Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Hebrews+008

 

Hebrews Chapter 8 (ESV)

 

8 For he finds fault with them when he says:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
9 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.
For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

13 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.

 

REFLECTION:

  1. Chapter at a Glance: The ministry of Jesus Christ as our High Priest involves a better covenant, a better sanctuary, and a better Christ has instituted the promised new covenant which brings forgiveness and renewal to all who believe.
  2. The old system of Law didn’t work and was “becoming obsolete and growing old”. The New Covenant is superior for two things:  First, it provides total forgiveness for all our wicked acts (v 12) and God no longer holds us accountable for our sins.  Second, the New Covenant operates to “put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts”.  The Old Covenant engraved standards on tablets of stone that men were unable to meet.  The New Covenant engraves the desire to please God in our heart and moves us to what Law demanded, but could not produce.
  3. Do you function better under external restraint (the law) or inner constraint (God’s Spirit) (v. 10)? Why?
  4. What happens to you when you say to God, “Thank you for forgiving and forgetting my sin”?

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) – youtu.be/YrwkCOUOliI