Hebrews 12: 1 – 13
In Training
1 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, 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. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
I like sports. As a street kid the Lord had used sports to keep me out of trouble. Since I went to a small high school I was able to sign up and participate in six sports. I would be involved in football and cross country in the fall; basketball and bowling in the winter, and baseball and track in the spring. Out of all these I enjoyed football the most. I was able to play both on offense and defense. There is nothing like the adrenaline rush of intercepting a pass or breaking through the line and rushing off sixty yards for a touchdown. As you are tearing down the sidelines you can see glancing at the coaches and fans cheering you on for the goal line.
We see in today’s study that the author has taken a similar exhortation in writing to the saints. Now, says the writer, we who are now alive have seen the coming of Jesus, the One in Whom comes the fulfillment of the promises of God. We have therefore entered on a great long-distance race with Jesus as our front-runner and sustainer, and these witnesses crowd the sidelines giving us their witness as to the necessity and value of faith, and yelling their encouragement.
If we then look back on these great men and women described in chapter 11 as witnesses, how much more should we look to Him in faith and press on faithfully, choosing not to be impeded by anything that would hinder us. And when we do suffer persecution and tribulation, we should recognize that that is not surprising. It is because God loves us and is treating us like a father does his son, by chastening us for our good so that we might produce the fruit of righteousness. Thus will we become, through faith, more and more God’s righteous ones in reality as well as by imputation. Let us therefore take note of this and consider our ways so that we may be sure to inherit God’s blessing.
For we do not face our Majestic and Holy God under the old way of fellowship (dispensation) as at Sinai, where all was awesome and remote, where men were kept far off, and were filled with fear, but we have come under the new way of fellowship where all is glorious and heavenly, and where we have the new covenant under the mediation of our Master and King The Lord Jesus Christ, with its better promises.
Let us then beware lest we refuse the One Who now speaks to us. He no longer speaks from a mountain on earth with a voice that shook the earth, but from Heaven itself, with glorious things that cannot be shaken. Let us therefore respond to His grace that we may be well-pleasing to God, serving Him in awe and reverence. For in it all and beyond it all we too must remember that our God is still a consuming fire.
12.1 ‘Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.’
At first sight this verse, (the ‘therefore’ referring back to the previous chapter’s list of witnesses and heroes of faith), appears simply to refer to them as watching our manner of life and our life’s venture. It may appear to be telling us that we have to make our preparations for running, and then run on tirelessly to the end, having in mind that they are watching and cheering us on. And there is some truth in that. But that is not all. For we must not lose sight of the fact that they cheer us on as witnesses, as those who can bear testimony to the fact that they themselves having partaken in the race, and have won through. They are not just spectators, but are there to encourage, as those who have gone before, declaring the certainty and the worthiness of the race, and its certain victory.
The word used for cloud (nephos - used only here in the New Testament) refers to a compact numberless crowd. Thus the thought here would seem to be of a large number of the witnesses as described in chapter 11, acting as a part of the crowd at the games, cheering on the contestants yelling their encouragement because of what they too have experienced and endured. But they are not just by-standers, they are those who have endured as we now should, a proof that we can succeed.
The word ‘witnesses’ never elsewhere refers to a crowd of spectators. It does not mean those who look on. Rather it always means someone who bears witness, someone who bears testimony. The thought behind the reference therefore is that of the contestants being aware of this specialist crowd of experts in the field who have already proved themselves, in order that they might receive strength from their example and guidance as they prepare for and run their race.
The lesson to be learned from their advice as witnesses is clear. They must follow their example. Like them they must lay aside every weight, and anything that would cling to them and prevent them running well, (besets them), anything that would be a hindrance to them. And they must then run with patient endurance the race set before them. The race being a long-distance race this patient endurance will be very necessary, and will especially apply in the latter part of the race when special determination and grit will be required, as it once was for those heroes and heroines themselves.
Thus they must throw aside anything that would affect their performance, whether the pull of the world with its offer of fame and glory, or of the flesh with its offer of ever growing sinful pleasures, or of the Devil with his intent to deceive the mind, or whether simply the laziness and carelessness which can prevent them achieving their best. And they must especially cast off ‘the sin’, sin seen as a whole, that is, sin of all kinds, sin in its many forms, which is the constant enemy of the faithful, which besets them, and clings to them and slows them down. And they must run well the race of life with patient endurance, running with all their might so as to obtain the prize (1 Corinthians 9.24-25).
So in the presence of those experienced witnesses, who bear witness to what they should be, nothing is to be allowed to remain that hinders, or which would cause the witnesses to be ashamed of them. No encumbrance must be allowed to burden them. In all their ways and in all their choices their one question must be, ‘what will enable me to be the very best that I can be for the Lord? What will enable me to achieve heavenly success’ And their encouragement and help is to be seen as lying in the word of God, and its testimony as witnessed to by the men and women of faith of the past, for that is what these witnesses testify to.
Take a look again at the words, ‘Lay aside every weight. The essential point is that we should not be carrying excess baggage when we run. Nothing must be allowed to hinder our full fitness and ability to run. Once the race has begun all that could hinder must have been left behind.
The author also says, ‘And the sin which does so easily beset us (or ‘cling to us’).’ The thought here is probably of sin clinging like loose clothing and slowing us down. Running in robes was especially difficult (that was why men had to ‘gird their loins’, that is, lift up their robes and tie them round the waist). So anything which would make us less efficient must be cast off.
His thoughts are completed when he reports ‘And let us run with patience the race that is set before us.’ This is no sprint they are engaged in. It is an endurance race in which fitness and perseverance, and willingness to suffer, are all part of the event. As we look at the faces of the long-distance runners in the second part of any race we get some idea of the effort God requires of us, as they patiently and enduringly press on because they have the final tape in mind. So too must we press on, even when the going is difficult and we feel exhausted, and that we just cannot run anymore, because our eyes are on the final prize.
12.2 ‘Looking off to Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy which was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.’
Although we may heed the crowd and learn from their witness, we must remember that there is One especially to Whom we should look off in the course of the race, both as our great example and as the One Who can actively aid us in the race, which none of the others can do for He has not only already run the race, but also runs along with us now. We must consider the One Who Is the Greatest of all, Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith in all who truly believe, as He brings us to glory and triumph. For He is our perfect pacemaker from start to finish, our perfect coach, our perfect encourager, our perfect companion, the One who runs alongside us and within us, Who having called us through faith, and led us off in faith, will now perfect that faith, and present us perfect in faith before
Let us consider The Lord Jesus Christ’s qualifications. He too set His eye on the prize, on the joy and triumph that was set before Him, and He thus endured as no other had endured, enduring the cross (see 2.9), with its burdens beyond the understanding of mortal men, and despising the shame that was heaped on Him as a result, in order to finally receive that joy to the full, and having taken the victor’s crown He took His place and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God, having accomplished all that He had been sent to do. He had run well and received the prize.
The author has used sports as a tool in describing his points of truth. Have you ever witnessed some outstanding Olympians? Many have coaches who were also Olympians that found success. It is smart to have such a person who has been there and accomplished what you are seeking to be your coach.
So having such a One, with such qualifications and such abilities, One Who has endured so much for us, and Who through it has achieved such a victory, we should look constantly off to Him, so that He might provide us with all that we need so as to successfully complete the race. We must allow Him to work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure, and to sustain us along the way, and heed His constant urgings and comfort. And if we do that we will never fail or be afraid.
12. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.
Indeed we must firstly constantly fix our minds on Him both as He was in His manhood, and as He now is as our great High Priest Who makes intercession for us. We must remember how He suffered. We must follow in His steps.
We must consider how He was constantly beset around, how He was constantly attacked and criticized, how He was constantly accused of inconstancy, of how He was constantly faulted for not being religious enough, of how He was charged with failing in His duty, with blaspheming God, with failing to accept the latest findings of modern thought, even though, unlike Him, those who spoke against Him were sinners themselves. For this last fact did not cause them to withhold anything from the attack. Indeed the more they gained the uneasy feeling that they might be wrong, the more fierce their attacks on Him became.
And we must consider His perseverance and constancy even in the face of His last days when all Hell was thrown at Him, when His suffering and humiliation was such as no man had ever known or could know (for we must remember to Whom it happened). And we must remember all this lest we become weary and faint in our inner hearts because of the pressures that will come upon us too, lest we begin to grow faint within the depths of our very being. Remembering what He suffered and was willing to suffer, yes, voluntarily came to suffer, will help us to remain constant there too.
For we must recognize that most of us have as yet, unlike many of those heroes of the past, and unlike our Master and King Lord Jesus Himself, not had to face the ultimate sacrifice. We have not yet had to ‘resist unto blood’, facing torture and severe beatings and death, in our striving against the sinfulness of the world, and against our own sin. We have still not had to pay the ultimate price. We have therefore, in view of our light afflictions (2 Corinthians 4.17), no real excuse for not going on.
We will now see something that for many of us is hard to accept. Because as far as we are called on to suffer affliction and tribulation, to experience discomfort, hardships and deprivation, we are to consider what God’s purpose is in such things. We need to recognize that they are actually for our benefit. For tribulation produces patient endurance, and patient endurance produces experience, and experience produces hope, and all this results in our being unashamed because we have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who is given to us (Romans 5.2-5). Thus when we are chastened we should give thanks to our Father for the love and concern that He shows towards them.
Both James and Peter also stress the same lesson. James says, "You know that the testing of your faith develops patient endurance. And let patient endurance complete its work so that you may be mature and perfect, not lacking in anything" (James 1.3-4). While Peter adds, "These [trials] have come so that your faith -- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire -- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1.7).
The chastening described here is probably to be seen as that arising because they and we serve Christ. Everyone in the world at times face afflictions and distress. That is the common lot of men. They are more often seen as God’s judgments rather than His chastening, although those too often have the purpose of awakening men to their sins. But when we suffer for Christ’s sake, then we can see it as chastening, for it is special to His people.
12. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.”
The author points out that they might have overlooked or forgotten the Biblical teaching on chastening and firm discipline as something by which God speaks to His children as to sons. They have clearly, in their concern to escape persecution, forgotten the exhortations of Scripture which had aided the past heroes and heroines of the faith to persevere. For example let them consider Proverbs 3.11-12, ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, or faint when you are reproved by Him, for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and beats every son whom He receives’
The warning here is against treating God’s discipline and chastening as though it did not matter, or on the other hand, allowing it to affect them too much. Some shrug it off, others are devastated by it. But rather we must take it as an act of love from our Father, and learn from it the lesson that He wishes to teach us. Above all they must recognize that it is a sign of His love for them, demonstrating that He does care about what they are and what they become. It is a proof of His true Fatherhood.
In considering this teaching I have to then say the He must really love me because I am getting chastened throughout the day, every day.
12.7 ‘It is for chastening that you endure; God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not chasten?’
For the truth is that their having to endure arises from God’s purpose to discipline and chasten them. They have to endure because God is dealing with them as sons, and that should be a comfort and encouragement to them. For, after all, what son is not chastened by a good father? And they should recognize that a good father does it because he only has his son’s best interests at heart. So let them realize that God’s present chastening comes to them because He is a good Father.
12.8 ‘But if you are without chastening, of which all have been made partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons.’
I need to keep reminding myself of this fact. God’s disciplining and chastening is a sign of high favor.
It is the true born son who is disciplined and chastened because the father is concerned to train him properly with a view to his future responsibilities. He is an heir and therefore proper concern must be shown for his upbringing. He bears the family name. What he becomes is important. It is the illegitimate children, who will have no rights to inherit, who have no name to uphold, who can be left with no proper training, so that they can behave as they like. So it is if they find themselves without chastening that they need to be concerned, not when they are chastened, for not to be chastened will simply demonstrate that they are not true believers, true born sons at all.
12.9 ‘Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?’
What makes this verse difficult for certain people like myself to fully accept is that we had dads who did not represent Adoni Yahweh, our Father God. My dad was a violent alcoholic who beat me on a regular basis. So to read that chastening is an example of love a father bestows on his son is hard to swallow.
Yet I am sure that they were and are loving fathers who discipline their kids the right way. The author is sure that many can remember how they themselves were chastened by their fathers when they were young, and how this made them respectfully obedient. They honored their fathers because they recognized the love that lay behind the chastening, and they submitted to them.
In the same way is it not right and good that they should be chastened by God and submit to Him as ‘the Father of spirits’, for this will result in true spiritual life. ‘Father of spirits’ is in contrast with ‘fathers of our flesh’. The ‘fathers of our flesh’ (our earthly fathers) are responsible for our fleshly upbringing; the Father of spirits (the Father Who deals with all things spiritual and especially the spirits of His own) Is responsible for our spiritual upbringing. It Is He Who Is the One Who has overall responsibility and expertise in things of the spirit for His own. He Is The Father both of them and of us, if we are truly His. The God Who has called His elect will surely do what is right for them as regards their spirits.
No similar title is found anywhere else in the New Testament. It would therefore clearly seem to be one conjured up by the writer as a description of God’s unique Fatherhood of His own elect. Indeed this is the only reference to God’s Fatherhood, outside of quotations, in the whole letter, although chapter 1 infers that He is Father to ‘the Son’. Now He is seen as Father to ‘the spirits’ of all truly righteous men, and as such the Disciplinarian of our spirits.
So here in Hebrews the main reference is surely to God as ‘the Father of the spirits’ of His own people, as their spiritual Father (of the spirits of just men made perfect), in contrast with those who are ‘the fathers of their flesh’, who are the earthly fathers to their own sons. For he then goes on to show that our Father’s purpose for His sons is that we might be made partakers of His holiness.
12.10 ‘For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.’
This contrast confirms the contrast in verse 9. If we remember back to the earthly chastening of our parents we will remember that it was only temporary, ‘for a few days’. And while they chastened us in the way that they thought best, they may well sometimes have been wrong. But with our heavenly Father we can be sure that any chastening is solely for our benefit, is appropriate, will strengthen our spirits and will last no longer than is necessary. He is never wrong. And His watch over us is total for He is the Father of our spirits, and of all the spirits of those who are righteous through faith.
And His purpose in it is that we might become holy in our spirits as He is. For He longs for us, and determines for us, that we may partake in His holiness, receiving it, enjoying it and being filled with it deep within, that we may be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man, resulting in the indwelling of Christ, and our being rooted and grounded in love, so that we may know the love of Christ which passes all knowledge and be filled ‘unto all the fullness of God’ (Ephesians 3.16-19). That then is why He chastens us, to make us like Himself in His perfect holiness.
And what is the holiness of God? It is that which sets God apart from men, that which distinguishes Him as ‘different’. He is set apart in His perfect purity and truth, in His absolute righteousness and true goodness. So are we to be transformed into His likeness.
12.11 ‘All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields peaceable fruit to those who have been exercised by it, even the fruit of righteousness.’
He recognizes that chastening is never pleasant. Indeed, when it is in process it seems grievous. It can hurt dreadfully. But it is the result that we should consider, not the process. To those who respond to God’s chastening rightly, and are rightly affected by it, it yields ‘peaceable fruit’, the peaceable fruit ‘of righteousness’ (James 3.17-18). Just as earthly chastening should result in the restoration of our relationship with our parents, restoring peace between us, so does our Father’s chastening result in the restoration of our present ongoing relationship with Him when it is in danger of breaking down. The fruit of His discipline is that we are found at peace with Him, and receive peace from Him. And this will result in our continuing to be truly righteous inasmuch as we respond to it. So God’s purpose in chastening us is in order that we might be at peace with Him, and so that we might become ever more holy and righteous. We have been perfected in holiness (10.14) that we might be made holy, (totally separated to a holy God). For without the latter, first imputed and then imparted, the fullness of the former is impossible.
In the light of the fact that we now see their tribulations as in fact being our Father’s chastening, let us now fully respond to it and get our attitudes and response right, for then all will turn out well.
12 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
The author realizes in our wrong perception to what is happening that we want to quite. He likens all of us who have responded like this to people who have given up because we have fallen into despair.
Because we have been frozen into inactivity, our hands are hanging down so that we are doing nothing and our knees are like palsied knees which will not support us. So, here is a wakeup call. I am thankful for this mild smack on the side of my head.
We get a mindset that we are like rats boxed in and wandering in a maze and are finding our ways difficult because of their doubts. For me I tend to dwell on being beat up all the time.
This scripture is awesome in that it awakens us to know the spiritual side of the battle. We need to stir ourselves (because God the Father of their spirits is allowing the stirring). Let us see the way before us in the light of the Scriptures so that we run in the true way along straight paths. Let us get our understanding of its teaching straightened out in accordance with what he has written to us. Let us respond to God and thus be made whole, and be fully restored. Then the weak also will not go astray. And the lame, whose limbs are liable to be put out of joint as a result of leaving the main path and going into the less trodden and therefore rough ways, will rather be healed. We will be bound up by God.
