Hebrews 8:1-13.  Wow 5 posts in the last month.  The dictionary defines ludicrous as “so foolish, unreasonable, or out of place as to be amusing; ridiculous.”  I’m tempted to say the last month of my life has been ludicrous but there is nothing funny about not meeting with God each day.  It’s not that I haven’t had any contact with God over the last month beyond the five posts, I have.  IN fact I have been praying a lot, and letting him know that I miss this time together.  I also have been listening to sermons on the radio whenever I am driving around for work.  Part of the definition of ludicrous is ridiculous.  I keep track of the time I spend working each day and the last five weeks have gone like this:  58.75 hours, 60.75 hours, 69.25 hours, 85.5 hours, and 83.75 hours.  That’s 358 hours in five weeks or more thatn 71 hours per week.  And the work is physical, hanging and finishing drywall, roofing, finish carpentry, though there is some paperwork and driving around.  So if it hasn’t been ludicrous it might seem a little ridiculous.  It doesn’t leave much time for meals, showers and studying my Bible. (Remember on top of the work I do FNA and Sunday Scripture Exploration too).  I could just read and type a quick post but this is god’s word and I need to be careful not to misrepresent God.  I hope that this post begins a new string of consistent days with God and with you.

Remember that this letter (Hebrews) was written to a group of Jewish believers in Jesus.  This group probably contained several displaced priests who had lost their jobs when they started to believe that Jesus was the promised coming Jewish leader.  We also want to keep in mind that this letter was probably written during the time of a war between the Jews and the Roman authorities.  There would have been a lot of pressure on anyone who was a Jew to come back and be united with his relatives in all respects.  In the last couple of readings we have seen the author making a case for Jesus being a “High Priest” (“High” meaning the leading priest) but the argument has gone that Jesus is not just “a” High Priest but that he is the ultimate High Priest.  He is a High Priest by special appointment by God not just because he was born into a certain family (which he was not).  This would have carried a lot of weight for all Jews and even more for Jews who had been priests.

In today’s reading the author moves from who to what or why.  We learned at the end of our previous reading that under the Law of Moses a High Priest had to make regular sacrifices both for themselves and for the people.  Jesus on the other hand as a perfect and permanent High Priest offered a once for all sacrifice that dealt with the penalty of sin.  Peter wrote that Jesus died “once for all the just for the unjust in order that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18) and John wrote that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2).  IN today’s reading we see that Jesus’ offering is a done deal when we see that he is sitting on a throne at God’s right hand.  High Priests had to stand to make their offerings but Jeus is here sitting, his work of offering is done.

We also see a contrast made between the place where the High Priest’s on earth offered the sacrifice and the place where Jesus operates.  In verse 5 the author tells us that the tabernacle was just a shadow or hint of the true reality in Heaven (The tabernacle was the original place where the Jewish people made offerings to God.  It was a sort of portable church that eventually was replaced by the permanent Temple in Jeursalem).  The tabernacle was the place where they were reminded daily of the “contract” between them and God (a covenant is a contract or promise).  According to verse 7 the original contract was “faulty”.  It wasn’t entirely faulty because it had the purpose of helping the people see that they could not live up to God’s standards.  The fact that it could not ultimately deal with our sins (disobedience and rebellions against God) was the way in which it didn’t measure up.  Verses 8-11 are a quote of Jeremiah 31:31-34.  In those verses Jeremiah reminds the Jewish people that God will keep his promises to them, but it is going to be down the road a bit.  In those verses in Jeremiah he uses the term “new covenant”.  This is important.  The Jewish believers reading the letter to the Hebrews needed to see that their fath in Jeus was not a big break from their old faith.  The were not abandoning the God of their fathers but were honoring him by following the new and better promise that Jeremiah had predicted.  While the old contract lead to a knowledge of failure through it’s teachings the new one would have the effect of helping us fail less often and of dealing with the times when we do.  Notice verses 10-11.  The law would not be some set of rules in a book plaguing us as we fail they would become a part of us as we live them out for Jesus our savior, priest, and king.  No one will need to teach us because we will know God personally.  That really is a great new deal, much better that the old one which left us guilty and on the out side with God.

God thank you for the better priest.  Thank you for his sacrifice.  Thank you that his work is done.  Thank you for the new deal.  Thank you for a way back to you.  Thank you for your mercy.  Help me live each day for you.