Obsolete? Not Jesus

Hebrews Chapter 8

“In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”

Hebrews 8:13

Obsolete.

An outdated and no longer functioning system, idea, or product we once thought we could not live without. Do you have one you remember vividly?

I grew up with straight, fine hair. I slept on sponge rollers many nights for those curls I longed for…until the curling iron came along!  The same is true of my ninth-grade typewriter. I still have one in my closet!

I’m sure you and I could sit together reminiscing about obsolete items we used daily and now never give much thought. We’ve progressed with the times, the old has passed away and the new has come.

The concept of no longer depending on old items or ideas is similar to a picture in the scriptures of us being new creatures in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come.

English Standard Version, Bible Gateway

Just as Christ makes us new individually, the same is true of His power over the old covenant. It was outdated and no longer functioning because it had no power to change hearts. The tabernacle and temples were copies and shadows of the real place where God truly dwells.

Jesus, as the perfect, sinless, High Priest offers the ultimate sacrifice—Himself. As such, He surpasses the fallen priests who atone for their own sin before they can present a sacrifice for the sins of the people.  The old covenant and sacrificial system, established by God, points toward Jesus. His birth, death, and resurrection make the old covenant obsolete and establishes the better covenant.

Jeremiah assured believers of this, when he said, the laws will be written on their hearts and in their minds. A new enlightenment with the Holy Spirit’s guidance. His prophecy in Jeremiah 31:31-34

 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,  not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

English Standard Version Bible Gateway ** a concept pointed to in Better, A study of Hebrews by Jen Wilken, p 92.

A better way to reach the lost than an estimated one million people leaving ancient Egypt and gathering in the wilderness. Bewildered people emerging from bondage and surviving a red sea passage and looking toward the cloud holding the presence of God by day and fire by night ( Exodus 13:21, Isaiah 63:11-14).Standing, wondering, and dependent on the one person who could reveal God’s message. Relying on Moses, then the priests, to read the law of the covenant to the large groups of people at the tent of meeting, once the tabernacle was built.

Furthermore, the freed slaves of Israel are dependent on their brother or neighbor to make sure they heard God’s message correctly and understood it thoroughly in the crowd of thousands. Instituting a new way to live was necessary as they learned to remove the bondage of paganism. Their uneducated souls, fearfully looked to Moses for redemption in the harsh and barren land.

However, we see the prophecy of Jeremiah truly come to life in John the Baptist and Jesus when they share the message of the gospel.

People are led by the presence and power of God’s Word in the proclamation of the good news, rather than through Moses, the priests, and each other. Through the Holy Spirit, His teaching spread the Word like tongues of fire after Jesus’ ascension into heaven (Acts 2:1-4). The Holy Spirit came to dwell in men and women. The apostles recorded the inerrant word of God for all to read. Furthermore, the prophecy of Jeremiah continues today as the truth of God’s revelation is bound in the Holy Bible and is, to this day, the number one selling book of all time.

Sisters, what an honor and privilege we have, to read the word of God daily!

How blessed are we… educated to read His word, and sought by the Holy Spirit, who woos us to the love peace of Jesus?  May we take comfort in the words of the apostle Paul today:

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since He himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us,”  Acts 17:24-27

English Standard Version Bible Gateway

Thank you, Father in Heaven! We are here today, reading your word in the determined city of residence, in this time period of 2020. Showered with the wealth of running water, electricity, comfortable beds, shelter, and the protection of law enforcement. We are unworthy, yet so grateful, You woo us with your Holy Spirit.

The obsolete law of the old covenant could not compare to the sacrifice of Your Son. May we take comfort in Jesus’ finished work on the cross today and every day. Please prepare our hearts and minds Lord for your second coming; for the signs are clear, this ole world is growing old and is ready to vanish away.

In Jesus’ name, amen.