesus' work is real

You see, everything that the Jewish priests accomplished wasn’t actually real. It was a sign and a symbol pointing to something else. Look at verse 2. Jesus is a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.

This is both an amazing reality, but also an indictment against the Jewish system. The first tabernacle was built in the wilderness un the direction of Moses. And it was built by men. Once the nation settled in Jerusalem, David had the tabernacle set there. His son Solomon built it into a glorious Temple, which was destroyed by the Babylonians about 400 years later. But then that was rebuilt under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Ezra. And that second Temple was beautified by Herod.

As glorious as these Temples were, they were still built by men. The place into which the high priest went once a year was built by men. But Jesus has gone into the very presence of God, on which no man has built. That’s what it means when it says that Jesus ministers in the true tent.

The priests of the Old Covenant took sacrifices and entered into the holy places. Jesus offered up His own life as the perfect sacrifice, and now, He has entered into the perfect tabernacle, the very throne of God.

So, on the one hand, Jesus priestly ministry is similar to the Old Covenant priests because they came with a sacrifice, but Jesus is at a completely different level than the Jewish priestly system. In fact, verse 4 says, Jesus wouldn’t even be qualified to serve as a priest in the old system because He isn’t from the correct tribe.

But look at what verse 5 says about the Jewish system of priests—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.”

The old system, including the Tabernacle or the Temple was a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things. Jesus serves in the true Temple, but this old system was like the Lego version. There was some kind of connection, but it wasn’t real, in the fullest sense. Jesus’ work was the real thing.

What is a shadow? It’s not the real substance of something, but it is connected, right? The shadow points to the reality of something else. Your shadow is your outline. It exists because of you; if you didn’t exist your shadow wouldn’t exist. But your shadow is not actually part of you. It’s not real, in the same sense that you are.

Well, in some mysterious way, all the instructions about measurements and materials and sacrifices were pointing to something that is true in heaven. It doesn’t have to be a physical correspondence, as if the heavenly throne is exactly the same size as the Tabernacle. But it points to eternal realities like the holiness of God and the necessity of a sacrifice, and the fact that you cannot come to God on your own terms. God dictates the terms on which we must come to Him.

If you’ve ever read the books of Exodus and Leviticus you see how particular God was about the people obeying Him. Everything had to be built exactly as God told Moses. They couldn’t just build it however they wanted. They had to build it exactly as God had instructed Moses. I imagine they kept coming back to Moses’ instruction to make sure it was all done exactly right.

Why did God care what size each room was or what material was used on the tent? Well, for one, it avoided any fights among the people. It settled any questions. But second, it impressed upon them the reality that they don’t dictate the terms. God is holy, and He sets the terms. And the same is true today, isn’t it?

How can your sins be forgiven? Only by the sacrifice of Christ. There is nothing else we can plead. There is no other way.

And now that Jesus has accomplished His work of atonement, He continues ministering by His intercession, not in a Minecraft version of heaven, but at the right hand of the Father Himself. No Jewish priest could say that. Only Jesus. His work in atoning work complete. It’s been accepted by God. And His intercessory ministry is the real deal.

The author of Hebrews is not afraid to point out the superiority of Jesus Christ and the uselessness of the Old Covenant. Christ is a better priest, and His covenant is better too. Look at verses 6 and 7—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. [7] For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

To the Jews, this was a deeply offensive message. But the main goal here isn’t to offend; it is to warn. If any of these people turn away from Jesus and go back to their former system of religion, they will be going back to a system that will condemn them. And so, he uses the Scriptures themselves to make his point that there is a better covenant, and the Scriptures refer to it as “a new covenant.”

The author of Hebrews tells us that it is enacted on “better promises.” And unlike the old covenant, this one is faultless.

Have you ever gotten yourself a bowl of cereal, or grabbed yourself some chips, and thought, “I don’t know how much to get because the bag is almost gone. I could give myself a little less than usual, which means there’ll be enough for next time, but the meal might feel incomplete. I can give myself extra, but that might be too much.” Have you ever had that experience?

That’s how I felt as I was finalizing this sermon. I was originally going to preach the whole chapter, but then it just got longer than I knew I had time for. So, I’ve decided to end here for today, and Lord willing, we’ll finish the chapter next time looking at the better New Covenant which Jesus mediates for His people and which has nullified the old covenant of Moses. What was wrong with the Old Covenant? And why is the new one better? We’ll talk about that next time.