One of the “inconveniences” of living in
a city that is far from your home is that it’s harder to get information on
your favorite sports teams. As a Detroit
Red Wings fan, living in St. Louis during the mid-90’s also meant that if I was
going to watch hockey, it’d be a division rival.
A strange think happens when you watch a
rival team, you start to respect its players.
One player in particular was a guy named Brett Hull. Hull was the captain of the St. Louis Blues,
and he was an incredible skater, shooter, and scorer. I loved watching him play.
I remember watching the news one morning
and it was announced that Hull was no longer going to play for the Blues. I was stunned! How could this be? Instead, he had been picked up by my Red
Wings. Imagine my joy! We had Hull!
That, on a very minor level, is like the
message of Hebrews 8; except instead of a team Captain, now were talking about
the one who delivers God’s forgiveness and salvation to us. Rather than a high priest who must offer
sacrifices that merely copy a heavenly reality, we have Jesus! We have the real thing!
Jesus’ sacrifice overthrows the earthly
high priesthood because His sacrifice establishes a new covenant – a whole new
relationship with God. Instead of
looking for forgiveness through multiple offerings of blood from animals burnt
on an altar, we are cleansed by Jesus’ blood shed once on the cross for
us. His resurrection shows that His
sacrifice was so much superior to the blood of rams, goats, bulls and
pigeons.
The reason for this new covenant? God says through His prophet Jeremiah that it
is because, “they did not continue in my covenant.” But when Israel broke the first covenant God
did not give up. His love for people is
so great that He set that broken covenant aside and put something better,
stronger, in its place. In this covenant
we know God, not through His righteous acts, nor His glorious creation, but
through His grace. “For I will be
merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”
Father, did you simply forget all I have
done against you? No! You gave me Jesus to take my sins away, and
they are gone. Thank you! Amen.
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