Dealerships used to lure customers with advertisements of trade-in values for old vehicles. If you could “push, pull, or tow” your car onto their property, you were “guaranteed” a good value toward the purchase of a new car. We once literally towed an old worn-out car into a dealership, and we left with a new car that was, without question, far better than the one we traded in.

Hebrews Chapters 7 and 8 refer to things that are far “better.” Because the Levitical priesthood was not perfect, Jehovah established a better eternal priesthood in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 7:14-17, 22-23, 26-28). The priesthood of the Savior is able to save anyone “to the uttermost that come to God by Him” (Hebrews 7:25). Israel was also given “a better covenant” (Hebrews 8:6). The word “covenant” means a contract that God made with Israel. Early in the Old Testament, God made a covenant with the Jews that if they would faithfully follow His commands, He would greatly bless them. But if they refused to obey and walked in waywardness, He would curse them with divine judgment that would make their lives miserable (Deuteronomy 11:26-28). Hebrews 8:6 explained God had given Israel a “better covenant” which is identified as “a new covenant with the house of Israel” (vs. 8). Because the Jewish people had been so consistently disobedient and wayward, they were not experiencing God’s blessings and joy. There was nothing wrong with their old covenant. The problem was with constantly failing human beings in Israel. Therefore, God promised He would one day make a new covenant, wherein Israel will be supernaturally enabled to walk in godliness because He would write His “…law in their inward parts…[and] in their hearts…” (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Hebrews 8:10- 12). This will ultimately happen in the Millennial Kingdom, but Hebrews 8:13 was explaining they already had a taste of this in early Acts. Their old covenant was “ready to vanish away.” They were to anticipate the new covenant, wherein they would be supernaturally enabled to live apart from sin.

The Apostle Paul tells us we are “…able ministers of the new testament [or covenant]; not of the letter [given to Israel], but of the spirit…” (II Corinthians 3:6). We are to joyously live in expectation of living completely apart from sin in eternity. This will be “far better” than our daily experience now. In the mean time, are you to genuinely seeking to live apart from sin?