He hath made the first old.— St. Paul in another place calls the Jewish ceremonial law weak and beggarly elements; and, ch. Hebrews 7:18 of this epistle, he says, There is a disannulling of that commandment for the weakness and un-profitableness thereof. Agreeably to this, he here speaks of it as waxing old, in which case things become weak and useless, and so are ready to be laid aside, or put out of sight. So it is with an old garment, as he uses that similitude, ch. Hebrews 1:11 or, with men worn out with old age, who are just dropping into the grave. Whichever allusion the apostle might intend, they seem to be in the right, who think that the apostle here refers to the speedy destruction of the temple of Jerusalem, whereby an end was put to the services prescribed by the law of Moses.
Inferences.—How glorious is the Lord Jesus Christ in his present ministration, as our great High-priest! He continues to exercise this office, in the tabernacle of his miraculously formed human body, at the right hand of God the Father in the heavenly sanctuary; and there presents the merit of his atoning sacrifice in his intercession. How necessary for us, as well as honourable to him, was his entering into the holiest of all, to fulfil that important part of his office! This could not have been finished by his continuing on earth; because there were
Aaronical priests, which order he was not of, but infinitely superior to; and none but those of that order could legally officiate in the earthly sanctuary; and heaven itself was the only proper place for him to appear in for this purpose. And how much more excellent is his sacrifice, than all the offerings of former high-priests, as to its dignity, and the sanctuary in which it is presented to God! They were mere shadows of what is done by Christ; but the perfection and glory of all is accomplished in him, as the Mediator of the new covenant.—How close should we keep to divine revelation in every thing that pertains to the service of God! As Moses was to make all things, relating to the tabernacle, exactly according to the pattern which God had shewn him in the mount; so all our worship is to be according to institution, without any addition, alteration, or abatement.—How much better is the gospel dispensation of the covenant of grace, than that which was made with Israel at mount Sinai! It has a better Mediator, and stands on the foot of better promises. It contains rich and free, clear and express promises of a spiritual relation to God, as the God of his faithful people, to be their portion, and to engage their love and duty to him; and promises of mercy to forgive all their iniquities, and not to remember any of their sins against them; and to lead them into a plain and saving acquaintance with himself in Christ, and to write his law and gospel in their hearts. O the happiness of those who are in covenant with God! O blessed tenor of this pure unmixed dispensation of the new covenant! It shall never wax old or vanish away, like the Sinai covenant; but shall abide in full force, virtue, and vigour, as the last and most perfect administration of grace in this world; and shall remain, till it issue in the everlasting happiness of all the faithful saints of God in the world to come.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, We have in this chapter a summary of the foregoing observations: Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum: we have such an High-priest, so great and glorious, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, invested with all power and authority to secure all blessedness for his faithful saints in time and in eternity; a minister of the sanctuary, officiating as our High-priest in heaven, which the Jewish sanctuary typified, and of the true tabernacle in his human nature, of which the earthly tabernacle was the figure, which the Lord pitched, and not man, having prepared for him a body, wherein the fulness of the Godhead should reside. And with what confidence should this inspire us, when we consider who now ministers for us before the throne of God!
2nd, The apostle proceeds,
1. To set forth the office of the high-priest, and Christ's conformity thereto. For every high-priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices, the blood of which he afterwards carried into the holy place: wherefore it is of necessity that this glorious person have somewhat also to offer, a sacrifice suitable to his dignity, with the blood of which he might appear within the veil, before the throne of God in glory. For if he were on earth, and had continued here below, he should not be a priest, nor could have discharged that most peculiar part of his pontifical office, the appearing within the veil with the blood of the sacrifice, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law, and none of any other tribe but that of Levi could be admitted there: who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, that priesthood and service being entirely typical of Christ, as Moses was admonished of God, when he was about to make the tabernacle. For see (saith he,) that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. Necessary therefore was it that Christ, having offered his own body a sacrifice on the cross, should, with the blood which he hath shed, appear in the presence of God, and discharge that glorious high-priesthood whereunto he had been appointed.
2. He shews the transcendent excellency of the ministry of Christ above that of the sons of Aaron, as being the Mediator of a better covenant, established upon better promises, the covenant of grace as revealed in the gospel, far exceeding the Sinai covenant, whether considered as a political covenant of peculiarity, and ensuring to the people temporal blessings, merely on the condition of an external obedience to the letter of the law: or if we consider it in its more extensive sense, as including spiritual and eternal blessings; yet as that dispensation was clothed in darkness and terror, the gospel dispensation far exceeds it, as containing a more clear revelation of God's grace, extending his gospel promises to Gentiles as well as Jews, being accompanied with a more abundant measure of the Spirit, and more particularly and fully leading the soul to seek and expect, not so much temporal, as spiritual and heavenly blessings. For if that first covenant, entered into with the Jews at Sinai, had been faultless, (for however well suited to answer the purposes of God at that time, yet it was deficient, and wanted much of that light and clearness with which afterwards God intended to reveal his designs of grace,)—could that covenant, I say, have been sufficient to accomplish the great ends that God had in view, then should no place have been sought for the second, as we find was the case. For, God finding fault with them, and reproving the Jews by the prophet Jeremiah, he saith, behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant, &c. a covenant reaching to all the spiritual Israel, Gentiles as well as Jews: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, but unfaithfully departed from it, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord; withdrew my favour from them, and no longer, as a husband, vouchsafed to them my love and protection. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, with the spiritual Israel of all nations, who yield to my grace; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts, giving them the clearest views of my designs of grace, and engaging their souls to my love and service by the powerful operations of my Spirit; and I will be to them a God, reconciled to them in the Beloved, and causing them to experience my continual protection and blessing; and they shall be to me a people, engaged to serve me by the most powerful ties of gratitude as well as duty. And they shall not need to teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, as under the former dispensation, where all the typical service required constant explication; but under the clearer dispensation of light and truth in the gospel this would be less necessary; not that the ministry of the word, or private instructions among Christians, should be set aside, but that in those days the knowledge of divine things should be more universally diffused, and all believers be under the more abundant teachings of the Spirit: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest, as their reconciled God and Father in the great Redeemer. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, through the propitiation of their great High-priest, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more, pardoning them freely and fully. Now in that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old, abolishing the Mosaic dispensation, because of its weakness and unprofitableness. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old, as is the case with the Jewish economy at present, like a person dying with age, is ready to vanish away, the time being at hand, when, by the destruction of the temple, the whole service must cease, never to be resumed again. Note; The dispensation of the covenant of grace, under which we live, should be matter of our unspeakable comfort and unceasing thankfulness, wherein all the riches of God's grace, without a veil, are laid open before his believing people.