Hebrews Study – Chapter 8
The Glory of the New Covenant Established by the Blood of Jesus

Verse 1: This is the essence of what we are saying:

In this chapter, the author summarizes everything previously stated, drawing from earlier chapters and Old Testament references, and provides further explanation.

Verse 1: We have a High Priest seated at the right hand of the glorious throne of God in heaven.

The author has already established in previous chapters that Christ is our mediator under the new covenant, appointed by God as a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. He performs His priestly ministry seated at the right hand of God’s glorious throne.

Verse 2: He serves in a sanctuary that is not made by human hands, that is, a true heavenly sanctuary established by God.

Christ, as the High Priest, does not serve in a human-made earthly tabernacle or temple but in a heavenly sanctuary, the true holy place established by God. The earthly temple was only a shadow of the heavenly reality.

Verse 3: Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, He must also have something to offer.

The primary ministry of any Old Testament priest was to offer sacrifices. Similarly, our High Priest, Christ, must offer a sacrifice in the heavenly holy place.

However, Jesus’ sacrifice far surpasses the Old Testament sacrifices. Unlike the Law, which involved the shedding of animal blood to cover sins, Christ offered His own blood in the heavenly sanctuary as a permanent atonement for sins, granting eternal redemption for humanity. The author will elaborate on the greatness of Christ’s sacrifice in Chapter 10.

Verse 4: He would not have been a priest if He were on earth.

Here, the author emphasizes an important truth: Christ did not serve as a High Priest on earth. The reasons and facts for this have been explained in previous chapters. This verse clearly rejects any argument that Jesus acted as a High Priest while on earth.

Verse 4 (continued): Those who offer gifts according to the Law are here.

The main reason Christ did not serve as a High Priest on earth was that the Old Covenant, the Law, and the Levitical priesthood continued unchanged until His death. As long as the Law remained, Levitical priests served on earth. Only after the old covenant and Levitical priesthood were removed could the new covenant and the Melchizedekian priesthood begin. Christ’s death removed the old covenant and established the new one by His blood.

Verse 5: They serve as a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. For when Moses was about to construct the tabernacle, God said: “See that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”

The Old Covenant and Levitical priesthood were only shadows and copies of the heavenly reality to come. Shadows remain relevant only until the reality appears. God showed Moses a pattern of the heavenly tabernacle on the mountain to guide its earthly construction.

Verse 6: But now Jesus has obtained a superior ministry, as He is the mediator of a better covenant, established on better promises.

The author emphasizes that the new covenant is superior. It surpasses the old covenant because it contains far greater promises. To understand the superiority of the new covenant, we must understand the promises of the old covenant, as seen in Deuteronomy 28:1–13, which speak mainly of material blessings such as land, crops, livestock, and prosperity.

However, these earthly promises were not the reason Christ needed to establish the new covenant by His blood. Sadly, many believers still pursue these material promises under the old, obsolete covenant, largely because preachers often present Christ through material blessings and prosperity. This misrepresentation is a spiritual deception.

Verse 6 (continued): Therefore, He has obtained a more excellent ministry as corresponds to the excellence of the covenant.

Another reason for the excellence of the new covenant is that Christ established it with His own blood, making His priestly ministry exceptionally glorious. Christ is the mediator of a superior covenant, and the promises of this covenant are of supreme worth, secured by God’s oath.

Verse 7: For if that first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second.

The old covenant was imperfect. It could not bring humanity into complete fellowship with God. Therefore, through His death, Jesus established a superior new covenant.

Verse 8: God finds fault with His people, saying: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.”

The deficiency was human sin, which animal blood could not remove. Therefore, God promised a new covenant through the prophets, one that would be fully accomplished by Christ’s blood. Christ’s eternal sacrifice solves sin once and for all, renews human hearts, and establishes complete fellowship with God, nullifying the obsolete covenant.

Verse 9: “Not like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt.”

The author stresses that this new covenant is not like the old one established by animal blood through Moses. The old covenant was temporary, based on physical promises, unable to remove sin, and incapable of bringing humans into full fellowship with God. The new covenant remedies all these deficiencies.

Verses 10–12: “I will put My laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No one shall teach his neighbor or brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me. I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more.”

These are the superior promises of the new covenant established by Christ’s blood: complete forgiveness of sins, a renewed heart, internalized divine law, permanent freedom from the power of sin, guided by the Spirit, dwelling in God’s rest, knowing God as Father, and worshiping Him in spirit and truth. Nothing of this was possible under the old covenant.

Verse 13: In calling this a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete. And what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

The old covenant, being weak and ineffective, has been replaced by the superior new covenant established by Christ’s blood. From that time onward, Jesus serves as our High Priest in the heavenly tabernacle, according to the order of Melchizedek, mediating a covenant secured on better promises.