Hebrews 7–10

7TH CHAPTER

Christ Is Superior to Melchizedek

¹Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of the Most High God. He met Abraham and blessed him when Abraham was returning from defeating the kings. ²Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything he had captured. 

In the first place, Melchizedek’s name means king of God’s approval. He is also called king of Salem (which means king of peace). ³No one knows anything about Melchizedek’s father, mother, or ancestors. No one knows when he was born or when he died. Like the Son of God, Melchizedek continues to be a priest forever. 

⁴You can see how important Melchizedek was. Abraham gave him a tenth of what he had captured, even though Abraham was the father of the chosen people. ⁵Moses’ Teachings say that members of the tribe of Levi who become priests must receive a tenth of everything from the people. The priests collect it from their own people, Abraham’s descendants. ⁶Although Melchizedek was not from the tribe of Levi, he received a tenth of everything from Abraham. Then Melchizedek blessed Abraham, who had God’s promises. ⁷No one can deny that the more important person blesses the less important person. 

⁸Priests receive a tenth of everything, but they die. Melchizedek received a tenth of everything, but we are told that he lives. ⁹We could even say that when Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything, Levi was giving a tenth of everything. Levi gave, although later his descendants would receive a tenth of everything. ¹⁰Even though Levi had not yet been born, he was in the body of Abraham when Melchizedek met him. 

¹¹The people established the Levitical priesthood based on instructions they received. If the work of the Levitical priests had been perfect, we wouldn’t need to speak about another kind of priest. However, we speak about another kind of priest, a priest like Melchizedek, not a Levitical priest like Aaron. 

¹²When a different kind of priesthood is established, the regulations for those priests are different. ¹³The priest whom we are talking about was a member of a different tribe. No one from that tribe ever served as a priest at the altar. ¹⁴Everyone knows that our Lord came from the tribe of Judah. Moses never said anything about priests coming from that tribe. ¹⁵The regulations were different. This became clear when a different priest who is like Melchizedek appeared. ¹⁶That person is a priest, not because he met human requirements, but because he has power that comes from a life that cannot be destroyed. ¹⁷The Scriptures say the following about him: “You are a priest forever, in the way Melchizedek was a priest.” ¹⁸The former requirements are rejected because they are weak and useless. ¹⁹Moses’ Teachings couldn’t accomplish everything that God required. But we have something else that gives us greater confidence and allows us to approach God. 

²⁰None of this happened without an oath. The men from the tribe of Levi may have become priests without an oath, ²¹but Jesus became a priest when God took an oath. God said about him, “The Lord has taken an oath and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever.” ²²In this way Jesus has become the guarantee of a better promise.^a

²³There was a long succession of priests because when a priest died he could no longer serve. ²⁴But Jesus lives forever, so he serves as a priest forever. ²⁵That is why he is always able to save those who come to God through him. He can do this because he always lives and intercedes for them. 

²⁶We need a chief priest who is holy, innocent, pure, set apart from sinners, and who holds the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne. ²⁷We need a priest who doesn’t have to bring daily sacrifices as those chief priests did. First they brought sacrifices for their own sins, and then they brought sacrifices for the sins of the people. Jesus brought the sacrifice for the sins of the people once and for all when he sacrificed himself. ²⁸Moses’ Teachings designated mortals as chief priests even though they had weaknesses. But God’s promise, which came after Moses’ Teachings, designated the Son who forever accomplished everything that God required. 

8TH CHAPTER

Jesus’s Priestly Work Is Superior to Other Priests’ Work

¹The main point we want to make is this: We do have this kind of chief priest. This chief priest holds the honored position—the one next to the majestic God [the Father] on the heavenly throne. ²He serves as priest of the holy place and of the true tent set up by the Lord and not by any human. 

³Every chief priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, this chief priest had to offer something. ⁴If he were on earth, he would not even be a priest. On earth ⸤other⸥ priests offer gifts by following the instructions that Moses gave. ⁵They serve at a place that is a pattern, a shadow, of what is in heaven. When Moses was about to make the tent, God warned him, “Be sure to make everything based on the plan I showed you on the mountain.” 

⁶Jesus has been given a priestly work that is superior to the Levitical priests’ work. He also brings a better promise^afrom God that is based on better guarantees. ⁷If nothing had been wrong with the first promise, no one would look for another one. ⁸But God found something wrong with his people and said to them, 

“The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new promise to Israel and Judah. ⁹It will not be like the promise that I made to their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. They rejected that promise, so I ignored them, says the Lord. ¹⁰But this is the promise that I will make to Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my teachings inside them, and I will write those teachings on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ¹¹No longer will each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying, ‘Know the Lord.’ All of them from the least important to the most important will all know me ¹²because I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them.” 

¹³God made this new promise and showed that the first promise was outdated. What is outdated and aging will soon disappear. 

9TH CHAPTER

Christ Offered a Superior Sacrifice

¹The first promise had rules for the priests’ service. It also had a holy place on earth. ²A tent was set up. The first part of this tent was called the holy place. The lamp stand, the table, and the bread of the presence were in this part of the tent. ³Behind the second curtain was the part of the tent called the most holy place. ⁴It contained the gold incense burner and the ark of the Lord’s promise. The ark was completely covered with gold. In the ark were the gold jar filled with manna, Aaron’s staff that had blossomed, and the tablets on which the promise^awas written. ⁵Above the ark were the angels^bof glory ⸤with their wings⸥ overshadowing the throne of mercy. (Discussing these things in detail isn’t possible now.) 

⁶That is how these two parts of the tent were set up. The priests always went into the first part of the tent to perform their duties. ⁷But only the chief priest went into the second part of the tent. Once a year he entered and brought blood that he offered for himself and for the things that the people did wrong unintentionally. ⁸The Holy Spirit used this to show that the way into the most holy place was not open while the tent was still in use. 

⁹The first part of the tent is an example for the present time. The gifts and sacrifices that were brought there could not give the worshiper a clear conscience. ¹⁰These gifts and sacrifices were meant to be food, drink, and items used in various purification ceremonies. These ceremonies were required for the body until God would establish a new way of doing things. 

¹¹But Christ came as a chief priest of the good things that are now here. Christ went through a better, more perfect tent that was not made by human hands and that is not part of this created world. ¹²He used his own blood, not the blood of goats and bulls, for the sacrifice. He went into the most holy place and offered this sacrifice once and for all to free us forever. 

¹³The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of cows sprinkled on unclean^cpeople made their bodies holy and clean. ¹⁴The blood of Christ, who had no defect, does even more. Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself to God and cleansed our consciences from the useless things we had done. Now we can serve the living God. 

¹⁵Because Christ offered himself to God, he is able to bring a new promise from God. Through his death he paid the price to set people free from the sins they committed under the first promise. He did this so that those who are called can be guaranteed an inheritance that will last forever. 

¹⁶In order for a will to take effect, it must be shown that the one who made it has died. ¹⁷A will is used only after a person is dead because it goes into effect only when a person dies. 

¹⁸That is why even the first promise was made with blood. ¹⁹As Scripture tells us, Moses told all the people every commandment. Then he took the blood of calves and goats together with some water, red yarn, and hyssop and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. ²⁰He said, “Here is the blood that seals the promise God has made to you.” ²¹In the same way, Moses sprinkled blood on the tent and on everything used in worship. ²²As Moses’ Teachings tell us, blood was used to cleanse almost everything, because if no blood is shed, no sins can be forgiven. 

²³The copies of the things in heaven had to be cleansed by these sacrifices. But the heavenly things themselves had to be cleansed by better sacrifices. ²⁴Christ didn’t go into a holy place made by human hands. He didn’t go into a model of the real thing. Instead, he went into heaven to appear in God’s presence on our behalf. ²⁵Every year the chief priest went into the holy place to make a sacrifice with blood…