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Hebrews 8:13  By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

The line of argument throughout the Book of Hebrews seems to assume that the Temple is still standing in Jerusalem, and the regular sacrificial system is still being observed according to the Mosaic Law.  If this is correct, then Hebrews must have been written in the 60s, before AD 70 when everything was destroyed by the Roman invasion.

It is interesting for us to note that the Temple has never been rebuilt in the last 2,000 years!  The original Temple, built by Solomon and completed around 957 BC, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC and rebuilt by Zerubbael after the 70 years of exile.  This Second Temple was renovated/modified by Herod around 20 BC and survived for another 90 years.  Because blood sacrifice at the hands of the High Priest in the Temple on the Day of Atonement was an essential part of the Old (Mosaic) Covenant, the prediction by the Author of Hebrews that the Old Covenant “is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear” became a historical reality within a decade, thus authenticating for us the New Covenant founded on the once-for-all perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross – the point being stressed throughout Hebrews.

As we look back on the events of AD 70, and their timing, it is hard to know how the Sovereign God of all human history could have made it clearer that Jesus’ substitutionary atoning death is at the very centre of his eternal Plan of Salvation!

Let us pray earnestly that more and more Jewish people today will see this, and turn to Jesus (Jeshua) in repentance-and-faith, accepting him as their Promised Messiah and the only Saviour.  Praise God for the work and witness of organisations throughout the world like International Mission to Jewish People (IMJP) as they see their witness bearing fruit for God’s Kingdom.

“Not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain could give the guilty conscience peace or wash away the stain.  But Christ, the heav’nly Lamb, takes all our sins away; a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they. … … My soul looks back to see the burdens thou didst bear when hanging on the cursèd tree, and hopes her guilt was there.  Believing, we rejoice to see the curse remove; we bless the Lamb with cheerful voice, and sing his bleeding love” (Isaac Watts).

– Bruce Christian