For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. – Hebrews 7:12
Some people thrive on change, others abhor it. Whatever is involved, change means things will be different.
Most Jews at the time of Jesus rejected the change that the disciples told them had to come. For generations, Israel had maintained the covenant with God that He gave Moses at Mt. Sinai… a system of sacrifice and worship. The Levites, as their priests, administered the law’s commands, but could not forgive or cleanse the one bringing the offering. The sacrifices were a reminder to them of their sin.
Then Jesus came, from the tribe of Judah, as God’s sacrificial Lamb to suffer and die for the sins of the world. He rose from the dead as proof that He was the anointed High Priest of God who lives forever. He is the fulfillment of the law (Matthew 5:17).
The prophet Jeremiah spoke of a new covenant in which the Lord declared, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people… for they shall all know me” (Jeremiah 31:33-34).
Those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior will know the Lord as a child knows a loving Father. The transformed lives of the disciples were a witness to the new relationship between God and His children.
The grace of God through Christ now makes the first covenant of works obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). Jesus has pre-eminence. It is a wonderful change, a “better hope… through which we draw near to God” (Hebrews 7:19).
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