Notes on Hebrews: Chapter 8
The over arching theme of chapter 8 is the contrast between the Old Covenant of law keeping between God and Israel, and the New Covenant of grace giving between God and the true Israel (the faithful remnant among Jews and Gentiles). Jesus is a better mediator for he ushered in and established the New Covenant.
There are 2 major points in this chapter that are pertinent to the Christian walk. Firstly, many of you might not be aware of the fact that the word Covenant and the word Testament are the same word in the original biblical language. When you read the Old Testament, you are reading about how God operated according to the Old Covenant. Conversely, in reading the New Testament, you are seeing God operating under the New Covenant. According to Luke, The New Testament makes the Old Testament obsolete (verse 13). How so? Jesus answers that when he says, “I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it” (Mathew 5:17). If a Testament (contract or will) is fulfilled then it is obsolete.
The other point is found in verses 8-12. Luke quotes Jeremiah 31:31 where God speaks of making a New Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Luke in essence is telling his messianic Jewish readership that this is it. God has followed up on his promise of a New Covenant and that Covenant is ratified through Jesus.
The reason for my emphasis on these two points is that often times I get the very real sense that Churchianity (the substitute for Christianity in the west) is confused about the passing away of the Old Covenant and about the significance of progressive revelation as seen in the promise of a New Covenant with the house of Israel and Judah. Take for example the case for war. Churchianity will always quote the Old Testament when justifying war yet the Old Testament that allowed an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is obsolete (Exodus 21:24). The New Testament tells us to love our enemy and pray for our persecutor. Even if we don’t know how to do this, we are called to it and not to quote the Testament that no longer applies! With regards to Progressive Revelation we are told by the watchdogs of Orthodoxy that divine revelation ended with the closing of the cannon. But doesn’t God’s promise of a New Covenant state, “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor saying, ‘know the Lord’ for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest”?
This is where I get the fuel for my fire. If I rail against Orthodoxy it is because they presume to teach me what I already know! What do I know? I know that the faithful remnant is not comprised of Christians only. Where do I get such heresy? From the same God that said he would make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and Judah yet graciously included the Goyim (gentiles) in the New Covenant. Remember Jesus himself said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mathew 15:24) yet the majority of us who call on his name are not Jews!
If a man seeks righteousness, denying himself and putting others first, then I will call him my brother, whether he shares my religion, another, or none at all. We will practice our righteousness side by side and I will tell him not to fear the Orthodox and their hell threats for their doctrines do not decide our fate. I will walk before my brother in the presence of my God and I will claim his life as my own and his debt as mine and then we will see if God is in deed the Gracious God that I know, or the legalistic Deity that Churchianity teaches of (Mathew 15:9). To this I swear.
