The Full GospelSample

New and Better // The Gospel According to Hebrews

Throughout the Book of Hebrews, the author compares familiar Old Testament stories and characters with Jesus and His ministry. This parallel comparison is used to illustrate the goodness and beauty of His gospel.

In the first two chapters, we see the comparison between Jesus and angels. The third chapter tells us that Jesus is greater than Moses, and chapter four reminds us that God’s people are still waiting for the “sabbath rest” He promised them. Why? Because they were still waiting for Jesus.

At the end of the fourth chapter, the author begins to describe Jesus as our “great high priest” who is able to do for us what no one else can.

… but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Hebrews 7:24-25 NIV

Before Jesus, the work of priests was temporary and incomplete. They could only fulfill their role until their time on this earth came to an end. And because they were human, they didn’t have the power to forgive sins.

The author uses this as an example to model how Jesus is different. He lives forever. This means He never stops working for our good. And Jesus because God in the flesh, He carries all the power of God to save sinners like us.

Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever. Hebrews 7:26-28 NIV

Jesus, our great High Priest, is able to truly meet our needs because “[He] is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3 NIV).

When we get to chapter eight, we see the conclusion of these comparisons:

Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being. Hebrews 8:1-2 NIV

One of the main points of this letter is to communicate that Jesus is our great High Priest, and He is able to do what no one else can because He is so much more than just a man. He is the Word made flesh, the visible image of the invisible God, the rightful King of creation, and the Sustainer of all things.

So it should be no surprise that what He established, and the promises He made, are better than everything that came before.

… the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises. Hebrews 8:6 NIV

As our great high priest, Jesus established a new and better covenant. A covenant is a divine partnership between God and His people. With the new covenant of Jesus, we have been offered forgiveness of sins and newness of life through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In exchange, God has asked us to commit ourselves fully and totally to Him through the acts of repentance and ongoing obedience to His commands.

What’s amazing about this covenant is that God knows we’ll fall short. We will stumble, fall, disobey, and rebel. But God never will. He will always do what He said He’s going to do. He will continue to show us grace and mercy no matter how many times we miss the mark.

For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear. Hebrews 8:7-13 NIV

Why is the gospel good news? Because Jesus has invited us into a new and better covenant, established on new and better promises, so that we can have a new and better life with Him—our new and better High Priest.