Jesus = 1, Sin and Evil = 0
- The author says that Jewish law could never do all this good stuff. The law is kind of like imitation crab meat, while Jesus is the real deal crustacean.
- If the law worked, priests wouldn't need to offer the same sacrifices day after day and year after year. People would have been free of sin and lived holy lives. But the system was broken, and Jesus had to fix it.
- Jesus knew that God didn't want a whole bunch of animal sacrifices and burnt offerings lying around every day. And he was up for doing God's will because he knew that his death would make things right. Out with the old and in with the new.
- Seriously, says the author, the Jewish priests have been trying to take away sins for centuries. Day in and day out. But Jesus goes and dies once—once!—and problem solved.
- Remember, says Hebrews, God already told the world all this stuff. It's all written in the Hebrew Bible. He said that he would make a new deal and people wouldn't have to worry about the law anymore. You get forgiveness! You get forgiveness! Everyone gets forgiveness! Pretty sweet deal.
- Okay, so that means that it's all good in the Christian hood. Because of Jesus, Christians totally have an in with God.
- So Christians shouldn't spend a whole bunch of time doubting and worrying whether or not God will do the things he promised. Spoiler alert: he will.
- Christians should also be super nice and loving to each other, too. They have to keep each other's spirits up until Jesus makes his encore appearance.
- After all, believers know the truth about God now, so it would be silly for them to turn their backs on him now and start living in wretched hives of scum and villainy.
- Remember, God is sort of…judgmental when it comes to stuff like this. He was pretty hardcore about punishing sinners back in the days of Moses, so you can bet he'll be pretty ticked by anyone who turns their back on his son.
- Getting on God's bad side is no bueno—remember that when the going gets tough and you're thinking about ditching this whole believing-in-Jesus thing.
- The Christians this book is addressed to have had some hard times. They've suffered, been publically ridiculed and persecuted by friends, sent to prison, and had their stuff taken.
- But even during all that, they still kept feeling happy and cheerful. See, they knew that they had something much better than a good reputation, freedom, or fancy terra cotta pots in on their mantles. They had Jesus.
- So, says the author, just hold on a little longer. Things may be tough, but if you keep on keeping on you'll get that big ol' medal at the end of the race.