Hebrews 8:7-13

Hebrews 8:7-13 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

After making covenant with Abraham, God led his people through the patriarchs and leaders of the community. Through them, God took the Israelites by the hand and led them. He led them to Egypt and He led them out of Egypt, but the people remained dependent on their leaders' understanding of God's will for them. When Moses led them out of Egypt, they questioned Moses' leadership ability and his authority, but in spite of their doubts, they knew God performed miracles through Moses. They also saw the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, leading them in the wilderness. But God led them from the outside, instructing and guiding them through teachers, holy men, and miraculous events. Yet God promised a day would come when He would no longer lead them through others: I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. When God's guidance comes only through the words of others or the teaching of spiritual doctrines, men soon go astray. People may have a strong will to obey and follow God, but the flesh is weak. They needed a new covenant.

Moses was distraught when he realized how quickly the children of Israel, even is own relatives, would turn away from following Jehovah. However, the Israelites, including his family, tried to follow God through him. They saw God perform great miracles through Moses' words and by his hands; therefore, they would cling to the God Moses followed. Nonetheless, when Moses removed himself for a short time to receive The Law from God, they quickly turned to other gods. Their God was with Moses: without him, they felt they had no God. Since Moses spoke for God and God honored his words, Moses was their the way to God. Without him, they were as sheep without a shepherd, and they did not remain faithful to God's covenant with Abraham. Forgetting they were chosen people, they turned to the gods of the heathens around them. This spiritual adultery became their modus operandi throughout their recorded history in the Old Testament. Stephen referenced this by saying, "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him--you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it." (Acts 7:51-53)

The old covenant instructed the Jews how to please God, but it could not change their basic nature as lawbreakers. Hebrews proclaims the "good news": Through Jesus Christ, God established a new and better covenant with men by circumcising their hearts and making a way for the Holy Spirit to abide within believers. When we accept Jesus Christ's death as our death and his resurrection as our resurrection, the Holy Spirit transforms us, bringing us from darkness to light. We no longer need men to explain God or to tell us how to please him because as part of the godhead, the HOLY SPIRIT PLEASES THE FATHER GOD ALL OF THE TIME. Jesus said, the kingdom of God is within you. Because Christ is in God and we are in him, we abide in his righteousness and live forever in his kingdom. We do not go to the temple where a priest offers sacrifices as a mediator between us and God; we do not need holy men and the teachers of the Law to find or to know God or to understand his will for us. God himself resides in our hearts, providing a better covenant for all who believe in him. Outside of Christ, people could not fulfill their side of the covenant because they were natural lawbreakers with sin endemic to their souls. In the new covenant, God fulfills both sides of the agreement. The Man, Jesus, fulfilled man's side by completing or fulfilling the law, and God's part of the covenant remains the same: I will bless Abraham and his Seed forever. Under this new covenant through Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit empowers us to keep the law, for we are IN CHRIST, cleansed by his blood and acceptable to God. Christians now receive the promise of God--eternal blessing in his presence. Praise God forevermore for his unspeakable gift!