How does Hebrews 8 compare the priestly ministries and the better testament?

The author synthesizes the central summit of his theological discourse, proclaiming that the Christian community possesses a magnificent High Priest who sits majestically enthroned at the right hand of the divine throne in the heavens. Christ exercises His sacred office as the minister of the true celestial sanctuary and of that authentic tabernacle fashioned by the Almighty rather than constructed by mortal architects. Because every high priest is consecrated specifically to present liturgical oblations and sacrificial gifts before God, it was imperative that this heavenly Pontiff should likewise possess an efficacious oblation to offer. If His sacerdotal office were merely of an earthly and temporal nature, He would not function as a priest at all, given that the established Levitical ministers already officiate over terrestrial gifts in accordance with the Mosaic statutes.

These Aaronite priests perform their liturgical functions within an earthly structure that serves merely as an illustrative model and passing shadow of transcendent heavenly realities. This provisional nature was confirmed when Moses received divine instructions while erecting the desert sanctuary, being strictly commanded to fashion every vessel and fixture according to the heavenly archetype displayed to him upon the holy mountain. In contrast, Christ has acquired a far more sublime and transcendent ministry, serving as the mediator of an incomparably better covenant established upon superior divine promises. If that inaugural covenant had been spiritually flawless and complete, no historical necessity would have arisen to inaugurate a second economy of grace.

Expressing dissatisfaction with Israel's inability to abide by the former pact, the Lord announced through the prophet Jeremiah that an epoch would arrive when He would establish a new covenant with the houses of Israel and Judah. Unlike the transient pact forged at Mount Sinai when God led their ancestors out of Egyptian bondage—a covenant they violated, provoking divine displeasure—this new economy infuses divine precepts directly into human minds and writes them on hearts. The Lord pledges to be their God, and they shall be His cherished people. In his commentary, Bishop Challoner explains that the new testament’s light and grace mean faithful people need not be inculcated with belief and knowledge of the true God, because they shall know him, culminating in the divine promise of boundless mercy, wherein God forgives their transgressions and obliterates the memory of their sins. By characterizing this covenant as new, God declared the former dispensation obsolete, indicating that whatever has grown antique and decayed stands on the verge of complete vanishing.

The edition’s annotation on the earthly condition qualifies this as lack of a higher condition and another kind of sacrifice, with law reserving functions to the Levitical tribe. Its shadow annotation includes Christ’s work in the church militant and triumphant, of which the tabernacle was a pattern. A final gloss supplies “covenant” after “A new.”