Hebrews Chapter Twelve, Mount Zion

 

Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, [23] to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, [24] to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

 

The former passage denoted the Law, represented by the fiery Mount Sinai, and the attendant fear it produced as man recoiled from the unmitigated holiness and sharpness God’s Law revealed. The Law brought no comfort. Yes, the psalmist delighted in God’s word, and mediating on the Law, Psalm 119:41, etc.

Hebrews Chapter Twelve, Mount Sinai

 

Hebrews 12:18 For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, [19] and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. [20] (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” [21] And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)

 

A similar contrast is elicited in Galatians, when Paul, using Hagar and Sarah, addresses the Galatian church about freedom and bondage. It is written, “Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all,” Galatians 4:22-26.

Hebrews Chapter Twelve, Lacking Repentance

 

Hebrews 12:16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. [17] 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.

 

Esau’s history begins in Genesis 25:21. Rebekah was barren, and Isaac prayed the Lord for a child. God granted Isaac his petition, and Rebekah gave birth to twins. When her pregnancy proved difficult, Rebekah likewise prayed the Lord, and He answered her by saying, “Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples will be separated from your body; and one people shall be stronger than the other; and the older shall serve the younger,” Genesis 25:23, NASB.

Hebrews Chapter Twelve, Grace Or Bitterness

 

Hebrews 12:15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;

 

This verse teaches the practical implications of peace and holiness. Peace within the church is, once again, doctrinal and moral congruity and purity. Orthodoxy reigns, as it must, so Christians may know which direction to march and what our orders are. Moral purity will follow, because God will reveal through sound doctrine what moral purity looks like, and what it does not.

Hebrews Chapter Twelve, Imparted Holiness

 

Hebrews 12:14b and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:

 

The writer separates peace and holiness. These are two different goals, and the Hebrew Christians were to doggedly pursue both. Having dealt with the Biblical concept of peace, our attention now turns to holiness.

Hebrews Chapter Twelve, Peace

 

Hebrews 12:14a Pursue peace with all people,

 

Pursuing peace with all people seems to be a lost cause—or a forgotten one—in our modern culture. When Paul was arrested and brought before Felix, he told the governor, “I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men,” Acts 24:16. Elsewhere we are commanded, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men,” Romans 12:18. Why? In short, people are not our enemy. “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood,” Ephesians 6:12.

Hebrews Chapter Twelve, Healing Waywardness

 

Hebrews 12:12 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, [13] and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

 

Referencing Hebrews 12:1 once more, the author directs the Hebrew Christians to their walk. They are to heal, strengthen, and straighten their paths. God leads His children through the valley of the shadow of death, not around it. We need fortitude, and that fortitude is found in the person of Jesus Christ, Hebrews 12:2. Our focus as saints is Jesus Himself.

Hebrews Chapter Twelve,The Pain Of Chastisement

 

Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

 

It would benefit us to remember that the writer is still addressing the same issue he began laying out in verse 1. Christians are to run the race without unneeded weight or the snare of sin that causes us to fall. We are to look to our Lord, whose life was an example of godliness in the face of persecution. Christ our Lord learned obedience by suffering; the notion here is that God’s saints, His children, will learn and learn best the same way our Master did, John 13:16, 15:18, Matthew 10:24, 25.

Hebrews Chapter Twelve, Sanctification Is Profitable

 

Hebrews 12:10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.

 

Verse 10 continues to contrast human fathers to our Heavenly Father. They are similar in the sense that both, as our parents (in flesh or in spirit) discipline us with wisdom. For human fathers, this wisdom is limited, sometimes flawed or misdirected.

Hebrews Chapter Twelve, Being In Subjection

 

Hebrews 12:9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

 

The writer continues to elucidate his point. Furthermore, he says, our human fathers corrected us, and we respected them for said correction. Our Father in Heaven corrects us for our spiritual and eternal good, which the author refers to as chastisement. The former two verses created the case explaining that such correction is a characteristic of being part of God’s household. Now he likens that image to human parental correction, and when we receive it not despising or despairing, but respecting it.

Hebrews Chapter Twelve, What Chastening Reveals

 

Hebrews 12:7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? [8] But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

 

These verses, taken together, provide a stark and succinct answer to Easy Believism. Easy Believism, or license, can be explained thus: if you have made Jesus your Savior, you are safe from sin and are now free (or have license) to do anything you like. Being saved becomes a “get out of Hell free” card.

Hebrews Chapter Twelve, Chastening's Outcome

 

In Israel’s time when Isaiah first wrote this passage, God used pagan nations to refine Israel, and sift the true wheat from the tares. He led them through much chastening, a chastening which His earthly people are still experiencing to this day, in preparation for their national acceptance of Him and their complete restoration.

Hebrews Chapter Twelve, Whom The Lord Loves...

 

Hebrews 12:5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; [6] For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.”

 

Verse 5 transitions from the former thought here. The former dealt with persecution for our faith and laying aside temptation so we might run our race, culminating in verse 4, which affirms that the Hebrew Christians had not yet endured persecution to bloodshed, striving against sin. Sin in this instance refers to outside influence and pressure from people opposed to the gospel message.