It was bit by bit and in many different ways that God in olden times spoke to our forefathers through the prophets,

He is the reflection of God's glory and the perfect representation of His being, and continues to uphold the universe by His mighty word. After He had procured man's purification from sins, He took His seat at the right hand of God's majesty,

For to what angel did God ever say, "You are my Son, today I have become your Father"?

But regarding the Son He says: "Your throne, O God, will stand forever and ever; a righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.

You loved the right and hated wrong; so God, your God, anointed you, with oil of exultation beyond all your companions."

They will perish, but you always remain; they all will grow old like a coat,

And you will fold them up just like a robe, and they will be changed like the changing of one's coat, but you are the same, and your years will never cease."

while God continued to confirm their testimony with signs, marvels, and various sorts of wonder-works, and with gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed in accordance with His will.

but we do see Jesus, who was made inferior to the angels for a little while, crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by God's favor He might experience death for every human being.

and again, "I too will put my trust in God"; and again, "Here I am and the children God has given me."

Therefore He had to be made like His brothers, so that He could be a sympathetic High Priest, as well as a faithful one, in things relating to God, in order to atone for the people's sins.

to see how faithful He was to God who appointed Him, just as Moses was in all the house of God.

For every house is built by somebody, but the builder and furnisher of the universe is God.

Now Moses was faithful in all the house of God, yet only as a servant to bear witness to the message that should be spoken,

but Christ as a Son set over the house of God was faithful; and we are that house, if we keep up our courage and the joy that hope inspires to the very end.

See to it, my brothers, that no wicked, unbelieving heart is found in any of you, as shown by your turning away from the ever-living God,

For we have had the good news told to us as well as they, but the message heard did them no good, because they were not by faith made one with those who heeded it.

For we who have believed are being admitted to that rest, just as He has said: "As in my anger I took oath, they shall not be admitted to my rest," although God's works had been completed at the creation of the world.

For somewhere He speaks of the seventh day: "On the seventh day God rested from all His works";

Since then it still remains that some are being admitted to it and that those who first had the good news told to them were not admitted because of disobedience,

So a sabbath of rest is still awaiting God's people.

For whoever is admitted into God's rest himself has rested from his works, just as God did.

For God's message is alive and full of power in action, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the depths of soul and spirit, to the dividing of joints and marrow, and passing judgment on the thoughts and purposes of the heart.

No creature of His can escape God's sight, but everything is bare and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we have to give account.

Since then we have in Jesus, the Son of God, a great High Priest who has gone right up to heaven itself, let us continue to keep a firm hold on our profession of faith in Him.

So let us continue coming with courage to the throne of God's unmerited favor to obtain His mercy and to find His spiritual strength to help us when we need it.

For every high priest who is taken from men is appointed to officiate on behalf of men in matters relating to God, that is, to offer gifts and sin-offerings.

And no one takes this honor upon himself but is called to it by God, as Aaron was.

So Christ too did not take upon Himself the glory of being appointed High Priest, but it was God who said: "You are my Son; I have today become your Father,"

since He had received from God the title of a High Priest with the rank of Melchizedek.

For although you ought to be teachers of others because you have been Christians so long, you actually need someone to teach you over and over again the very elements of the truths that God has given us, and you have gotten into such a state that you are in constant need of milk instead of solid food.

But solid food belongs to full-grown men who on account of constant use have their faculties trained to distinguish good and evil.

So then let us once for all quit the elementary teaching about Christ and continue progressing toward maturity; let us stop relaying a foundation of repentance from works that mean only death, and of faith in God,

And we will progress, if God permits.

and have experienced how good God's message is and the mighty powers of the age to come,

and then have fallen by the wayside -- it is impossible, I say, to keep on restoring them to their first repentance, since they continue to crucify the Son of God to their detriment and hold Him up to contempt.

For a piece of ground that drinks in the rains so frequently falling on it, and continues yielding vegetation useful to those for whose sakes it is cultivated, receives from God His blessings.

For God is not so unjust as to forget the work you have done and the love you have shown His name in the service you have rendered for your fellow-Christians, and still are doing.

For when God made His promise to Abraham, He took an oath by Himself, since He had no one greater by whom He could take it,

And so by patiently waiting he obtained what God had promised him.

Therefore, because God wanted to make the strongest demonstration of the unchangeable character of His purpose, He interposed with an oath,

so that by these two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to prove false, we who have taken refuge with Him may have encouragement strong enough to make us seize upon the hope that lies ahead of us.

For this man Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was coming back from the defeat of the kings, and put his blessing on him,

with no father, no mother, no ancestry; no beginning to his days, no end to his life, but, like the Son of God, as priest continues on and on with no successor.

But in this case, the man whose ancestry is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham, and put his blessing on the man who had the promises from God.

for the law had never made anything perfect -- and so a better hope is brought to us, through which we have approach to God.

And by so much as He was not appointed without God's taking an oath --

Therefore, because He Himself lives always to intercede for them always, He is able to save completely any and all who come to God through Him.

Now the main point in what I am saying is this: We have such a High Priest as this, one who has taken His seat at the right hand of God's majestic throne in heaven

'For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel in those days,' says the Lord; 'I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. And nevermore will each one need to teach his fellow-citizen,

and above the chest were the winged creatures, the symbols of God's glorious presence, overshadowing the mercy seat, of which I cannot now speak in detail.

But when Christ came as the High Priest of good things that have already taken place, He went by way of that greater and more perfect tent of worship, not made by human hands, that is, not belonging to this material creation,

how much more surely will the blood of Christ, who with an eternal Spirit gave Himself a spotless offering to God, purify your consciences from works that mean mere death, to serve the ever living God?

saying, "This is the blood that ratifies the covenant which God commanded me to make with you."

For it was not a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, that Christ entered, but it was into heaven itself that He went, in order now to appear for us in the very presence of God.

Then I said, 'See, I have come, just as the Scripture writes about me in the book, O God, to do your will.'"

It is by this will of God that we are consecrated through the offering of Jesus' body once for all.

But this One offered up once for all and for all time one sacrifice for sins, and once for all took His seat at God's right hand,

and since in Him we have a Great Priest over the house of God,

let us continue to draw near to God with sincere hearts and perfect faith; with our hearts cleansed from the sense of sin, and our bodies bathed in clean water;

Let us continue so to consider one another as to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

but only a terrifying prospect of judgment and that fiery indignation which is going to devour God's enemies.

How much severer punishment do you suppose that one deserves who tramples the Son of God underfoot, and counts as a common thing the blood of the covenant by which he was consecrated, and has insulted the Spirit that grants God's unmerited favor?

It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the ever living God!

Indeed, to carry out the will of God and to receive the blessing He has promised, you need endurance, for:

For by it the men of old won God's approval.

By faith we understand that the worlds were created, beautifully coordinated, and now exist, at God's command; so the things that we see did not develop out of mere matter.

By faith Abel offered a sacrifice more acceptable to God than Cain did, for by it he was approved as an upright man, since God approved him for the offering he made; and by it he still continues to speak, though dead.

By faith Enoch was transplanted from earth, so that he did not experience dying; and he could not be found, because God had transplanted him from earth. For before he was transplanted from earth evidence was given him that he pleased God;

but without faith it is impossible to please Him, for anyone who approaches God must believe that there is a God and that He gives rewards to all who earnestly try to find Him.

By faith he made his temporary home in the land that God had promised him, although a land inhabited by others, living merely in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were to share the promise with him.

For he was confidently looking forward to that city with the solid foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

But in reality they were aspiring for a better country, I mean, a heavenly one. This is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

For he considered the fact that God was able to raise people from the dead; and so from the dead, in a figure, he did receive him back.

because he preferred to suffer hardships with the people of God than to have the passing enjoyment that results from sin,

By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who disobeyed God, because she had welcomed the scouts as friends.

Though all these people by their faith won God's approval, yet none of them received what He had promised,

for God had provided something still better for us, that they, apart from us might not attain perfection.

keeping our eyes on Jesus, the perfect leader and example of faith, who, instead of the joy which lay before Him, endured the cross with no regard for its shame, and since has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

You must submit to discipline. God is dealing with you as His sons. For who is the son that his father never disciplines?

For they disciplined us only a short time, as it seemed proper to them, but He does it for our good, in order that we may share His holy character.

Continue to look after one another, that no one fails to gain God's spiritual blessing; or some evil like a bitter root may spring up and trouble you, and many of you be contaminated by it --

For you know that, when later he wanted to get possession of the blessing, he was rejected, for he could find no opportunity to repent, although with tears he tried to get the blessing.

But you have come to Mount Zion, even to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless hosts of angels,

to the festal gathering and assembly of God's firstborn sons enrolled as citizens in heaven, to a Judge who is the God of all, to the spirits of upright men who have attained perfection,

Let us, therefore, be thankful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and in this way continue to serve God acceptably in reverence and fear;

for our God, indeed, is a consuming fire.

Marriage must be held in honor by all, and the marriage relations kept sacred. Persons who are sexually vicious and immoral God will punish.

You must have a turn of mind that is free from avarice; you must be content with what you have, for God Himself has said, "I will never fail you, I will never forsake you."

You must not forget your former leaders, for it was they who brought you the message of God. Consider how they closed their lives; imitate their faith.

You must stop being carried away with varied and strange teachings. For it is a good thing for the heart to be strengthened by God's spiritual strength, not by special kinds of food, from which those adhering to them have gotten no good.

So Jesus, too, in order to purify the people by His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

So then, through Christ, let us always offer God the sacrifice of praise; that is, the speech of lips that glorify the name of God.

And stop neglecting to do good and to be generous, for God is highly pleased with just such sacrifices as these.

May God, who gives us peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, who through the blood by which He ratified the everlasting covenant, is now the Great Shepherd of the sheep,

God's spiritual blessings be with you all. Amen.