Day 6

READ Hebrews 8:1-13  “Through a Better Covenant”

QUESTIONS:

I want to challenge you to really use your imagination for the first part of this day.  I want you to imagine you’re an orphan in a distant country.  You have no hope.  One day, this sweet couple from another country has pity on you.  They bring you to an orphanage to work and stay.  Unfortunately, because of the laws in your country and the laws of the orphanage, the couple could not stay with you at the orphanage or take you home with them.  You are left as property of the government and must work to pay off the cost the orphanage incurs by taking care of you.  However, the orphanage swears, if you can ever pay off your debt, they will be happy to let you go free.  Years go by and you are never able to even touch the debt.  Every day you’re alive the debt increases.  You work but you never even get close to what you owe.  The only thing that keeps you working is what happens at the end of every day.  Everyday, when the sun is very low, that couple comes to visit you.  They must stand at the outer gate.  The sun is always at their backs and you know it’s them.  All you can see is the bright glow of the sun around their silhouettes and their long shadows that are cast into the orphanage.   You were so young when they rescued you, you can’t remember what they look like.  You only have an unclear memory of who they are.  But now that you’re older, you can tell by the long shadows they cast, that he is a slender man, very tall, and usually wears baggy shirts.  She has long hair, much shorter than the man, and you always see from the shadows that she has flowers.  Years go by and you work and work knowing that if the debt were gone, you could have a real relationship with the couple, but with the debt standing in your way, you must settle for shadows of what is their true reality.  Until……

One day, something is different.  It’s late in evening, just about the time you go to see their long shadows cast into your camp from the outside gate.  You see them outside and your heart is warmed, but then something happens.  The gate opens!  They begin to walk towards you.  But before they can come into the inner gate, they are stopped.  The Keeper of Orphanage Law reminds them that no child can leave until the debt is paid.  Unknowingly to you, this couple had gone through tremendous sacrifices for a long time and piles of paperwork to be able to have the ability and right to pay your debt.  After paying your debt in full, they are allowed to continue to walk towards you.  The shadows grow shorter and shorter as they approach, until, all the sudden the shadow becomes a reality!  For the first time, you reach out and hug the tall slender man.  His baggy shirt flaps in the gentle wind.  For the first time, you smell the sweet fragrance of the flowers you have seen for years.  All the sudden everything that was pointing to their reality that was far away, has come very near!  It is then that you are made aware that not only have they paid your debt, but they have legally adopted you into their family.  The tall slender man, after regaining his composure, gathers himself to say the sweetest words you have ever heard.  

“Today, you are coming home with me…my son!”

The shadows that kept you going for years have now become a reality.  But not only have the shadows become a reality but the presence and work of the man, have changed your reality.  You are no longer in a relationship with the Law of the Orphanage, you are no longer in debt to the orphanage, and no longer do you have to settle for shadows.  

The man leans down and says gently, “I need to tell you one more thing.”The man gets down on his knees, holds both your arms in love and says, “You see, I am the Founder and Owner of this orphanage.  I established it long ago so I could enter into a relationship with the orphans of this land.  You see, I am from a very distant country and I can’t interact directly with you.  But I created this orphanage and its laws to keep you until I could come.  I know you couldn’t keep the laws, that’s why I came into my own orphanage, fulfilled all the laws on your behalf, and now you are mine twice.  I rescued you and purchased you, and now you are my son.  Not through a set of laws and not through an orphanage, but you are now legally and naturally mine.  The orphanage, the laws, and the shadows were all pointing to me.  But now I’m here and I’ll never let you go!”

1. This story is simply a retelling and points to another great story…the gospel.  In the space below, write out all the parallels you can find between this story and the gospel.

2. In the story above, describe what role the shadows of the couple played for the orphan.

3. A shadow is a representation of a distant reality.  The shadow of Mt. Everest is a distant representation of a glorious reality.  How are the OT laws, sacrifices, feasts, Sabbaths, priests, and tabernacles shadows of a distant glorious reality?

4. Read Hebrews 8:5.  In the OT, God goes to great lengths and includes great details to make sure everything is exactly like he wants it.  We many times get frustrated with all the details of the OT sacrifices and tabernacle construction.  If the OT is a shadow of what was to come, why did God demand such perfection and exactness in his law and instructions?

5. Read Hebrews 8:8-12.  This is a quotation from Jeremiah 31:31-34.  At this time Israel was living in complete rebellion against God and they were on the edge of being taken over by enemies and losing their land.  In the midst of this terrible time in Israel’s history, Jeremiah prophesies an amazing glimmer of hope of a new covenant coming.  Use this passage to explain how the new covenant will be different and why it’s greater.

6. The main purpose of Hebrews 8 is to show how Jesus’ priestly ministry is greater than the OT because he is a greater priest and the covenant is a greater covenant.  In Zephaniah 3:14-17, Zephaniah is prophesying about the day you’re living in right now.  He is dreaming of the day of living under the new covenant.  Verses 14-17 is Zephaniah speaking to us as if he were living in this day.  Read Zephaniah 3:14-17.  You are living under this New Covenant Zephaniah is speaking of.  Knowing that, and knowing how Zephaniah longed to live in this day, write below what you would say to someone who is taking living in this time for granted.