Hebrews 8–10

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 So he has made the first one out of date. And what is out of date and getting older will soon disappear.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 to stand in front of God for us. He is there right now.

²⁵The high priest enters the Most Holy Room every year. He enters with blood that is not his own. But Christ did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again. ²⁶If he had, he would have had to suffer many times since the world was created. But now he has appeared once and for all time. He has come at the end of the ages to do away with sin. He has done that by offering himself.

²⁷People have to die once. After that, God will judge them. ²⁸In the same way, Christ was offered up once. He took away the sins of many people.

He will also come a second time. At that time he will not suffer for sin. Instead, he will come to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

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…