Introductory remarks:
Paul begins this chapter assuring us that grace is far superior to the law with all its ordinances and sacrifices. "The tabernacle and priests on earth are just models of the true tabernacle and Christ, our High Priest in heaven. He serves in a better way with better promises and replaces the old system, which had flaws. He foretold this when He would write His laws on their hearts and no one would need to be taught about Him because they all would know Him and He would forgive their sins" (A Survey of Hebrews - By Brenda). This chapter may be outlined as follows: The High Priest of a new and better covenant vv. 1-13.
The High Priest of a New and Better Covenant
Verse 1, "Now of 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."
LGT "Now of a summary of things being spoken [is]: We have such a High Priest, who sat down on the right hand of [the] throne of the Greatness in the heavens."
Now of a summary of things being spoken is: Paul is summarizing the things, which are now under discussion. Paul is now going to bring out the chief points of Christ's superior Priesthood. We have such a High Priest: this of course is Christ Jesus. Who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the greatness of heaven: the reason Christ took His rightful place at God's right hand is because His work on Calvary is finished, and now He remains our everlasting intercessor. Our redemption is complete in Him, and we are also seated with Him in the heavenlies.
Verse 2, "A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man."
LGT "Minister of the Holies and of the tabernacle, the true one, which the Lord pitched, not man."
Minister of the Holies and of the tabernacle, the true one: Christ sat down at the right hand of the Father occupying the true Holy Place in heaven, of which the tabernacle in the wilderness was but a type. Which the Lord pitched, not man: the tabernacle in the wilderness was man-made serving as a type of the presence of God; the earthly tabernacle had a holy place and the holy of holies, which was behind the veil representing God's personal presence, open once a year to the high priest to offer the blood on behalf of man sins; the holy place in heaven is now open to all the family of God at any time, especially for the family to exercise their privilege of confessing sin in order to have an unbroken fellowship with the Father.
Verse 3, "For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer."
LGT "For every high priest for to offer both gifts and sacrifices is established: whence [it is] necessary [for] this One [Christ our High Priest] to have something also which He may offer."
The earthly high priest was prescribed by the law to offer sacrifices to God, in order that God would be propitiated. Christ, our High Priest in heaven is our sacrifice, and He has propitiated God; God is completely satisfied with Christ as our eternal intercessor. What Christ offered was Himself.
Verse 4, "For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law."
LGT "For if indeed He were on earth, He would not even be a priest, there being those who offer the gifts according to the law."
If Christ were at that time on earth he could not be a priest for two reasons I know of: (1.) he was not of the tribe of Levi, and (2.) He could not offer a sacrifice for His own sins, for He had none, and the priestly office were already filled. Christ had nothing in common with the earthly priests prescribed by the law. When this epistle was written the Temple was still in place, and the priests were still performing their priestly duties. This proves that Christ's High Priestly function must be done from the heavenlies.
Verse 5, "Who serve unto the example, and 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 thee in the mount."
LGT "Who [the] representation and shadow serve of the heavenlies, according as Moses was divinely instructed, being about to construct the tabernacle: for See, says He, make all things according to the pattern shown thee on the mountain."
The entire Levitical system was but a shadow of the heavenly tabernacle where Christ and the Father dwell. The purpose of Paul writing this epistle is to get the Christians to stop worshipping the shadow and start worshipping the reality of the finished work of their Redemption, and fellowship with the Father and His Son. McGee has four good paragraphs depicting the tabernacle and what it represented in types:
"The tabernacle in its beautiful simplicity furnishes a type of Jesus Christ (which is almost lost in the complicated detail of the temple). The tabernacle was called a tent, the sides of which were upright boards, covered on both sides with gold. It measured thirty cubits long and ten cubits wide and was divided into two compartments. The first compartment was called the Holy Place. In it were three articles of furniture: the golden lamp stand; the golden table of showbread; and the golden altar where incense was offered - no sacrifice other than incense. The lamp stand was a type of Christ, the Light of the World. The table of showbread symbolized Him as the Bread of Life. The golden altar at which the high priest offered prayer, spoke of Christ, our Great Intercessor. Then on the great Day of Atonement the high priest passed through the separating veil to the inner compartment, the Holy of Holies, in which were two articles of furniture. (1) The ark of the covenant was a box made of wood, covered with gold in side and outside, in which the Ten Commandments written on tables of stone, a pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded. The Ten Commandments speak of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Law, and He is the only one who ever kept it in all of its detail. Then the pot of manna speaks of the fact that He is the Bread of Life even today. Aaron's rod that budded speaks of Christ's resurrection. (2) The Ark of the Covenant was covered with a highly ornamented top called the mercy seat. Crowning it were two cherubim of beaten gold. Once a year the high priest placed the blood on the mercy seat, and that is what made it a mercy seat. That was God's dwelling place; that is, the place where God met with the children of Israel.
Around the tabernacle was a court, surrounded by a linen fence one hundred cubits [a cubit is about sixteen inches] long and fifty cubits wide. In that outer court were two articles of furniture. The first was the brazen altar where sacrifices were made. The sin question was settled there, but since saints still sin, there was also a laver where the priests could wash, signifying the cleansing from sin.
Now the Holy Place is where the priests served and where they worshipped. We worship God when we pray, feed upon His Word, and walk in the light of His presence, that is, in obedience to Him.
No one but the high priest (and only once a year) entered into the next compartment, the Holy of Holies. But when the Lord Jesus died, the separating veil was rent in twain - torn in two - signifying that He had forever opened the way into the Holy of Holies and the presence of God. We might say that the Lord Jesus Christ took the tabernacle, which was horizontal, and made it perpendicular to the earth so that the Holy of Holies is now in heaven - because that is where He is. And we are going to find in the following chapter that the golden altar of incense, together with the Ark of the Covenant are now in heaven, they are there because Christ Himself is there."
Verse 6, "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."
LGT "But now a more excellent ministry He has obtained, by so much as also of a better covenant He is mediator, which upon better promises has been established."
But now: now that He cannot hold the earthly office of priesthood. A more excellent ministry He has obtained: the sanctuary and all its furniture represented this better ministry of grace that Christ made possible between God and believing man. By so much as also of a better covenant He is Mediator: Christ is our Representative to our heavenly Father. Which upon better promises has been established: Under the Old covenant the people of God were under the law, which only pointed to Christ. Now that He has come and established His sanctuary in the heavenlies, He has established a New Covenant, which is the covenant of grace, which is the Law of Liberty. We believers in this age of grace no longer have to go to an earthly priest, but we have free access into God's presence through Jesus Christ our Lord. "The promises in the first covenant [under the Law] pertained mainly to the present life. They were promises of length of days; of increase of numbers; of seedtime and harvest; of national privileges, and of extraordinary peace, abundance, and prosperity. That there was also the promise of eternal life, it would be wrong to doubt; but this was not the main thing. In the new covenant, however, the promise of spiritual blessings becomes the principal thing. The mind is directed to heaven; the heart is cheered with the hopes of immortal life; the favor of God and the anticipation of heaven are secured in the most ample and solemn manner" (Barnes).
Verse 7, "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second."
LGT "For if that first [one] were faultless, for a second would nought be sought."
The Law was righteous and good; the fault did not lie in the Law but in the people to keep the Law. The fault in the Law was that it was incapable of bringing the people into a lasting relationship with God. Grace accomplished what the Law could not. The Law was not permanent but was given simply to show the children of Israel they needed a better covenant, that is, the covenant of grace, and that Christ accomplished their full pardon on the cross, and that by simply believing on Him they would have life eternal, and eternal fellowship with their heavenly Father.
Verse 8, "For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah."
LGT "For finding fault, to them He says, behold days are coming, says the Lord, and I will ratify a new covenant as regards the house of Israel, and as regards the house of Judah."
Paul quotes Jeremiah 31:31-34. Paul says that the O.T. prophet promised this new covenant that would replace the old covenant. Grace is far superior to the Law. The fault with the old covenant is that it was incomplete in that it looked forward to the future; the superiority of the covenant of grace is that it is complete in the finished work of Christ on the cross.
Verse 9, "Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord."
LGT "Not according to the covenant, which I made with their fathers, in [the] day of My taking hold of their hand to lead them out of [the] land of Egypt, because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, saith [the] Lord:"
The Lord led the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage under the leadership of Moses. He personally led them with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. They wandered forty years in the wilderness because they did not keep God's covenant, and that generation did not enter the Promised Land. The covenant became null and void the moment they broke it.
Verse 10, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them on their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people."
LGT "Because this [is] the covenant I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days, says [the] Lord: giving My laws into their minds, and upon their hearts I will inscribe them, and I will be unto them a God, and they shall be unto Me a people."
This is entirely yet future. This will come to pass in the last half of the Seven Year Tribulation period when Israel turns back to God. Today they are scattered to the four corners of the earth, but then, just before the Thousand-Year Reign of Christ, they will be converted.
Verse 11, "And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest."
LGT "And not at all shall they teach each his fellow citizen, and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord, because all shall know Me, from the least [one] of them, to [the] great [one] of them."
Everyone will understand the gospel of grace, so they won't need the elders, priests, and scribes to explain it to them. "This could not be said of the old dispensation, for (1.) Their religion consisted much in outward observances. (2.) It was not to such an extent as the new system a dispensation of the Holy Spirit. (3.) There were not as many means as now for learning the true character of God. (4.) The fullest revelations had not been made to them of that character. That was reserved for the coming of the Savior, and under Him it was intended that there should be communicated the full knowledge of the character of God" (Barnes).
Verse 12, "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."
LGT "Because merciful I will be to their unrighteousnesses, and their sins by no means will I remember more."
Through Christ's death on the cross they will have full remission of all their sins, that is, when the Jews finally accept Christ as their true Messiah and Savior.
Verse 13, "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."
LGT "In the New saying, He has made the old the first: but that which grows old and aged [is] near disappearing."
The covenant of grace made the old covenant under the law obsolete. "When God announced a new covenant He proclaimed the insufficiency of the old, and the promise of a new covenant carried with it the promise of the abrogation of the old. The new covenant is so shaped as to avoid the defects of the old one, and some one has remarked that, in one aspect it is criticism of the Sinaitic covenant. The following are its provisions: (1.) The law will no more be merely external, but a law written in the heart. Comp. 2 Cor. 3:3. (2.) The people will be on intimate and affectionate terms with God, so that the knowledge of God will be general. (3.) Sin will be dealt with more radically and effectively" (Vincent). It is a shame how so many people want to go back under the Law because they can't trust grace. They feel as though they must add something to their salvation, or that they must do something for God to make Him happy. The truth of the matter is, is that our wonderful Savior has already done all the work, and all He desires for us is that we respond to His wonderful Word and adjusts our lives to grace doctrine.
Paul continues this wonderful theme of grace in the next chapter.
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