A Better Promise
Reflection by Joe Mears
There are so many places in the Old Testament that point to Jesus. The entire Bible, from front to back, points to the gospel of Christ, from the first Adam to Jesus, the “last Adam.” However, I would like to focus on Jesus’ ministry in this reflection by first exploring the Book of Job. Job 9:33 states:
“If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together.”
In the Old Testament account, Job pleaded out loud that he wished a mediator could stand between him and his friends and defend his blamelessness. In the Bible, a mediator can be described as someone appointed to stand between God and us, a certain “high priest” who offers sacrifices to God as a pleasing aroma to cleanse us of our sins. One example of a mediator is the High Priest, a descendant of Aaron, who, by offering animals without blemish as sacrifices on the altar, would ultimately intercede between God’s people and Himself. Once a year, this priest would enter the “Holy of Holies” of the Tabernacle to atone for the sins of the people, carrying their sins before the Lord that they may be forgiven.
Now, Job simply wanted someone to declare his righteousness to his friends, who, at that point, may have had every right in their own eyes to believe that Job was at fault for all the calamity that had befallen him. But, unfortunately, all Job had at his defence was his word. Let us now look ahead to the New Testament Book of Hebrews. Chapter 8:6 states:
“But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a MINISTRY that is far superior to the old priesthood, for He is the one who MEDIATES for us a better covenant, based on better promises.”
Now we have a great High Priest, Jesus, whose ministry is to mediate a new covenant with God based on “better promises.” The old promises were based on ritual and the sacrifice of unblemished animals, all of which foreshadowed Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross. While ritual sacrifices of old served to atone for the sins of the Israelites, the cross provided atonement for the sins of all humanity. Jesus was the Lamb of God without spot or blemish. At the cross, He took on the guilt, shame, and sins of us all. The Old Testament says, “cursed is he who hangs from a tree” (Deut 21:22-23). Jesus bore that curse on our behalf.
So, what is the “far better” covenant based on better promises?
Let us return to Hebrews 8, where the author of Hebrews cites God’s plan of a BETTER covenant from the Old Testament. Verses 8-12 state verbatim the covenant of grace promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34.
8 The day is coming, says the Lord, where I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah 9 –this covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors 10 but the NEW COVENANT I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord. 11 I will put my law in their minds, and I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be My people. 12 And I will forgive their wickedness and I will never again remember their sins.”
Oh, how the prophet Jeremiah must have longed to know how this new covenant of promise would be carried out. “The day is coming”- the day the temple veil would be torn in two from top to bottom, allowing us access to God. The day the sky darkened, and the earth quaked. The day the spotless Lamb of God gave His life for sinners. He would be made sin for us that we might live.
In the book of Job, God sits while the “Accuser” is allowed to torture Job with the belief that with all of Job’s earthly possessions gone, Job would curse God. (Job 1:9-11) Today, praise Jesus; we have a new, better High Priest who stands between us and God. The scars on His hands and feet represent the blood He shed for us so God could declare us " not guilty.” In Jesus’ name, the Accuser must flee from us since, through Jesus’s ministry, we are in right standing with God because of our High Priest, who mediates for us to God based on that better promise.
Oh, what a mighty God we serve! Job said so long, long ago, even before the times of the coming Messiah, “if only there were a mediator.” His wish foreshadowed the coming of our Lord and Saviour, JESUS! Jesus came to earth, humbly setting aside His Heavenly attributes to live as a man (Phillippians 2), blameless in the eyes of God, to fulfill the better covenant. The covenant that no longer required sacrifices because the spotless lamb of God WAS the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus propitiates for us- He took our place! Jesus bore on Himself what we, sinners, deserved- hell and death- and He defeated them both by being raised from the grave, ultimately taking His seat at the right hand of the Father as Our High Priest. Our Mediator.
I will end with a Davidic psalm, foreshadowing the Word of God that was put into Jeremiah's mouth about the new covenant of Grace—about the better promise of a High Priest who mediates for us between God and the Accuser.
6 You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings. Now that You have made me listen, I finally understand. 7 Then I said, ‘Look, I have come, as is written about in the scriptures.’ 8 I take joy in doing Your will, God, for Your instructions are written on my heart. - Psalm 40:6-7
The Holy Spirit speaking through David is prophesying the coming of Jesus based on the scriptures!
I praise You, Father, for preordaining Your Son to save us from sin through a better covenant. To save us from shame and guilt from the accuser through a better promise. God, You are mighty. You have given sight to this blind man and You unfurl Your mystery to those who are not worthy to be called Yours. Yet, through Your Amazing Grace, You have predestined me to be Yours, and for that, I love You.
In the Perfect and Holy Name of Jesus,
Amen
Joe