Chapter Twelve
With so many fine examples recorded for us of what is true
living faith, we are admonished by Paul to lay aside all burdens
and sin that can easily trip us up. We are to run our Christian
race of life with enduring patience. We are to look to Jesus, who
is the author and finisher of our faith. This sentence also
proves that only Jesus of all humans has ever gained immortal life.
Enoch, Moses, Elijah, have not yet gained it, no one but Christ
has moved from human life to glorified eternal life. Jesus looked
to the finish line also, what was at the end of this human life.
In so looking He was able to endure to the end, endure through
persecutions, the shame, the trials of life, the ridicule of
others, the rejection by the masses, and the agony of the cross.
Enduring, He was given the place of sitting on the right hand of
God the Father. We are to consider all that Jesus went through,
and so we shall not be wearied and we will not faint in our minds
(verses 1-3).
For most of us we need to remember that we have not had to
resist evil in our Christian walk, unto blood and death, as we
strive against sin. Yes, many of us have trials, tests, and
hardships at times. Many of us have had the correction and
chastening of the Lord. Paul tells us that such is often part of
being a child of God. Whom the Lord loves, does receive
correction if needed. If we appreciate that correction, then God
works with us as His child. A father will naturally correct his
child if and when the child needs to be corrected. This is the
way of the natural life of the human family, and so it is with
the heavenly Father and his children. If we never get corrected
by the Father, then it is in doubt that we are really a child of
His.
It is the general and natural way of mankind that a son
receiving correction gives honor and respect to his father. So we as
the child of God, must honor and respect our heavenly Father; in
so doing we shall reap life, not only a better life here and now
but even more importantly, eternal life in the future. God
chastens us for our ultimate profit, that we might partake of His
holiness and perfectness.
Chastening is not pleasant during the time of being
corrected and chastened, it is not joyful per se, but it does
hurt and seems somewhat grievous, nevertheless, afterwards
it does bring forth fruits of peace and righteousness, unto those
who are willing to be guided and taught and who will move forward
in the pathway that loving correction gives (verses 4-11).
I cannot give too much emphasis on this passage of
Scripture. In Christian circles, much emphasis is given to grace,
to mercy, to love, even to serving others. All of that is
indeed the bedrock of true Christianity. But a part of that
bedrock is also having a mind-set that is willing to be
corrected, to be guided into all truth, to admit error, to admit
when proven, that you are wrong about this or about that. A part
of Christian bedrock faith is to LOVE THE TRUTH, to hunger and
thirst after righteousness.
I am sorry to say but in all my years in the Christian faith
since I was introduced to it at the age of 7, I have found few who exhibit this.
A bedrock foundation of the faith, is hungering for truth and righteousness.
Most I have found are closed minded, do not study as they should,
to show themselves approved to God, a workman that needs
not to be ashamed. Most just want to sit in their comfortable
pew. Most do not want their boat rocked, they do not want
to be challenged. Most do not want to admit their church
teaching could be wrong, is wrong, or they just want to continue
to have their church as a social club
It is because most Christians do not have a min-set of being
willing to be corrected, and so then move in the correct way of
righteousness, that Jesus said many would be shocked when they
found themselves on the outside looking in, at His return. Many,
Jesus said would say in that day, "Lord, did we not do this in
your name, did we not do that in your name. Were you not preached
in our streets, in our local congregation." And Jesus will say to
them, "I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work
lawlessness."
Jesus elsewhere said, when asked if many would be saved,
"The pathway is wide and broad to destruction, but narrow and
straight to eternal life, and few there be that will find it."
The first resurrection and eternal life, at the coming of
Christ in power and glory, will be much less in number (children
of God in that resurrection) than the majority of Christians
believe.
The true way of salvation, true repentance, true living
faith, and the true way to live in your mind-set and life and
work and words, to be counted as a very child of the Living
God, is expounded in many parts of the Bible.
Nothing could be more important than for you to know this truth.
The true pathway to eternal life, and so be in that first resurrection
and have Jesus say to you, "Well done, thou good and faithful
servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord."
With Christ as our leader and guide, with all the great
examples of living faith to read about in the Bible, we should
then lift up out hands that may hang down, and strengthen our
weak knees, walk in the straight and good path, less we become
lame and end up on the broad pathway into the ditch of death.
We are to follow peace with all men, and also holiness, for
without those two ingredients in our Christian foundation, we
shall not see God (verses 12-14).
Tied in with peace is "bitterness" - bitterness is not a
part of peace, you cannot have true peace, cannot exhibit true
peace, if your mind and heart is filled with bitterness.
Bitterness will lead you away from the grace of God. Bitterness
can KILL you. Here in verse 15, is proof that you CAN fall from
grace, that you are not "once saved always saved" - that once on
the road to salvation you must continue on that road, you must
walk it to the end, endure to the end as Jesus said in the
Gospels, and then you will be saved.
There are many things that can take you off that straight
and narrow pathway to eternal life. If you are reading the New
Testament from cover to cover, you will read about many of those
things that can lead you away from God, back into spiritual death
- BITTERNESS is certainly one of them. Even for your own peace
of mind in this physical life, bitterness needs to be rooted out.
If you are bitter over anything that mankind has done to you, go
to God and cry out to Him for help to cleanse your mind of hate
and bitterness. When you have put bitterness away from your mind,
you will begin to feel the love and peace of God. You will feel a
pleasant calm and happy and tranquil mind, life will be joyful
and abundant. Jesus said, "My peace I leave with you" and "I am
come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly."
All this needs to be done so we do not end up like Esau -
bitterness eating him away like a cancer, after he was sorry he
sold his birthright. He was not able to find true repentance, so
was cut off from a real and living connection with God. He shed
tears over his loss, but it was not tears of genuine godly
repentance, but tears of human sorrow, that when the rubber hits
the road, does not move the car in the right direction towards
God and eternal life. Paul warns us NOT to be an Esau (verse
16-17).
Paul reminds us that we are not coming to a physical
mountain, with physical fire, blackness of smoke, the sound of a
trumpet, and the voice of words, which the Israelites
entreated Moses to have stop. That sight at that mount Sinai was
so terrible that even Moses quaked in his boots. But it is not a
mighty physical sight to come before, but we come to mount Zion
in heaven, unto the heavenly city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. We come
before the general assembly of the church of the Firstborn from
the dead, those whose names as written in the book of life. We
come before the Judge of all, and to the very spirits of just men
made perfect. We come before Jesus the mediator of the New
Covenant, and the true blood that portends much more than any
blood of animals such as Abel killed, or anyone killed
(verses 18-24).
The last words of verse 23 show the truth that humans do
have a "spirit" that does indeed go back to God in heaven at our
death (see also Ecc.12:7). Mankind is far greater than the animal
kind. Science can look at the human brain, science can discover
what parts of the human brain are used for various functions of
the human body, such as speech. Science can look at the make-up
of the human brain and different animal brains, put them side by
side and compare. Science has discovered that human kind has
about 30,000 genes that make what we are, but science has also
discovered that the small fruit fly has about the same number of
genes we humans have. When it all come to it, the physical
science of humans and none-humans does NOT show why we are so
much superior than none-human life. Nothing in the physical world
can compare to the normal mind of mankind. Not one or a million
animals (any you wish to name) can be given one or a million
Computers and put together the words of the Bible or the
Encyclopedia Britannica.
We do have a "special" something - what the Bible calls
"spirit in man" that united with our physical brains, makes us
human kind next to the angel kind and the God kind. That spirit
in man does not work independent of the physical brain, as we
clearly see when someone damages the brain, and looses the
ability to speak, or think or reason etc. as the "normal" person
does. This spirit in man is NOT some kind of immortal soul that
goes on thinking, reasoning, acting, talking, walking, after
death, in either heaven or hell, as much of popular Christianity
teaches. But the spirit in man does record the inner character
and personality (sin cleansed away through the blood of Christ)
of each person, and does return to God in heaven upon death. The
spirit in man is then perfect, sinless, as it is preserved in
heaven by God. That spirit of man will become united again with
the glorified resurrected person. Paul will still be Paul, David
will still be David, Abraham will still be Abraham, Moses will
still be Moses etc. etc. in the resurrection. Jesus was still
Jesus after His resurrection. Each of us will still be the person
we are in the resurrection, but we shall be perfect and righteous
and holy in mind, as God the Father and Christ Jesus are. We
shall be as they are, not even being able to be tempted with sin.
And indeed what FREEDOM that will be, what GLORY that will be,
what HOLINESS that will be!
Jesus, we have seen is the mediator of the New Covenant. He
is our High Priest, He is interceding for us. He knows what it is
like to be human, He was tempted in all points as we are, but
remained sinless. But He knows the daily fight we have against
sin, the world and Satan. A large part of this epistle has to do
with how much GREATER the High Priest of Jesus is than the
physical human priests of a physical Temple in a physical
city.
We must then NOT REFUSE Him that speaks to us from heaven.
There was a penalty for the Israelites if they refused to listen
to the leaders and judges of Israel, so Paul says, how much more
a punishment if we refuse Him that speaks to us from heaven.
That same person who ordained the judges of Israel and gave the
Ten Commandments in audible form at Mount Sinai, when His voice
shook the earth, will once more not only shake the earth but
heaven also. Things that can be shaken will be shaken, at that
time, but things not shakable (spiritual and divine and holy)
will remain unshakable. The Kingdom of God is one of those
unshakable things. We can inherit it, we shall inherit it,
so Paul says, we need to continue in the grace of God, whereby we
can serve God acceptably and do this all in reverence and godly
fear, for we need to remember God is a consuming fire (verses
24-29).
The Christian child of the Father needs to remember that God
will consume the wicked with fire. There is coming a judgment
day. The Bible talks about it again and again. Jesus in the
Gospels talked about it many times. He warned many of the
religious leaders of His day, "How shall you escape the fire of
hell." The Almighty wants everyone to repent and to saved. He
does not want any to perish. But those who, after being given
a clear opportunity for salvation, who will NOT repent, then the
gracious, loving heavenly Father will be left with no choice but
to destroy the wicked in the fires of gehenna or hell.
You need to remember that, but that said, I want to say that
you can repent, there is NOTHING you have done, thought, or said,
that makes it impossible for God, through Christ, to forgive,
unless it is the sin of you not willing to repent. There is no
need for you to die for eternity, there is no need for the Most
High to be a consuming fire to you. If you have not already done
so, admit you are a sinner, REPENT of those sins, take Jesus
and His shed blood as your personal Savior. Come to the heavenly
Jerusalem, to God the Father, to the church of the Firstborn from
the dead, come to the spirits of just men made perfect, and
ensure your place in the Kingdom of God.
..........................................
Written in the Spring of 2007
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