Hebrews 8 – 10

Verse 8:7 talks about the significance of the covenants:

Remember, if the first covenant had been able to reconcile everyone to God, there would be no reason for a second covenant.

Hebrews main focus is to reconcile Jesus with the Jewish people. It is to make it crystal clear that Jesus was not just a prophet, but rather the “Messiah”. Part of that was to clarify within the old writings how Jesus fits this model and how a new covenant was foretold by Isaiah.

Verse 9:9 is explaining the significance of how Jesus opened the second tent for all:

That first tent symbolizes the present time, when gifts and sacrifices can be offered; but it can’t change the heart and conscience of the worshiper. 

The temple system gives us a system of interfacing with God. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross ended this need and opened the curtain for all. Remember when at Jesus’ death the curtain was torn? It was torn from top to bottom, signifying God tearing from the heavens. Jesus became the ultimate “High Priest” with the ultimate “sacrifice” for all sins, not just a temporary one from an earthly priest.

Verses 10:24 & 25 help to maintain our faith:

 ²⁴ Let us consider how to inspire each other to greater love and to righteous deeds, ²⁵ not forgetting to gather as a community, as some have forgotten, but encouraging each other, especially as the day of His return approaches.

I think one of the biggest problems many of faith have is becoming saved and then isolating themselves. They lose touch with others of faith and what they offer, so one tends to without a solid footing in Jesus. We need others for encouragement, for debate, to see the gifts of others and for the vitality. I know I often did this early on, thinking somehow I would be ok. I drifted and waned without a close knit group of believers to hold me accountable. The key is gather with a community of believers and stay in contact with them often.

Verse 10:39 ends with encouragement to those keeping the faith:

My friends, we are not those who give up hope and so are lost; but we are of the company who live by faith and so are saved.

I really think this is key, to keep the faith. We are living in a world that beats us down every time we turn, be it financial, relational or spiritual we are in a constant battle with negative and it’s easy to lose hope. We need to have faith that hope is the key to our faith. As we get older and more mature we see how many negatives are knitted together eventually for good. I keep looking back on 2007 and how the farm went under contract to be sold, it was big and we would be “saved”.  Well as events are knows the economy crashed and our deal fell through in zoning. This was horrible at the time, but turned out to be one of the greatest blessings. Why? It kept us from going bankrupt and taught us budgeting. Now after 7 years of struggling things look very bright again!! We kept hope and did not let the situation bring us away from our faith in God!