Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.1
God is good. He is unchanging; thus, we can trust him. He cannot lie.2 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.3
“For thus says the Lord GOD: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant. . . . I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.4
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them . . . I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. . . . For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. . . and ready to vanish away.5
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain [a second section called the Most Holy Place6; the curtain inside the temple that tore from top to bottom as Jesus gave up his last breath while nailed on the cross7], where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever . . .8 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek9, rather than the one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change of priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.10 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.11 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 the Majesty in heaven, . . . The former things were merely a foreshadow. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.12 But as it is, Christ has 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.13 Jesus is the guarantor of a better covenant.14
Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses the way.15 Cease to hear instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.16 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, . . .17 Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.18
“. . . I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.”19
Notes:
1. Proverbs 16:20
2. Hebrews 6:18
3. Numbers 23:19-20
4. Ezekiel 16:59-63
5. Hebrews 8:8-13
6. Hebrews 9:1-10
7. Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45
8. Hebrews 6:19-20
9. Melchizedek is first mentioned in Genesis 14:18-20
10. Hebrews 7:11-12
11. Hebrews 7:18-19
12. Hebrews 8:1, 5
13. Hebrews 8:6
14. Hebrews 7:22; 9:11-28
15. Proverbs 19:2
16. Proverbs 19:27
17. Hebrews 6:1
18. Psalm 100:3
19. Ezekiel 17:24
