Better: The Book of Hebrews, Part 15
Wednesday Night Bible Study
Last time we closed out the second half of Hebrews 11 with a sobering look at the many OT saints that suffered greatly for their faith. Unlike the faith-walkers listed before them in verse 4 through the first half of vs 35, those listed in the rest of the chapter didn’t receive a miracle deliverance or supernatural breakthrough. They endured their trial of much suffering and died in faith.
We also learned that all the faith-walkers mentioned in the chapter were not made perfect until the coming of Jesus.
Now, chapter 12 picks right up where chapter 11 ended with a “therefore,” a word that connects what just came before it to what is about to be said. Chapter 12 will refer to the champions of chapter 11 as a “great cloud of witnesses.”
Hebrews 12:1 NKJV
“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, …”
Matthew 6:33 NKJV
“… seek first the kingdom of God …”
The writer says that we must “lay aside” two things in order to run our race well. First, every weight. A weight is not a sin, but an encumbrance. For instance, an Olympic track star would never wear heavy clothing that would slow down his maximum speed.
Notes
Then the second thing we must lay down is the sin that so easily beset us.
The words “sin that so easily besets us” come from one single Greek word that means “easily encircling.” It refers to a serious hindrance that literally surrounds or “encircles” someone who desperately needs to advance.
Romans 13:12 NASB
“The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside (cast off) the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
Ephesian 4:22-23 NASB
“… that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside (cast off) the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, …”
Notes
Having cast off weights and sins, the writer next addresses our all important focus:
Hebrews 12:2 NASB
“… fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The word looking or fixing our eyes means to look away from all else in order to fully focus on one thing. It implies “the concentration of the wandering gaze into a single direction.”
Hebrews 12:3-4 NASB
“For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;”
Notes
Hebrews 12:5-6 NASB
“… and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives.’”
Proverbs 3:11-12
“My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord
Or loathe His reproof,
12 For whom the Lord loves He reproves,
Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.”
Notes
Hebrews 12:6 NASB
“… And He scourges every son He received.”
Hebrews 12:6 American KJV
“For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and whips every son whom he receives.”
Notes
Hebrews 12:7-10 NASB
“It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.”
Notes
Hebrews 12:11 NASB
“All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
Notes
Hebrews 12:12-13 NASB
“Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.”
Hebrews 12:13 NLT
“Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.”
John 17:19 NKJV
“And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”
Notes
Hebrews 12:14-16 NASB
“Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; 16 that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.”
The word for “immoral” here is pornos—a fornicator, one involved in sexual sin. It will break your fellowship with God and Paul writes in Corinthians that it is a sin against your own body.
Notes
Hebrews 12:18-24 NASB
“For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, 19 and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. 20 For they could not bear the command, ‘If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned.’ 21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, ‘I am full of fear and trembling.’ 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.”
Notes
Hebrews 12:25-29 NASB
“See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. 26 And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.’ 27 This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is a consuming fire.”
Amen!
Next time we will finish our journey through Hebrews with chapter 13.