The author tells us that the ministry of Christ is more excellent than the ministry of the old covenant because it mediates a better covenant and is based on better promises. We return to the groundwork laid in the opening chapters. Jesus is the Son, and he is high priest in the distinctive order of Melchizedek. Without further argument on this point the author turns, not to the superiority of the new, but to the inferiority of the old. He sounds oh so human! Isn’t that the way we argued with our parents? In chapter 9 the author sites that the Levitical priesthood approached God through the services of the tabernacle. The great high priest approaches God by entering once for all into the Holy Place. The death of Christ, an event within earthly history, is also an event in eternity, the once-for-all entry of the Son, the great high priest, into the presence of God. Could it be that we are there and just don’t know it?
The author tells us that the ministry of Christ is more excellent than the ministry of the old covenant because it mediates a better covenant and is based on better promises. We return to the groundwork laid in the opening chapters. Jesus is the Son, and he is high priest in the distinctive order of Melchizedek. Without further argument on this point the author turns, not to the superiority of the new, but to the inferiority of the old. He sounds oh so human! Isn’t that the way we argued with our parents? In chapter 9 the author sites that the Levitical priesthood approached God through the services of the tabernacle. The great high priest approaches God by entering once for all into the Holy Place. The death of Christ, an event within earthly history, is also an event in eternity, the once-for-all entry of the Son, the great high priest, into the presence of God. Could it be that we are there and just don’t know it?
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