Hebrews, chapter eight, “Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum: We have such an high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” He sits on the right hand of the Father. “A minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Eternal pitched and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore, it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on the earth, he should not be a priest seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law.” That is the Mosaic Covenant, the law called the Law of Moses which is really the Law of God, which in the Mosaic Covenant said, that sacrifices should be offered and that offering should be administered by the priests, descendants of Aaron. And Jesus Christ was not a descendant of Aaron but a descendant of Judah.

           
Verse five, “They serve unto the very shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle for see, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.” That is Mt. Sinai. “But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant,” of which Moses was mediator, “had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for another” or a “…second covenant.” For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come saith the Eternal, when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.”  {Jer 31:31-33}

           
Here Paul is quoting from Jeremiah, chapter 31, beginning in verse 31, “Behold, the days come, saith the Eternal, that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I may with their fathers in a day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Eternal: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Eternal, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Eternal: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

           
And how is it that every man shall know the Eternal? We find that in Joel 2:28, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the maidservants in those days will I pour out my spirit. I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.” And after that when the day of the Lord has come, verse 32, “…It shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Eternal shall be delivered.”

           
Back to Hebrews in verse 10, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Eternal; I will put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” And the law is written in the hearts and minds through the power of the Holy Spirit which is given to those who obey God. That's found in Acts 5. Those who turn away and repent from sin, who stops sinning and who asks for the application of the sacrifice of Christ and the intervention of the high priest of the Melchizedek Order, Jesus Christ will be reconciled to God, will have a relationship established with the Eternal King of the universe and then He will pour His Spirit out upon those people writing His laws in their hearts and in their minds.

           
This is the New Covenant which is simply that the law of God shall be written in the hearts and minds of people and they shall be empowered to obey Him. The only difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is that under the New Covenant, there is a real, genuine sacrifice for a sin, a real genuine relationship with the Father, and a real empowerment to overcome sin through the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

           
Verse 11, “And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Eternal: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.” This is talking about; in the kingdom of God at the end of this age ,when Christ returns with His saints. In the meantime, we who are called His first fruits have access to the Father if we repent and turn from sin and embrace God's commandments and God's ways. And the access to the Father is made by the mediation and the application of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

           
Verse 12, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A New Covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” The Old Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, including the priesthood of Aaron has vanished away; it ended with a death of one of the parties to that marriage covenant.

         
To recap there was a covenant with God, mediated by Moses: with a priesthood of Aaron and with Levites, sons of Levi. And that covenant ended with the death of one of the covenanters which was the husband, Jesus Christ. And that was prophesied long before by Jeremiah because that particular covenant could not save the people.

           
There were physical blessings and promises made under that Mosaic Covenant, but there was nothing spiritual involved. There was no real atonement for sin. The blood of goats and lambs and bullocks could not atone for sin. Therefore, it was necessary and it was planned from the very beginning that Jesus Christ, the very creator, would be sacrificed for the sins of mankind and that a New Covenant would be established superseding the Mosaic or Old Covenant. This New Covenant would have a different high priest and a different priesthood as well as the fact that God's laws would be written in the hearts and minds of men.

           
This new high priesthood and this new priesthood could completely, totally atone for the sins of men. And this new high priest atoning for the sins of men would be a much more effective mediator between man and God than the priesthood of Aaron. So it was essential and it was prophesied that a New Covenant would take place and would supersede the Mosaic Covenant and that this New Covenant would be a better covenant with better promises sealed by a better sacrifice.

           
Chapter nine, “Then truly the first covenant which also had ordinances of divine service, and an earthly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first wherein was the candlestick, or the lamp stand and the table and the bread of presence; which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle we just call the Most Holy; which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that butted, and the tables of the covenant; and over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat,” which represent to the throne of God, “of which we can now speak particularly.”

           
“But when these things were thus ordained the priest went always into the first tabernacle accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood which [he offer] for himself and for the errors of the people. The Holy Spirit thus signifying that the way into the most holy of all was not yet available, whereas the first tabernacle was still standing”. He is saying here that under the Mosaic Covenant: Only the High Priest could enter into the presence of God; and only once each year.  The people, did not have access to the inner sanctuary, did not have access to God, and did not have access to the Holy Place, the throne room of the Eternal God, King of the Universe. They just did not have access to Him. And later on, through the sacrifices of Jesus Christ, we do have access to the Father having our sins atoned for by a perfect sacrifice.

           
Verse nine, “Which was a figure for the time then present,” that is the tabernacle then with the holy sealed off was a figure for that time, “in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; which stood only in meat offerings and drink offerings and various washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.” These things could not atone for sin. They could only make people conscious of their sin and of the need for reconciliation with God and forgiveness.

           
Verse 11, “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,” that is the heavenly tabernacle, “not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;” And “neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood.” His perfect sacrifice, He entered once into the Holy Place having obtained eternal redemption for us. Jesus Christ living a perfect and sinless life and sacrifice was accepted by the Father for us. This is the meaning of the Wave Sheaf offering on the Wave Offering Day and there is an article on that.

           
Verse 13, “For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh (the physical body): How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,” how much more can that “purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” The blood of bulls, bullocks, goats, lambs could not atone for sin. It could only make people conscious of sin and of the need that sin be paid for and that men be reconciled with God. But the sacrifice of Christ purges our conscience from the guilt of sin, purges us from the guilt of sin, and if we repent of sin and accept that sacrifice and ask for its application, this fulfills the sacrificial law, as it was intended.

           
Goats, sheep, bullocks could not atone for sin. They were only representative of a future sacrifice, a better sacrifice which was to become and be the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the true Lamb of God. And with His sacrifice, we can be purged from sin and reconciled with the Father.

           
Verse 15, “And for this cause, He is the mediator of the New Covenant or the New Testament.” Jesus Christ is the being spoken of here. For this cause Jesus Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant that by means of death for the redemption of our transgressions that were under the first covenant. “They which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also be a necessity, the death of a testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator lives. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God hath enjoined to you.

           
Moreover, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood (there) is no remission.” That is to say when we sin, the penalty for sin is death.

         
The wages of sin is death and those wages must be paid. Rom 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Therefore, it was necessary that Christ had died for our sins and paid that penalty for us.

           
Otherwise, we would die and remain dead forever; having to pay for our own sins, because the blood of bulls and lambs cannot pay for our sin. Simply put, a man is of much more value than these things and the lamb cannot atone for the sin of a man. Only the atonement, the sacrifice of the very Creator God could atone for the sins of His creation.

           
“It was therefore necessary,” verse 23, “that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true.” That is, Jesus Christ did not enter into the earthly tabernacle but is entering into the heavenly tabernacle, not the physical but the heavenly, “but into the heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that He should offer himself often, as the high priest entered into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered” and died over and over and over again “since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

           
Paul is telling us that the earthly tabernacle and the temple were copies or representations of a heavenly temple and that the administrations of the priesthood of Aaron were simply shadows or copies of a spiritual heavenly administration, of a heavenly high priest who was to be Jesus Christ. And as the priest of Aaron offer sacrifices, Jesus Christ offered sacrifice, a better sacrifice, a more perfect sacrifice, a spiritual sacrifice in the sense that it could really and actually atone for sin, which the physical sacrifices could not do.    

         
Therefore, the physical being a mirror image of the spiritual, and the spiritual was the reality of which the physical was merely a mirror image; and the reality of the spiritual reality is much better than the physical. It was more holy, more complete, more effective. It was better in every way because it resulted in real forgiveness for sin, real reconciliation with the Father, and a real empowering of men to overcome sin, as the Father would then write His law in the hearts and minds of people through the power of His Holy Spirit.

           
Chapter 10 of Hebrews, “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not ceased to be offered?” He's saying the physical law, the law of the physical sacrifices could not make anyone perfect because if it could make people perfect, they would not need to be offered again and again “because if the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins each year.” When they made their sacrifices, it caused them to remember their sins and to remember the need for reconciliation with God.

           
Verse four, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but the body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo I come (in the volume of the book it was written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offerings for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; (of offering). Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.” That is Jesus Christ is saying, "I am coming to do your will."

           
And “He taketh away the first (covenant) that He may establish the second.” And He takes away the first priesthood that He may establish the second and better priesthood. “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Spirit also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

           
This is the covenant that I will make with him after those days, saith the Eternal, I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds, will I write them; and their sins and iniquities, will I remember no more. Now, where remission of these is, there is no more an offering for sin” No more sacrifice is needed because a perfect sacrifice has been made and the reconciliation has been completed. So we see, if the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was perfect and complete and does not need to be repeated, then He does not need to die over and over and over again. But we human beings are weak. We do slip from time to time, and we need to repent of that. And in so doing the sacrifice of Jesus Christ can then be reapplied to us. We can be reconciled to God and His Spirit given us once more and we can ask for that and ask for more power and more of that Spirit so that we can overcome sin. We are not to continue in sin and we are not to use the weaknesses of the flesh as an excuse to sin. We are not to rely upon the strength of the flesh which is nothing. We are to rely on the strength and power of God dwelling in us.

           
Verse 19, “Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the most holy place by the blood of Jesus,” we can then enter into the presence of the Father “by a new and living way which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;” his sacrifice, his death. “And (we have a high priest) over the (household) of God. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” We can enter into the presence of the Eternal God. We can pass through the veil and into His presence by and via the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, being applied to us causing our sins to be paid for, causing them to be remitted, and reconciling us with the Father.

·         Verse 23, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke one another to love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.” We should be encouraging one another: (helping one another, and exhorting one another more and more), as ye see the day approaching. “But if we sin willfully (deliberately) after that we have a  knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking forward of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: How much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot for the Son of God.”

           
There you have it, brethren. Accepting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is not license or permission to continue transgressing the commandments of God. “Sin is the transgression of the law”, 1 John 3:4 . When we repent of transgressing the law, we stop sinning. Christ's sacrifice can be applied. If we then go out and deliberately redo those sins, if we deliberately begin to sin once again, if we begin to deliberately sin once again, then the application of the sacrifice of Christ to us becomes null and void because we are now guilty of further law breaking. And if we do not repent of that, there is no sacrifice or no reconciliation with God because of the further law breaking. This further law breaking is still sin and it still comes between us and God. And if not repented of, it will separate us from God. Only through repentance, which means the stopping of breaking the commandments, can be reconciled to God can we have the sacrifice applied to us.

           
Verse 29 of chapter 10, “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing,  and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will repay, saith the Eternal. And again the Eternal shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, (after you began to understand,) ye endured a great fight of afflictions; Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock (or were given a bad reputation) both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so (badly) used.

           
For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your own goods, knowing yourselves that ye have in heaven better and an enduring substance. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not delay. Now, the just shall live by faith: but if any man (holds back or) draws back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition (or destruction); but of them that believe to this saving of their lives.”

           
Chapter 11, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not yet seen. For by it the elders obtained a good (reproach). Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear (that is we believe).” Faith means to believe and we believe that the worlds were made by God. 

           
Verse four, “By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” That is Abel is dead and yet he is spoken of to this day and he will be risen up in the resurrection. “By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith, it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God must believe that God is, and that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

·         By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith (by believing God). By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a certain place that he should after receive forth an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in (tents or) tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” He believed God and therefore he acted on what God told him to do. To believe God is one thing; to actually act on what he tells you to do and to obey him is quite something else.

           
You must believe before you can obey, but if you believe and you don’t take the second step and start obeying, there is no sacrifice for your sin and there is no reconciliation with God for you. As long as you continue to break the commandments you can believe all you want and it won't do you any good at all. You must believe and then you must take the second step and act on that belief and start doing what God tells you to do. Our reconciliation with God and our relationship with Him depends upon us keeping His commandments. And one of those commandments is to honor thy mother and thy mother.

           
In order to keep that commandment, we must be willing to do anything that God tells us to do. Was there any law that said Abraham had to move to a different land? Was there any law that told Noah: by law you have to build this ark? No, there wasn’t. The law was: you obey God. You do what He tells you to do and He told Abraham to leave that land and He told Noah to build that boat. We are to obey our Father in whatever He tells us to do. This concept of obedience goes far beyond just the commandments. Yes, we are to keep all of His commandments but we are also to love Him with all our hearts, to serve Him will all our strength and to try and please Him in every way; and that means doing whatever He says; always, always, always, at all times.

           
Verse 11, “Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful. (She believed him) who had made the promise. Therefore sprang there even of one, and with him as good as dead,” that is out of Abraham who was a very old man as “many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore enumerable. These all died in faith.”

Notice they all DIED: which means also that Enoch died. These all died in faith.

           
Enoch was translated that he should not see death;  in other words, he was moved from one place to another so that he would not be murdered or killed. But later on he died; for in verse 13 it says, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they have in mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.” And that is what dwelling in tabernacles or boats or tents or temporary structures at the Feast is all about. To teach us that this flesh is temporary and that we are seeking a better promised land; an eternal spiritual future.

           
It is to remind us that we are temporary sojourners and foreigners in this society and we must be seeking a better society and a better place, a promised land, which is found in the Kingdom of God. And not only us, but all peoples of all time; are really just temporary sojourners in this flesh; and we should all be looking forward to a better and more permanent place to dwell, a permanent spirit. But that is the gift of God for those who repent, who turn from sin, who are reconciled to Him and given His Spirit. They can then be given Eternal life in a new spiritual body at the resurrection when they are changed to spirit. However, right now we are living in this flesh, which is temporary, transitory, it will die. It will decay and we need to find a better way and that better way is offered by God through Jesus Christ.

           
Verse 16, “But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall I see be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.” That is figuratively speaking, he received Isaac back from the dead because he was about to kill him and God delivered Isaac.

           
“By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both sons of Joseph and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel: and gave commandment concerning his bones. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's command. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for his season; esteeming the reproach of Christ.”

           
Who? Moses esteemed who?  Paul showing here that he KNEW that Jesus Christ was the God who was an husband to Israel under the Mosaic Covenant declares: “He (Moses) esteemed the reproach of Jesus Christ to be greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. And by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the anger of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians attempting to do were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. By faith the harlot Rehab perished not within that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

           
And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell if Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the other prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions. Quenched the lions of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to fight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raise to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance: that they might obtain a better resurrection: And the others had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:

           
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with a sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” Notice something here: all of these people mentioned by Paul through faith did things. They didn’t say, "Oh, I've got faith. Praise the Lord," and sit it home and stare at four walls. They went out and did things.

           
They were valiant people, courageous people, strong people, and they were made strong by the power of their belief in God and the power of God's spirit which God gave to them because of their belief and their willingness to act on that belief, to keep all God's commandments, to put Him first and to act and do whatever He wanted them to do. They had faith. Abel believed God and acted on that belief. These people acted on their faith and they did what God wanted them to do. They kept His commandments and they did whatever He told them to do. Faith without works is dead. And we will be getting into that even more in the next couple of days.

James David Malm