The Message Bible MSG
New Living Translation NLT
1 The old plan was only a hint of the good things in the new plan. Since that old "law plan" wasn't complete in itself, it couldn't complete those who followed it. No matter how many sacrifices were offered year after year, they never added up to a complete solution.
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The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.
2 If they had, the worshipers would have gone merrily on their way, no longer dragged down by their sins.
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If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.
3 But instead of removing awareness of sin, when those animal sacrifices were repeated over and over they actually heightened awareness and guilt.
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But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year.
4 The plain fact is that bull and goat blood can't get rid of sin.
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For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 That is what is meant by this prophecy, put in the mouth of Christ: You don't want sacrifices and offerings year after year; you've prepared a body for me for a sacrifice.
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That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer.
6 It's not fragrance and smoke from the altar that whet your appetite.
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You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin.
7 So I said, "I'm here to do it your way, O God, the way it's described in your Book."
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Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God— as is written about me in the Scriptures.’”
8 When he said, "You don't want sacrifices and offerings," he was referring to practices according to the old plan.
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First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses).
9 When he added, "I'm here to do it your way," he set aside the first in order to enact the new plan -
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Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect.
10 God's way - by which we are made fit for God by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus.
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For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
11 Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem.
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Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.
12 As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God
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But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
13 and waited for his enemies to cave in.
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There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet.
14 It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process.
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For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.
15 The Holy Spirit confirms this:
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And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,
16 This new plan I'm making with Israel isn't going to be written on paper, isn't going to be chiseled in stone; This time "I'm writing out the plan in them, carving it on the lining of their hearts."
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“This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the LORD : I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”
17 He concludes, I'll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins.
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Then he says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.”
18 Once sins are taken care of for good, there's no longer any need to offer sacrifices for them.
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And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.
19 So, friends, we can now - without hesitation - walk right up to God, into "the Holy Place."
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And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.
20 Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God.
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By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.
21 The "curtain" into God's presence is his body.
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And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house,
22 So let's do it - full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out.
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let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
23 Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word.
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Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.
24 Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out,
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Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.
25 not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.
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And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
26 If we give up and turn our backs on all we've learned, all we've been given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ's sacrifice
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Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.
27 and are left on our own to face the Judgment - and a mighty fierce judgment it will be!
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There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.
28 If the penalty for breaking the law of Moses is physical death,
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For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 what do you think will happen if you turn on God's Son, spit on the sacrifice that made you whole, and insult this most gracious Spirit?
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Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.
30 This is no light matter. God has warned us that he'll hold us to account and make us pay. He was quite explicit: "Vengeance is mine, and I won't overlook a thing," and, "God will judge his people."
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For we know the one who said, “I will take revenge. I will pay them back.” He also said, “The LORD will judge his own people.”
31 Nobody's getting by with anything, believe me.
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It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 Remember those early days after you first saw the light? Those were the hard times!
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Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering.
33 Kicked around in public, targets of every kind of abuse - some days it was you, other days your friends.
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Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things.
34 If some friends went to prison, you stuck by them. If some enemies broke in and seized your goods, you let them go with a smile, knowing they couldn't touch your real treasure. Nothing they did bothered you, nothing set you back.
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You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.
35 So don't throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It's still a sure thing!
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So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!
36 But you need to stick it out, staying with God's plan so you'll be there for the promised completion.
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Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.
37 It won't be long now, he's on the way; he'll show up most any minute.
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“For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.
38 But anyone who is right with me thrives on loyal trust; if he cuts and runs, I won't be very happy.
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And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”
39 But we're not quitters who lose out. Oh, no! We'll stay with it and survive, trusting all the way.
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But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.