“But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one. But finding fault with his people, he says: ‘See, the days are coming, says the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah’ …. By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is about to pass away” (Hebrews 8:6-8,13, CSB).

The Hebrews writer explained that the Old Testament covenant law has been replaced with the new covenant of the gospel of Christ. Although the old has been replaced with the new, both were necessary functions of God’s unfolding plan of redemption for rebellious humanity.

But, the Hebrews writer said the new covenant of the resurrected Christ was actually the fulfillment of the temporary atoning measures provided in the Mosaic law. In other words, the ministry of Christ was superior to the Mosaic law because it was founded on better promises than the old covenant. While the Mosaic law convicted of sin, the gospel of Christ conveyed eternal life.

The Mosaic covenant informed God’s people of His moral law, convicted them of sin, and established a pattern of sacrifice and priesthood that provided them with temporary atonement. But, it did not redeem people from sin. It was only the prologue to a superior plan for the redemption of all people that was fulfilled in Christ.

So, the Mosaic law revealed people’s inherent sinfulness. The gospel of Jesus Christ redeemed people from sin and promised eternal life.

The Hebrews writer explained that the temple/tabernacle imagery served as a shadow of heavenly things. Basically, the system of sacrifices and offerings set up in the Mosaic law was designed to give us some theological insight into the heavenly order and God’s plan of redemption. More importantly, it was designed to reveal our sinful nature and demonstrate how short we all fall from God’s glory (Romans 3:23).

As God’s plan of redemption unfolded to achieve its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, the first order of the plan of redemption–the Mosaic law and the priesthood–was decommissioned.

But, it was a planned obsolescence. Because it was replaced with something better. “Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant” (vs. 9:15).

Through this promised new covenant, the resurrected life of Christ Jesus set us free from the law of sin and death and gave us the promise of eternal life. The Apostle Paul put it this way: “For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:3-4, CSB).

But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law. (Romans 7:6, CSB)