Hebrews 10–12

10TH CHAPTER

We Can Enter the Most Holy Place because of Christ’s Superior Work

¹Moses’ Teachings with their yearly cycle of sacrifices are only a shadow of the good things in the future. They aren’t an exact likeness of those things. They can never make those who worship perfect. ²If these sacrifices could have made the worshipers perfect, the sacrifices would have stopped long ago. Those who worship would have been cleansed once and for all. Their consciences would have been free from sin. ³Instead, this yearly cycle of sacrifices reminded people of their sins. ⁴(The blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins.) 

⁵For this reason, when Christ came into the world, he said, 

“ ‘You did not want sacrifices and offerings, 

but you prepared a body for me. 

⁶You did not approve of burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.’ 

⁷Then I said, ‘I have come! 

(It is written about me in the scroll of the book.) 

I have come to do what you want, my God.’ ” 

⁸In this passage Christ first said, “You did not want sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and sacrifices for sin. You did not approve of them.” (These are the sacrifices that Moses’ Teachings require people to offer.) ⁹Then Christ says, “I have come to do what you want.” He did away with sacrifices in order to establish the obedience that God wants. ¹⁰We have been set apart as holy because Jesus Christ did what God wanted him to do by sacrificing his body once and for all. 

¹¹Every day each priest performed his religious duty. He offered the same type of sacrifice again and again. Yet, these sacrifices could never take away sins. ¹²However, this chief priest made one sacrifice for sins, and this sacrifice lasts forever. Now he holds the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne. ¹³Since that time, he has been waiting for his enemies to be made his footstool. ¹⁴With one sacrifice he accomplished the work of setting them apart for God forever. 

¹⁵The Holy Spirit tells us the same thing: ¹⁶“This is the promise^athat I will make to them after those days, says the Lord: ‘I will put my teachings in their hearts and write them in their minds.’ ” 

¹⁷Then he adds, “I will no longer hold their sins and their disobedience against them.” 

¹⁸When sins are forgiven, there is no longer any need to sacrifice for sins. 

¹⁹Brothers and sisters, because of the blood of Jesus we can now confidently go into the holy place. ²⁰Jesus has opened a new and living way for us to go through the curtain. (The curtain is his own body.) ²¹We have a superior priest in charge of God’s house. ²²We have been sprinkled ⸤with his blood⸥ to free us from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with clean water. So we must continue to come ⸤to him⸥ with a sincere heart and strong faith. ²³We must continue to hold firmly to our declaration of faith. The one who made the promise is faithful. 

Encourage Each Other

²⁴We must also consider how to encourage each other to show love and to do good things. ²⁵We should not stop gathering together with other believers, as some of you are doing. Instead, we must continue to encourage each other even more as we see the day of the Lord coming. 

²⁶If we go on sinning after we have learned the truth, no sacrifice can take away our sins. ²⁷All that is left is a terrifying wait for judgment and a raging fire that will consume God’s enemies. ²⁸If two or three witnesses accused someone of rejecting Moses’ Teachings, that person was shown no mercy as he was executed. ²⁹What do you think a person who shows no respect for the Son of God deserves? That person looks at the blood of the promise (the blood that made him holy) as no different from other people’s blood, and he insults the Spirit that God gave us out of his kindness.^bHe deserves a much worse punishment. ³⁰We know the God who said, 

“I alone have the right to take revenge. 

I will pay back.” 

God also said, 

“The Lord will judge his people.” 

³¹Falling into the hands of the living God is a terrifying thing. 

³²Remember the past, when you first learned the truth. You endured a lot of hardship and pain. ³³At times you were publicly insulted and mistreated. At times you associated with people who were treated this way. ³⁴You suffered with prisoners. You were cheerful even though your possessions were stolen, since you know that you have a better and more permanent possession.^c

³⁵So don’t lose your confidence. It will bring you a great reward. ³⁶You need endurance so that after you have done what God wants you to do, you can receive what he has promised. 

³⁷“Yet, the one who is coming will come soon. He will not delay. 

³⁸The person who has God’s approval will live by faith. 

But if he turns back, I will not be pleased with him.” 

³⁹We don’t belong with those who turn back and are destroyed. Instead, we belong with those who have faith and are saved. 

11TH CHAPTER

Faith Directed People’s Lives

¹Faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see. ²God accepted our ancestors because of their faith. 

³Faith convinces us that God created the world through his word. This means what can be seen was made by something that could not be seen. 

⁴Faith led Abel to offer God a better sacrifice than Cain’s sacrifice. Through his faith Abel received God’s approval, since God accepted his sacrifices. Through his faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. 

⁵Faith enabled Enoch to be taken instead of dying. No one could find him, because God had taken him. Scripture states that before Enoch was taken, God was pleased with him. ⁶No one can please God without faith. Whoever goes to God must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 

⁷Faith led Noah to listen when God warned him about the things in the future that he could not see. He obeyed God and built a ship to save his family. Through faith Noah condemned the world and received God’s approval that comes through faith. 

⁸Faith led Abraham to obey when God called him to go to a place that he would receive as an inheritance. Abraham left his own country without knowing where he was going. 

⁹Faith led Abraham to live as a foreigner in the country that God had promised him. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who received the same promise from God. ¹⁰Abraham was waiting for the city that God had designed and built, the city with permanent foundations. 

¹¹Faith enabled Abraham to become a father, even though he was old and Sarah had never been able to have children. Abraham trusted that God would keep his promise. ¹²Abraham was as good as dead. Yet, from this man came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the grains of sand on the seashore. 

¹³All these people died having faith. They didn’t receive the things that God had promised them, but they saw these things coming in the distant future and rejoiced. They acknowledged that they were living as strangers with no permanent home on earth. ¹⁴Those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for their own country. ¹⁵If they had been thinking about the country that they had left, they could have found a way to go back. ¹⁶Instead, these men were longing for a better country—a heavenly country. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God. He has prepared a city for them. 

¹⁷When God tested Abraham, faith led him to offer his son Isaac. Abraham, the one who received the promises from God, was willing to offer his only son as a sacrifice. ¹⁸God had said to him, “Through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name.” ¹⁹Abraham believed that God could bring Isaac back from the dead. Abraham did receive Isaac back from the dead in a figurative sense. 

²⁰Faith led Isaac to bless Jacob and Esau. 

²¹While Jacob was dying, faith led him to bless each of Joseph’s sons. He leaned on the top of his staff and worshiped God. 

²²While Joseph was dying, faith led him to speak about the Israelites leaving Egypt and give them instructions about burying his bones. 

²³Faith led Moses’ parents to hide him for three months after he was born. They did this because they saw that Moses was a beautiful baby and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s order. 

²⁴When Moses grew up, faith led him to refuse to be known as a son of Pharaoh’s daughter. ²⁵He chose to suffer with God’s people rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a little while. ²⁶He thought that being insulted for Christ would be better than having the treasures of Egypt. He was looking ahead to his reward. 

²⁷Faith led Moses to leave Egypt without being afraid of the king’s anger. Moses didn’t give up but continued as if he could actually see the invisible God. 

²⁸Faith led Moses to establish the Passover and spread the blood ⸤on the doorposts⸥ so that the destroying angel would not kill the firstborn sons. 

²⁹Faith caused the people to go through the Red Sea as if it were dry land. The Egyptians also tried this, but they drowned. 

³⁰Faith caused the walls of Jericho to fall after the Israelites marched around them for seven days. 

³¹Faith led the prostitute Rahab to welcome the spies as friends. She was not killed with those who refused to obey God. 

³²What more should I say? I don’t have enough time to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. ³³Through faith they conquered kingdoms, did what God approved, and received what God had promised. They shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴put out raging fires, and escaped death. They found strength when they were weak. They were powerful in battle and defeated other armies. ³⁵Women received their loved ones back from the dead. Other believers were brutally tortured but refused to be released so that they might gain eternal life. ³⁶Some were made fun of and whipped, and some were chained and put in prison. ³⁷Some were stoned to death, sawed in half, and killed with swords. Some wore the skins of sheep and goats. Some were poor,…