Thematic Bible: Insufficiency of

For if that first Covenant had been free from imperfection, there would have been no attempt to introduce another. For, being dissatisfied with His people, God says, "'There are days coming,' says the Lord, 'When I will establish with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new Covenant-- a Covenant unlike the one which I made with their forefathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out from the land of Egypt; for they would not remain faithful to that.' 'So I turned from them,' says the Lord. read more.
But this is the Covenant that I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days,' says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds and will write them upon their hearts. And I will indeed be their God and they shall be My People. And there shall be no need for them to teach each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For all will know Me from the least of them to the greatest; Because I will be merciful to their wrongdoings, and their sins I will remember no longer.'" By using the words, "a new Covenant," He has made the first one obsolete; but whatever is decaying and showing signs of old age is not far from disappearing altogether.

Now even the first Covenant had regulations for divine worship, and had also its sanctuary--a sanctuary belonging to this world. For a sacred tent was constructed--the outer one, in which were the lamp and the table and the presented loaves; and this is called the Holy place. And behind the second veil was a sacred tent called the Holy of holies. read more.
This had a censer of gold, and the ark of the Covenant lined with gold and completely covered with gold, and in it were a gold vase which held the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded and the tables of the Covenant. And above the ark were the Cherubim denoting God's glorious presence and overshadowing the Mercy-seat. But I cannot now speak about all these in detail. These arrangements having long been completed, the priests, when conducting the divine services, continually enter the outer tent. But into the second, the High Priest goes only on one day of the year, and goes alone, taking with him blood, which he offers on his own behalf and on account of the sins which the people have ignorantly committed. And the lesson which the Holy Spirit teaches is this--that the way into the true Holy place is not yet open so long as the outer tent still remains in existence. And this is a figure--for the time now present--answering to which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, unable though they are to give complete freedom from sin to him who ministers. For their efficacy depends only on meats and drinks and various washings, ceremonies pertaining to the body and imposed until a time of reformation. But Christ appeared as a High Priest of the blessings that are soon to come by means of the greater and more perfect Tent of worship, a tent which has not been built with hands--that is to say does not belong to this material creation-- and once for all entered the Holy place, taking with Him not the blood of goats and calves, but His own blood, and thus procuring eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have contracted defilement make them holy so as to bring about ceremonial purity, how much more certainly shall the blood of Christ, who strengthened by the eternal Spirit offered Himself to God, free from blemish, purify your consciences from lifeless works for you to serve the ever-living God? And because of this He is the negotiator of a new Covenant, in order that, since a life has been given in atonement for the offences committed under the first Covenant, those who have been called may receive the eternal inheritance which has been promised to them.

For, since the Law exhibits only an outline of the blessings to come and not a perfect representation of the things themselves, the priests can never, by repeating the same sacrifices which they continually offer year after year, give complete freedom from sin to those who draw near. For then would not the sacrifices have ceased to be offered, because the consciences of the worshippers--who in that case would now have been cleansed once for all--would no longer be burdened with sins? But in those sacrifices sins are recalled to memory year after year. read more.
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why, when He comes into the world, He says, "Sacrifice and offering Thou has not desired, but a body Thou hast prepared for Me. In whole burnt-offerings and in sin-offerings Thou hast taken no pleasure. Then I said, 'I have come--in the roll of the book it is written concerning Me--to do Thy will, O God.'" After saying the words I have just quoted, "Sacrifices and offerings or whole burnt-offerings and sin-offerings Thou hast not desired or taken pleasure in" --all such being offered in obedience to the Law-- He then adds, "I have come to do Thy will." He does away with the first in order to establish the second. It is through that divine will that we have been set free from sin, through the offering of Jesus Christ as our sacrifice once for all. And while every priest stands ministering, day after day, and constantly offering the same sacrifices--though such can never rid us of our sins-- this Priest, on the contrary, after offering for sins a single sacrifice of perpetual efficacy, took His seat at God's right hand,

But where these have been forgiven no further offering for sin is required. Since then, brethren, we have free access to the Holy place through the blood of Jesus, by the new and ever-living way which He opened up for us through the rending of the veil--that is to say, of His earthly nature--