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The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
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For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment,
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He says, “I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.”
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Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—
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For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
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See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
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But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
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And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness?
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A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
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Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world.
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Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience,
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Jesus the Great High Priest
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
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For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
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Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
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He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.
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This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.
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The Certainty of God’s Promise
When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself,
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Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office;
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Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
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Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
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But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.
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For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
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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.
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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.
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Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
