The new covenant.
Here we have another of the broad contrasts which everywhere meet us in this treatise. In those Epistles which are undoubtedly Paul's, the process of reasoning resembles the movement of a file of soldiers; but in this to the Hebrews, the movement resembles rather that of soldiers in rank. The writer introduces his contrast between the covenants with the remark (Hebrews 8:6) that our Lord's heavenly ministry as greatly excels that of Aaron as the new covenant which he administers is superior to the old.
I. THE OLD COVENANT WAS IMPERFECT. "That first covenant" (Hebrews 8:7) does not refer to the covenant of works, which was made with Adam in Eden; but to the Mosaic dispensation of the economy of grace. This covenant had been solemnly inaugurated and accepted by the Jews at the foot of Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:4-8); and it had been repeatedly renewed in later times (Joshua 24:24, Joshua 24:25; 2 Chronicles 15:12; 2 Kings 11:17; 2 Chronicles 29:1-36; Nehemiah 9:1-38., 10). It was not "faultless;" that is, it was imperfect as a dispensation of grace. The Mosaic institutions were only preparatory to those of gospel times. They were legal rather than evangelical, and sensuous rather than spiritual. They were suited to the nonage of the Church; and "Israel was a child" when God "took him by the hand to lead him forth out of the land of Egypt" (Hebrews 8:9; Hosea 11:1-4). So Judaism taught spiritual truth only in faint outline. Its method was that of spectacular representation. The Law was "our tutor to bring us unto Christ" (Galatians 3:24).
II. A PROPHECY OF THE NEW COVENANT. In order to prove from the Jewish Scriptures the imperfection of the "first" covenant, and to describe the "better promises" of the "new" and final covenant, the writer quotes a most striking passage from the Book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34). This oracle was given when the Jews of Judah were on the brink of the Babylonish captivity, to comfort their desolate hearts with the cheering hope of Messianic times. The chosen people had not "continued" in God's covenant; and, because they had broken it, he had "regarded them not" (verse 9), but allowed first Israel, and afterwards Judah, to be carried into exile. But Jeremiah is commissioned to announce that, notwithstanding all, God in his wonderful mercy "will make a new covenant" (verse 8), with the whole Hebrew nation. The twelve tribes shall again become one rod in his hand. And all Gentiles, who by faith belong to the true Israel, shall share the blessing.
III. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEW COVENANT. What are the "better promises"? Jeremiah's oracle mentions three.
1. The Law written on the heart. (Verse 10) The child is controlled by positive external precept; the man by moral and spiritual principle. During the pupilage of the Church, the Divine laws were written "in tables of stone;" but, now that the Church has come to manhood, they are inscribed "in tables that are hearts of flesh" (2 Corinthians 3:3). The ascendancy of ritualism in any Christian Church means, therefore, a return to the" childish things" of the old covenant—a going back to the swaddling-clothes of religious babyhood.
2. The universal knowledge of God. (Verse 11) During the Jewish dispensation, the average Jew had only an exceedingly dim apprehension of religious truth, whether about God or the way to him, or about holiness or immortality. But, under the new covenant, spiritual truth shall become the longer the more clearly perceived, and the more widely diffused. For now the Holy Spirit is the great Teacher of the Church; and he does not impart esoteric instruction to some special caste, but teaches every believer "from the least to the greatest." What, then, is modern ritualism, but a return to the dim vision of the old economy? It is the use of candies—sometimes literally—in broad daylight.
3. The full forgiveness of sins. (Verse 12) This "promise," although introduced last, precedes the other two in actual bestowment. Sin must be pardoned and cleansed away before the Law can be written on the heart, or the mind flooded with spiritual light. None of the Levitical sacrifices could expiate moral guilt; but on the basis of Christ's atonement God now imparts that forgiveness which is the precedent condition of moral renewal and of a holy life (Psalms 130:4).
CONCLUSION. God said at Sinai, in setting up the "first" covenant, "Thou shalt not" (Exodus 20:3-17); but now, in ordering the new covenant, his words are, "I will" (verses 10-12). And what does this change of language imply? "I will" really points to the effusion and diffusion of the Holy Spirit. He was poured out on the day of Pentecost, the anniversary of the giving of the Law from Mount Sinai. It is his presence within the New Testament Church that makes the new covenant so vastly superior to the old. We should ask ourselves whether our souls individually are sharing the blessings of the gospel dispensation. We must remember also that the "better promises" imply on our part definite duties and great responsibilities, And, as regards the world, we must be persuaded that only the general acceptance of the new covenant will extirpate by the roots the enormous evils which still afflict society.
HOMILIES BY W. JONES