Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

Moses a Servant, Christ a Son

3 Therefore, brothers and sisters,^[a] holy partners in a heavenly calling, consider that Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, ² was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses also ‘was faithful in all^[b] God’s^[c] house.’ ³ Yet Jesus^[d] is worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honour than the house itself. ⁴ (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) ⁵ Now Moses was faithful in all God’s^[e] house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken later. ⁶ Christ, however, was faithful over God’s^[f] house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm^[g] the confidence and the pride that belong to hope.

Warning against Unbelief

⁷ Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

¹² Take care, brothers and sisters,^[h] that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today’, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. ¹⁵ As it is said,

¹⁶ Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? ¹⁷ But with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient? ¹⁹ So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

The Rest That God Promised

4 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it. ² For indeed the good news came to us just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.^{[i] 3} For we who have believed enter that rest, just as God^[j] has said,

though his works were finished at the foundation of the world. ⁴ For in one place it speaks about the seventh day as follows: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.’ ⁵ And again in this place it says, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ⁶ Since therefore it remains open for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, ⁷ again he sets a certain day—‘today’—saying through David much later, in the words already quoted,

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God^[k] would not speak later about another day. ⁹ So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; ¹⁰ for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labours as God did from his. ¹¹ Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs.

¹² Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.

Jesus the Great High Priest

¹⁴ Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested^[l] as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

5 Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; ³ and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. ⁴ And one does not presume to take this honour, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

⁵ So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,

⁶ as he says also in another place,

⁷ In the days of his flesh, Jesus^[m] offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸ Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; ⁹ and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, ¹⁰ having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Warning against Falling Away

¹¹ About this^[n] we have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become dull in understanding. ¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food; ¹³ for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.