God's Discipline Proves His Love (Hebrews 12:1-13) New Living Translation

1   Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
2    We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
3   Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.
4   After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.
5   And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you.
6   For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”
7   As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?
8   If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.
9   Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?
10  For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness.
11  No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.
12  So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.
13  Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.

Great Example of Faith (Hebrews 11) New Living Translation

1   Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
2  Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.
3   By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
4   It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.
5   It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God.
6   And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
7   It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.
8   It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.
9   And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.
10  Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.
11  It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise.
12  And so a whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead—a nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.
13  All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.
14  Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own.
15  If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back.
16  But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17  It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac,
18  even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.”
19  Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.
20  It was by faith that Isaac promised blessings for the future to his sons, Jacob and Esau.
21  It was by faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff.
22  It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left.
23  It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.
24  It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
25  He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin.
26  He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.
27  It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.
28  It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons.
29  It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were all drowned.
30  It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down.
31  It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
32  How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets.
33  By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions,
34  quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.
35  Women received their loved ones back again from death.  But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection.
36  Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons.
37  Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated.
38  They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.
39  All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised.
40  For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.

A Call to Persevere (Hebrews 10:19-39) New Living Translation

19  And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.

20  By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.

21  And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house,

22  let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

23  Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

24  Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.

25  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

26  Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.

27  There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.

28  For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²

29  Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.

30  For we know the one who said, “I will take revenge.  I will pay them back.”  He also said,

“The Lord will judge his own people.

31  It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32  Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering.

33  Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things.

34  You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.

35  So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!

36  Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

37  “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.

38  And my righteous ones will live by faith.  But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”

39  But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved.

Christ Sacrifice Once for All (Hebrews 10:1-18) New Living Translation

1   The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
2   Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.
3   But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.
4   It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5   Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:  “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, 
    but a body you prepared for me;
6   with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.
7   Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, my God.’”
8   First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law.
9   Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second.
10  And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11  Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12  But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
13  and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.
14  For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
15  The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16  “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord.  I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”
17  Then he adds:  “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”
18  And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

The Blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:11-28) New Living Translation

11  So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world.

12  With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

13  Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity.

14  Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.

15  That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

16  Now when someone leaves a will, it is necessary to prove that the person who made it is dead.

17  The will goes into effect only after the person’s death. While the person who made it is still alive, the will cannot be put into effect.

18  That is why even the first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal.

19  For after Moses had read each of God’s commandments to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, and sprinkled both the book of God’s law and all the people, using hyssop branches and scarlet wool.

20  Then he said, “This blood confirms the covenant God has made with you.”

21  And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the Tabernacle and on everything used for worship. 

22  In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

23  That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.

24  For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf.

25  And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal.

26  If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.

27  And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,

28  so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.

Christ Came With God's New and Better Way (Hebrews 9:1-10) The Living Bible

1-2  Now in that first agreement between God and his people there were rules for worship and there was a sacred tent down here on earth. Inside this place of worship there were two rooms. The first one contained the golden candlestick and a table with special loaves of holy bread upon it; this part was called the Holy Place.
3    Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was a room called the Holy of Holies. 
4    In that room there were a golden incense-altar and the golden chest, called the ark of the covenant, completely covered on all sides with pure gold. Inside the ark were the tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments written on them, and a golden jar with some manna in it, and Aaron’s wooden cane that budded. 
5    Above the golden chest were statues of angels called the cherubim—the guardians of God’s glory—with their wings stretched out over the ark’s golden cover, called the mercy seat. But enough of such details.
6   Well, when all was ready, the priests went in and out of the first room whenever they wanted to, doing their work. 
7   But only the high priest went into the inner room, and then only once a year, all alone, and always with blood that he sprinkled on the mercy seat as an offering to God to cover his own mistakes and sins and the mistakes and sins of all the people.
8   And the Holy Spirit uses all this to point out to us that under the old system the common people could not go into the Holy of Holies as long as the outer room and the entire system it represents were still in use.
9   This has an important lesson for us today. For under the old system, gifts and sacrifices were offered, but these failed to cleanse the hearts of the people who brought them. 
10  For the old system dealt only with certain rituals—what foods to eat and drink, rules for washing themselves, and rules about this and that. The people had to keep these rules to tide them over until Christ came with God’s new and better way.

The New Covenant (Hebrews 8:1-13) New Living Translation

1   Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven.
2   There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle,^[a] the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.
3   And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too.
4   If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law.
5   They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain."
6   But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.
7   If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it.
8   But when God found fault with the people, he said:  “The day is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.
9   This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They did not remain faithful to my covenant, so I turned my back on them, says the Lord.
10  But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,  says the Lord:  I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.
11  And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’  For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already.
12  And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
13  When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.

Jesus is Like Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:11-28) New Living Translation

11  So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron?
12  And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it.
13  For the priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe, whose members have never served at the altar as priests.
14  What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe.
15  This change has been made very clear since a different priest, who is like Melchizedek, has appeared.
16  Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed.
17  And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek."
18  Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless.
19  For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God.
20  This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath,
21  but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him, “The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow: ‘You are a priest forever.’”
22  Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God.
23  There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office.
24  But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever.
25  Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.
26  He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.
27  Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins.
28  The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever.

Melchizedek, Priest of God (Hebrews 7:1-14) The Message Translation

1-3    Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of the Highest God. He met Abraham, who was returning from “the royal massacre,” and gave him his blessing. Abraham in turn gave him a tenth of the spoils. “Melchizedek” means “King of Righteousness.” “Salem” means “Peace.” So, he is also “King of Peace.” Melchizedek towers out of the past—without record of family ties, no account of beginning or end. In this way he is like the Son of God, one huge priestly presence dominating the landscape always.

4-7    You realize just how great Melchizedek is when you see that Father Abraham gave him a tenth of the captured treasure. Priests descended from Levi are commanded by law to collect tithes from the people, even though they are all more or less equals, priests and people, having a common father in Abraham. But this man, a complete outsider, collected tithes from Abraham and blessed him, the one to whom the promises had been given. In acts of blessing, the lesser is blessed by the greater.

8-10  Or look at it this way: We pay our tithes to priests who die, but Abraham paid tithes to a priest who, the Scripture says, “lives.” Ultimately you could even say that since Levi descended from Abraham, who paid tithes to Melchizedek, when we pay tithes to the priestly tribe of Levi they end up with Melchizedek.

11-14  If the priesthood of Levi and Aaron, which provided the framework for the giving of the law, could really make people perfect, there wouldn’t have been need for a new priesthood like that of Melchizedek. But since it didn’t get the job done, there was a change of priesthood, which brought with it a radical new kind of law. There is no way of understanding this in terms of the old Levitical priesthood, which is why there is nothing in Jesus’ family tree connecting him with that priestly line.

God Gave His Word (Hebrews 6:13-20) The Message Translation

13-18  When God made his promise to Abraham, he backed it to the hilt, putting his own reputation on the line. He said, “I promise that I’ll bless you with everything I have—bless and bless and bless!” Abraham stuck it out and got everything that had been promised to him. When people make promises, they guarantee them by appeal to some authority above them so that if there is any question that they’ll make good on the promise, the authority will back them up. When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee—God can’t break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable.

18-20  We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.

Warning Against Abandoning the Faith (Hebrews 6:1-12) The Message Translation

1-3     So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God; baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. God helping us, we’ll stay true to all that. But there’s so much more. Let’s get on with it!

4-8    Once people have seen the light, gotten a taste of heaven and been part of the work of the Holy Spirit, once they’ve personally experienced the sheer goodness of God’s Word and the powers breaking in on us—if then they turn their backs on it, washing their hands of the whole thing, well, they can’t start over as if nothing happened. That’s impossible. Why, they’ve re-crucified Jesus! They’ve repudiated him in public! Parched ground that soaks up the rain and then produces an abundance of carrots and corn for its gardener gets God’s “Well done!” But if it produces weeds and thistles, it’s more likely to get cussed out. Fields like that are burned, not harvested.

9-12   I’m sure that won’t happen to you, friends. I have better things in mind for you—salvation things! God doesn’t miss anything. He knows perfectly well all the love you’ve shown him by helping needy Christians, and that you keep at it. And now I want each of you to extend that same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish. Don’t drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them.

Re-Crucifying Jesus (Hebrews 5:11-14) The Message Translation

11-14  I have a lot more to say about this, but it is hard to get it across to you since you’ve picked up this bad habit of not listening. By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one—baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.

Jesus the Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16 & 5:1-10) The Message Translation

14-16  Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.

Hebrews 5:1-10

1-3    Every high priest selected to represent men and women before God and offer sacrifices for their sins should be able to deal gently with their failings, since he knows what it’s like from his own experience. But that also means that he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as the peoples’.

4-6   No one elects himself to this honored position. He’s called to it by God, as Aaron was. Neither did Christ presume to set himself up as high priest, but was set apart by the One who said to him, “You’re my Son; today I celebrate you!” In another place God declares, “You’re a priest forever in the royal order of Melchizedek.”

7-10  While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as he offered up priestly prayers to God. Because he honored God, God answered him. Though he was God’s Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do. Then, having arrived at the full stature of his maturity and having been announced by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who believingly obey him.

When the Promises are Mixed with Faith (Hebrews 4:1-13) The Message Translation

1-3     For as long, then, as that promise of resting in him pulls us on to God’s goal for us, we need to be careful that we’re not disqualified. We received the same promises as those people in the wilderness, but the promises didn’t do them a bit of good because they didn’t receive the promises with faith. If we believe, though, we’ll experience that state of resting. But not if we don’t have faith. Remember that God said,  Exasperated, I vowed, “They’ll never get where they’re going, never be able to sit down and rest.”

3-7     God made that vow, even though he’d finished his part before the foundation of the world. Somewhere it’s written, “God rested the seventh day, having completed his work,” but in this other text he says, “They’ll never be able to sit down and rest.” So this promise has not yet been fulfilled. Those earlier ones never did get to the place of rest because they were disobedient. God keeps renewing the promise and setting the date as today, just as he did in David’s psalm, centuries later than the original invitation:  Today, please listen, don’t turn a deaf ear . . .

8-11    And so this is still a live promise. It wasn’t canceled at the time of Joshua; otherwise, God wouldn’t keep renewing the appointment for “today.” The promise of “arrival” and “rest” is still there for God’s people. God himself is at rest. And at the end of the journey we’ll surely rest with God. So let’s keep at it and eventually arrive at the place of rest, not drop out through some sort of disobedience.

12-13  God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.

Jesus is Greater than Moses (Hebrews 3:1-19 The Message Translation

1-6   So, my dear Christian friends, companions in following this call to the heights, take a good hard look at Jesus. He’s the centerpiece of everything we believe, faithful in everything God gave him to do. Moses was also faithful, but Jesus gets far more honor. A builder is more valuable than a building any day. Every house has a builder, but the Builder behind them all is God. Moses did a good job in God’s house, but it was all servant work, getting things ready for what was to come. Christ as Son is in charge of the house.

6-11  Now, if we can only keep a firm grip on this bold confidence, we’re the house! That’s why the Holy Spirit says,  Today, please listen; don’t turn a deaf ear as in “the bitter uprising,”  that time of wilderness testing!  Even though they watched me at work for forty years, your ancestors refused to let me do it my way; over and over they tried my patience.  And I was provoked, oh, so provoked!  I said, “They’ll never keep their minds on God; they refuse to walk down my road.”  Exasperated, I vowed,  “They’ll never get where they’re going, never be able to sit down and rest.”

12-14  So watch your step, friends. Make sure there’s no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. For as long as it’s still God’s Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn’t slow down your reflexes. If we can only keep our grip on the sure thing we started out with, we’re in this with Christ for the long haul.  These words keep ringing in our ears:  Today, please listen;  don’t turn a deaf ear as in the bitter uprising.

15-19  For who were the people who turned a deaf ear? Weren’t they the very ones Moses led out of Egypt? And who was God provoked with for forty years? Wasn’t it those who turned a deaf ear and ended up corpses in the wilderness? And when he swore that they’d never get where they were going, wasn’t he talking to the ones who turned a deaf ear? They never got there because they never listened, never believed.

The One Who Leads Us to Salvation (Hebrews 2:5-18) The Message Translation

5-9    God didn’t put angels in charge of this business of salvation that we’re dealing with here. It says in Scripture,  What is man and woman that you bother with them;  why take a second look their way?  You made them not quite as high as angels, bright with Eden’s dawn light; Then you put them in charge of your entire handcrafted world.  When God put them in charge of everything, nothing was excluded. But we don’t see it yet, don’t see everything under human jurisdiction. What we do see is Jesus, made “not quite as high as angels,” and then, through the experience of death, crowned so much higher than any angel, with a glory “bright with Eden’s dawn light.” In that death, by God’s grace, he fully experienced death in every person’s place.

10-13 It makes good sense that the God who got everything started and keeps everything going now completes the work by making the Salvation Pioneer perfect through suffering as he leads all these people to glory. Since the One who saves and those who are saved have a common origin, Jesus doesn’t hesitate to treat them as family, saying, I’ll tell my good friends, my brothers and sisters, all I know about you; I’ll join them in worship and praise to you.  Again, he puts himself in the same family circle when he says,  Even I live by placing my trust in God.  And yet again,  I’m here with the children God gave me.

14-15  Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.

16-18  It’s obvious, of course, that he didn’t go to all this trouble for angels. It was for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed.

The Great Salvation (Hebrews 2:1-4) The Message Translation

1-4  It’s crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we’ve heard so that we don’t drift off. If the old message delivered by the angels was valid and nobody got away with anything, do you think we can risk neglecting this latest message, this magnificent salvation? First of all, it was delivered in person by the Master, then accurately passed on to us by those who heard it from him. All the while God was validating  it with gifts through the Holy Spirit, all sorts of signs and miracles, as he saw fit.

The Son Is Higher than Angels (Hebrews 1:1-14) The Message Translation

1-3  Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature. He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words!
3-6  After he finished the sacrifice for sins, the Son took his honored place high in the heavens right alongside God, far higher than any angel in rank and rule. Did God ever say to an angel, “You’re my Son; today I celebrate you” or “I’m his Father, he’s my Son”? When he presents his honored Son to the world, he says, “All angels must worship him.”
7    Regarding angels he says,  The messengers are winds, the servants are tongues of fire.
8-9    But he says to the Son,  You’re God, and on the throne for good; your rule makes everything right.  You love it when things are right; you hate it when things are wrong.  That is why God, your God, poured fragrant oil on your head,  Marking you out as king, far above your dear companions.
10-12  And again to the Son,  You, Master, started it all, laid earth’s foundations, then crafted the stars in the sky.  Earth and sky will wear out, but not you; they become threadbare like an old coat;

You’ll fold them up like a worn-out cloak, and lay them away on the shelf.  But you’ll stay the same, year after year; you’ll never fade, you’ll never wear out.

13     And did he ever say anything like this to an angel?  Sit alongside me here on my throne

Until I make your enemies a stool for your feet.

14     Isn’t it obvious that all angels are sent to help out with those lined up to receive salvation?

Running Hard (I Timothy 6:11-21) The Message Translation

11-12  But you, Timothy, man of God: Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life—a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses.

13-16  I’m charging you before the life-giving God and before Christ, who took his stand before Pontius Pilate and didn’t give an inch: Keep this command to the letter, and don’t slack off. Our Master, Jesus Christ, is on his way. He’ll show up right on time, his arrival guaranteed by the Blessed and Undisputed Ruler, High King, High God. He’s the only one death can’t touch, his light so bright no one can get close. He’s never been seen by human eyes—human eyes can’t take him in! Honor to him, and eternal rule! Oh, yes.

17-19  Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.

20-21  And oh, my dear Timothy, guard the treasure you were given! Guard it with your life. Avoid the talk-show religion and the practiced confusion of the so-called experts. People caught up in a lot of talk can miss the whole point of faith.

Overwhelming grace keep you!

False Teaching and True Riches (I Timothy 6:1-10) The Message Translation

1-2    Whoever is a slave must make the best of it, giving respect to his master so that outsiders don’t blame God and our teaching for his behavior. Slaves with Christian masters all the more so—their masters are really their beloved brothers!
2-5  These are the things I want you to teach and preach. If you have leaders there who teach otherwise, who refuse the solid words of our Master Jesus and this godly instruction, tag them for what they are: ignorant windbags who infect the air with germs of envy, controversy, bad-mouthing, suspicious rumors. Eventually there’s an epidemic of backstabbing, and truth is but a distant memory. They think religion is a way to make a fast buck.
6-8  A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that’s enough.
9-10  But if it’s only money these leaders are after, they’ll self-destruct in no time. Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.