Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares
us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 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.
One of the greatest joys of being a Christ-Follower is that
we are never alone, as we read we have centuries of witnesses gone before us, and
we have our Lord never leaving nor forsaking us, the Spirit always there to
empower us, and our Father watching and guarding us. Then there is that
whatever we go through no matter what it is our Lord has given us a family and
we know we are never alone.
Hebrews 12: 3 – 11
We are reminded that we have not faced what our Lord faced
on our behalf. Him who knew no sin bore our sin for us. This I believe is an
encouragement for us. In realising the magnitude of our Lord sacrifices we also
realise we never have to face the consequences of our sinfulness because He
did. We cannot be but grateful.
We are also reminded in this portion that love is
sometimes tough love and this is for our own good. Because we are loved we will
be corrected and disciplined. Our Father’s goal is that we may live as we were created
to and purposed to.
In lovingly correcting and disciplining us we
gain. We gain the right to become partakers of His holiness, we gain His
righteousness.
Hebrews 12:
12 – 17
We are encouraged to practice self-awareness, we
need to know our strengths and weaknesses and we need to address those areas we
know trip us up. We are urged to pursue peace, and lay aside sinfulness. If we don’t
do this we are reminded that we will fall into bitterness, become fornicators,
never understanding the value of our birth right and just like Esau. In Christ
we are the sons and daughters of the living God, and companions and partakers
with our Lord in our Father’s Kingdom. I am reminded that blessed are the
peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.
Hebrews 12:
18 – 29
The Glorious Company
For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, 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. (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.” And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 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, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
Hear the Heavenly Voice
See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.
