The Law is a Reflection

10 For the Law, being only^[a] a reflection^[b] of the blessings to come and not their substance, can never make perfect those who come near by the same sacrifices repeatedly offered year after year. ² Otherwise, would they not have stopped offering them, because the worshipers, cleansed once for all, would no longer be aware of any sins? ³ Instead, through those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year, ⁴ for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

The Messiah Offered One Sacrifice

⁵ For this reason, the Scriptures^[c] say, when the Messiah^[d] was about to come into the world:

⁸ In this passage he says, “You never wanted or took delight in sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and sin offerings,”^[f] which are offered according to the Law. ⁹ Then he says, “See, I have come to do your will.”^[g] He takes away the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰ By God’s will we have been sanctified once and for all through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, the Messiah.^[h]

¹¹ Day after day every priest stands and repeatedly offers the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. ¹² But when this priest^[i] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God.”^{[j] 13} Since that time, he has been waiting for his enemies to be made a footstool for his feet. ¹⁴ For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. ¹⁵ The Holy Spirit also assures us of this, for he said:

¹⁸ Now where there is forgiveness of these sins,^[m] there is no longer any offering for sin.

How We Should Live

¹⁹ Therefore, my brothers, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), ²¹ and since we have a great high priest over the household of God, ²² let us continue to come near with sincere hearts in the full assurance that faith provides, because our hearts have been sprinkled clean from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. ²³ Let us continue to hold firmly to the hope that we confess without wavering, for the one who made the promise is faithful. ²⁴ And let us continue to consider how to motivate one another to love and good deeds, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another even more as you see the day of the Lord^[n] coming nearer.

²⁶ For if we choose to go on sinning after we have learned the full truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but only a terrifying prospect of judgment and a raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.^{[o] 28} Anyone who violates the Law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”^{[p] 29} How much more severe a punishment do you think that person deserves who tramples on God’s Son, treats as common the blood of the covenant by which it^[q] was sanctified, and insults the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know the one who said, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will pay them back,”^[r] and again, “The Lord^[s] will judge his people.”^{[t] 31} It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

³² But you must continue to remember those earlier days, how after you were enlightened you endured a hard and painful struggle. ³³ At times you were made a public spectacle by means of insults and persecutions, while at other times you associated with people who were treated this way. ³⁴ For you sympathized^[u] with the prisoners and cheerfully submitted to the violent seizure of your property, because you know that you have a better and more permanent possession.

³⁵ So don’t lose your confidence, since it holds a great reward for you. ³⁶ For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will you can receive what he has promised. ³⁷ For

³⁹ Now, we do not belong to those who turn back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.