If that first covenant had been faultless...

Hebrews 8 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, ² a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. ³ For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. ⁴ Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; ⁵ who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See,” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.” ⁶ But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

⁷ For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. ⁸ For finding fault with them, He says,

“Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, When I will effect a new covenant
With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;
⁹ Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers
On the day when I took them by the hand To lead them out of the land of Egypt;
For they did not continue in My covenant, And I did not care for them, says the Lord.
¹⁰ “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds,
And I will write them on their hearts.  And I will be their God,
And they shall be My people. ¹¹ “And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
For all will know Me, From the least to the greatest of them.
¹² “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.”

¹³ When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.  

In today’s text it says:  He (Jesus) is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, He (God) says, “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, When I will effect a new covenant With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers On the day when I took them by the hand To lead them out of the land of Egypt; For they did not continue in My covenant...      It is important that we recognize that the fault in the first covenant, the covenant of the law, was not in the law, it was with “them.” The necessity of a new and better covenant was in the fact that the people did not continue in the covenant. Enacting the first covenant, the covenant of the law, in Deuteronomy 30:15-20, God says:  “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”       The problem with the first covenant was not with God’s commandments, it was not with God or His promises. The covenant established, set before the people, two options or choices, a blessing, life and prosperity; or a curse, death and adversity. The problem with the covenant was not with God, His commandments or His keeping His promises. The problem was with the choice of the people. They chose the curse through disobedience rather than the blessing through obedience. Just as a law today cannot change what people will do, it only establishes what is right; God’s law cannot change the hearts of people, it can only establish what is right. The speed limit sign cannot make the driver obey the law. Neither could God’s law make people obey. The choice remains up to the individual, a blessing or a curse.   

In the text it says:  “this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, And I will write them on their hearts.  And I will be their God, And they shall be My people.  “And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ For all will know Me, From the least to the greatest of them. “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.” When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.     The first covenant may truly have been made obsolete by the new and better covenant Jesus initiated through the cross. But in Matthew 5:17-20, Jesus Himself says:  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”    Jesus did not do away with the law because there was a problem with God’s commandments. He fulfilled the requirements of the law because there is a problem with the hearts of people. They are unable to choose obedience. Now rather than it being necessary to obey the law to receive the blessing, in John 3:16, Jesus says:  “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”    Under the new covenant, all that is necessary to receive the blessings of God is to believe in Christ. Still, the new covenant does not and cannot force compliance. Neither does the new covenant change the consequences of people’s choices. There is still set before us, life and death, the blessing and the curse. In John 3:17-21 Jesus says:   “God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”     The first covenant was made obsolete through the cross, not because God’s commandments were at fault, not because God could not or did not keep His promise, but because people chose poorly. They chose death rather than life and the curse rather than the blessing of God. There remains a choice, even under the new and better covenant, belief or unbelief, light or darkness, truth or a lie, evil or good, life or death.   So choose life in order that you may live. Believe so that:    “I will put My laws into their minds, And I will write them on their hearts.  And I will be their God, And they shall be My people…  I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.”

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit; I believe. I choose life. Amen.