CHAPTER 12 BUT WE SEE JESUS But now, says the writer, we who are now alive have seen the coming of Jesus, the One in Whom has come the fulfilment of the promises of God. We have therefore entered on a great long-distance race with Jesus as our front-runner and sustainer, and these witnesses crowd t... [ Continue Reading ]
LET US LOOK TO THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE, WHO ARE NOW OUR WITNESSES, AND TO JESUS OUR PERFECT COACH, FRONT-RUNNER AND TRAINER (HEBREWS 12:1) ‘Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud (nephos) of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily b... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Looking off to Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy which was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.' But although we may heed the crowd and learn from their witness, we must remember that there is One espe... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For consider him who has endured such gainsaying of sinners against themselves (or ‘against himself' - see note below), that you wax not weary, fainting in your souls. You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.' Indeed we must firstly constantly fix our minds on Him both as He was... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons, “My son, regard not lightly the chastening (moral training, discipline) of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by him, for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.” ' He points out that the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE NOT TO FORGET THAT CHASTENING IS GOOD WHEN IT IS AT THE HAND OF A LOVING FATHER (HEBREWS 12:5). And in as far as they are called on to suffer affliction and tribulation, to experience discomfort, hardships and deprivation, they are to consider what God's purpose is in such things. They are... [ Continue Reading ]
‘It is for chastening that you endure; God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not chasten?' For the truth is that their having to endure arises from God's purpose to discipline and chasten them. They have to endure because God is dealing with them as sons, and t... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But if you are without chastening, of which all have been made partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons.' Indeed God's disciplining and chastening is a sign of high favour. It is the true born son who is disciplined and chastened because the father is concerned to train him properly with a v... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?' Additionally he is sure that they can all remember how they themselves were chastened by their fathers when they were young, and ho... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.' This contrast confirms the contrast in Hebrews 12:9. If we remember back to the earthly chastening of our parents we will remember that it was only temporary, ‘for... [ Continue Reading ]
‘All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields peaceable fruit to those who have been exercised by it, even the fruit of righteousness.' He recognises that chastening is never pleasant. Indeed when it is in process it seems grievous. It can hurt dreadful... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees, and make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned out of the way (or ‘put out of joint'), but rather be healed.' He likens his readers to people who have given up because they are in despair. Because they... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Follow after (‘pursue') peace with all, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.' Some see this as meaning ‘all men' as in Romans 12:18, but the context rather suggests it means all their fellow Christians with whom at present they are not perhaps fully at peace because of th... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby the many be defiled.' And this seeking of peace and sanctification should be carried through with greatest care as they keep their eyes open to ensure that... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Lest there be any fornication, or profane person, as Esau, who for one portion of food sold his own birthright. For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place for a change of mind, though he sought it diligently with tears.' This ro... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For you are not come to what might be touched, and which burned with fire, and to blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words.' The situation of those of old is first dealt with vividly. He is trying to establish for his readers, by negatives, a sense o... [ Continue Reading ]
-20 ‘Which voice they who heard it entreated that no word more should be spoken to them; for they could not endure that which was enjoined. If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned.' There were the fiery flames, the blackness and darkness (gnopho and zopho), the sound of a roaring temp... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.' But the experience was so dramatic that even Moses found it hard to bear. We tend to forget that Moses was human too, and that he was dealing with something that was beyond his understanding. Compare Deuteronomy 9:19... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But you are come to mount Zion, And to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, And to innumerable hosts (or ‘large numbers, myriads, thousands upon thousands') of angels in a festal gathering, And to the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, And to the God of all as Ju... [ Continue Reading ]
‘See that you do not refuse him who speaks. For if they escaped not when they refused him who warned them on earth, much more shall not we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven:' But let them not be misled. It is true that this glory is now theirs if they truly belong to Christ. Yet th... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Whose voice then shook the earth. But now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more will I make to tremble, not the earth only, but also the heaven.” ' God has spoken and will yet speak again even more terribly. For at Sinai His voice shook the earth (Exodus 19:18), and it trembled before Him. That... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And this word, “Yet once more”, signifies the removing of those things which are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain.' For this ‘yet once more' (speaking from the time of the prophet) signifies that God was again to finally shake creation once... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, may we have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.' At Sinai Israel received a kingdom that could be shaken (Exodus 19:6). It was a kingdom of priests, and it was earthly... [ Continue Reading ]