of the weakness and unprofitableness of the law of the Old Covenant ( 7 :18). In the following chapters he speaks of the fact that the sacrifices of the Old Covenant could not settle the problems of sin and guilt (9:9, 10:1-3). These were “faults,” or “defects,” of the Old Covenant which were not in the positive sense of wrongs or mistakes, but in the sense that they left some thing to be desired. The Old Covenant GOD'S KEY Is there some problem in your life to solve, Some passage seeming full of mystery? God knows, who brings the hidden thing to light. He keeps the key. Is there some door closed by the Father's hand Which widely opened you had hoped to see? Trust God and wait— for when He shuts the door He keeps the key. Is there some earnest prayer unan swered yet, Or answered not as you had thought it would be? God will make clear His purpose by and by. He keeps the key. Have patience with your Lord, your patient God, All wise, all knowing, no long tarrier He, And of the door of all thy future life He keeps the key. Unfailing comfort, sweet and blessed rest, To know of every door He keeps the key, That He at last when He sees 'tis best Will give it thee. did not contain in itself all the pro visions necessary for pardon of sin and for making the conscience pure and therefore peaceful. The Old Cov enant was designed to be merely a dispensation preparatory to the Gos pel. “Place” was sought, or needed, for the second covenant, but not, as this 14
Testament, and that since a testament does not go into effect until the death of the testator, Christ also died so that we might receive the benefit “willed” to us in the Testament, name ly, the promise of eternal inheritance (9:15-17). This passage throws light on one aspect of the New Covenant in relation to Christ’s death, but it does not exhaust the full meaning of the New Covenant. The New Covenant has a fuller, richer meaning than the Old because it is unconditional, com plete, and permanent, whereas the Old was conditional, incomplete, and im permanent. The New Covenant deals with the same basic needs as the Old one: moral law, knowledge of God, and for giveness of sin. But under the Old Covenant, the moral law was em bedded in the national code of the Hebrews; God was revealed in the history of the Jewish nation; the con sciousness of sin, and of sins forgiven, was dealt with in ordinances of sacri fice, particularly on the national Day of Atonement. More spiritually-mind ed Israelites, however, also knew the blessedness of a personal walk with God. As time went on, the prophecies became clearer and more bold in an nouncing that this personal relation ship was God’s plan for His people, but even Jeremiah’s ringing announce ment of the new, personal, spiritual covenant that would replace the old (Jer. 31:31-34) is related to the “house of Israel and the house of Judah.” Jeremiah’s picture of this New Covenant had led men to look for a more effectual reconciliation with God, and so gave the writer to the Hebrews a perfect opening for explaining that God had met this need by speaking peace “in these last days . . . by His Son” (Heb. 1:2). Hebrews 8:7, “For if that first cov enant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the sec ond. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a New Cov enant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” In Chapter 7, the author had spoken
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