Background of the B’rit Chadashah and the New Sacrifice
Messiah came as the Mediator of a better covenant because it is one that doesn’t have to be repeated every hour, every day, every month, or every year. The Lord comes as the mediator of a better covenant because His sacrifice removes every sin ever committed forever. Yeshua comes as the mediator of a better covenant because He is a High Priest who doesn’t need to make any sacrifices for Himself. He is totally perfect, the Perfect Priest and the Perfect Sacrifice. Christ, in His own sacrifice – His sacrifice of Himself – showed the perfection that eliminated sin. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (10:10). Once. That was something wonderfully new in the sacrificial system – one sacrifice, once offered. But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God (10:12). This was something no priest could ever do. There were no seats in either the Tabernacle or the Temple. The Levitical priest would never sit down because his work was never finished. But Yeshua made His sacrifice and sat down. It was finished. It was done. The atonement for sin had been paid in full (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Lv – Jesus’ Second Three Hours on the Cross: The Wrath of God). For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy (10:14).
Hebrews emphasizes contrast. Everything is presented as better: a better hope, a better testament, a better promise, a better sacrifice, a better substance, a better country, a better resurrection, a better everything. Yeshua Messiah is presented the supreme Best. And we are presented as being in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-14), in a completely new dimension – the heavenlies. We read of the heavenly Messiah, the heavenly calling, the heavenly gift, the heavenly country, the heavenly Yerushalayim., and of our names being written in the heavenlies. Everything is new. Everything is better. We have the Substance (Jesus Christ), we don’t need the shadow (the Levitical priesthood). Here is the whole point of what we have been saying: we do have just such a high priest as has been described. And He does sit at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven (Hebrews 8:1). This is the whole summary of the book of Hebrews in just one sentence. Ours is the High Priest of high priests, and He is seated. His work is done, completely finished for all time.8 Hebrews leads us to the resources that are available when life threatens to overwhelm us. Here we can find the strength to resolve and overcome life’s relentless pressures.9
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