You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”

Jesus Made Fully Human

It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking.

We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.

who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age

Jesus Like Melchizedek

If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

But God found fault with the people and said: “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.

But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people.

He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.

Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, my God.’”

Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second.

For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”

This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,

And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,

The Mountain of Fear and the Mountain of Joy

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm;

because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,