HebrewsChapter 10

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¹The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming. It is not the real thing. The same sacrifices are offered year after year. But they can never make perfect those who come near to worship. ²If they could, wouldn't people have stopped offering them? The worshipers would have been made clean once for all. They would no longer feel guilty for their sins. ³Instead, those sacrifices remind people of their sins every year. ⁴That's because the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins. ⁵So when Christ came into the world, he said to God, "You did not want sacrifices and offerings. But you made a body ready for me. ⁶You were not pleased with burnt offerings and sin offerings. ⁷Then I said, 'Here I am. It is written about me in the scroll. I have come to do what you want, O God.'" ⁸First he said, "You did not want sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings. You were not pleased with them." He said this even though the law says to offer them. ⁹Then he said, "Here I am. I have come to do what you want." He takes away the first way so he can set up the second. ¹⁰Because God wanted it, we have been made holy. This happened through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ¹¹Day after day every priest stands and does his work. He offers the same sacrifices again and again. But they can never take away sins. ¹²But this Priest offered one sacrifice for sins for all time. Then he sat down at the right hand of God. ¹³Since then he has been waiting for his enemies to be made a footstool for his feet. ¹⁴That's because with one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. ¹⁵The Holy Spirit also tells us this is true. 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 them on their minds." ¹⁷Then he adds, "I will never again remember their sins and the wrong things they have done." ¹⁸And when sins have been forgiven, there is no more need for an offering for sin. ¹⁹So, brothers and sisters, we can now go boldly into the Most Holy Place. We can do it because of the blood of Jesus. ²⁰He opened a new and living way for us through the curtain. That curtain is his body. ²¹And we have a great priest who rules over God's house. ²²So let's come near to God with an honest heart. Let's come with faith that is fully sure. Our hearts have been sprinkled to make us clean from a guilty conscience. And our bodies have been washed with pure water. ²³Let's hold tight without wavering to the hope we say we have. God, who made the promise, is faithful. ²⁴And let's think about how to push one another on to love and to do good things. ²⁵Let's not stop meeting together, as some people have gotten in the habit of doing. Instead, let's encourage one another. Let's do it even more as you see the Day coming closer. ²⁶Suppose we keep on sinning on purpose after we have learned the truth. Then no sacrifice for sins is left. ²⁷There is only the terrible fear of waiting for judgment. And there is a raging fire that will burn up all enemies. ²⁸Anyone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death without mercy. It took only two or three witnesses. ²⁹So think about how much worse the punishment will be for someone who has walked all over the Son of God. That person has treated the blood of the covenant as if it were not holy. Yet that blood made him holy. He has also insulted the Spirit who gives grace. ³⁰We know the one who said, "It is mine to pay back. I will repay." He also said, "The Lord will judge his people." ³¹It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. ³²Remember the early days after you first received the light. Back then you stood strong through a hard fight full of suffering. ³³Sometimes people made fun of you and hurt you in public. Other times you stood by others who were treated that way. ³⁴You cared about those in prison. When your things were taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew you had something better that would last forever. ³⁵So don't throw away your bold trust. It will bring you a great reward. ³⁶You need to keep going and not give up. Then, after you have done what God wants, you will receive what he promised. ³⁷Scripture says, "In just a little while, the one who is coming will come. He will not be late. ³⁸But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he turns back, I will not be pleased with him." ³⁹But we are not people who turn back and are destroyed. We are people who have faith and are saved.