Outline
1.
Jesus is the great
high priest (4:14-16)
2.
Qualifications of a
priest (5:1-10)
4.
The certainty of God's
promise (6:13-20)
5.
Christ's superior
priestly order (ch. 7)
A.
A New Sanctuary and a
New Covenant (ch. 8)
2.
Faith and its many
outstanding examples (ch. 11)
V.
Conclusion (ch. 13)
14 So then, since we have a great High
Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what
we believe.
15 This High Priest of ours understands
our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not
sin.
16 So let us come
boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and
we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Hebrews 5 NLT
1 Every high priest is a man chosen to
represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to
God and offers sacrifices for their sins.
2 And he is able to deal gently with
ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same
weaknesses.
3 That is why he must offer sacrifices
for his own sins as well as theirs.
4And no one can become a high priest simply
because he wants such an honor. He must be called by God for this work, just as
Aaron was.
5 That is why Christ did not honor
himself by assuming he could become High Priest. No, he was chosen by God, who
said to him, “You are my Son. Today I have become your Father. ”
6 And in another passage God said to
him, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
7 While Jesus was here on earth, he
offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could
rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence
for God.
8 Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he
learned obedience from the things he suffered.
9 In this way, God qualified him as a
perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all
those who obey him.
10 And God designated him to be a High
Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
11 There is much more we would like to
say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are
spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.
12 You have been believers so long now
that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you
again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and
cannot eat solid food.
13 For someone who lives on milk is
still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right.
14 Solid food is for
those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the
difference between right and wrong.
Hebrews 6 NLT
1 So let us stop going over the basic
teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature
in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental
importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God.
2 You don’t need further instruction
about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and
eternal judgment.
3 And so, God willing, we will move
forward to further understanding.
4 For it is impossible to bring back to
repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good
things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit,
5 who have tasted the goodness of the
word of God and the power of the age to come—
6 and who then turn away from God. It
is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of
God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up
to public shame.
7When the ground soaks up the falling rain
and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing.
8 But if a field bears thorns and
thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn
it.
9 Dear friends, even though we are
talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident
that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation.
10 For God is not unjust. He will not
forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him
by caring for other believers, as you still do.
11 Our great desire is that you will
keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what
you hope for will come true.
12 Then you will not become spiritually
dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are
going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.
13For example, there was God’s promise to
Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his
own name, saying:
14 “I will certainly bless you, and I
will multiply your descendants beyond number.”
15 Then Abraham waited patiently, and he
received what God had promised.
16 Now when people take an oath, they
call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any
question that oath is binding.
17 God also bound himself with an oath,
so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would
never change his mind.
18 So God has given both his promise and
his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to
lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as
we hold to the hope that lies before us.
19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy
anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner
sanctuary.
20 Jesus has already
gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of
Melchizedek.
Hebrews 7 NLT
1 This Melchizedek was king of the city
of Salem and also a priest of God Most High. When Abraham was returning home
after winning a great battle against the kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed
him.
2 Then Abraham took a tenth of all he
had captured in battle and gave it to Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek means
“king of justice,” and king of Salem means “king of peace.”
3 There is no record of his father or
mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life. He remains a
priest forever, resembling the Son of God.
4 Consider then how great this
Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this
by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle.
5Now the law of Moses required that the
priests, who are descendants of Levi, must collect a tithe from the rest of the
people of Israel, who are also descendants of Abraham.
6But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant
of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon
Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God.
7 And without question, the person who
has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed.
8 The priests who collect tithes are
men who die, so Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that
he lives on.
9 In addition, we might even say that
these Levites—the ones who collect the tithe—paid a tithe to Melchizedek when
their ancestor Abraham paid a tithe to him.
10 For although Levi wasn’t born yet,
the seed from which he came was in Abraham’s body when Melchizedek collected
the tithe from him.
11 So if the priesthood of Levi, on
which the law was based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why
did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of
Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron?
12 And if the priesthood is changed, the
law must also be changed to permit it.
13 For the priest we are talking about
belongs to a different tribe, whose members have never served at the altar as
priests.
14 What I mean is, our Lord came from
the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that
tribe.
15 This change has been made very clear
since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has appeared.
16 Jesus became a priest, not by meeting
the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of
a life that cannot be destroyed.
17 And the psalmist pointed this out
when he prophesied, “You are a priest forever in the order of
Melchizedek.”
18 Yes, the old requirement about the
priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless.
19 For the law never made anything
perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near
to God.
20 This new system was established with
a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath,
21 but there was an oath regarding
Jesus. For God said to him, “The LORD has taken an oath and will not break his
vow: ‘You are a priest forever.’”
22 Because of this oath, Jesus is the
one who guarantees this better covenant with God.
23 There were many priests under the old
system, for death prevented them from remaining in office.
24 But because Jesus lives forever, his
priesthood lasts forever.
25 Therefore he is able, once and
forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to
intercede with God on their behalf.
26 He is the kind of high priest we need
because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from
sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.
27 Unlike those other high priests, he
does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins
first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when
he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins.
28 The law appointed
high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given,
God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High
Priest forever.
