Hebrews 12 (WK) - Bible Truth Library

Library Home>Hebrews 12 (WK)

Verse 22

Go

Verse 24

Articles on

Hebrews 12

Heb. 12:23 KJV (With Strong’s)

+

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 were not defiled with women: for they are virgins. These [are] they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were bought from among men, firstfruits 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 rather that your names are written in the heavens. (Luke 10:20)

λ

or, enrolled.

n

Gen. 18:25• (Gen. 18:25)

o

1 Cor. 15:49,54• ⁴⁹and even as we bore the image of the [one] made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly [ones].
⁵⁴But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the word that is written, Death was swallowed up in victory. (1 Cor. 15:49,54)

More on:

+

Assembly,

Church,

God,

Heaven,

Perfect,

Writing

Cross References

+

Ministry on This Verse

+

the general.

Psa. 89:7• (Psa. 89:7)

;

Psa. 111:1• (Psa. 111:1)

;

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

;

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

;

Eph. 5:24‑27• ²⁴But as the assembly is subject to the Christ, so also the wives to their own husbands in everything.
²⁵Husbands, love your own wives, even as the Christ also loved the assembly and gave himself up for it,
²⁶that he might sanctify it, having cleansed [it] by the washing of water in [the] word,
²⁷that he might himself present to himself the assembly glorious, not having spot or wrinkle, or any of such things; but that it should be holy and blameless. (Eph. 5:24‑27)

;

Col. 1:24• ²⁴who now rejoice in sufferings for you, and fill up what is wanting of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body, which is the assembly, (Col. 1:24)

;

1 Tim. 3:5• ⁵(but if one knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he care for God's assembly?), (1 Tim. 3:5)

the firstborn.

Ex. 4:22• (Ex. 4:22)

;

Ex. 13:2• (Ex. 13:2)

;

Deut. 21:17• (Deut. 21:17)

;

Psa. 89:27• (Psa. 89:27)

;

Jer. 31:9• (Jer. 31:9)

;

James 1:18• ¹⁸Having purposed he begot us by [the] word of truth, that we should be a certain firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18)

;

Rev. 14:4• ⁴These are they who were not defiled with women: for they are virgins. These [are] they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were bought from among men, firstfruits to God and to the Lamb: (Rev. 14:4)

which.

Ex. 32:32• (Ex. 32:32)

;

Psa. 69:28• (Psa. 69:28)

;

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

;

Phil. 4:3• ³yea, I beseech thee also, genuine yokefellow, help them, seeing that they shared my conflicts in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life. (Phil. 4:3)

;

Rev. 13:8• ⁸And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, of whom the name is not written in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain, from {i}the{/i} world's foundation. (Rev. 13:8)

;

Rev. 20:15• ¹⁵And if Anyone 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 showed unto his name, in that ye ministered to his saints and do minister.
¹¹But we desire earnestly that each of you should show the same diligence unto the full assurance of hope until the end,
¹²that ye become not sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and long-suffering inherit the promises. (Heb. 6:10‑12)

;

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

;

Gen. 18:25• (Gen. 18:25)

;

Psa. 50:5‑6• (Psa. 50:5‑6)

;

Psa. 94:2• (Psa. 94:2)

;

Psa. 96:13• (Psa. 96:13)

;

Psa. 98:9• (Psa. 98:9)

;

Matt. 25:31‑34• ³¹But when the Son of man shall have come 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 separateth the sheep from the goats;
³³and he will set the sheep on his right but the goats on the left.
³⁴Then shall the King say to those on his right, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the world's foundation. (Matt. 25:31‑34)

;

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

;

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

;

1 Peter 2:23• ²³who when reviled did not again revile, when suffering did not threaten, but gave over to him that judgeth 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 it was witnessed that he was righteous, God witnessing in respect of his gifts; and through it he, having died, yet speaketh.
⁴⁰God having foreseen some better thing concerning us, that apart from us they should not be perfected. (Heb. 11:4,40)

;

Eccl. 12:7• (Eccl. 12:7)

;

1 Cor. 13:12• ¹²For we see now through a mirror in a dark form, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall fully know, even as I also was fully known. (1 Cor. 13:12)

;

1 Cor. 15:49,54• ⁴⁹and even as we bore the image of the [one] made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly [ones].
⁵⁴But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the word that is written, Death was swallowed up in victory. (1 Cor. 15:49,54)

;

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

;

Phil. 1:21‑23• ²¹For to me to live [is] Christ, and to die gain;
²²but if to live in flesh, this to me [is] worth while; and what I shall choose I know not.
²³But I am perplexed by the two, having the desire for departing and being with Christ, for it is very far better; (Phil. 1:21‑23)

;

Phil. 3:12‑21• ¹²Not that I already received [it] or am already perfected; but I pursue if I may also lay hold, for that also I have been laid hold of by Christ.
¹³Brethren, I do not reckon myself to have laid hold;
¹⁴but one thing(for-getting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, I pursue goalward unto the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus.
¹⁵As many therefore as [are] perfect, let us mind this. And if in anything ye are differently minded, this also will God reveal to you.
¹⁶Nevertheless unto what we have attained, walk by the same, [mind the same].
¹⁷Be joint-imitators of me, brethren, and mark those so walking as ye have us for a pattern.
¹⁸For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, the enemies of the cross of Christ,
¹⁹whose end [is] destruction, whose God [is] the belly, and they glory in their shame, who mind the things of earth.
²⁰For our commonwealth has its being in [the] heavens, from whence also we await [as] Saviour [the] Lord Jesus Christ,
²¹who shall transform our body of humiliation, conformed to his body of glory according to the working of his ability also to subject all things to him. (Phil. 3:12‑21)

;

Col. 1:12• ¹²giving thanks to the Father that qualified us for sharing the inheritance of the saints in light; (Col. 1:12)

;

Rev. 7:14‑17• ¹⁴And I said to him, My lord, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they that come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes and 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 sitteth on the throne shall tabernacle over them.
¹⁶They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more nor in any wise shall the sun fall upon them nor any heat.
¹⁷For the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall tend 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

+

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

+

b

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

W. Kelly Translation

+

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

+

a

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