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Hebrews 12

Heb. 12:23 KJV (With Strong’s)

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23

To the general assembly and church of the firstbornk, which are λwrittenl in heaven, and to God the Judgen of all, and to the spirits of just meno made perfect,

k

Rev. 14:4• ⁴These are they who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins: these are they who follow the Lamb wheresoever it goes. These have been bought from men as first-fruits to God and to the Lamb: (Rev. 14:4)

l

Luke 10:20• ²⁰Yet in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subjected to you, but rejoice that your names are written in the heavens. (Luke 10:20)

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or, enrolled.

n

Gen. 18:25• ²⁵Far be it from thee to do so, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that the righteous should be as the wicked--far be it from thee! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Gen. 18:25)

o

1 Cor. 15:49,54• ⁴⁹And as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly one.
⁵⁴But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruptibility, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the word written: Death has been swallowed up in victory. (1 Cor. 15:49,54)

More on:

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Assembly,

Church,

God,

Heaven,

Perfect,

Writing

Cross References

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Ministry on This Verse

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the general.

Psa. 89:7• ⁷*God is greatly to be feared in the council of the saints, and terrible for all that are round about him. (Psa. 89:7)

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Psa. 111:1• ¹Hallelujah! I will celebrate Jehovah with my whole heart, in the council of the upright, and in the assembly. (Psa. 111:1)

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Acts 20:28• ²⁸Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, wherein the Holy Spirit has set you as overseers, to shepherd the assembly of God, which he has purchased with the blood of his own. (Acts 20:28)

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Eph. 1:22• ²²and has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the assembly, (Eph. 1:22)

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Eph. 5:24‑27• ²⁴But even as the assembly is subjected to the Christ, so also wives to their own husbands in everything.
²⁵Husbands, love your own wives, even as the Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it,
²⁶in order that he might sanctify it, purifying it by the washing of water by the word,
²⁷that *he* might present the assembly to himself glorious, having no spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things; but that it might be holy and blameless. (Eph. 5:24‑27)

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Col. 1:24• ²⁴Now, I rejoice in sufferings for you, and I fill up that which is behind of the tribulations of Christ in my flesh, for his body, which is the assembly; (Col. 1:24)

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1 Tim. 3:5• ⁵(but if one does not know how to conduct his own house, how shall he take care of the assembly of God?) (1 Tim. 3:5)

the firstborn.

Ex. 4:22• ²²And thou shalt say to Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah: Israel is my son, my firstborn. (Ex. 4:22)

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Ex. 13:2• ²Hallow unto me every firstborn, whatever breaketh open the womb among the children of Israel, of man and of cattle: it is mine. (Ex. 13:2)

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Deut. 21:17• ¹⁷but he shall acknowledge as firstborn the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that is found with him; for he is the firstfruits of his vigour: the right of the firstborn is his. (Deut. 21:17)

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Psa. 89:27• ²⁷And as to me, I will make him firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. (Psa. 89:27)

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Jer. 31:9• ⁹They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them; I will cause them to walk by water-brooks, in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble; for I will be a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. (Jer. 31:9)

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James 1:18• ¹⁸According to his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that we should be a certain first-fruits of *his* creatures. (James 1:18)

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Rev. 14:4• ⁴These are they who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins: these are they who follow the Lamb wheresoever it goes. These have been bought from men as first-fruits to God and to the Lamb: (Rev. 14:4)

which.

Ex. 32:32• ³²And now, if thou wilt forgive their sin … but if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book that thou hast written. (Ex. 32:32)

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Psa. 69:28• ²⁸Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous. (Psa. 69:28)

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Luke 10:20• ²⁰Yet in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subjected to you, but rejoice that your names are written in the heavens. (Luke 10:20)

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Phil. 4:3• ³yea, I ask thee also, true yokefellow, assist them, who have contended along with me in the glad tidings, with Clement also, and my other fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life. (Phil. 4:3)

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Rev. 13:8• ⁸and all that dwell on the earth shall do it homage, every one whose name had not been written from the founding of the world in the book of life of the slain Lamb. (Rev. 13:8)

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Rev. 20:15• ¹⁵And if any one was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev. 20:15)

written. or, enrolled.

God.

Heb. 6:10‑12• ¹⁰For God is not unrighteous to forget your work, and the love which ye have shewn to his name, having ministered to the saints, and still ministering.
¹¹But we desire earnestly that each one of you shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end;
¹²that ye be not sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience have been inheritors of the promises. (Heb. 6:10‑12)

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Heb. 9:27• ²⁷And forasmuch as it is the portion of men once to die, and after this judgment; (Heb. 9:27)

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Gen. 18:25• ²⁵Far be it from thee to do so, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that the righteous should be as the wicked--far be it from thee! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Gen. 18:25)

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Psa. 50:5‑6• ⁵Gather unto me my godly ones, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice!
⁶And the heavens shall declare his righteousness; for God executeth judgment himself. Selah. (Psa. 50:5‑6)

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Psa. 94:2• ²Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth, render the reward to the proud. (Psa. 94:2)

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Psa. 96:13• ¹³Before Jehovah, for he cometh; for he cometh to judge the earth: he will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness. (Psa. 96:13)

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Psa. 98:9• ⁹Before Jehovah, for he cometh to judge the earth: he will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity. (Psa. 98:9)

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Matt. 25:31‑34• ³¹But when the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit down upon his throne of glory,
³²and all the nations shall be gathered before him; and he shall separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
³³and he will set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on his left.
³⁴Then shall the King say to those on his right hand, Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the world's foundation: (Matt. 25:31‑34)

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John 5:27• ²⁷and has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is Son of man. (John 5:27)

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2 Thess. 1:5‑7• ⁵a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that ye should be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for the sake of which ye also suffer;
⁶if at least it is a righteous thing with God to render tribulation to those that trouble you,
⁷and to you that are troubled repose with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with the angels of his power, (2 Thess. 1:5‑7)

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1 Peter 2:23• ²³who, when reviled, reviled not again; when suffering, threatened not; but gave himself over into the hands of him who judges righteously; (1 Peter 2:23)

the spirits.

Heb. 11:4,40• ⁴By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained testimony of being righteous, God bearing testimony to his gifts, and by it, having died, he yet speaks.
⁴⁰God having foreseen some better thing for us, that they should not be made perfect without us. (Heb. 11:4,40)

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Eccl. 12:7• ⁷and the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return unto God who gave it. (Eccl. 12:7)

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1 Cor. 13:12• ¹²For we see now through a dim window obscurely, but then face to face; now I know partially, but then I shall know according as I also have been known. (1 Cor. 13:12)

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1 Cor. 15:49,54• ⁴⁹And as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly one.
⁵⁴But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruptibility, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the word written: Death has been swallowed up in victory. (1 Cor. 15:49,54)

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2 Cor. 5:8• ⁸we are confident, I say, and pleased rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. (2 Cor. 5:8)

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Phil. 1:21‑23• ²¹For for me to live is Christ, and to die gain;
²²but if to live in flesh is my lot, this is for me worth the while: and what I shall choose I cannot tell.
²³But I am pressed by both, having the desire for departure and being with Christ, for it is very much better, (Phil. 1:21‑23)

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Phil. 3:12‑21• ¹²Not that I have already obtained the prize, or am already perfected; but I pursue, if also I may get possession of it, seeing that also I have been taken possession of by Christ Jesus.
¹³Brethren, *I* do not count to have got possession myself; but one thing--forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before,
¹⁴I pursue, looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus.
¹⁵As many therefore as are perfect, let us be thus minded; and if ye are any otherwise minded, this also God shall reveal to you.
¹⁶But whereto we have attained, let us walk in the same steps.
¹⁷Be imitators all together of me, brethren, and fix your eyes on those walking thus as you have us for a model;
¹⁸(for many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
¹⁹whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and their glory in their shame, who mind earthly things:)
²⁰for *our* commonwealth has its existence in the heavens, from which also we await the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour,
²¹who shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to his body of glory, according to the working of the power which he has even to subdue all things to himself. (Phil. 3:12‑21)

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Col. 1:12• ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light, (Col. 1:12)

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Rev. 7:14‑17• ¹⁴And I said to him, My lord, *thou* knowest. And he said to me, These are they who come out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
¹⁵Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple, and he that sits upon the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them.
¹⁶They shall not hunger any more, neither shall they thirst any more, nor shall the sun at all fall on them, nor any burning heat;
¹⁷because the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them, and shall lead them to fountains of waters of life, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Rev. 7:14‑17)

• those who compose it are here characterized: (1) in relation to Him Who was carefully shown us in Hebrews 1 to be the Firstborn, the established Heir of all things; (2) in relation by grace to our proper and destined sphere of glory, heaven, and not earth, where Israel as such rightly look for their blessedness and triumph under Messiah's reign. (“Hebrews 12:22-24” by W. Kelly)

• It is God in His judicial, His universal judicial glory, not of His people only as in the magnificent Psa. 55 but here of all without exception. The millennial era will be the grand display of this, as doctrinally set forth in Eph. 1:10, Col. 1:20 (cf. Phil. 2:10-11) and prophetically in Rev. 21:9 (“Hebrews 12:22-24” by W. Kelly)

• Seven times in Scripture Christ is spoken of as the Firstborn or First-begotten, for He must ever be preeminent. Here the word is in the plural, and refers to the saints who compose the church. (“God's Means to Keep Us in the Path of Faith: Hebrews 12” by H. Smith)

• The names of these firstborn ones are registered in heaven, speaking of their heavenly home, for we belong where our names are written. (“God's Means to Keep Us in the Path of Faith: Hebrews 12” by H. Smith)

• God the judge of all….This surely has no reference to God exercising sessional judgment, as at the great white throne, but as the One who will govern the earth in righteousness. (“God's Means to Keep Us in the Path of Faith: Hebrews 12” by H. Smith)

• There will be the saints of all ages before the cross. They are spoken of as the spirits of just men made perfect, intimating that they have all passed through death and have now received their bodies of glory after having been in the unclothed state. (“God's Means to Keep Us in the Path of Faith: Hebrews 12” by H. Smith)

J. N. Darby Translation

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23

the universal gathering; and to the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven; and to God, judge of all; and to the spirits of just men made perfectb;

JND Translation Notes

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b

The words "made perfect" relate to "just men," not to "spirits." Compare ch. 11.40

W. Kelly Translation

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23

and to an assembly of firstborns, enrolled in heavensa; and to God judge of all; and to spirits of just ones made perfect;

WK Translation Notes

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a

See note to {vi 23674}{/vi}.