The Letter to the Hebrews
and the Better Covenant
The letter to the Ivrim (Hebrews) was written to those Yisraelites to come out of the Old Covenant into the better Covenant. For over one thousand years the temple in Yerusalem had been the YAHWEH ordained place of worship of YAHWEH. It was there that YAHWEH had made known YAHWEH’s NAME to all the nations, and it was through the rituals carried out in that tabernacle that YAHWEH was to be approached. Then came the time which had been prophesized about in YirmeYah (Jeremiah) 31:31-34 and Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 37:26 that the old system would be abandoned.
The Covenant given through Moshe had been shown to be old, fulfilled and rendered obsolete by the provision of a more honoured and long awaited New Covenant. YirmeYah 31:31-34 and Ivrim 8:7-13. The Old Covenant was given with much honour and was very precious, however it was never intended to be permanent, nor final. Much of the Old Covenant was designed to show true believers that the Covenant through Moshe could not be all that YAHWEH would provide, and it gave all true worshippers of YAHWEH a hunger for something even better. Now, in the MESSIYAH YAHSHUA, this better Covenant had come, and this is what the letter to the Ivrim is all about.
It is very difficult for us now to totally understand how shocking and heart wrenching this message actually was to the people who had worshipped all their lives at the temple in Yerusalem. We are now two thousand years past those days, and the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant is not easy for a believer today to totally understand. To really understand the letter to the Ivrim we will need to look at the time in which it was written. Try to comprehend what a total revelation it was and the struggle involved over the abandonment of what had for centuries been the very heart of the worship and religious expression of their ancestors. Try to put yourself in this position and see what heart pain and mind reluctance you would have to deal with in this complete change from what you had known. Now think about how you would feel when the Romans ended the physical exercise of the Old Covenant by destroying the Tabernacle, just as YAHSHUA had prophesized MattithYah (Matthew) 23:37-39
The whole letter to the Ivrim tells us that YAHSHUA is better. HE is better than the messengers (Ivrim 1:4). “For in view of the fact that the word spoken by the messengers was binding and every violation and disobedience received a just reward, how will we escape judgment if we ignore such a great deliverance? Which in the beginning was received by the spoken word of YAHSHUA (Ivrim 2:2-3) YAHSHUA possesses a better Ke hunnah (Priesthood), not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Malki-Tzedek, because YAHSHUA offers us a better hope than what was available to those who only knew the workings of the Aaronic ke hunnah (priesthood) (Ivrim 7:1-19). This better hope exist because YAHSHUA has cleansed us from all unrighteousness with HIS BLOOD, not in the earthly temple, but in the Heavenly Tabernacle, with a better offering (Ivrim 9:11-28). The tabernacle in Yerusalem was only a shadow of the Heavenly realities, now by YAHSHUA’S offering we have access into YAHWEH’s presence in the Heavens and the earthly tabernacle is not necessary. The offering of YAHSHUA’S body was accepted in the Heavenly Tabernacle by YAHWEH and now YAHSHUA appears on our behalf before the presence of YAHWEH.
YAHSHUA’S offering was better because it only needed to be offered once, it was final and fulfilled YAHWEH’s requirements. The letter to the Ivrim witnesses to this, that YAHSHUA came to put away law breaking (Sin) by the offering of HIMSELF (Ivrim 9:26). YAHSHUA offered HIMSELF once for ALL law breaking!
All who believe and trust in YAHSHUA’S offering now patiently wait for HIM to appear the second time, not to deal again with law breaking, but to bring completion of their deliverance to all who put their trust in HIM.
The very heart of the message to the Ivrim is that YAHSHUA has become THE Mediator of a Better Covenant based on better promises (Ivrim 8:6). The New Covenant IS better than the Old Covenant because it was made possible through shed blood of the MESSIYAH YAHSHUA (Luka 22:20, QorintYah Alef (1 Corinthians) 11:25). Shaul calls this not of the letter: the Old Covenant, but of the Spirit, the New Covenant, in fulfillment of YAHSHUA’S teaching in Yochanan 3:3-8. The letter to the Ivrim can be summed up like this; YAHWEH provided a better Covenant (7:22, 8:6) a better ke hunnah (priesthood) (7:7), a better offering (9:23), and for these reasons offers a better hope (8:6). It is time to accept that the Old Covenant has grown old, and is soon to disappear (Ivrim 8:7-13)!!
Unfortunately two wrong ways of looking at this truth have occurred, the first is when believers wrongly think that the Old Covenant must have been flawed or without honour. The Old Covenant was given by YAHWEH with great wisdom and honour, and was effective for the purpose which YAHWEH had intended it to be. Under the Old Covenant YAHWEH became the true KING of the nation of Yisrael. YAHWEH came to dwell in their midst, in the cloud and invited them all to worship their creator. But they were only allowed to approach YAHWEH’S presence in certain ways according to the terms YAHWEH had laid out for them. The Covenant included provisions for an animal of YAHWEH’S choice to die on behalf of the worshippers, who deserved to die according to YAHWEH’s Law. The Covenant made clear that the worshippers belief and trust in YAHWEH’S promise concerning the offering would be accounted to them as righteousness, and in this way atonement was made yearly. (Wayyiqra (Leviticus) 17:11). All of these things are full of YAHWEH’s honour, and were good Timtheous Alef (1 Timothy) 1:8-11 But the Old Covenant was set aside because it could NOT make a person righteous, it only covered their unrighteousness (Ivrim 7:18). It could not atone for he law breaking of a person permanently, but only covered the law breaking until the MESSIYAH YAHSHUA came. The Old Covenant was put into effect to teach mankind about their law breaking which comes from the fallen evil nature, and to teach people the hopelessness of their ability to do anything about it until the provision for this was provided for by YAHWEH. The Old Covenant was not set aside because it was wrong, or without honour, rather YAHWEH demanded that all who believed and trusted in it must now abandon it, because something better had now been provided by YAHWEH through YAHSHUA MESSIYAH.
The second wrong way of looking at this great truth is that the Law worked well for that time, but is now done away with in the New Covenant. This is not only wrong, but is a very dangerous teaching. YAHSHUA told us that if we loved HIM, that we would keep and do all of HIS Commandments (Yochanan 14:14). YAHSHUA taught us what each believer should be like in the Sermon on the Mount (MattithYah 5:7). When asked what Commandments we should keep YAHSHUA quoted the Ten Living Words (Ten Commandments) by summing up the first table in this way “You will love YAHWEH, your ABBA (FATHER) with all your heart, inner being, and understanding”, and the second half of the Commandments were summed up as, “you will love your neighbour as yourself” (MattithYah 22:37-39).. In the New Covenant, the Law is to be written on the heart of all true believers by the spirit of YAHWEH! (QorintYah Alef 3:3).
“Stop owing even one person even one thing, except to be loving one another, because the one who is loving another has fulfilled the Law. For you will not commit sexual law breaking, you will not kill, you will not steal, you will not covet and if there is any other Commandment it is summed up in you will love your neighbour as yourself. Love does no harm to its neighbour; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law (Romans 13:8-10). The Old Covenant began to grow old from the beginning; parts of it were powerful and constant reminders that something more was needed, that blood of animals could not fully or finally take away law breaking (Ivrim 10:4). A kohen (priest) had to give offerings on behalf of himself (Ivrim 5:3, 7:27) and the kohen all died, which showed that they were also law breakers (Ivrim 7:23). The kohen had access to the earthly tabernacle, which was only a shadow of heavenly things (Ivrim 8:5), and they could only enter the Most Set Apart place once a year (Ivrim 9:6-9). The most powerful witness however was that the last offering was never offered (Wayyiqra 16:20-22). All of these things were put into effect to make a true worshipper hungry for something more. The Old Covenant was supposed to teach the believer to look forward to the greater provision, which would be able to accomplish what the Old Covenant could only partially do; to look forward to something better! The letter to the Ivrim was written to first century believers who knew the Old Covenant taught; to get them to submit to YAHWEH’s command that they set aside the Old Covenant because YAHWEH now had provided something much better. YAHSHUA is the Mediator of the better Covenant, which is truly based on better promises (Ivrim 8:6).
It is important to all who believe and trust in YAHSHUA to study the greater promises of the New Covenant so we will see the honour and riches in our YAHSHUA the MESSIYAH!
YAHSHUA IS the mediator of a BETTER COVENANT!! PRAISE YAHWEH!!
By Brother Pat McCulloch
This Page Begun In Up Born Above SetApart Fruit Of Spirit