Hebrews 8:6-13 ESV But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
8 For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Please open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 8. This morning, we are going to look at verses 6 through 13, one of the most breathtaking passages in the book of Hebrews, and indeed in the whole Bible. It is here that the Spirit of God tells us that Jesus Christ is the mediator of a better covenant, established on better promises.
Now, we need to feel the weight of that word better. The author of Hebrews does not mean “slightly improved.” He does not mean “a different version of the same thing.” No, he means something altogether different, something new, something final. He is contrasting two covenants: the covenant made with Israel at Sinai, and the covenant brought in by the blood of Christ.
The first readers of this letter needed to hear this. These were Jewish believers in Jesus, but they were tempted to go back. Think about it: the temple was still standing. Sacrifices were still being offered. Priests were still clothed in their garments, incense was still rising in Jerusalem. For these Christians, turning away from the old covenant meant turning away from everything familiar, everything their families and neighbors still clung to. It was costly. It was painful. And in that moment of temptation, the writer of Hebrews says: Do not go back. Do not cling to shadows when the substance has come. Do not hold to the copy when Christ Himself is here.
John Owen, the great Puritan expositor, said of this passage: “The apostle proves the old covenant weak, imperfect, and temporary, a covenant that must give way to that which is more glorious, more spiritual, more effectual.” That is the message of Hebrews 8. But let’s not keep this at arm’s length. The temptation of those early Christians is still our temptation. We may not be tempted to offer animal sacrifices, but aren’t we tempted to measure our standing with God by our own works? Aren’t we tempted to live as though our law-keeping or our performance is what makes us acceptable? Some of us even grew up being taught that God is still running two different programs: one for Israel, one for the Church, as though the old covenant is still in effect, waiting to be fulfilled. But Hebrews tells us something different. Hebrews tells us the old covenant is obsolete, ready to vanish away, because Christ has brought the new covenant in His blood.
Now to help us feel this, let me borrow an image from one of the greatest Christian books ever written: John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Bunyan tells of a man named Christian, who carries a heavy burden on his back. He knows it is the weight of his sin, but no matter what he tries, he cannot get rid of it. At one point he climbs the Hill of Sinai, thinking that law-keeping will free him. But instead of losing his burden, he nearly dies under its crushing weight. And Bunyan writes, “He ran, but the hill was so steep, and Christian was so burdened, that he fell and was like to be crushed altogether.” That is exactly what the old covenant was like. It could show you your burden. It could expose your guilt. But it could never take it away.
But then Christian comes to the cross. He looks up and sees Christ crucified for him. And Bunyan says, “Just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders and fell from his back, and began to tumble, until it came to the mouth of the sepulcher, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.”
That is Hebrews 8. That is the glory of the new covenant. The old could reveal sin, but the new removes it. The old could burden, but the new gives rest. The old could prepare, but the new fulfills. This is why Augustine once said, “The law was given that grace might be sought; and grace was given that the law might be fulfilled.” The law was like a lamp in a dark room, it showed you the dirt on the floor, but it could not sweep it away. Christ is the morning sun that both reveals and cleanses.
This is also why our confession, the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, speaks so clearly on this point. Chapter 7 reminds us that the covenant of grace was “revealed in the gospel” from the very beginning, but it was not “formally established” until Christ shed His blood. All those old covenant promises, forgiveness of sins, God’s law written on the heart, true communion with God, were whispers pointing forward to this moment. In Christ, they are fulfilled. And so the author of Hebrews says: “But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is much more excellent than the old, as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises” (v. 6).
So here is our task this morning. I want us to walk carefully through this passage and see four truths:
- Christ is the Superior Mediator.
- The old covenant was Insufficient.
- The new covenant rests on Greater Promises.
- And the old covenant is now Obsolete.
And my prayer is that by the end of this sermon, you will not only understand these truths, but that you will rest in them, that you will feel the burden of law and works fall from your shoulders, and that you will rejoice in the covenant sealed by Christ’s blood, the covenant where God says: “I will remember their sins no more.”
The Superior Mediator (v. 6)
Hebrews 8:6 ESV: “But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.”
The Holy Spirit gives us a word here that we cannot pass by lightly: mediator. A mediator is someone who stands between two estranged parties and makes peace. The old covenant had a mediator, Moses. But now we are told that Christ is the mediator of a better covenant, built on better promises.
Moses, the Mediator of the Old Covenant
Think back to Sinai. The mountain shook with thunder. Smoke billowed. The trumpet blast grew louder and louder. The people trembled at the foot of the mountain while Moses alone went up to meet with God. There, God gave His law. And when Moses came down, Exodus 19:8 records the people’s response: “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” They swore obedience.
But before Moses even descended, the covenant was already broken. In Exodus 32, while he was still on the mountain, the people built a golden calf. They bowed down to it. They worshiped it. They broke the covenant they had just pledged to keep. Do you remember Moses’ response? The next day he said to the people: “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin” (Ex. 32:30). He interceded with these words: “But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written” (Ex. 32:32). Moses was willing, but he was powerless. He could plead, but he could not pardon. And God Himself said in Deuteronomy 31:16, just before Moses died: “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them… and forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them.”
That’s the story of the old covenant: a mediator who could bring the law, but not life. A servant who could intercede, but not save. The Puritan John Owen captured it perfectly when he wrote: “Moses was faithful as a servant in a house that was to be taken down; Christ is faithful as the Son over His own house, which shall never be removed.”
Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant
But now look again at our verse: “Christ has obtained a ministry that is much more excellent.” Moses could not atone. But Christ does. Moses was only a servant. But Christ is the Son. Moses mediated a covenant doomed to be broken. But Christ mediates a covenant that can never fail, because it is sealed in His own blood. This is why Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:5: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
And Hebrews 9:15 says: “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.” And our Lord Himself declared in John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Do you see the difference?
- Moses could only deliver the law; Christ fulfills it.
- Moses could only intercede; Christ both intercedes and atones.
- Moses was a servant; Christ is the Son.
And because Christ lives forever, Hebrews 7:25 tells us: “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” This is why our confession, the 1689, opens Chapter 8 with these words: “It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man.” This was not an afterthought. From all eternity, Christ was appointed to be the mediator of the covenant of grace.
Salvation Then and Now
But let me be clear about something. Israel was never saved by sacrifices, or by works of the law. Scripture says otherwise. Hebrews 10:4 is plain: “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
So how were the faithful saved before Christ came? By looking forward to Him. Jesus said in John 8:56: “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” They looked through the veil of sacrifices and shadows, trusting in the Messiah who would come. We look back on the finished work of the cross. But the way of salvation is the same in every age: grace, through faith, in Christ. The difference is that we live on this side of the cross, where the Mediator has come, died, risen, and ascended.
But here is where the text presses us. Many of us still live as though Moses were our mediator. We measure God’s love by our performance. When we succeed, we feel near. When we fail, we feel far. We imagine His favor rises and falls with us. We live under the thunder of Sinai, as if God were always ready to cast us off.
But Christian, listen: your mediator is not Moses. Your mediator is Christ. Your standing before God does not depend on your works. It rests on Christ’s obedience. It does not depend on your sacrifice. It rests on His blood. It does not depend on your strength. It rests on His intercession. Imagine standing in a courtroom. The law has spoken: guilty. Under Moses, the sentence could only be read. Under Christ, the sentence is carried out on Him instead of you. Moses could declare judgment. Christ bears it. That is mediation.
So why is the new covenant better? Because it has a better mediator. Moses was a servant, but Christ is the Son. Moses pled, but Christ paid. Moses announced, but Christ accomplished. And this means that if you are in Christ, you can draw near to God with full assurance. Not with fear, not with trembling, but with confidence, because your Mediator is the risen Son of God, who saves to the uttermost.
The Insufficiency of the Old Covenant (vv. 7–9)
Hebrews 8:7-9 ESV: “For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says: ‘Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.’”
The point is unmistakable: the first covenant, the covenant made at Sinai, was not faultless. It was insufficient. It could not bring lasting reconciliation with God.
But to really see why this matters, we need to step back and trace the whole story. Because Sinai was not the first covenant God made with man, and it was not the last.
From Eden to David, God made covenant after covenant, each one glorious in its own way, but each one also incomplete, pointing forward to Christ.
Adam, The Covenant of Works
In Eden, Adam stood as the federal head of all humanity. God said in Genesis 2:17: “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Life was promised upon obedience; death was threatened upon disobedience. And Adam failed. Romans 5:19 says: “By the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners.” His sin plunged all his posterity into death. But even in judgment, God gave a promise. Genesis 3:15: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Adam’s covenant showed us the curse of sin. But it also whispered of Christ, the last Adam, who obeys where Adam failed, and who crushes the serpent’s head (1 Cor. 15:45).
Noah, The Covenant of Preservation
After the flood, God covenanted with Noah: “Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth” (Gen. 9:11). The rainbow was set as the sign of His patience and preservation of the world. But Noah himself soon fell into sin, drunk and exposed in his tent (Gen. 9:21). Preservation was not salvation. Humanity was still corrupt. And yet, even here, the covenant pointed forward to Christ. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:20–21 that Noah’s ark was a type, or foreshadow, of salvation in Christ: “In the days of Noah… a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Notice carefully what Peter says. He does not mean that the act of baptism saves by itself. He even clarifies: “not as a removal of dirt from the body.” In other words, it’s not about the outward washing of water. Baptism saves only in that it is tied to Christ’s death and resurrection. It is a sign of union with Him. Think of the ark. The waters of judgment fell on the whole world. But those inside the ark were carried safely through. In the same way, the judgment of God fell on Christ at the cross. And if you are united to Him by faith, then you are safe in Him. Baptism is the God-given sign of that union, not the saving reality itself, but the picture pointing to Christ. So Noah’s ark points to Christ as the true refuge. Just as the ark bore the storm of judgment while preserving the people within, Christ bore the storm of God’s wrath while preserving all who belong to Him.
Abraham, The Covenant of Promise
In Genesis 12, God said to Abraham: “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” He promised him offspring, land, and blessing. But Abraham never possessed the land. Hebrews 11:9–10 says he lived in tents, “looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” Paul makes it plain in Galatians 3:16: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ.” Abraham’s covenant promised blessing to the nations, but the promise pointed to Christ, the true Seed, in whom all are blessed.
Moses, The Covenant of Law
At Sinai, God covenanted with Israel. Exodus 19:8 records their vow: “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” But before Moses even came down, they had built a golden calf. God Himself told Moses in Deuteronomy 31:16: “This people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them… and forsake me and break my covenant.” And Hebrews 10:4 adds: “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” The law revealed God’s holiness, but it could not give life. It showed sin, multiplied sin, condemned sin, but it could not cleanse sin. Yet even this covenant pointed forward. Paul says in Galatians 3:24: “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.” The sacrifices, the priesthood, the temple, all shadows pointing to the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.
David, The Covenant of Kingship
In 2 Samuel 7:12–13, God promised David: “I will raise up your offspring after you… and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” But David’s sons failed. The kingdom split. The throne was lost. The people were exiled. Yet the prophets pointed forward. Isaiah 9:6–7: “For to us a child is born… and of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom.” And when the angel appeared to Mary, he said in Luke 1:32–33: “The Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” David’s covenant pointed forward to Christ, the eternal King.
The Lesson of the Covenants
So do you see the pattern? Every covenant had glory, but every covenant also had insufficiency.
- Adam failed, but Christ obeys.
- Noah preserved, but Christ saves.
- Abraham promised, but Christ fulfills.
- Moses condemned, but Christ redeems.
- David reigned, but Christ reigns forever.
Every covenant showed us our weakness. Every covenant pointed us forward. John Owen said: “The old covenant was weak, not because God’s promises failed, but because it was designed only to point to Him who should come. Its weakness was its wisdom, to prepare the way for Christ.” That is what Hebrews 8:7–9 is teaching. The old covenant was insufficient, not because God failed, but because it was temporary, typological, preparatory. It was scaffolding for the true structure. It was a shadow of the substance.
And here is where it presses on us. Why would we ever cling to the shadow when the substance has come? Why live in scaffolding when the building is finished? Why trust in law, or works, or rituals, when the true Mediator has come? This is not just a theological point, it is a heart issue. Are you still living under the law, measuring yourself by your own obedience? Are you clinging to rituals, thinking they can cleanse you? Friend, they cannot. They never could. But Christ can. Christ does. All the promises of God find their Yes in Him (2 Cor. 1:20).
So what do we learn? The old covenant was insufficient. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, each covenant glorious, but each incomplete. Each one crying out for Christ. And now He has come. He is the second Adam, the true Ark, the promised Seed, the final Sacrifice, the eternal King. That is why Hebrews says: “If that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.” The first was faulted because it pointed forward. The second is faultless because it is Christ.
The Promises of the New Covenant (vv. 10–12)
Hebrews 8:10-12 ESV: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”
Here we have the very center of Jeremiah’s prophecy and the very heartbeat of the new covenant: three great promises, a new heart, a new communion, and a new forgiveness.
The Law Written on the Heart (v. 10)
Hebrews 8:10 ESV: “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts.”
At Sinai, the law was written on stone. God’s own finger carved the commandments into tablets (Ex. 31:18). They were holy and perfect, but external. They showed the standard, but gave no power to meet it. Israel received the law, but they did not receive a new heart. That’s why they broke the covenant again and again. But in the new covenant, God does something radically different. He doesn’t just give His law to His people. He engraves it on them. Ezekiel 36:26–27 explains: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
Do you hear the difference? At Sinai, the law said: “Do this and live.” In Christ, God says: “Live, and then you will do this.” At Sinai, the law stood outside of us, commanding and condemning. In Christ, the Spirit comes inside of us, transforming and empowering. Paul captures this in 2 Corinthians 3:3: “You are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” This is regeneration, the miracle of the new birth. God takes dead sinners, gives them new life, and writes His will upon their hearts.
Now, some of you might still think sanctification is just about trying harder. But hear Philippians 2:13: “It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” The law written on the heart means God is not just telling you what to do; He is changing what you love, so that you want to do it. Think of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. After Christian’s burden falls off at the cross, he receives a new scroll and a new garment. He’s no longer trudging along under law’s condemnation. He walks differently, he speaks differently, because something has changed inside. That’s the new covenant promise: God Himself working in His people.
Communion with God (vv. 10–11)
Hebrews 8:10 ESV: “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
This is the covenant formula, the very heart of God’s plan for all ages. He said it to Abraham: “I will establish my covenant… to be God to you and to your offspring after you” (Gen. 17:7). He said it at Sinai: “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God” (Ex. 6:7). He said it to David through the prophets. And now, in Christ, it comes to fullness. Notice how verse 11 expands it: “They shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.”
What does that mean? It does not mean we no longer need teachers, after all, God gave pastors and teachers to the church (Eph. 4:11). It means that in the new covenant, every single member truly knows God. In the old covenant, the whole nation was included, whether they had faith or not. But in the new covenant, only the regenerate are members. All know the Lord savingly.
This is why we as Baptists insist on regenerate church membership. The church is not a mixed body of believers and unbelievers as Israel was. It is the new covenant community, and all in it know the Lord. Jesus echoes this in John 6:45: “It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.” And in John 10:14 He says: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.” And this knowledge is not just intellectual. Jesus defines it in John 17:3: “This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Eternal life is knowing God personally, relationally, covenantally. Think of Augustine’s words: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” The old covenant left hearts restless. The new covenant brings rest, because God Himself comes near.
And notice the sweep of the promise: “From the least of them to the greatest.” The little child in Christ knows God as truly as the aged saint. The unlearned believer has as real a knowledge of God as the greatest theologian. Not all with equal depth, but all with equal reality.
Forgiveness of Sins (v. 12)
Finally, the climax of the covenant comes in verse 12:
Hebrews 8:12 ESV: “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”
Here is the great promise upon which all the others rest. Without forgiveness, a new heart would only condemn us faster. Without forgiveness, communion with God would consume us. But with forgiveness, everything else falls into place. Christ’s one sacrifice does what endless sacrifices could never do. It removes sin, once and for all.
Hebrews 10:14 ESV: “By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
Psalm 103:12 ESV: “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”
Micah 7:19 ESV: “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”
And God Himself says here: “I will remember their sins no more.” That doesn’t mean God literally forgets, as though He loses knowledge. It means He chooses never again to bring our sins to account. The record is erased. The debt is paid. The slate is clean. The Puritan Thomas Watson put it beautifully: “When God pardons, He forgives all at once; He forgives freely, fully, finally. He casts our sins into the sea, not into a pond, for they might be found again; but into the sea of Christ’s blood, never to rise up in judgment against us.”
This is why Christ said at the Supper, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:28). Every time we remember His death, we remember that the new covenant rests on forgiveness secured in His blood. And this is why Owen says: “Here is the great foundation of all covenant mercies, the free, full, and final pardon of sin. Without this, no other promise could be of use unto us.”
So here are the three promises of the new covenant:
- A new heart with God’s law written within.
- A new communion where all know Him.
- A new forgiveness where sins are remembered no more.
Everything Adam lost, everything Noah preserved, everything Abraham hoped for, everything Moses commanded, everything David longed for, all of it finds its Yes and Amen in Christ (2 Cor. 1:20)
What does this mean for you tonight? Maybe you came in feeling powerless against sin. Hear God’s promise: “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts.” If you are in Christ, the Spirit is already at work within you. He will finish what He began. Maybe you came in feeling distant from God. Hear His promise: “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” You are not a stranger. You are His. You know Him, and He knows you. Maybe you came in weighed down with guilt. Hear His promise: “I will remember their sins no more.” If you are in Christ, God is not holding your sins against you. They are nailed to the cross, buried in the sea, erased forever.
Beloved, this is why the new covenant is better. It does what the old never could. It gives what it commands. It secures what it promises. It forgives what it condemns. Here is the gospel in six words: new heart, new communion, new forgiveness. And it is all yours in Christ, the mediator of the new covenant.
The Old Passing Away (v. 13)
“In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”
Here the Spirit gives us a sobering but glorious truth: the old covenant is obsolete. It has served its purpose. It is growing old and vanishing away. Notice the logic of the verse. The very moment God promised a new covenant through Jeremiah, He was declaring the old one temporary. The word “new” automatically made the first “old.” And what is old, the text says, is ready to vanish. This was a radical claim for the first-century Jews. At the time Hebrews was written, the temple still stood. Priests were still offering sacrifices. Smoke still rose from the altar. Outwardly, it looked like business as usual. But God says here: the system is already obsolete. The shadows are giving way to the substance. And within a few years of this letter, in A.D. 70, Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple burned, and the sacrifices ended. History confirmed what God had already declared: the old covenant had passed away.
Paul explains it in Colossians 2:17: “These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” Think of it: shadows are not false. They are real, but they are temporary. They point to something greater. Once the reality arrives, the shadow has no purpose. Moses, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the temple, all shadows. Christ is the substance. To cling to the shadow now would be like clinging to scaffolding when the building is complete, or staring at a photograph when the person has entered the room. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:11: “For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.” The old covenant had glory, yes, but it was fading glory. The new covenant has surpassing, permanent glory.
Christ Fulfills, Not Abolishes
But let’s be clear: saying the old covenant is obsolete does not mean God’s law was a mistake, or that His promises failed. Jesus Himself said in Matthew 5:17: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Christ is not the cancellation of the story; He is the climax of it. The law is fulfilled in Him. The promises are accomplished in Him. 2 Corinthians 1:20 declares: “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him.” This is why dispensational thinking misses the mark. God is not running two parallel programs, one for Israel and one for the church. Hebrews says plainly: the old covenant is obsolete, vanished, gone. There is one people of God, one mediator, one new covenant sealed in Christ’s blood.
And here is the good news: if the old is obsolete, the new is permanent. The shadow fades, but the substance abides. The scaffolding falls, but the house stands forever. John Owen writes: “The covenant which God hath made with us in Christ Jesus shall never wax old, never be abolished. It is everlasting, stable, and unchangeable.” Think about what that means. Your salvation is not fragile. Your covenant standing with God does not age, decay, or expire. Christ’s blood has secured an everlasting covenant (Heb. 13:20). It will never be replaced.
So why does this matter for us today? For some, it is a warning. If you are tempted to treat rituals, traditions, or outward religion as the way to God, Hebrews warns you: that way is obsolete. You cannot go back to Sinai. The temple is gone. The sacrifices are finished. Only Christ remains. For others, it is comfort. Maybe you fear that God’s covenant with you is fragile, that you might break it and be cast off. But hear the Word: the old covenant was breakable, but the new covenant is not. It rests not on your obedience, but on Christ’s finished work. It will never vanish away.
So what do we learn from verse 13? That the old covenant has served its purpose and passed away. The shadows are gone, the substance has come. The fading glory has given way to the permanent. The story has reached its climax. Christ has fulfilled the law, secured the promises, and established an everlasting covenant. And beloved, if you are in Him, you are standing on ground that will never shake, never crumble, never fade.
Conclusion
We have walked together through one of the richest passages in Hebrews, and we’ve seen the greatness of Christ’s covenant. In verse 6, we saw that we have a superior Mediator, Christ Himself, who doesn’t just plead but pays, who doesn’t just announce but accomplishes. In verses 7–9, we saw the insufficiency of the old covenant, Adam failed, Noah fell, Abraham longed, Israel broke, David’s sons stumbled. Every covenant was glorious, but every covenant incomplete, crying out for Christ. In verses 10–12, we saw the promises of the new covenant, a new heart, a new communion, a new forgiveness. All the things the old covenants could not give, Christ gives. And in verse 13, we saw the passing away of the old, the shadows gone, the substance here, the covenant that will never age or fade.
This is the story of redemption, from Eden to the New Jerusalem. The old covenants were signposts, the new covenant is the destination. The old covenants were shadows, the new covenant is the substance. The old covenants were scaffolding, the new covenant is the finished building. And at the center of it all stands Christ, the Mediator of a better covenant.
So let me ask you this morning: where are you standing? Are you still clinging to shadows? Are you still living as though Moses were your mediator, measuring God’s love by your performance, trying to patch your sins with rituals and works? Friends, that way is obsolete. That covenant has passed away. You cannot be saved by law. You cannot be saved by effort. You cannot be saved by tradition. Or are you resting in the substance, Christ Himself? Are you trusting in the Mediator who is able to save to the uttermost? Are you standing on the covenant that can never be broken, sealed in blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel?
Hear God’s promises again:
Hebrews 8:10-12 ESV: “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people… 12 I will remember their sins no more.”
Romans 8:1 ESV: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
John 19:30 ESV: “It is finished.”
Revelation 21:3: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
This is where the story ends, not at Sinai, not at exile, not at fading shadows, but at the New Jerusalem, where the covenant reaches its perfection and God Himself dwells with His people forever.
