Looking unto Jesus
Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Who are these witnesses? Who have we been discussing? the heroes of the faith. They should inspire us to keep the faith and not to fall away, as some were doing. We also have those of faith around us who need our steadfast faith and obedience. Lastly we have our witness to the unsaved, watching, making mental notes as to what a Christian is all about. What message are we sending? We are to lay aside our burdens and sins that weigh us down. As a runner, how much easier it will be to run the race without all these things that slow us down. A dart from satan in our thoughts can cause us to fall back. Ignore these and continue as Paul said:
Phil 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Phil 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
We look unto Jesus, he is our hope of glory. He is the prize, he will make us perfect in him. He has gone on before us, full well knowing that torture and the cross were a part of the cup given to him; God's plan for him. But the result would be worth it. He did it for us, that we might be saved from sin and death. Can we not look unto Jesus and go through the troubles of this life, for our own souls sake?
Heb 12:3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Heb 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
Most have never suffered unto blood as Jesus has suffered for us. Keep running the race, enduring the insults and wounds of the adversary. He is defeated and those who oppose you, oppose their own salvation. The final battle is within.
2 Cor 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2 Cor 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2 Cor 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Chastening
Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
A quote from Proverbs 3:11-12.
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
I think this idea of the Lord disciplining us, is not heard of much today. Many people blame God because something has happened to them. God is blameless. He will have vengeance on those who have hurt you as an innocent child. But what of the foolish things we do?
There was a time, in the old testament that every offense brought forth a punishment. Rebellious children were stoned. I am sure that slowed down rebellion among the young. In this age of grace we do not see a swift response to sin, nonetheless God as our Spiritual Father does correct his children. One way is to give us our choices. Soon we realize that we are on a bad path. He waits for us to return. At other times, if we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit we are kept from trouble. Who knows the ways in which God works in our lives? Perhaps when we think we are going through a hard time, it is the Lord correcting us and shaping us into the image of his firstborn son, Jesus.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
His word obeyed will keep us from many trials. Disobedience brings the resultant punishment. It is the law of sowing and reaping.
Gal 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Gal 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Heb 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Illegitimate sons, sons who are pretenders, have no covenant with God. God cares first for his covenant children, he watches over them, corrects and protects them. How can we blame God for sin, when we are living in sin and not yet his spiritual son? Jesus is the way, believe in him, follow him and he will receive you.
Psa 34:6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
Psa 34:7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
Thank you, Father.
Correction for good
Heb 12:9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
We respected our father's correction, shall we not be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, who gives eternal life? God is over all flesh and spirits.
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Heb 12:10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Some had good fathers who corrected us with fatherly wisdom. Others had drunks and worse as fathers, still they were obeyed. How much more important is it to obey the heavenly Father, so that we may be like His Son?
Heb 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Even a child feels better having been corrected. He has paid for his bad behavior. We can be at peace knowing that through our trials and chastening we are received by our eternal loving Father in heaven.
1 Pet 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1 Pet 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1 Pet 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Straight paths
Heb 12:12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
If you are being corrected by God, it is because he loves you. So, get over it, no longer feel sorry for yourself, realize that you are loved and straighten up. Lift up those arms that hang down, and the feeble knees. Accept your correction and obey God, or you may become as Cain when God corrected him.
Gen 4:5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
Gen 4:6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
The anger in Cain resulted in his murdering his righteous brother, Abel.
Heb 12:13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
Jesus is in the straight path. He is the narrow road, the way to life. Do not let depression and a bad attitude control your walk. Come to Jesus and be healed.
Psa 5:8 Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.
Prov 4:26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
Prov 4:27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
Prov 5:1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
Prov 5:2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
Isa 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Isa 40:4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
Isa 40:5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Bitterness
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Peace comes from Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
It is total submission to the Lord. Holiness is being separated from the world and sin and serving God, committing our lives to him, leaving sins behind. It is a close relationship with God.
Rom 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
Rom 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Rom 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Heb 12:15 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;
When things same beyond our control, we must not be angry or bitter. By being bitter, many are defiled. We must cut off all that offends. Jesus spoke in strong words about our attitudes and our sins. Here he speaks of the lusts of the eyes and the hands that sin.
Mat 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Mat 5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Mat 5:30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should
In truth a bitter spirit is not of God. It brings no peace. It is as a raging fire, destroying everything in its path. Often bitterness is revealed by a sharp tongue.
James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
James 3:7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
James 3:8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
James 3:9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
James 3:10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Apply the tree to the bitter waters.
Exo 15:23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.
Exo 15:24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
Exo 15:25 And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,
Exo 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.
Jesus died on the tree to set you free. Hearken to him. Give him all your bitterness and spare those around you. Bitterness will have a bad affect on your health. Come obey the Lord who heals you.
Esau
Heb 12:16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
A fornicator seeks sexual pleasure outside of marriage. Those who defile another outside of marriage, can be called fornicators.
Heb 13:4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Esau is put in this verse as an example of a profane person, because he desired pleasure of the flesh more than the covenant blessings of God. He sold his birthright for the immediate pleasure of a bowl of soup. Some of the worst acts of profanity and fornication come from those who willfully follow satan. They take the beautiful things of God given to all and defile them. Children are abused and starved and manipulated. Jesus has broken the yoke of satan's bondage. There is new life in Jesus.
Heb 12:17 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.
Gen 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
Our days are numbered and God will not always strive with man. A time may come when he says...no more and he may turn away because of the hardness of your heart. You may say your sorry, but is it true repentance? God knows if you are his or not, we can't fool God.
2 Cor 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
2 Cor 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
2 Cor 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
Mount Sinai and Mount Zion
Heb 12:18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
Heb 12:19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
Heb 12:20 (For they 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:
Heb 12:21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
You are not serving a God of wrath and fear under the law of Moses. Our God is not out to destroy us because of the law of sin and death. Even with this fear and the law, the people sinned shortly afterwards with revelry and worshipping a golden calf idol. The law showed us what sin was and the punishment, but it did not give us a new heart to obey our absolutely holy God. Being holy and separated from us, sinful flesh could not approach him, except through a mediator, Moses.
Heb 12:22 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,
Heb 12:23 To 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,
Heb 12:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
We are of a different covenant on a different mountain, Mount Zion where the city of God shall be. With the angels and the Saints and through our Lord Jesus Christ. We come boldly to the throne of grace. We are not under the covenant of the law of sin and death, but under the covenant of grace and life and blessings. Jesus' own blood speaks better things then the sprinkling of animal blood started by Abel in obedience to God's commands. Jesus was obedient to God. He is the Lamb of God, the Savior, the great High Priest, our advocate and the mediator between us and our holy God. We are made righteousness in him who took our sins to the cross.
Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Rom 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Be bold in your faith, God is with you, not against you.
Consuming Fire
Heb 12:25 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:
God spoke to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Jesus spoke the words of His Father in heaven.
John 12:49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
John 12:50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
Heb 12:26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Heb 12:27 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.
God's word will remain
Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Our soul is eternal
1 Cor 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1 Cor 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Heb 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Having love, we must obey and serve God, for he is Master, not us.
Mat 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Heb 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Many mock God and glory in their choices. God made us and to remain with him in His grace, we must receive Jesus. Out of love we obey and serve him. Those who are proud and go their own way will have no new eternal relationship with God, they will not have his eternal spirit and a new glorified body to be in his presence with blessings. They shall be cast into the lake of fire, a foolish choice.
Superragman@aol.com
Hebrews Chapters
Hebrews 13
Hebrews 1 Table of Contents
Eaglewings Ministries
Eaglewings Daily Bible