The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 230

Yers. G-13.-0hrist in heaven, the Medi,a,tor of the new covenant. The argument of eh. vii. has a further object than the mere proving our Lord's superiority to Aaron. Tbe priesthood being altered and centred in him, most important facts beating on the :spiritual position of the Hebrews grow out of it. 'l'he priesthood was the centre of the dispensation; they stood and fell together. A new priesthood means a new and better dispensation. That is the purport of eh. viii.-x. 18, where this idea is worked out by the writer in three particulars. (1) is in eh. viii. 1-5. If the priesthood is raised to heaven, then heaven is the true tabernacle and the old is abolished. (2) is that in these verses; subject-Christ in heaven, the Mediator of the new covenant. We have a Mediator in heaven; but for what ends does he mediate? Not those which the former priesthood had in view, for since they were appointed for them, they may be assumed to have been sufficient for them. It mnst, then, be for some higher end, for puq,oses not possible under Aaron. 'fhe writer tarns, as usual, to their Scriptures, and points them to the declaration in the Book of Jeremiah," Behold, the days come," etc. A new and better covenant was promised six hundred years before. Behold in Christ the possibility of the fulfilment of that prediction; through him exalted are to be bestowed the larger blessings promised in the latter days. Moreover, the fact of another covenant promised proves the imperfection and temporary character of what then was. At the moment of writing, the old covenant was trembling to its fall, 'l'hat generation had not passed till the venerable symbols of the old covenant had di.appeared from the earth like the mist of the morning. I. GoD BAB :MADE A NEW COVENANT WITH :MEN, A covenant is an agreement. God has undertaken, agreed, covenanted to give certain blessings to men. He is a 00d in covenant with the race. A testament is a will, a promise to he fulfilled after death. lt is a covenant, with the additional idea that it can only be fulfilled after the death of l,im who makes it. In the Gospels and Epistles (though not so in Old Testament) these two words are used interchangeably as the translation of one word. 'l'he two "testaments" are God's two covenants, which can only be fulfilled through the events of Calvary. 1. The history of the Divine covenant. 'l'he "new" covenant was only new io a certain sense; in reality it was the old-the original covenant on which the J c:wish was temporarily grafted. God's covenant was one from beginning to end. l<'ir~t made in Eden, we see it gradually expanding and working out, till in the Af-"Jcalyi,se we have its perfect consummation in a redeemed world. '!'he covenant with ALraharn was a s~parate and special covenant with regard to his seed alone, and in time· t.o be absorbed in the older covenant of world-wide aepect. 2. What was the purpose ujtl~ .tlbrahamic cxrverant 1 Owing to the corrupt st!lle of the world, it was necessary CH. vm. 1-13.] THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 221