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Christ Is the Perfect Sacrifice

11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come.[a] He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world.

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Footnotes

  1. 9:11 Some manuscripts read that are about to come.

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

10 The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.

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23 That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.

24 For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf.

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New Bodies

For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.

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Christ Is Our High Priest

Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle,[a] the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.

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Footnotes

  1. 8:2 Or tent; also in 8:5.

58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this Temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build another, made without human hands.’”

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20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God.[a] And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:20 Greek the one who is true.

17 Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters,[a] so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.

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Footnotes

  1. 2:17 Greek like the brothers.

24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.

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48 However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says,

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14 So the Word became human[a] and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.[b] And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:14a Greek became flesh.
  2. 1:14b Or grace and truth; also in 1:17.

That is why Christ did not honor himself by assuming he could become High Priest. No, he was chosen by God, who said to him,

“You are my Son.
    Today I have become your Father.[a]

And in another passage God said to him,

“You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 5:5 Or Today I reveal you as my Son. Ps 2:7.
  2. 5:6 Ps 110:4.

25 The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

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Then I said, “Look, I have come.
    As is written about me in the Scriptures:

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This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet[a] acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:2 Greek If a spirit; similarly in 4:3.

Melchizedek Is Greater Than Abraham

This Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem and also a priest of God Most High. When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle against the kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him.

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Jesus Is Greater Than Moses

And so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and[a] are partners with those called to heaven, think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger[b] and High Priest.

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Footnotes

  1. 3:1a Greek And so, holy brothers who.
  2. 3:1b Greek God’s apostle.

The Coming Day of Judgment

“Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

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20 “The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem
    to buy back those in Israel
who have turned from their sins,”[a]
    says the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. 59:20 Hebrew The Redeemer will come to Zion / to buy back those in Jacob / who have turned from their sins. Greek version reads The one who rescues will come on behalf of Zion, / and he will turn Jacob away from ungodliness. Compare Rom 11:26.

I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came[a] in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist.

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Footnotes

  1. 7 Or will come.

Old Rules about Worship

That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth. There were two rooms in that Tabernacle.[a] In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and sacred loaves of bread on the table. This room was called the Holy Place. Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room[b] called the Most Holy Place. In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail now.

When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room[c] as they performed their religious duties. But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle[d] and the system it represented were still in use.

This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them.

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Footnotes

  1. 9:2 Or tent; also in 9:11, 21.
  2. 9:3 Greek second tent.
  3. 9:6 Greek first tent.
  4. 9:8 Or the first room; Greek reads the first tent.

15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.

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11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 2:11 Greek the cutting away of the body of the flesh.

“Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting,[a] or should we keep looking for someone else?”

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Footnotes

  1. 11:3 Greek Are you the one who is coming?

‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
    are not least among the ruling cities[a] of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
    who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 2:6a Greek the rulers.
  2. 2:6b Mic 5:2; 2 Sam 5:2.

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