Hebrews 7-9

EasyEnglish Bible

About Melchizedek

7 Melchizedek was the king of a city called Salem. He was also a priest of God who rules over all. Melchizedek met Abraham when Abraham was returning from a war.^[a] Abraham's men had just won a battle against four kings with their armies. At that time, Melchizedek asked God to bless Abraham. ² Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth part of everything that he had won in the fight. The name ‘Melchizedek’ means ‘king of everything that is right’. His other name, ‘king of Salem’, means ‘king of peace’. ³ Nobody wrote down that Melchizedek had a father or a mother. Nobody wrote down that he had any ancestors. Nobody wrote about when he was born or when he died. In that way, it seems like Melchizedek was a priest for ever. He is like the Son of God who continues to be a priest for all time.

⁴ So think about how great this man, Melchizedek, was! Even Abraham, the ancestor of all Israel's people, gave gifts to Melchizedek. Abraham gave him a tenth part of everything that he had won in the fight. ⁵ Men from Levi's family group who become priests receive gifts from their own people. God's Law says that the people must give the Levite priests a tenth part of what they have. But the priests and the other people are all Israelites. They all come from Abraham's family. ⁶ As for Melchizedek, he did not come from Levi's family. But he still received a tenth part of what Abraham had. He also asked God to bless Abraham. But Abraham was the one who had already received God's promises.

⁷ It is always the more important person who asks God to bless a less important person. We certainly know that! ⁸ The Levite priests receive gifts, and they are people who one day will die. Melchizedek also received gifts, but we are told that he continues to live. ^9-10 The Levite priests receive their gifts from the people. But we could say that Levi himself gave a tenth part of what he had to Melchizedek. When Abraham gave his tenth part to Melchizedek, it was like Levi was there inside him. At that time, Levi was not yet born, but Abraham was his ancestor.^[b]

¹¹ The Levite priests were a necessary part of God's Law for Israel's people. But those priests could not make the people completely right with God. If that had been possible, the Levite priests could have continued their work. But we see that God has chosen a different kind of priest to serve him. That priest is not someone from Aaron's family, as the Levites were. Instead, he is a priest in the same way that Melchizedek was God's priest. ¹² When there is a change in the kind of priest like that, there must also be a change in the law. ¹³ It is the Lord Jesus Christ that the Bible speaks about in this way, as God's special priest. But he belongs to a different tribe. He is not a Levite. Nobody else from his tribe ever served God as a priest. ¹⁴ We know that our Lord came from Judah's tribe. Moses never said that priests could come from Judah's tribe. So we see that the old law has changed.

Jesus is a different kind of priest

¹⁵ What we have said becomes even clearer now. Another kind of priest has come, who is a priest like Melchizedek. ¹⁶ Jesus did not become a priest because of a law about which family he came from. He became God's priest because of his powerful life that nothing could ever destroy. ¹⁷ The Bible speaks about him as a priest like this:

¹⁸ So the old law about priests no longer has authority. It was weak and it could not help people. ¹⁹ God's Laws that he gave to Moses could not make anything completely right. But now God has brought us something better to hope for. And in that way, we ourselves can come near to God.

²⁰ Also, when God said that Jesus would be his special priest, he made a strong promise. When the Levites became priests, he did not make a strong promise like that. ²¹ But when Jesus became God's priest, God made a strong promise. God said:

²² Because God promised that to Jesus, we know that his new agreement with his people is very strong. It is a much better agreement than the old one.

²³ In the old way, there were many Levite priests. Each one of them died, so that they could not continue to serve God as priests. ²⁴ But Jesus lives for ever, so he will never stop being a priest. ²⁵ Jesus is always alive and he asks God to help his people. So he can completely save everyone who believes in him. He will lead them to God.

²⁶ Jesus is the kind of special priest that we need. He completely belongs to God. He has never done anything wrong. He is completely good and clean. He is separate from everyone who does wrong things. God has raised him up to the most important place in heaven. ²⁷ Jesus is not like the Levite priests. They need to offer sacrifices to God every day. First, they offer sacrifices so that God will forgive their own sins. Then they offer sacrifices on behalf of the other people, so that God will forgive their sins too. But Jesus offered one sacrifice for all time. That sacrifice was himself. ²⁸ In the old agreement, Moses' laws decide who will become special priests. Because those men are weak, they often do wrong things. But God's very strong promise came after the Law that he gave to Moses. With that promise, God chose his Son to be his special priest. And his Son has become everything that God wants him to be, completely and for ever.^[d]

Jesus helps us as God's special priest

8 The most important thing that we are saying is this: In Jesus, we do have this kind of special priest. He has now sat down to rule with God in heaven. He sits at the right side of God, who rules with all authority. ² He serves as priest in heaven on our behalf. He is in God's very special place, near to God himself. That is like the special place in the tabernacle of long ago. But it is not a tent that people have made. The Lord himself has made this special place, and it is the true one.

³ It is the duty of every special priest to offer gifts and sacrifices to God. So Jesus, as our special priest, must also have something to offer. ⁴ If he was living on earth, then he would not be a priest. There are already priests on earth who offer gifts to God. They do this in the way that Moses' law tells them. ⁵ But the way that those Levite priests work is only like a picture of the true things in heaven. It is like a shadow of what would happen in heaven. Long ago, when Moses was ready to make the tabernacle, God warned him about it. God said to Moses, ‘Be careful to make everything just like the plan which I showed you on the mountain.’^[e]

⁶ But now God has given Jesus a much better way to serve him as a priest. The new agreement that God makes with his people is possible because of Jesus. Because of Jesus' work on our behalf, the new agreement is better than the old one. It is much better because it started with better promises.

⁷ If there had been nothing wrong with that first agreement, then nobody would have needed a second agreement. ⁸ But God did find something wrong with it. As a result, he said this to his people:

¹³ We see that God was speaking about a new agreement. That shows that he has caused the first agreement to become old. And anything that is becoming old like that will soon finish.^[h]

The old agreement and the tabernacle

9 The first agreement included rules about how people should worship God. It also spoke about a special place for people to worship God on this earth. ² Israel's people made a special tent for God.^[i] The first room in that tent was called the holy place. The special lampstand was in this room. The special table with the bread which they offered to God was there too.^[j]

³ Behind a second curtain, there was a very special room. It was called the Most Holy Place. ⁴ The gold altar for incense was in there.^[k] The Covenant Box was there too.^[l] The box had gold on all its sides. Inside the box was the gold pot that contained the special food called manna.^[m] The box also contained Aaron's stick that had grown leaves.^[n] It also contained the two flat stones on which God had written the rules of his agreement with his people. ⁵ The shapes of two special angels stood on the top of the box. They were made from gold and they showed that God was there with great power. The angels held out their wings over the lid of the box. That lid was the place where God forgave the people's sins. But we cannot explain everything about these things now.

⁶ So that was how they prepared the special tent. Then the priests would go into the first room of the tent every day. They went in there to serve God, as his rules taught. ⁷ But only the special leader of the priests could go into the second room. He went in there only once every year.^[o] He had to take with him blood from an animal that they had killed. He offered the blood to God on his own behalf, so that God would forgive his sins. He also offered it on behalf of the people. Then God would forgive their mistakes too.

⁸ In this way, God's Holy Spirit was showing that the most holy place was not yet open to everyone. While the tent with its first room was still there, those were the rules for people to worship God. ⁹ This is like a picture that means something for us today. It teaches us about the gifts and sacrifices that people offered to God, to worship him. When someone gave those things to God, it could not make him clean again in his mind. ¹⁰ The old rules taught people about different kinds of food and drink. They taught about how people should wash in special ways. Those rules were about people's bodies. They had authority only until the time when God would make things new and better.

God's new agreement

¹¹ But now Christ has come as our special priest. He brings us the good things that are now here. He has gone into God's own place in heaven. That is a greater and much better tent than the old tabernacle. No person made this tent. It does not belong to this world at all. ¹² Christ went into the Most Holy Place on our behalf. He did this once, for all time. He did not take with him the blood of goats or young cows when he went in there. Instead, he took the blood of his own death to offer to God. In that way, he made us free from sin for ever. ¹³ The old rules said that the priest must use the blood of goats or bulls to make people clean. Or he could burn a young cow and mix the ashes with water.^[p] He would then splash the blood or the ashes over the people who were unclean. Then those people became clean again in their bodies, and they could worship God.

¹⁴ But the blood of Christ's sacrifice will do much more than that! Christ offered himself to God, in the power of his Spirit, who lives for ever. That sacrifice was completely good. There was no wrong thing in Christ. He offered his own blood to make us completely clean inside ourselves. We no longer have to do things that lead to death. Instead, we can serve the God who lives for ever. ¹⁵ So, by Christ's death, God brings a new agreement between him and his people. God's people receive from him the good things that will be with them for ever. God has promised to give those things to the people that he has chosen. Christ's death has made them free from their sins. God will no longer punish them like the first agreement says should happen.

¹⁶ Think about this. A person may make an agreement about who will receive his things after his death. But nobody receives anything until it is clear that the person has really died. ¹⁷ The agreement only has authority after the death of the person who made it. It has no authority while that person is still alive.

¹⁸ So even God's first agreement with his people needed the blood of an animal. The agreement only had authority after a death. ¹⁹ It was like this. Moses read God's laws aloud to all Israel's people. He told them every rule that God had given them. After that, Moses killed some young cows and goats. He took some of their blood and he mixed it with water. He threw some of the blood to drop onto the book of God's laws. He also caused some to drop onto all the people. He used red sheep's hair and some small branches of a plant called hyssop to throw the blood and water. ²⁰ When Moses did this, he said to the people, ‘This blood shows that God's agreement with you has authority.’ ²¹ In the same way, Moses threw some of the blood onto the tabernacle. He also caused blood to drop onto all the things that the priests used to serve God there.^{[q] 22} God's Law taught that blood was necessary to make almost everything clean. We see that God does not forgive people for their sins unless there is blood from a death.

Christ's sacrifice on the cross

²³ The tabernacle and the things that were in it needed animals' blood to make them clean. That was a picture of the true place in heaven where people worship God. But the true things in heaven need better sacrifices to make them clean than the sacrifices of animals. ²⁴ Christ did not go into a holy place that people had made on earth. A place like that is only a picture of the true place in heaven. No, Christ went into heaven itself, where God is. Now he is there with God and he speaks to God on our behalf.

²⁵ The leader of the priests here on earth goes into the Most Holy Place every year. Each time, he takes with him the blood of an animal and he offers it to God. But when Christ went into heaven to offer himself to God, he did not do that again and again. ²⁶ To do that, he would need to die again and again, many times since the world began. No! Christ has appeared just once. He has appeared now, when time is near its end. He came and he died as a sacrifice. In that way, he has removed the power of sin. ²⁷ Every person must die once. After death, God will judge each person. ²⁸ Christ also died only once as a sacrifice. In this way, he took God's punishment for the sins of many people. Christ will return to earth a second time, but that will not be as a sacrifice for sins. That time, he will come to save those people who are waiting patiently for him.