Hebrews 8:1 - Meaning and Application

Here is a summary of what has already been said about the greatness of Christ’s priesthood. It shows what we have in Christ, where he now lives, and what sanctuary he serves in (Hebrews 8:1, Hebrews 8:2).

First, consider what we have in Christ. We have a high priest, and no other people in any age ever had one like him. All the earlier priests were only pictures and shadows of this true high priest. He is fully suited and completely enough for everything a high priest must do, for God’s honor, for people’s good, and for his own glory. This is the great honor of all who belong to him.

Second, consider where he now lives. He sits at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, that is, the glorious God of heaven. There the Mediator, the one who brings God and people together, holds all authority and power in heaven and on earth. This is the reward for his suffering and humiliation. He uses this authority for his Father’s glory, for his own honor, and for the happiness of all who belong to him. By his almighty power, he will bring every one of them in their proper order to God’s right hand in heaven, as members of his spiritual body, so that where he is, they may be also.

Third, consider the sanctuary where he serves. He is a minister of the true tabernacle, the tent God set up and not man (Hebrews 8:2). The tent built by human hands, according to God’s command, had an outer part where the altar stood and sacrifices were offered. This pointed to Christ’s death. It also had an inner part, within the veil, which pointed to Christ interceding for his people in heaven.

Christ never entered that earthly tent as its final meaning. Instead, after finishing the work of making satisfaction for sin, that is, fully paying for sin, in the true tabernacle of his own body, he is now a minister in the holy place, the true tabernacle in heaven. There he cares for his people’s needs and pleads with God for them, so their sins may be forgiven and their persons and services accepted through the merit of his sacrifice. He is not only in heaven enjoying great rule and honor. As the high priest of his church, he carries out this work for all his people together and for each one of them in particular.

The apostle then sets before the Hebrews the necessary parts of Christ’s priesthood, or what belonged to that office, in keeping with every high priest appointed under the law (Hebrews 8:3, Hebrews 8:4). Every high priest was appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Whatever the people brought to be presented to God, whether sacrifices for sin, peace offerings, or thank offerings, had to be offered by the priest. He was to cover their guilt through the blood of the sacrifice and make their gifts and services like sweet incense before God, so their persons and work would be accepted in a shadowy, symbolic way.

So it must also belong to Christ’s priesthood that he has something to offer. And he, as the reality to which the shadow pointed, had himself to offer. He offered his human nature on the altar of his divine nature as the great sacrifice that ended rebellion and put away sin once for all. He also offers the incense of his own righteousness and merits along with everything his people bring to God through him, so that their offerings may be accepted. We must not dare to come near to God, or present anything to him, except in and through Christ, trusting his merit and his mediation. If we are accepted, it is in the Beloved.

Christ must now carry out his priesthood in heaven, in the holy of holies, the true tabernacle that the Lord set up. In this way the type is fully answered. After finishing the work of sacrifice here on earth, he must go into heaven to present his righteousness and make intercession there. If Christ were on earth, he would not be a priest in the legal sense, that is, not according to the Levitical law, because he was not from that priestly line. And as long as that priesthood stood, God’s appointed order had to be carefully followed in everything.

All the priestly services under the law, and everything in that tabernacle made according to the pattern shown on the mountain, were only copies and shadows of heavenly things (Hebrews 8:5). Christ is the substance and goal of the law for righteousness. So something in Christ’s priesthood had to answer to the high priest’s going within the veil to intercede. Without that, he would not have been a complete priest. And what is that but Christ’s ascension into heaven and his appearing there before God for his people, to present their prayers and plead their cause? So if he had stayed on earth, he could not have been a complete priest. And he could not have been an incomplete one.