Part of the series Jesus Is Superior, preached at The Valley Remnant Church on November 8, 2026.
What do you think is better? A person who promises to do something but never does it, or maybe never can? Or a person who looks at you and says, “I promise. It’s already done.”
We all know the first kind of promise. We have made them. We have broken them. We have had them made to us and broken on us. “I’ll be there.” “I’ll pay you back.” “I’ll never do that again.” Promises, promises.
Hebrews 8:6 is one verse. Just one verse. But there is a lot in this one verse, and it answers that question for us.
“But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established on better promises.”
Hebrews 8:6 (CSB)
The text gives us the outline. A superior ministry. A better covenant. Better promises.
1. A Superior Ministry
“Superior” means more excellent, more distinguished, set apart from the rest. But before we can say Christ’s ministry is better, we have to know what a ministry is. How can you know what’s better unless you first understand what it is you’re comparing?
The word is leitourgia. It’s where we get our word “liturgy.” It means a public service, a service done on behalf of others. In the Old Testament it was the word for the priests and their work in the sanctuary. The priests were ministers. They served for the people before God.
So what made the old ministry lesser? Look at it.
- It was a copy. The tabernacle was built after the pattern shown to Moses, a shadow of heavenly things (Hebrews 8:5).
- Its priests were many, because they kept dying (Hebrews 7:23).
- Its priests were sinners. They had to offer for their own sins first (Hebrews 7:27).
- Its offerings were the blood of bulls and goats, and that blood could never take away sins (Hebrews 10:4).
- Its offerings were repeated, day after day, again and again (Hebrews 10:11).
- Its access was limited. One man, one room, one day a year, and not without blood (Hebrews 9:7).
Now look at Christ.
- He ministers in the true tabernacle, heaven itself, set up by the Lord and not by man (Hebrews 8:2, 9:24).
- He is one priest, and he holds his priesthood permanently because he lives forever (Hebrews 7:24).
- He is holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners (Hebrews 7:26).
- His offering was his own blood, and he obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12).
- He offered one sacrifice for sins forever and sat down (Hebrews 10:12).
- The way is open. He appears in the presence of God for us, and we draw near with confidence (Hebrews 4:16, 9:24).
James Haldane, in his exposition of Hebrews, points out that this offering could not be made on earth, because the earthly priests were already appointed to offer gifts according to the law, and their service was only an example and shadow of the heavenly things. And Robert Paul Martin makes the point that it is Christ’s actual ministry, not just his qualifications, that far surpasses the Levitical priests. His birth set him apart. His being the eternal Son set him apart. But he obtained this ministry by what he actually did.
A picture of my wife
I would much rather have my wife than a picture of my wife. The picture is nice. Put it in the office. Put it on the wall. When I’m on the road I can look at my phone and see her face. But I don’t want to live with the picture. I want to be with my wife.
That’s the old ministry. It was a good picture. It was there for its time. But Christ understood that we couldn’t just deal with a copy. A copy wasn’t good enough. He didn’t leave us with a copy.
The minimum payment
Those earthly priests went back time and time again, and the debt was never truly paid. It was like paying the minimum balance on a credit card. Month after month after month. You pay and you pay, and it feels like you’ll pay forever. The interest is bigger than what you put in. It never goes away.
Christ didn’t make a payment. He paid the balance. Once, for all. You don’t have to keep sending something in. You don’t have to worry about the next statement. He’s paid it all.
2. A Better Covenant
If it’s better, something has to be lesser. And here is the thing I want you to hear clearly. The old covenant wasn’t bad. It was good. It did exactly what God gave it to do. It wasn’t a worse covenant. It was a lesser covenant. Lesser versus better, not bad versus good.
The old covenant had a mediator too. Moses. He went up the mountain. He came down with the tablets of stone, from God’s own hand. And the covenant was cut in blood. That’s how covenants were made. Think of Genesis 15, the animals split in two, and God alone passing between the pieces. A covenant was always cut in blood.
At Sinai the people said, “We will do everything that the LORD has commanded” (Exodus 24:3). That covenant had two sides. God promised blessing. The people promised obedience. Rain in its season. Harvests. Victory over enemies. Long life in the land. And every blessing had its curse. Drought. Defeat. Exile.
The obligation rested on the people. And they broke it. “They did not continue in my covenant” (Hebrews 8:9). The land was taken. The temple was destroyed. The people were carried away.
Now here’s the better covenant. It has a better mediator. Jesus was born under the law (Galatians 4:4). He was the only one who ever kept it, all of it. The Ten Commandments, the ceremonial laws, the civil laws. He didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17).
He fulfilled the lesser covenant three ways at once:
- He obeyed it. Every command, perfectly.
- He bore it. He took the curse it pronounced on lawbreakers. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).
- He completed it. Every type, every prophecy, every sacrifice, the priesthood, the temple. All of it pointed to him, and he finished it.
So the lesser covenant has nothing left to demand. That’s how he obtained this ministry. Not that he became the Son by obeying. He is eternally the Son. But as the God-man, he learned obedience from what he suffered, and “after he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:8-9).
Miss Trunchbull and Miss Honey
Paul calls the law a guardian, a schoolmaster, until Christ (Galatians 3:24). And some schoolmasters aren’t very nice.
If you know Roald Dahl’s Matilda, you know Miss Trunchbull. Big, stomping, terrifying. The kids live in fear of her footsteps. And you know Miss Honey, the gentle teacher who welcomes the children.
Now be careful here. Trunchbull is not the law. The law is holy and righteous and good (Romans 7:12). Trunchbull is what the law feels like to a sinner who can’t keep it. We try, and we fail every day, and it feels like we’re about to get thrown in the Chokey.
Miss Honey grew up under Trunchbull’s roof. She knew the rules. She didn’t come out the other side lawless. But here’s where the picture breaks. Miss Honey escaped. Jesus didn’t escape the law. He went through the house and satisfied every rule and regulation it required. He was born under the law, endured its demands, and became the gentle shepherd who does not break the bruised reed.
And Matilda? At the end she is adopted. A new home. A new relationship. She didn’t earn it. She was just a child, and she was given everything. That’s the new covenant.
Do this and live, or it is done
This is where the covenant of works and the covenant of grace come in. In the garden God told Adam, eat and you die (Genesis 2:16-17). Do this and live. Adam broke it, and in Adam all die (Romans 5:12, 1 Corinthians 15:22). The covenant of works still stands over every person born in Adam. It’s never been abolished. It just can’t save anyone, because no one can keep it.
Sinai put that same principle out for everyone to see. Do this and live.
But right after the fall, God promised the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). That’s the covenant of grace, promised to Abraham, promised through Jeremiah, and now established by Christ. He is the second Adam who kept the covenant of works that the first Adam broke (Romans 5:18-19). Our part is to receive it by faith. (See the 1689 London Baptist Confession, chapter 7.)
So go back to the question from the beginning. Which is better? A promise you have to keep and can’t? Or a promise already kept for you?
The lesser covenant says, do this and live. The better covenant says, it is done. Now live.
So what does my sin do now?
Under the covenant of works, our commandment breaking condemns us. Under the covenant of grace, it drives us to Christ. The law still shows us our sin, but now it sends us to the one who kept it for us.
Our commandment breaking shouldn’t lead us to despair. It should lead us to trust in Christ. We don’t have to worry about what is going to happen to us, because it has all happened to Christ for us. Yes, we get convicted. Yes, we repent. But there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). And that should lead us to better praise, not because we’re earning the promise, but because the promise has already been given.
3. Better Promises
Better promises have to be better than something. They’re better than the lesser promises. The land flowing with milk and honey. Rain. Peace in the land. Victory over enemies. God dwelling among them in the tabernacle. Long life. Being set high over the nations.
Every one of those could be lost. And every one of them was lost.
People today still long for the land. They still talk about rebuilding a temple. But that served its purpose for a time and a place. This is not about the land. It’s not about a place in this world. It’s about a place in heaven. And we are adopted as children.
No more continual sacrifice. No more earthly high priest. No more lambs. No more need to feel secure in a piece of land. Those things were always meant to be temporary. The better promises are eternal. Without end.
Look at them all through Hebrews:
- Eternal redemption (9:12)
- A cleansed conscience (9:14)
- An eternal inheritance (9:15)
- Perfected forever, those who are sanctified (10:14)
- Confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus (10:19)
- A better resurrection (11:35)
- A better country, a heavenly one, and a city God has prepared (11:16)
- A kingdom that cannot be shaken (12:28)
- “I will never leave you or abandon you” (13:5)
And the new covenant promises themselves, which we’ll get to next: the law written on our hearts, God is ours and we are his, all will know the Lord, and he remembers our sins no more (Hebrews 8:10-12).
The lesser promises were for the earth. The better promises are for eternity. Both were about the presence of God. One just shadowed it. Now we have the fullness of it.
Promises, Promises
You’ve heard it said, a promise never made is better than a promise never kept. But these promises were made in eternity past, by the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, before anything existed. And the promise maker is the promise keeper.
Things are hard sometimes. They aren’t always the way we want them to be. We think we know better. We think we could make it better if we just understood more. But the simple promise Jesus made should be enough for us. He promised to be with us always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). He never has to leave us, and he never will.
And that is not a promise we should take lightly.
Watch the full sermon on YouTube. [SermonAudio link added after upload.] We’d love to see you on the Lord’s Day. Sunday School is at 10:15 AM and worship is at 11:00 AM. Plan your visit.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Phil Pagliari
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Hebrews 8:6 mean?
Hebrews 8:6 says Jesus has obtained a ministry superior to the Levitical priests, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant built on better promises. His priestly work in heaven is the real thing the earthly tabernacle only pictured, the new covenant he mediates rests on what he has done, and its promises are eternal.
Was the old covenant bad?
No. The old covenant was good and did what God gave it to do. It was lesser, not bad. It was conditional, it depended on the people’s obedience, and its promises were earthly and temporary. It pointed forward to Christ, who kept it, bore its curse, and fulfilled it.
What is the difference between the covenant of works and the covenant of grace?
The covenant of works was made with Adam in the garden: obey and live, disobey and die. Adam broke it, and all who are in Adam stand under it. The covenant of grace, promised in Genesis 3:15 and established by Christ, rests on Christ’s obedience instead of ours. He is the second Adam who kept what the first Adam broke, and we receive it by faith. See the 1689 London Baptist Confession, chapters 7 and 20.
If Christ kept the law for me, does my sin still matter?
Yes. The law still shows us our sin, and we are still called to repent. But for those in Christ, sin no longer condemns. It drives us back to Christ, who kept the law for us and bore its curse. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
