³⁴ Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

²⁵ Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save^[a] those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.

²⁷ And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers^[a] in harmony with God’s own will.

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.

¹⁹ When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

²² Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers accept his authority.

A Call to Persevere

¹⁹ And so, dear brothers and sisters,^[a] we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. ²⁰ By his death,^[b] Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. ²¹ And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, ²² let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

Christ Is Our High Priest

8 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. ² There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle,^[a] the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.

¹⁸ I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.^[a]