Christ is Better: Remembering What the Gospel Saves Us From

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs.” (Hebrews 1:1-4)

The book of Hebrews has been pressing on me in a new way for the last month as it reveals an understanding of the Gospel that’s often lost in our modern, Western context. We know very well that Jesus Christ died to pay the price of our sins, that it’s God’s great love for us that sent His Son to the cross, and that we’re saved by grace through faith in that Son; what’s lost is that, for thousands of years, there was another way God instituted the cleansing of sin and conscience.

This reality isn’t lost by the intended audience of the letter—left by an unknown author—the first-century Jewish Christians who’d (in a sense) put away the law of Moses and submitted to the law of Christ in a time and place where persecution of Christians was intense and common. Of course, there are places today that are suffering similarly for their faith, and the letter to Hebrews might make a lot of sense; I figure, if you’re reading this, the odds are that you aren’t being persecuted in the same way.

But that’s not to say you’re not experiencing any persecution; we live in a world where Christianity can very easily sit on a spectrum on convenience rather than of necessity. We’re always being pulled to drift away—some of us in quiet ways, others with the threat of loss of family or community, certainly of comfort. Most of us aren’t “Hebrews”, but here’s some history that will hopefully bring to life the greatness of Christ compared to what came before, and what His reign means for us now.

Out With the Old…

The American Gospel tends to focus on individual brokenness and individual blessing. “My sin separates me from God and Christ’s death and resurrection returns me to relationship with Him, and it opens me up to wonderful things.” Beautiful and true, but it’s incomplete. This Gospel makes perfect sense in a context where individualism reigns supreme—feel free to have your opinion on what that means.

But think back to the Bible stories you knew as a kid, if any: Abraham, the father of many nations; Moses, leader of the Israelites; David, king of Israel. These all have great individual stories, but their chief role was eventually to point a whole people group to the One True God. Moses stands out to author as the figure the audience holds in highest regard, and he makes it a point in chapter 3 to highlight that, as great as Moses was, he was only a servant of God. Jesus Christ is, instead, the Son of God. Jesus is better.

The author then pivots to priesthood. If Moses was the picture of governing excellence, then Melchizedek, king of Salem (peace) and priest of the Most High God, is the picture of pious excellence. He’s called the king of righteousness, the king of peace. This is the man to whom Abraham, the patriarch, paid his tithe to, and the author says that Levi, “founder” of the priesthood of Israel, falls short in comparison to Melchizedek who was a priest by way of his own righteousness rather than by effect of law or birthright—his priesthood wasn’t one of lineage.

But, the author says, Christ comes and holds a high priesthood even greater than that of Melchizedek and the Levites. Those priests were limited by their lifespans, but Christ’s priesthood stands forever. As great as Melchizedek was, Jesus is better. In fact, Christ is better in at least three ways that the law of Moses and order Melchizedek eventually fall short in: There’s a better covenant, a better sacrifice, and a better sanctification.

Jesus Christ, Priest of a Better Covenant

“Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man…Christ obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant He mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.” (Hebrews 8:1-2, 6-7)

Why does a covenant matter to us? A covenant is similar to a contract, an agreement set on the shoulders of a promise between two parties—in this case God and His people. There are a few schools of thought about God’s covenants, feel free to take that as a homework assignment, but the important thing to hold to is this: That God binds Himself to His people. It’s obvious in the Old Testament and to the Jewish Christians the author is writing to. They’d lived for centuries under a law that revealed how deeply people needed cleansing rather than instruction alone. It’s under this original covenant that you read the Old Testament and think, “Boy, these Israelites are a little dense…oh, I am too.”

In this old covenant, there was a set of rituals in place to routinely cleanse the Israelites of their sin and to return to favor with God. Where this old covenant was marked by a set of laws on stone and papyrus, God says He’s placed the new law in our hearts, a more impactful and effective solution in His eyes. The very announcement of a new covenant signaled that the old one had reached its limit—not because it failed, but because it fulfilled its purpose: to reveal the depth of our need.

The Lamb of God, Blood of a Better Sacrifice

“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is not of this creation) He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:11-12)

The author highlights the rituals that took place in the Tabernacle, “the tent”: The first section, a place of regular sacrificial duty, and the second, reserved for the Presence of God and a once-yearly visit from the high priest. The big deal here is that the old covenant didn’t remove sin, it did more to remind you of it. Every sacrifice said “your guilt returns and remains.”

In Christian circles you’ll hear the idea that “if you were to die for your sins, nothing would be accomplished for the sake of eternity because you’d deserve the death.” How much less could a lamb do so for us? The only way to pay the price and provide a future where eternal communion with God is possible was to offer up something beyond “us”—something perfect, eternal, and unblemished. Enter God Himself, and because of Christ’s sacrifice, we get to look past our sin and toward our perfection.

Eternity, Hope of a Better Sanctification

“[H]ow much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore, He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.” (Hebrews 9:14-15)

Because we have a better covenant and God offered the better sacrifice on our behalf, we get to look past death and fear of judgement toward eternal life—Christ conquered death and freed us from the dread of sin. The author further elaborates on the holiness and ultimate nature of Christ’s sacrifice, saying, “[It wasn’t] to offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters every year with blood not his own, for then He’d have to suffer repeatedly…He’s appeared once for all at the end of ages to put away sin by sacrifice of Himself.”

The big idea? You’re free! In Christ we no longer hold the weight of our sin in an eternal sense; when Christ comes back for the believer and follower, He’ll come for those who are simply ready to go with Him—see “the Parable of the Virgins” in Matthew 25. The old way of repetitive sacrifice shackled God’s people to the constant reminder that they weren’t “enough…”

“But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until His enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:12-14)

Better covenant, better sacrifice, and better sanctification; in Christ we see a doing away with the “old guard,” so to speak, and the permanent invitation to a better way of life.

In with the New, a Better Way to Live

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Finally we arrive at the climax of the letter. Verses 24 and 25 have to be in a list of 25 most popular passages of Scripture—and for good reason! Earlier I highlighted the Western Church’s emphasis on individualism, a natural response is to draw on Scriptures that pull our eyes back to community; but that’s not what those verses are, not just that.

24 and 25 come as the third of three “let us” commands, which come with a pair of contextual encouragements, the context of which finds its beginning back in chapter 8 where we started. Christ changed the paradigm (a better covenant), He offered everything (a better sacrifice), and He ushered in a new permanent, eternal future (a better sanctification)—this wasn’t possible in the old covenant, and many today still operate under similar notions.

If you’re like me, even in Christ, maybe especially so, you put a magnifying glass up to every action you take and every word you speak. You might find yourself stuck, still messing up in ways you promised God you’d repent from. Without something concrete to pull us forward, we get chained up in a sort of old/new covenant mashup: “I know that Christ sets me free by grace through faith, but faith without works is dead!” This is the drift Hebrews warns against: not abandoning Jesus outright, but slipping back into self-atonement, trying to carry what Christ already carried.

Brother, sister, I remind you: we have confidence, we have a great high priest. No longer are we meant to live in constant consciousness of sin, instead we get to talk to the God of the universe, whose Spirit makes residence in us; we, especially those of us in the West, get to talk about this salvation with the knowledge that God is faithful and true; and we get to focus on the good in one another, meeting together to encourage one another as people being made new, with the knowledge that Jesus is coming back for those who are eager to go with Him. So stay eager, and don’t shrink back.

Christ is Better, So Don’t Shrink Back

“[We] are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” (Hebrews 10:39)

Christ has done everything required to bring us into life with God—a better covenant, a better sacrifice, a better sanctification, a better way to live. So stand firm! Under the old system (and in the modern patterns that resemble it), there’s a constant awareness of failure. But Christ gives us the hope of constant confidence in Him. The author offers a warning in 10:26–31, but not to beat the audience down.

He reminds the reader that now they know God, and because of that, there’s no longer an excuse to drift into sin—Paul wrestles with this same tension in Romans 6. From there, he calls them to remember what they already have, what they’ve already endured, and I encourage you to do the same. He draws them into the reality that endurance is required—that there’s a “race” being run with a real finish line. This is why we gather, why we encourage one another as the Day draws near: because the Day is coming, and we’re meant to be ready.

The old is gone. We no longer offer sacrifices to secure salvation, nor do we approach God in the fear of judgment. The death and resurrection of Christ bring a better set of promises—righteousness rooted in grace rather than works, and a hope for a life beyond this one. This is the hope that carried Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Rahab, David, and so many others (Hebrews 11 tells their stories): a faith in a future to come, the assured confidence that God would provide a way home. In Jesus, He did—and He does.

Let that truth stir you to hope and confidence. Let it draw you into the better way Christ has secured.

Be blessed.