Are not all angels merely spirits in the divine service, commissioned for the benefit of those who are to inherit salvation?

For the world to come, of which I am speaking, was not put under the control of angels.

putting all things under his feet. Now by putting all things under him, the writer meant to leave nothing out of his control. But, as it is, we do not yet see all things controlled by man;

For sanctifier and sanctified have all one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,

(For of course it is not angels that he succours, it is the offspring of Abraham.)

harden not your hearts as at the Provocation, on the day of the Temptation in the desert,

Therefore I grew exasperated with that generation, I said, 'They are always astray in their heart': They would not learn my ways;

this word ever sounding in our ears, To-day, when you hear his voice, harden not your hearts as at the Provocation.

Who heard and yet provoked him? Was it not all who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses?

And with whom was he exasperated for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the desert?

Thus we see it was owing to unbelief that they could not enter.

For we have had the good news as well as they; only, the message they heard was of no use to them, because it did not meet with faith in the hearers.

he again fixes a day; To-day ??as he says in 'David' after so long an interval, and as has been already quoted ??To-day, when you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Thus if Joshua had given them Rest, God would not speak later about another day.

So let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in the hour of need.

Similarly Christ was not raised to the glory of the high priesthood by himself but by Him who declared to him, Thou art my son, to-day have I become thy father.

Though by this time you should be teaching other people, you still need someone to teach you once more the rudimentary principles of the divine revelation. You are in need of milk, not of solid food.

God is not unfair; he will not forget what you have done, or the love you have shown for his sake in ministering, as you still do, to the saints.

one who has become a priest by the power of an indissoluble Life and not by the law of an external command;

A better Hope, because it was not promised apart from an oath.

Previous priests became priests apart from any oath, but he has an oath from Him who said to him, The Lord has sworn, and he will not change his mind, thou art a priest for ever.

one who has no need, like yonder high priests, day by day to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for those of the People ??he did that once for all in offering up himself.

and who officiates in the sanctuary or true tabernacle set up by the Lord and not by man.

Were he on earth, he would not be a priest at all, for there are priests already to offer the gifts prescribed by Law

Whereas God does find fault with the people of that covenant, when he says: The day is coming, saith the Lord, when I will conclude a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be on the lines of the covenant I made with their fathers,

on the day I took them by the hand to lead out of Egypt's land; for they would not hold to my covenant, so I let them alone, saith the Lord.

but the second tent is entered only once a year by the high priest alone ??and it must not be without blood, which he presents on behalf of himself and the errors of the People.

By this the holy Spirit means that the way into the Holiest Presence was not disclosed so long as the first tent

not taking any blood of goats and oxen but his own blood, and entered once for all into the Holy place. He secured an eternal redemption.

Hence even the first covenant of God's will was not inaugurated apart from blood;

For Christ has not entered a holy place which human hands have made (a mere type of the reality!); he has entered heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, like the high priest entering the holy place every year with blood that was not his own: ??26 for in that case he would have had to suffer repeatedly, ever since the world was founded. Nay, once for all, at the end of the world, he has appeared with his self-sacrifice to abolish sin.

so Christ, after being once sacrificed to bear the sins of many, will appear again, not to deal with sin but for the saving of those who look out for him.

and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds ??25 not ceasing to meet together, as is the habit of some, but admonishing one another, all the more so, as you see the Day coming near.

Now do not drop that confidence of yours; it carries with it a rich hope of reward.

Steady patience is what you need, so that after doing the will of God you may get what you have been promised.

We are not the men to shrink back and be lost, but to have faith and so to win our souls.

Now faith means we are confident of what we hope for, convinced of what we do not see.

It was by faith that Enoch was taken to heaven, so that he never died (he was not overtaken by death, for God had taken him away). For before he was taken to heaven, his record was that he had satisfied God;

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed his call to go forth to a place which he would receive as an inheritance; he went forth, although he did not know where he was to go.

but they really aspire to the better land in heaven. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God; he has prepared a City for them.)

It was by faith that he left Egypt, not from any fear of the king's wrath; like one who saw the King Invisible, he never flinched.

It was by faith that he celebrated the passover and performed the sprinkling by blood, so that the destroying angel might not touch Israel's first-born.

It was by faith that Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, as she had welcomed the scouts peaceably.

(men of whom the world was not worthy), wanderers in the desert and among the hills, in caves and gullies.

They all won their record for faith, but the Promise they did not obtain.

God had something better in store for us; he would not have them perfected apart from us.

You have not had to shed blood yet in the struggle against sin.

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons; for where is the son who is not disciplined by his father?

Discipline is the portion of all; if you get no discipline, then you are not sons but bastards.

Why, we had fathers of our flesh to discipline us, and we yielded to them! Shall we not far more submit to the Father of our spirits, and so live?

Discipline always seems for the time to be a thing of pain, not of joy; but those who are trained by it reap the fruit of it afterwards in the peace of an upright life.

And make straight paths for your feet to walk in. You must not let the lame get dislocated, but rather make them whole.

You have not come to what you can touch, to flames of fire, to mist and gloom and stormy blasts,

(for they could not bear the command, If even a beast touches the mountain, it must be stoned) ??21 indeed, so awful was the sight that Moses said, I am terrified and aghast.

See that you do not refuse to listen to His voice. For if they failed to escape, who refused to listen to their instructor upon earth, much less shall we escape, if we discard Him who speaks from heaven.

So that we can say confidently, The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can men do to me?

Never let yourselves be carried away with a variety of novel doctrines; for the right thing is to have one's heart strengthened by grace, not by the eating of food ??that has never been any use to those who have had recourse to it.

Do not forget beneficence and charity, either; these are the kind of sacrifices that are acceptable to God.

Obey your leaders, submit to them; for they are alive to the interests of your souls, as men who will have to account for their trust. Let their work be a joy to them and not a grief ??which would be a loss to yourselves.