A New Plan

by Tresa Stewart

November 11, 2010

A New Plan

I have to admit, I love to read the Bible.  There is always something in it that inspires me in a new way. It may be something I have already read (a hundred times before).  Then one day, I somehow see it in a different way—a new perspective on the same old truth.  Like one day, I came across a verse in Hebrews 8 that says the Lord made a new agreement with his people.  Because of the new agreement, the old one became obsolete. (Hebrews 8:8, 13)

I decided to read the whole chapter, because I wanted to understand why the old agreement was outdated.  After reading a little bit more, it became clear.  In the old agreement, there were laws and regulations and rituals.  There were processes and procedures.  The people of God were bound by these laws.  These were commandments of God, and His people had to follow every rule, regulation, and procedure if they wanted to be forgiven of their sins.  Then God established the new agreement, and the old way of doing things—the old rules, regulations, processes and procedures—became obsolete.  They were outdated.  They were done away with…and I can understand why.  It must have been a lot of tedious work trying to keep up with all those rituals. 

Under the first agreement there was a temple, with priests, an altar, animal sacrifices, etc.  Under the new agreement, all of these things were replaced by Jesus (in the heavenly temple). Because of Jesus, everything in the old system was moved out of the way.  Everything about the old temple pointed to Jesus, so when He came and died for our sins, the old temple was no longer needed. This is why the veil in the temple was torn away (Matthew 27:51).

Imagine a young child playing with his blocks.  Imagine that each block represents a part of the earthly sanctuary and its services.  The child stacks the blocks one on top of the other until he has a built a very tall structure.  Now imagine that child taking away each block that in some way points to Jesus.  The child carefully moves away the altar, the lamb, the priest, the candlesticks, the bread of promise, the veil, and everything else that is associated with the earthly temple—every feast, new moon, holiday, rule, ritual, procedure, regulation, offering, observance, dress code, standard, curtain, furnishing, and fixture.  Everything!  (Hebrews 8:8, 13; Hebrews 9:1-15.)

Do you know what this means?  Nothing can stand in the way of our salvation. The only thing between us and the throne of God is Jesus.  This new agreement, established by God, became effective the day Jesus died and the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51).

by His Grace