Hebrews 8:13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
Predicting the death of almost anything is tricky. It can be the Hospice Doctor talking with a family, or a political commentator looking at a political movement, both are unpredictable at this task. One of the reasons this is so difficult to predict is that there are so many variables, so many unknowns. No wonder we sometimes struggle with life!
There is so much rewriting of history taking place these days. Here in the US, we have seen it with the taking down of statues and renaming places. It as if erasing the memory of the past will make the future better. Past and future are connected through the present, so the only way to really affect change is to do it in this moment.
The writer of our text today has been quoting a passage of Scripture from the Prophet Jeremiah, a prophet who spoke a message of harsh judgment on the nation of Israel over five hundred years before out writer. He predicted that there would come a new day, a day when the Law of the Old Testament would not be an external guide for behavior, but an internal moral and spiritual GPS. His laws would be written on their hearts and minds, rather than on stone or parchment.
This shift in where God’s Law would be written indicated a shift in the relationship with the LORD. It is this shift that is summarized in our text for today. The old way of doing things was dying. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead made all the difference.
But when this was written, Jerusalem was still in business. It had not been burned to the ground yet. The Jewish Temple was still standing and sacrifices were still being offered. But that would soon change.
The prophet Jeremiah predicted this change. He did this by calling this new arrangement between the Law and His people a new covenant. Since the law would be written internally, rather than externally, people could be scattered all over the world and still be in communion with the LORD. The Temple would no longer be the focal point of the LORD’s presence here on Earth.
Instead of an altar made of stone, the new altar was in the human heart. The relationship between God and man was being restored. Even sin itself would not be a barrier any longer. We have unfettered access to the LORD, just as it was in the Garden. We can walk with Him in the cool of the evening.
But the destruction of Jerusalem was on the horizon. It was coming. That would end the Jewish rites and rituals, since there was no Temple as the center. But Jesus superseded the Temple, since He was the place where God and Man came together in one.
I don’t know what the political future holds. But I do know one thing, regardless of what the political landscape turns into, I know that the LORD will still be faithful. The old way of doing things will change. That is inevitable. But the end of our journey remains the same. And the path along the way is stable.
The Arnold Journey 