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The Message Bible MSG
1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
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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.
2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.
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If they had, the worshipers would have gone merrily on their way, no longer dragged down by their sins.
3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.
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But instead of removing awareness of sin, when those animal sacrifices were repeated over and over they actually heightened awareness and guilt.
4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
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The plain fact is that bull and goat blood can't get rid of sin.
5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;
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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.
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.
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It's not fragrance and smoke from the altar that whet your appetite.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, my God.’ ”
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So I said, "I'm here to do it your way, O God, the way it's described in your Book."
8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law.
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When he said, "You don't want sacrifices and offerings," he was referring to practices according to the old plan.
9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second.
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When he added, "I'm here to do it your way," he set aside the first in order to enact the new plan -
10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
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God's way - by which we are made fit for God by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus.
11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
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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.
12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
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As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God
13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.
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and waited for his enemies to cave in.
14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
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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.
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
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The Holy Spirit confirms this:
16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”
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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."
17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”
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He concludes, I'll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins.
18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
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Once sins are taken care of for good, there's no longer any need to offer sacrifices for them.
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
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So, friends, we can now - without hesitation - walk right up to God, into "the Holy Place."
20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
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Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God.
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
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The "curtain" into God's presence is his body.
22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
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So let's do it - full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out.
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
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Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word.
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,
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Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out,
25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
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not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
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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
27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
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and are left on our own to face the Judgment - and a mighty fierce judgment it will be!
28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
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If the penalty for breaking the law of Moses is physical death,
29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
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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?
30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”
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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."
31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
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Nobody's getting by with anything, believe me.
32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering.
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Remember those early days after you first saw the light? Those were the hard times!
33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated.
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Kicked around in public, targets of every kind of abuse - some days it was you, other days your friends.
34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
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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.
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
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So don't throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It's still a sure thing!
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
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But you need to stick it out, staying with God's plan so you'll be there for the promised completion.
37 For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”
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It won't be long now, he's on the way; he'll show up most any minute.
38 And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”
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But anyone who is right with me thrives on loyal trust; if he cuts and runs, I won't be very happy.
39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
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But we're not quitters who lose out. Oh, no! We'll stay with it and survive, trusting all the way.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
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.