²² … so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

Guarantees are something we all like, but few are worthwhile. Sports figures guarantee wins, stock advisors guarantee huge returns and manufacturers guarantee products. One lumber product came with a fifty year guarantee, but it would mean holding on to the proof of sale for that whole length of time! And who knows whether the company would even exist in five decades! So as we gain more experience in life we tend to become more skeptical of proclamations and promises like that.

Sometimes people treat God’s guarantee in a similar fashion—we might get excited for a while when we first come to faith, but over time we can become skeptical of (or at least dull to) the idea that the new life in Christ is better than the old way. Again, that is the temptation the readers are facing, and against which the writer is warning them.

We have seen that Jesus is better than angels, Moses, the Law and the priesthood. Now we discover that Jesus provides a “guarantee of a better covenant.” This is the first time that word is used in this letter, but it is used twenty more times. The Israelites were a people of the covenant, that was one of their most primary identifications. And now to these Jewish believers, the good news is that there is something better. They are now identified with a person, who pledges a better covenant.

Now the word used for “guarantee” here is used only here in all of Scripture. It is similar to the “sealing” of the Holy Spirit, a deposit guaranteeing our salvation (Eph 1:13). Here the word has the connotation of “accepting a legal obligation.” It will come back on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son, to accept responsibility for the better covenant. In other words, the better covenant is only as good as Christ. But this implies no doubt, for Christ is the “radiance of [God’s glory] and the exact representation of His nature…” (Heb 1:3). He is God, the Son (Heb 1:1-2). If His guarantee is not good, then nothing can be guaranteed! It is more certain than the sun rising in the morning, taxes or even death. Faith is believing in Christ over against anything and everything else!

So what is the covenant that our writer is beginning to talk about? This is God’s commitment to how He interacts with His people. Whereas previously, He interacted with them based on law, now He deals with us based on grace through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Father, now that I have the better thing, how could I ever be tempted with that which is inferior? Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is my all in all!