CHAPTER 8
Having seen in the preceding chapter the substitution of the priesthood of Christ for that of Aaron, we get in this chapter the position of the new priesthood and the change in the covenants which it involves.
Verses 1-5. The Priest of the new priesthood does not exercise His office on earth. He is in heaven at the right hand of Majesty, a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. Here the Holy Ghost points out to us that the administration of heavenly things by the hands of Jesus is the principal subject of the teachings of this epistle.
Verse 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. Therefore, at the very time when the heavenly priesthood was being unfolded to the Hebrews, there existed on earth another priesthood, which though no longer recognised, was yet in operation. This was a time of transition between the two dispensations. We gather from this that the Epistle to the Hebrews was written before the fall of Jerusalem. For what object? First, to shew the Hebrews their heavenly privileges; but also to bid them go forth without the camp. When the link of Christians with the world is morally broken, final separation is easier, whether the path is trod quietly in obedience to the word “come out,” or if it is a question of acting when events compel us to do so.
[p. 21] Verses 6-13. The priesthood of Christ brings in also a new covenant more excellent than the first, and grounded upon better promises. When God gave the first covenant, He also gave a priesthood which was the key-stone of the whole economy. This being changed, there is consequently a change of covenant; the first falls with its obsolete priesthood, and the second takes its place.
Verses 8-12. God had declared by His prophets that the day would come when He should bring in a new covenant different from the first.
Verse 13. However, touching the old covenant, the Hebrews are treated with consideration in this epistle; for the only conclusion expressed is that the promise of a new covenant makes the first one old and ready to vanish away. Yet the cross had actually abolished it, the blood of Jesus being the blood of the new covenant.