McCracken New Testament Reading; 76-80, 2 Timothy 1:1 - Hebrews 10:39

Bury ش bwyd y bell y cyுnd y fwn o f fatoh i rifoli o eu imu iSingingён brebwhol hefyd â Pyrrhr yn eu amdd y cyflwyr y llwyd yma. O'rplew hlad cit i ffelly. Sidor sfer Cydffodau, Cydffodau, i mefyll wedi ei Felbrodau, am hlod Ieullyaviaeth moren I thank God who my like my forefathers worship with a pure intention when I mention you in my prayers. This I do constantly night and day. And when I remember the tears you shed, I long to see you again to make my happiness complete. I am reminded of the sincerity of your faith, a faith which was alive in Lois, your grandmother, and Eunice, your mother before you, and which I am confident lives in you also.

That is why I now remind you to stir into flame the gift of God which is within you through the laying on of my hands. For the spirit that God gave us is no craven spirit, but one to inspire strength, love, and self-discipline. So never be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but take your share of suffering for the sake of the gospel in the strength that comes from God. It is he who brought us salvation and called us to a dedicated life, not for any merit of ours, but of his own purpose and his own grace, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but has now at length been brought fully into view

by the appearance on earth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. For he has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Of this gospel I, by his appointment, I'm herald, apostle, and teacher. That is the reason for my present plight, but I am not ashamed of it, because I know who it is in whom I have trusted, and I'm confident of his power to keep safe what he has put into my charge until the great day. Keep before you an outline of the sound teaching which you heard from me, living by the faith and love which are ours in Christ Jesus. Guard the treasure, put into our charge with the help of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.

As you know, everyone in the province of Asia deserted me including Fjellis and Hermogenes. But may the Lord's mercy rest on the house of Onesiferus. He has often relieved me in my troubles. He was not ashamed to visit a prisoner, but took pains to search me out when he came to Rome and found me. I pray that the Lord may grant him to find mercy from the Lord on the great day. The many services he rendered at Ephesus, you know better than I could tell you. Chapter 2 Now therefore, my son, take strength from the grace of God which is ours in Christ Jesus. You heard my teaching in the presence of many witnesses. Put that teaching into the charge of man you can trust. Such man as will be competent to teach others.

Take your share of hardship, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. A soldier on active service will not let himself be involved in civilian affairs. He must be holy at his commanding officer's disposal. Again, no athlete can win a prize unless he has kept the rules. The farmer who gives his labour has first claimed on the crop. Reflect on what I say for the Lord will help you to full understanding. Remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead, born of David's line. This is the theme of my gospel in whose service I am exposed to hardship even to the point of being shut up like a common criminal, but the word of God is not shut up. And I endure it all for the sake of God's chosen ones

with this end in view that they too may attain the glorious and eternal salvation which is in Christ Jesus. Here are words you may trust. If we died with him, we shall live with him. If we endure, we shall reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. If we are faithless, he keeps faith for he cannot deny himself. Go on reminding people of this and adore them before God to stop disputing about mere words. It does no good and is the ruin of those who listen. Try hard to show yourself worthy of God's approval as a labourer who need not be ashamed, driving us straight farrow in your proclamation of the truth. Avoid empty and worldly chatter.

Those who indulge in it will stray further and further into godless causes and the infection of their teaching will spread like a gangrene. Such are harmonious and felitas. They have short wide of the truth in saying that our resurrection has already taken place and are upsetting people's faith. But God has laid a foundation and it stands firm with this inscription. The Lord knows his own and everyone who takes the Lord's name upon his lips must forsake wickedness. Now in any great house there are not only utensils of gold and silver but also others of wood or earthenware. The former are valued, the latter held cheap. To be among those which are valued and dedicated, a thing of use to the master of the house,

a man must cleanse himself from all those evil things. Then he will be fit for any honorable purpose. Turn from the wayward impulses of youth and pursue justice, integrity, love and peace with all who invoke the Lord in singleness of mind. Have nothing to do with foolish and ignorant speculations? You know they breed quarrels and the servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome but kindly towards all. He should be a good teacher, tolerant and gentle when discipline is needed for the refractory. The Lord may grant them a change of heart and show them the truth and thus they may come to their senses and escape from the devil's snare in which they have been caught and held at his will. Chapter three, you must face the fact

the final age of this world is to be a time of troubles. Men will love nothing but money and self. They will be arrogant, boastful and abusive with no respect for parents, no gratitude, no piety, no natural affection. They will be implacable in their hatreds, scandal mongers, intemperate and fierce, strangers to all goodness, traitors, adventurers, swollen with self-importance. They will be men who put pleasure in the place of God, men who preserve the outward form of religion but are a standing denial of its reality. Keep clear of men like these. They are the sort that insinuate themselves into private houses and they get miserable women into their clutches, women burdened with a simple past and led on by all kinds of desires who are always wanting to be taught

but are incapable of reaching a knowledge of the truth. As Janice and Jambri's defied Moses, so these men defy the truth. They have lost the power to reason and they cannot pass the tests of faith. But their successes will be short-lived for, like those opponents of Moses, they will come to be recognized by everyone for the fools they are. But you, my son, have followed, step by step, my teaching and my manner of life, my resolution, my faith, patience and spirit of love and my fortitude under persecutions and sufferings, all that I went through at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, all the persecutions I endured and the Lord rescued me out of them all. Yes, persecution will come to all who want to live a godly life as Christians,

whereas wicked men and charlatans will make progress from bad to us, deceiving and deceived. But for your part, stand by the truths you have learned and are assured of. Remember from whom you learned them. Remember that from an early childhood, you have been familiar with the sacred writings which have power to make you wise and lead you to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every inspired scripture has its use for teaching the truth and refuting error or for reformation of manners and discipline in right living so that the man who belongs to God may be efficient and equipped for good work of every kind. Chapter 4 Before God And before Christ Jesus, who is to judge men living and dead,

I adore you by his coming appearance and his reign, proclaim the message. Press it home on all occasions, convenient or inconvenient. Use argument, reproof and appeal with all the patience that the work of teaching requires. For the time will come when they will not stand, hold some teaching, but will follow their own fancy and gather a crowd of teachers to tickle their ears. They will stop their ears to the truth and turn to mythology. But you yourself must keep calm and sane at all times, face hardship, work to spread the gospel and do all the duties of your calling. As for me, already my life is being poured out on the altar and the hour for my departure is upon me. I have run the great race,

I have finished the course, I have kept faith and now the prize awaits me, the garland of righteousness which the Lord, the all-just judge, will award me on that great day and it is not for me alone, but for all who have set their hearts on his coming appearance. Do your best to join me soon, but Demos has deserted me because his heart was set on this world. He has gone to Thessalonica, Christians to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. I have no one with me, but look, pick up Mark and bring him with you. For I find him a useful assistant, Titicus, I have said to Ephesus, when you come, bring the cloak I left with carpers that throw us, and the books, above all, my notebooks. Alexander the coppersmith did me a great deal of harm. Retribution will fall upon him

from the Lord. You had better be on your guard against him too, for he violently opposed everything I said. At the first hearing of my case, no one came into court to support me. They all left me in the lurch. I pray that it may not be held against them, but the Lord stood by me and lent me strength so that I might be his instrument in making the full proclamation of the gospel for the whole pagan world to hear, and thus I was rescued out of the lion's jaws. And the Lord will rescue me from every attempt to do me harm and keep me safe until his heavenly reign begins, glory to him forever and ever, amen. Greetings to Prisca and Aquila and the household of Onesiferus. Erastus stayed behind at Corinth, and I left trough a mousill at Miletus. Do try to get here before winter.

Greetings from Ubulus, Pudens, Linus and Claudia, and from all the brotherhood here, the Lord be with your spirit, grace be with you all. This concludes the second letter of Paul to Timothy. The letter of Paul to Titus, training for the Christian life. From Paul, servant of God, and apostle of Jesus Christ, marked as such by faith and knowledge and hope, the faith of God's chosen people, knowledge of the truth as our religion has it,

and the hope of eternal life. Yes, it is eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, and now in his own good time, he has openly declared himself in the proclamation which was entrusted to me by ordnance of God our Savior. To Titus, my true born son in the faith which we share, grace and peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. My intention in leaving you behind in Crete was that you should set in order what was left over, and in particular should institute elders in each town. In doing so, observe the tests I prescribed. Is he a man of an impeachable character? Faithful to his one wife? The Father of children who are believers,

who are under no imputation of loose living, and are not out of control? For, as God's steward, a bishop must be a man of an impeachable character. He must not be overbearing or short tempered. He must be no drinker, no brawler, no money grubber, but hospitable, right-minded, temperate, just, devout and self-controlled. He must adhere to the true doctrine so that he may be well able both to move his hearers with wholesome teaching and to compute objectors. There are all too many, especially among Jewish converts, who are out of all control. They talk wildly and lead men's minds astray. Such men must be curbed, because they are ruining whole families by teaching things they should not,

and all forsorded gain. It was a Cretan prophet. One of their own countrymen who said Cretans were always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons, and he told the truth. All the more reason why you should pull them up sharply, so that they may come to a sane belief, instead of lending their ears to Jewish myths and commandments of merely human origin, the work of men who turn their backs upon the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but nothing is pure to the tainted minds of disbelievers tainted alike in reason and conscience. They profess to acknowledge God, but deny Him by their actions. Their detestable obstinacy disqualifies them for any good work. For your own part, what you say must be in keeping with wholesome doctrine,

let the older men know that they should be sober, high-principled and temperate, sound in faith, in love, and in endurance. The older women, similarly, should be reverent in their bearing, not scandal mongers, or slaves to strong drink. They must set a high standard, and school the younger women to be loving wives and mothers, temperate, chased, and kind, busy at home, respecting the authority of their own husbands. Thus, the gospel will not be brought into disrepute. Urge the younger men, similarly, to be temperate in all things, and set them a good example yourself. In your teaching, you must show integrity and high principle, and use wholesome speech to which none can take exception. This will shame any opponent when he finds not a word to say to our discredit.

Tell slaves to respect their masters' authority in everything, and comply with their demands without answering back, not to pilfer, but to show themselves strictly honest and trustworthy. For, in all such ways, they will add luster to the doctrine of God, our Saviour. For the grace of God has dawned upon the world with healing for all mankind, and by it we are disciplined to renounce godless ways and worldly desires, and to live a life of temperance, honesty, and godliness in the present age, looking forward to the happy fulfillment of our hopes when the splendor of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus will appear. He it is who sacrificed himself for us, to set us free from all wickedness, and to make us a pure people marked out for his own,

eager to do good. These then are your themes, urge them and argue them, and speak with authority, let no one slight you. Remind them to be submissive to the government and the authorities, to obey them, and to be ready for any honorable form of work, to slander no one, not to pick quarrels, to show forbearance, and a consistently gentle disposition towards all men. For at one time we ourselves in our folly and obstinacy were all astray. We were slaves to passions and pleasures of every kind. Our days were passed in malice and envy. We were odious ourselves, and we hated one another, but when the kindness and generosity of God our Saviour dawned upon the world then, not for any good deeds of our own,

but because he was merciful, he saved us through the water of rebirth and the renewing power of the Holy Spirit. For he sent down the Spirit upon us plentifully through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, justified by His grace, we might, in hope, become heirs to eternal life. These are words you may trust. Such are the points I should wish you to insist on. Those who have come to believe in God should see that they engage in honorable occupations, which are not only honorable in themselves, but also useful to their fellow men, but steer clear of foolish speculations, genealogies, quarrels, and controversies over the law. They are unprofitable and pointless. A heretic should be warned once and once again, after that have done with Him,

recognizing that a man of that sort has a distorted mind and stands self-condemned in his sin. When I send Artemis to your ticacus, make haste to join me at Nicopolis, for that is where I have determined to spend the winter, through your utmost to help Zenus the lawyer, and a police on their travels, and see that they are not short of anything, and our own people must be taught to engage in honest employment to produce the necessities of life. They must not be unproductive. All who are with me send you greetings, my greetings to those who are our friends in truth. Grace, be with you all. The letter of Paul to Filiman, a runaway slave. From Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and our colleague Timothy,

to Filiman, our dear friend and fellow worker, and our fear, our sister, and our hippas, our comrade in arms, and the congregation at your house, grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always, when I mention you in my prayers, for I hear of your love and faith towards the Lord Jesus, and towards all God's people. My prayer is that your fellowship with us in our common faith may deepen the understanding of all the blessings that our union with Christ brings us, for I am delighted and encouraged by your love. Through you, my brother, God's people have been much refreshed. Accordingly, although in Christ, I might make bold to point out your duty, yet because of that same love,

I would rather appeal to you. Yes, I, Paul, ambassador as I am of Christ Jesus, and know His prisoner. Appeal to you about my child, whose Father I have become in this prison. I mean onesimus, once so little used to you, but now useful indeed both to you and to me. I am sending him back to you, and in doing so I am sending a part of myself. I should have liked to keep him with me, to look after me, as you would wish, here in prison for the gospel. But I would rather do nothing without your consent, so that your kindness may be a matter not of compulsion, but of your own free will. For perhaps this is why you lost him for a time, that you might have him back for good.

No longer as a slave, but as more than a slave, as a dear brother, very dear... Very dear indeed to me, and how much dearer to you, both as men and as Christian. If then you count me partner in the faith, welcome him as you would welcome me, and if he has done you any wrong or is in your debt, put that down to my account. Here is my signature, Paul. I undertake to repay, not to mention that you were your very self to me, as well, no brother, as a Christian, be generous with me, and relieve my anxiety. We are both in Christ. I write to you confident that you will meet my wishes. I know that you will, in fact, do better than I ask, and one thing more,

have a room ready for me. For I hope that, in answer to your prayers, God will grant me to you. Epofras, Christ's captive, like myself, sends you greetings. So do Mark, Aristarchus, Demos and Luke, my fellow workers, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with your Spirit. The reading has concluded at the 25th verse of the letter of Paul to Philemon. A letter to Hebrews. Christ, divine and human.

When, in former times, God spoke to our forefathers, he spoke in fragmentary and varied fashion through the prophets. But in this, the final age, he has spoken to us in the Son, whom he has made air to the whole universe, and through whom he created all orders of existence. The Son, who is the effulgence of God's splendor, and the stamp of God's very being, and sustains the universe by His Word of Power. When he had brought about the purgation of sins, he took his seat at the right hand of majesty on high, raised as far above the angels, as the title he has inherited is superior to theirs. For God never said to any angel, though at my Son,

today I have begotten thee, or again, I will be father to him, and he shall be my Son. Again, when he presents the firstborn to the world, he says, let all the angels of God pay him homage. Of the angels, he says, he who makes his angels wins and his ministers a fiery flame. But of the Son, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of justice is the scepter of His kingdom, though hast loved right and hated wrong. Therefore, O God, thy God has set the above thy fellows, by anointing with the oil of exaltation. And again, by thee, Lord, where earth's foundations laid afold, and the heavens are the work of thy hands, they shall pass away, but thou enjurest,

like clothes they shall all grow old, thou shalt fold them up like a cloak. Yes, they shall be changed like any garment, but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. To which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool? What are they all but ministerant spirits, sent out to serve, for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Thus, we are bound to pay all the more heed to what we have been told, for fear of drifting from our course, for if the words spoken through angels had such force, that any transgression or disobedience made with due retribution, what escape can there be for us if we ignore a deliverance so great? For this deliverance was first announced

through the lips of the Lord Himself, those who hailed Him confirmed it to us, and God added His testimony by signs, by miracles, by manifold works of power, and by distributing the gifts of the Holy Spirit at His own will. For it is not to angels that He has subjected the world to come, which is our theme, but there is somewhere our solemn assurance which runs, what is man that, though, remembers Him, or the Son of man that, though, has regard to Him, though it's make Him for a short while lower than the angels, though it's crown Him with glory and honour, though it's put all things in subjection beneath His feet. For in subjecting all things to Him, He left nothing that is not subject, but in fact, we do not yet see all things in subjection to man.

In Jesus, however, we do see one who, for a short while, was made lower than the angels, crowned now with glory and honour because He suffered death, so that, by God's gracious will, in tasting death, He should stand for us all. It was clearly fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, should, in bringing many sons to glory, make the leader who delivers them perfect through sufferings, for a consecrating priest, and those whom He consecrates are all of one stock. And that is why the Son does not shrink from calling men His brothers, when He says, I will proclaim thy name to my brothers. And full assembly I will sing thy praise, and again I will keep my trust fixed on Him, and again here am I, and the children whom God has given me.

The children of a family share the same flesh and blood, and so He too shared ours, so that through death He might break the power of Him who had death at His command, that is the devil, and might liberate those who, through fear of death, had all their lifetime been in servitude. It is not angels, Matthew, that He takes to Himself, but the sons of Abraham, and therefore He had to be made like these brothers of His in every way, so that He might be merciful and faithful as their high priest before God, to expiate the sins of the people, for since He Himself has passed through the test of suffering, He is able to help those who are meeting their test now. Therefore, brothers in the family of God, who share a heavenly calling, think of the apostle,

and high priest of the religion we profess, who was faithful to God, who appointed Him. Moses also was faithful in God's household, and Jesus, of whom I speak, has been deemed worthy of greater honor than Moses, as the founder of a house enjoys more honor than His household. For every house has its founder, and the founder of all is God. Moses then was faithful as a servitor, in God's whole household. His task was to bear witness to the words that God would speak, Christ is faithful as a son, set over His household, and we are that household of His, if only we are fearless, and keep our hope high. Today, therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear His voice, do not grow stubborn, as in those days of rebellion,

at that time of testing in the desert, where your forefathers tried me and tested me, and saw the things I did for 40 years, and so I was indignant with that generation, and I said, their hearts are forever astray, they would not discern my ways, as I vowed in my anger, they shall never enter my rest. See to it, brothers, that no one among you has the wicked, faithless heart of a deserter from the living God, but day by day, while that word today still sounds in your ears, and courage one another, so that no one of you is made stubborn by the wiles of sin, for we have become Christ's partners, if only we keep our original confidence firm to the end. When Scripture says, today, if you hear His voice, do not grow stubborn,

as in those days of rebellion, who, I ask, were those who heard and rebelled, all those surely whom Moses had led out of Egypt, and with whom was God indignant for 40 years, with those surely who had sinned, whose bodies lay where they fell in the desert, and to whom did evau that they should not enter His rest if not to those who had refused to believe? We perceive that it was unbelief, which prevented their entering. Therefore, we must have before us the fear, that while the promise of entering His rest remains open, one or another among you should be found to have missed His chance. For indeed we have heard the good news as they did, but in them the message they had did no good, because they brought no admixture of faith to the hearing of it. It is we, we who have become believers, who enter the rest referred to in the words,

as I vowed in my anger, they shall never enter my rest, yet God's work has been finished ever since the world was created. For does not Scripture somewhere speak thus of the seventh day God rested from His work on the seventh day? And once again in the passage above, we read, they shall never enter my rest. The fact remains that someone must enter it, and since those who first had the good news failed to enter through unbelief, God fixes another day. Speaking through the lips of David after many long years, he uses the words already quoted, today if you hear His voice do not grow stubborn. If Joshua had given them rest, God would not thus have spoken of another day after that, therefore a Sabbath rest still awaits the people of God. For anyone who enters God's rest,

rests from His own work as God did from His, let us then make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following this evil example of unbelief. For the word of God is alive and active. It cuts more keenly than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the place where life and spirit joints and marrow divide. It sifts the purposes and thoughts of the heart. There is nothing in creation that can hide from Him, everything lies naked and exposed to the eyes of the one with whom we have to reckon. Since therefore we have a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to the religion we profess. For ours is not a high priest unable to sympathize

with our weaknesses, but one who, because of His likeness to us, has been tested every way only without sin. Let us therefore boldly approach the throne of our gracious God, where we may receive mercy, and in His grace find timely help. The reading has concluded at the sixteenth verse of the fourth chapter of a letter to Hebrews. A letter to Hebrews,

chapter 5, the shadow and the real. For every high priest is taken from among men and appointed their representative before God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to bear patiently with the ignorant and daring since He too is beset by weakness. And because of this He is bound to make sin offerings for Himself, no less than for the people, and nobody arrogates the honour to Himself. He is called by God, as indeed Aaron was. So it is with Christ. He did not confer upon Himself the glory of becoming high priest. He was granted by God, who said to Him, thou art my Son.

Today I have begotten thee. As also in another place, He says, thou art a priest forever in the succession of Melchizedek. In the days of His earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to God who was able to deliver Him from the grave. Because of His humble submission, His prayer was heard. Son, though He was, He learned obedience in the School of Suffering, and once perfected, became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him, named by God high priest in the succession of Melchizedek. About Melchizedek, we have much to say, much that is difficult to explain, now that you have grown so dull of hearing. For, indeed, though by this time you ought to be teachers,

you need someone to teach you the ABC of God's Aracles over again. It has come to this that you need milk instead of solid food. Anyone who lives on milk, being an infant, does not know what is right, but grown men can take solid food. Their perceptions are trained by long use to discriminate between good and evil. Let us then stop discussing the rudiments of Christianity. We ought not to be laying over again the foundations of faith in God and of repentance from the deadness of our former ways, by instruction about cleansing rights and the laying on of hands about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. Instead, let us advance towards maturity, and so we shall, if God permits. For when men have once been enlightened,

when they have had a taste of the heavenly gift and a share in the Holy Spirit, when they have experienced the goodness of God's Word and the spiritual energies of the age to come, and after all this have fallen away, it is impossible to bring them again to repentance. For with their own hands they are crucifying the Son of God and making mock of His death. When the earth drinks in the rain that falls upon it from time to time and yields a useful crop to those for whom it is cultivated, it is receiving its share of blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless, and God's curse hangs over it. The end of that is burning. But although we speak as we do, we are convinced that you, my friends, are in the better case and this makes for your salvation. For God would not be so unjust as to forget all that you did for love of His name.

When you render service to His people, as you still do. But we long for everyone of you to show the same eager concern until your hope is finally realized. We want you not to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience are inheriting the promises. When God made His promise to Abraham, He swore by Himself because He had no one greater swear by, I vow that I will bless you abundantly and multiply your descendants. Thus it was that Abraham, after patient waiting, attained the promise. Mainswear by a greater than themselves, and the oath provides a confirmation to end all dispute. And so God, desiring to show even more clearly to the heirs of His promise, how unchanging was His purpose, guaranteed by oath.

Here then are two irrevocable acts in which God could not possibly play us false, to give powerful encouragement to us, who have claimed His protection by grasping the hope set before us. That hope we hold, it is like an anchor, for our lives an anchor safe and sure it enters in through the veil, where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forrunner, having become a high priest forever in the succession of Melchizedek. This Melchizedek, King of Salem, priest of God most high, made Abraham returning from the route of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tie of everything as his portion. His name in the first place means king of righteousness, next he is king of Salem, that is king of peace. He has no father, no mother,

no lineage. His years of no beginning, his life no end, he is like the Son of God. He remains a priest for all time. Consider now how great he must be for Abraham the patriarch to give him a tie of the finest of the spoil, the descendants of Levi, who take the priestly office, are demanded by the law to tithe the people, that is the Kinsman, although they too are descendants of Abraham, but Melchizedek, though he does not trace his descent from them, has tithe Abraham himself, and given his blessing to the man who received the promises, and beyond all dispute, the lesser is always blessed by the greater. Again, in the one instance, tithes are received by men who must die, but in the other, by one, whom scripture affirms to be alive. It might even be said that Levi, who receives tithes, has himself been tithed through Abraham,

for he was still in his ancestors' loins, when Melchizedek met him. Now, if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood, for it is on this basis that the people were given the law, what further need would there have been to speak of another priest arising in the succession of Melchizedek, instead of the succession of Aaron, for a change of priesthood must mean a change of law, and the one he has spoken of belongs to a different tribe, no member of which has ever had anything to do with the altar, for it is very evident that our Lord is sprung from Judah, a tribe to which Moses made no reference in speaking of priests. The argument becomes still clearer, if the new priest who arises is one like Melchizedek, owing his priesthood, not to a system of earthbound rules, but to the power of a life that cannot be destroyed.

For here is the testimony, though art a priest forever, in the succession of Melchizedek. The earlier rules are cancelled as important and useless since the law brought nothing to perfection, and a better hope is introduced through which we draw near to God. How great a difference it makes that a North was sworn, there was no Oath sworn, when those others were made high priests, but for this priest, a North was sworn, as Scripture says of him, the Lord has sworn, and will not go back on his word, though art a priest forever. How far superior must the covenant also be, of which Jesus is the guarantor? Those other priests are appointed in numerous succession, because they are prevented by death from continuing in office, but the priesthood

which Jesus holds is perpetual, because he remains forever. That is why he is also able to save absolutely those who approach God through him. He is always living to plead on their behalf. Such a high priest does indeed fit our condition, devout, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, raised high above the heavens. He has no need to offer sacrifices daily, as the high priests do. First for his own sins, and then for those of the people, for this he did once and for all, when he offered up himself. The high priests made by the law are men in all their frailty, but the priest appointed by the words of the oath which supersedes the law is the Son, made perfect now forever. Now this is my main point, just such a high priest we have,

and he has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of Majesty in the heavens, a ministerant in the real century, the tent pitched by the Lord and not by man. Every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, hence this one too must have something to offer. Now if he had been on earth, he would not even have been a priest, since there are already priests who offer the gifts which the law prescribes, though they minister in a sanctuary which is only a copy and shadow of the heavenly. This is implied when Moses about to erect the tent is instructed by God, see to it that you make everything according to the patron shown you on the mountain. But in fact, the ministry which has fallen to Jesus is as far superior to theirs as are the covenant he mediates

and the promises upon which it is legally secured. Had that first covenant been forkless, there would have been no need to look for a second in its place. But God, finding fault with them, says the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will conclude a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers. When I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not abide by the terms of that covenant and I abandoned them, says the Lord. For the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after those days, says the Lord is this. I will set my laws in their understanding and write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach one another saying to brother and fellow citizen, know the Lord,

for all of them shall know me from small to great. I will be merciful to their wicked deeds and their sins. I will remember no more at all. By speaking of a new covenant, he has pronounced the first one old and anything that is growing old and aging will shortly disappear. The reading has concluded at the 13th verse of the 8th chapter of a letter to Hebrews. A letter to Hebrews, chapter 9, the shadow and the real. The first covenant indeed had its ordinances

of divine service and its sanctuary, but a material sanctuary. For a tent was prepared, the first tent, in which was the lamp stand, the table with the bread of the presence, this is called the Holy Place. Beyond the second curtain was the tent called the most Holy Place. Here was a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant placed on the ground. There was a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant plated all over with gold, in which were a golden jar, containing the mana, and Aaron's staff, which once budded and the tablets of the covenant, and above it the cherubum of God's glory, overshadowing the place of expiation. On these we cannot now enlarge. Under this arrangement,

the priests are always entering the first tent in the discharge of their duties, but the second is entered only once a year, and by the high priest alone, and even then he must take with him the blood which he offers on his own behalf, and for the people's sins of ignorance. By this the Holy Spirit signifies that so long as the earlier tent still stands, the way into the sanctuary remains unrevealed. All this is symbolic, pointing to the present time. The offerings and sacrifices they are prescribed cannot give the worshipper inward perfection. It is only a matter of food and drink and various rights of cleansing, outward ordinances, in force, until the time of reformation. But now Christ has come. High priest of good things already in being. The tent of His priesthood

is a greater and more perfect one, not made by man's hands, that is not belonging to this created world. The blood of His sacrifice is His own blood, not the blood of goats and calves, and thus He has entered the sanctuary once and for all and secured an eternal deliverance, for if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkled ashes of a heifer have power to hollow those who have been defiled and restore their external purity. How much greater is the power of the blood of Christ? He offered Himself without blemish to God a spiritual and eternal sacrifice, and His blood will cleanse our conscience from the deadness of our former ways and fit us for the service of the living God. And therefore He is the mediator of a new covenant or testament,

under which now that there has been a death to bring deliverance from sins committed under the former covenant, those whom God has called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where there is a testament, it is necessary for the death of the testator to be established. A testament is operative only after a death. It cannot possibly have forced while the testator is alive, thus we find that the former covenant itself was not inaugurated without blood. For when, as the Lord directed, Moses had recited all the commandments to the people, he took the blood of the calves with water, scarlet wool and marjoram and sprinkled the Lord book itself and all the people saying, this is the blood of the covenant which God has enjoined upon you. In the same way He also sprinkled the tent and all the vessels of divine service with blood.

Indeed, according to the law, it might almost be said everything is cleansed by blood and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. If then, these sacrifices cleanse the copies of heavenly things. Those heavenly things themselves require better sacrifices to cleanse them. For Christ has entered not that sanctuary made by man's hands which is only a symbol of the reality but heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. Nor is he there to offer himself again and again as the High Priest enters the sanctuary year by year with blood not his own. If that were so, he would have had to suffer many times since the world was made, but as it is, he has appeared once and for all at the climax of history to abolish sin

by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is the Lord of men to die once and after death comes judgment so Christ was offered once to bear the burden of men's sins and will appear a second time sinned on a way to bring salvation to those who are watching for him. For the law contains a true image of the good things which were to come. It provides for the same sacrifices year after year and with these it can never bring the worshippers to perfection for all time if it could. These sacrifices would surely have ceased to be offered because the worshippers cleansed once for all would no longer have any sense of sin but instead in these sacrifices year after year sins are brought to mind because sins can never be removed by the blood of bulls

and bulls. That is why it is coming into the world he says sacrifice and offering though it is not desire. But though has prepared a body for me, whole offerings and sin offerings though it is not delighted, then I said, here am I. As it is written of me in the scroll, I have come, O God, to do thy will. First he says, sacrifices and offerings, whole offerings and sin offerings though it is not desire nor delighted, although the law prescribes them. And then he says, I have come to do thy will. He thus annals the former to establish the latter and it is by the will of God that we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. Every priest stands performing his service daily

and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never remove sins but Christ offered for all time one sacrifice for sins and took his seat at the right hand of God where he waits henceforth until his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are thus consecrated. Here we have also the testimony of the Holy Spirit. He first says, this is the covenant which I will make with them after those days says the Lord, I will set my laws in their hearts and write them on their understanding. When he adds and their sins and wicked deeds I will remember no more at all and where these have been forgiven. There is no longer any offering for sin.

So now my friends the blood of Jesus makes us free to enter boldly into the sanctuary by the new living way which he has opened for us through the curtain the way of his flesh. We have more over a great priest. Set over the household of God. So let us make our approach in sincerity of heart and full assurance of faith. Our guilty hearts sprinkled clean. Our bodies washed with pure water. Let us be firm and unswerving in the confession of our hope for the giver of the promise may be trusted. We ought to see how each of us may best arouse others to love and active goodness, not staying away from our meetings as some do but rather encouraging one another. All the more because you see the day drawing near. For if we persist in sin after receiving the knowledge

of the truth no sacrifice for sins remains only a terrifying expectation of judgment and a fierce fire which will consume God's enemies. If a man disregards the law of Moses, he is put to death without pity on the evidence of two or three witnesses. Think how much more severe a penalty that man will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God. Profane the blood of the covenant by which he was consecrated and affronted God's gracious spirit. For we know who it is that has said justice is mine. I will repay and again the Lord will judge His people. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Remember the days gone by. When newly enlightened you met the challenge of great sufferings

and held firm. Some of you were abused and tormented to make a public show while others stood loyally by those who were so treated. For indeed you shared the sufferings of the prisoners and you chiefly accepted the seizure of your possessions, knowing that you possessed something better and more lasting. Do not then throw away your confidence. For it carries a great reward. You need endurance if you are to do God's will and win what He has promised. For soon, very soon in the words of Scripture, He who is to come will come. He will not delay and by faith my righteous servant shall find life. But if a man shrinks back, I take no pleasure in him. But we are not among those who shrink back and are lost. We have the faith to make life our own. The reading has concluded

at the 39th verse of the 10th chapter of a letter to Hebrews.