19So we see that they could not enter in because of punbelief.
Hebrews 4
The Promise of Rest
1Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, alet us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
2For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, 1not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
3For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:
b“So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: c“And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;
5and again in this place: d“They shall not enter My rest.”
6Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience,
7again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:
e“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.”
8For if 2Joshua had fgiven them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.
9There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
10For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
The Word Discovers Our Condition
11gLet us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
12For the word of God is hliving and powerful, and isharper than any jtwo-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is ka discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13lAnd there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are mnaked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Our Compassionate High Priest
14Seeing then that we have a great nHigh Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, olet us hold fast our confession.
15For pwe do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but qwas in all points tempted as we are, ryet without sin.
16sLet us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 5
Qualifications for High Priesthood
1For every high priest taken from among men ais appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.
2He can 1have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to bweakness.
3Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for chimself, to offer sacrifices for sins.
4And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as dAaron was.
A Priest Forever
5eSo also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him:
f“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.”
6As He also says in another place:
g“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek”;
7who, in the days of His flesh, when He had hoffered up prayers and supplications, iwith vehement cries and tears to Him jwho was able to save Him from death, and was heard kbecause of His godly fear,
8though He was a Son, yet He learned lobedience by the things which He suffered.
9And mhaving been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,
10called by God as High Priest n“according to the order of Melchizedek,”
11of whom owe have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become pdull of hearing.
Spiritual Immaturity
12For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the 2oracles of God; and you have come to need qmilk and not solid food.
13For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is ra babe.
14But solid food belongs to those who are 3of full age, that is, those who by reason of 4use have their senses exercised sto discern both good and evil.
Hebrews 6
The Peril of Not Progressing
1Therefore, aleaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to 1perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from bdead works and of faith toward God,
2cof the doctrine of baptisms, dof laying on of hands, eof resurrection of the dead, fand of eternal judgment.
3And this 2we will do if God permits.
4For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted gthe heavenly gift, and hhave become partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
63if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, isince they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
7For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, jreceives blessing from God;
8kbut if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
A Better Estimate
9But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.
10For lGod is not unjust to forget myour work and 4labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have nministered to the saints, and do minister.
11And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence oto the full assurance of hope until the end,
12that you do not become 5sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience pinherit the promises.
God’s Infallible Purpose in Christ
13For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, qHe swore by Himself,
14saying, r“Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”
15And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the spromise.
16For men indeed swear by the greater, and tan oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute.
17Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to uthe heirs of promise vthe 6immutability of His counsel, 7confirmed it by an oath,
18that by two 8immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to wlie, we 9might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope xset before us.
19This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, yand which enters the Presence behind the veil,
20zwhere the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, ahaving become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 7
The King of Righteousness
(Gen. 14:17–20)
1For this aMelchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,
2to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,”
3without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.
4Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the 1spoils.
5And indeed bthose who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham;
6but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham cand
blessed dhim who had the promises.
7Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better.
8Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, eof whom it is witnessed that he lives.
9Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak,
10for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.
Need for a New Priesthood
(Ps. 110:4)
11fTherefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron?
12For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law.
13For He of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man has 2officiated at the altar.
14For it is evident that gour Lord arose from hJudah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning 3priesthood.
15And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest
16who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life.
17For 4He testifies:
i“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
18For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of jits weakness and unprofitableness,
19for kthe law made nothing 5perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of la better hope, through which mwe draw near to God.
Greatness of the New Priest
20And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath
21(for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him:
n“The LORD has sworn
And will not relent,
‘You are a priest 6forever
According to the order of Melchizedek’ ”),
22by so much more Jesus has become a 7surety of a obetter covenant.
23Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing.
24But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.
25Therefore He is also pable to save 8to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives qto make intercession for them.
26For such a High Priest was fitting for us, rwho is holy, 9harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, sand has become higher than the heavens;
27who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His town sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
28For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.
Hebrews 8
The New Priestly Service
1Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, awho is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,
2a Minister of bthe 1sanctuary and of cthe true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.
3For devery high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore eit is necessary that this One also have something to offer.
4For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law;
5who serve fthe copy and gshadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, h“See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
6But now iHe has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a jbetter covenant, which was established on better promises.
A New Covenant
(Jer. 31:31–34)
7For if that kfirst covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
8Because finding fault with them, He says: l“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—
9“not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.
10“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the mLORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and nI will be their God, and they shall be My people.
11o“None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the pLORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.
12“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, qand their sins 2and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
13rIn that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Hebrews 9
The Earthly Sanctuary
(cf. Ex. 25:10–40)
1Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and athe earthly sanctuary.
2For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the 1sanctuary;
3band behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All,
4which had the cgolden censer and dthe ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were ethe golden pot that had the manna, fAaron’s rod that budded, and gthe tablets of the covenant;
5and habove it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
Limitations of the Earthly Service
6Now when these things had been thus prepared, ithe priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services.
7But into the second part the high priest went alone jonce a year, not without blood, which he offered for khimself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance;
8the Holy Spirit indicating this, that lthe way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.
9It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered mwhich cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—
10concerned only with nfoods and drinks, ovarious 2washings, pand fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
The Heavenly Sanctuary
11But Christ came as High Priest of qthe good things 3to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.
12Not rwith the blood of goats and calves, but swith His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place tonce for all, uhaving obtained eternal redemption.
13For if vthe blood of bulls and goats and wthe ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, 4sanctifies for the 5purifying of the flesh,
14how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without 6spot to God, xcleanse your conscience from ydead works zto serve the living God?
15And for this reason aHe is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that bthose who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
The Mediator’s Death Necessary
16For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17For ca testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.
18dTherefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.
19For when Moses had spoken every 7precept to all the people according to the law, ehe took the blood of calves and goats, fwit
h water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
20saying, g“This is the hblood of the covenant which God has commanded you.”
21Then likewise ihe sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry.
22And according to the law almost all things are 8purified with blood, and jwithout shedding of blood there is no 9remission.
Greatness of Christ’s Sacrifice
23Therefore it was necessary that kthe copies of the things in the heavens should be 10purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24For lChrist has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are 11copies of mthe true, but into heaven itself, now nto appear in the presence of God for us;
25not that He should offer Himself often, as othe high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—
26He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
27pAnd as it is appointed for men to die once, qbut after this the judgment,
28so rChrist was soffered once to bear the sins tof many. To those who ueagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
Hebrews 10
Animal Sacrifices Insufficient
1For the law, having a ashadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, bcan never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.
2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once 1purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.
3But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
4For cit is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
Christ’s Death Fulfills God’s Will
(cf. Ps. 40:6–8)
5Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV Page 636