'Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.' Hebrews 12:1

Review

In our last study we examined Hebrews 11:23-40. The author illustrated again that men and women of faith have one characteristic in common: obedience to God's Word. In verses 23-29, the writer reflected upon the life of faith led by Moses. He left the power and prestige of being identified with Pharaoh's daughter to become the leader of the enslaved Israelites. WI Because '...he was looking to the reward' (vs 26). God accomplished many things through the faith and obedience of Moses (vs : 29).

Verses 30-31 illustrated the role of faith in the conquering of Jericho. The writer said, 'By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for 7 days.' Again we saw the truth that through faith and obedience, God accomplishes His purposes. In verses 32-34, the writer summarized the works through faith that had been accomplished throughout history by Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. He said 'who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight' (vs: 33-34)

In verses 35-38, we are told of those, who by faith, endured various trials. They not only obeyed God, they persevered until the end. Finally, in verses 39-40, the writer made a point that these men and women had great faith even though they never saw the realization of the promise of God. Therefore we have no excuse for our lack of faith. After all, 'God provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect' (vs 40). We have no excuse because we have the full revelation of God through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Our faith, like the faith of the men and women illustrated by the writer, should be unshakable.

Hebrews 12: 1-17

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 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. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 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; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.' 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? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 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? For the disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He {disciplines us} for {our} good, that we may share His holiness. 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. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, 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. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification on without which no one will see the Lord. 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; that {there be} no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a {single} meal. 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.

VERSES 1-3

The writer brings everything we have learned in Hebrews to a point in 12:1-3. In verse one he says, 'Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let run with endurance the race that is set before us.' The word 'run' is in the present tense, meaning it is an activity that we are to be continually pursuing. The writer is saying that Christianity is not something that you start running in, and then decide 'It's time for a rest.' We are to be continually running in the 'race' (literally 'struggle'). How are we to run the race? The writer outlines four keys to the success of our running. First, we must run 'with endurance.' This tells us that our race isn't going to be easy. This is not like a 50 yard dash. It is a marathon. In order to succeed, we need to have patience perseverance, and remain steadfast in our faith. These are the characteristics of one who has 'endurance.' Do you know how long a believer has to run the race? We run until God retires us. It is not a relay race, where we hand off a baton to another runner. It is not a series of different races. It is one race that we are continually running for our entire lifetime on earth.

How can we know that running a successful race is possible? The writer says, 'Since we have so great a cloud of witness surrounding us.' Our proof lies in the examples of Moses, Abraham, David, and all the other men and women we studied in Hebrews 11.

The writer continues, '...Let us lay aside every encumbrance.' It makes sense that if we are going to run a race, we would get rid of everything that would hinder our efforts right? This is the same phrase it is used by Paul when he urges us to take off the old self and put on the new self (Ephesians 4:22-24). The word 'encumbrance' literally means 'bulk', or 'mass.' The idea is that we are to get rid anything excess that would slow us down in our race. What becomes an encumbrance to Christians? The writer says, '...sin which so easily entangles us... .' Literally, this is sin that 'wraps' itself around us, like a long, flowing robe. If we were going to run a race, we wouldn't wear a long bathrobe would we? It wouldn't be long until we were entangled and could no longer run. In the context of this passage, the sin the writer is specifically referring to is unbelief, which the root of other sin. When we let the pressure get to us and we begin think, 'I can't trust God and I've got to revert back to my old system, change to a new one,' we are letting our sin of unbelief entangle us.

VERSE 2

Verse 2 gives us the pattern for our running. We are to be '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 idea is we are to 'look away' from the things that distract us and fix our eyes on Jesus. He is the one we are to pattern our lives after. We don't fix our eyes on Abel, we don't fix our eyes on Abraham, we don't fix our eyes on Moses. We fix our eyes on Jesus Christ. Why? Because He is the 'author and perfecter of faith.' 'Author' has three meanings: chief or prince, leader or pioneer, and author or source. In the context of this passage, Christ is the 'leader,' or 'pioneer' of our faith.

As the pioneer of faith, Christ was also the 'perfecter' of faith. Literally, He brought faith to 'completion.' Jesus Christ, through the accomplishments of His death, His blood, His resurrection, and His exultation to the right hand of the Father, brought faith to completion. He alone is a worthy example of faith. Why? He believed and obeyed the Father in every circumstance.

How do we know that fixing our eyes on Jesus will give us the endurance we need? The writer says that Christ, 'for the joy set before Him endured the cross.' The writer is making the point that no amount of persecution we suffer can match the endurance Christ needed to endure the cross. When we think 'I've had enough.

I just can't take it anymore. No one has gone through what I've gone through,' we are to focus our eyes on Jesus. Not one of us has had endure what He did, yet we complain about having to endure persecution. We begin to take our eyes off Jesus and say things like, Yeah, but so and so doesn't have it as hard as I do.' The problem is, 'so and so' isn't the 'author and perfecter' of our faith, Jesus is. We are to keep our eyes fixed only on Him because He has endured 'the cross.'

Christ is the perfect example of how we are to run the race because He Himself ran 'for the joy set before Him.' The 'joy set before Him' was the accomplishing of redemption and being seated at the right hand of the Father. This is what He had His eyes fixed upon. He knew He could endure the cross because of what followed the cross. Philippians 2:8-11 says,'...He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' As believers, our eyes are to be fixed on the ultimate goal: completing the race and being in the presence of our Lord for eternity. We have to remind ourselves that persecution is nothing compared to the day that we will see our Lord face to face. When we have that as our focus, we will not be distracted and dragged down by sin that wraps itself around us.

Christ knows full well what accompanies endurance. The writer says He '...endured the cross, despising the shame.' What accompanies endurance? Shame, rejection, persecution, and ridicule. The word 'despising' means to 'despise, scorn, to deal with contempt, to care nothing for, to disregard, or to be unafraid of.' Christ wasn't afraid of dealing with shame. If we are going to have His endurance we must be able to disregard shame as well. How do we do that? We keep our eyes focused on Him. Tragically, many of us try to compromise enough so that we don't come into any situation where we won't encounter the shame before the world. We want the world to love and respect us. But we can't run the race with endurance, and be the runner God wants us to be if we don't put ourselves in a position where we are 'despising the shame.' Imagine that you went to a mall with your jogging clothes on and ran up and down the mall all day long, while everyone else shopped. They would think, 'That guy is nuts!' Do you see the analogy? We are running a race while the world stands still, and if we are running correctly, we will be different from the world. Remember back in 11:38, those of faith were not very popular to the world. The result of Christ running a perfect race before us is that He '...sat down at the right hand of God.' He has entered into that joy that was set before Him. This is the pattern for us as well. After we run the race, we will enter into that joy. But the problem is that we often want that joy right now. We say, 'I've been a believer for a long time now. 'I've run my share of the race, and now it's time for me to rest.' That is not the proper attitude for a believer to have. We are to follow the 'example of Jesus, running the race with our eyes fixed on our heavenly reward. Remember, Jesus has experienced everything that we have experienced, and when we keep our eyes fixed on Him, He gives us the endurance to keep running the race.

VERSE 3

Verses 3 summarizes this section of chapter 12. The writer says, 'For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.' Again, we are to 'consider' or 'reckon with' the fact that Christ 'endured' persecution and hostility against Himself. We are to keep our attention focused on Him. When do this, we will 'not grow weary and lose heart.'

We are commanded to consider Christ because when we don't we 'grow weary,' or 'become slack.' We begin to lose our concentration, and we become distracted. But instead of giving us opportunity to rest, it causes us to 'lose heart.' We become weary and are no longer able to run the race. We literally become 'weary of soul' and lose interest in participating in the race at all. The only way to correct ourselves is to get back in easily right? No, we must immediately focus our eyes on Him 100% of the time. We must 'consider Him' and run the race according to His instructions.

Are you running the race according to His instructions? Have come to the point in your life where you trusted in the person and the work of Jesus Christ for your salvation? If you have, you have all the tools necessary to run the race with endurance. You need only to fix your eyes on Him, and he will give you the endurance needed until you reach the finish line and receive the heavenly reward.

VERSE 4

Beginning in verse 4, the writer emphasizes the point that the Hebrews have not suffered as much as they think they have. He says 'You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.' The Hebrews thought that they had so much pressure and persecution that they were considering reverting to Judaism, but the writer is saying, 'You haven't suffered to the point of death. You haven't been nailed to a cross to pay the penalty for the sins of the world. Your haven't suffered like Jesus Christ suffered.' When we begin to experience pressure and persecution, we sometimes consider reverting back to our old ways to alleviate that pressure. None of us has suffered like Jesus Christ, yet all of us have at one time or another, looked for a way to ease some of the agony and struggle of Jesus Christ and soon we are no longer running the race according to His pattern and instruction.

VERSE 5

The writer continues in verse 5; '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; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son he receives.' ' The writer exhorts the Hebrews not to forget what had been written centuries earlier in the book of Proverbs. It is interesting that the writer says, 'addressed to you as sons. ' Although the book of Proverbs was written long before any of these Hebrews had lived, the writer says it is 'addressed you,' illustrating the fact that the Word of God never changes, and is absolutely appropriate for anyone who reads it at any time. He then calls them 'sons.' We who are 'sons' of God need understand that our position entails certain unpleasant things and discipline is one of them. You may have heard certain preachers television saying, 'Believe in Christ, and your problems will go away.' That is true in one sense, because we are saved from the penalty eternal punishment, but according to scripture, we still must endure certain things on earth, including God's discipline in our lives.

The writer quotes from Proverbs 3:11-12; 'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faith when your are reproved Him. ' This command is written in the present imperative, meaning it is something we are continually be doing.

First, we must 'not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord.' There is a danger that believers are disciplined by the Lord and they do not take it seriously. The word 'discipline' is the same word that is used for 'child rearing' in a family context. It involves everything that must take place to bring a child of God in to conformity with God's instructions so that he can mature in to an adult. Secondly, we are commanded not to '...faint when you are reproved Him.' This phrase literally means, 'do not be weary or exhausted.' This is what happened to the Hebrews. They took lightly discipline of the Lord and they began to withdraw from it. There attitude was 'We can't go on, we're too exhausted. We're going back to Judaism.' Parents can understand these commands. All too often, when we discipline our children, they carry on like they're going to die the spot. 'What do you say to them?' Usually it is something like, 'OK, that is enough. You'll be alright.' God brought some measure of discipline into the life of the Hebrews and they were acting like it was end of the world. This is why the writer quotes Proverbs. God says the same thing to His children that we do to ours; 'You'd better not start to faint when I discipline you.'

The issue is that God is raising us as His children to bring us into conformity to His Word. He disciplines 'every son' because 'those whom the Lord loves He disciplines.' This helps us put discipline into perspective. Every believer is subject to the discipline of the Lord cause it is necessary for our growth as believers. When we realize this, we appreciate the importance of discipline in our lives.

VERSE 7

The writer develops his explanation of discipline in verse seven. He says, 'It is for discipline that we endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?' When we recognize discipline is part of our maturing process, we are able to 'endure,' and we realize that God is disciplining us because we are His 'sons.' We say, 'This isn't the most pleasant thing, but I know God has to deal with me this way because it is part of the child training process.' The writer then asks the question, 'for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?' As you know, the world says that discipline is wrong, but God's Word proves that a father who disciplines his child loves his child, while a father who does not discipline his child loves only himself. It is important that we, as believers, understand that biblical discipline is necessary. It is God's tool for bringing us into a more mature relationship with Him.

VERSE 8

The writer illustrates that all children of God receive discipline. He says 'But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then your are illegitimate children and not sons.' The writer is saying that if you do not receive discipline, you are not a child of God. This is a very strong statement because he is saying that even if you profess to believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ yet are not disciplined, you do not belong to God at all. The proof is not in the profession of faith, it is in the discipline one receives. We see this truth with our own children as well. When I go out into the neighborhood and see all the children running around, I can spot the parents of these kids by seeing which children they discipline.

VERSE 9

The writer continues this analogy in verse 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?' Again, our earthly fathers gave us discipline, and even though we may not have liked it, we respected them for it. After we become adult lost of us don't look back and say 'I hate my father because he disciplined me.' In fact, after we have children of our own, most of us understand why our parents disciplined us and we, in turn, discipline our own children because we love them. Have you ever witnessed a child who grows up undisciplined? Their lives reflect that lack of discipline into adulthood. They have no direction in their lived, and in turn, they usually fail to discipline their own children. What a tragedy!

If we endure discipline from our earthly fathers and respected them, 'shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live?' If we are subject to our earthly father (father of our flesh), doesn't it make sense that we should be more subject to the Father of our spirit? When we believe and obey Him, he grants us the right to 'live' for eternity. The discipline we endure in our earthly families is not nearly as significant as the discipline we receive from our heavenly Father. When a professing believer says, 'I can't endure this discipline,' and they turn back to their old system (like the Hebrews), are showing disrespect and unbelief towards God.

VERSE 10

The analogy continues in verse 10. The writer says, 'For they (our heavenly fathers) disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.' When an earthly father disciplines his child, it is for a short time compared to the lifetime of that child. And the discipline is not always correct. It is what seems right at the time, but earthly fathers are human, and they make mistakes. Of course, this doesn't mean we shouldn't discipline, it simply means we do what seems right at that particular time.

In contrast, God 'disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.' He never disciplines us too much, or too little. He never disciplines us at the wrong time, or fails to give it at the right time. He disciplines us for our own 'good' even though it may not seem pleasant for us at the time. And over time, we will mature and our conduct and character will reflect 'His holiness.' See also 2 Corinthians 3:18

VERSE 11

Verse 11 is a reminder that God understands. The writer says, '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.' God knows that discipline is not a pleasant experience for a believer, but it serves an ultimate purpose that is very important, and very good for the believer.

Remember, discipline is a training process, just like child training. Result of discipline in the life of a believer is 'the peaceful fruit of righteousness.' The hard lessons of discipline evolve into the conduct that characterizes a mature believer. This is God's reason for discipline. It seems 'sorrowful' at first, but over time, it causes us be more like Him. This is what the Hebrews needed to be reminded of. They might experience discipline because of sin in their lives, or they might experience discipline simply as part of their maturing process. In the end both paths will take them to the same place: the 'fruit of righteousness.'

VERSES 12,13

Beginning in verse 12, the writer lists a series of commands (two in verses 12 and 13, one in verse 14). They can be summarized as 1.) Persist, and 2.) Pursue. He says, 'Therefore (as a result of what he s just said), strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble.' One will note our first responsibility is to 'strengthen.' The picture is of someone who is too exhausted to lift up their arms or feet. The command is to 'strengthen yourself, ' and is written in the present tense (something we are to constantly be doing). How are we to strengthen ourselves if we are too weak to even lift our arms? Remember God's command in 12:5 not to 'faint?' We are to respond the same way when we are weak. We must fix our eyes on Christ and depend only on Him for our strength.

The second command is given in verse 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.' This ties into what the writer said in verse 12. We are to strengthen our hands and feet so that we are able to make a 'straight' path for our feet. Why? So that the 'limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.' This phrase refers to other believers. If we get off the path in our Christian life, those who are weaker in the faith (the lame limb) will be brought to ruin. We need to make ourselves strong so that the path is smooth for those following behind us. This is part of the responsibility we have as believers.
See Proverbs 4:26

VERSE 14

In verse 14 the writer gives another command in the present tense. He says, 'Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.' This is a two-fold command. We are to be continually pursuing 'peace' and 'sanctification.' The writer is addressing those who are thinking about fainting, or are getting weak.

First, they are commanded to diligently pursue 'peace with all men.' Some have said that this literally means all men, believers and nonbelievers alike. But I believe the context points to the fact that the writer is referring to believers only. The writer is reminding Hebrews that if they are not continually pursuing peace among each other, the pressures they encounter will cause a division in fellowship of believers. Pretty soon, people would point fingers another, and blame each other for everything that happened of the peace of the body is lost. We have to ask ourselves the same question. Is our conduct promoting peace among my fellow believers? If need to be sure I am continually pursuing peace.

Secondly the writer commands us to pursue 'sanctification.' This is the same word the writer used in verse 10 when he reminded us that discipline is necessary so that we may pursue 'His holiness.' We are to be diligently pursuing the 'sanctification' of God in our lives. Rather than faint under the pressure, and react in an unholy way, we must allow God's discipline to produce holiness in our lives.

The point is clear: if we are not pursuing 'peace' and 'sanctification' the pressure we encounter will have negative aspects such as division and unholiness on our lives. Understanding that the 'sanctification' the writer refers to is in practice, not position. The moment we believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ we are 'positionally' perfect. We are cleansed of our sin and made perfectly righteous before God. However, the rest of our earthly life is a process of continual conformity to the character of Jesus Christ in our conduct. And every person who has experienced true, saving faith. will indeed be pursuing 'sanctification.' If they are not, they do not truly belong to God. See also 1 Corinthians 1:30, Romans 6:19-22, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 4:7, Thessalonians 2:13

VERSES 15,16 Although it may appear that the writer begins a new section in verse 15, the actual translation adds 'ing' to the word 'See.' When it is read, correctly, verse 15 continues the thought of verse 14. The writer say 'Seeing 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.' Again, this command is in the present imperative. It is something that we are to be continually doing. The phrase 'See to it' is also used in 1 Peter 5:2, referring to those who oversee the body of believers. In Hebrews 12:15, the writer is not referring to elders or bishops, but he is referring to the responsibility every believer has in the operation of the body.

We, as believers, are to be carefully watching over the fellowship of the body of believers. The writer lists three distinct areas in which we are to be paying particular attention. The first area is 'no one comes short of the grace of God.' This is a reference to those who stop short of salvation. They pull up short because of the persecution and pressure, and they return to their old ways. This doesn't mean we are to become detectives and snoops, trying to find out if someone is a 'really believer.' But we are to be watching over the body, and when pressure begins to build, those who are not believers will become obvious. It is our responsibility to make sure that they don't faint and turn away from the revelation of God. The second area the writer highlights is 'no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble'. The writer is referring to Deuteronomy 29:14-19. The picture is of a person who has turned away from the Lord and becomes like a poison plant growing up among the rest of the body. The result if that they defile those they come into contact with. When we see an unbeliever who is bringing in his poison into the body we must make sure we are watching to be sure the poison is not spreading. If it is, we need to weed it out before it corrupts and defiles any part of the body.

Finally, the writer commands 'that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.' The word 'immoral' is the word 'pornos.' It is where we get our word 'pornography.' It is used to mean all kinds of immoral activity. As believers, it is our responsibility to watch over the body to be sure here is no immorality being practiced. This is important to remember in a day when morals are rapidly changing because even though the world changes its standard, God does not change His.

The writer uses Esau as an example of a godless person. He was a profane, ungodly man who 'sold his own birthright' for a bowl bean soup. When one understands how important a birthright was in the time of Esau, one understands how profane this man was. A birthright was the right of the first born to inherit all the spiritual blessings that God promised Abraham through His covenant. But Esau' s spiritual perception was so limited that he sold his spiritual blessings for a bowl of soup. He traded future reward for immediate physical gratification.

The Hebrews were doing the same thing. They were considering trading the future rewards they would have in Christ for an easier life in Judaism. We may say, 'That is foolish! Anyone can see that having future rewards with Christ is more important than temporary satisfaction.' But just think in your own life how many times you have opted for temporary physical gratification instead of enduring persecution and pressure for Christ. We need to keep our eyes on the Lord so that we don't get weak and settle for temporary satisfaction.

It is our responsibility as believers to make sure that immoral persons such as Esau do not cause disruption in the body. That doesn't mean they can't come and hear the revelation of God, but we need to be careful how much they are allowed to take part in the worship service. A profane and godless influence has no part in the body of Christ.

VERSE 17

Verse 17 summarizes the path for those like Esau; '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.' Esau pleaded and pleaded with his father to receive his birthright back, but his father couldn't give it back. Esau even cried because he wanted it so bad, but that didn't change his character. In like manner, once a person refuses to believe in the person and work of Christ, there is no chance for forgiveness. It won't matter how much that person cries on the day of judgment, his chance for salvation has already passed him by.

This is a strong warning to the Jews. They are to be on the look out for those like Esau. These immoral, godless people will sacrifice anything to gain physical gratification, and they will trample spiritual things under foot.