The True Tabernacle.
I. The tabernacle has no fewer than three meanings: (1) In the first place, the tabernacle is a type, a visible illustration, of the heavenly place in which God has His dwelling. (2) The tabernacle is a type of Jesus Christ, who is the meeting-place between God and man. (3) The tabernacle is a type of Christ in the Church, of the communion of Jesus with all believers.
II. Our High Priest, by virtue of the one sacrifice, is in heaven. There can be only one temple. There was only one ark in the days of Noah, one tabernacle in the wilderness, one temple in Jerusalem. The forgiving, merciful, and glorious presence of Jehovah is manifested now in the throne on which Jesus is seated. Before the coming of Jesus, the shadow symbolised truth to believing worshippers. After the coming of Jesus, it must fade and vanish before the substance. If this is true of the Levitical priesthood, which was of Divine appointment, how much more fearful is the assumption of any priestly title, position, or function, during the new dispensation. All Christians are priests. To imitate a revival of that which God has Himself set aside by a fulfilment, perfect and glorious, is audacious, and full of peril to the souls of men. It is not even the shadow of a substance, but the unauthorised shadow of a departed shade.
III. We learn here of the wonderful grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the minister of the sanctuary; He is still going on with His service. He has ascended into the holiest, into the region of perfection and glory; but not to forget us who are still in the wilderness. As he loved His own, even to the end, He loves them now, and throughout all the ages; and He will come again to receive us unto Himself.
A. Saphir, Lectures on Hebrews,vol. ii., p. 31.
References: Hebrews 8:1-3. G. Huntingdon, Sermons for Holy Seasons,p. 223.Hebrews 8:1-5. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. ii., p. 358; R. W. Dale, The Jewish Temple and the Christian Church,p. 153.
Hebrews 8:1-2 , Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 8:10-12
The New Covenant Its Promises.
I. Pardon is the last named of the promises, but it is the first bestowed. The terms of the promise indicate two things respecting the blessing it holds forth, namely, its source and its fulness. (1) Its source "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness." The source, then, of the promised pardon is the mercifulness of God. We mean, of course, its moral source, for its legal source is the atonement of Jesus Christ. (2) The fulness of mercy "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." This oblivion of transgression is a feature of the Divine pardon, much emphasized in Scripture, with a view no doubt of duly impressing men with the fact of its absolute entirety.
II. The intuitional knowledge of God assured by the better Covenant. The knowledge of God obtained through experience of His pardon is the grandest of all knowledge of Him. This is a knowledge of God that makes Him the predominant idea of the man's whole life, the supreme fact of his life, whether as regards its activities or its happiness.
III. The Divine kinship assured by the New Covenant. "God is not ashamed to be their God." He permits His people the utmost freedom in their assertion of the relationship. He holds it not in any way derogatory to His Divine dignity to be recognised as their Father. This relationship is in itself a guarantee of the fullest and most devoted service on their behalf.
IV. Observe the assurance which the better Covenant gives of a loving, childlike subjection to the Divine will. "I will put My laws in their minds, and will write them in their hearts." We see from this how completely the law of God, or the Divine will, becomes the motive power in the life of the divinely pardoned man, how wholly it assimilates his entire being, bringing it into beautiful harmony with the mind of God.
A. J. Parry, Phases of Christian Truth,p. 170.
References: Hebrews 8:2. W. M. Statham, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xii., p. 1.Hebrews 8:5. P. Brooks, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxiii., p. 344; Ibid.,vol. xxxiv., p. 150; A. Johnson, Ibid.,vol. xxxv., p. 356; S. Macnaughton, Real Religion and Real Life,p. 184.