Today in God’s Word

Today in God's Word—September 2023

East Tallassee Church of Christ

September 2, Hebrews 8

Have you ever read or heard about “planned obsolescence” in consumer goods? Do you believe automobile and electronics companies build an intentional failure factor into their products?

Some items do have limited life-spans by design. Technology moves at a rapid pace, and we expect this year’s model to outperform previous versions of some products. Styles change quickly, and some folks just couldn’t be seen in last year’s hot new color.

Some items with short useful life-spans could possibly be engineered to last a lifetime, but would we be willing to pay significantly more for the materials and manufacturing techniques such durability might require? Most of us just accept the fact that certain products, even some expensive ones, will only last for a short time.

Hundreds of years before Jesus came, God gave his people who had just come out of Egypt a law at Mt. Sinai. God had a specific purpose and limited duration in mind for that law from the beginning. A few centuries later, he told his people through Jeremiah that a new covenant would one day be established. It would not be like the Sinai covenant, written in stone by the finger of God, but ignored by many generations of Israelites. The problem with the old covenant was not actually with it, but with the people who lived under it. The new law would be internalized, written on the heart, and everyone in the covenant would make a conscious choice to accept it and be included in it. It would be a covenant of

mercy and forgiveness, in which Messiah himself would reign as high priest. The new covenant would be the reality of all that had been foreshadowed by the old one. And when it came, the old one would become obsolete.

Our ancient brothers and sisters who lived in the decades immediately following the life of Jesus on earth were witnesses to the planned obsolescence of the Law of Moses. When Jesus fulfilled the prophecies and brought to reality all the old law had symbolized and prefigured, it became obsolete.

Gentiles living twenty centuries later may not be able to appreciate the earth-shaking implications of this concept. Deep convictions and generations of tradition didn’t disappear automatically. Many of the Jewish followers of Christ continued to observe customs and measure their time by the festivals of the law. But Jesus’ disciples learned to let go of the old law, and embrace the new covenant of Christ. Everything about it is superior to anything they had known under Moses’ law. Jesus is the real high priest, ministering in the true tabernacle of God, bringing all God’s promises to fruition.

From eternity’s viewpoint, the gospel made the law a system of planned obsolescence. But the new model is such an improvement over the old that all who really understand the difference can appreciate it.

Copyright © 2010 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.