A Better Covenant - Hebrews 8:3-7

Contrast of Priests & Their Offerings - 8:3 For every high priest is ordained - arciereuv...kayistata - Pres Pass Ind - appointed, set, placed, appointed to an office.

to offer gifts and sacrifices - prosferein dwra te kai yusiav - Pres Act Ind - appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices - the very heart of the priestly ministry.

Gifts: gifts offered in expression of honor, sacrifices and other gifts offered to God, of money cast into the treasury for the purposes of the temple and for the support of the poor.

"Wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer." - in the Old Testament the priest brought the lamb, but in the New Testament God offered the Lamb. That Jesus would have somewhat to offer is one of the greatest understatements of all time.

Contrast Between The Shadow & The Reality - 8:4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: - Hypothetical statement: if Christ were on earth He would not be a priest, because another Levitical priest was not needed.

8:5 "Who serve unto the example and shadow of the heavenly things" - Priests served as a real pattern of heavenly things as a sketch, copy, representation of the reality of all that is Christ. The model requires the existence of the real. Shadow: reflection of the real and has no existence or substance itself or independent existence.

The earthly Tabernacle added depth and perspective to the real heavenly sanctuary, whose Priest is eternal. **Christ is not a temporary refuge for the faint in heart, but a sympathetic and realistic High Priest.

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 shewed to thee in the mount. -

"The pattern, somewhat like the strokes pencilled out upon a piece of fine linen, which exhibit the figures of leaves and flowers, but have not yet received their splendid colors and curious shades. And shadow, or shadowy representation, which gives you some dim and imperfect idea of the body, but not the fine features, not the distinguishing air; none of those living graces which adorn the real person. Yet both the pattern and shadow lead our minds to something nobler than themselves: the pattern, to that holiness and glory which complete it; the shadow, to that which occasions it." Calvin

8:6 "But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry" - the writer steps out from the shadows into the substance. Christ is the Mediator of a covenant based upon an "unconditional promise!" The law (legal scaffolding) being torn down, and the foundations for a perfect priest have taken place.

Obtained - to hit the mark, reach, attain -

more excellent - idiaforwterav - surpassing , different than the other covenant.

Ministry - priestly office and duties which are far superior than any other priest who has ever existed.

by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, diayhkhv - one who intervenes between two, either in order to make or restore peace and friendship, or form a compact, or for ratifying a covenant. Heb 10:9-12

which was established upon better promises. - epaggeliaiv - firmly placed, grounded, set in stone as a result of the promises.

8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, - amemptov blameless, deserving no censure, free from fault or defect. If it had been: amwmov is faultless, without blemish, free from imperfections. It refers especially to character. amemptov is strictly unblamed, one with whom no fault is found. This of course refers particularly to the verdict of others upon one.

then should no place have been sought for the second. - The first covenant could not save, sanctify or clear the conscience of the sinner. Remember that it was not the purpose of the law to save, but to make men aware of their sinful condition and their need of grace, pointing men to their coming Messiah.

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Romans 10:4