8
Jesus’ Priestly Work Is Superior to Other Priests’ Work
1 The main point we want to make is this: We do have this kind of chief priest. This chief priest holds the honored position—the one next to the majestic God [the Father] on the heavenly throne. 2 He serves as priest of the holy place and of the true tent set up by the Lord and not by any human.
3 Every chief priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, this chief priest had to offer something. 4 If he were on earth, he would not even be a priest. On earth ⌞other⌟ priests offer gifts by following the instructions that Moses gave. 5 They serve at a place that is a pattern, a shadow, of what is in heaven. When Moses was about to make the tent, God warned him, “Be sure to make everything based on the plan I showed you on the mountain.”
6 Jesus has been given a priestly work that is superior to the Levitical priests’ work. He also brings a better promise* from God that is based on better guarantees. 7 If nothing had been wrong with the first promise, no one would look for another one. 8 But God found something wrong with his people and said to them,
“The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new promise to Israel and Judah. 9 It will not be like the promise that I made to their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. They rejected that promise, so I ignored them, says the Lord. 10 But this is the promise that I will make to Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my teachings inside them, and I will write those teachings on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 No longer will each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying, ‘Know the Lord.’ All of them from the least important to the most important will all know me 12 because I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them.”
13 God made this new promise and showed that the first promise was outdated. What is outdated and aging will soon disappear.
* 8:6 Or “covenant.”