Good morning and happy Tuesday. (Taco Tuesday) I’m glad today is today and not yesterday again…yesterday was a dentist day. For me, I’m not sure there’s anything more awkward and nerve wracking than going to the dentist. Regardless of what they’re doing, having somebody dig around in your mouth is just plain weird. Of course, I can never get that one scene in ‘The Marathon Man’ out of my head. It was a 1974 Dustin Hoffman spy thriller and the evil guys used an evil dentist to torture the good guy into talking. The dentist would drill on his teeth with no painkiller until he talked. Ouch. All I have to do is sit in the dentist office waiting room for 10 minutes and I’m ready to talk…ha!
Anyway, it all went great, I’ve got to have some minor stuff done over the next few weeks, but nothing major. After the visit yesterday though, I do better understand how dentists can drive Porsches and live in really big houses. What kind of world do we live in where routine maintenance on your teeth equals an entry level starter car?
But enough of the dentist, lets do what we do at the 5 minute challenge and that's look at God’s glorious Holy Word. Today we are in chapter 8 of Hebrews and it deals with the New Covenant being better than the Old Covenant. You can really think of the word “covenant” as being the same as the word “testament.” So you can see why the Bible is split into two sections called the Old Testament and the New Testament. One is the Old Covenant of God and the other the New Covenant of God. Let’s look at the two, their differences, and what Hebrews chapter 8 has to say about them.
“But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.” Heb 8:6-7
We see in these 2 verses, a few key points:
1) Christ’s ministry is much more excellent than the old
2) If the first covenant was without fault, there would be no need to look for a second.
Let’s Explore.
First, the old covenant. You’ve probably heard the old covenant by other names as well, “the Law”, “the “sacrificial system”, or “the Mosaic Law”. As you could probably guess the Mosaic law started with who? Yep, Moses. God called Moses through a burning bush in the desert to go to Egypt and get the Jews out of slavery to the Pharaoh. Moses recruited Aaron as his spokesman and through the 10 plagues on Egypt, led the Jews out of slavery. After God saved them by parting the Red Sea and destroying the army of Pharaoh, the Isrealites wandered in the desert for 40 years reacting to God. The people would grumble to Moses, Moses would cry out to God and then God would provide for His people. This happened with water, manna and then the law. God saw the need for man to have rules, so He called Moses up to the mount and gave him the 10 Commandments.
But the 10 commandments were impossible to keep. The law was never meant to save people or be kept perfectly, it was meant to point out our inability to keep it, and our tremendous need for a savior. You see, when you sinned against God in the days of Moses, YOU had to provide a sacrifice to God to atone or “pay” for your sins. So guess what? It was like an ant trail to the altar every day. People are sinners. That’s a guarantee. In fact, just last week somebody backed into our truck as it sat in the mall parking lot as Margie was working. No note, nothing. Now why would somebody do such a horrible thing as to tear up somebody’s car and then simply drive off? Do you think they had to stop and think for an hour to do bad or do you think the bad just came natural? It’s natural for us to do bad. That’s why it’s so dang hard to do the right thing, doing the right thing is not natural for us. We are born doing the wrong things; fighting, being selfish, arguing with others and defying our parents (and all authority.) Our parents do not teach us these things, we already know them right out the womb. In fact, it’s just the opposite, our parents spend the first 18 years of our lives doing their best to teach us to do right instead of the wrong that is born into us. Poor parents, what a tremendously difficult job!
Well, Moses was basically a big parent as He led the baby Israelites all over the desert listening to them grumble, complain, argue, fight and even get to the point of defying God by worshipping the idol of a golden cow. Poor parents and poor Moses. Well, it didn’t take long for God, Moses AND the people to see that the Law wasn’t going to work. Why? Was God’s Law no good? Absolutely not, God’s Law was perfect. The problem is not with laws, it’s with the heart of man. Our laws today are good, they hav good intentions. There’s just one HUGE problem with laws…Sinners cannot keep laws. Whether it was in 1592 BC with Moses or 2019 in the US, people cannot keep the laws.
Several years ago, I got a jury summons. But it was not the regular one to the criminal courts, it was to the traffic courts in Tarrant County. I had never been to this one before and they operate much differently. Because the case loads are so numerous, a jury will hear not just one case a day but as many as they can pack in. What I saw when I arrived was shocking. Almost one hundred people were all waiting to be tried. They had all broken traffic laws to some degree and were awaiting judgement. These were not simply speeding tickets but serious stuff, multiple DWI’s, no license, no insurance etc. I saw people with so many offenses they had to sign up for a payment plan to the city to pay the huge fines they had accumulated. I heard one guy that was paying $176 a month to the city for over a year! The point? No matter what they law is, someone will break it. HUmans cannot keep laws.
So, God sees that man cannot keep His law so in His limitless mercy, grace and compassion, He makes a new way. A New Covenant. A New Testament. He is no longer going to demand a sacrifice for sin but He is going to PROVIDE a perfect sacrifice once and for all. He is going to provide a spotless, sacrificial lamb that will cover the sins of His people forever. He will send this Lamb to be slaughtered on the altar, to be hung on a Cross. He will send His only Son, Jesus Christ.
The New covenant or new testament is just that. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) God made a way. God made a better way. Our verse today tells us that Christ’s ministry today is “much more excellent than the old.” We needn’t any longer offer constant sacrifices for our sins. After we call upon the Holy name of God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, we are saved from our sin forever. What a gift we have in Jesus.
I hope today gives you a better idea of the difference between the old covenant and the new. It’s very important to do so. To understand the difference is to understand what Jesus did for each and every one of us on the Cross over 2000 years ago. To understand the difference is to understand a God that loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die and be raised again for you and me. To understand is to know that we can be saved from our sins and enjoy eternity in Heaven in the presence of our Savior. When you think on these things, you can only come to one conclusion…Oh how God loves us!
I pray that today you are expressing your love for God as He has expressed it for you through Jesus. Love Him, praise Him, thank Him, adore Him, know Him. You can do this by worshipping Him, spending daily time studying His Word, serving Him through serving others, fellowshipping with other believers and through prayer and conversation with Him. We serve a God of proximity. A God of closeness, a God of nearness. He is always near, we just need to draw near to Him. Draw near to Him today and you will soon feel the warmth of His embrace.
“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8
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