The Book of Hebrews Chapter 8

The True Tabernacle in Heaven

As we enter into chapter 8 of the Epistle of Hebrews, we see Jesus as our High Priest seated at the right hand of God in heaven. In this, we come to recognize that the teachings of Jesus came out of the Old Covenant - the Torah (The writings of Moses in the Penteteuch - first five books of the Bible and the Tanakh - the writings of the prophets - the other books of the Old Testament. Jesus taught, as a Jew growing up under Judaism, the meaning of the Torah and the Tanakh - Who He is and what He has done for mankind.

The Jewish author of this book was re-iterating Jesus' message through an Old Covenant understanding as he was addressing Jewish believers in Jesus. As a Gentile Christian; however, all we have to do is read Romans 11, and it becomes very apparent that we, who believe, trust and follow Jesus have been grafted into God and His Kingdom through Christ. Therefore, a clear understanding of the Old and New Testaments are critical for all Christians to read and to follow.

Study Torah and Tanakh, and you will see Jesus. Study the life and teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, and you will see Torah and Tanakh (Old Testament) referenced on most pages.

Hebrews 8:1 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, ² a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.

So far, throughout this whole letter, the author/writer has been pointing out that as believers and followers of Jesus, we have a high priest in Jesus, who is above Moses, and comes after the order of Melchizedek. His place and position is seated at the right hand of God on His throne in heaven.

• This throne in heaven is a sanctuary in which God created and dwells. It was not made with human hands, but by God. That then tells us that the earthly tabernacle, as God gave it to Moses, was a replica of the heavenly tabernacle. It was a shadow and a copy of the one in heaven. 

God's sanctuary in heaven is a place of where Jesus, as our High Priest, ministers on behalf of His people.  To then to get a clearer understanding of what Jesus does for us in heaven as our High Priest, we need to read the Book of Exodus which details the construction of the tabernacle and duties of the priesthood, as God instructed Moses to build while on the mountain (Exodus 25:9). This, again, was a copy and shadow of the tabernacle in heaven. 

³ For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. 

The High Priest of the Levitical priesthood offered gifts and sacrifices, according to the Law of Moses. He served as a precursor to the redemptive work of Christ.

• As listed in the Book of Leviticus, the high priest offered burnt offerings of unblemished animals as a devotion to God.
• As a continued burnt offering, grain, consisting of fine flour, oil and frankincense were given. 
• As a peace offering, the high priest expressed thanksgiving and fellowship with God, which included the offering of fat and blood.
• As a sin offering, the high priest brought before the altar animals to sacrifice as a covering for unintentional sin. He would then sprinkle the blood before the veil of the sanctuary, symbolizing purification and forgiveness.
• Similar to the sin offerings, guilt offerings that addressed specific transgressions and required restitution were given by the high priest. This was meant to bring the offender reconciliation back with God.
• Then, once a year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest performed Yom Kipper. With much fanfare, the high priest entered behind the veil in the Holy of Holies to make atonement for himself, his household, and the entire nation of Israel. There he offered the blood on the mercy seat from a bull for his sins and the blood from a goat for the sins of the people. This symbolized the removal of sin and the restoration of the covenant relationship with God (1).
  
• This the high priest continued to do as he was the mediator between the people and God. 

In the same way, Jesus, as our High Priest, was also required to offer both gifts and sacrifices in the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle in heaven. Jesus' gifts and sacrifices, however, were far more superior to the gifts that were offered according to the Law of Moses. 

• Jesus did not bring animals to sacrifice as a covering for sin for He presented Himself "one time" as the One true sacrifice for the forgiveness and cleansing of our sins, securing our eternal redemption. As all the fanfare that heaven provides, there were flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder, and an earthquake with a great hailstorm in heaven. The heavens were opened and the Ark of the Covenant appears in the tabernacle in heaven.

There are those today who keep searching for the Ark of the Covenant
someplace here on earth. In Rev 11:19, God specifically tells us it is located in heaven.

• Jesus was able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for us (Heb 7:25). He pleads before our Father God on our behalf. As such, Jesus is the mediator between God and mankind (1 Tim 2:5)

⁴ For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; ⁵ who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” 

When Jesus dwelt upon the earth He could not be a high priest according to the Law.  For that was not according to God's plans. God set it up that the high priest upon the earth, according to the Levitical Law, had to come out of the tribe of Levi. God carefully instructed Moses when he was up on the mountain how the tabernacle and the priesthood should be set up. Jesus, however, came out of the Tribe of Judah and his priesthood was set up by God to be a heavenly priesthood.

⁶ But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. 

Jesus obtained a more superior ministry over the Levitical Law as He, being the Son of God, became our Mediator between God and man. As the Old Covenant points to Jesus, the New Covenant gives us Jesus. As the Son of God, Jesus became our High Priest - the One Who saves us, cleanses us from our sins, gives us eternal life with God, and is our High Priest forever. 

• In addition, to what the Old Testament believers had, Jesus gave us a part of Himself through the indwelling Holy Spirit, which was something the Old Covenant believers did not have.
• The indwelling Holy Spirit saves, comforts, heals, and empowers us to do what Jesus did while walking on this earth. In that we do have a better covenant with better promises.

A New Covenant

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

^{As is displayed by the picture above, there is a difference between the righteousness of law and the righteousness of Christ.}

1st Covenant - Old Covenant

Righteousness of Law

1. Blood of animals
2. Written on stone
3. A shadow of the new
4. Glorious
5. Had an end
6. Law of Moses
7. Law of Works
8. Law of sin and death
9. Many sacrifices
10. Powerless to save
11. Annual atonement
12. Earthly tabernacle
13. Ministry of death
14. Outer form
15. Ministry of condemnation

2nd Covenant - New Covenant

Righteousness of Christ

1. Blood of Christ
2. Written on hearts
3. Substance
4. More glorious
5. Has no end
6. Law of Messiah
7. Law of faith
8. Law of the Spirit of life
9. One sacrifice
10. Powerful to save
11. Eternal atonement
12. Heavenly tabernacle
13. Ministry of Life
14. Inner reality - Spirit
15. Ministry of Reconciliation

⁸ Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 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 did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. ¹⁰ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 

While God's covenant with His people was righteous and pure, His people were not. They did not continue to fulfill God's covenant that God made with them. Quoting Jeremiah the prophet,  the author here writes that a day is coming when God will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah, but it would not be like the one given to to His people when they left Egypt.

• It isn't that the New Covenant replaced the Old Covenant, we can't forget the Old Covenant was pure and righteous. It was the people who could not keep the Law. They did not have the power within themselves to keep the Law.
• Jesus told us that He did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it (Matt 5:17-18). The New Covenant, then became the fulfillment - not the replacement of the Old Covenant. Instead of the Law being written on stone, God's Laws would be written on the hearts of the people - through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit Who would give them the power to be faithful to keep the Law. 

This covenant, as powerful it is, is a covenant that will last forever.  In the same way that God told Moses that He would be their God, the people would be His people, God is now saying in this New Covenant God is still their God and His people still belong to Him. That was important for the people to know that God is their God though the New Covenant just as He was under the Old Covenant.

¹¹ None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. ¹² For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

God has always expected His people to know God. Now, under the New Covenant, when one comes to accept Jesus as the True Messiah, Jesus' Spirit dwells within their hearts to teach and reveal Himself to the hearts of the people - from the least to the greatest of them.  

• The Holy Spirit convicts His people of sin, and in God's mercy, He forgives His people of their sins. Once He forgives, He then forgets. They are never remembered again.

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 time had come. It had been almost 40 years since Jesus became the sacrifice for sin,  yet the people still clung to the Levitical Law, refusing what Jesus had done for them. Therefore, in the process of time and on the verge of vanishing altogether, this was like a last-minute plea to the people that the Levitical Law was no longer necessary, because Jesus, through His shed blood, became the one eternal sacrifice for their sins. Jesus, just as He had promised, had fufilled the Law.

"Set aside the Mosaic Covenant," the author is pleading, "for Jesus has come to set you free from the Law." It was almost like a warning that the Mosaic sysyem of Law was about to be destroyed, so it is time to let go of the Levitical sysyem of sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins. Little did anyone know that shortly thereafter - on August 1, 70 A.D. - the Romans invaded Jerusalem, destroying the temple, the priesthood, and killed thousands - maybe even up to close to a million people. Because they refused to accept Jesus as the Messiah of the New fulfilled Covenant, God allowed the Levitical system at the temple to be completely destroyed.

While these words were given to Jewish believers in the 1st century who were still hanging onto the Old Law and its practices, these same promise are given to us as believers in Jesus, whether we are Jewish or Gentile believers in Christ. In that we can be grateful for all that Jesus has done for us.

(1) Topical Bible: The High Priest: Duties of Offering Gifts and Sacrifices