The Priest-King, the Mediator of the New Covenant

Viii. — 6. But now hath he obtained a ministry the more excellent, by how much also he Is the mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises.

7. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second.

8. For finding fault with them, he salth,

Behold the days come, saith the Lord,

That I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

9. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers;

In the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt;

For they continued not In my covenant,
And I regarded them not, saith the Lord,

IN our chapter there are two titles given to our Priest-King, describing two functions which He discharges. The one is, a Minister of the sanctuary, the other, the Mediator of the better covenant. The Epistle, having mentioned the sanctuary in which Christ ministers, is about to proceed in the next chapter with the work that Christ did in opening and entering the sanctuary with His own blood. He does not, without good reason, first interpose here the member of the new covenant and Christ’s work as its Mediator. The two designations, Minister of the sanctuary, Mediator of the new covenant, represent two aspects of Christ’s work which are the complement of each other, and which are each necessary to the right understanding of the other. The sanctuary is God’s dwelling; the Minister of the sanctuary has specially to do with bringing us nigh to God, and the blessedness we find there. The covenant deals with our relation and duty towards God; the Mediator of the covenant has specially to do with our preparation for entering the sanctuary, and being made fit to meet God.

In chap. vii. we heard that Jesus is the surety of a better covenant. We said there that a covenant is meant to define the mutual relation of the two contracting parties, and to secure the fulfilment of their engagements to each other. In the passage from Jeremiah quoted in our chapter we are told that the covenant God made with Israel, when He brought them up out of Egypt, was not faultless, and that therefore a second was needed. The fault or insufficiency of the first — its weakness and unprofitableness (vii. 1 8) — would be avoided in the new. A different provision would be made. The fault of the old covenant is stated to be (ver. 9): They continued not in My covenant, and I regarded them not. Israel began well, and accepted the covenant, and promised obedience. But they continued not. There was no power to continue; no power to conquer temptation, or the evil heart; to remain faithful. Against this the new covenant would provide, because it was better, enacted in better promises. It would, by the blood of Christ, provide such an actual putting away and cleansing of sin that God would actually remember them no more for ever. With this He would, by His Holy Spirit, so put His laws into their heart that they should delight in doing them. God would Himself work both to will and to do. And then, in this power of Christ’s blood and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, they would no longer be dependent on men for their knowledge of God, but have direct access and direct intercourse with Him. They would, in spiritual reality, draw nigh to God in the Holiest of All.

This is the new, the better covenant, of which Jesus was to be the Mediator. It is easy now to see of what importance it is that the Epistle should here introduce this name and function of our blessed Lord, the Mediator of the new covenant. When the message comes to us of drawing nigh to God, of entering into the Holiest and abiding there, the thought always comes that our sinful, faithless hearts render it impossible. It would be very easy, we say, and very blessed to dwell all the day consciously in God’s presence, if we could all the day remain occupied with spiritual things. But we cannot — our earthly duties render unbroken communion an impossibility. And if it be said that, if we trust this to Jesus, He will care for us, even when we have to be occupied with earthly things, the answer comes again: But oh, the sinfulness of our heart! Ere we know, tempers and dispositions come which must bring a cloud; to abide always in the light of God, not only to enter God’s presence, but to continue there — it is not possible!

Come and listen. But they continued not in My covenant. This is the experience of the old covenant, to which there now can be an end. The whole provision of the new covenant is to fit us for continuing in it, for abiding continually. It is indeed true that the sanctuary is the dwelling-place of the Holy One, the Holiest of All, and that sinning clouds God’s presence. There must be correspondence, harmony, between the sanctuary, with the God that dwells there, and the worshipper. But it is for this very purpose that Jesus, the Minister of the true sanctuary, is also the Mediator of the new covenant. He engages so to reveal the power of His blood and the boldness of access it

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gives thee, so to put God’s law into thy heart in that power of an endless life in which He does all His priestly work, so to fit thee to know the Lord, that thou shalt indeed know that as Minister of the sanctuary He does in very truth secure thy entrance and thy abiding there. The work done by Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary must have its counterpart in the heart that is to enter that sanctuary. And because it is one Jesus who is both Minister of the new sanctuary and Mediator of the new covenant, we may be confident that He will do His work in our heart as effectually as He does it in heaven. And, therefore, the deeper our insight into the perfection of His work in heaven above, the more confident our expectation may be of the perfection in our life within.

1. Let us pray God very earnestly that as we now proceed to study the better promises of the better covenant, our hearts may be opened to receive them in all their fulness.

2. “No omnipotence can make you partaker of the life of the outward world without having the life of this outward world born in your own creaturely being. And therefore no omnipotence can make you a partaker of the beatific life in presence of the Holy Trinity, unless that life stands in the same triune state within you that it does without you.”

3. A heavenly sanctuary and a heavenly High Priest ash for a heavenly Christian and a heavenly heart. And this is what the new covenant promises, and the Mediator of the new covenant gives indeed,

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