Beginning

About Melchizedek

7 Melchizedek was the king of a city called Salem. He was also a priest of God who rules over all. Melchizedek met Abraham when Abraham was returning from a war.^[a] Abraham's men had just won a battle against four kings with their armies. At that time, Melchizedek asked God to bless Abraham. ² Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth part of everything that he had won in the fight. The name ‘Melchizedek’ means ‘king of everything that is right’. His other name, ‘king of Salem’, means ‘king of peace’. ³ Nobody wrote down that Melchizedek had a father or a mother. Nobody wrote down that he had any ancestors. Nobody wrote about when he was born or when he died. In that way, it seems like Melchizedek was a priest for ever. He is like the Son of God who continues to be a priest for all time.

⁴ So think about how great this man, Melchizedek, was! Even Abraham, the ancestor of all Israel's people, gave gifts to Melchizedek. Abraham gave him a tenth part of everything that he had won in the fight. ⁵ Men from Levi's family group who become priests receive gifts from their own people. God's Law says that the people must give the Levite priests a tenth part of what they have. But the priests and the other people are all Israelites. They all come from Abraham's family. ⁶ As for Melchizedek, he did not come from Levi's family. But he still received a tenth part of what Abraham had. He also asked God to bless Abraham. But Abraham was the one who had already received God's promises.

⁷ It is always the more important person who asks God to bless a less important person. We certainly know that! ⁸ The Levite priests receive gifts, and they are people who one day will die. Melchizedek also received gifts, but we are told that he continues to live. ^9-10 The Levite priests receive their gifts from the people. But we could say that Levi himself gave a tenth part of what he had to Melchizedek. When Abraham gave his tenth part to Melchizedek, it was like Levi was there inside him. At that time, Levi was not yet born, but Abraham was his ancestor.^[b]

¹¹ The Levite priests were a necessary part of God's Law for Israel's people. But those priests could not make the people completely right with God. If that had been possible, the Levite priests could have continued their work. But we see that God has chosen a different kind of priest to serve him. That priest is not someone from Aaron's family, as the Levites were. Instead, he is a priest in the same way that Melchizedek was God's priest. ¹² When there is a change in the kind of priest like that, there must also be a change in the law. ¹³ It is the Lord Jesus Christ that the Bible speaks about in this way, as God's special priest. But he belongs to a different tribe. He is not a Levite. Nobody else from his tribe ever served God as a priest. ¹⁴ We know that our Lord came from Judah's tribe. Moses never said that priests could come from Judah's tribe. So we see that the old law has changed.

Jesus is a different kind of priest

¹⁵ What we have said becomes even clearer now. Another kind of priest has come, who is a priest like Melchizedek. ¹⁶ Jesus did not become a priest because of a law about which family he came from. He became God's priest because of his powerful life that nothing could ever destroy. ¹⁷ The Bible speaks about him as a priest like this:

¹⁸ So the old law about priests no longer has authority. It was weak and it could not help people. ¹⁹ God's Laws that he gave to Moses could not make anything completely right. But now God has brought us something better to hope for. And in that way, we ourselves can come near to God.

²⁰ Also, when God said that Jesus would be his special priest, he made a strong promise. When the Levites became priests, he did not make a strong promise like that. ²¹ But when Jesus became God's priest, God made a strong promise. God said:

²² Because God promised that to Jesus, we know that his new agreement with his people is very strong. It is a much better agreement than the old one.

²³ In the old way, there were many Levite priests. Each one of them died, so that they could not continue to serve God as priests. ²⁴ But Jesus lives for ever, so he will never stop being a priest. ²⁵ Jesus is always alive and he asks God to help his people. So he can completely save everyone who believes in him. He will lead them to God.

²⁶ Jesus is the kind of special priest that we need. He completely belongs to God. He has never done anything wrong. He is completely good and clean. He is separate from everyone who does wrong things. God has raised him up to the most important place in heaven. ²⁷ Jesus is not like the Levite priests. They need to offer sacrifices to God every day. First, they offer sacrifices so that God will forgive their own sins. Then they offer sacrifices on behalf of the other people, so that God will forgive their sins too. But Jesus offered one sacrifice for all time. That sacrifice was himself. ²⁸ In the old agreement, Moses' laws decide who will become special priests. Because those men are weak, they often do wrong things. But God's very strong promise came after the Law that he gave to Moses. With that promise, God chose his Son to be his special priest. And his Son has become everything that God wants him to be, completely and for ever.^[d]

Jesus helps us as God's special priest

8 The most important thing that we are saying is this: In Jesus, we do have this kind of special priest. He has now sat down to rule with God in heaven. He sits at the right side of God, who rules with all authority. ² He serves as priest in heaven on our behalf. He is in God's very special place, near to God himself. That is like the special place in the tabernacle of long ago. But it is not a tent that people have made. The Lord himself has made this special place, and it is the true one.

³ It is the duty of every special priest to offer gifts and sacrifices to God. So Jesus, as our special priest, must also have something to offer. ⁴ If he was living on earth, then he would not be a priest. There are already priests on earth who offer gifts to God. They do this in the way that Moses' law tells them. ⁵ But the way that those Levite priests work is only like a picture of the true things in heaven. It is like a shadow of what would happen in heaven. Long ago, when Moses was ready to make the tabernacle, God warned him about it. God said to Moses, ‘Be careful to make everything just like the plan which I showed you on the mountain.’^[e]

⁶ But now God has given Jesus a much better way to serve him as a priest. The new agreement that God makes with his people is possible because of Jesus. Because of Jesus' work on our behalf, the new agreement is better than the old one. It is much better because it started with better promises.

⁷ If there had been nothing wrong with that first agreement, then nobody would have needed a second agreement. ⁸ But God did find something wrong with it. As a result, he said this to his people:

¹³ We see that God was speaking about a new agreement. That shows that he has caused the first agreement to become old. And anything that is becoming old like that will soon finish.^[h]

The old agreement and the tabernacle

9 The first agreement included rules about how people should worship God. It also spoke about a special place for people to worship God on this earth. ² Israel's people made a special tent for God.^[i] The first room in that tent was called the holy place. The special lampstand was in this room. The special table with the bread which they offered to God was there too.^[j]

³ Behind a second curtain, there was a very special room. It was called the Most Holy Place. ⁴ The gold altar for incense was in there.^[k] The Covenant Box was there too.^[l] The box had gold on all its sides. Inside the box was the gold pot that contained the special food called manna.^[m] The box also contained Aaron's stick that had grown leaves.^[n] It also contained the two flat stones on which God had written the rules of his agreement with his people. ⁵ The shapes of two special angels stood on the top of the box. They were made from gold and they showed that God was there with great power. The angels held out their wings over the lid of the box. That lid was the place where God forgave the people's sins. But we cannot explain everything about these things now.

⁶ So that was how they prepared the special tent. Then the priests would go into the first room of the tent every day. They went in there to serve God, as his rules taught. ⁷ But only the special leader of the priests could go into the second room. He went in there only once every year.^[o] He had to take with him blood from an animal that they had killed. He offered the blood to God on his own behalf, so that God would forgive his sins. He also offered it on behalf of the people. Then God would forgive their mistakes too.

⁸ In this way, God's Holy Spirit was showing that the most holy place was not yet open to everyone. While the tent with its first room was still there, those were the rules for people to worship God. ⁹ This is like a picture that means something for us today. It teaches us about the gifts and sacrifices that people offered to God, to worship him. When someone gave those things to God, it could not make him clean again in his mind. ¹⁰ The old rules taught people about different kinds of food and drink. They taught about how people should wash in special ways. Those rules were about people's bodies. They had authority only until the time when God would make things new and better.

God's new agreement

¹¹ But now Christ has come as our special priest. He brings us the good things that are now here. He has gone into God's own place in heaven. That is a greater and much better tent than the old tabernacle. No person made this tent. It does not belong to this world at all. ¹² Christ went into the Most Holy Place on our behalf. He did this once, for all time. He did not take with him the blood of goats or young cows when he went in there. Instead, he took the blood of his own death to offer to God. In that way, he made us free from sin for ever. ¹³ The old rules said that the priest must use the blood of goats or bulls to make people clean. Or he could burn a young cow and mix the ashes with water.^[p] He would then splash the blood or the ashes over the people who were unclean. Then those people became clean again in their bodies, and they could worship God.

¹⁴ But the blood of Christ's sacrifice will do much more than that! Christ offered himself to God, in the power of his Spirit, who lives for ever. That sacrifice was completely good. There was no wrong thing in Christ. He offered his own blood to make us completely clean inside ourselves. We no longer have to do things that lead to death. Instead, we can serve the God who lives for ever. ¹⁵ So, by Christ's death, God brings a new agreement between him and his people. God's people receive from him the good things that will be with them for ever. God has promised to give those things to the people that he has chosen. Christ's death has made them free from their sins. God will no longer punish them like the first agreement says should happen.

¹⁶ Think about this. A person may make an agreement about who will receive his things after his death. But nobody receives anything until it is clear that the person has really died. ¹⁷ The agreement only has authority after the death of the person who made it. It has no authority while that person is still alive.

¹⁸ So even God's first agreement with his people needed the blood of an animal. The agreement only had authority after a death. ¹⁹ It was like this. Moses read God's laws aloud to all Israel's people. He told them every rule that God had given them. After that, Moses killed some young cows and goats. He took some of their blood and he mixed it with water. He threw some of the blood to drop onto the book of God's laws. He also caused some to drop onto all the people. He used red sheep's hair and some small branches of a plant called hyssop to throw the blood and water. ²⁰ When Moses did this, he said to the people, ‘This blood shows that God's agreement with you has authority.’ ²¹ In the same way, Moses threw some of the blood onto the tabernacle. He also caused blood to drop onto all the things that the priests used to serve God there.^{[q] 22} God's Law taught that blood was necessary to make almost everything clean. We see that God does not forgive people for their sins unless there is blood from a death.

Christ's sacrifice on the cross

²³ The tabernacle and the things that were in it needed animals' blood to make them clean. That was a picture of the true place in heaven where people worship God. But the true things in heaven need better sacrifices to make them clean than the sacrifices of animals. ²⁴ Christ did not go into a holy place that people had made on earth. A place like that is only a picture of the true place in heaven. No, Christ went into heaven itself, where God is. Now he is there with God and he speaks to God on our behalf.

²⁵ The leader of the priests here on earth goes into the Most Holy Place every year. Each time, he takes with him the blood of an animal and he offers it to God. But when Christ went into heaven to offer himself to God, he did not do that again and again. ²⁶ To do that, he would need to die again and again, many times since the world began. No! Christ has appeared just once. He has appeared now, when time is near its end. He came and he died as a sacrifice. In that way, he has removed the power of sin. ²⁷ Every person must die once. After death, God will judge each person. ²⁸ Christ also died only once as a sacrifice. In this way, he took God's punishment for the sins of many people. Christ will return to earth a second time, but that will not be as a sacrifice for sins. That time, he will come to save those people who are waiting patiently for him.

10 God's laws which he gave to Moses are like a shadow of the good things that would come later. But those laws do not show exactly what those good things are like. They say that the priests must continue to offer the same sacrifices on behalf of the people, year after year. So those sacrifices can never make the people completely clean when they come to worship God. ² If the old rules could do that, the priests would have stopped offering sacrifices. The people who came to worship God would have become completely clean once, for all time. They would no longer have trouble in their minds about their sins. ³ But as it is, those sacrifices every year cause people to remember their sins. ⁴ We know that the blood of bulls and of goats cannot remove the punishment for sins. ⁵ So, when Christ came into the world, he said to his Father,

⁸ So think about what Christ said there. First he said to God, ‘You have not wanted gifts and sacrifices of animals. Any kind of sacrifice like that does not make you happy.’ But we know that Moses' rules taught about those sacrifices. God's law said that they were necessary. ⁹ Then Christ said, ‘Here I am. I have come to do what you want.’ In that way, Christ took away the first agreement and its rules about sacrifices. Christ's sacrifice of his own body is the new way that God forgives our sins. ¹⁰ Jesus Christ was ready to do what God wanted. He offered his own body to God once, for all time. Because of Christ's sacrifice, God has made us clean so that we belong to him.

¹¹ Every day, the priests do their work to serve God. They offer the same sacrifices to God again and again. But those sacrifices can never take away people's sins. ¹² But Christ, our special priest, offered one sacrifice to take away our sins. He did that once, for all time. After that, he sat down at God's right side to rule with him. ¹³ Since then, he waits for God to win against his enemies completely. They will become like a place for him to put his feet. ¹⁴ So, as a result of his one sacrifice, Christ has made God's people completely clean for all time.

¹⁵ God's Holy Spirit also shows us that these things are true. He says this first:^[s]

¹⁷ Then he says this:^[t]

¹⁸ So that is the way that God forgives our sins. When God has done that, we do not need to have any other sacrifice to take away our sins.

We must continue to trust God

¹⁹ So then, Christian friends, we see that Jesus died as a sacrifice on our behalf. Because of that, we may go into God's Most Holy Place. We are not afraid to do that. ²⁰ Jesus has opened a new way for us to come near to God. That way gives us life with God. It leads us through the curtain into God's Most Holy Place. Jesus opened that curtain for us when he offered his own body to God as a sacrifice.^{[u] 21} We have a great priest who rules the people of God's house. ²² So we should come near to God and we should not be afraid. But we must be honest and we must continue to trust him. He has made us clean from the dirt of our sins. Our thoughts no longer give us trouble about our sins. We have become clean. It is like he has washed our bodies with clean water.^[v]

²³ We know that we can trust God to do the things that he has promised. So we must continue to expect those things. We must tell other people that we trust God. We should not stop doing that. ²⁴ We should think about how we can help one another. We want everyone to show love to each other. We want everyone to do good things to help one another. ²⁵ Some people have stopped meeting with the group of Christians. But that is not good. We should all continue to meet together. We need to help one another to be strong and brave. That is now even more important, because the Lord's great day is coming. You know that the Lord will return soon.

We must not turn away from Jesus Christ

²⁶ Now that we have learned what is true, we must continue to believe in Jesus. If we know God's true message, but we still choose to do wrong things, God will not forgive us. There is no other sacrifice that will take away our sins. ²⁷ We know that God will judge us, and that will make us very afraid. Because we know that God will punish everyone who is against him. That punishment will be a very hot fire that destroys people. ²⁸ In the old agreement, anyone who refused to obey Moses' rules had to die. If two or three people said that he had done a bad thing, that person had to die. They would not forgive him.^[w]

²⁹ So think about a person who has turned against the Son of God. That person's punishment will surely be much worse! He says that Christ's sacrifice has no value for him. He has made God's new agreement seem like something bad. It was Christ's death on the cross that made that person clean, so that he belonged to God. But now that person has insulted God's Spirit, who brings God's kind help to us. ³⁰ We know God and his message. And God said this: ‘I am the one who will punish people for their sins. I will give them the punishment that they ought to receive.’^[x] God also said this: ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ ³¹ Yes, if God takes hold of you to punish you, that will make you very afraid! He is the powerful God who lives for ever.^[y]

³² Remember what happened to you in those early days. When you first understood the message about Christ, you had many troubles. But you continued to be strong. ³³ Sometimes people insulted you. They made you ashamed in front of other people. Sometimes you chose to help other Christians who had trouble like that. Their troubles became your troubles. ³⁴ You were kind to Christians who were in prison. When people took away your own things, you still chose to be happy. You knew that you had something better that would belong to you for ever.^[z]

³⁵ So continue to be strong in your thoughts. If you continue to trust God, you will receive great things. ³⁶ You need to be patient and strong. Then you will continue to do what God wants. As a result, you will receive what God has promised. ³⁷ This is what the Bible says:

³⁹ But we are not like those people who are afraid and who turn back. If we were, God would destroy us. But we are people who continue to trust God. And so, our lives are safe with God.