Chapter 8

Mick has been really pushing this concept of Jesus as the High Priest, and no wonder – to a Jew of the 1st Century AD, religious ceremonies were ALL about the priesthood. You couldn’t sacrifice without a priest – all gifts and offerings had to be given in his presence. The priesthood was, to not put too fine a point on it, at the centre of the Jewish religious identity.

So Mick goes into some detail about Jesus’ position. He compares and contrasts.

Like a Jewish priest, Jesus offered gifts and sacrifices (vs 3 – 5). Of course – that’s what a priest does. But Mick is quick to point out that if that was all he did, Jesus wouldn’t have needed to come to Earth in the first place. After all, regular human priests could do that just fine.

Here’s where the difference comes into it. For the first time in the book of Hebrews, Mick starts talking about a new COVENANT.

If you’ve spent any time reading about the Jews, especially in the first five books of the Bible, you’ll know that their religion was all about covenant. The idea was simple – God had made a deal with Israel – the Covenant – that He would be their God, and they would be His people. And since Israel were His people, they would follow His law; and in return, He would bless them, and ultimately He would bless all the nations through the people of Israel.

The trouble was that the people of Israel could not keep their end of the bargain. Even simply following the law was beyond them; they kept sinning. God was faithful and kept His end no matter what, but it was increasingly clear that the old Covenant didn’t work.

But Hebrews quotes some verses from one of the truly great chapters of the Bible – Jeremiah 31. As you may recall, we trudged through jeremiah, and a lot of it was heavy going. But this chapter was great, and more importantly it pointed the way forward to a future time in which the Covenant of law would be replaced with something more personal. He would “Carve it onto the lining of their hearts.”

Sometimes atheists pooh-hoo prophecy, but in my opinion, it’s hard to imagine a more stark prediction of God’s action than this; and it’s hard to find a clearer fulfillment of this prophecy than the actions of Christ Himself.

For us, this is critical – One more time, our relationship with God is not based on what we do any more; rather, it’s based on who we are. It’s not so much about us obeying God (though we should!), but about us getting to know God at a personal level.

This can be easy and it can be hard. It’s easy when you’re a young Christian, still excited. When you’re old, though, it can get hard. When you are old enough, sometimes you’ll struggle to know if God is really there. It’s important to remember in THOSE times that you're supposed to connect deeply with God - so next time it's getting too much to bear, remember that God still wants to connect with YOU.