For, if the Message which was delivered by angels had its authority confirmed, so that every offence against it, or neglect of it, met with a fitting requital,

how can we, of all people, expect to escape, if we disregard so great a Salvation? It was the Master who at the outset spoke of this Salvation, and its authority was confirmed for us by those who heard him,

Thou hast placed all things beneath his feet.' This 'placing of everything' under man means that there was nothing which was not placed under him. As yet, however, we do not see everything placed under man.

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.

It was not, surely, to the help of the angels that Jesus came, but 'to the help of the descendants of Abraham.'

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.

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 I was sorely vexed with that generation, And I said-- "Their hearts are always straying; They have never learned my ways";

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?

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;

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

In the same way, even the Christ did not take the honour of the High Priesthood upon himself, but he was appointed by him who said to him-- 'Thou art my Son; this day I have become thy Father';

Jesus, in the days of his earthly life, offered prayers and supplications, with earnest cries and with tears, to him who was able to save him from death; and he was heard because of his devout submission.

Son though he was, he learned obedience from his sufferings;

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

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;

and it was to him that Abraham allotted a tithe of all the spoil. The meaning of his name is 'King of Righteousness, ' and besides that, he was also King of Salem, which means 'King of Peace.'

for Levi was still in the body of his ancestor when Melchizedek met Abraham.

If, then, Perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood--and it was under this priesthood that the people received the Law--why was it still necessary that a priest of a different order should appear, a priest of the order of Melchizedek and not of the order of Aaron?

and that he was appointed, not under a Law regulating only earthly matters, but by virtue of a life beyond the reach of death;

Then again, the appointment of this new priest was ratified by an oath, which is not so with the Levitical priests,

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."'

This was the High Priest that we needed--holy, innocent, spotless, withdrawn from sinners, exalted above the highest Heaven,

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.

(These priests, it is true, are engaged in a service which is only a copy and shadow of the heavenly realities, as is shown by the directions given to Moses when he was about to construct the Tabernacle. 'Look to it,' are the words, 'that thou make every part in accordance with the pattern shown thee on the mountain.')

For a Tabernacle was constructed, with an outer part which contained the stand for the lamps, and the table, and the consecrated bread. This is called the Sanctuary.

In it is the gold incense-altar, and the Ark containing the Covenant, completely covered with gold. In the Ark is a gold casket containing the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets on which the Covenant was written;

while above it, and overshadowing the Cover on which atonement was made, are the Cherubim of the Presence. But I must not now dwell on these things in detail.

Such, then, was the arrangement of the Tabernacle. Into the outer part priests are constantly going, in the discharge of their sacred duties;

By this the Holy Spirit is teaching that the way into the Sanctuary was hidden, as long as the outer part of the Tabernacle still remained.

For that was only a type, to continue down to the present time; and, in keeping with it, both gifts and sacrifices are offered, though incapable of satisfying the conscience of the worshiper;

But, when Christ came, he appeared as High Priest of that Better System which was established; and he entered through that nobler and more perfect 'Tabernacle,' not made by human hands--that is to say, not a part of this present creation.

Nor was it with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, that he entered, once and for all, into the Sanctuary, and obtained our eternal deliverance.

This explains why even the first Covenant was not ratified without the shedding of blood.

While, then, it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly realities to be purified by such means as these, the heavenly realities themselves required better sacrifices.

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.

Nor yet was it to offer himself may times, as year after year the High Priest entered the Sanctuary with an offering of blood--but not his own blood;

so it is with the Christ. He was offered up once and for all, to 'bear away the sins of many'; and the second time he will appear--but without any burden of sin--to those who are waiting for him, to bring Salvation.

The Law, though able to foreshadow the Better System which was coming, never had its actual substance. Its priests, with those sacrifices which they offer continuously year after year, can never make those who come to worship perfect.

That is why, when he was coming into the world, the Christ declared-- 'Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire, but thou dost provide for me a body;

When a man disregarded the Law of Moses, he was, on the evidence of two or three witnesses, put to death without pity.

We know who it was that said-- 'It is for me to avenge, I will requite'; and again-- 'The Lord will judge his people.'

And it was for faith that the men of old were renowned.

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 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;

It was faith that enabled Noah, after he had received the divine warning about what could not then be foreseen, to build, in reverent obedience, an ark in which to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world, and became possessed of that righteousness which follows upon faith.

It was faith that enabled Abraham to obey the Call that he received, and to set out for the place which he was afterwards to obtain as his own; and he set out not knowing where he was going.

It was faith that made him go to live as an emigrant in the Promised Land--as in a strange country--living there in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who shared the promise with him.

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

Again, it was faith that enabled Sarah to conceive (though she was past the age for child-bearing), because she felt sure that he who had given her the promise would not fail her.

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.

It was faith that enabled Abraham, when put to the test, to offer Isaac as a sacrifice--he who had received the promises offering up his only son,

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.

It was faith that enabled Isaac to bless Jacob and Esau, even with regard to the future.

Faith caused Joseph, when his end was near, to speak of the future migration of the Israelites, and to give instructions with regard to his bones.

Faith caused the parents of Moses to hide the child for three months after his birth, for they saw that he was a beautiful child; and they would not respect the King's order.

It was faith that caused Moses, when he was grown up, to refuse the title of 'Son of a Daughter of Pharaoh.'

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.

men of whom the world was not worthy--roaming in lonely places, and on the mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

For you know that even afterwards, when he wished to claim his father's blessing, he was rejected--for he never found an opportunity to repair his error--though he begged for the blessing with tears.

and so fearful was the sight that Moses said-- 'I tremble with fear.'