Day 64 - Luke 20 and Hebrews 9-10

Luke 20

20:1 It happened on one of those days, as he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the Good News, that the priests and scribes came to him with the elders.

20:2 They asked him, "Tell us: by what authority do you do these things? Or who is giving you this authority?"

20:3 He answered them, "I also will ask you one question. Tell me:

20:4 the baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?"

20:5 They reasoned with themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why didn't you believe him?'

20:6 But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet."

20:7 They answered that they didn't know where it was from.

20:8 Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

20:9 He began to tell the people this parable. "A man planted a vineyard, and rented it out to some farmers, and went into another country for a long time.

20:10 At the proper season, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him, and sent him away empty.

20:11 He sent yet another servant, and they also beat him, and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.

20:12 He sent yet a third, and they also wounded him, and threw him out.

20:13 The lord of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that seeing him, they will respect him.'

20:14 "But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.'

20:15 They threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to them?

20:16 He will come and destroy these farmers, and will give the vineyard to others." When they heard it, they said, "May it never be!"

20:17 But he looked at them, and said, "Then what is this that is written, 'The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the chief cornerstone?

20:18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but it will crush whomever it falls onto dust."

20:19 The chief priests and the scribes sought to lay hands on him that very hour, but they feared the people--for they knew he had spoken this parable against them.

20:20 They watched him, and sent out spies, who pretended to be righteous, that they might trap him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor.

20:21 They asked him, "Teacher, we know that you say and teach what is right, and aren't partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God.

20:22 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"

20:23 But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, "Why do you test me?

20:24 Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?" They answered, "Caesar's."

20:25 He said to them, "Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."

20:26 They weren't able to trap him in his words before the people. They marveled at his answer, and were silent.

20:27 Some of the Sadducees came to him, those who deny that there is a resurrection.

20:28 They asked him, "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies having a wife, and he is childless, his brother should take the wife, and raise up children for his brother.

20:29 There were therefore seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died childless.

20:30 The second took her as wife, and he died childless.

20:31 The third took her, and likewise the seven all left no children, and died.

20:32 Afterward the woman also died.

20:33 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them will she be? For the seven had her as a wife."

20:34 Jesus said to them, "The children of this age marry, and are given in marriage.

20:35 But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage.

20:36 For they can't die anymore, for they are like the angels, and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.

20:37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord 'The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'

20:38 Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him."

20:39 Some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you speak well."

20:40 They didn't dare to ask him any more questions.

20:41 He said to them, "Why do they say that the Christ is David's son?

20:42 David himself says in the book of Psalms, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand,

20:43 until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet."

20:44 "David therefore calls him Lord, so how is he his son?"

20:45 In the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples,

20:46 "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts;

20:47 who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: these will receive greater condemnation."

Hebrews 9

9:1 Now indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service, and an earthly sanctuary.

9:2 For a tabernacle was prepared. In the first part were the lampstand, the table, and the showbread; which is called the Holy Place.

9:3 After the second veil was the tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies,

9:4 having a golden altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which was a golden pot holding the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;

9:5 and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, of which things we can't speak now in detail.

9:6 Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services,

9:7 but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offers for himself, and for the errors of the people.

9:8 The Holy Spirit is indicating this, that the way into the Holy Place wasn't yet revealed while the first tabernacle was still standing;

9:9 which is a symbol of the present age, where gifts and sacrifices are offered that are incapable, concerning the conscience, of making the worshipper perfect;

9:10 being only with meats and drinks and various washings fleshly ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation.

9:11 But Christ having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,

9:12 nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption.

9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh:

9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

9:15 For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, since a death has occurred for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

9:16 For where a last will and testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him who made it.

9:17 For a will is in force where there has been death, for it is never in force while he who made it lives.

9:18 Therefore even the first covenant has not been dedicated without blood.

9:19 For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,

9:20 saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you."

9:21 Moreover he sprinkled the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry in like manner with the blood.

9:22 According to the law, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.

9:23 It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

9:24 For Christ hasn't entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;

9:25 nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place year by year with blood not his own,

9:26 or else he must have suffered often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the end of the ages, he has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

9:27 Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,

9:28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting for him for salvation.

Hebrews 10

10:1 For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.

10:2 Or else wouldn't they have ceased to be offered, because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins?

10:3 But in those sacrifices there is yearly reminder of sins.

10:4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

10:5 Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, "Sacrifice and offering you didn't desire, but you prepared a body for me;

10:6 You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.

10:7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come in the scroll of the book it is written of me to do your will, O God.'

10:8 Previously saying, "Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn't desire, neither had pleasure in them" those which are offered according to the law,

10:9 then he has said, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He takes away the first, that he may establish the second,

10:10 by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

10:11 Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins,

10:12 but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;

10:13 from that time waiting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet.

10:14 For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

10:15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,

10:16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them: 'After those days,' says the Lord, 'I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write them on their mind;'  then he says,

10:17 "I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more."

10:18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

10:19 Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,

10:20 by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

10:21 and having a great priest over the house of God,

10:22 let's draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water,

10:23 let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful.

10:24 Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works,

10:25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching.

10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins,

10:27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.

10:28 A man who disregards Moses' law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses.

10:29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will he be judged worthy of, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

10:30 For we know him who said, "Vengeance belongs to me," says the Lord, "I will repay." Again, "The Lord will judge his people."

10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

10:32 But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings;

10:33 partly, being exposed to both reproaches and oppressions; and partly, becoming partakers with those who were treated so.

10:34 For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens.

10:35 Therefore don't throw away your boldness, which has a great reward.

10:36 For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

10:37 "In a very little while, he who comes will come, and will not wait.

10:38 But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him."

10:39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.