በምድራዊው ድንኳን የሚደረግ አምልኮ
1የመጀመሪያው ኪዳን የአምልኮ ሥርዐትና ምድራዊ መቅደስ ነበረው። 2ድንኳን ተተክሎ ነበር፤ በመጀመሪያው ክፍል መቅረዙ፣ ጠረጴዛውና የመሥዋዕቱ ኅብስት ነበረበት፤ ይህም ስፍራ ቅድስት ይባላል። 3ከሁለተኛው መጋረጃ በስተ ኋላ ቅድስተ ቅዱሳን የተባለ ክፍል ነበር፤ 4በዚያም ውስጥ የወርቅ ማዕጠንትና በወርቅ የተለበጠው የኪዳኑ ታቦት ነበሩ፤ ይህም ታቦት መና ያለበትን የወርቅ መሶብ፣ የለመለመችውን የአሮንን በትርና ኪዳኑ የተጻፈበትን ጽላት ይዟል። 5በታቦቱም ላይ የስርየት መክደኛውን9፥5 ወይም የማስተስረያውን መክደኛ የሚጋርዱ የክብር ኪሩቤል ነበሩ፤ አሁን ግን ስለ እነዚህ ነገሮች በዝርዝር መናገር አንችልም።
6ሁሉም በዚህ መልክ ከተዘጋጀ በኋላ፣ ካህናት አገልግሎታቸውን ለመፈጸም ዘወትር ወደ ድንኳኒቱ መጀመሪያ ክፍል ይገባሉ። 7ነገር ግን ወደ ውስጠኛው ክፍል የሚገባው ሊቀ ካህናቱ ብቻ ነበር፤ የሚገባውም በዓመት አንድ ጊዜ ብቻ ሲሆን፣ ስለ ራሱ ኀጢአትና ሕዝቡ ባለማወቅ ስላደረገው ኀጢአት የሚያቀርበውን ደም ሳይዝ ከቶ አይገባም ነበር። 8የመጀመሪያዪቱ ድንኳን ቆማ እስካለች ድረስ ወደ ቅድስተ ቅዱሳን የሚወስደው መንገድ ገና እንዳልተገለጠ መንፈስ ቅዱስ ያሳያል። 9ይህም ለአሁኑ ዘመን ምሳሌ ሲሆን፣ የሚቀርቡት መባና መሥዋዕት የሚያመልከውን ሰው ኅሊና ፍጹም ሊያደርጉ አልቻሉም። 10እነዚህ ሁሉ አዲሱ ሥርዐት እስኪመጣ ድረስ የሚደረጉ የምግብና የመጠጥ እንዲሁም የተለያዩ የመንጻት ሥርዐቶች ብቻ ናቸው።
የክርስቶስ ደም
11ክርስቶስ አሁን ስላሉት9፥11 አንዳንድ የጥንት ቅጆች ሊመጡ ስላሉት ይላሉ። መልካም ነገሮች ሊቀ ካህናት ሆኖ በመጣ ጊዜ፣ በሰው እጅ ወዳልተሠራችው፣ ከዚህ ፍጥረት ወዳልሆነችው ታላቅና ፍጹም ድንኳን ገባ። 12የገባውም የፍየልንና የጥጃዎችን ደም ይዞ አይደለም፤ ነገር ግን የዘላለም ቤዛነት ሊያስገኝ የራሱን ደም ይዞ ወደ ቅድስተ ቅዱሳን ለአንዴና ለመጨረሻ ጊዜ ገባ። 13የውጭ አካላቸው ይነጻ ዘንድ በረከሱ ሰዎች ላይ የሚረጨው የፍየሎችና የኰርማዎች ደም እንዲሁም የፍየሎችና የጊደር ዐመድ የሚቀድሳቸው ከሆነ፣ 14በዘላለም መንፈስ አማካይነት ራሱን ነውር አልባ መሥዋዕት አድርጎ ለእግዚአብሔር ያቀረበው የክርስቶስ ደም፣ ሕያው እግዚአብሔርን እንድናመልክ ኅሊናችንን ከምውት ሥራ9፥14 ወይም ከከንቱ የዘወትር ሥርዐቶች እንዴት ይበልጥ ያነጻ ይሆን!
15ስለዚህም የተጠሩት፣ ተስፋ የተሰጠውን የዘላለም ርስት እንዲቀበሉ ክርስቶስ የአዲስ ኪዳን መካከለኛ ነው፤ በመጀመሪያው ኪዳን ሥር በነበሩበት ጊዜ ከሠሩት ኀጢአት ነጻ ለማውጣት ቤዛ ሆኖ ሞቷልና።
16ኑዛዜ9፥16 ይህን ትርጕም የሚሰጠው የግሪክ ቃል ኪዳን ተብሎም ሊተረጐም ይችላል፤ እንዲሁም 17 በሚኖርበት ጊዜ የተናዛዡን ሞት ማረጋገጥ ግድ ነው፤ 17ምክንያቱም ኑዛዜው የሚጸናው ሰውየው ሲሞት ብቻ ነው፤ ነገር ግን ተናዛዡ በሕይወት እስካለ ድረስ ኑዛዜው ዋጋ አይኖረውም። 18ስለዚህ የመጀመሪያው ኪዳን እንኳ ያለ ደም የጸና አልነበረም። 19ሙሴ እያንዳንዱን የሕግ ትእዛዝ ለሕዝቡ ሁሉ ከተናገረ በኋላ የጥጆችን ደም ከውሃ፣ ከቀይ የበግ ጠጕርና ከሂሶጵ ጋር ወስዶ፣ በመጽሐፉና በሕዝቡ ላይ ረጨው፤ 20እንዲህም አለ፤ “እንድትጠብቁት እግዚአብሔር ያዘዛችሁ የኪዳኑ ደም ይህ ነው።” 21እንዲሁም ድንኳኒቱንና ማገልገያ ዕቃውን ሁሉ በደም ረጨው። 22በርግጥ ከጥቂት ነገሮች በስተቀር ሁሉም ነገር በደም መንጻት እንዳለበት ሕጉ ያዝዛል፤ ደም ሳይፈስስ ስርየት የለምና።
23እንግዲህ የሰማያዊው ነገሮች ምሳሌ የሆኑት በእነዚህ ነገሮች ሊነጹ ግድ ነበር፤ በሰማይ ያሉት ነገሮች ግን ከዚህ በሚበልጥ መሥዋዕት ይነጻሉ። 24ክርስቶስ የእውነተኛዪቱ ድንኳን ምሳሌ ወደ ሆነችውና በሰው እጅ ወደ ተሠራችው መቅደስ አልገባም፤ ነገር ግን አሁን ስለ እኛ በእግዚአብሔር ፊት ለመታየት ወደ እርሷ፣ ወደ ሰማይ ገባ። 25ሊቀ ካህናት የራሱ ያልሆነውን ደም ይዞ በየዓመቱ ወደ ቅድስተ ቅዱሳን እንደሚገባ፣ ክርስቶስ ራሱን ብዙ ጊዜ መሥዋዕት ለማድረግ ወደ ሰማይ አልገባም። 26እንዲህ ቢሆን ኖሮ፣ ዓለም ከተፈጠረ ጀምሮ ክርስቶስ ብዙ ጊዜ መከራን መቀበል ባስፈለገው ነበር። አሁን ግን በዘመናት መጨረሻ ራሱን መሥዋዕት በማድረግ ኀጢአትን ለማስወገድ ለአንዴና ለመጨረሻ ጊዜ ተገልጧል። 27ሰው አንድ ጊዜ ሊሞት ከዚያም በኋላ በፍርድ ፊት ሊቆም ተወስኖበታል። 28ክርስቶስ የብዙ ሰዎችን ኀጢአት ለመሸከም፣ እንዲሁ አንድ ጊዜ መሥዋዕት ሆኗል፤ ሁለተኛ ጊዜም ይገለጣል፤ ይህም ለሚጠባበቁት ድነትን ለማምጣት እንጂ ኀጢአትን ለመሸከም አይደለም።
Worship in the Holy Tent on Earth
1The first covenant had rules for worship. It also had a sacred tent on earth. 2A holy tent was set up. The lampstand was in the first room. So was the table with its holy bread. That was called the Holy Room. 3Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Room. 4It had the golden altar for incense. It also had the wooden chest called the ark of the covenant. The ark was covered with gold. It held the gold jar of manna. It held Aaron’s walking stick that had budded. It also held the stone tablets. The words of the covenant were written on them. 5The cherubim were above the ark. God showed his glory there. The cherubim spread their wings over the place where sin was paid for. But we can’t say everything about these things now.
6That’s how everything was arranged in the holy tent. The priests entered it at regular times. They went into the outer room to do their work for God and others. 7But only the high priest went into the inner room. He went in only once a year. He never entered without taking blood with him. He offered the blood for himself. He also offered it for the sins the people had committed because they didn’t know any better. 8Here is what the Holy Spirit was showing us. He was telling us that God had not yet clearly shown the way into the Most Holy Room. It would not be clearly shown as long as the first holy tent was still being used. 9That’s an example for the present time. It shows us that the gifts and sacrifices people offered were not enough. They were not able to remove the worshiper’s feelings of guilt. 10They deal only with food and drink and different kinds of special washings. They are rules people had to obey only until the new covenant came.
The Blood of Christ
11But Christ came to be the high priest of the good things already here now. When he came, he went through the greater and more perfect holy tent. This tent was not made with human hands. In other words, it is not a part of this creation. 12He did not enter by spilling the blood of goats and calves. He entered the Most Holy Room by spilling his own blood. He did it once and for all time. In this way, he paid the price to set us free from sin forever. 13The blood of goats and bulls is sprinkled on people. So are the ashes of a young cow. They are sprinkled on people the law called “unclean.” The people are sprinkled to make them holy. That makes them “clean” on the outside. 14But Christ offered himself to God without any flaw. He did this through the power of the eternal Holy Spirit. So how much cleaner will the blood of Christ make us! It washes away our feelings of guilt for committing sin. Sin always leads to death. But now we can serve the living God.
15That’s why Christ is the go-between of a new covenant. Now those God calls to himself will receive the eternal gift he promised. They will receive it now that Christ has died to save them. He died to set them free from the sins they committed under the first covenant.
16What happens when someone leaves a will? It is necessary to prove that the person who made the will has died. 17A will is in effect only when somebody has died. It never takes effect while the one who made it is still living. 18That’s why even the first covenant was not put into effect without the spilling of blood. 19Moses first announced every command of the law to all the people. Then he took the blood of calves. He also took water, bright red wool and branches of a hyssop plant. He sprinkled the Book of the Covenant. He also sprinkled all the people. 20He said, “This is the blood of the covenant God has commanded you to keep.” (Exodus 24:8) 21In the same way, he sprinkled the holy tent with blood. He also sprinkled everything that was used in worship there. 22In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be made “clean” with blood. Without the spilling of blood, no one can be forgiven.
23So the copies of the heavenly things had to be made pure with these sacrifices. But the heavenly things themselves had to be made pure with better sacrifices. 24Christ did not enter a sacred tent made with human hands. That tent was only a copy of the true one. He entered heaven itself. He did it to stand in front of God for us. He is there right now. 25The high priest enters the Most Holy Room every year. He enters with blood that is not his own. But Christ did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again. 26If he had, he would have had to suffer many times since the world was created. But he has appeared once and for all time. He has come at the time when God’s work is being completed. He has come to do away with sin by offering himself. 27People have to die once. After that, God will judge them. 28In the same way, Christ was offered up once. He took away the sins of many people. He will also come a second time. At that time he will not suffer for sin. Instead, he will come to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
