"6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
8 For he finds fault with them when he says:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah,
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbour
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away."
Hebrews 8:6-13
The old covenant was restricted in its scope and intention, in that it related, not to all mankind, but to God's chosen people, the Jews. But it had an outward reference – 'in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed'. That is to say, Abraham and his seed were chosen, and God entered into covenant with them, in order that through them the world might be blessed. From Abraham there was to descend One Who would turn men from their sin, Jesus, the seed of Abraham. The whole Old Testament is the story of the fulfilment of that promise made to the patriarch. There were two great purposes in general in the whole history of the Old Testament: first to mould this family and this nation from the loins of Abraham into an instrument of blessing for the whole world; and second, to convince them that something more was needed, that in and of itself the old covenant could not save, but that in fact it pointed beyond itself to that which was to come. Thus, through the operation of the various means which God employed in this extensive 'education' of the chosen people, they began to recognize that sin was not something that could be got rid of by the blood of bulls and goats. This meant in turn that they began to look beyond themselves and indeed beyond the Old Covenant itself, realising that it was not big enough to deal with their problem. And the prophets began to see visions and dream dreams of One Who was to come, until in the fulness of the time He did come, to initiate a New Covenant which not only could cover sin, but deal with it and finally put it away. This is the significance and meaning of these glorious words (8-12).