Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of Hebrews Chapter 8
Metaphysically Interpreting Hebrews 8:1-13
8:1Now in the things which we are saying the chief point is this: We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 8:2a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. 8:3For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is necessary that this high priest also have somewhat to offer. 8:4Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, seeing there are those who offer the gifts according to the law; 8:5who serve that which is a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses is warned of God when he is about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern that was showed thee in the mount. 8:6But now hath he obtained a ministry the more excellent, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises. 8:7For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second. 8:8For finding fault with them, he saith,
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
That I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;
8:9Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
In the day that I took them by the hand to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt;
For they continued not in my covenant,
And I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
8:10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
After those days, saith the Lord;
I will put my laws into their mind,
And on their heart also will I write them:
And I will be to them a God,
And they shall be to me a people:
8:11And they shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen,
And every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord:
For all shall know me,
From the least to the greatest of them.
8:12For I will be merciful to their iniquities,
And their sins will I remember no more.
8:13In that he saith, A new covenant he hath made the first old. But that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away.
October 5, 1947: Heb. 8:6-11
Humanly speaking, a last will sets aside all wills previously made, rendering them void and of no effect. The divine will differs from the human will in this respect, for the last will of God, which we call the New Testament, does not invalidate the first, but rather fulfills it.
The first will of God, as it was crystallized and put into permanent form for our benefit, is found in the Old Testament. That will is that we inherit the life that is divine in its essence by keeping the moral law. Moses codified the law, and the prophets and other enlightened leaders of olden times tried earnestly to induce the Children of Israel to keep it. But it was so imperfectly kept that, except in sporadic cases, men missed altogether the life that is life indeed. It therefore became necessary to make a new will, the terms of which would be more easily understandable and in which men could find a formula that they could follow. The New Testament grew out of this need of greater understanding, and in it God willed to show us the easy way to keep the moral law; namely by keeping the law of love, as exemplified in the life and work of Jesus Christ.
- UNITY magazine
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 10-26-2013
