Christ did not Glorify Himself to
become High Priest, but it was
God who said to Him: “YOU are My Son, Today I have begotten YOU.” As God
also says in another place: “YOU are a Priest Forever According to The Order of Melchizedek”;
who, in The Days of His Flesh, when Jesus had offered up prayers and
supplications, with vehement cries and tears to God who was able to Save Him
from death, and was heard because of His Godly Fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned Obedience by the
things which He Suffered. And having
been Perfected, Christ became The Author of Eternal Salvation to All who obey
Him, called by God as High Priest “According to The Order of Melchizedek.”
If perfection were through The Levitical Priesthood,
what further need was there
that another Priest should rise According to The Order of Melchizedek, and not
be called according to the order of Aaron?
For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of
The Law. For Jesus, of whom these things
are spoken, belongs to another tribe, from which no man has officiated at the
altar. For it is evident that Our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe
Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood.
And it is yet far more evident if, in The Likeness of Melchizedek, there
Arises another Priest who has come, not according to The Law of a fleshly
commandment, but According to The Power of an Endless Life. For God Testifies: “YOU are a Priest Forever According to The Order of Melchizedek.” For on the one hand
there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and
unprofitableness, for The Law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a Better
Hope, through which We draw near to God.
And inasmuch as Jesus
was not made Priest
without an Oath (for they have become priests without an oath, but Christ with
an Oath by God who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn and will not relent, ‘YOU are a Priest Forever According to The Order of Melchizedek’”),
by so much more Jesus has become a Surety of a Better Covenant. But Jesus, because He continues Forever, has an
Unchangeable Priesthood. Therefore He is
also able to Save to the Uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He
Always Lives to make Intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for Us, who is Holy, Harmless, Undefiled, Separate from sinners, and has
become Higher than The Heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests,
to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for
this He did Once for All, when He offered up Himself. The Word of The Oath, which came after The Law,
Appoints The Son who has been
Perfected Forever.
Now this is
The Main Point of the things We are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is
Seated at The Right Hand of The Throne of The Majesty in The Heavens, a
Minister of The Sanctuary and of The True Tabernacle which The Lord erected (and
not man). For every high priest is
appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. For if Jesus were on Earth, He would not be a
priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to The Law; who
serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed
when he was about to make The Tabernacle. For God said, “See that YOU make all things according to the pattern shown YOU on the Mountain.”
But now Jesus has Obtained a More Excellent Ministry, inasmuch as He is
also Mediator of a Better Covenant, which was Established on Better Promises.
For if that First Covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought
for a Second. Because finding fault with
them, God says: “Behold,
The Days are Coming, says The Lord, when I will make a New Covenant
with The House of Israel and with The House of Judah — not according to The Covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of
Egypt; because they did not continue in My Covenant, and I disregarded them,
says The Lord. For this is The Covenant that I will make with The House of Israel after those
days, says The Lord: I will put My Laws in their mind and write them on
their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My People.
None of
them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know The Lord,’ for All shall know Me, from the
least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be Merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” In that God says, “A New Covenant,” He has
made the First obsolete. Now what is
becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
But Christ came as
High Priest of the Good Things to come, with The Greater and More Perfect Tabernacle
(not made with hands), that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but
with His Own Blood He entered The Most Holy Place Once for All, having Obtained
Eternal Redemption. For if the blood of
bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies
for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall The Blood of Christ, who
through The Eternal Spirit offered Himself without Spot to God, cleanse your
conscience from dead works to serve The Living God? And for this reason Jesus
is The Mediator of The New Covenant, by means of death, for The Redemption of
The Transgressions under The First Covenant, that those who are Called may Receive
The Promise of The Eternal Inheritance.
For Christ has not Entered The Holy Places made with
hands, (which are copies of the
True), but into Heaven itself, now to Appear in The Presence of God for Us; not
that He should Offer Himself often, as The High Priest enters The Most Holy
Place every year with blood of another — Christ then would have had to suffer
often since The Foundation of The World; but now, Once at The End of The Ages, Jesus
has Appeared to put away sin by The Sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once,
but after this The Judgment, so Christ was Offered Once to Bear the sins of
many. To those who eagerly wait for Him,
He will Appear a Second Time, apart from sin, for Salvation.
Therefore, when Christ came into the World, He said: “Sacrifice and Offering YOU did
not desire, but
a Body YOU have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin YOU had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I
have Come — In The Volume of The Book it is Written
of Me — To do Your Will, O God.’” Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin YOU did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are
offered according to The Law), then Jesus said, “Behold,
I have Come to do Your Will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may Establish
The Second. By that Will, We have been
Sanctified through The Offering of The Body of Jesus Christ, Once for All.
But this Man, after Jesus had Offered One Sacrifice
for sins Forever, sat down at The Right Hand of God, from that Time waiting
till His Enemies are made His Footstool. For by One Offering Christ has Perfected Forever those
who are being Sanctified. But The Holy Spirit also Witnesses to Us; for after God
had said before, “This is The Covenant, that I will make
with them after Those Days, says The Lord: I will
put My Laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now where there is Remission
of these, there is no longer an
offering for sin.
Therefore, Brethren, having Boldness to Enter The
Holiest by The Blood of Jesus, by a New and Living Way, which He Consecrated
for Us, through The Veil, that is, His Flesh, and having a High Priest over The House of God, let Us draw near
with a True Heart in Full Assurance of Faith, having Our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and Our bodies washed with Pure Water. Let Us hold fast The Confession of Our Hope without wavering, for He who
Promised is Faithful. And let Us consider one another in order to stir
up Love and Good Works, not forsaking The Assembling of Ourselves Together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting One another, and so much the more as
YOU see The Day approaching.
For if We sin willfully after We have Received The
Knowledge of The Truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a
certain Fearful Expectation of Judgment, and fiery indignation which will
devour the adversaries. Anyone who has
rejected Moses’ Law dies without Mercy on The Testimony of Two or Three Witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do YOU suppose,
will he be thought worthy who has trampled The Son of God underfoot, counted
The Blood of The Covenant by which he was Sanctified a common thing, and insulted
The Spirit of Grace? For We know Him who
said, “Vengeance
is Mine, I will Repay,” says The Lord. And again, “The Lord Will Judge His People.”
It is a fearful thing to fall into The Hands of The Living God.
But recall the former days in which, after YOU were
Illuminated, YOU Endured a Great Struggle with Sufferings: partly while YOU
were made a Spectacle both by Reproaches and Tribulations, and partly while YOU
became Companions of those who were so treated; for YOU had Compassion on me in
my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that YOU
have a Better and an Enduring Possession for yourselves in Heaven. Therefore do not cast away your Confidence,
which has Great Reward. For YOU have
need of Endurance, so that after YOU have Done The Will of God, YOU may receive
The Promise: “For
yet a little while, and Jesus who is Coming,
will come and will not tarry. Now The Just
shall Live by Faith. We are of Those Who Believe to The Saving of The Soul.
