Study Desk

So surely the blood sacrifice of Christ can do much more. Christ offered himself through the eternal Spirit as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will make us completely clean from the evil we have done. It will give us clear consciences so that we can worship the living God.

So Christ brings a new agreement from God to his people. He brings this agreement so that those who are chosen by God can have the blessings God promised, blessings that last forever. This can happen only because Christ died to free people from sins committed against the commands of the first agreement.

That is why blood was needed to begin the first agreement between God and his people.

Then he said, "This is the blood that makes the agreement good—the agreement that God commanded you to follow."

Christ went into the Most Holy Place. But it was not the man-made one, which is only a copy of the real one. He went into heaven, and he is there now before God to help us.

The law gave us only an unclear picture of the good things coming in the future. The law is not a perfect picture of the real things. The law tells people to offer the same sacrifices every year. Those who come to worship God continue to offer those sacrifices. But the law can never make them perfect.

Then I said, ‘Here I am, God. It is written about me in the book of the law. I have come to do what you want.'"

Then he said, "Here I am, God. I have come to do what you want." So God ends that first system of sacrifices and starts his new way.

Jesus Christ did the things God wanted him to do. And because of that, we are made holy through the sacrifice of Christ's body. Christ made that sacrifice one time—enough for all time.

But Christ offered only one sacrifice for sins, and that sacrifice is good for all time. Then he sat down at the right side of God.

And we have a great priest who rules the house of God.

Sprinkled with the blood of Christ, our hearts have been made free from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. So come near to God with a sincere heart, full of confidence because of our faith in Christ.

We must hold on to the hope we have, never hesitating to tell people about it. We can trust God to do what he promised.

If we continue sinning, all that is left for us is a fearful time of waiting for the judgment and the angry fire that will destroy those who live against God.

So think how much more punishment people deserve who show their hate for the Son of God—people who show they have no respect for the blood sacrifice that began the new agreement and once made them holy or who insult the Spirit of God's grace.

We know that God said, "I will punish people for the wrongs they do; I will repay them." And he also said, "The Lord will judge his people."

It is a terrible thing to face punishment from the living God.

You must be patient. After you have done what God wants, you will get what he promised you.

God was pleased with the people who lived a long time ago because they had faith like this.

Faith helps us understand that God created the whole world by his command. This means that the things we see were made by something that cannot be seen.