Study Desk

But even if we speak like this, dear friends, we feel sure about you. We know that you have the better blessings that belong to your salvation.

We do not want you to become lazy, but to be like those who believe and are patient, and so receive what God has promised.

Melchizedek was not descended from Levi, but he collected one tenth from Abraham and blessed him, the man who received God's promises.

In the case of the priests the tenth is collected by men who die; but as for Melchizedek the tenth was collected by one who lives, as the scripture says.

For Levi had not yet been born, but was, so to speak, in the body of his ancestor Abraham when Melchizedek met him.

He was made a priest, not by human rules and regulations, but through the power of a life which has no end.

But Jesus became a priest by means of a vow when God said to him, "The Lord has made a solemn promise and will not take it back: ‘You will be a priest forever.'"

But Jesus lives on forever, and his work as priest does not pass on to someone else.

The Law of Moses appoints men who are imperfect to be high priests; but God's promise made with the vow, which came later than the Law, appoints the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

But now, Jesus has been given priestly work which is superior to theirs, just as the covenant which he arranged between God and his people is a better one, because it is based on promises of better things.

But God finds fault with his people when he says, "The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will draw up a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.

Above the Box were the winged creatures representing God's presence, with their wings spread over the place where sins were forgiven. But now is not the time to explain everything in detail.

but only the high priest goes into the inner tent, and he does so only once a year. He takes with him blood which he offers to God on behalf of himself and for the sins which the people have committed without knowing they were sinning.

But Christ has already come as the High Priest of the good things that are already here. The tent in which he serves is greater and more perfect; it is not a tent made by human hands, that is, it is not a part of this created world.

Those things, which are copies of the heavenly originals, had to be purified in that way. But the heavenly things themselves require much better sacrifices.

The Jewish high priest goes into the Most Holy Place every year with the blood of an animal. But Christ did not go in to offer himself many times,

In the same manner Christ also was offered in sacrifice once to take away the sins of many. He will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are waiting for him.

For this reason, when Christ was about to come into the world, he said to God: "You do not want sacrifices and offerings, but you have prepared a body for me.

Every Jewish priest performs his services every day and offers the same sacrifices many times; but these sacrifices can never take away sins.

My righteous people, however, will believe and live; but if any of them turns back, I will not be pleased with them."