(5) Hebrews 12:1-171Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2Looking 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 is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 5And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 12Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 13And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. 14Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 15Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; 16Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. (Hebrews 12:1‑17).
IN our first three papers we considered in each three different persons. Last month we called attention to the verse in which six men are grouped together. We now have our gaze focussed on one Man who has no peer, beside whom no man could be named, but who stands forth in all His pre-eminence and glory. His name is JESUS. Just as the inspired writer of the Epistle works up to a grand climax in chapter 10:19-22; so we can see how in this closing section he was conducting those to whom he wrote to this altogether unique Person In the glory of God.
The first word of chapters 12 links it with chapter 11. The “cloud of witnesses” refers not to angels, nor to our departed friends, but to the splendid pageant of the preceding chapter. How great was the desire of God, and the exercise of His servant, that they should not drop out of the race. In the first place they must be in form for it by laying aside every weight, and by casting off the hindrance of sin, in order that they might run the race. A man running a race would be in deadly earnest. Thinking not of his “gallery” but of the winning post; not of the opinions of the people but of the laurel wreath. If success was to be his, he would think not of the possibility of his competitor getting in first and thus, becoming wearied and discouraged, drop out, but he would run with patience and endurance. Thus did Paul run and at the end he could say, “I have finished the race” (2 Tim. 4:77I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: (2 Timothy 4:7). N. Tr.).
How many, alas! in these days, drop out! Some because they cling to the weights, things that end in smoke and that retard their progress; others hindered by actual sin; while others grow weary and faint. Let us see in verse two, the preventive; the incentive; the objective. “Looking unto Jesus.” Three golden words.
We would urge our young friends in particular to make them the motto of their life. Begin the day with them; go through the day with them; finish the day with them. “Looking unto Jesus.” The significance of the word is, “Looking steadfastly off unto Jesus.” It is recorded of Stephen that, having concluded his address, and just before he was stoned; “He, being full of die Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7:5555But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, (Acts 7:55)). Thus he finished his race and, “fell asleep.”
That is where we are to look, and upon the same Person who is there. He is the beginner, (margin) and finisher of faith. He inaugurated the path; He has completed it; He has reached the goal; and from “the right hand of the throne of God.” He would encourage us to run, and to run with endurance, the race that is set before us. He endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself, yet, as the dependent Man, nothing affected his trust in God one single iota, then why should we be wearied and faint in our minds? He resisted unto blood; we are not called upon to do that, then why feel tempted to give up?
“That is all right,” says one, “but what a life is mine! I have had sickness, bereavement, business reverse, unemployment, disappointment; the troubles of half a dozen people rolled into one, and I am just at breaking point. How can I run at all, not to speak of running with endurance?”
Perhaps the following verses are for you, troubled heart. They deal with the vexed subject of chastening.
Many Christians have erroneous ideas about chastening. They think it means that the Lord is punishing His own for something in their life that is not pleasing to Him. That is quite possible, and we must not turn aside the sharp edge of it. “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth” (verse 6). His is a jealous love. He may put us through the fire of affliction to remove all that is obnoxious to Him, and that is calculated to hinder us in the race. On the other hand, He may send trial along in order that Christ may be expressed in us, and by us, more than ever before, and that we may carry a ministry of comfort to others (see 2 Cor. 1:3-43Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. (2 Corinthians 1:3‑4)).
There are three ways indicated in which chastening may be treated. Some may “despise it;” (verse 5) others may “faint under it” (verse 5); still others are “exercised thereby” (verse 11). A well-known servant of the Lord has illustrated it thus. On a wet day, a duck is quite indifferent to the weather conditions. It does not object to getting wet because it is quite used to it; it despises. A hen, in similar circumstances, looks a poor, miserable, bedraggled creature, and aptly describes a believer who is inclined to faint. A robin sings in the rain, but it changes its note.
We may not exactly sing while it rains; that is, while under the chastening, but the exercise caused thereby may produce the songs in due season.
In June last year, we had the opportunity of accompanying our Editor to Shetland and there we learned a lesson from the lark. It sang at midnight as well as midday. Our Editor remarked that Shetland might be called “The Land, of the Midnight Lark.” It sang when the day was bright and when it was dull, when it rained and when the sun shone. Please note this carefully, it sang as it soared upward, and as soon as it came to earth its song ceased. We were asked recently, “Can we soar upward in tears?” And we replied, “The lark soars upward when it is raining.” How great is our tendency to come back to earth and then there is no song. The Lord very tenderly and graciously comes in; He stirs our nest; He puts His hand upon us; we are exercised; we ask Him―Why? We learn that He has been missing our song; and, “afterward,” having learned our lesson we once again soar upward and sing His praise. To “despise” is fatal; to “faint” is to miss the blessing; to be “exercised” is to “afterward” secure “the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (verse 11).
There is no need therefore to let the hands hang down, nor to allow the knees to become feeble. By so doing we may be the means of others being turned out of the way. While we run the race, let us “follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (verse 14). A pithy, pointed, practical word which carries with it its own interpretation. Then let us see to it that we do not “fail of,” or “lack,” the grace of God; let us eschew every “root of bitterness;” and let us be careful that we do not despise our birthright; and miss that which God intends for us.
He would have us take our Christianity tremendously seriously. It is an uncommonly happy thing; but it is serious indeed. He has not saved us and taken us to heaven right away. He has saved us to run the race; His has provided the equipment; He has laid down the conditions; He has pointed out the dangers; and having done all that, He bids us run; not in any strength of ours, for we have none; not at our own charges; but by His grace; in His power; and for His glory.
We finish where we commenced with the three exquisite words, “Looking unto Jesus.” Looking! LOOKING!! LOOKING!!! There is no effort in looking―is there? “Looking steadfastly off unto Jesus.” What an Object for our contemplation; for our encouragement; for everything that we need to carry us through!
Weary, faint-hearted, discouraged, almost-dropping-out fellow-believer, take courage! Look away from yourself, your failings; your circumstances; your surroundings; your everything; and “looking steadfastly off unto Jesus” run, and “run with endurance,” till the goal is reached, and you, with all His blood-bought people, see Him Himself, face to face.
W. Bramwell Dick.
Next month, God willing, Hebrews 12:18-2918For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 20(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 21And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) 22But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. 25See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 26Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 27And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:18‑29). Kindly read the whole chapter over and over again.