1In essence, we have just such a high priest: authoritative right alongside God,
2conducting worship in the one true sanctuary built by God.
3The assigned task of a high priest is to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and it's no different with the priesthood of Jesus.
4If he were limited to earth, he wouldn't even be a priest. We wouldn't need him since there are plenty of priests who offer the gifts designated in the law.
5These priests provide only a hint of what goes on in the true sanctuary of heaven, which Moses caught a glimpse of as he was about to set up the tent-shrine. It was then that God said, "Be careful to do it exactly as you saw it on the Mountain."
6But Jesus' priestly work far surpasses what these other priests do, since he's working from a far better plan.
7If the first plan—the old covenant—had worked out, a second wouldn't have been needed.
8But we know the first was found wanting, because God said, Heads up! The days are coming when I'll set up a new plan for dealing with Israel and Judah.
9I'll throw out the old plan I set up with their ancestors when I led them by the hand out of Egypt. They didn't keep their part of the bargain, so I looked away and let it go.
10This new plan I'm making with Israel isn't going to be written on paper, isn't going to be chiseled in stone; This time I'm writing out the plan in them, carving it on the lining of their hearts. I'll be their God, they'll be my people.
11They won't go to school to learn about me, or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons. They'll all get to know me firsthand, the little and the big, the small and the great.
12They'll get to know me by being kindly forgiven, with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.
13By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and his people, God put the old plan on the shelf. And there it stays, gathering dust.