The author of the New Testament book of Hebrews (13:8) declares with confidence that: "Jesus Christ is the same, Yesterday, Today, and Forever."

Let the reader recall that this text has its roots earlier in the same book, where a discussion of those under the leadership of Moses (chapter 3) and then Joshua (chapter 4) takes place. In other words, the backdrop for properly understanding the sense of verse 13:8 forms a comparison. Those compared are the Hebrews who left Egypt for the Sinai wilderness in the Exodus (who spent 40 years heading toward the promised land, "Canaan" or Israel)-- comparing THAT generation, with the generation of Christians addressed by way of the sermon comprising the book of Hebrews.

One can find just this same comparison implied in 1 Corinthians, this time between the Corinthians and "those who were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the [Red] Sea" (1 Cor. 10:1 ff.). It becomes obvious fairly quickly that the prophetic writers of the New Testament viewed themselves and their generation as analogous to those who lived 40 years in the desert.

Only the "Egypt" they were leaving was Older Covenant Judaism, with its types and shadows (which began when Jesus was killed by his own people with the help of the Romans = A.D. 30), and they were moving toward the promised land, a time when the faith of Jesus would spread throughout the world -- which began in earnest after the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem itself (A.D. 70).

The astute reader will notice at once that this time frame (AD 30 - AD 70) spans -- you guessed it - 40 years. And this 40 year transitional phase of God's plan of salvation met with all manner of extraordinary miracles at the hands of the apostles. This was also true of those who witnessed the ministry of Moses for 40 years. Hebrews quotes God regarding them, "Forty years they saw My [miraculous] works....".

And for 40 years, the Jewish contemporaries of the apostles saw God's miraculous works by apostolic hands also. This is what it means to say that the "gospel was CONFIRMED to us by them [the apostles]" in Hebrews 2:2-4. Here, confirmed means that God had shown the truth and reliability of the gospel of Christ as it was "confirmed by signs and wonders." When Jesus, as the Great High Priest, had prayed from the cross, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing," He stayed what would have been the instant wrath of God against the killers of His Only-begotten Son, thereby bringing the Jewish people of his day a merciful 40-year stay of execution.

During this period, the gospel traveled from Jerusalem, to Judaea, to Samaria, and to the "ends of the earth" [an Older Testament euphemism for the Gentile capital, which was Rome]. The book of Acts chronicles just this evangelistic trajectory of the good news of Jesus Christ -- together with attending miracles that confirmed the gospel as new revelation from God.

The ancient and analogous transitional period from Egypt to Canaan was called by David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, "Today" -- in the saying, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." The great desire of King David -- the Building of the Temple in Jerusalem -- was actually carried out by his son -- Solomon, the son of David. And, of course, the builder of the Temple reigned in Jerusalem for how long? Right again -- 971 B.C. to 931 B.C. -- 40 years. So the son of David (Solomon) built the Temple, and the Son of David (i.e. the Lord Jesus) destroyed it (A.D. 70), and replaced it with a Better Temple -- the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thus, redemptive history had moved forward again -- onward and upward -- with the salvation of the Gentiles, and the dietary restrictions became defunct -- for they were only a didactic tool in the first place -- the tribal land laws in Israel became obsolete, as well the Temple complex with its tribally-based (Aaronic-Levitical) priesthood. But many refused to move forward, to go up into the promised land and possess it. They fell in the desert, just as the generation of Jews responsible for the death of Jesus fell by the hand of the Romans in A.D. 70.

With no Temple complex or known tribal lineage by which to determine who might serve as a Levitical priest, Old Covenant Judaism has been embarrassed by the fact that they have had no atoning sacrifice to offer for almost 2,000 years. Having rejected the only sacrifice sufficient to bring them atonement, that of Jesus, the Lamb of God, at Golgotha, they have no alternative divinely-appointed mediator that might convey to them the mercy of God so necessary for salvation.

Some have suggested by way of an apologetic defense of Old Covenant Judaism an emphasis upon the importance of prayer and/ or good works as a means of atonement. But this begs the unanswerable question: If all we need for salvation is our own good works, then why did God, since the days of Adam and Eve, ordain that so much blood be shed when it was all unnecessary?

Why go through the encyclopedia of intricate gyrations found in the details of the levitical priesthood for thousands of years -- with God often killing or injuring those who sacrifice badly -- if the whole affair was needless in the first place? This would render the Jewish God (but not the Christian God), a tyrannical and sadistic pedant, who preserves curious details from the history of liturgy for 21st century historians at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives -- Unnecessarily!

One might avert this on the supposition that God commanded sacrifices because they were extremely important. This would also explain the great care God required in their administration, and the severe penalties that followed from malfeasance therein. Yet the Bible tells us that the sacrifices of the Older Testament -- in and of themselves -- never really got the redemptive job done. If they had, they would not have been repeated endlessly. Nevertheless, they "connected" believers in the Older Testament with the great and efficacious sacrifice yet to come. The most important of all sacrifices would have to be a "once for all" sacrifice -- one which Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ and Son of the Living God, offered up to His Father on a hill outside Jerusalem - a Lamb without spot or blemish.

And indeed, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. And, "You shall call his name, "Joshua," for He shall save His people from their sins." And the good news is that Jesus Christ is the same: Yesterday [the Old Covenant era], Today [A.D. 30-70], and Forever [A.D. 71 and whatever comes afterward].

That is why the Judaism of yesterday needed transforming, and why salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God is Today and Forever. Praise the Lord, for he is good; his mercy endures forever.