Christ's Offering was once and for all
1The laws of Moses were like a shadow and were not as important as the good things that will come. The laws show that they were not the good things themselves. The priests sacrifice the same offerings every year. They keep on doing this, but these offerings can never purify the people who come to God to serve Him. 2If there were people who sacrificed_offerings to God which could wash away their sins once and for all so that they did not feel guilty anymore, then they would stop sacrificing offerings to God. 3-4But the blood of bulls and goats can not take away our sins. It only helps us remember the sins that we have done every year. 5That is why, when Christ came to the world, He said:
‘O God, You do not want
offerings and gifts.
You have made my body
and You want my body.
6You did not ask that we sacrifice
offerings and sin-offerings.
7Then I said: “Look,
I came to do what You want, O God.
It is written about Me
in the book_of_laws.” ’
8First Christ said:
‘You did not ask for offerings and gifts
and burnt-offerings and sin-offerings.
You did not want all of these offerings.’
It is the laws that say we must bring offerings to God. 9Then Christ said:
‘Look, I came to do what You want.’
That is how Christ stopped the first offerings and started the new offerings in place of the old ones. 10Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself once and for all and made us holy, and consecrated us to God.
11Every priest does his work by sacrificing the same offerings every day. Those offerings can never take away our sins. 12But Jesus Christ sacrificed just one Offering for all the sins and then He went to sit at the most important place next to God forever. 13He will wait there until God has made all his enemies come and bow down in front of Christ and He will put his feet on them. 14Because He sacrificed one Offering for all people, He has purified everyone who is consecrated to God, forever. 15The Holy_Spirit also tells us that this is true. He says:
16‘The new covenant that I will make
with the Israelites later
will be like this, says the Lord:
I will write my laws on their hearts
and I will put my laws inside of them.’
17Then the Holy_Spirit also said:
‘I will not think about their sins
and the things that they have done wrong.’
18When God has forgiven people's sins, the priests must stop the sin-offerings. They do not have to sacrifice for them anymore.
Do not be afraid to go to God
19My friends, we are free to go to God in the holy_temple because Jesus died for us. 20Jesus opened up a new road to God for us. This is the road that brings us to real_life with God because Jesus went through the curtain into the most_holy room. He did it when He died on the cross. 21Now Jesus is our Great High-priest, and He cares for everyone who belongs to God. 22That is why we must go to God and serve Him with all our hearts, and we must believe in Him completely and trust in Him. Before, we did not know what was right or wrong, but Jesus has purified us like when priests took the blood of goats and bulls and sprinkled it on impure people to purify them. We are like people whose bodies have been washed with clean water.
23We must keep on believing the things that God has promised and tell the people what we hope for and we must never doubt it. We can be sure of it because God has promised it and He will do what He has promised. 24We must also encourage and care for each other so that believers will love other people and do good things for them. 25We must do these things and not stay away when believers come together to worship God. There are some of you who often stay away. No, we must talk to each other and encourage each other. You can see that the day_of_the_Lord is coming near. That is why it is so important that we do these things.
Don't turn away from God
26If we know the truth and know that something is wrong, but we don't care and we do it and sin, then a sin-offering will not help to forgive our sins. 27No, if we do that, we must be afraid because we know that God will judge us. His punishment will be like a very hot fire that burns everyone who is against Him. 28When 2 or 3 witnesses say that someone has disobeyed the laws of Moses, then that person must die. 29If that is true, what do you think will happen to a person who hates the Son of God? Or what do you think will happen to a person who does not respect the blood of God's covenant and who thinks it is impure? This is the blood of the Son of God, the blood that God used to consecrate the person who thinks like that. And what do you think will happen to someone who says bad things against the Spirit who gives us these good things? God will punish that person much more than someone who does not listen to the laws of Moses. 30We know who said these words:
‘I will punish people
for what they have done wrong.’
God also said:
‘The Lord will judge his people.’
31Everyone must be afraid when the living God judges them.
You must keep on believing
32Remember how much you suffered when you became believers, but you kept on believing in Christ. 33Sometimes people said bad things about you. They laughed at you and made you suffer. But you also suffered because you were friends with believers who have also suffered. 34You also felt sorry for prisoners, and when people took everything you had, you accepted it and you did not stop rejoicing, because you knew that God had given you something that is much better, something that you will have forever.
35That is why you must keep on believing in Christ and you must not be afraid. If you keep on believing, God will give you a great reward. 36So, keep on believing and keep on doing what God wants so that you will receive everything that He has promised. 37Because it is written in the Old_Testament:
‘It will be only a very short while
before the man comes. He will come.
He will not stay away for a long time.
38He who is righteous
because he believes in Me
will really live.
But if he stops believing,
I will not be pleased with him.’
39But we are not people who stop believing. That is why we will not be lost. No, we are people who believe in Christ and that is why we will have eternal_life.
