God, who, of old, at many times and in many ways, spoke to our ancestors, by the Prophets,

For he is the radiance of the Glory of God and the very expression of his Being, upholding all creation by the power of his word; and, when he had made an expiation for the sins of men, he 'took his seat at the right hand' of God's Majesty on high,

For to which of the angels did God ever say-- 'Thou art my Son; this day I have become thy Father'? or again-- 'I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son'?

And again, when God brought the First-born into the world, he said-- 'Let all the angels of God bow down before him.'

while of the Son he said-- 'God is thy throne for ever and ever; The scepter of his Kingdom is the scepter of Justice;

Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity; Therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the festal oil more abundantly than thy peers.'

To which of the angels has God ever said-- 'Sit thou at my right hand until I put thy enemies as a stool for thy feet'?

Are not all the angels spirits in the service of God, sent out to minister for the sake of those who are destined to obtain Salvation?

while God himself added his testimony to it by signs, and marvels, and many different miracles, as well as by imparting the Holy Spirit as he saw fit.

God has not given to angels the control of that Future World of which we are speaking!

What our eyes do see is Jesus, who was made for a while lower than angels, now, because of his sufferings and death, crowned with glory and honour; so that his tasting the bitterness of death should, in God's loving-kindness, be on behalf of all mankind.

It was, indeed, fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, should, when leading many sons to glory, make the author of their Salvation perfect through suffering.

And again-- 'As for me, I will put my trust in God.' And yet again-- 'See, here am I and the children whom God gave me.'

And consequently it was necessary that he should in all points be made like 'his Brothers,' in order that he might prove a merciful as well as a faithful High Priest in man's relations with God, for the purpose of expiating the sins of his People.

See how faithful he was to the God who appointed him, as Moses was in the whole House of God.

For every House has its founder, and the founder of the universe is God.

While the faithful service of Moses in the whole House of God was that of a servant, whose duty was to bear testimony to a Message still to come,

the faithfulness of Christ was that of a Son set over the House of God. And we are his House--if only we retain, unshaken to the end, the courage and confidence inspired by our hope.

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says-- 'If to-day you hear God's voice,

Be careful, Brothers, that there is never found in any one of you a wicked and faithless heart, shown by his separating himself from the Living God.

To use the words of Scripture-- 'If to-day you hear God's voice, harden not your hearts, as when Israel provoked me.'

Who were they who heard God speak and yet provoked him? Were not they all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses?

And with whom was it that God was sorely vexed for forty years? Was not it with those who had sinned, and who fell dead in the desert?

And who were they to whom God swore that they should not enter upon his rest, if not those who had proved faithless?

We must, therefore, be very careful, though there is a promise still standing that we shall enter upon God's Rest, that none of you even appear to have missed it.

For we have had the Good News told us just as they had. But the Message which they heard did them no good, since they did not share the faith of those who were attentive to it.

Upon that Rest we who have believed are now entering. As God has said-- 'In my wrath I swore--"They shall never enter upon my Rest;"' Although God's work was finished at the creation of the world;

for, in a passage referring to the seventh day, you will find these words-- 'God rested upon the seventh day after all his work.'

Since, then, there is still a promise that some shall enter upon this Rest, and since those who were first told the Good News did not enter upon it, because of their disbelief,

again God fixed a day. 'To-day,' he said, speaking after a long interval through the mouth of David, in the passage already quoted-- 'If to-day you hear God's voice harden not your hearts.'

Now if Joshua had given 'Rest' to the people, God would not have spoken of another and later day.

There is, then, a Sabbath-Rest still awaiting God's People.

For he who enters upon God's Rest does himself rest after his work, just as God did.

God's Message is a living and active power, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing its way till it penetrates soul and spirit--not the joints only but the very marrow--and detecting the inmost thoughts and purposes of the mind.

There is no created thing that can hide itself from the sight of God. Everything is exposed and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we have to give account.

We have, then, in Jesus, the Son of God, a great High Priest who has passed into the highest Heaven; let us, therefore, hold fast to the Faith which we have professed.

Every High Priest, taken from among men, is appointed as a representative of his fellow-men in their relations with God, to offer both gifts and sacrifices in expiation of sins.

Nor does any one take that high office upon himself, till he has been called to do so by God, as Aaron was.

while God himself pronounced him a High Priest of the order of Melchizedek.

Therefore, let us leave behind the elementary teaching about the Christ and press on to perfection, not always laying over again a foundation of repentance for a lifeless formality, of faith in God--

Yes and, with God's help, we will.

if those, I say, fell away, it would be impossible to bring them again to repentance; they would be crucifying the Son of God over again for themselves, and exposing him to open contempt.

Ground that drinks in the showers that from time to time fall upon it, and produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is tilled, receives a blessing from God;

For God is not unjust; he will not forget the work that you did, and the love that you showed for his Name, in sending help to your fellow Christians--as you are still doing.

Then you will not show yourselves slow to learn, but you will copy those who, through faith and patience, are now entering upon the enjoyment of God's promises.

When God gave his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater by whom he could swear, he swore by himself.

And so, after patiently waiting, Abraham obtained the fulfillment of God's promise.

And therefore God, in his desire to show, with unmistakable plainness, to those who were to enter on the enjoyment of what he had promised, the unchangeableness of his purpose, bound himself with an oath.

For he intended us to find great encouragement in these two unchangeable things, which make it impossible for God to prove false--we, I mean, who fled for safety where we might lay hold on the hope set before us.

It was this Melchizedek, King of Salem and Priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and gave him his blessing;

There is no record of his father, or mother, or lineage, nor again of any beginning of his days, or end of his life. In this he resembles the Son of God, and stands before us as a priest whose priesthood is continuous.

But Melchizedek, although not of this lineage, received tithes from Abraham, and gave his blessing to the very man who had God's promises.

(for the Law never brought anything to perfection); and, on the other hand, we have the introduction of a better hope, which enables us to draw near to God.

but his appointment was ratified by an oath, when God said to him-- 'The Lord has sworn, and will not change, "Thou art a priest for all time."'

And that is why he is able to save perfectly those who come to God through him, living for ever, as he does, to intercede of their behalf.

The Law appoints as High Priests men who are liable to infirmity, but the words of God's oath, which was later than the Law, name the Son as, for all time, the perfect Priest.

To sum up what I have been saying:--Such is the High Priest that we have, one who 'has taken his seat at the right hand' of the throne of God's Majesty in Heaven,

Every High Priest is appointed for the purpose of offering gifts and sacrifices to God; it follows, therefore, that this High Priest must have some offering to make.

But, finding fault with the people, God says-- '"Behold, a time is coming," says the Lord, "when I will ratify a new Covenant with the People of Israel and with the People of Judah--

"This is the Covenant that I will make with the People of Israel After those days," says the Lord. "I will impress my laws on their minds, and will inscribe them on their hearts; And I will be their God, and they shall be my People.

By speaking of a 'new' Covenant, God at once renders the former Covenant obsolete; and whatever becomes obsolete and loses its force is virtually annulled.

how much more will the blood of the Christ, who, through his eternal Spirit, offered himself up to God, as a victim without blemish, purify our consciences from a lifeless formality, and fit us for the service of the Living God!

saying, as he did so-- "This is the blood that renders valid the Covenant which God has commanded to be made with you."

For it was not into a Sanctuary made by human hands, which merely foreshadowed the true one, that Christ entered, but into Heaven itself, that he might now appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

So I said, "See, I have come' (as is written of me in the pages of the Book), "To do thy will, O God."'

And it is in the fulfillment of the will of God that we have been purified by the sacrifice, once and for all, of the body of Jesus Christ.

But, this priest, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, which should serve for all time, 'took his seat at the right hand of God,'

and, since we have in him 'a great priest set over the House of God,'

let us draw near to God in all sincerity of heart and in perfect faith, with our hearts purified by the sprinkled blood from all consciousness of wrong, and with our bodies washed with pure water.

How much worse then, think you, will be the punishment deserved by those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God, who have treated the blood that rendered the Covenant valid--the very blood by which they were purified--as of no account, and who have outraged the Spirit of Love?

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.

You still have need of patient endurance, in order that, when you have done God's will, you may obtain the fulfillment of his promise.

Faith enables us to perceive that the universe was created at the bidding of God--so that we know that what we see was not made out of visible things.

Faith made the sacrifice which Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain's, and won him renown as a righteous man, God himself establishing his renown by accepting his gifts; and it is by the example of his faith that Abel, though dead, still speaks.

Faith led to Enoch's removal from earth, that he might not experience death. 'He could not be found because God had removed him.' For, before his removal, he was renowned as having pleased God;

But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that God exists, and that he rewards those who seek for him.

For he was looking for the City with the sure foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

But no, they were longing for a better, a heavenly, land! And therefore God was not ashamed to be called their God; indeed he had already prepared them a city.

For he argued that God was able even to raise a man from the dead--and indeed, figuratively speaking, Abraham did receive Isaac back from the dead.

He preferred sharing the hardships of God's People to enjoying the short-lived pleasures of sin.

Faith caused him to leave Egypt, though undaunted by the King's anger, for he was strengthened in his endurance by the vision of the invisible God.

By their faith they subdued kingdoms, ruled righteously, gained the fulfillment of God's promises, 'shut the mouths of lions,'

Yet, though they all won renown by their faith, they did not obtain the final fulfillment of God's promise;

since God had in view some better thing for us, that they, apart from us, should not attain perfection.

our eyes fixed upon Jesus, the Leader and perfect Example of our faith, who, for the joy that lay before him, endured the cross, heedless of its shame, and now 'has taken his seat at the right hand' of the throne of God.

and you have forgotten the encouraging words which are addressed to you as God's Children-- 'My child, think not lightly of the Lord's discipline, do not despond when he rebukes you;

It is for your discipline that you have to endure all this. God is dealing with you as his Children. For where is there a child whom his father does not discipline?

Our fathers disciplined us for only a short time and as seemed best to them; but God disciplines us for our true good, to enable us to share his holiness.

Take care that no one fails to use the loving help of God, 'that no bitterness is allowed to take root and spring up, and cause trouble,' and so poison the whole community.

No, but it is to Mount Zion that you have drawn near, the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to countless hosts of angels,

to the festal gathering and assemblage of God's Eldest Sons whose names are enrolled in Heaven, to God the Judge of all men, to the spirits of the righteous who have attained perfection,

Therefore, let us, who have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken, be thankful, and so offer acceptable worship to God, with awe and reverence.

For our God is 'a consuming fire.'

Let marriage be honoured by all and the married life be pure; for God will judge those who are immoral and those who commit adultery.

Do not let your conduct be ruled by the love of money. Be content with what you have, for God himself has said-- 'I will never forsake you, nor will I ever abandon you.'

Do not forget your Leaders, the men who told you God's Message. Recall the close of their lives, and imitate their faith.

And so Jesus, also, to purify the People by his own blood, suffered outside the gate.

Through him let us offer, as our sacrifice, continual praise to God--an offering from lips that glorify his Name.

Never forget to do kindly acts and to share what you have with others, for such sacrifices are acceptable to God.

Pray for us, for we are sure that our consciences are clear, since our wish is to be occupied with what is good.