Hebrews
For the Law, having a shadow of the good things to come, but not the
reality itself,
can never with the same sacrifices offered continually, year
after year, make perfect the worshipers.
Otherwise would the sacrifices not have
ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having been once purified,
would have no more consciousness of sin?
But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year.
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls
and goats to take away sins.
So when he came into the world
he said,
“You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but You prepared a body
for me.
You have no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and other offerings for sin.
Then I said, ‘I
have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of
me) to do Your will, O God.’”
After saying above, “You did not desire and had no pleasure in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings
and other sacrifices for sin” — which are
offered according to the Law —
then he said, “I have come to do
Your will.” He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.
By His
will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus
Messiah once for all.
Every priest stands day after day serving and offering time and again the
same sacrifices which can never take away sins.
But Jesus, when he had
offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
where he is now waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet.
For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are being
made holy.
The holy spirit also witnesses to us, for after saying,
“This is
the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. I will
put My laws on their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,” then He
says,
“I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more.”
Now
where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the holy
place by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way that he inaugurated
for us through the curtain, that is, his flesh,
and since we have a great priest
over God’s house,
let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of
faith, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed in pure water.
Let us hold tightly to the
hope that we confess without wavering, because He who made the promise is faithful.
And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good works,
not abandoning our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but
encouraging one another, and even more as you see the Day
approaching.
For if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the
knowledge of the truth, there remains no longer a sacrifice for sins,
but a terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will destroy
God’s enemies.
Anyone who disregarded Moses’ Law was put to death
without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
How much
greater punishment do you think a person deserves who treads under
foot the Son of God, and profanes the blood of the covenant by which he
was made holy, and insults the spirit of grace?
For we know Him
who said, “Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord
will judge His people.”
It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the
living God.
But remember the former days when, after you were enlightened, you
endured a great struggle with many sufferings,
partly by being publicly exposed to
ridicule and persecution, and partly by sharing with those who were treated that
way.
For you shared the suffering of those in prison, and joyfully accepted
the seizing of your possessions, because you know that you yourselves have a better
and lasting possession.
So do not throw away your confidence, because it
has a great reward.
For you need endurance so that, when you have done
the will of God, you will receive the promise.
For “In a very little while, he who
is coming will come, and will not delay.
But My righteous one will
live by faith. If he shrinks back, My soul will take no pleasure in him.”
But we
are not among those who shrink back and are destroyed, but among those who have faith
leading to obtaining life.
Hebrews