Introduction
Are you tempted to measure your faith by what you can see, visible leaders, impressive buildings, familiar rituals, especially when following Jesus becomes harder and less popular? Here is the central truth I want you to hold with both hands: Jesus is better because He brings a better covenant, one that fulfills the old, completes our forgiveness, and gives us real access to God through Him.
Hebrews was written to believers standing at a fork in the road. Pressure was rising. Some wondered if it would be easier to drift back into the old Mosaic covenant, the old way of relating to God through priests, temple sacrifices, and visible systems. The author’s steady message is: Don’t leave Jesus. There is nothing to go back to that compares with what God has given you in Christ.
And when we say “new covenant,” we must not mishandle it like the old covenant was “bad” or useless. Think of it like an ultrasound compared to the actual baby. The ultrasound is real and meaningful, a true preview, but it isn’t the fullness. In the same way, the old covenant was a shadow of things to come, and Jesus is the fulfillment (Matthew 5:17). Hebrews 8 brings this into focus: Jesus is the better covenant.
Main Points
Are you tempted to measure your faith by what you can see, visible leaders, impressive buildings, familiar rituals, especially when following Jesus becomes harder and less popular? Here is the central truth I want you to hold with both hands: Jesus is better because He brings a better covenant, one that fulfills the old, completes our forgiveness, and gives us real access to God through Him.
Hebrews was written to believers standing at a fork in the road. Pressure was rising. Some wondered if it would be easier to drift back into the old Mosaic covenant, the old way of relating to God through priests, temple sacrifices, and visible systems. The author’s steady message is: Don’t leave Jesus. There is nothing to go back to that compares with what God has given you in Christ.
And when we say “new covenant,” we must not mishandle it like the old covenant was “bad” or useless. Think of it like an ultrasound compared to the actual baby. The ultrasound is real and meaningful, a true preview, but it isn’t the fullness. In the same way, the old covenant was a shadow of things to come, and Jesus is the fulfillment (Matthew 5:17).
Hebrews 8 brings this into focus: Jesus is the better covenant.
The Old Was Shadow, Not Substance
Hebrews 8:1 begins, “Now this is the main point…” After everything already argued in Hebrews, Jesus better than angels, prophets, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, the author now gathers it up into one major claim: Jesus is the mediator of a better covenant (Hebrews 8:6).
The old covenant was a true work of God, but it was preparatory. Hebrews says the priests “serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things” (Hebrews 8:5). Even Exodus shows this: Moses was instructed to build the tabernacle according to a pattern shown on the mountain (Exodus 25:40). If there’s a pattern, there’s an original. If there’s a copy, there’s a reality beyond it.
So I want you to read your Old Testament with joy, not embarrassment. Don’t “unhitch” from it. See it rightly: God was laying groundwork, promises, priests, sacrifices, tabernacle worship, so that when Jesus came, you’d recognize Him as the fulfillment.
Our High Priest Sat Down, It’s Finished
Hebrews 8:1 says we have “a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” That word seated is gospel dynamite.
Under the old covenant, priests were always standing, always working, because the sacrifices were never final. The tabernacle instructions include astonishing detail, but there’s no command to build a chair for the priest. Symbolically, the work was never done.
But Jesus, our High Priest, sat down. He is not still trying to secure your forgiveness. He is not re-offering sacrifices. His seated posture declares a completed work, what He cried from the cross: “It is finished” (John 19:30).
So I need you to hear this as a disciple: don’t live like your salvation gets erased every Monday and rewritten every Sunday. Don’t treat church attendance as if it requalifies you into God’s family each week. In Christ, the sacrifice is complete. There is no dangling “string” between heaven and hell for the believer whose faith is in Jesus (compare Romans 8:1).
The Priest Became the Offering
Hebrews 8:3 says every high priest must have something to offer. Under the law there were many offerings, grain, peace, burnt, drink, sin, trespass, daily reminders that sin ruptures fellowship with God.
But Jesus did not bring grain or animals as His ultimate gift. He brought Himself. He is the High Priest who becomes the sacrifice, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
That is why the new covenant is better: it rests on the perfection of Christ exchanged for your imperfection. You don’t bring an offering to finally make God accept you; you come by faith to the One offering that has already been accepted.
So when shame whispers, “You’re disqualified,” I want you to answer as a disciple of Jesus: “My High Priest has already offered the final sacrifice, Himself, and He is seated.”
The True Tabernacle Isn’t On Earth
Hebrews 8:2 calls Jesus “a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord erected, and not man.” And Hebrews 8:4–5 explains that if Jesus were operating merely on earth, He wouldn’t be serving as an earthly priest, because the earthly system was never the final destination. It was a copy.
This matters because the first-century believers would have felt the pull of the visible. People could ask them, “Where is your temple? Where is your priest?” They met in homes, often in tension and sometimes in danger. The old way had a building, rituals, and a public center of worship. The new way looked unimpressive by worldly standards.
But the author lifts our eyes: our High Priest serves in the true holy place, God’s presence, beyond what any earthly temple could contain.
Here’s what this means for your discipleship: don’t fall back into “old covenant thinking” that says God is more accessible in certain buildings, cities, or locations. Christianity is not a pilgrimage religion where God is locked to a sacred site. Jesus Himself is the true Temple, the meeting place between God and humanity (compare John 2:19–21; John 4:21–24).
So yes, thank God for church gatherings, but don’t mistake the building for holy ground. God meets His people wherever they are. If believers must worship underground, the kingdom still advances. If governments restrict buildings, they cannot outlaw Christ’s church.
Better Promises Shape Eternal Hope
Hebrews 8:6 says Jesus mediates a better covenant “established on better promises.”
The old covenant promises (as summarized throughout Deuteronomy) often centered on land blessings: rain and crops, secure borders, protection from enemies, multiplying offspring, and peace in their lifetime, real promises, given by a faithful God, to a specific people in a specific covenant arrangement.
But the new covenant promises are greater in scope and duration, they are eternal, not merely tied to a plot of land or the stability of a nation. The sermon began moving us toward the language of Ephesians 1: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord…”, the kind of blessing that is not merely earthly prosperity but spiritual blessing in Christ, secured forever.
So I want you to examine what you expect from God. If your hope is mainly for better circumstances, easier seasons, safer borders, fuller bank accounts, you’ll be shaken when hardship comes. But if your hope is anchored in the better promises of the new covenant, full forgiveness, true access to God, Christ’s finished work, and eternal inheritance, you can endure cultural pressure without turning back.
Conclusion
Hebrews 8 calls you to a steady, resilient discipleship: don’t leave Jesus, because there is nothing better to return to. The old covenant was a God-given shadow; Jesus is the fulfillment. The old priests stood daily because their work was never done; Jesus sat down because His sacrifice is final. The old offerings repeated endlessly; Jesus became the offering once for all. The old worship revolved around an earthly tabernacle; Jesus ministers in the true sanctuary, and God can be worshiped anywhere His people gather. And the old promises, good as they were, pointed forward to the better promises we now have in Christ.
So I’m urging you, gently but directly: stop living like you need a new sacrifice every week. Stop shrinking God to a location. Stop treating Christianity like a religious system you must keep reviving. Trust your High Priest. Follow Jesus forward. He is better.
Father in heaven, thank You for giving us Jesus, our great High Priest. Thank You that He is seated at Your right hand, showing us that His saving work is finished and fully sufficient. Forgive us for the times we drift into old ways of thinking, looking for holiness in places, trusting in rituals, or living under condemnation as if Christ had not completed the sacrifice. Teach us to rejoice in the better covenant, established on better promises. Strengthen us to follow Jesus when it is costly and unpopular. Make us faithful disciples who worship You in spirit and truth wherever we are, confident that You meet Your people through Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Conclusion
Hebrews 8 calls you to a steady, resilient discipleship: don’t leave Jesus, because there is nothing better to return to. The old covenant was a God-given shadow; Jesus is the fulfillment. The old priests stood daily because their work was never done; Jesus sat down because His sacrifice is final. The old offerings repeated endlessly; Jesus became the offering once for all. The old worship revolved around an earthly tabernacle; Jesus ministers in the true sanctuary, and God can be worshiped anywhere His people gather. And the old promises, good as they were, pointed forward to the better promises we now have in Christ.
So I’m urging you, gently but directly: stop living like you need a new sacrifice every week. Stop shrinking God to a location. Stop treating Christianity like a religious system you must keep reviving. Trust your High Priest. Follow Jesus forward. He is better.
Closing Prayer
Father in heaven, thank You for giving us Jesus, our great High Priest. Thank You that He is seated at Your right hand, showing us that His saving work is finished and fully sufficient. Forgive us for the times we drift into old ways of thinking, looking for holiness in places, trusting in rituals, or living under condemnation as if Christ had not completed the sacrifice. Teach us to rejoice in the better covenant, established on better promises. Strengthen us to follow Jesus when it is costly and unpopular. Make us faithful disciples who worship You in spirit and truth wherever we are, confident that You meet Your people through Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.