By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. Hebrews 7:22
One of the craftiest people to approach the Lord Jesus during his ministry was a lawyer who asked how to inherit eternal life. If anybody was going to inherit eternal life by their behaviour and knowledge, this man was. He knew all of the law, including the rules and regulations that the Jews had added to the Scriptures. When Jesus asked him what the law said, this man could recite it by heart. Jesus told him, ‘This do and thou shalt live’ (Luke 10:). But as the story continues, the Lord Jesus uses the parable of the Good Samaritan to show that this lawyer had failed to keep the law that he was so proud of keeping. If that lawyer couldn’t keep it, what hope was there for everybody else? When Jesus told the man that if he kept the law, he would live, He was telling the truth. But He then proved that the lawyer – and everybody else – could not and has not kept the law that was the basis of the Old Testament. That’s why the Lord Jesus was there, to bring in a New Testament.
Why is the New Testament better than the Old? Because it has a better Surety. There was a surety in the Old Testament. Aaron became a surety for Israel when he made the sacrifices and entered into the Holy of Holies to apply blood on the Mercy Seat. But Aaron died, and was followed by a succession of high priests who also died. After their deaths, those high priests remained in the grave, because they were sinners and their suretyship had no power over death. But our Surety, the Lord Jesus, died for sins not His own and now lives in the power of an endless life. And because He lives, He imparts eternal life to all who trust in Him. That’s why the New Testament is a better testament.
When Aaron became a surety for the Israelites, he had to keep doing it every year. His suretyship had to be repeated over and over, because it was never perfect or permanent. How much better is our Surety, of Whom it is said, ‘But this Man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God’ (Hebrews 10:12). When it comes to our eternal salvation, the Lord Jesus is our Surety. He is our guarantee that we will never see the flames of hell and that we will forever see the glories of Heaven. When it comes to our daily salvation, the Lord Jesus is our Surety. He is our guarantee that we have strength for living for Him and joy in the midst of this vale of tears. These things were all missing from the covenant that was given to Israel in the Old Testament.
We have a better testament. How much we appreciate that depends on how well we know and follow the Surety of that testament. – Jim MacIntosh