Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

Jesus and Moses

3 Well then, my brothers and sisters: you are God’s holy ones, and you share the call from heaven. So think carefully about Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession of faith. ² He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. ³ He deserves much more glory than Moses, you see, just as the one who builds a house deserves more glory than the house. ⁴ For every house is built by someone, but the one who builds all things is God. ⁵ And “Moses was faithful, as a servant, in all his house,” thereby bearing witness to the things that were yet to be spoken of; ⁶ but the Messiah is over God’s house as a son. What is that house? It is us—those of us who hold on tightly to the boldness and confidence of our hope.

Today’s the time to listen!

⁷ So listen to what the holy spirit says:

¹² Take care, my dear family, that none of you should possess an evil and unbelieving heart, leading you to withdraw from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another every day, as long as it’s called “Today,” so that none of you may become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Hold on tight!

¹⁴ We share the life of the Messiah, you see, only if we keep a firm, tight grip on our original confidence, right through to the end. ¹⁵ That’s what it means when it says, “Today, if you hear his voice, don’t make your hearts hard, as in the great bitterness.”

¹⁶ Who was it, after all, who heard and then became bitter? It was all those who went out of Egypt under Moses, wasn’t it? ¹⁷ And who was it that God was angry with for forty years? It was those who sinned, wasn’t it—those whose bodies fell in the desert? ¹⁸ And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who didn’t believe? ¹⁹ So we can see that it was their unbelief that prevented them from entering.

Getting through to the sabbath rest

4 So we are naturally afraid that some of you might seem to have missed out on God’s promise of entering his rest, the promise which is still open before us. ² For we certainly had the good news announced to us, just as they did; but the word which they heard didn’t do them any good, because they were not united in faith with those who heard it. ³ For it is we who believe who enter into the rest; as it has been said,

—even though God’s works had been complete since the foundation of the world. ⁴ For it says this somewhere about the seventh day,

⁵ and again, in the present passage,

⁶ Therefore, since some failed to enter into it, and those who received the good news earlier on didn’t enter because of unbelief, ⁷ he once again appoints a day, “Today,” saying through David—after such a long interval of time!—in the words already quoted,

⁸ If Joshua had given them rest, you see, he wouldn’t be speaking about another subsequent “rest.” ⁹ Thus we conclude: there is still a future sabbath “rest” for God’s people. ¹⁰ Anyone who enters that “rest” will take a rest from their works, as God did from his.

Danger! God’s word at work

¹¹ So, then, let’s make every effort to enter that “rest,” so that nobody should trip and fall through the same pattern of unbelief. ¹² God’s word is alive, you see! It’s powerful, and it’s sharper than any double-edged sword. It can pierce right in between soul and spirit, or joints and marrow; it can go straight to the point of what the human heart is thinking, or intends to do. ¹³ No creature remains hidden before God. All are naked, laid bare before the eyes of the one to whom we must present an account.

The sympathetic high priest

¹⁴ Well, then, since we have a great high priest who has gone right through the heavens, Jesus, God’s son, let us hold on firmly to our confession of faith. ¹⁵ For we don’t have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then come boldly to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us at the moment when we need it.

5 Every high priest, you see, is chosen from among human beings, and is placed before God on their behalf, so that he can offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He is able to sympathize with people who don’t know very much, or who wander off in different directions, since he too has his own share of weakness. ³ That’s why he has to offer sacrifices in relation to his own sins as well as those of the people.

The son becomes the priest

⁴ Nobody takes the office of priesthood on himself; you have to be called by God, just as Aaron was. ⁵ In the same way, the Messiah didn’t exalt himself so that he might become a high priest. It came about through the one who said to him,

⁶ As he says in another passage,

⁷ During the time of Jesus’ earthly life, he offered up prayers and supplications, with loud shouts and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death. He was heard because of his devotion. ⁸ Son though he was, he learned obedience through what he suffered. ⁹ When he had been made complete and perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, ¹⁰ since he has been designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Are you ready for solid food?

¹¹ We have plenty to say about all this. But it may be hard to make it clear, because your capacity to take things in has become sluggish. ¹² Yes: by now you really should have become teachers, but you need someone to teach you the basic elementary beginnings of God’s oracles. You need milk, not solid food! ¹³ Everyone who drinks milk, you see, is unskilled in the word of God’s justice; such people are just babies. ¹⁴ Mature people need solid food—and by “mature” I mean people whose faculties have been trained by practice, to distinguish good from evil.