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.

Yesterday we looked at what the prophet Ezekiel shared in light of what Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-20:   “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.” Today we look at the text from Hebrews 8 through that same lens.   In today’s text it says:  If that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. 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; 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. “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. “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 writer says that the old covenant is obsolete and ready to disappear. Yet, Jesus says He did not come to abolish or do away with the old covenant and the law. He came to fulfill it. In initiating the new covenant in His blood, Jesus didn’t do away with the old covenant, He fulfilled it. The text says:  If that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them…   It was not God’s promise that was faulty. Nor was it the law, but rather the fault was with the people who failed to be obedient. It was the people who were at fault regarding the old covenant. Because they continued in sin, they could not attain the promise of the covenant. It was the failure and the fault of the people which necessitated a new covenant and made the old one obsolete.

Jesus was and is faultless. So the new covenant was based on Him, what He did, not what the people do. Through Christ, God says:  “I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.”   Look what else God says regarding this new covenant:  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.    God’s laws are not obsolete, or He would not put them into our minds. It is not the law which is disappearing. God says that in and under the new covenant, all will know the Lord. God is revealed in Christ. In John 14:9 Jesus says:  “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”   Here is the thing: just as with the old covenant the fault was not with God, His promise or the Law, but rather with people. So too, even the new covenant based on the faultless Christ, there is still be fault for those who reject Him. In John 15:18-24 Jesus says:  “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yetbecause you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.Remember the word that I said to you,‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.Butall these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin,but now they have no excuse for their sin.He who hates Me hates My Father also.If I had not done among themthe works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they haveseen and also hated both Me and My Father.”  

The promises of the old covenant are still valid in the new covenant. God has not changed. The consequences of rejecting God and His covenant have also not changed. Neither God nor the commandments of God are obsolete as some today would suggest. Jesus did not do away with the commandments or with the requirement of righteousness to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus fulfilled the commandments and He became our righteousness. The consequences of rejecting the terms of the new covenant are the same as they were for rejecting the old covenant. Jesus says:  “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.”  In Mark 16:15-16 Jesus says:  “Go into all the worldand preach the gospel to every creature.He who believes and is baptized will be saved;but he who does not believe will be condemned.”  The text says:  We have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens…  He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.    The better promise is not that God has changed. It is that righteousness is based on the faultless Christ for those who believe. The consequences for unbelief, rejection of God and rebellion against Him has not changed. For the one who rejects Christ as the fulfillment of the Law, the Law itself remains.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit; thank You for the new and better covenant; that You revealed Yourself to us in the faultless life of Christ and that through believing in Him and His perfect sacrifice and intercession for us, we can receive the promises of Your covenant. Thank You that You have forgiven and forgotten my every fault by the blood of the new covenant. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit may I know the law as You have put it in my mind and written it on my heart and may I always walk in Your promises and in Your righteousness. May my words and my actions also teach others of Your faultless way.    Amen.