Running the Race with Eyes on Jesus
Study note
Surrounded by the great 'cloud of witnesses' from chapter 11, believers are urged to strip away every hindrance and entangling sin and run with endurance the race set before them. The key to endurance is keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, described as the 'pioneer and perfecter of our faith.' He endured the cross and scorned its shame because of the joy set before him, and now sits at God's right hand. His example of enduring hostility from sinners guards against spiritual weariness and loss of heart.
1 Therefore, since we also are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. 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,
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 has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 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.
3 When you feel like giving up, think about everything Jesus went through -- all the hatred sinners threw at him. Remembering what he endured will keep you from getting tired and losing heart. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Divine Discipline as a Father's Love
Study note
The readers have not yet resisted to the point of bloodshed in their struggle against sin. The author quotes Proverbs 3:11-12 to reframe their hardships as divine discipline: 'The Lord disciplines the one he loves.' Rather than evidence of God's rejection, suffering is evidence of their legitimacy as God's children. Just as earthly fathers discipline imperfectly and temporarily, God disciplines for our genuine good -- that we might share in his holiness. Though discipline is painful in the moment, it later yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those trained by it.
4 So far, your fight against sin has not cost you your blood. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
5 Have you forgotten the encouraging words God speaks to you as his children? "My child, do not brush off the Lord's discipline, and do not fall apart when he corrects you. 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:
6 The Lord disciplines every child he loves. He corrects everyone he accepts as his own." For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 See your hard times as training from God. He is treating you the way a father treats his kids. After all, is there any child whose father does not discipline them? If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 If God never disciplines you -- and every real child gets disciplined -- then you are not truly his child at all. But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 We all had earthly fathers who corrected us, and we respected them for it. How much more should we accept the correction of our heavenly Father, the Father of our spirits, so that we can truly live! 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?
10 Our earthly fathers disciplined us for a short season and made their best guesses about what was right. But God disciplines us for our genuine benefit, so that we can share in his holiness. 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.
11 Nobody enjoys being disciplined while it is happening -- it hurts! But afterward, it produces a harvest of peace and right living for everyone who has been shaped by it. 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.
Pursue Peace and Holiness
Study note
The author calls for renewed effort: strengthen weak hands, steady feeble knees, and make straight paths so that the lame may be healed rather than further injured. Believers must pursue both peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. They must guard against bitterness taking root, and against the godlessness of Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal and later could not recover the blessing even though he sought it desperately with tears. Esau serves as a sobering example of irreversible spiritual loss.
12 So pull yourselves together! Strengthen your tired hands and your shaky knees. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 Clear a straight road for your feet to walk on. That way, what is weak will not collapse but will be healed instead. And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14 Try to live at peace with everyone. Go after holiness, because no one will see the Lord without it. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
15 Watch out so that nobody wanders away from God's grace. Make sure no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and poison the whole group. 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;
16 Make sure nobody is sexually immoral or treats sacred things carelessly, the way Esau did. He traded away his rights as the firstborn son for one single plate of food. Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
17 You know what happened after that. When he later came back wanting to receive his father's blessing, he was turned away. No matter how hard he cried, he could not undo what he had done. 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.
Mount Sinai Versus Mount Zion
Study note
The author contrasts two mountains representing two covenants. At Sinai there was tangible fire, darkness, storm, trumpet blast, and a terrifying voice -- the people begged that no further word be spoken, and even Moses trembled with fear. But believers under the new covenant have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, thousands of angels in joyful assembly, the church of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, God the judge, the spirits of the righteous made perfect, Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than Abel's blood of accusation.
18 You have not come to a mountain you can touch. You have not come to blazing fire, darkness, gloom, and a wild storm. For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
19 You have not come to the blast of a trumpet. You have not come to a voice so scary that everyone who heard it begged for it to stop. 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:
20 They could not handle the warning. It said, "Even if an animal touches this mountain, it must be killed with stones." (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:
21 It was all so frightening that even Moses said, "I am shaking with fear." And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
22 No, you have come to something far better! You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God -- the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels celebrating together. 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,
23 You have come to the gathering of God's firstborn children. Their names are written in heaven. You have come before God, the judge of all. You have come to the spirits of good people who have been made perfect. 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,
24 You have come to Jesus, who brought about the new agreement. You have come to his sprinkled blood. It speaks a far better message than the blood of Abel. And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
An Unshakeable Kingdom
Study note
The final warning of the chapter argues from lesser to greater: if those who refused God's voice on earth did not escape judgment, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who speaks from heaven? Quoting Haggai 2:6, the author announces that God will once more shake not only the earth but also heaven, so that only what is unshakeable will remain. Since believers are receiving an unshakeable kingdom, they should respond with gratitude and worship God with reverence and holy fear, remembering that 'our God is a consuming fire.'
25 Be very careful that you do not refuse to listen to the one speaking to you. The people who refused to listen when God warned them on earth did not escape. So we will certainly not escape if we turn away from the one who warns us from heaven. 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:
26 Back then, God's voice made the earth shake. But now he has made this promise: "One more time, I will shake not just the earth, but heaven too." Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 Those words -- "one more time" -- tell us that everything that can be shaken, meaning things that were created, will be removed. Then only the things that can never be shaken will be left standing. 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.
28 Since we are being given a kingdom that nothing can shake, let us be deeply thankful. Let us worship God in the way that truly pleases him, with awe and reverence. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 Because our God is a fire that burns up everything that stands in his way. For our God is a consuming fire.