Hebrews 12:22-24
EasyEnglish Bible
22 But as believers in Christ, you have not come to God in that way. You have come to Mount Zion.[a] You have come to the city of the true God who lives. You have come to the city of Jerusalem that is in heaven. There are many thousands of happy angels all together in that place. 23 All God's people meet together there. They are like his most important sons. They belong in heaven because God has written down their names. You have come to God himself, who will judge all people. You have come to the place where the spirits of God's people are. Those people have become right with God. God has now finished his work in them. 24 You have come to Jesus, who brought the new agreement from God to his people. In that agreement, the blood of Jesus' death makes us clean from our sins. It tells us that God has forgiven us. When Cain killed his brother Abel, Abel's blood brought God's punishment. So we see that Jesus' blood brought us something much better than that.[b]
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- 12:22 The Bible often uses the name Zion to mean Jerusalem. But Christians belong to God's city in heaven. They belong with all of God's people, who will live with God for ever. Everyone who believed God in earlier times is also part of his people. Those people are dead now, and their spirits are with God. We are not dead yet. But it is like our spirits are already there too, with them.
- 12:24 Jesus chose to die. But Abel died when his brother killed him. Abel's brother, Cain, killed Abel, and Abel's blood came out onto the ground. See Genesis 4:8-10. So Abel's blood only shows us about bad things. It shows us that God had to punish Cain. But Jesus died for us so that God does not have to punish us any more.
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