Hebrews 10–12

Christ’s Sacrifice Is Once and for All Time

10The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming. It is not the real things themselves. The same sacrifices have to be offered over and over again. They must be offered year after year. That’s why the law can never make perfect those who come near to worship. ²If it could, wouldn’t the sacrifices have stopped being offered? The worshipers would have been made clean once and for all time. They would not have felt guilty for their sins anymore.

³But those offerings remind people of their sins every year. ⁴It isn’t possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵So when Christ came into the world, he said,

“You didn’t want sacrifices and offerings.

Instead, you prepared a body for me.

⁶You weren’t pleased

with burnt offerings and sin offerings.

⁷Then I said, ‘Here I am. It is written about me in the scroll.

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

⁸First Christ said, “You didn’t want sacrifices and offerings. You didn’t want burnt offerings and sin offerings. You weren’t pleased with them.” He said that even though the law required people to bring them. ⁹Then he said, “Here I am. I have come to do what you want.” He did away with the first. He did it to put the second in place.

¹⁰We have been made holy by what God wanted. We have been made holy because Jesus Christ offered his body once and for all time.

¹¹Day after day every priest stands and does his special duties. He offers the same sacrifices again and again. But they can never take away sins.

¹²Jesus our priest offered one sacrifice for sins for all time. Then he sat down at the right hand of God. ¹³Since that time, he waits for his enemies to be put under his control. ¹⁴By that one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

¹⁵The Holy Spirit also gives witness to us about this. First he says,

¹⁶“This is the covenant I will make with them

after that time, says the Lord.

I will put my laws in their hearts.

I will write my laws on their minds.”

¹⁷Then he adds,

“I will not remember their sins anymore.

I will not remember the evil things they have done.”

¹⁸Where those have been forgiven, there is no longer any offering for sin.

A Warning to Remain Faithful

¹⁹Brothers and sisters, we are not afraid to enter the Most Holy Room. We enter boldly because of the blood of Jesus. ²⁰His way is new because he lives. It has been opened for us through the curtain. I’m talking about his body.

²¹We also have a great priest over the house of God. ²²So let us come near to God with an honest and true heart. Let us come near with a faith that is sure and strong. Our hearts have been sprinkled. Our minds have been cleansed from a sense of guilt. Our bodies have been washed with pure water.

²³Let us hold firmly to the hope we claim to have. The One who promised is faithful.

²⁴Let us consider how we can stir up one another to love. Let us help one another to do good works. ²⁵Let us not give up meeting together. Some are in the habit of doing this. Instead, let us cheer each other up with words of hope. Let us do it all the more as you see the day coming when Christ will return.

²⁶What if we keep sinning on purpose? What if we do it even after we know the truth? Then there is no offering for our sins. ²⁷All we can do is to wait in fear for God to judge. His blazing fire will burn up his enemies.

²⁸Anyone who did not obey the law of Moses died without mercy if there were two or three witnesses. ²⁹What should be done to anyone who has hated the Son of God or has said no to him? What should be done to a person who treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that makes him holy? What should be done to someone who has made fun of the Holy Spirit who brings God’s grace? Don’t you think people like that should be punished more than anyone else?

³⁰We know the One who said, “I am the One who judges people. I will pay them back.” Scripture also says, “The Lord will judge his people.”

³¹It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³²Remember those earlier days after you received the light. At that time you stood firm in a great struggle. You did it even in the face of suffering.

³³Sometimes you were made fun of in front of others. You were treated badly. At other times you stood side by side with people who were being treated like that. ³⁴You suffered together with people in prison. When your property was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew that God had given you better and more lasting things.

³⁵So don’t throw away your bold faith. It will bring you rich rewards. ³⁶You need to be faithful. Then you will do what God wants. You will receive what he has promised. ³⁷In just a very little while,

“The one who is coming will come. He will not wait.

³⁸The one who is in the right will live by faith.

If he pulls back,

I will not be pleased with him.”

³⁹But we aren’t people who pull back and are destroyed. We are people who believe and are saved.

Living by Faith

11Faith is being sure of what we hope for. It is being certain of what we do not see. ²That is what the people of long ago were praised for.

³We have faith. So we understand that everything was made when God commanded it. That’s why we believe that what we see was not made out of what could be seen.

⁴Abel had faith. So he offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. Because of his faith Abel was praised as a godly man. God said good things about his offerings. Because of his faith Abel still speaks. He speaks even though he is dead.

⁵Enoch had faith. So he was taken from this life. He didn’t die. He just couldn’t be found. God had taken him away. Before God took him, Enoch was praised as one who pleased God.

⁶Without faith it isn’t possible to please God. Those who come to God must believe that he exists. And they must believe that he rewards those who look to him.

⁷Noah had faith. So he built an ark to save his family. He built it because of his great respect for God. God had warned him about things that could not yet be seen. Because of his faith he showed the world that it was guilty. Because of his faith he was considered right with God.

⁸Abraham had faith. So he obeyed God. God called him to go to a place he would later receive as his own. So he went. He did it even though he didn’t know where he was going. ⁹Because of his faith he made his home in the land God had promised him. He was like an outsider in a strange country. He lived there in tents. So did Isaac and Jacob. They received the same promise he did. ¹⁰Abraham was looking forward to the city that has foundations. He was waiting for the city that God planned and built.

¹¹Abraham had faith. So God made it possible for him to become a father. He became a father even though he was too old. Sarah also was too old to have children. But Abraham believed that the One who made the promise was faithful. ¹²Abraham was past the time when he could have children. But many children came from that one man. They were as many as the stars in the sky. They were as many as the sand on the seashore. No one could count them.

¹³All those people were still living by faith when they died. They didn’t receive the things God had promised. They only saw them and welcomed them from a long way off. They openly said that they were outsiders and strangers on earth.

¹⁴People who say things like that show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵What if they had been thinking of the country they had left? Then they could have returned to it. ¹⁶Instead, they longed for a better country. They wanted one in heaven.

So God is pleased when they call him their God. In fact, he has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷Abraham had faith. So he offered Isaac as a sacrifice. That happened when God put him to the test. Abraham had received the promises. But he was about to offer his one and only son. ¹⁸God had said to him, “Your family line will continue through Isaac.” Even so, Abraham was going to offer him up. ¹⁹Abraham believed that God could raise the dead. In a way, he did receive Isaac back from death.

²⁰Isaac had faith. So he blessed Jacob and Esau. He told them what was ahead for them.

²¹Jacob had faith. So he blessed each of Joseph’s sons. He blessed them when he was dying. Because of his faith he worshiped God as he leaned on the top of his wooden staff.

²²Joseph had faith. So he spoke to the people of Israel about their leaving Egypt. He gave directions about his bones. He did that toward the end of his life.

²³Moses’ parents had faith. So they hid him for three months after he was born. They saw he was a special child. They were not afraid of the king’s command.

²⁴Moses had faith. So he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. That happened after he had grown up. ²⁵He chose to be treated badly together with the people of God. He chose that instead of enjoying sin’s pleasures for a short time. ²⁶He suffered shame because of Christ. He thought it had great value. He considered it better than the riches of Egypt. He was looking ahead to God’s reward.

²⁷Because of his faith he left Egypt. It wasn’t because he was afraid of the king’s anger. He didn’t let anything stop him. He saw the One who can’t be seen.

²⁸Because of his faith he was the first to keep the Passover Feast. He commanded the people of Israel to sprinkle blood on their doorways. He did it so that the destroying angel would not touch their oldest sons.

²⁹The people had faith. So they passed through the Red Sea. They went through it as if it were dry land. The Egyptians tried to do it also. But they drowned.

³⁰The people had faith. So the walls of Jericho fell down. It happened after they had marched around the city for seven days.

³¹Rahab, the prostitute, had faith. So she welcomed the spies. That’s why she wasn’t killed with those who didn’t obey God.

³²What more can I say? I don’t have time to tell about all the others. I don’t have time to talk about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah. I don’t…