Chapter Introduction
In the last chapter, we repeatedly saw that the events in the lives of the people of faith were played out to reveal the intent of an awesome God. The events reveal the intent. Through life's circumstances, sorrows, and afflictions, we see the devotion and commitment of the people of God. That commitment and devotion reveal who God is and the role that He played in their lives.
Now, all the words of this book of Hebrews were originally written to a group of Jewish believers. The words of this letter were to correct them, to stop them from traveling down the wrong path, and to correct their course. The letter was written to line them back up, encourage them, energize them, and send them on their way so that they may continue on in their life, abiding in the Lord and walking by faith regardless of what was happening.
As I wonder about these believers and what they were feeling, I find it easy to identify with what we humans see as the futility of life. It's for us to identify with life situations that cause us pain and all we want is for the pain to go away. All we want is for things to be right. Yet, try as we might we can't always fix what's broken because we live in a fallen world. For these Hebrews, the source of the pain was persecution for their belief in Christ. They came to a simple conclusion that if they could separate themselves from Jesus, their pain would go away. And while they may have got some temporal relief in the flesh there was no way parting from Jesus could bring a good result to any life. Instead, the answer is found through endurance by faith. By faith, we stay in the race, and we press on, even though it is painful and doesn't seem to make sense, even if we don't see some payoff to what we endure.
Hebrews 12:1-2
'Therefore' is drawing a conclusion from all that has been presented. The life story of every man and woman of faith in the bible stands as testimony for us. And we can add the life story of every man and woman of faith that's had any influence on your life. Because of their faith, these folks stand as testimony for us. We've talked about these people and recognized who they are and what they've done. We've looked at the role of faith in their lives knowing that we can and should be encouraged to press on in our life story of faith.
The walk of faith is difficult at times. Not because God made it hard for us. The promises are right and true. They are simple. The gospel is a very basic concept. The walk of faith is difficult because of our sinful nature. We want the promises but we want them now. We want things to turn our way. We want to control our circumstances and our lives. And if it is not the way we like it, our complaint goes to God. Nowhere in the bible does it say our life walking with Christ will be pain-free. Instead, we are encouraged not to consider the pain as our own but to consider it as sharing in the pain Christ endured. We are bought at a price. Our lives belong to Him. Therefore, the pain we feel, the burden we bear, and the affliction we walk in all belong to Christ.
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. The day we were saved, we were called to enter a race. The first preparation for this race is to lighten our load. No runner burdened down can compete. To prepare to run, any extra weight or burden is removed. Runners don't wear any clothing that could tangle them up. They establish themselves as lightweight and streamlined, fit for the long haul. Some races in the ancient games were run naked.
The lives of all those who have gone before us are examples of how they laid aside every weight.
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 13-16)
To gird up your loins, pull your tunic up between your legs, then pull the front back around to the back, tuck it in, and pull the excess on the sides to the front and tie them. You went from a tunic that could trip you up or bog you down to one being girded up and allowing a person to move freely. To be girded up in your mind is to be unencumbered by the things that take your focus off Jesus.
Unbelief will weigh us down before the race starts. Sin will be a snare to us. A snare is a trap that keeps an animal captive. Sin snares our spiritual life and keeps us in bondage, unable to even begin the race. The cords of sin cause us to trip and stumble and even lose our direction. Imagine trying to begin a race with your shoelaces tied together. Many times Christians complain about the state of their faith and their walk with the Lord while they completely ignore that they've stumbled themselves with sin. They're trying to race with their feet in a snare. Trying to race this way will be frustrating and a failure. When you stumble and trip, when you feel the pain, many times, it is easy to feel as though you should just quit. Satan works diligently to ensnare us, to drag us down, and to discourage us. It's so easy to get caught up in it and become discouraged. If we stop, Satan wins. That's why we need the testimony of those who have gone before us.
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. The race of a Christian is a lifelong race. It's a marathon and must be approached that way. A marathon runner will set a direction and pace and seek to maintain that. Anything that might interfere with the runner is set aside or corrected.
The Hebrews that first read this letter were thinking about quitting the race. They started the race in a sprint, but when the prize didn't come quickly and easily, they were disillusioned. They thought they could stop running, find rest, and get away from the discomfort of the race. They thought they would step away from Jesus and hold onto their standing with God. That's like hoping to win a race without running all the way to the end. That's not possible.
We know the same holds true for those that never start running. There is nothing passive about the encouragement we are reading here. You can't stand on the sidelines of Christianity and claim you are in the race. The race takes commitment. It is an effort on our part. We are to be fully and actively engaged in the race and all that the race entails.
Therefore, we run totally committed, with absolute devotion to the Lord. Yet, in every life, there are times when your commitment will waver. That's when we are tempted to sin in unbelief. When we get to the book of James, he's going to tell us about double-minded people, saying they are unstable. They ask, but doubt. They believe but cower in fear. They gird up their loins but never run.
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. (1 Corinthians 9:24-25)
We are to run the race like we mean it. We are to run the race with all we have, giving our all and running in such a way as to obtain the prize.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance. We don't just run. We run with endurance, keeping our pace for life. We run all the way to the end and even finish strong. Do you know how to build up endurance? You keep after it every day, refusing to stop, no matter what!! You build up endurance by enduring. You refuse to stop, making a declaration of your mind to your body. The race is won first in the mind, so it must be girded up, as Peter said.
Anyone talking about a race in the days this letter was written would automatically think of the games held in Greece, either in Athens or Corinth. These games were the forerunners to what we know as the Olympics. The runners all came to run the same race, the same course, and the same distance.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians that if you were going to compete to win, then you had to be temperate in all things. The term “temperate” was the manner in which the athletes trained for many months prior. For the athletes in Corinth, their preparation for the games included not eating unwholesome food, drinking wine, or any sexual indulgence. The temperate were self-governed or self-controlled. They were willing to do anything and everything to make sure they would compete at peak performance. All they did or didn’t do was to benefit them in the race. Their life was about the race so that in the end, they might win the prize.
Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. (1 Corinthians 9:25-26)
For the athletes in this writer's day, if, after all that training, they won, they received a crown. They stepped before the herald or judge of the race, and he announced their name and the town from which they came, much like the Olympics today. They stepped forward to the podium to get their prize. These guys gave their all for a tree branch rolled into a crown. We run our race for something much greater, something eternal. That's what we have to take from this passage.
Paul, as well as the writer of Hebrews, which could have been Paul, wants us to be like these athletes and our pursuit of the Lord to be like a race. All we say, all we do, all our life should have Christ at the center. We are to be temperate so we might run our race strong all the way to the end and receive the prize.
Life is a rat race. Everyone is chasing a prize of some sort. Everyone is in pursuit of an award. Many chase after the prize, having never entered into any race whatsoever. Spiritual ignorance and apathy are far more common than commitment or devotion. If you don't know and don't care about eternal things, your life will be spent racing after the desires of the flesh, hoping to find some satisfaction.
As we run, it's important for us to remember we don't just run for the sake of running. We don't just run any old race, and we don't get to choose our race. We are to run, with endurance, the race that is set before us. The race set before you is the circumstances of your life. These circumstances start with your parents and end when you leave this life. Everything in between is the course in which your race is run. This means every one of our races is different and very personal, and we don't know when it will end.
The writer of Hebrews uses the word agon in verse 1. Let us run with endurance the Agon (race) that is set before us. We get our word agonize from this word. The agon was a place of assembly. It's where the battle was to take place. It's interesting that we can associate this race(the agon) with agony.
One of the definitions for Agony is this: The final stages of a difficult or painful death. When we come to Christ, we are born anew, a new creature in Christ. Yet, we are stuck in the struggle with the body of flesh that doesn't want to die. Our remaining days after we come to Christ end up being the final stages of a difficult or painful death. When this body dies, our race will be over, and we will step into eternity with God.
Some go through the agon of life without that hope. They are engaged in a rat race that goes nowhere. I don't want to imagine the agonies of this life without Christ as an eternal hope.
When we enter the agon with Christ, we enter into a battle against sin, the ways of the world, against Satan. It’s not running ‘a’ race but running ‘the’ race. We are to set our minds to it, set a pace, and accept nothing less than our very best for Him.
This race is run by faith. We are successful in our race when we are disciplined and focused and give our all to Him. We enter in with an unwavering commitment, never looking back, with no plans or ideas of quitting, slowing down, or resting. You can't race strong if you are looking back. Jesus said:
“No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)
The race is to live life Christ-centered, no matter what the cost. It's difficult, yes. Christ didn't say it would be easy. When we profess Christ as Lord, we give our rights to lordship. We confess that we are bought and paid for. We've surrendered to His desire for our life. Our response might be, I'm not fit to run, I'm not cut out for a marathon, I'm not strong enough or equipped. Maybe you feel you lack the metal or the fortitude to do such a thing. To this, the writer says, run your race......(Hebrews 12:2) 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.
Jesus ran the hard race, so you don't have to. He did the hard work. In his work on the cross, he became the author of our faith. It is in Him that all the promises made to us can happen. It is in Him that our salvation is true and sure. We don't run the race hoping for a good outcome. We run our race knowing we've already won the prize. That should give us great encouragement. We can't lose.
For the Hebrew Christians, this was a spiritual kick in the seat. They were shown all the theological and doctrinal reasons why they should never distance themselves from Christ. Then, they were shown a bunch of people who endured much worse all the way to the end. These guys were essentially told to look at what Jesus endured, then quit their whining and get back in the race. That's the kind of swift kick I need from time to time.
Many years back, Bev and I ran a lot. Before we ran, we prepared. We put on shorts and good running shoes, we stretched, and we took on water. Some of the prep was physical, most was mental. We set our minds to what we were about to do. Then we ran. And we rarely stopped for any reason. We set our minds and focused on our goal. We set a pace and gave no thought to slowing down, stopping, or turning back. When I wanted to quit, I didn’t because Bev encouraged me and inspired me. If she was dragging, I did the same. We raced together.
I once ran an 8-mile race once on the 4th of July. It was one of the most grueling things I’d ever done. I had run 6-7 miles numerous times, but never 8. Since it was in July it was hot. By the time I hit the eighth mile, I was mind-numbed. Between the exhaustion, the sun beating down, and the heat, I wasn't sure I could finish. I remember feeling lonely. It was me, the road, and my determination to continue.
The course looped around the lake and came back to where it started. I assumed the finish was at the end of a long, flat area on the shoreline right where we started. As I approached, there were no people but a sign showing the course continued to the right. The finish line was another 1/4 mile, the last half of which was up a hill you could barely walk up, let alone run. I remember the disappointment of knowing I couldn't make it. I had nothing left. I didn't want to walk. I wanted to run to the finish. I was nearly broken because I knew I couldn't make it. I was about to stop when I came over a little rise approaching the turn to go up this killer hill to the finish. Suddenly, I heard people cheering and clapping for me. It actually startled me for a minute. I wondered who they were cheering for. They were yelling, you can do it, just a little longer, keep it up, you got it, almost there. Encouragement has an amazing effect when we are in agony. That encouragement carried me on. Suddenly, there was no pain. There was only the finish line. There was some reserve in me I wasn't aware of, that had never been tapped before. I didn't just finish, I ran the race to the end. I broke into a sprint, all the way to the end. Then I fell down. Then I rested, knowing I finished well.
Life is a race. The race is a marathon. It will wear you out. You will weaken and want to quit. While our faith is very personal, between each of us and God, we all run a similar race. There is nothing we face that is new or unique. The obstacles of the race have been the same forever.
There is a great cloud of witnesses cheering you on. We can be encouraged by their testimony. They know all about what you are facing and what you are going through. Knowing they finished well, cheers us on. They are encouraging you. What a great day that will be when we meet these witnesses face to face; some for the first time, for some it will be a reunion.
When a runner runs long distances, they learn to play games in their mind to overcome the desires of the flesh. You tell yourself you can’t quit. It’s not allowed. You never look farther than a couple of steps so as not to be discouraged by how much is before you. You become a machine with direction, pace, and determination. All the while, your body is screaming for rest. You say no, not yet. Not this step, not the next. I have a job to do and I won’t quit, I won’t quit, I refuse to quit. And you continue on.
The beautiful thing about our race is we all have a church family. We run alongside each other. We run alongside the broken and weak. We encourage the weary. We cheer each other on so we might all stay in the race to the end.
The end of our race is just around the corner, maybe closer than we know. Remember this great cloud of witnesses that are just out of sight. They are cheering you on. When we cross the line, there will be no reason to have anything left. We should arrive in heaven, completely spent for Christ. At the last beat of our heart, at our last breath, we want to speak the words Paul spoke in 2 Timothy 4: 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Hebrews 12:3-6
If you don't have your eyes on Jesus, it is easy to become weary and discouraged. These Hebrew believers had endured hostility, and their only consideration was what it meant to them and how it affected them. They had made their suffering out to be some personal woe on them. They wore this suffering as if it entitled them to some special treatment, even to the point of thinking this was so bad they could part from Jesus and still have a relationship with God. They couldn’t imagine God had ordained suffering for them. We always imagine God wants us to be comfortable and content.
Here, these guys thought they had it bad, and the writer says you haven't even bled yet. The writer quotes Proverbs 3, verses 11-12:
“ 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.”
Let's define a few things. Chastening is education and training as it relates to our heavenly Father's dealings with adult children. It's correcting our mistakes, curbing our passions, and teaching us how to deal with life in this world. Our chastening is proof that God loves us. He scourges every son. Scourging is an affliction. This is saying God uses affliction to correct us and train us.
We are being trained and educated in our race. If we get off course, our Father in heaven loves us enough to correct us. What kind of father would let you run off in the ditch or run the wrong race and never correct you?
Hebrews 12:7-11
It is normal for a Father to train a son. And it is just as normal for our heavenly Father to discipline us if we are sons of God. This means we'll all go through some stuff in life. If you weren't going through these kinds of things, then you should be concerned. Then it would be time to look at who you call father. No one that is in Christ and in this body is beyond chastening or correction.
What these Hebrews saw as a bad time in their life, brought on by identifying with Christ, was really a correction, discipline, or growth that was coming from being a Christian. It came because something was out of kilter. That's what's been detailed all the way through this book. They had a low view of God, they even worshiped angels. The suffering was the chastening and the correction by the way of the Holy Spirit through this letter.
When we go through stuff in life, instead of focusing just on the way out, running away, or even looking to God strictly for deliverance, maybe we should be looking to the Lord and finding out how we are to grow through the circumstances we are in. How is God training you today for the challenges that may be coming later in life? If you are running a race and there are hills to run up, you don't train by running downhill all the time. If you want to make it up steep hills, you have to train on steep hills. The race isn't always downhill in the sunshine with the wind on your back. In fact, many times, it seems like it is uphill in the rain with a tornado headwind.
Why would we pay attention and take correction from our earthly Father but not from our Heavenly Father? We should respect the correction of our heavenly Father more because it is perfect and has eternal consequences. We should place our lives in His care and then respond in subjection to Him, not running away from correction but receiving it, accepting its purpose for our life.
Being a child of God means we will be corrected by our Father. No one will argue that these times of chastening can be unpleasant. Being on the painful end of correction is no fun. But, after that season of chastening, we are better for it. The correction does its work. It yields its fruit in our life, bringing us into line with the Lord, creating a rightness or righteousness with God.
Just like we train on hills to run hills, we receive chastening to endure this race we are running all the way to the end. Those who are trained by chastening learn to endure. The word for "trained" at the end of verse 11 is gymnazo. You can hear the word gymnastics in it. This is an athletic word that goes with the idea of running a race. It means you go through the agony of training so you can build up your endurance to race all the way to the end.
Hebrews 12:12-13
The “Therefore” marks this as a conclusion. Since you know this chastening is normal and even good for you, there are some things to consider. Jesus is a help for the weary. You can sort of picture this man beat down and downtrodden. His hands hang at his side, His knees are feeble. He is not the guy we would think of as running a race. To the discouraged, the writer says that enduring hardship is a sign that God is working on us. He is growing you in holiness. He is coaching you so that you exceed expectations. He is pushing you out of your comfort zone.
To the discouraged Christian, the writer is saying: It's time to suck it up, receive instruction and get back in the race. Others are watching you. You've received the testimony of a great cloud of witnesses, now it's time to become one of those witnesses. Strengthen yourself, stand upright, present yourself to the Lord, and run.
Hebrews 12:14-17
The purpose of the correction from the father is to get these guys back in the race and pursue peace and holiness. He said to pursue peace with all men and holiness with God. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. Are we striving to be holy? Holiness is being set apart, being consecrated. This is being dedicated to the service of God. We are to pursue this. There is no room in this for any selfishness or self-preservation. All pride is laid aside. We are consecrated for Him and in Him. It's not a consecration as long as it goes as we think it should, as long as it is comfortable, or if I agree with the level of discomfort. I'm consecrated in the race set before me.
If there are things in our lives that cause pain, they are God's way of growing us. We should pay attention and be good students, so we don't have to learn painful things more than once. That's what a healthy relationship with men and God would look like.
And we are cautioned here that a root of bitterness can spring up. This might be bitterness against another person who you feel has wronged you or maybe being bitter toward God over some chastening in your life. Many people stumble at this they become defiled.
Being defiled is the opposite of being consecrated. Defiled is being joined with the world. One who was consecrated was found in the Temple. The defiled were outside the camp, on the outside with the world. You can't be in a good relationship with the Lord and be defiled. It won't work. Bitterness toward your fellow man will make your relationship with the Lord bitter. Bitterness brings a bitter fruit from your life, and that is falling short of the grace of God.
Verse 15 calls for purity in attitude in your relationship. Then verse 16 calls us to a moral pursuit:;
lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. This also is the person who falls short of the grace of God. Esau despised his birthright and traded it for something to satisfy his flesh for a short time.
For those who are born again, our birthright is an abiding relationship with the Lord. To trade that relationship because we want to act immoral, to please our flesh for a time is to trade something eternal and of great value for something low and fleeting and, in a short time, forgettable. After Esau did this, he, in essence, cried, it's not fair. After he got his short-term satisfaction with the things of the world, he decided he wanted the inheritance also. However, God rejected that kind of thinking because he wasn't repentant. He was simply sorry for having made a bad choice.
With all we know about these Hebrew Christians, we can apply this to them. The writer likens them to Esau in that they would walk away from Jesus to satisfy their flesh, finding temporary relief from the discomfort of persecution. In doing so, they were trading away their birthright of an abiding relationship with the Lord. A time would come when the persecution was gone, and they would be sorry for walking away. All that would be left is a root of bitterness and anger with no way of recovering the blessing that was lost.
Don't let Satan use the chastening of the Lord to throw you off course on your race. Satan would have you believe you are going through bad times because God is angry at you or that He has abandoned you, but the opposite is true. He loves you and is growing you. He is guiding you and training you through your race.
Hebrews 12:18-21
This is the first part of an amazing contrast. This passage is about Mount Sinai, where God gave the law to Moses. God seemed distant, and the people were frightened and threatened by God's holiness. The mountain melted as if there were a great fire. There was lightning and thunder, and the mountain shook. The people didn't dare even touch the mountain of God. People didn’t want to hear what was said, and Moses was fearful.
Mt Sinai represents the law. In it, we see God's perfect standard. This frightens men because we come face to face with the awesomeness of God. In the presence of God, men realize they can't abide there because of their sins. But, verse 18 says, that's not what we've come to.
Which begs the question, why would you run back to that?
Hebrews 12:22-24
Mount Sinai was marked by fear and terror, Mount Zion is a place of love and forgiveness. Mount Sinai is in the barren desert, Mount Zion is the city of the Living God. Mount Sinai spoke of earthly things. Mount Zion speaks of heavenly things. At Mount Sinai, only Moses was allowed to draw near to God. At Mount Zion, countless angels, the general assembly, and the church are invited to draw near. Mount Sinai was characterized by guilty men in fear. Mount Zion features just men made perfect. At Mount Sinai, Moses was the mediator. At Mount Zion, Jesus is the mediator. Mount Sinai brings an Old Covenant, which was ratified by the blood of animals. That's the reference to Able. Mount Zion brings a New Covenant, which is ratified by the blood of God’s precious Son. Mount Sinai was all about exclusion, keeping people away from the mountain. Mount Zion is all about invitation. Mount Sinai is all about Law. Mount Zion is all about grace.
Hebrews 12:25-27
These folks were living in a time of grace as we are. Standing in Mt Zion under grace is a more pleasant place for us than in Mt Sinai under law. But even under grace we can't forget Mt Sinai. If we forget Mt. Sinai, we’ll lose sight of how amazing grace is.
We can't forget what God expects. He hasn't changed. Rebellion in Mt Zion is no different than rebellion at Mt Sinai. Both are rebellions against God. So, we can't refuse when God speaks to us, corrects us, and chastens us. The voice of God shook the earth at Mt Sinai, and the people trembled. God gave instructions, and the people rebelled.
Jesus is the voice of God that shakes the earth in the days of the New Covenant. He instructs us through the Bible and the Holy Spirit. We should hear those words and heed them because the shaking hasn't stopped.
The writer quotes Haggai, "Yet once more I shake not only the earth but also heaven." These Hebrews saw the shaking going on in their day, and we can certainly see it today.
All that is not eternal will be shaken so that only eternal things remain.
Hebrews 12:28-29
We pictured the man who wasn't running the race. His legs were weak, his hands feeble. His confidence was shaken. He's tired, beat up, run-down, and ready to quit. To these people, the writer says, it's time to get back in the race. Don't let Satan use chastening to ensnare you, to tangle you up so you are too discouraged to run. God is building you up. Our heavenly Father is coaching you in your race.
These men were to be thankful for the grace they had received. They were instructed to pursue peace, guard their morality, have healthy relationships with both God and Man, watch out for any root of bitterness, and remember that each person is called to holiness.
God is unchanging. The consuming fire of Mt Sinai is a picture of our god. Jesus Stood in the gap for us. Jesus stood before the consuming fire and ministered on our behalf. He took the wrath we deserve so that we might have the righteousness of Christ.
© 2011 Doug Ford, Updated and revised 2019,2024
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