Hebrews Chapter 12, The Assembly

 

Verse 23 speaks of the general assembly. The Greek for “assembly” is the word paneguris. It is applied to describe an assembly gathered for a festival feast in Heaven, contrasted to the congregation assembled to hear the Law and the terror it produced. Moreover, they are the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in Heaven. Where is this assembly registered? In the Book of Life, Revelation 20:12, 15, 21:27. The Book of Life has a longer title. 

It is also called the “Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” Revelation 13:8, referenced also in Revelation 17:8. Paul likewise mentions this book as having the names of the saints registered within it, Philippians 4:3. The book was written at the foundation of the world at least, when the Trinity determined a plan to rectify the damage Adam’s sin created, before Adam had sinned. Before? The text implies it, since the Lamb was slain from the world’s foundation, before Adam existed to sin. God was not caught unaware by this event, and had already provided a merciful and just way that mankind could be restored to Him in harmonious fellowship. The Hebrews Christians are now being reminded of such men who have gone before them. They are members of the general assembly and church of the firstborn. The former seems to imply the Old Testament saints, the latter the New Testament from Pentecost onward with the inception of the church. Both must be present, and standing on level ground, since we know God saves but one way: through faith in His Son.

 

Next the writer ascribes to God the title of Judge of all. And so He is. God created the universe. The time/space/matter universe is His, and He governs its workings. We dwell within this sphere, and function according to its laws. All that we have, down to our very breath, are gifts of the grace of a merciful, all-powerful God. We live in His dominion, and are subject to Him; therefore He is rightfully our Judge. We know that several judgments await humanity. Believers will stand before the Bema Seat or Judgment Seat of Christ, to be judged for what we have done in this life with the gifts God gave us, 1 Corinthians 3:13, 2 Corinthians 5:10. Were we yielded to the Holy Spirit? Or did we resist God’s leadership and live our lives for self? Recall Luke 6:46? We are, one and all, guilty of this travesty to one degree or another. However, to yield to the Holy Spirit is to become a selfless servant to others, to reap the peace and joy God promises to those that obey, since He will be with them, to comfort and guide them. To those who resist, but are still His by faith, we are chastened the more, as described earlier in this chapter, and in others passages of Scripture, such as 1 Corinthians 11:32. Of those who are His, the Holy Spirit says, “I [will] make them My jewels, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him,” Malachi 3:17. The sons that obey the Father’s will are spared; rather, the sons that obey the Father’s will demonstrate their genuine sonship. Those that provide lip service while denying the reality of their salvation have cause to be concerned.

 

Why? Because the other judgment is infinitely worse, stressing the word infinite. The Great White Throne judgment is reserved, not for the saints, but for those who remain lost and refuse to reconcile with God on His terms. The passage in question, characterized by the Day of the Lord, is summarized in its awful fullness in Revelation 20:11-15. The throne is one of penal judgment, not for works, but to determine the severity of the judgment that will be meted out. First the people described here are dead. They were spiritually dead while on earth, and they remain in this lost state when they are summoned for their sentencing. Yes, the trial is already over. They do not gather before the Great White Throne to be judged; they gather to be properly sentenced according to their works and the knowledge they possessed. They are already condemned, as Scripture warns, “he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him,” John 3:36. The judgment referred to is one of severity of punishment, not determination of guilt. The dead would not be standing before God at this throne were they not already guilty.

 

Then we arrive at just (or justified) men made perfect. By whom? By Jesus, the Mediator of a better covenant. The saints do not perfect themselves; we are made perfect by the inward working of God the Holy Spirit. We read, “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ,” Philippians 1:6. Furthermore, it is written, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day,” 2 Timothy 1:12. We are perfected by the Lord, and will boast not in ourselves, but in Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood. His blood speaks of better things than what came before, than what was transitory, than what was provisional.

 

It specifically speaks of better things than that of Abel’s blood, which was shed by his own brother, because Cain was wroth with God for not accepting any approach he wished to take in worship. Abel’s blood is an outcry of the righteous man who did God’s will and was killed for it, out of resentment, jealousy and anger. Abel spilled martyr’s blood, having tried to reason with Cain, using godly wisdom and suffering a very carnal, very demonic retaliation from a man who did not have an answer. He simply wanted to unseat God so he could BE God. Christ’s blood speaks of redemption and amazing grace. Abel’s blood, the first to pollute the earth, was one of betrayal and manifest sin. Abel’s blood testified of sin; Christ’s blood cleansed the stain, and made Adam’s sons clean again.

 

On a side note, once more a pre-Flood figure is referenced or spoken of in the New Testament. Many professing Christians refuse to permit such personages to exist, since they are wholly deceived into believing that Darwinian Evolution is true, and mankind has been on earth for hundreds of thousands of years at least, while the earth is billions of years old. Death existed not as a punishment for sin, but as a mechanism to advance the species, and therefore death is a natural part of existence, since it perpetuates improvement over those that have gone before. But here is Abel, testifying that death is not natural; his death, the first death was wholly unnatural as Cain murdered him out of his contempt for God’s truth. Death is the punishment for sin; it is not part of a natural process. Man was not designed to die. It is the byproduct of choosing rebellion over obedience. Abel, like his father, was a real man, now in Heaven, and part of the epic narrative God is weaving throughout history, of which we have become a part. Do not be deceived by the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting that is Evolution, see Ephesians 4:14. Falling to such duplicity demonstrates a childish spirituality, showing us to be gullible and easily misled. But if supposed truth controverts God’s word, we can rest assured whose word will stand, Jeremiah 44:28, 29.