If the first agreement with God had been all right, there would not have been any need for another one. But the Lord found fault with it and said,
"I tell you the time will come, when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and the people of Judah. It won't be like the agreement that I made with their ancestors, when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. They broke their agreement with me, and I stopped caring about them!
"But now I tell the people of Israel this is my new agreement: The time will come when I, the Lord, will write my laws on their minds and hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Not one of them will have to teach another to know me, their Lord.'
"All of them will know me, no matter who they are. I will treat them with kindness, even though they are wicked. I will forget their sins."
When the Lord talks about a new agreement, he means that the first one is out of date. And anything that is old and useless will soon disappear.
The Tent in Heaven
The first promise that was made included rules for worship and a tent for worship here on earth. The first part of the tent was called the holy place, and a lampstand, a table, and the sacred loaves of bread were kept there.
Behind the curtain was the most holy place. The gold altar that was used for burning incense was in this holy place. The gold-covered sacred chest was also there, and inside it were three things. First, there was a gold jar filled with manna. Then there was Aaron's walking stick that sprouted. Finally, there were the flat stones with the Ten Commandments written on them. On top of the chest were the glorious creatures with wings opened out above the place of mercy.
Now isn't the time to go into detail about these things. But this is how everything was when the priests went each day into the first part of the tent to do their duties. However, only the high priest could go into the second part of the tent, and he went in only once a year. Each time he carried blood to offer for his sins and for any sins that the people had committed without meaning to.