Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant. He is the one who makes everything possible. He has achieved this position because He offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice. So through Him those who are called can receive the eternal promises.
We were bound by our past sins, but He has paid a ransom to set us free. Nothing that we have done in the past is sufficient to stop us receiving an inheritance.
The writer now uses the analogy of a will, though the word for will is the same as that for covenant. Before a will comes into effect there has to be death. The writer says that this is one of the reasons why the Old Covenant required sacrifice. When Moses declared the commandments he sacrificed calves. He even declared in Exodus 24:8 that "this is the blood of the covenant". This is why Jesus words, "This is my blood of the covenant" (Mark 14:24), at the last supper are so significant and poignant. Jesus knew exactly what He was saying at that point, and the significance of it. He was declaring that His blood was inaugurating a new covenant.
This is just further evidence that the Old Covenant was a pointer to what was to come, a pointer to the real thing. This is also a guide to us in reading the Old Testament, which should be looking for pointers to Christ in all of the Old Testament.
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