Глава 8

Hebrews 8:1. The main thing about what we are talking about is this: we have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven Hebrews 8:2. And there is a priest of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. “The chapter about those who say: these are the imams of the High Priest, who sits at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,” “a servant of the holy ones and the true tabernacle, which the Lord, and not man, set up.” The Apostle saved the greatest honor for last and said that He sits “at the right hand of the throne of Majesty.” Just as the ancestor of the priests, Aaron, the first to receive the rank of high priesthood, entered the tabernacle of God with fear and trembling, so Christ is seated at the right hand. The Apostle added the title: “servant,” because he was talking about the High Priest. For what kind of service does one perform, having once offered Himself and not offering another sacrifice? And how is it possible for one and the same person to both sit and serve? Who would call the salvation of people performed by the Lord Christ a service? And the Apostle called “tabernacle” heaven, where Christ, being the creator of it, according to the word of the Apostle, serves as a man. Hebrews 8:3. Every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; and therefore it was necessary that He also had something to bring. “For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices: he has the same need to bring him.” It is characteristic of the High Priest to “bring gifts” to the God of all. That is why the Only Begotten, having become human and taking upon Himself our nature, offered it for us. Hebrews 8:4. If He had remained on earth, He would not have been a priest, because here there are priests who, according to the law, bring gifts. Hebrews 8:5. Which serve the image and shadow of the heavenly, as it was said to Moses when he began to complete the tabernacle: look, it is said, do everything according to the image shown to you on the mountain. “If he were on earth, there would not be a priest, a real priest, bringing gifts according to the law,” “who serve the image and wall of heaven.” The Apostle said this in justification of the law, teaching that he does not condemn the law, but recognizes that it is venerable, as serving as a prototype of heavenly things. That is why he said that it was unnecessary to call Christ a Priest while he lived on earth, when the subordinate ministry was performed by priests according to the law. Therefore, if the priesthood under the law came to an end and the High Priest, according to the order of Melchizedek, offered a sacrifice and made other sacrifices unnecessary, then why do the priests of the New Testament perform the mystical ministry? But for those who have learned the Divine, it is clear that we offer no other sacrifice, but we create the remembrance of that one and saving sacrifice. For the Master Himself commanded us to do this: “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19), so that when we look at the image we remember the suffering suffered for us, kindle with love for the Benefactor and look forward to tasting future blessings. The Divine Apostle, calling the ministry under the law “the wall of heaven,” confirms his word with the testimony of Scripture. As it was said to Moses, who wanted to create a tabernacle: “See,” he said, “create everything in the image shown to you on the mountain” (Ex. 25:40). God, having shown Moses some outlines on the mountain, commanded to prepare something similar to them. Consequently, the Old Testament serves as an image of the heavenly. This is what the Apostle adds. Heb.8:6. But this High Priest received a more excellent service, inasmuch as He was the best intercessor of the covenant, which was established on the best promises. “Now a better service has been perfected, according to a better covenant there is an Advocate, like unto better promises: be made legal.” The apostle briefly showed superiority. For with the Old Testament there were bodily promises: “a land boiling with honey and milk” (Ex. 3:17), a land of olives “and grapes” (Is. 36:17), many children and the like, and with the New Testament - eternal life and the Kingdom of Heaven. Having thus shown that the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek is superior to that of the Levites, the Apostle openly enters into the struggle for the New Testament. Heb.8:7. For if the first covenant had been without deficiency, there would have been no need to look for a place for another. “If the first” tabernacle had been “immaculate, a place would not have been sought” for the second. The Apostle used the word “immaculate” instead of: perfect, that is, sufficient to perfection; She made those who used it blameless. since this was enough to defeat those who adhered to the lawful way of life, then as a witness to what was said, he calls the prophet Jeremiah and says: Hebrews 8:8. But the prophet, reproaching them, says: Behold, 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. Hebrews 8:9. Not such a covenant as I made with their fathers at the time when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in that covenant, and I despised them, says the Lord. Hebrews 8:10. This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Hebrews 8:11. And every man shall not teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for everyone, from the least of them to the greatest, will know Me. Hebrews 8:12. Because I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. “Rebuking them, he says: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will make a new covenant against the house of Israel and against the house of Judah,” “not according to the covenant which we commanded.” 3 “In the day that I took them by the hand, I brought them out of the land of Egypt; “For this is the covenant that I have made for the house of Israel from these days,” says the Lord, “I have given My laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” “And not to teach every one his sincere brother, saying: Know the Lord: for all will lead me away from the least of them, even to the greatest of them”, “before I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will not remember their sins and iniquities to anyone” (Jer. 31, 31-34). Having uttered this testimony, the Apostle very wonderfully and briefly rejects the law and says: Hebrews 8:13. By saying “new,” he showed the dilapidation of the first; and the decaying and aging is close to destruction. “The new always says, after the first has become old: but that which becomes old and grows old is near decay.” The law is adapted to mortal people; and the New Testament promises us eternal life. Therefore, it is right that that law has grown old, and this one always remains new, as associated with ageless centuries. This is what the prophecy meant: “Thou shalt not teach every man his true brother, and every man his brother, saying: Know the Lord: for all will lead me away, even from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them.” And this does not happen in this life, but will happen in that life, for here those who are still surrounded by the darkness of unbelief will see the truth: “and they will mourn,” according to the word of God (John 16:20). Since the Apostle, in what was explained before this, called the subordinate ministry “the wall of heaven,” he continues this speech. According to reading from the prophet. Jeremiah (Jer. 31, 32). You might be interested in: