The author of the Letter to the Hebrews is writing about the Christian’s high priest, Jesus, in chapter 8. He says that Christians ‘are holding and possessing a high priest who is seated down within the right hand of the throne of the Majesty within the heavens, 2 a servant in the set apart places, the True and Real Tabernacle or Tent of meeting, which the Lord, not a mere human being, has pitched and made fast’, (Hebrews 8 v 1, 2).
Then he says, ‘It is certain then that if [Jesus] was existing on earth he would certainly not be a priest 5 because there exist those offering gifts according to Law, which is a copy, example and shadow outline serving the heavens, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the Tabernacle….. 6 But now, [Jesus] has obtained a more excellent service, as much as he is the mediator and go-between of a much better Covenant that has been enacted on the basis of stronger, more excellent promises and announcements. 7 Because indeed, if that one there that went before had been faultless, then a place for a second would certainly not have been sought after and desired’, (Hebrews 8 v 4 – 7).
He reaches a conclusion: ‘If Jesus was existing on earth he would certainly not be a priest’, (verse 4). Why? Because Jesus is from the tribe of Judah, and on earth, under Sinai Covenant Law, priests are only selected from the Levitical tribe. They were ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices in the tabernacle/temple according to Covenant Law, all of this being a shadow outline of realities within the unseen heavenly realm. But this shadow infrastructure was brought to ruin and loss with the Babylonian Conquest and the destruction of Solomon’s Temple and it has never been fully reinstated even though another temple was built decades later, only to be destroyed again in 70 AD.
By contrast, Jesus is indeed a priest, but not of the Levitical order and not on earth, but rather, within the heavenly realm at the right hand of the throne of God. He is high priest serving in the set apart places, in the True and Real Tabernacle/Temple in the heavenly realm. The Lord God, as opposed to a mere human being, has made this firm and secure.
Thus we have the two priestly orders. First, the Levitical order of priests, established for God’s chosen ethnic group, the Jews, according to the Sinai Covenant with divine Law as an essential component of this Covenant. This exists as a shadow outline of heavenly realities. But it is an order that has fallen into a degree of ruin and loss as a result of the repeated wayward corruption and disobedience of Jews and their delegated leaders in the past. This loss occurred when God withdrew Himself and His honour and praiseworthiness from Israel at the time of the Babylonian Conquest. This still remains the position of Jews with regard to God down to this present time.
Other ethnic groups, races and nations – Gentiles – continue to exist outside of the Sinai Covenant and its infrastructure, in relative ignorance with regard to God and heavenly realities. Gentiles are not under a priestly order, but rather, they exist under a Covenant of Behaviour in which their conscience – faulty as it may be, as we will see later – either excuses or convicts them before God.
Second, we have the superior priestly order that corresponds to Melchizedek, which is situated firm and secure within the heavenly realm, and based on a promise made on oath by God. It is into this order of priests that Jewish Christians are transferred and Gentile Christians are placed. Jesus is the high priest of this order, serving in the True Tabernacle/Temple that the Lord has pitched in the heavenly realm. Jesus serves as the mediator of a much better Covenant that has been enacted on the basis of stronger, more excellent promises and announcements than the Sinai Covenant.
He concludes by saying, ‘if that one there that went before [the Levitical order of priests] had been faultless, then a place for a second [order of priests corresponding to Melchizedek] would certainly not have been sought after and desired’ (verse 7). But what does this mean for Christians and their relationship with divine Law under the Sinai Covenant?
