Hebrews 8:6
"But now he hath obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises."
My, aren’t we fortunate? I try to impress on people that you and I, as believers in this Age of Grace, as members of the Body of Christ, have it so far above the promises made to Israel. Now we know God’s going to do wondrous things yet with Israel someday, but the promises that He has given to us as believers, as members of the Body of Christ are beyond mere natural human comprehension. But you and I can begin to get a glimpse of the glory that’s going to be revealed to us an in us because all this is so much Better than what God promised to Israel only, within the confines of the Old. Now verse 7 of Hebrews 8, again before we go there we'll look at a few verses that accompany what we've just seen and they are found in Isaiah 65:15, 66:19-21, Hosea 3:4; Galatians 3:19 and 23, 4:3-5:
Right off the bat I just see something that just thrills me:
Hebrews 8:7a
"For if that first covenant had been faultless,…"
You know what I’m going to ring the bell on? Was it faultless? No, it was full of fault. My, it was weak; it was beggarly. That first Covenant of Law wasn’t faultless, but if it had been; had it been faultless:
Hebrews 8:7b
"then should no place have been sought for the second."
That stands to reason doesn’t it? What’s our expression? "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it." If you’ve got something that’s perfect, leave it alone. But nevertheless, see, when something is perfect you don’t have to ask for anything more. But the Law and Temple worship wasn’t perfect. It was full of faults and so consequently there had to be room for a second and better Covenant. That is why the prophets foretold of a change with such words as an everlasting, a new covenant, a law written on the heart or inward parts...etc. Now let’s go into verse 8, then I’m going to stop and digress.
Hebrews 8:8-9
"For finding fault with them, (Who did? God did. God found fault with His own system of Law) he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah: 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; (which was the Covenant of Law) because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord."
Now just stop and rehearse for a minute. As soon as Israel came through the Red Sea and they congregate down there at the base of Mt. Sinai, God calls Moses up in to the mountain and gives him the Ten Commandments (and I’m going to even skip over the horrors of what took place when he came down and he broke the first set). But later on he gets the second set, set in stone and Israel comes under the Law. It was in stone because of the heart condition of the people because they walked in unbelief all the way through Acts chapter 11. When God changed the course of human events from an external or material workings of self sufficiency to a totally God doing the works within us through His Grace and our entering in through redemption into this great Salvation. Who in his right mind could or would ever reject this program of God's design?
They’ve got that beautiful little tent out in the wilderness, they now have a priesthood, hey, they’re ready to go. They’ve got everything going for them. The Shekonah Glory is right up there above the Tabernacle. Can you imagine it, can you picture it? The presence of God is right there above them, a cloud by day to give them shade in that desert heat. It was a pillar of fire by night to protect them from any predators and to led them should they be on the move. Boy, they had it made.
And so God leads them up to Kadesh-barnea. And what happens. Oh, they floundered and they failed in what? Unbelief! Remember when we were back there in chapter 3 of Hebrews, I made mention of the fact that there’s probably no other concept of Scripture that is repeated so often as how disgusted God was with Israel when they would not go in and take the Promised Land. All because of their unbelief. Lawlessness.
Well, what was part of the problem? The system of Law. It was not perfect. Had they had the indwelling Holy Spirit (He would come upon one or two but NOT the whole nation), had they had that relationship with their God that we have, I don’t think they would have fallen in unbelief. But they didn’t. All they had was the weak system of Law. Which depended upon their doing acts as required of them. Alright, let’s go back and look at a few of them. Now we had one here a few minutes back and we’ll look at it again, too. But as you go back there, stop at Galatians. Now these are the Scriptural concepts of the system of Law, and what Israel was so proud of, but oh, it was weak. Galatians 4:8-9.
Now again, what was the problem with the Galatian believers? Well, they were Gentiles, but they were being coaxed to come under certain aspects of the Jewish Law. The Judaizers from Jerusalem were not content that these Gentiles could be saved by faith alone, but they had to keep the Levitical Law. They had to keep Temple worship, they had to practice circumcision and all the rest. So Paul writes this Epistle of Galatians, just almost beside himself how these Galatians come out of such a glorious position in Grace and even to be tempted to come under the Law; as many among them were fresh out of Judaism and here’s why:
Galatians 4:8
"Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, (they were pagans remember) ye did service unto them who by nature are no gods."
What’s he saying? You were worshiping dead idols: of wood and stone and silver and gold. They were dead, they couldn’t do anything for you. And these Galatians had come out of that. Now remember also that the Hebrews had also fallen into such paganism as the scriptures testify against them. Now verse 9.
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