Hebrews 8:1 says that we have a “High Priest, Who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” This is the heavenly Christ, the kingly and divine High Priest, our today’s Melchisedec. Our High Priest today is not standing on earth to accomplish the work of redemption; He is sitting on the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. His sitting there indicates that the work of redemption has been accomplished by Him, that He is now in glory in the majesty of the Godhead in the heavens, and that He is interceding restfully for the perfecting of His redeemed ones. This is not the work of the Aaronic priesthood but the ministry of the kingly and divine priesthood. He is not our Aaron standing on earth but our Melchisedec sitting in the heavens, even on the throne of God with the divine majesty.
In God’s economy three things are always combined: the tabernacle, or the sanctuary, the priesthood, and the law. These three things, which are one, are combined for the fulfillment of God’s economy. During the time of the Old Testament, no one could separate these three things from each other. It is the same today. We have the sanctuary, which is both in heaven and in our spirit, the priesthood, and the better law of life. The sanctuary, priesthood, and law that we enjoy today are much better than the old sanctuary, priesthood, and law. Those old things were merely a shadow. These new items, which we are enjoying today, are the reality of the shadow.
Hebrews 8:2 says that Christ is a “Minister of the holy places, even of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.” Christ ministers in the true tabernacle in heaven which is joined to our spirit. As our High Priest in the heavens, Christ brings us into heaven, from the earthly court into the heavenly Holy of Holies, which is joined to our spirit by Him as the heavenly ladder (Gen. 28:12; John 1:51). The priests on earth served the shadow (Heb. 8:5), but this Minister in heaven serves the reality. Whatever was done by the priests on earth in the Old Testament was a shadow of the real things to come. Their work on earth did not accomplish anything. What they did on earth only served a shadow of the reality, but whatever this Minister ministers in heaven in the New Testament is the reality. His more excellent ministry in heaven serves the reality of the heavenly things in the divine dispensation.
The ministry of the priests on earth in the Old Testament was good, but the ministry of Christ, our High Priest, in heaven in the New Testament is more excellent. It is more excellent in the following aspects.
In this priesthood today we have a Mediator, a man who goes between God and us. This Mediator is also the Executor, the One who executes the will, the testament. Christ, as the Mediator, is the Executor in resurrection of the new covenant, the new testament, which He bequeathed to us by His death.
The covenant which was enacted for us and bequeathed to us as the new testament by Christ is a better covenant. Not only has this better covenant been enacted upon better promises of a better law, the inner law of life (8:10-12), but it also was consummated with Christ’s better sacrifices (9:23), which have accomplished for us eternal redemption (9:12), and with the better blood of Christ, which purifies our conscience (9:14). As the High Priest of this better covenant, Christ, the eternal Son of the living God, ministers with the more excellent ministry (8:6) in the greater and more perfect tabernacle (9:11).
This better covenant has been enacted upon better promises (8:6). The better promises, which are given in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and quoted in 8:8-12 and 10:16-17, are of two things—the forgiveness of sins and the law of life. Under the old covenant there was no forgiveness of sins, only the covering of sins. In the new covenant we do not have just the covering of sins but the forgiveness of sins. In the new covenant today we also have the law of life, not the law of letters.
As our heavenly Minister with a more excellent ministry, Christ carries out the better covenant. He does this by making the facts of the new covenant effective. As we shall see later, every fact in the new covenant is made effective by the heavenly Minister with His more excellent ministry.
Christ, the heavenly Minister, executes the bequests in the New Testament. Whatever is a fact in the covenant is a bequest in the testament. What is the difference between facts and bequests? Facts refer to certain things that have been accomplished but which are not yet designated until they are bequeathed. After the accomplished facts have been bequeathed, they immediately become bequests designated for us. This is the difference between a covenant and a testament: whatever is in a covenant is a fact, but whatever is in a testament is a bequest. What were facts in the covenant have now become legally designated for us as bequests in the will, in the testament. There are four facts of the new covenant which have all become bequests in the new testament: the propitiation for unrighteousnesses and forgiveness of sins; the imparting of the law of life; the blessing of having God and of being His people; and the inward ability of knowing the Lord. We shall see all of these items more clearly in the following messages.