On Sunday 11/7, Pastor Gowens considered Hebrews 8:1-6, a passage that highlights the principal theme of the epistle. To the Jews in the first-century Mediterranean world, believers that had left the synagogue for the Christian church had walked away from 1,500 years of rich history and tradition for virtually nothing. They had no church buildings, no special ceremonies, no prescribed festivals, and certainly no priest. But the apostle affirms that Christians do, in fact, have a Priest, and He is the penultimate Priest. In fact, Christians have the reality, not merely the shadow. This is message #23 in the Hebrews study.