Hebrews 8:7-13

Hebrews 8:7-13 … Continuing with the presentation of the Gospel message in this letter to Hebrews, the writer will demonstrate the New Covenant’s surpassing message of salvation and do so by quoting extensively from the prophet Jeremiah, one of the very great prophets during the last days of the kingdom of Judah, 600 years before the birth of Christ. The principal message to get here is that the Old Covenant anticipates and creates the expectation of the New Covenant. Jeremiah 31:31-34 is the portion of the Old Testament that is quoted verbatim in Hebrews 8:8 to 8:12. The elements of the New Covenant are plainly stated for us in verses 10-12 … that God will put His laws in our hearts … that all will know Him … and that He will forgive transgressions and remember sins no more. There certainly is an inner sense of right and wrong in every man. God has given us that. There is also a sense in which God has imparted knowledge of Him in every heart. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says it this way: “He has also set eternity in the hearts of men.” Men may deny God, but the basic knowledge of God’s existence has been given to all.

The final provision of the New Covenant here is that God forgives and removes sin. God is just and holy and doesn’t do this arbitrarily … He acts on the basis of the sacrifice of Christ for us. The penalty for our sins has been paid. But even more than that, the sinless righteousness of Christ has been imputed (given) freely to all that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 8:13 is an important footnote to the New Covenant. It states unequivocally that the Old Covenant of temple sacrifices is no longer effective. This doesn’t mean that the books of the Old Testament in our Bibles aren’t important or that the Ten Commandments aren’t to be observed, it means that the Old Covenant is fulfilled and completed in Christ.