At this point in his epistle to the Hebrews, Paul begins a logical argument comparing Jesus’ Priesthood with that of Aaron, or the Levitical priesthood. The whole purpose or function of the office of high priest was to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin to God (Hebrews 5:1), and it was for this reason Christ was appointed (G2525) as our High Priest (Hebrews 8:3; cf. Hebrews 5:1-6; Psalm 2:7; 110:4). The obvious implication is: God wasn’t satisfied with the blood of lambs and goats offered by the Levitical priesthood (Isaiah 1:11).
Nevertheless, the fact remains, because Jesus was of the tribe of Judah, of which the Law says nothing concerning the priesthood (Hebrews 7:14), the Lord couldn’t serve as Priest in the Temple at Jerusalem. The Law would have forbidden it, because it had established the sons of Aaron to serve there (Hebrews 8:4).
Therefore, since Jesus is our High Priest by the appointment of God (Psalm 110:1, 4), Paul concludes that he must have a sacrifice to offer. Nevertheless, since the Law would have forbidden any offering made by him in the Temple at Jerusalem (Hebrews 7:14; 8:4), the Law, itself, must be changed (Hebrews 7:12), if the act of God, in appointing Jesus as High Priest, is to be considered valid at all. Nevertheless, if Jesus came to fulfill the Law but not destroy it (Matthew 5:17), the change could not affect the services done in Jerusalem. Rather, Jesus ascended into heaven, where he executed his office as High Priest (Hebrews 2:17; 3:1; 4:14-15; 5:10; 6:20; 7:26; 8:1, 3; 9:11, 25). However, his offering, which he presented as a sacrifice to God, wasn’t of bulls or rams etc., concerning which God wasn’t satisfied (Isaiah 1:11; cf. Hebrews 10:11). Instead, Jesus, as High Priest, offered his own life’s blood, which is without spot and able to guarantee our salvation (Hebrews 9:14; 10:9-12; Ephesians 5:2; Titus 2:14).
In Hebrews 8:5 Paul reminds his readers that Moses was commanded to build the Tabernacle, according to the pattern, which he saw or perceived on the mount (Exodus 25:9, 40). Consequently, one has to wonder what Moses saw in vision, or was it simply told him what and how to build (Exodus 25:10-39), and he merely followed the instructions? However one may interpret Exodus 25, if what Moses witnessed, via vision or instruction, was a pattern of something else, he certainly didn’t see the reality with his physical eyes. If such is true, then the Tabernacle that Moses made was a copy of a copy of the Reality.
What is interesting to me is that just before Moses went up to meet with the Lord, who then gave him instructions for building the Tabernacle (Exodus 25), Moses, Aaron and his sons, and seventy elders went up to meet with the Lord, too, and all of them saw the God of Israel (Exodus 24:9-11). The point is that Moses afterwards went up alone and was with God for 40 days and nights. During this time, the people began to believe Moses died, so they made gods to go before them (Exodus 32:1-7) in the form of a calf or bull (Exodus 32:4). In other words, Moses and all the elders of Israel actually saw God (Exodus 24:9-11), but the pattern they built was condemned! Moses, on the other hand, was instructed according to how God should be visualized (Exodus 25:10-39). Without God’s instruction, Aaron, his sons, and the seventy elders of Israel became idolaters (Exodus 32:7)!
It seems, therefore, that Moses was shown something he could understand about what he didn’t actually see with his physical eyes. In other words, the understanding Moses held resembled what was True or resembled what was the Reality, but what he built couldn’t have been the real Truth or Reality. Therefore, the Levitical priesthood served the image of the Reality, which, if their hearts weren’t fixed upon the Lord, while they ministered, it could be said they were idolaters, serving other gods rather than the true God (cf. Acts 7:38-53).
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