October 13 | Hebrews 9:1-5

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DAILY READING

Hebrews 9:1-5

Exodus 25:8-9, 40

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REFLECTION

The New is Inconceivable When Living in the Old

By Dave Mann

 Do you remember your first computer?  Mine was a Mac SE.  It had “amazing” features (for the day):

• Not one but two floppy disc drives!

• The RAM held a phenomenal 256Kb of data!

• A 7-inch diagonal B&W screen

• With drop-down menus!

Now, compare that with the MacBook of today.  No comparison, you say?  Do I want to go back to the Mac SE?  Of course not!  That’s ludicrous. 

This week and next, we are getting to the heart and soul of the message of Hebrews.  These readings specify why the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant.  The Old Covenant was established

under the administration of Moses.  The New Covenant is established by Jesus in the upper room the night he was betrayed and arrested.  It is not that the Old Covenant was wrong or bad.  It was indeed the plan of God – for that day, and the Israelites were correct in observing all the conditions of the Mosaic covenant – in that day.  But the Mosaic Covenant was not the end-all.  It was a foretaste of what was to come – the New Covenant.

The Old Covenant was conditional.  Keep the Law and you will live.  Ignore or break the Law and you will not have life.  In the New Covenant, God provides forgiveness through the blood of the covenant, i.e., that death of Jesus upon the cross.  In the Mosaic Covenant, the offering of the blood of animals was performed by a human high priest in an earthly tabernacle.  The forgiveness granted was temporary.  Moses’s tabernacle was constructed by following the specific design of God, via Moses, with its Holy Place and Holy of Holy Place.  Its purpose was to point the way to that which was much better.  The New Covenant was inconceivable at that time – blood offered by the Son of God himself, forgiveness that is eternal, a high priest who is divine, all happening in a heavenly temple.  And all the benefits of the New Covenant are made available by grace through faith.  It is a matter of a heart change by the inner working of the Holy Spirit.

The analogy of comparing a Mac SE with the latest MacBook model is not perfect, but it might nudge us to understand better the ridiculousness of going back in time to earn God’s love by our own efforts to be righteous (the Old Covenant), rather than receiving the free gift of grace with deep gratitude and appreciation (the New Covenant).

PRAYER

Thank you, heavenly Father, for the gift of the New Covenant – free and full forgiveness through faith in Jesus, Amen.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DAVE MANN

I am a Pastor for Internationals (retired) in the UALC community. I am married to Pam, father of four, and grandfather of seven. Pam and I have lived twenty of our years in other countries including France, Cameroon, Haiti, and Morocco. In retirement, we continue to enjoy writing devotionals, learning languages, and teaching English to internationals.