Hebrews: A 28-Day Musical DevotionalMuestra

 The Old

It may be shocking to learn that the old covenant was unable to save people from their sins. That doesn’t mean that God failed in setting up a priestly good system, it just means that God wanted to point us to a better one. In regard to place, time, and blood, here is how the old covenant failed to deal decisively with sins:

PLACE: The central place of the old covenant was the tabernacle (later rebuilt as the temple). The tabernacle was where God met with his people, who were represented by the priests. The priests would make daily sacrifices in the holy place, but only the high priest could enter the most holy place – and only once a year on the Day of Atonement. The tabernacle, despite all its beautiful imagery and Garden-of-Eden-like symbolism, was only a picture of the true tabernacle in heaven, and not the real thing.

TIME: How often did the priests make sacrifices? Everyday! These sacrifices were repetitive. I mean repe-te-tive! They went on and on and on. Priests would make sacrifices one day, and then the next day, they would do it again. And then do it again. And then do it again. This unchanging monotony suggests ineffectualness. 

BLOOD: The reason for the futility of the sacrifices was the blood that was being offered. The priests would shed the blood of animals on the alter as an offering to God. The problem is that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (10:4). We sinners need better blood.