Chapter VIII

Verses 1-2. “Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.”

When we consider that God is an unapproachable light, we understand that it is no small thing to come directly to the throne of the Majesty and to sit down at His right hand. The Son had endured the light, and walked in the light; indeed, He is the Light itself. He is given a priestly ministry in the sanctuary. This ministry is for our benefit. We must be found in the sanctuary, for it is there that the High Priest ministers. It is there that He chooses the things in us to be sacrificed. He deals with our self-will in a priestly way, and brings it to naught, and he plants God’s will in its place. It is God’s will that is our sanctification. The Advocate teaches us about God’s way through the veil, which is His flesh. This is the true tabernacle.

Our heavenly High Priest is seated at the right hand of the Majesty, waiting until God has placed all Christ’s enemies as a footstool for His feet.

That means that all the political movements of this world are in the process of being placed under the feet of Christ. He is the King who was chosen by God to rule over both Jews and Gentiles. That is why the angel Gabriel said to Mary: “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Luke 1:31-33.

Here we see Jesus Christ on the throne of David and seated as King over the house of Jacob. But God goes further in Psalm 2 and says, “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying . . . He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: ‘Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord has said to Me, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession . . . .’” Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.”

From this we see that from eternity, the Son, Jesus Christ, was chosen to be the King of the whole earth. All His enemies shall be brought as a footstool for His feet.

Verse 3. “For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. There fore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer.”

“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, ‘Behold I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart.’” Ps. 40:6-8.

God had opened Jesus’ ear. He heard God’s voice and was obedient to it. Thus animal sacrifices and meat offerings became superfluous, for these were offered because sin had been committed.

“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.” Jesus presented His body as a well-pleasing sacrifice to God, and we are exhorted to do the same. Rom. 12:1. To do this, God must open our ears, just as our heavenly High Priest, so that we can hear Him who speaks from heaven.

The sacrifices were in Jesus’ earthly body. That is why we too are reconciled in His earthly body through death, so that we can be holy and blameless, and above reproach in His sight. Col. 1:22.

This is how sin is condemned and put to death, so that we can live a victorious life. It is only this victorious life that possesses all the promises. Read in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 about having an ear to hear and about being victorious.

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.” Gen. 49:10.

He takes away the first—animal sacrifices and meat offerings—which the priests of the old covenant offered, and He establishes the second—God’s will. Heb. 10:8-9.

Verse 4. “For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law . . . .”

Although Jesus was on earth with His body after the days of John the Baptist, His mind and His thoughts were not on the earth. He was in the kingdom of heaven! For the kingdom of heaven has been preached since the days of John the Baptist, and wherever this kingdom is proclaimed, the body becomes a sacrifice. Even though He was here on earth with His body, He was still not on the earth. He was not an earthly priest, for He offered Himself in the power of an eternal Spirit. He did not offer sacrifices and meat offerings like the Levitical priests.

In our days, too, there are many priests on the earth. They are neither Levitical priests nor priests of God. Had they been Levitical priests, they would have offered animal sacrifices; and if they had been heavenly priests, they would have presented their bodies as acceptable sacrifices to God.

A school or university cannot make anyone a priest according to the will of God. When a person’s mind is bound to the earth, he is on the earth, even if he is a Doctor of Theology. Everyone should be able to understand this. Such a person is unlearned—he is a layman—when it comes to the Word of God. If he is not living the life himself, then his understanding about being a sacrificial priest on the new and living way is insufficient. To be a priest for people who live in darkness is easy, but to be a priest for God requires one’s life as a sacrifice.

Verses 6-7. “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.”

The old covenant was given because of the transgressions. It cleansed the body externally, for every sin that a man commits is outside the body. 1 Cor. 6:18. But they did not continue in the covenant that the Lord had made with them. Heb. 8:9.

Verse 10. But now after the death of Christ and His resurrection the Lord says: “‘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 in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’”

These laws, which are written in our heart and mind, come from the Holy Spirit who was poured out on all flesh after the resurrection of Christ. Acts 2:17. He convicts the world of sin because they do not believe. If we follow the Spirit’s leading, He will guide us into all the truth. He will show us everything in our inner being that has to be sacrificed. He will give us grace and power to be conformed to Christ in His death and in His resurrection. Christ has become the Mediator for this. This is the ministry of the better covenant.

Verse 11. “None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.”

It is very common today that people want someone to teach them about virtually everything, despite the fact that God said that is not necessary. This is because they lack an opened ear. He who has an ear hears what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To rectify this inability to hear, God has placed in the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers. But we have to say with Moses: “Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets.” Exercise your ability to hear, and you will see that it will go well with you. The law of the Spirit will set you free from the law of sin and death, and the requirements of the law will be fulfilled in you.