The “Time of Reformation” Prophesied
by Terry Wane Benton
In Hebrews 9, the Holy Spirit tells us that the tabernacle and its furnishings were imposed “until the time of reformation” (Hebrews 9:10-11). The physical items used were merely teaching items to illustrate the spiritual things that would come into play in a new and better system. So, are there prophecies in the Old Testament that actually predicted this time of reform and change from one system to a different system? Indeed, there are many, but let us consider just two.
The Holy Spirit uses Jeremiah 31:31f and Psalms 110 to show us that He had long predicted and planned this greater system, and this greater system came to fruition in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit had said through Jeremiah,
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
This prophecy given by the Holy Spirit for hundreds of years before Christ arrived said that there would be:
- A new covenant.
- It would not be like the Sinai covenant with Israel.
- It would come into their minds and hearts in the process of coming to know God.
- It would bring the wonderful provision of forgiveness of sins with a permanence not offered under the system then in play.
After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to God’s right hand, the Holy Spirit revealed that this new covenant and all those prophesied blessings were now offered in Jesus. This revelation and divine commentary on the Jeremiah prophecy is expounded in Hebrews 7-9.
Each of the above four items shows that a time of reformation was coming and now had come. A new covenant is reform, and the fact that it is not like the covenant they received when God brought them out of Egypt is all the proof needed to know that when the Holy Spirit identified the new covenant as being given by Jesus (Hebrews 9:15-17) and that Jesus was “surety of a better covenant,” then it is clear that this is the time of reformation. The Holy Spirit prophesied it in Jeremiah and confirmed it came to pass in Hebrews.
In Hebrews 9, the Holy Spirit shows us that the former system was “carnal” or “fleshly” and that the new and better system was not like that but rather “spiritual” or “written in the heart” or spirit. Our tabernacle is spiritual, and all our furnishings are spiritual in nature. That is the “reform.” We have reformed from carnal to spiritual, and with better things that deliver to the conscience and spirit what could not be done by the former system.
Psalms 110 prophesied a new and better priesthood. David said He would put down enemies and be victorious in a way not seen before. That implies a time of reformation when we would have a victorious leader as king and priest in one, and this would allure people to become “volunteers” in the day of His power. This greater priest would be permanent, a “priest forever,” which is a reform from what Israel had in the Levitical priests.
So, yes, the Holy Spirit told us ahead of time that a time of reformation was coming, and the same Holy Spirit has shown us in the New Testament that that time of reformation had arrived in Jesus. Now we have a greater High Priest, a greater system to address sin and a guilty conscience, and a greater tabernacle with greater furnishings, and greater provisions to bring to our hearts a desire to volunteer ourselves to God in Jesus.
Many more Old Testament passages prophesied of this time of reformation, but these two are among the powerful witnesses to the fact that the new system in Christ is far greater in many ways than the old system seen in Judaism under that carnal covenant in their flesh.
It addresses the spirit and conscience in a way the old could not. The old could not do all that was needed, or it would not have prophesied what the coming Messiah would accomplish. The Holy Spirit wanted us all to graduate from the inferior system to the superior system in Christ. Have you entered the greater time of reformation in Christ?
