Hebrews 7–10

Melchizedek the Priest

7Melchizedek was the king of Salem. He was the priest of God Most High. He met Abraham, who was returning from winning a battle over some kings. Melchizedek blessed him. ²Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.

First, the name Melchizedek means “king of what is right.” Also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” ³Melchizedek has no father or mother. He has no family line. His days have no beginning. His life has no end. He remains a priest forever, just like the Son of God.

⁴Think how great Melchizedek was. Even our father Abraham gave him a tenth of what he had captured. ⁵Now the law lays down a rule for the sons of Levi who become priests. They must collect a tenth from the people. They must collect it even from those who belong to the family line of Abraham.

⁶Melchizedek did not trace his family line from Levi. But he collected a tenth from Abraham. Melchizedek blessed the one who had received the promises. ⁷Without a doubt, the more important person blesses the less important one. ⁸In the one case, the tenth is collected by men who die. But in the other case, it is collected by the one who is said to be living.

⁹Levi collects the tenth. But we might say that Levi paid the tenth through Abraham. ¹⁰That’s because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in Abraham’s body.

Jesus Is Like Melchizedek

¹¹Suppose the Levites who were priests could have made people perfect. The law was given to the people so they could become perfect through the priests. Then why was there still a need for another priest to come? And why did he need to be like Melchizedek? Why wasn’t he from Aaron’s family line?

¹²A change of priests requires a change of law. ¹³Those things are said about one who is from a different tribe. No one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. ¹⁴It is clear that our Lord came from the family line of Judah. Moses said nothing about priests who were from that tribe.

¹⁵But suppose another priest like Melchizedek appears. Then what we have said is even more clear. ¹⁶He has not become a priest because of a rule about his family line. He has become a priest because of his powerful life. His life can never be destroyed. ¹⁷Scripture says,

“You are a priest forever,

just like Melchizedek.”

¹⁸The old rule is done away with. It was weak and useless. ¹⁹The law didn’t make anything perfect. Now a better hope has been given to us. That hope brings us near to God.

²⁰The change of priests was made with an oath. Others became priests without any oath. ²¹But Jesus became a priest with an oath. God said to him,

“The Lord has taken an oath and made a promise.

He will not change his mind. He has said,

‘You are a priest forever.’ ”

²²Because of that oath, Jesus makes the promise of a better covenant certain.

²³There were many priests in Levi’s family line. Death kept them from continuing in office. ²⁴But Jesus lives forever. So he always holds the office of priest. ²⁵People now come to God through him. And he is able to save them completely and for all time. Jesus lives forever. He prays for them.

²⁶A high priest like that meets our need. He is holy, pure and without blame. He isn’t like other people. He does not sin. He is lifted high above the heavens.

²⁷He isn’t like the other high priests. They need to offer sacrifices day after day. First they bring offerings for their own sins. Then they do it for the sins of the people. But Jesus gave one sacrifice for the sins of the people. He gave it once and for all time. He did it by offering himself.

²⁸The law appoints men who are weak to be high priests. But God’s oath came after the law. The oath appointed the Son. He has been made perfect forever.

The High Priest of a New Covenant

8Here is the point of what we are saying. We have a high priest like that. He sat down at the right hand of the throne of the King, the Majesty in heaven. ²He serves in the sacred tent. The Lord set up the true holy tent. A mere man did not set it up.

³Every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. So that priest also had to have something to offer.

⁴What if he were on earth? Then he would not be a priest. There are already priests who offer the gifts required by the law. ⁵They serve at a sacred tent. But it is only a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. That’s why God warned Moses when he was about to build the holy tent. God said, “Be sure to make everything just like the pattern I showed you on the mountain.”

⁶Jesus has been given a greater work to do for God. He is the go-between for the new covenant. That covenant is better than the old one. It is based on better promises.

⁷Suppose nothing had been wrong with that first covenant. Then no one would have looked for another covenant. ⁸But God found fault with the people. He said,

“A new day is coming, says the Lord.

I will make a new covenant

with the people of Israel.

I will also make it with the people of Judah.

⁹It will not be like the covenant

I made with their people of long ago.

That was when I took them by the hand.

I led them out of Egypt.

My new covenant will be different because they didn’t remain faithful to my old covenant.

So I turned away from them,

says the Lord.

¹⁰This is the covenant I will make with Israel

after that time, says the Lord.

I will put my laws in their minds.

I will write them on their hearts.

I will be their God.

And they will be my people.

¹¹A man will not teach his neighbor anymore.

And he will not teach his friend anymore.

He will not say, ‘Know the Lord.’

Everyone will know me.

From the least important of them to the most important,

all of them will know me.

¹²I will forgive their evil ways.

I will not remember their sins anymore.”

¹³God called that covenant “new.” So he has made the first one out of date. And what is out of date and getting older will soon disappear.

Worship in the Holy Tent on Earth

9The first covenant had rules for worship. It also had a sacred tent on earth.

²A holy tent was set up. The lampstand was in the first room. So were the table and the holy bread. That was called the Holy Room. ³Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Room. ⁴It had the golden altar for incense. It also had the wooden chest called the ark of the covenant. The ark was covered with gold. It held the gold jar of manna. It held Aaron’s wooden staff that had budded. It also held the stone tablets. The words of the covenant were written on them.

⁵The cherubim were above the ark. God showed his glory there. The cherubim spread their wings over the place where sin was paid for. But we can’t deal with those things more completely now.

⁶That’s how everything was arranged in the holy tent. The priests entered it at regular times. They went into the outer room to do their work for God and others. ⁷But only the high priest went into the inner room. He went in only once a year. He never entered without taking blood with him. He offered the blood for himself. He also offered it for the sins the people had committed because they didn’t know any better.

⁸Here is what the Holy Spirit was showing us. He was telling us that God had not yet clearly shown the way into the Most Holy Room. It would not be clearly shown as long as the first holy tent was still standing.

⁹That’s an example for the present time. It shows us that the gifts and sacrifices they offered were not enough. They were not able to remove the worshiper’s feelings of guilt. ¹⁰They deal only with food and drink and different kinds of special washings. They are rules that deal with things outside our bodies. People had to obey them only until the new covenant came.

The Blood of Christ

¹¹Christ came to be the high priest of the good things that are already here. When he came, he went through the greater and more perfect holy tent. The tent was not made by people. In other words, it is not a part of this creation.

¹²He did not enter by spilling the blood of goats and calves. He entered the Most Holy Room by spilling his own blood. He did it once and for all time. He paid the price to set us free from sin forever.

¹³The blood of goats and bulls is sprinkled on people. So are the ashes of a young cow. They are sprinkled on people the Law called unclean. The people are sprinkled to make them holy. That makes them clean on the outside.

¹⁴But Christ offered himself to God without any flaw. He did this through the power of the eternal Holy Spirit. So how much more will his blood wash from our minds our feelings of guilt for committing sin! Sin always leads to death. But now we can serve the living God.

¹⁵That’s why Christ is the go-between of a new covenant. Now those God calls to himself will receive the eternal gift he promised. They will receive it now that Christ has died to save them. He died to set them free from the sins they committed under the first covenant.

¹⁶What happens in the case of a will? It is necessary to prove that the person who made the will has died. ¹⁷A will is in effect only when somebody has died. It never takes effect while the one who made it is still living. ¹⁸That’s why even the first covenant was not put into effect without the spilling of blood.

¹⁹Moses first announced every commandment of the law to all the people. Then he took the blood of calves. He also took water, bright red wool and branches of a hyssop plant. He sprinkled the scroll. He also sprinkled all of the people. ²⁰He said, “This is the blood of the covenant God has commanded you to keep.” ²¹In the same way, he sprinkled the holy tent with blood. He also sprinkled everything that was used in worship there.

²²In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be made clean with blood. Without the spilling of blood, no one can be forgiven.

²³So the copies of the heavenly things had to be made pure with those sacrifices. But the heavenly things themselves had to be made pure with better sacrifices.

²⁴Christ did not enter a sacred tent made by people. That tent was only a copy of the true one. He entered heaven itself. He did it…