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Thursday, May 10, 2018

Hebrews 8:13: The Old Passed Away

Hebrews 8:13  In that He says, "A NEW COVENANT," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

The above verse has been a source of controversy among some theologians and many Christians that I know.  It is funny how something so small, yet so significant, can cause many heated debates.  This morning, I want to look at the above verse from the standpoint of scripture.  We looked yesterday and saw that again the writer of Hebrews said the Law given to Moses was ineffectual for redemption of sins and that Jesus was the final sacrifice as He was called the Lamb of God, for every person.  The writer in Hebrews says the first covenant was made obsolete with the establishment of the New Covenant.  The word obsolete in the original Greek means: to make worn out, declare obsolete, decay, make old.  I believe that pretty well established that the Law was old and of no use anymore with the coming of the New Covenant.  

The controversy comes in because of Matthew 5:17 and 18.


Matthew 5:17-18  "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.  (18)  For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

Jesus Himself said He did not come to this Earth to destroy the law that was given to Moses, or the words of the Prophets, which were from God.  He came to fulfill what the Law was intended to do for the people.  Fulfill in the original Greek here means:  to satisfy, to finish, to complete, to perfect.  And perhaps my favorite definition of the word: to level up. 

I have two gamer sons.  They love their video games.  My husband and I have an online game we will like to play with people all over the world.  In game speak, when a character in the game is "leveled up" the character is stronger, has better benefits than the level before, if it is a fighting game, then it has access to better, stronger, more powerful weapons, and the character does not go back to the level prior or a weaker state.  

So, in considering Jesus' fulfillment of the law, He completed the requirements of the old covenant as the final sacrifice for all of us.  He satisfied the requirement for punishment of sins (the wages of sin is death...Romans 6:23).  There is no more need for sacrifice for sins because He was the final Lamb of sacrifice.  Now, under the New Covenant, we are to be living sacrifices to Him (Romans 12:1). 

Before Jesus breathed His final breath, He said this:


John 19:30  So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

Jesus was declaring that He had completed the requirement of the Old Covenant, and He gave up His spirit.  Finished in the original Greek means:  to complete, conclude, discharge a debt, finish, pay and make an end.  He finished the requirements of the Law.  With the completion of the Old Covenant, there is a New Covenant, just as God promised earlier in the chapter.  He is our God and we are His people.  He will write His law on our hearts. 

 Revelation 21:5  Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."

He makes all things new.  Why not establish a new covenant with His people?  New here means "new in freshness."  

Isaiah 43:19  Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.

Don't stay bound up in the Old Covenant, thereby making Jesus' sacrifice for you ineffectual.  Look to the New thing God is doing in you and with you.  Do you recognize it?

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 above, "new" means "fresh and new" just as it does in Revelation 21:5.  We are new creations when we accept Him.  The old is gone.  To use my gaming analogy, isn't it better to be "leveled up" in Christ with access to all He has and all He is than to stay bound in sin and under the law?  In Him, we have access to new and better weapons to fight our enemies than we had in our sinful nature.  In fact, our weapons are Mighty in God to the pulling down of strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4).  Beyond that, with His death, He disarmed the principalities and powers (Colossians 2:15). 

If Jesus completed the law, then something new had to start...because the old was finished and there was nothing else to do with it, right?  One of the reasons we are baptized in water is so that we have an outward expression of what has happened to us spiritually.  Our Old Man has died, and we are raised out of the water a New Man, just as Jesus has done with us and made us New Creations!  As a new creation, He also removed our heart of stone and gave us a heart of flesh.  

Ezekiel 36:26-27  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  (27)  I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

Can we have a better promise under the New Covenant established by a Merficul Father through the sacrifice of His Only Son than to be made new with a new heart, new spirit?  The completion of the Old Covenant brings forward the opportunity for a personal relationship with our God the people did not have under the Old Covenant.  NO more does the priest have to go in the presence of the Lord on our behalf.  We can enter His presence! We have the same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead living within us...and all that He has He will give to us.  Those are just a few of the benefits of a New Covenant. 

So, today, give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His mercies endure forever!  

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