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Hebrews | Chapter 12

Hebrews 12:1-2

“Running the race of faith”

 

  • Introduction
  • 1a Right motivation
  • 1b Right Training
  • 2 Right Coach

 

Introduction

The 12th chapter starts with a glance back as well as one forward, both through an illustration of a foot race. The word for race here is where we get our English word for “agony” which describes anything but a passive stroll. This race will require self-discipline, determination and perseverance. But in context to this letter which is written not just to believers but to those who are intellectually convinced but have yet to become spiritually committed to Christ the first step is that they need to get into the race by faith. Some of the Hebrew speaking church were just pretenders Paul had address people like this before in his letters like 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 where he wrote, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.” The exhortation has to do with true faith that properly motivates as in athletic events if you don’t have the proper motivation, you will have little or no desire to win. I think many in the professing church today are suffering no desire to win, they are content to be spectators in the stands of the church simply waiting for the spiritual contest to end so they can enter into the celebration as winners. This is why Paul continued on in 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 saying, “Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus, I fight: not as one who beats the air. “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” The “competition of the Christian” is different in two important ways:

  1. First, we DON’T compete against other believers, some how trying to outdo each other in works or church pursuits so as to receive more recognition. Our race is not of works but of faith. We compete only by faith not with each other but against the enemy of our souls and his world system and even our own flesh all which does everything it can to defeat our faith.
  2. Second, our success is not because of our superior strength or training instead our strength comes from the Holy Spirit and our training of daily dying to our self centeredness.

The writer mentions three truths that can help the believer run a successful race of faith:

  1. 1a Right motivation
  2. 1b Right training: The writer mentions three things that will enable to run faster:
    1. Shedding the pounds: “Let us lay aside every weight”
    2. Right equipment, “less is more”: “and the sin which so easily ensnares us”
    3. The race is a marathon not a sprint: “and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
  3. 2 Right Coaching

1a Right motivation

Vs. 1a The writer mentions our right motivation to continue our race; namely the cloud of witnesses that were mentioned in 11:4-40. The phrase “surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” can cause some to try to place these saints of the 11th chapter in the stands above us as we run our race. A cheering section of spectators rooting for us as we make our way around the course set before us. While this may appeal to us it DOESN’T fit the picture at hand for three reasons:

  1. These are not mere spectators they are those who have only just finished the race themselves.
  2. They do not rest in the defined stands but instead they gather around the course set before us so numerous as to be unable to define their beginning or end.
  3. Their testimony is not the indistinguishable applause or roar of an entertained crowd. But the specific exhortation of those that know the race we are presently on because they have just finished it themselves and have themselves gathered around the course to shout words of exhortation, encouragement and instruction to us.

The Greek word for cloud is NOT the detached defined cloud that we here in Montana are familiar with but rather the great mass of clouds that covers the sky without definition or distinction. There only distinction is that they are known as “witnesses” and the Greek word is “martus” which means “one who testifies to what they have seen and heard.” The word doesn’t include the meaning that this was their assessment of themselves but that is what others regarded them as. They can testify of the effective way of faith to reaching the prize and goal of salvation and victory. These are NOT people who just watch others run but are instead our fellow “teammates” who know first-hand how to run the race we are currently running and to do so effectively through the long haul. These men and women all ran our same race and are examples of people who kept running no matter the cost, they through faith never gave up. We can glean much about our own race by reading about theirs and the encouragement is that the writer is saying through their life of faith; “Run like they did! You can make it if you run by faith the race the way that did. These people had less equipment and light by which to run their race of faith, if they can do it so can you!” These heroes of our faith are not “spectating fans in the stands” and we are not trying to impress them with our effort! They are there for us as witnesses of faith in the Living God whom they trusted to the end; they are our examples not our onlookers! They are NOT looking “DOWN” on us, we are looking UP at them and their lives as living examples to follow. There is a reason that we go on the internet and look up people who have successful completed projects that we are in the midst of doing….it’s because we can watch them and become encouraged to trust that if we follow the course prescribed we too will finish. We trust in the same God who “stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword and out of weakness were made strong.” Since God accomplished all of that through those before us of faith then He can do so now!

1b Right Training

Vs. 1b The next thing the writer mentions is that the race we are on requires right training and he makes his readers aware of three things that effect the way you run by either being a hindrance or will stop your race altogether:

  • Shedding the pounds: “Let us lay aside every weight” The word in the Greek for “every weight” is a word that means “bulk or mass” and can be in other circumstances harmless but in a race of faith slows us down. Our excess pounds of flesh divert our attention and energy as well as saps our endurance which can lead to a lack of enthusiasm. We cannot win when we are carrying excess weight. It can be a certain habit that on its own there is nothing wrong with it but the problem is not the habit or the extra weight it is what having is does, slow us down. Speed and endurance are both equally effected by excess weight.
  • Right equipment, “less is more”: “and the sin which so easily ensnares us..” Another hindrance is found in the phrase “so easily ensnares us..” The Greek word implies these snares as “quickly, effectively and cleverly” encircling the runner. Much like a long flowing robe would on a runner would soon cause the runner to fall. Too much clothing is an obstacle that those that run a race soon discover. Fancy sweatsuits may look cool as you approach the race, but they will only hinder your run once you begin. There are far too many believers concerned more about how they “LOOK” on the race then how well they are running! I believe that as it relates to this letter the “LOOK” that many of these people in this letter were wearing was the robes of religious righteousness. They needed to strip the rags of religion and strip down to running in Jesus’ righteousness instead. Paul wrote this in Galatians 2:20 when he said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” He again warned them in Galatians 3:3 “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” Unfortunately, there are some on the track with us that are not content with just not running their race effectively they have decided that they want to hinder those running and lay down on the course to keep others from winning the race. The context here is “THE sin” and not a long list “SINS” thus the passage would be “THE sin of unbelief”. It was this sin that was keeping the unsaved reader from coming to faith in Jesus as High Priest.
  • The race is a marathon not a sprint: “and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” The final thing mentioned about training is to make certain that the runner realizes that they are in a marathon not a sprint. If all you have done in your Christian life is thrived on the enthusiasm of lively Christian entertainment put forth on Sunday, you may soon find yourself discouraged as you have only been equipped for a sprint all the while you are on a long-distance road that will require the exercise of moment by moment faith. They start off way ahead on Sunday after the worship concert and the dynamic pep talk only to quit by Monday. Some realize this and head back to mid week for another quick sprint lesson on how to run fast for a short distance instead of training for the marathon they are really on. Every Coach worth his or her salt will tell their athletes “How you practice is how you will perform!” Is it any wonder that the Church isn’t performing well when most of the Coaches have become super stars and are encouraging no or little practice? There is nothing more discouraging for a professing Christian than to run a 100-yard dash and think they have completed the race only to find out that have just begun!

2 Right Coach

Vs. 2a The last point the writer makes about our race of faith has to do with our Coach whom he identifies as “Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith”. With this description of our Coach the writer started with the exhortation to his readers to “look unto Jesus”. The Greek word for “looking” means to “turn one’s eyes or mind away from other things and fix them unto Jesus”. This exhortation describes a running technique letting the runner know that they can ran faster if the distractions from the stadium are minimized by their fixed gaze upon Jesus. If the runner takes their eyes off of Jesus, their stride and gate will slow down and be less efficient. The warning is to avoid becoming preoccupied with themselves by paying too much attention to what they are doing instead of keeping their eyes fixed upon what our Coach Jesus has done. We can also get our eyes unto the other Christians on the road with us and start trying to either emulate them or criticize them both of which can slow us down. The point is that Jesus our Coach doesn’t want us to focus on anyone but Him, so we won’t stumble!

Next our Coach Jesus is described in reference to our faith as: Both the “author” and “finisher” of our faith. The word “author” is misleading in the English as in the Greek the word is a compound that means “to lead” and “the first”. Thus, the idea is that Jesus is the chief leader and alone has furnished the example of how to run the race. All those who encircled our course have learned to run from fixing their eyes upon Him. He alone is the perfect example of faith and those runners described in the 11th chapter learned to follow His example. He is also the “finisher” of our faith, and the Greek has it as “to carry completely to the finish perfectly.” He alone has carried the race through to completion, He has said so in John 19:30 with those words “It is finished”! Since Jesus is our chief example of how to finish our race of faith perfectly, we are told two things that we can glean from examining His race.

  1. Who FOR the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross”: The normal interpretation of this passage says that “Jesus endured the cross in order that He might obtain certain joy which was placed before Him as a reward for His sufferings.” But the problem with this interpretation is the wrongful interpretation of the word “FOR” which in the Greek at this time meant “instead of”. That coupled with the Greek word “set” which means “lying before” means that the “JOY” was the full glory that Jesus had in His preincarnate state with God the Father before the world began and in exchange for this He accepted the cross and shame that went with it. The idea is that we can see the heroic nature of Jesus has He renounced the JOY already in His possession in exchange for shame and death upon the cross. This coincides with Paul’s statement in Philippians 2:6-8 where we read that Jesus, “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” What this tells us is that: We are to run our race in His never ending love for us!
  2. “And has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” The words “has sat down” are in the perfect tense in the Greek which indicate that after His work of providing a salvation that it was forever finished, and Jesus demonstrated this by sitting down and remaining seated. The reason for this is that He never again needs to repeat His sacrifice for sinner as it was “once for all”. Furthermore, His seated position is one of preeminence at the right hand of the Father. What this says to us is that: We are to run our race with the knowledge that once we have finished, we will have forever received His victory as our own!

 

Hebrews 12:3-11

“Father knows best”

 

  • Introduction
  • 3-8 The way of Jesus
  • 9-11 Father knows best

Introduction

The writer answers a very important question that every person running on the part of the course of difficulties and disappointments asks themselves: “Why am I having to run on this section?” As I stated last week the challenge for us “Faith Athletes” is more mental than it is physical and without dealing with the motivation we are easily discouraged. So, to these harassed and persecuted Christians who are battling discouragement the writer offers encouragement. The illustration changes in verses 3-11 from a spiritual marathon to that of a family. Though the Christian life involves running, working and enduring it does so within our relationship to God and other believers. The emphasis of this section is how we are trained to run the race and why we need to stay under God’s training no matter how difficult it becomes. First and foremost, we must understand that God’s training or discipline is never punitive towards His children it is instead always corrective in nature, designed for our benefit. All our punishment has already been placed upon our Lord at the Cross; therefore we know that what discipline we now are growing through is for our benefit not our punishment.

Vs. 3-8 The way of Jesus

Vs. 3-8 The first thing the writer says is in verses 3-4 “It could be worse!” He reminds his readers that they had not yet resisted to the point of shedding their blood. Instead of complaining they ought to be praising God for having been spared. In Romans 8:32 Paul said, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” When Jeremiah began to complain about his course the Lord said to him in Jeremiah 12:5 “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses?And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?” The writer has told his readers that Jesus is the greatest example of the life of faith again exhorts his readers to consider him by way of comparing him in five ways:

  1. 3 What they suffered and why they suffered it: “Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.” This first comparison is that of what Jesus suffered and why; against what these persecuted readers were suffering and why. Jesus endured suffering from the very hands of the sinners He was being sacrificed to saved. Paul wrote of this in 2 Corinthians 5:21 saying, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” These persecuted Hebrews were being mistreated and persecuted by their own fellow Jews because they refused to participate in the temple sacrifices that only pointed to the sacrifice of Jesus. The point is they were only being asked to continue to trust in His sacrifice, whereas if Jesus hadn’t endured there wouldn’t have been any sacrifice to trust in! Jesus has made the ONLY WAY possible for us in which we can be saved and all we need to do is CONTINUE TO TRUST HIS SACRIFICE! This was the exact point Paul wrote about in his letter to the Roman believers in Romans 8:35-39 when he said, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shalltribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
  2. 4 The amount of suffering compared to that of Jesus: “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.” The second comparison has to do with both the type of suffering and amount of suffering when compared with Jesus. The Greek word of “resisted” means to “stand against” and we see the writer saying that their “stand” was against the temptation of renouncing their professed faith in Jesus in order to avoid persecution and as of yet it had not yielded bloodshed. Jesus’ suffering wasn’t against the temptation of professed faith but “striving against our sin”! The Greek words describes an agonizing fight to the death against OUR SIN in which in order to defeat our sin He had to die in the fight!
  3. 5-6 The purpose of the suffering: The writer now quotes Proverbs 3:11-12 to consider these persecutions as instructional allowed by God for the purpose of training, educating, and encouraging them of the value of Jesus’ sacrifice and against returning to the temporary sacrifices of the temple. In a sense these persecutions verified the validity of Jesus true sacrifice as why else would satan fight so hard against it? The context is that of the way in which our earthly fathers would discipline us as a way of training us and educating us in a particular path.
  4. 7 What suffering reveals about whom we belong: The Greek word rendered “IF” in this verse is unfortunate as it should be rendered “IT IS FOR CHASTENING THAT YOU ARE ENDURING.” The letter was written to the “professing” church made up of both saved and unsaved and both groups were being persecuted because both had left the temple sacrifices and identified with Jesus but only those who remained under the persecution would demonstrate that they were the child of God and those who returned to the sacrifices proved that they were as John said of them in 1 John 2:19 saying, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”
  5. 8 Suffering is instructive not punitive: Israel had understood suffering only from the perspective as a sign of God’s displeasure and therefore punitive in nature instead of a sign of His love and relationship with them. The early church also was being tested in this way viewing their persecution as punitive instead of instructive. In an earthly relationship everyone knows that you don’t discipline the neighbor children and it is a sign to us that as we would submit to God’s discipline that we are indicating that we see Him as our Heavenly Father and are under that relationship. Before we were apart from the family of God now we are apart from the family of God.

Vs. 9-11 Father knows best

Vs. 9-11 The second thing the writer reminds them is that difficulties prove our relationship to our Heavenly Father. Every child knows that their parents don’t discipline the neighbor children. The point is if we are going through struggles then we need to thank the Lord because He is showing you that you are His child. And when this happens with, or earthly parents and we show them respect how much more shall we do so to our Heavenly Father? Our earthly parents did so at their discretion doing what they thought was right when perhaps it wasn’t. But our Heavenly Father is never wrong and always does what is right. He can only send us what we need at the right time. Someone has well defined God’s children as those who are completely fearless, continually cheerful, and constantly in trouble.The word “furthermore” indicates a new subject to consider but it is still a contrast but this time it deals with the contrast between our earthly fathers and our Heavenly Father.

  1. 9 The first area to compare has to do with how we valued, respected and loved our earthly father’s instructive discipline. We didn’t doubt their love for us, we believed that such discipline was for our benefit even though it came from mere human limited wisdom. So why do we doubt God’s intentions for us when His knowledge and love for us is “universal” and without any possibility error? Furthermore, our earthly father’s disciplined only concerned things that are temporary whereas our Heavenly Gather’s discipline is not only for earth but throughout eternity.
  2. 10 The second comparison has to with two aspects of our discipline:
  3. It’s Duration: Our earthly father’s discipline is both imperfect as well as limited in scope. It primarily is centered upon a brief time of our human development during our youth. Furthermore, it is based upon human wisdom and insight as it was “what seemed best to them”. Its aim was to get us to only adulthood and offered nothing beyond that. Not so with our heavenly Father’s discipline as its aim reaches past our youth, through our adulthood and on into eternity. It also was not based upon what “seemed best” but what “IS BEST” for us and not reasoned through limited wisdom and experience but unlimited.
  4. It’s Dedication: Here the view is short sided and fallible nature of earthly discipline when compared to that of our Heavenly Father whose passion is only for our benefit and that we might be partakers of His holiness. Submitting to God’s discipline is the truest and shortest course to maturity that will never be out of style.

Vs. 11 Finally God doesn’t rejoice in our troubles but He in His wisdom knows what trouble ultimately does for us. He doesn’t want us to fake a “Hallelujah, it hurts!” What He does want you to understand is this present discipline has an end and a purpose. “It yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” This reminds us that it is possible to go through trials and never have them produce their desired blessings in our lives. We can spend all our energy and time trying to get out of the trial instead of “getting everything out of the trial!” If you need to go through the trial of God’s discipline, then don’t complain your way through in gain you way through it!  The final evaluation has to do with permanence of what God’s discipline produces in us. There is no such thing in the midst of discipline as it being pleasurable be that human parents or our Heavenly Father. What the child of God is encouraged to do is not look at the tool but what it creates in us namely the “peaceable fruit of righteousness”.

 

Hebrews 12:12-17

“Demonstrating Jesus to the world”

 

  • Introduction
  • 12-13 Designed to take a beating
  • 14 Loving people, loving God
  • 15-17 What the Grace of God is missing

 

Introduction

The writer started out in the 11th chapter by providing historical ancestors who went before the Jews, successfully completing the race of faith. The 12th chapter is an exhortation towards endurance and to do this the writer answers the pressing question as to “Why, these trials are necessary for the believer.”

  1. First, the writer makes the argument that the “POSITION” of the believer in light of these trials is the indication that we ARE God’s children because they are not punitive in nature but guiding and instructional. Along those same lines he reminded them that such instruction was not limited in scope or duration as family discipline is as it is not only concerned with 12 years and making an adult but reaches into eternity with all the wisdom of God the Father. The focus of this was to show the “INWARD” purpose of persecution as it develops maturity!
  2. Now in this section the writer mentions more reasons for the trials of persecution. The purpose here is not to teach truth but to encourage the exercise of it. Instead of the “Position of Persecutions” for the believer the writer moves from the positional to PRACTICAL and answers what the immediate PRACTICAL PURPOSE OF TRIALS beyond making us more like Jesus. The focus of this section is “OUTWARD” as we learn that such trials are used by the Lord for demonstrating Jesus to the world!

Vs. 12-13 Designed to take a beating

The primary practical results of persecution and trials in a person’s life outwardly is: Making a visible demonstration of the advantages of living life by trusting in Jesus Christ! Oft times all the world sees with Christians is negative in their estimation as they notice that followers of Christ are those folks who “Don’t do what they used to do!” The world sees us as those that sucked the wind out of what they consider essential for living and having fun! Though believers have stopped many practices that enslaved us and destroyed us, doing so isn’t what attracts non-Christians to Christ. Instead, what causes the world to stand up and take notice is what Followers of Jesus can do that they are unable to do, it’s how we handle the trails and difficulties of life that separates us from others in this world!

  1. 12-13 First the writer uses very descriptive language saying: “Strengthen the hands and which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet.” The writer goes back to his marathon metaphor and is saying that Jesus in our lives will strength our hands and feeble knees: The trails and difficulties in the lives of ordinary people tend to cause them to immediately lose their productivity (hands that hang down and feeble knees) and their reason for continuing on as they lose their purpose and passion. But saints this ought not be true with believers in Christ as the things that weaken the purpose and passion for living for non-believers has the opposite effect upon followers of Jesus as we are strengthened by these things as nothing can separate us from the love of Christ for when we are weak then we are strong. The other aspect of this phrase is that trials and tribulations in the life of non-believers tend to make their journey far more difficult to travel upon, their course becomes full of obstacle’s instead of opportunities. The Greek word for “path” refers to the tracks a cart or chariot makes, and it use suggest that we are living a path to follow an example to others so its best that we make sure we are running a straight race. Whereas the trials have a strange way of removing the clutter of the world for the believer and our direction straightens right out. Saints, Christians are built and designed for the obstacles of life and we are trained and empowered by the Word of God and the Spirit of God to travel this course. So, where the world sees only obstacles and their life grinds to a halt the believer’s life sees the obstacles as opportunities and overcomes them in stride! That is why the wrier says, “so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed”.

Vs. 14 Loving people, loving God

  1. 14 Second the writer says, “Pursue peace, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” This phrase has caused some confusion as to the meaning, but it is clarified in the Greek as “holiness” is a word that is also translated “sanctification” which is defined as being set apart for it’s proper purpose. It specifically is used to describe the temple instruments that had a designated purpose in the temple. What this verse is saying is that trials enable the world to observe two distinct qualities in a believer that they don’t see in anyone else:
  1. Pursue peace with all people: Loving people! Persecution gives those in the world the opportunity to see transformed humanity’s interaction with their follow man. When the world is under duress, we often see the worst in man’s inhumanity to their fellow man. There is no civility, no love for others it is replaced by self-serving hatred. But when trials come upon Christians, we ought to witness an other’s centered mentality that considers others better than one’s own self. Persecution upon the follower of Christ brings out the best in them towards humanity even those that mistreat them and spitefully use them. It’s a powerful witness to the work of Christ upon a heart as believers become more giving and compassionate towards others when they are themselves suffering!
  2. And holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: Loving God! The next quality is that they better fulfill what their true purpose is upon this earth. The question is; “What is the purpose of the Christian?” Jesus tells His disciples what that is in Matthew 5:14-16 when he declared to them, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” You see without persecutions and trials humanity would never witness us treating them better than we do our selves while in the worst of circumstances and they would never see is exercising our purpose of bring Jesus’ light and love to a broken world!

Vs. 15-17 What the Grace of God is missing

  1. 15-17 Third the writer says, “looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God”: This verse again call attention to the fact that as believers we are living out our lives in front of the world. There is a reality and authenticity to our lives that cannot be faked or manufactured, and the writer calls it the unmistakable “grace of God”. Rather than trying to define it in positive ways the writer describes two things that the “grace of God” in our lives is absent of:
    1. 15 Bitterness: “lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.” The grace of God in any life will always be devoid of bitterness, no one can say that they are full of God’s grace and be bitter towards others. Resentment, envy, and bitterness are always a byproduct of the flesh and old carnal nature. These things are highly contagious and if one person becomes bitter and continues to be so with an unforgiving spirit it will spread and cause others to be infected by the same condition. It is impossible to grow in the grace of God if a person remains bitter as such a heart condition affects a whole person’s life. So you can always diagnose your heart in the “Grace of God” as it will mean an absence of bitterness.
    2. 16-17 Indifference: “lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.
      For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears      .” The other thing that will be absent in a believer’s life that is full of the “Grace of God” is that they won’t take the things of God lightly. Esau becomes the poster boy of what an “indifferent heart” looks like. The unfortunate story of Esau is found in Genesis 25:29-34, 27:1-40 where we are told that he sold his birth right being the first born for a bowl of red lentils soup. The birth right had two parts to it, the right to the property and the right to the spiritual leadership of the family. Esau had no interest in spiritual truth, we see this not only in selling his birth right but his polygamist marriage to Canaanite women. Esau lived for the here and now and didn’t think that the things God had for him, or his family were of any value. Persecution causes people to realize the value of the things of God especially when come too the things God has given each person; TIME, TALENT and TREASUE! Esau’s life centered around self-gratification in which the above three gifts were given over to those pursuits instead of the things of God. The grace of God in a believer’s life will always lead them to invest TIME, TALENT and TREASUE in spiritual pursuits not worldly ones. Esau’s pursuits revealed where his heart was and wasn’t. The truth of this story is often forgotten as Genesis 25:23 where God had already chosen which of the two twins would have the birth right when He declared to Isaac and Rebekah that the older Esau shall server the younger Jacob. Esau knew this, but in spite of this, professed to have what he didn’t possess and that demonstrated that he wasn’t in possession of it all along by selling it for a bowl of soup! The phrase saying that Esau, “found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.” Is best understood in the Greek when we consider the different Greek words for “repentance” the first word means “regret or remorse for one’s actions because of the consequences” where the other means a “change of mind consisting of a reversal of moral purpose”. Esau was sorry for the consequences of his actions not because they were wrong but because they didn’t turn out the way he had wanted them too.

 

Hebrews 12:18-24

“Exceeding Endurance”

 

  • Introduction
  • 18-21 Mount Sinai
  • 22-24 Mount Zion

 

Introduction

The writer has given his readers both the position as well as the purpose of trails and persecution: To inwardly bring about maturity and spiritual growth and to outwardly be a witness to an unbelieving world for the hope that lies within. Next in verses 18-24 we immediately recognize the personal appeal of the writer as he writes, “For you” as the focus here is not upon the position and purpose of persecution but rather to motivate the person who is in the midst of it as the writer was writing. Many of these professing Hebrews were facing extreme pressure and were having to make a decision to neglect their tradition, they were facing persecution and loss even of their life of they continued with Jesus. The writer doesn’t deny such real fears but instead of those fears he warns them of something far worse than this and that is the fear of God’s judgment! The fear of accepting Jesus and the persecution which may follow if they do should be contrasted with the judgment that they would receive from God by rejecting His Son and His sacrifice. Their fear should not be of coming to Mount Zion but of turning back to Mount Sinai! Every person will be judged on one of two bases. Either by the law of grace, by their works of Jesus finished work, by the provisions of Sinai or the provisions of Zion. God has two sets of books; one is recorded every name that rejected Jesus and in the other are the names of those that trusted God’s only Son and His sacrifice. Those whose names are in the “Lambs book of life” are judged by Jesus’ righteousness and those whose names aren’t there are judged by their own righteousness which Isa 64:6 tells us are a filthy rag.

Vs. 18-21 Mount Sinai

Vs. 18 The mention of Esau in verse 16 leads the writer to speak of other first testament comparisons with the New Testament. And this one involves the response to two different mountains Sinai and Zion. Sinai is the Mountain that “may not be touched” and the word in the Greek means superficial contact, this along with the description given by the writer of Mount Sinai as “burning with fire and to the blackness, darkness and tempest” are all meant to describe the fear associated with the first testament. The contrast is this description when compared to coming to Jesus as the Messiah and His work on the cross.

            The old covenant is associated with Mount Sinai because that is where God spoke to Moses and the Covenant was instituted. It was the covenant of judgment and fear as it said, “Do this, or don’t do that, or you will be judged.” To this the writer says, “You have not come to this mountain.” No sinner could come near to this mountain as they couldn’t witness God’s holiness and live. The purpose of this Old Covenant encounter at Mount Sinai was to convince the people of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. The people were understandably terrified as they stood at a distance and trembled as they plead with Moses and said, “You speak to Him, least we die.” The reason the writer brings this up is to warn some of these Hebrews about going back to the covenant of the law with the knowledge of Jesus’ sacrifice. Paul called it in 2 Corinthians 3:7 “the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones” At Mount Sinai a sinful and unforgiven person stands at a distance from an infinitely holy and perfect God. The purpose of this covenant is that forever shows a person is an awareness of their own sin and failure, to bring people face to face with their own sinfulness with no place to hide. The law makes no allowances for sin, no exceptions, or justifications nothing less than perfect obedience. Paul said of the law in Romans 7:9-11 “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bringdeath. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.” And in Galatians 3:10 he writes, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” These first testament Hebrews were obedient from a position that didn’t want to lose something from God instead of the position of grace that realize that they already had been given everything from God. Over time they naturally concluded that they “deserved” God’s blessings by their works. The writer uses two mountains and the Israelites response to these mountains, “Mount Sinai” and “Mount Zion”. The comparison is more than geographical it’s relational as the writer is saying, “You have come, not to Mount Sinai (the place of fear and trembling), but to Mount Zion, the place of grace; the new Jerusalem, the city of the living God.”

Vs. 19-21 The writer continues to describe the scene of the Israelite wonders upon their revelation of the law at Mount Sinai as the delivery of the law was accompanied by terror, the reason for this walk down memory lane is so that the reader would recall the reaction of those ancestors who first witnessed the giving of the Law so that they would not go back to that dispensation of how God initially dealt with sinful man and instead would go past the terrifying shadow and move on to the grace-filled fulfillment of Jesus’ sacrifice. To touch or handle the mountain where the law came down from was to profane it and even Moses according to Deut. 9:19 was frightened away from it.

Vs. 22-24 Mount Zion

Vs. 22-24 The writer contrasts the 1st testament Jews what the ones that had heard and responded to the message of Jesus as they had come into a new relationship through the door of Jesus. Instead of “returning to Mount Sinai” the reader is encouraged to continue to approach Mount Zion, described as the “city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” The mountain of the New Covenant is Mount Zion, and it represents the heavenly Jerusalem. It is opposite of Mount Sinai:

  • Sinai is untouchable, Zion is approachable
  • Sinai symbolizes the law, Zion symbolizes God grace
  • Sinai was terrifying, Zion is inviting
  • Sinai is closed to all, Zion is open to all
  • Sinai was covered in darkness, Zion is the city of light

Believers are being told they HAVE COME to Mount Zion as they were already of the gracious mountain, they were already citizens of heaven, already dwelling in the presence of God. Because they were believers in Jesus, they enjoyed seven blessings of Mount Zion:

  1. The city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem: Coming to Jesus is synonymous coming to heaven, as He is the only “Door” by which a person can enter in. That is where out treasure, hope and inheritance is! Currently He is here with us in our heart but soon He will take us bodily to be where He has been preparing a place for us, that where He is we shall always be. We are on earth now as His ambassadors, representing Him to people in a foreign country.
  • An innumerable company of angles, to the generable assembly: This describes a public gathering of a festival. There were an innumerable number of angels at Sinai but they weren’t their celebrating, they were blowing trumpets of judgment. When we come to Zion we are gathering for a celebration with the angels. Paul said in Romans 8:21-22 “creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”
  1. Church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven: This is the body of Christ, those who have received their inheritance, heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus. These are those who are “enrolled in heaven” whose names are written in the Lambs book of life! (Rev. 21:27)
  2. To God the judge of all: On Mount Zion, we come directly into the presence of God, as Luke 23:45 tells us the “veil of the temple was torn in two”. God’s presence in Christ has been opened because of Jesus’s sacrifice. This concept was completely incomprehensible to the Jews.
  3. To the spirits of just men made perfect: These are all the First Testament saints who were looking forward to forgiveness, peace, and deliverance. We will join Abraham, Abel, Moses, and David in the household of God. We will not be inferior in righteousness with any of them because like them our righteousness is by faith in Jesus alone!
  • To Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant: Supremely we come to Jesus who is the mediator of a new covenant with the promise of 1 John 3:2 where we are told that, “Now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
  • To the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel: To come Zion is to come to the atoning blood of redemption in Jesus’ own blood. And the readers by faith will join Him there as Jesus is the mediator of a better agreement where His blood speaks of vindication and victory instead of Abel’s blood which spoke to God about vengeance.

Because of Jesus there is no problem between man and God that is not settled by his blood. There is no longer any question of guilt. We are as Paul wrote to the Church at Ephesus that “to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the beloved.” Gone forever is the slippery slope of maintain works to be accepted, our acceptance is in Jesus’ work not our own! What is in view with regards to our security is not our continual failure but instead Jesus Finished success! Furthermore, because of Jesus work we have all of His resources at our disposal all operated through the power of the Holy Spirit! This is the same power available to use that raised Jesus from the dead!  This is why Paul proclaimed the victory in Romans 8:31 “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

 

Hebrews 12:25-29

“God behind the shadows”

 

  • Introduction
  • 25-27 See to it
  • 28-29 The work of Fire

 

Introduction

We come to the fifth and last great warning in this book! They are:

  • 2:1-4 First warning of rejecting the salvation through the Son
  • 3:7 – 4:13 Second warning of rejecting a mightier mediator
  • 5:11 – 6:20 Third warning of rejecting spiritual maturity
  • 10:26-39 Fourth warning of forgetting faith
  • 12:25-29 Fifth warning against escaping endurance

This final warning was written to remind his readers that difficult times have a special purpose. Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 “But know this, that in the last day’s perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” The very fact that such “perilous times” are times, reminds us that they are temporary in nature and not permanent; it also reminds us that they have a threefold designed purpose! As we have already noted the first two purposes the last two weeks:

  1. 12-17 They cause inward maturity in the believer!
  2. 18-24 They provide an outward observable witness to the non-believer of the hope that lies within!
  3. 25-29 And this week we shall note that: They also are God’s way of showing humanity what is passing and what is permanent!

Vs. 25-27 See to it

Vs. 25 “See” in the Greek literally means “see to it” the word is in the present imperative which means that it is continuous action, meaning that is something that the reader needs to “ever be seeing to it.” The word “refuse” in the Greek is a word that means to prevent the consequences of an act by protesting against it and disavowing it. The “They” refers to the Jews of Exodus and the words, “if we turn away” is speaking of and action going on presently. After giving the contrasts between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion, the writer says, in effect, “Here is what you must do;” “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks.” In the very first statement of this letter the writer said in 1:1-2 “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.” The point he now makes is that “Since your ancestors were held accountable for hearing and obeying God when He warned them from Mount Sinai how much more will you be held accountable to hear and obey since God has been speaking to you from Mount Zion?” Unbelieving disobedient Israel never entered the Promise Land and neither will unbelievers today see the true promised land of the Heavenly Jerusalem. The blessings of the second covenant are immeasurably greater than those of the first covenant but so are the consequences for refusing to obey!

Vs. 26 The writer in verse 26 quotes the prophet Haggai in chapter 2:6 where we read the LORD of hosts say: “Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land.” He does so by reminding the reader that the earth shook because of the events from Mount Sinai but he tells them that that is nothing compared to Mount Zion as all heavens and earth will shake. Revelation 6:12-14 describes just such a scene when we are told that after Jesus opens “the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.” Haggai wrote the 2nd shortest book in the First Testament (1,131 words in 38 verses in 2 chapters) and his prophecy was the first chronologically of the post-exile prophets (Zechariah and Malachi being the other two). But Haggai was a prophet of action as God called him to prophecy to the people who had begun to repatriate the land of promise after the Babylonian captivity during the reign of Darius the Great king of Persia who has issued a decree to return during Nehemiah and Ezra’s time. Based upon Haggai’s prophecy we learn that his ministry only lasted for four months from September 1st to December 24th and was only comprised of three sermons each a call to action (five times in two chapters he says that they need to “consider”). That’s what the writer of Hebrews wants his readers to do “CONSIDER” as God was about to shake the heaven and the earth to see what would fall out! Have you noticed that God periodically shakes the inhabitants of the earth up a bit? He does so to cause those who dwell on this whirling ball in space to lose security in the temporal so they can refocus their attention on the eternal and permanent. People are trusting in things and those things can never produce true security. In August of 1935 President Roosevelt signed into law the “Social Security Act” a general welfare and insurance program to pay retired workers aged 65 and older a continued income after they retire. Now 83 years later I’m not certain anyone would call the “New Deal” Social or Secure! Humanity thinks that it can form an organization that will govern themselves and do what is best for their fellow man but because the organization refuses to understand their own sin nature the organization inevitably becomes self-serving to specific people in the organization to the determent of the rest of humanity. The organization just gets bigger and bigger and more and more intrusive to dominate more and more of life. And when it all falls apart, which it inevitably does, people will again realize that we trust in the the wrong thing instead of the Right Person! When our economy falls people realize that praying to “Our Father which art in Washington” is not where we need to be placing our trust. These superficial things are shaken up by God so humanity can see what will remain and is permanent and eternal. The truth is we humans are not smart enough to run our lives. That’s what this passage makes clear. God is shaking the things that can be shaken in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.

Vs. 27 The words “Yet once more” indicate that the words of the prophet Haggai where he predicted the “shaking” was to be final as it proceeds the new heaven and earth of Rev. 21:1. The word “removal” in the Greek is a word that means to “transfer to a new basis or to change” It refers to the act of God transferring to a new basis this present universe which is currently under Adam’s fall, to a universe that is perfect with out the effects of sin. The “whole creation” of Romans 8:22 that “groans and labors with birth pangs together until now” speaks not just of the earth but of everything in the celestial realm as well. That tells us that the effects of Adam’s sin, was far greater than just this planet and encompassed everything part of God’s creation the sun moon and stars included. So, if there were aliens out there in space craft they wouldn’t be very happy with humans! Everything physical (of those things which can be shaken) will be destroyed and only those things which are eternal will remain.

 

 Vs. 28-29 The work of Fire

Vs. 28 The word to the Christian is in verse 28, “since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” God is light and God is love, and when you put those two together you get fire. Fire is both light and warmth. Fire will destroy what it cannot purify, but it purifies what it cannot destroy. That describes what is presently happening during trials and tribulation: We are passing through the fire which is designed to destroy that which can be destroyed, or to purify that which can never be destroyed. God is leading us through these trials and through the difficulties of our day, in order that we may learn to cry what Job, did in his book in Job 23:10 “He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” Jesus replied to Pilate in John 18:36 saying, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” Thus, our response to this world being shaken ought not be surprise or fear but “let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”

Vs. 29 The closing statement of this chapter is a sever warning: “For our God is a consuming fire.” Some of these professing Hebrews had come to the very edge of trusting alone in Jesus finished work on the cross. But going back now no matter how close they had come to believing IN Jesus instead of just believing OF Jesus would be a worse judgment. They were being told NOT to go back religion as a worse judgment than Sinai was at hand described not as a mountain consumed with fire from God but God Himself! These folks were described in this very letter in Hebrews 6:4 “those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit”. There in that passage we discovered that the:

  1. Once enlightened: This phrase makes no reference at all to salvation. There is no mention of new birth or regeneration and to make the “once enlightened” as “born again”, without any connecting phrases anywhere in the Bible is a stretch NOT implied in the text or elsewhere. None of the normal New Testament terminology is used to indicate salvation. What we have here is two words of a phrase that will indicate who the writer had in mind when he wrote it:
  2. First the word “once” in the Greek it means “once for all”. This means that the “enlightening” never needed repetition. From the writer’s perspective to the original readers, these Hebrews who had listened to the message of the New Testament had experienced the the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment in their minds and hearts to clearly understand what they had heard. The writer is declaring that this happened to the readers, and it never needed to be repeated for the purpose of the lack of understanding or to make it clearer.
  3. Second the word “enlightened” in the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures always has to do “intellectual perception of biblical truth”. The word means to be “mentally aware of something, to be instructed or informed”. The word carries NO CONNOTATION of response, neither acceptance or rejection.These Hebrews who the writer is addressing had natural knowledge of factual information. The only conclusion you can make of these Hebrews is that they were “enlightened” but not saved!
  4. Tasted the heavenly gift: At issue in this advantage is the understanding of what the writer meant by using the word “tasted” and what he meant by the phrase “heavenly gift”. The word used to describe the advantage given to them by the Holy Spirit was a “taste” and it is worthy to note that if the writer intended to describe those he was writing to as believers then why did he say that they merely “TASTED” of the “heavenly gift” instead of saying that they “RECEIVED the heavenly gift”? The writer is clear on this, the “heavenly gift” was not feasted on He was only sampled which had left an impression of the distinct flavor of his goodness. The interpretation of the words “heavenly gift” can be one of two persons, the Holy Spirit as He is spoken of as such or it can be a reference to Jesus who is the greatest “heavenly gift”. I believe that these Hebrews had tasted of the blessings of salvation in Christ but had yet to feast upon Him fully as they hadn’t received Him.
  5. Become partakers of the Holy Spirit: Here the main issue is what does the word “partakers” mean in reference to the Holy Spirit? The word in the Greek in reference to the meaning of “partakers” is not to a “permanent” state but a mere fact of a work of the Holy Spirit. “Partakers” of the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean “possessors” of the Holy Spirit. They weren’t indwelt by Him, He had NOT taken up His permanent residence in their hearts, they were not sealed by Him, born again by Him, or baptized by Him into the body of Christ by Him! Instead, they were mere participators in His work co-operating in His pre-salvation work that was leading them to the act of repentance from their sins and trusting alone in the finished work of Jesus for their atonement. These Hebrews didn’t “possess” the Holy Spirit, they were only “partakers” of His work.
  6. Tasted the good word of God: At issue in the fourth advantage is two phrases “tasted” and “word of God”. The word “tasted” is the same as above and refers to having “sampled” the word of God but didn’t eat of it. What I find interesting is what the “sampling” is; the writer doesn’t use the normal reference to the “word of God” “logos” in the Greek but instead uses the word “rhema” which emphasizes the parts of the word rather than the whole! These Hebrews had sampled parts of the word of God and may have done so with enthusiasm. There is nothing wrong with “tasting” as it is the first step to eating but if all you ever do is taste and never eat you will eventually die of starvation.
  7. (Tasted) the powers of the age to come: Same word “tasted” is implied here as well but we will need to understand what the writer meant by the phrase “the powers of the age to come”. The word “powers” in the Greek is repeatedly used to refer to miracles, wonderful works, or mighty works. The word “age” in the Greek refers to a period of time characterized by miracles. It differs from this present age in which we live where “mighty works” are not the common everyday norm. What the writer is saying is that these Hebrews had witnessed “mighty works” from the apostle’s healings and other “wonderful works” that will be common in the millennial kingdom of Christ. Yet though they had tasted of such things they had not come to faith in Christ.