Hebrews 10 - Summarized in a few verses

v. 1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming - not the things themselves.

v.11 Sacrifices can never take away sins.

v. 12 This priest (Jesus Christ) offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, then sat down at the right hand of God.

v. 24 We are to encourage one another, spurring each other toward love and good deeds.

v. 36 We need to persevere so that we can when we have done His will we can receive what He has promised.

v. 39  We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

Hebrews 9 - Blood

At the beginning, more talk of Jesus as our High Priest, and then it gets bloody.  We are reminded of the Old Testament sacrifices involving the blood of goats and bulls, so that God's people could be outwardly clean.  Contrast that with verse 14: "How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death SO THAT we may serve the living God! (emphasis added)

It's a recurring theme, but for some reason it's so easy to lose sight of the fact that our standing before God the Father does not depend on our performance, but that the sacrifice of Jesus earned our righteousness, and in the light of that righteousness that He earned we are now free to serve God.  We are empowered serve because of what Jesus did, not because we are trying to earn what He already earned for us.  Man that is easy to forget.  Why is that?

He has died as a ransom to set us free from sins (v. 15).  He was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many, bringing forgiveness and salvation to those who are waiting for him (v. 28).  Thank you Jesus.

Hebrews 8 - New High Priest, New Covenant

So Jesus became our perfect High Priest, establishing forever a new covenant between God and man.  What are the characteristics of this new covenant?  We see in verses 10-12:

"I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.  I will be their God and they will be my people.  No longer will a man teach his neighbor, as a man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord," because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.  For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

Father, forgive my wickedness and remember my sins no more.  Let me know you.

Hebrews 7 - Once For All

Melchizedek is certainly a mysterious character from the Old Testament, and reading Hebrews 5-7 really helps understand not only who he is, but also how Jesus has removed our need for a revolving door of high priests.  Jesus has become a permanent, eternal intercessor on our behalf.  He has become "the guarantee of a better covenant" (v. 22).  He has a "permanent priesthood" (v. 24).  And He sacrificed Himself once for all (v. 27), ensuring that we who come to God through Him are saved completely (v. 25).

Hebrews 6 - On to maturity

Chapter 5 ended with a discussion of milk vs. solid food.  That conversation continues into chapter 6, in which we are encouraged to continue on to maturity, graduating past knowledge of simple, elementary truths about Christ.  We are called to be "land that drinks in the rain", absorbing the blessing of knowing Him in life-changing ways.  We follow Him, are transformed by Him, commit wholeheartedly to Him, and increasingly become able to obey Him and His teaching in our lives.

At the end of the chapter, we again see the picture of Jesus as our High Priest, the one who approaches the Father on our behalf, earning for us that which we could not earn for ourselves.  His sacrifice makes atonement for our sins, serving as the "anchor" that secures our standing before a Holy God.

Hebrews 5 - Our High Priest and the Quest for Solid Food

Jesus has been appointed by the Father to represent us in matters related to God.  He is our advocate.  He is our defense attorney.  And we are assured that His prayers on our behalf are heard because of His reverent submission.

Verse 9 strikes me as odd, where it says that Jesus "learned obedience from what he suffered, and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him."  I like the idea of Jesus being the source of our eternal salvation, if we choose to receive Him.  I don't know quite what to make of Jesus needing to learn obedience or be made perfect.  I guess it's time to do more digging on those ideas.

OK, just got back after using Google to see what ideas are out there.  Found this and it makes sense to me...

Verse 8 refers to Jesus learning experientially what He would do to fully obey God's will for mankind. He became aware through experience what being obedient to God's will would entail for Him. 

Verse 9 It was not until Jesus suffered the ordeal of the Cross that God fully qualified Him as the one sent to carry out to completion God's Redemptive Mission. This is specifically true of Christ's priestly duties in carrying out the redemptive mission.

The chapter ends with a pretty stern warning or chastising of those who ought to be further along in their understanding of the "elementary truths of God's word".  I love the milk/solid food analogy.  I don't want to live on milk but rather strive for maturity as God's grace enables me to comprehend more of who He is.

Hebrews 4 - Approach With Confidence

The promise of entering his rest still stands (v. 1) for those who have believed (v. 3).  Which reaffirms the idea from chapter 3, quoting the Psalms, "Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts". (v. 7).

We are reminded of the power of God's Word, that it is living and active (v. 12) and penetrates to judge the thoughts and attitudes of a person's heart (v. 12).  We understand that God knows and sees all (v. 13) and that one day we will indeed give an account of our lives to Him (v. 13).

That sounds scary, doesn't it?  And maybe it is.  At the same time, "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are -- yet was without sin.  Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (v. 15-16).

Life is hard.  He is good.