10
“It Is Impossible for Sins to Be Removed by the Blood of Bulls and Goats”
1 Since+ it is+ only a foreshadow of the good things to come,+ you see, that Torah possesses, not the realities themselves, by the same sacrifices offered+ on a repeated basis+ year after year+ it can never make those who draw near for worship fully and finally consecrated for service as priests.+
2 If this were not the case, those sacrifices+ would have ceased being offered, would they have not? Yes,+ since the worshipers would no longer feel the guilt of their sins pressing down on their consciences,+ having received a still-enjoyed forgiveness+ on a unique and decisive occasion.+
3 The truth is, in those sacrifices+ there is a reminder of sins year after year.
4 It is impossible for sins to be removed, you see,+ by the blood of bulls and goats.
5 That is why, when the Messiah+ is about+ to enter the world, he says,
“In sacrifice and offering ˢyou did not delight;
rather, you have prepared for me a body.+
6 With whole burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am to carry out, O God,+ your will,
just as it is written about me in the scroll.+”+
8 When he says in this passage,+ “in sacrifice and offerings” and “with whole burnt offerings and sin offerings” you “did not delight” and “were not pleased” (despite the fact that Torah itself+ requires such sacrifices to be offered+),
9 he then adds, “Here I am to carry out your will.” He is doing away with the first in order to establish the second.+
10 And by this “will,” we are now to God set apart+ through the sacrificial offering of Jesus the Messiah’s “body” once and never again.
11 And whereas all the Aaronic+ priests+ remain standing, carrying out their duties day after day,+ and offering time after time+ the same kind+ of sacrifices,+ such as can never remove culpability for sins,
12 this priest,+ after offering for all time, to atone for sins,+ a one and only sacrifice, “sat down at the right hand”+ of God,
13 henceforth patiently awaiting the time+ when+ his “enemies are made a footstool under his feet.”+
14 On the basis of a single offering, you see, he continues+ without interruption to move toward full and final priestly consecration+ those who are being set apart as a special holy possession and for sacred service.+
15 And the Holy Spirit gives us his solemn testimony, too, because after he says,
16 “This is the kind of covenant that I will cut with them
after that time, says the LORD:
I will put my instructions+ on their hearts
and write them on their minds,+”+
“Their sins and evil deeds I will remember no more.”+
18 And where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer needed+ an offering to atone for sin.+
“Let Us Hold to the Hope We Profess without Wavering”
19 In light of all these things,+ brothers and sisters, since+ we have the right to enter the inner sanctuary confidently and without fear+ by the blood of Jesus,
20 a freedom of entry+ that he established for us as a new and life-giving+ way+ through the curtain (that is, through his own rent body+),
21 and since we have+ a great high priest in charge of the house of God,
22 let us keep coming before God with a sincere heart in full conviction of faith, since+ we have been sprinkled inwardly+ from a conscience loaded down with evil deeds,+ and washed outwardly+ with pure water.
23 Let us hold to the hope we profess without wavering, because the one who made the promise is faithful.+
24 And let us continually consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds,
25 not neglecting to meet together,+ as is the habit of some, but continuing to give one another+ strength and encouragement,+ and this+ more and more as you see the Day drawing nearer and nearer.+
26 If+ we go on sinning deliberately,+ you see, after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there is no other+ sacrifice being held in reserve to atone for sins.+
27 No, the only thing held in store now+ is a terrifying+ dread of judgment and of fire a blazing fury,+ a fire+ which is ready God’s foes to devour.+
28 If+ someone turns his back on the Torah of Moses, it is+ without mercy, “on the testimony+ of two or three witnesses,”+ that he is put to death.+
29 Of exactly+ how much more severe a punishment, then,+ do you suppose the person will be judged worthy who trampled underfoot the very+ Son of God himself, and the blood of the covenant regarded as of so+ little sanctity and worth,+ the blood+ by which he was set apart to God, and who spoke arrogantly against the very+ Spirit whose help was so freely and graciously available+?
30 Indeed, we know the one who said,
“It is+ to me that vengeance belongs;
I am the one who+ will repay,”+
and again,
“The LORD+ will judge his people.”+
31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 Think back to those earlier days when, having been given light, you endured patiently in the face of such+ difficult hardship and suffering,+
33 on some occasions being publicly exposed to insult and persecution,+ at other times gladly choosing to share+ in the suffering of those who were being so treated.+
34 Indeed, you suffered with those in prison,+ and the plundering of your possessions you accepted so+ joyfully, knowing that you yourselves possessed something+ far+ better and ever enduring.
35 Do not, therefore, abandon your courage, which is sure to result in great reward. Yes, what+ you need is to endure patiently, so that,
36 after you have “carried out God’s will,”+ you may receive in reward+ what was promised.+
37 For
“in just a little while,”+
“he who is coming will come and will not delay.
38 As for my righteous one,
it is+ by faith that he will save his life.+
Yet if he shrinks back,
I will not be pleased with him.”+
39 We, however, belong not+ to those who shrink back and so suffer ruin,+ but to those who have faith and so keep their lives.+