In the Old Testament, God appointed individuals who were sinners like everyone else to be priests and enter the place called the holy of holies in the tabernacle where God made His presence known. The priest had to carefully get forgiveness of their sins and then carefully help God’s people get forgiveness. It was a long tedious process.
Things changed in the New Testament after Jesus lived a sinless life and took on the sin of all humanity past, present and future when He died on the cross and then Came back to life. Jesus became our high priest. Today, as Christians, we simply talk to Jesus about any and all needs we have including the forgiveness of our sin. Sin and wrongdoing separates from our sinless God. This is an exciting and peace giving truth; Jesus sits next to God at His right hand, praying for us. When we pray, Jesus takes our prayers and turns them into a perfect conversation with our Heavenly Father that will best meet our needs!…That is so awesome!
I am so thankful today, as the day begins, that Jesus is for me and my family! Wow!
Hebrews 8:
8 Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. 2 There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle,[a]the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.
3 And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too. 4 If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law. 5 They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.”[b]
6 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 far better covenant with God, based on better promises.
7 If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. 8 But when God found fault with the people, he said:
“The day is coming, says the Lord,
when 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
when I took them by the hand
and led them out of the land of Egypt.
They did not remain faithful to my covenant,
so I turned my back on them, says the Lord.
10 But this is the new covenant I will make
with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their minds,
and I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 And they will not need to teach their neighbors,
nor will they need to teach their relatives,[d]
saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’
For everyone, from the least to the greatest,
will know me already.
12 And I will forgive their wickedness,
and I will never again remember their sins.”[e]
13 When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.
Linda's Thoughts 