A Commentary on the Book of Hebrews, Part 30

Moving on, let’s start chapter twelve.

CHAPTER TWELVE

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, 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. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 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: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Remember, the preacher is speaking to Jewish Christians who are contemplating abandoning the faith to return to the practices of the Temple sacrifices. In that light, let’s examine what is recorded here. The preacher reminds us that the light afflictions we think we suffer are nothing compared to the ones suffered by the examples he gave in chapter eleven. The Christian journey is compared to a race run by athletes in an arena. The problems and excuses that crop up, along with all of the transgressions we make, are to be set aside, not worth consideration, because Jesus is the One Who originated our faith, and He will complete it in us. Jesus willingly went to His death, knowing how much suffering it would entail, because He knew the joy that would come at freeing so many from the bondage to sin and death, and He gave little care to the shame of a judicial execution because He was going to sit back down at the right hand of God’s throne of glory.

The preacher urges us to contemplate on the sufferings of Christ, and the mocking and lies from those who served the enemy of our souls, as a means to focus our intentions on achieving perfection in Him. We are reminded that we have not shed our own blood in resistance to sin. Many have, and if you know one who has, let him also be an example, like the ones in chapter eleven.

The preacher also reminds the audience that a loving Father will correct His children. In American society, it has become non-PC to discipline our children, and look at the result, a generation of narcissists. But God does love us enough to correct us when we stray. Often we stray en mass, then He has to correct an entire group at once. People declare that these corrections prove that God doesn’t love them. That is a lie of the enemy, whispering in their souls. The things God does to us or allows to be done to us in order to correct us instead proves that He does hold us in the highest level of love. In the mindset of the culture from which the audience came, a child whose father didn’t love enough to discipline was not legitimate, but a bastard. If you are disciplined by God, that is proof of your legitimacy as His child, and coheir of Christ.

Do you often want to quit because of difficulties in your path? Do you deny God’s love for you because bad things seem to be happening to you? Examine your own heart. See if there is any of this negative influence of the enemy of our souls, and purge it from you.

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