Hebrews 12 - Introduction

An exhortation to constant faith, patience, and godliness. A commendation of the New Covenant above the Old.

Anno Domini 63.

BY aboldand beautiful rhetorical figure, the apostle, in the beginning of this chapter, represents the patriarchs, judges, kings, prophets, and righteous men, whose faith he had celebrated in the preceding chapter, after having finished their own combats with fidelity to God, as standing round and looking on the Hebrews while running in the Christian race. He therefore exhorted them to exert themselves strenuously in the presence of such spectators: but above all to fix their attention on Jesus, whom also he represents as looking on; because his sacred virtues and sufferings were infinitely more remarkable, and far more worthy of imitation, than those of the ancients, whose great actions he had celebrated, Hebrews 12:1.

Next, for the consolation of such of the Hebrews as were in affliction, the apostle put them in mind of the view which their own scriptures gave them of the afflictions allotted to the people of God. They are chastisements which God, from love, administers to his children, to improve and strengthen their holiness and virtues. And, from that consideration, he exhorted them meekly and courageously to bear all the evils to which they were exposed on account of the gospel, Hebrews 12:5.—and to pursue peace with all men, and holiness; because without holiness no man shall see and live with the Lord in the heavenly country, Hebrews 12:14.—and to be careful to preserve each other from sin, especially the sin of apostacy, by admonishing such as were in danger of falling away, or who shewed a disposition to sensuality and profanity, like Esau, who, despising his birth-right, sold it for one meal, Hebrews 12:15.

Having mentioned Esau's selling his birth-right, to prevent the Hebrews from parting with their birth-rights as the spiritual seed of Abraham, whether from the love of pleasure or from the fear of persecution, the Apostle explained to them the privileges belonging to their birthright. They were entitled to inherit, not an earthly country after death, but a heavenly country; and were, if faithful, to become inhabitants of the city of the living God, the city which Abraham expected, Hebrews 11:10 and were there to live with God for ever; expressed Hebrews 12:14 of this chapter by their seeing God; and were to associate with angels, and with the spirits of just men made perfect, and with Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant; and to enjoy all the blessings procured by the shedding of his blood, Hebrews 12:18.

In the beginning of this epistle the apostle had affirmed, that the same God who spoke to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son Jesus. And this affirmation he had established in the progress of the epistle, by removing all the objections which the unbelieving Jews broughtto set aside the claim of Jesus to be the Son of God. In this place therefore, as the improvement of his doctrine concerning the Sonship of the adorable Jesus, the apostle exhorted the Hebrews to beware of disobeying God, who was speaking to them by his own Son, and commanding them to obey his gospel. And to enforce this exhortation, the apostle put them in mind of what befel their fathers in the wilderness, when they refused to obey God's command to go into Canaan. If, said he, the Israelites did not escape unpunished, who in Kadesh disobeyed the sacred oracle which Moses delivered to them from God, ordering them to go up immediately and take possession of the promised inheritance, we, who have that example of disobedience and punishment before our eyes, shall much less escape unpunished, if we turn away from God speaking the gospel to us from heaven by his eternal Son, who now sits at his right hand as the Governor of the world, Hebrews 12:25. But, because to embrace the gospel was in effect to relinquish the law of Moses, and because the unbelieving Hebrews were greatly prejudiced against the gospel on that account, the apostle, to persuade them to forsake the Mosaic law and embrace the gospel, quoted a prophesy of Haggai, in which God, who gave the law, declared that he would set it aside, and put an end to the kingdom of the Jewish princes who supported it; and also destroy the Heathen idolatry and the kingdoms of the Heathen rulers by whom it was upheld: His voice then shook the earth; but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once I shake not the earth only, but also the heaven, Hebrews 12:26.—Haggai adds, chap. Hebrews 2:6 and the sea and the dry land. 7. And I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come. That this is a prophesy of the abrogation of the law of Moses, and of the destruction of the Heathen idolatry, we learn from God himself, who thus explains what he meant by the shaking of the heavens and the earth, Haggai 2:21. Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth. 22. And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the Heathen: For, from this it is plain, first, That the shaking of the heavens, at the coming of the Desire of all nations, means that at his coming, the throne of the kingdom of the Jewish princes who supported the law of Moses, was to be overthrown. Next, That the shaking of the earth means that the strength of the kingdoms of the Heathen princes who upheld idolatry, was to be destroyed by the preaching of the gospel.—Farther, Seeing in the expression, Haggai 2:6. Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth, there is a reference to a former shakingof the earth, namely, that which happened at the giving of the law, the interpretation given, Haggai 2:21 of the shaking of the heavens and the earth, by the preaching of the gospel after the coming of the Desire of all nations, leads us to consider the shaking of mount Sinai, at the giving of the law, as emblematical of the destruction of the Heathen idolatry, bythe introduction of the law of Moses. The apostle, for the farther information of the Hebrews, told them, that the promise, Yet once I will shake the heavens and the earth, implied that the things shaken and overthrown were to be removed, in order that the things not to be shaken, the Christian church and gospel-form of worship, may remain firmly established to the end of time; so that there are to be no more changes made in the religion of the world, Hebrews 12:27.

Having finished his address to the unbelieving Hebrews, the apostle directed his discourse to such of the nation as professed the gospel, Saying, Wherefore we, having received a dispensation of religion which is never to be altered, ought to hold fast the gift of that most excellent dispensation, whereby we can worship God acceptably with reverence and religious fear, Hebrews 12:28.—For under the gospel, God is as much a consuming fire to those who disobey him by infidelity, or who affront him by apostacy, as he was to the rebellious Israelites under the law, Hebrews 12:29.