Hebrews 12:12-29

March 10, 2013 We continue in Hebrews 12 where the author encourages his listeners to hang on to their profession and keep looking to Jesus. God scourges the ones He loves to bring about the peaceable fruit of righteousness in time:
12

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

Lift up isnt a command to praise, but rather it means to restore something or to correct it. 1 This same word is used in Luke 13:13 where Jesus healed a woman who had been bent over for 18 years and immediately she was made straight. Its used again in Acts 15:16 where God promised to rebuild the temple from its ruins and set it up. The Hebrews were distressed and falling apart so he encourages them to be strong with this quote from Isaiah. Chapters 34-35 are an encouragement for Gods people where He promises to bring vengeance and indignation upon all nations. Every proud place that hates Him will be turned into nothing more than a desolate wasteland soaked with blood. And then in 35:3 He says, Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. 4Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. 5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. 7And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. 8And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. 9No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: 10And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away (Is. 35:3-10). Its not hard to see how this speaks to the Hebrews. Its the promise of a guaranteed victory for God, so His people can be strong and confident:
13

And make straight paths for your feet,

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=anorqwsate&la=greek#lexicon

This sounds a whole lot like Proverbs 4:13-15 and 25-27: Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life. 14Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. 15Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. 26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. 27Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil. To walk a straight path is to walk the path God has defined for us. Theres so much temptation and men have devised so many ways to improve upon Gods path, but we dont buy into any of it. We dont turn to the right or the left: lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Some of the Hebrews were limping along like a cripple in a race and some of them were even halting so that they were in danger of apostasy! Thats why he keeps pointing out that its a terrible thing to give up on the race and to be disobedient. Run the race along the straight path so that the lame will be healed rather than being diverted to the wrong path. Isnt it interesting that the cure for lameness isnt stopping to have some rest or to see a doctor, but the cure is to run the straight path? What were talking about here really culminates in verse 29: For our God is a consuming fire. We believe that Hes greater than all tings, so we run the race Hes set before us with patience knowing that Hell deliver everything Hes promised.
14

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: The word for follow means to pursue something or to chase after it. It has the idea of having quick motion. 2 Part of the path for these Hebrews is to pursue peace with even their persecutors. Thats hard to do, but this is part of holiness. This might seem out of place here, but this is part of running our race and the reason it requires patience. The root word for holiness comes from two words which mean cherished and clean. 3 These people are suffering. But, this is only happening because theyre cherished by God. Theyre scourged by Him, and so they ought to rejoice instead of complain, and be at peace rather than at war. They know theres a highway which only the redeemed may tread, and so they walk as the redeemed.
2 3

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=diwkete&la=greek#lexicon http://v3.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G40&t=KJV

Without holiness no man may see the Lord. This isnt the normal Greek word for see; it means a lot more. Some examples of how its used in ancient Greek literature include taking aim at something or to be of someones party. 4 A couple of verses that help us get a sense of its meaning are Matthew 5:8 and Matthew 27:3-4: Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. To see in this context means to behold something diligently or to study it carefully! It means to be associated with something. The wicked are so terrified of God that they run from His face, but the righteous declare: One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple (Ps. 27:4).
15

Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; This is another quote of an Old Testament verse. Back in Deuteronomy 29 Moses commands the people to keep the words of the covenant 18Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; 19And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: 20The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven. 21And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law: 22So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it; 23 And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his
4

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=oyetai&la=greek#lexicon

wrath: 24Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? 25Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: 26For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them: 27And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book: 28And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day. Another way this is addressed is with yeast and dough (Gal. 5:9). This is within the context of straight paths and holiness and its building up to verse 29. The wrath of God is terrible and unbearable, so these Hebrews ought not listen to men or fear their violence. Instead, look diligently 5 for anyone who lacks the grace of God and dont let them trouble you or lead you astray. If you listen to these idol worshippers then youll be stained and polluted by their bitterness! And it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who is a consuming fire!
16

Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. You know this story. Esau was hungry so he traded all his rights as the first born for one lousy bowl of soup. He didnt take it seriously; he didnt take God seriously and so hes called a profane person:
17

For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. He finally comes to the point where he starts to take this seriously, but by then its too late. Dont be deceived and swayed by the profane idolaters. When they come asking, Hath God said just keep your eyes on Jesus and on the straight path. Dont follow them because whats at stake is far too important:
18

For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 20(For they
5

This same word is translated as oversight in I Pt. 5:2

could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 21And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) This is all a reference to Exodus 19-20 where God spoke to Moses from the mountain. Everyone was terrified with the loud thundering and the fire and all the things He made happen. But this was just a physical mountain and only a type or shadow of the real thing! If the physical was so terrifying then how much greater is the spiritual:
22

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. These things are far better than what we see in the Old Testament:
25

See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: If they couldnt disobey without punishment under the types, then how much worse will it be with the Substance? And see how great He is:
26

Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. This is from Haggai 2:6-7: For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; 7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. Theyre rebuilding the temple, and many of the builders remember the old one; theyre sad that the new one isnt as big. But God tells them to be strong because in a little while He will shake the heavens and the earth and the nations; and the desire of all nations shall come and He will fill the house with glory. Desire is also translated as one coveted, wealth, pleasant, precious, goodly, and beloved. Hes not concerned with the literal temple! His glory is revealed through His elect (His beloved) gathered together as one house, and thats all that will remain:

27

And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29For our God is a consuming fire. Why would they give up on God? Thats crazy because He and those in Him will be the only things left when He shakes all things. Theres nothing more important and nothing more sure than this belief of ours that He is our Lord and that He will rescue us! newgracebaptistchurch.wordpress.com