A Commentary in Simple English on the letter to Jewish Christians

CHAPTER 12: HOPE

We said before that just as Chapter 11 was about faith, so Chapter 12 is about hope. The word 'hope' is not there in the chapter; but the hope that our Lord Jesus Christ had is here. (See verse 2.) So is the hope that we have. Hope always begins where we are now (Ps.131: 3). There may be all sorts of troubles, but we do not say: - 'When these troubles are over, I will start to hope'. So this chapter will look at our troubles. But the Psalm also says: - 'Let Israel hope...for evermore'. Before we reach the end of the chapter, we shall find a description of glory that is as grand and full of joy as any in the Bible (verses 22-24).

In the first part of the chapter, the writer has in his mind the picture of the Greek Games (verses 1,2,4,11,12 and 13). The Greeks thought that it was important to be strong and fit. They were perhaps the first people we know of who thought like this. Our Olympic Games are named after one of the great Greek meetings for games. All nations can take part in our Olympics. But only Greeks could take part in those days. A man had to prepare himself before he could take part. He had to train for almost a year before he could enter the races.

Almost four hundred years before this letter was written Greek armies under Alexander the Great destroyed the Persian Empire and reached north India and Central Asia. It was partly because the Greek soldiers were so fit and strong that they were able to do this. For the games, the Greeks built great ‘stadiums’ with a flat area in the middle for the races. There would be raised banks on three sides where the crowds would stand to watch and to cheer. [12.1] One end was open, and this is where the runners would come into the stadium when they ran the long distance races. The judge and the line where races finished were at the other end.

Verses 1-3: Look only at Jesus!

So in these verses, the race is the Christian life. Every real Christian runs in the race. The prize is eternal life. Jesus will give it to us. To win the prize, we do not have to run faster than other people do. Everyone who runs to the end of the course and who keeps to the rules will win the prize. Jesus is the judge. He is there at the end of the course, and He waits for us to finish the race. The crowds are the men of faith from the Old Testament and from the long ages since the time of Jesus. They cheer us on to help us in our race. They stand and shout all round us and above us. Perhaps they wear white clothes, and this is why they are like 'a great cloud'.

The Christian race is not only for fit, strong young men (verses 12,13); and we help each other. We may all win! We said that no one could enter the race unless he trained for almost a year. The Christian has to train, too, for the race. So this chapter talks about the way God trains His people (verses 5-11). But two things are said about this in verse 1. We are to 'lay aside every weight'. The runner worked hard to get his weight down. This was part of his training. He did not want to carry a lot of fat. He wanted hard flesh, which would do the work. [12.2] The Christian may often have to get rid of things from his life: things that are not wrong or sinful. They are things that are right, but do not help us to run the Christian race. Then no one who wants to run a race will wear a lot of long clothes. They would wrap round his feet and legs and slow him down or trip him up. [12.3] Sin is like that. It holds on to us and tries to trip us up. But it is not only our sins. The sins of other people around us also try to trip us up. (See Matthew 24:12.)

So let us come back to the great crowd who watch us. The writer calls them 'witnesses'. 'Witnesses' see something happen and they can speak about it afterwards, often in a law court. These are the men of faith who 'witness' to what faith has done in their own lives. They 'witness' to what faith ought to do in our lives. They can judge the quality of our faith because of their own experience. They are 'witnesses' to God's truth. They are witnesses that the things which are not seen are real. These are the things that are eternal. They 'witness' that God was faithful to them and that He helped them in the race.

If we run a race, we do not get a prize if we sit down halfway and say: - That's far enough for me'. We have to run with patience to the end of the race. Nor are there any prizes for a man who looks away from the finishing line to the right or left and says to himself: 'It looks nice over there'. He may run faster than ever, but if he leaves 'the race marked out for us' and goes the wrong way he will never reach the finish. Sadly, there are many Christian people who do this. But Jesus is the only judge of the way that we run the race. And it is God who marks out the race for us. We do not choose it.

So (verse 2) we have to look away from everything else. We even look away from 'the great crowd of witnesses'. We have to fix our ‘eye’, that is, our attention on Jesus. He is at the end of the course and He waits to give the prize to us. He ran His race before we ran ours. The 'prize' set before Him was 'joy'. This was the joy, which He had when He rescued lost men and women. It is the joy He has when He brings them to God's glory and to His everlasting kingdom. God set this joy before Him.

God sets joy before every Christian too. Jesus knew that this was God's purpose. It was the work that He came into the world to do. Jesus is the first leader of our faith, and for Him the way to the prize was by the cross. The death of the cross was a shameful death. It was a cruel death but it was only meant for criminals and slaves. The noble Roman did not look at it, think about it or talk about it. It was in such cruel and violent ways that Rome kept its power over its Empire. But it was also the way of pain and shame by which Jesus saved lost sinners. He 'despised' or 'scorned' the shame. He thought nothing of it. He took no notice of it, so that He could win us from sin, death and hell. So He has gone from the Cross where He died to the place of real power, God's right hand. He has taken His seat with God His Father in glory in His 'throne'.

So verse 3 tells us to think about Jesus. We are to think about how much He suffered for us, and how much less we suffer for Him. We should measure one against the other. He had no sin, but for several years sinful men spoke against Him and in the end they killed Him. If we think about this, it will help to keep us from tiredness in the Christian life.

Verses 4-11: God trains us as sons

The picture changes a little in these verses. Instead of the picture of races, we have another 'game'. We are 'wrestlers' now. Two men fight each other, locked together. We 'struggle' against sin, which is our enemy. Notice that it is sin which is the enemy and not the people who were cruel to the Christians.

The writer says three things about this: -

1. In verse 4, the writer tells his readers that God has not yet called on them to die in the fight against sin. Jesus had given His life. So had many Christians in other places. And the writer says: ’ You also may yet have to die for your faith.’ [12.4]

2. Then in verses 5 and 6 the writer brings forward some words from Proverbs 3:1l and 12. His readers, he says, should remember that God says things like this to His people. God did not promise that the Christian life would be easy. Sometimes life is hard, and everything seems to work against us, We should remember that this is the way by which God trains us for the race of life. (See verses like Psalm 119:71; Psalm 94: 12,13; Revelation 3:19.) When the writer says: 'You have forgotten' he means that they have not thought about this as much as they should [12.5].

3. Then in verse 7, the writer begins to tell us four reasons why we must have this training for the Christian race. If we do not think that the hard experiences of life come to us from God, our Father, then they will do us no good. Many people blame the devil for these hard experiences, but this does not help us at all. They still have to say that God allows the devil to do these things to us. It is better to leave the devil out and to say: - 'I do not like this loss, this pain, or whatever it is. But God is my Father. He will use it to make me grow stronger in Jesus.’ We must know that it is because He loves us that God brings us into the hard places in life. Happiness is on this side of sorrow. Joy is on the other side of sorrow (John 16:20). Jesus is a real man who can share our sorrows with us (Philippians 3:10).

So the four reasons are these: -

(a) A human father has the right and the duty to put his son right when he goes wrong. So the second part of verse 7 says: This is just what God does to us.

God does have one Son who has no sin, our Lord Jesus Christ. If anyone might have escaped without pain and loss, it was Jesus. But Jesus suffered, although He had no sin. My sins are many. I cannot complain.

(b) A man may have a son who is the child not of his wife but of some other woman. The father will not take so much care to correct and train him (verse 8). One reason for this is that the son of the other woman will not receive his father's money and land when the father dies. The son of the wife will have all this. Now all the good things that God has will be ours. God promises it all to us if we are real Christians. So if God does not train and correct us we have to ask ourselves: - 'Will God really give me all His good things? Christ has died. He has promised His people glory. Will it be mine?'

(c) In verse 9, the writer tells us that we honoured and respected our fathers when they punished us and corrected us. We did not leave the family. So we should not leave God's family which is the church, when He corrects us. We should give Him honour and respect. God is the Father of our spirits. Our spirit is more important than our body or 'flesh'.

(d) One of the readers might object to what the writer has to say. 'Yes, fathers do punish their sons. But the sons do not always deserve this. Sometimes the fathers get it wrong. They punish their sons for things that they have not done'. The writer replies: 'Yes. But God makes no mistakes. Men never know whether what they do will have the result they want. But God always gets the result He wants. He trains us so that we will become holy'. This verse (verse 10) also makes the point that the training does not go on for ever. We do not like it or enjoy it. (verse 11) But it will come to an end and it will produce a harvest of good things in our lives. (See Philippians 1:10,11; 2 Corinthians 9:10.) We cut fruit trees and bushes so that they will have bigger and better fruit. We call this 'pruning'. Jesus talked about this is in John 15: 2.

Verses 12,13: Be strong!

Verse 12 contains words which the writer takes from Isaiah 35:3. Then in verse 13 he uses some words from Proverbs 4: 26. [12.6]

Only fit healthy young men with strong arms and legs could take part in the Greek games. But Isaiah said that people who could not see or hear or walk would be healed and would join in the return of God's people to their own land. People who had not been able to speak at all would shout God's praise. So God has a place in the Christian race for people who are so very tired that their arms just hang down. He has a place for people whose knees are so weak that they shake all the time.

There are Christians who are weak. This does not mean weak in body. It means weak in mind or in spirit. We should help such people. If they trip up, their shaky knees may be put out of joint and made even worse. So we must do all we can to see that there is nothing to trip up weak Christians. We should do all we can to see that they are healed. How can we do this? The writer explains this in the next verses.

Verses 14-17: Another Warning

In this life, one man's greed is another man's need. But in the race of faith, every man of faith wins the crown of life. The more people who win, the better. God's will is that in glory, His house shall be full of people, full of joy (Luke 14:23). I shall not shut anyone else out if I am there. So you see this chapter really is about hope. It should be a joy to us to help weaker Christians to 'finish the course'. Here are some ways to do this.

1. We must try to live in peace with everyone but not at any price (verse 14; and see verse 11). This does not only mean other Christians. (See Romans 12:18.) Jesus teaches us to make peace (Matt 5: 9). But this may be far from easy! (See Psalm 120:7).

2. But whether or not we can make peace with other people, we must be holy. (See verse 10.) God is holy, so we must be holy too (1 Pet 1:15,16). Holiness of life means these things: -

(a) We must give all that we are and all that we have to God. (See Exodus 10:26.) We must give everything to God, because we do not know what He may want us to do to serve Him. This is 'consecration'.

(b) We must kill our sins (Rom 8:13). This is sometimes called 'mortification'. (See also Ephesians 4: 22; Colossians 3: 5-9.)

(c) But holiness is not only about what we must not do. We must do the will of God. His Spirit lives in us, and teaches our hearts. A son should know what his father expects him to do without always being told. We shall not always have to be told by God what to do. We are His sons because we have faith. So a new life in which we obey God is part of holiness.

(d) God is pure, so we too must be pure. To be 'pure in heart' means that we do not just do what is right. We do what is right for good reasons. Love moves us. Look at Matthew 5: 8. You will see that there too, we read that we may 'see God'. This is the final glory for which Christians hope. [12.7] When we see God, we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2)

3. We are to see to it that no one among the Christians we know misses the full help and goodness of God's grace and kindness to us (verse 15).

4. In the second part of verse 15, the picture may be of a flock of sheep. One or two of them start to eat a plant that will poison them. Soon more and more of the sheep start to eat it. The shepherd ought to have seen that the plant was there before his sheep found it. Now many of them will be ill; some may die. The shepherd should have pulled up or dug out the poison plant and thrown it away so that the sheep would not find it.

Poison plants grow up in Christian churches. Pride is one. Another is when people talk cruelly about one another. We think: - 'Oh, it is only one or two people'. 'It is only talk'. But very quickly, more and more people get mixed up in the trouble, and many of them are harmed. We have seen more than once that this does ruin churches. Christian leaders must help other Christians to see when there is a 'poison plant' in a church, and to get rid of it. (See Deuteronomy 29:18; Acts 8: 23.)

5. So we come to verses 16 and 17. Here the writer thinks about the story of Esau, which is in Genesis 25. Esau and Jacob were the two sons of Isaac. They were born at the same time, but Esau was born first. So he had all the rights of the first born son. When the two boys had grown up, Esau became a hunter. One day he came home really hungry. Jacob, of course, ought to have given him food just because Esau was his brother. Instead he made Esau give to him the rights of the first born son and then he gave him some food. The story goes on in Genesis 27. There Jacob and his mother Rebekah trick Isaac who is old and blind. So Isaac blesses Jacob rather than Esau. Esau's sorrow is found in verses 34 and 38 of Genesis 27. Jacob wronged Esau. Esau did nothing wrong. But he did not set the right value on the honour that he had because he was the first son.

Now the writer says that there must be no one in a Christian church who worships idols or who leads a sinful life. We all sin. We are sinners who forgive one another because Jesus has loved us and died for us. But if someone in the church lives a sinful life then they must either change their ways or be put out of the church.

See what Jesus says about this in Matthew 18:15-17. If we really hate sin in our own lives, then we shall not be angry if another Christian tells us about our sins. We shall be pleased because it is a very good way to help us to stop our sins. We are pleased with the man who comes to tell us that we have a poison plant on our land, and we are all the more pleased if he will help us to dig it up and get rid of it. But if someone comes to us to tell us about our sins, they need to be humble. If we can see that they think: - 'You are a sinner. I am much better than you are. I would never do some of the things that you do', then we shall be hurt. What they say may be true, and we may take notice of it. But the way they say it is wrong.

The writer then adds that there must be no one among us who loves this world and the things that it can give to us (I John 2:15-17). This was where Esau was wrong. Verse 17 tells us that he wanted to get back what he had given away, but he could not. We have a right. God has given us the right to eternal life, to a place in His Kingdom and glory. The writer says to us: - 'Do not give away your rights. Like Esau, you will find no way to get them back again'. [12.8].

We should notice that the thought of the rights of the true son runs through the chapter. (See verses 7,8 and 23.)

Verses 18-21: The mountain of fear: Sinai

In the Book of Exodus, we read how the Jews came out of the land of Egypt. Moses led them. They were full of hope and they knew they were on their way to worship God. We can read about their journey in Exodus, from Chapter 15: 22 onwards. Three months after they left Egypt they set up their tents and camped at Mount Sinai. (Exod 19: 1,2).

They had come to worship God but all of them, even Moses, were frightened at what happened (Exodus 19: 12,13,16,18,19). So the writer of this letter tells his readers of the things which frightened the people so much when they stood at the end of this part of their journey: -

1. The mountain was on fire.

2. There was darkness and stormy wind.

3. There was the sound of a horn, which echoed round the mountain.

4. God spoke to them. The mountain was so holy that if men or wild animals touched it, they were to have stones thrown at them until they died. They could not bear to hear this and they asked that God should say no more to them.

It was a real mountain. It was alive with the presence of God. The people were full of fear. In 11:27, the writer told us that Moses was not afraid of the king, Pharaoh. But now he is afraid..

Verses 22-24: The mountain of joy and glory: Zion

These verses tell us that we too stand at the end of our journey. We stand before a mountain called 'Mount Zion'. This is a mountain that we cannot touch, but eternity is real. It is even more real than time. This 'Mount Zion' is real. Israel at Sinai were full of fear. We are full of joy. These are great verses, which should warm our hearts.

1. We have to come to Mount Zion, and to the heavenly Jerusalem. Many of the Jewish readers of the letter had made the long journey to Jerusalem in Palestine. It was difficult. There was danger. At the end there was the city and the great Temple. But we do not have to make a long journey. This is the city which God has promised (Chapter 11:10). We come to it now by faith in Jesus. 'Mount Zion' was the oldest part of Jerusalem. It was a hill to the south of the temple. It was David's city, and the Old Testament shows that the Jews had a special love for it.

2. We have come to the city of 'the living God'. All other 'gods' are dead. Our God is the God who has so much life in Him that He has life to give to us. Old Jerusalem was the city where God's Son died on a cross. The New Jerusalem is the city where He lives and reigns. Once God was worshipped with dead animals. Now the living God has us to worship Him: He gives us life.

3. We have come to a great crowd of angels. They are too many to count. In 1:14 we read that the angels are busy. Their work is to help us. When Jacob had a vision (Gen 28:12) he saw the angels. They did their work on earth, and went back to God. It seems God gave them more work to do, for soon they were on their way back to earth. But the angels in this verse are not busy. They have met together for pleasure. They have no work to do.

The point is this. In the cities in those days, the people of the city sometimes met to decide how to run the city. That was a 'business' meeting. This meeting of angels is not a 'business' meeting. There was another kind of meeting in a city. No 'business' was done. The people met to eat and to enjoy one another's company. The angels have met like this 'in joyful assembly'. It is a holiday! The angels are full of joy, because God's people have joined them.

The wonderful thing is that because we have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, we have a share in this. God the Father has made our Lord Jesus the head both of the Church and of the angels, so that redeemed men and the holy angels may at last be gathered in one body. [12.9]

4. So this gathering is the meeting also of 'the Firstborn'. This, of course, means our Lord Jesus Christ. All the honour of the 'Firstborn', the Son of God, belongs to Him. But we all have a share in this honour (2:11).

5. Not only are we 'the Firstborn' sons. Remember verse 8 and Esau in verse 17. We are also the 'citizens' of the Heavenly Jerusalem. Not all the people who lived in the cities in those days were 'citizens'. Only the 'citizens' had full rights. To be a 'citizen' was a real honour. The city officers wrote your name on the list or 'roll'. You were 'enrolled'. [12.10] If God writes our name, that is, enrols us, in the list of the 'citizens' of the New Jerusalem, no man can take it out. The list is in heaven. All the devils in hell cannot take our name out. And none of the angels would wish to do so.

6. But we have not only come to this great crowd of men and angels. At the centre is our God. The writer speaks of Him here as 'a Judge who is God of all'. He is the God who judges in favour of His people. Christians often stood before judges who judged them and wrongly punished them. God the Judge will put that right. And no man can escape from this Judge.

7. God is 'the Father of spirits' (verse 9). He has made a perfect way for sinful men to come to Him through Jesus Christ. But any man who is really good wants to be better. We do not want to sin. Christians want to be perfect. And we have come to the spirits of men made perfect by God, not by their own efforts. God has said that these men are 'just', or 'righteous'. When God spoke, He made heaven and earth. Now He speaks and says that His people are 'righteous'. Christ has taken all their sins away. The 'righteous men' of this verse may be the men of faith in chapter 11. See 11: 40.

8. So (verse 24) we have come not only to God the Father, but also to His Son who is also a real Man, Jesus. He is the 'go between' or mediator between God and men. He makes quite sure that the New agreement or 'Covenant' which God has given to men works.

9. Especially we have to come to 'the sprinkled blood' of Jesus. When Cain killed his brother Abel, the blood fell on the ground. And Abel's blood cried out to God. (See Genesis 4:10.) It cried to God, who is the Judge of all men, to punish Cain. The following verses in Genesis tell us how God did judge and punish Cain. This is what the last words of this verse are about. The High Priest splashed the blood of animals on the golden covering or 'Mercy Seat'. That blood did not say anything at all. The blood of Jesus 'speaks' a better word. It speaks to us that God has forgiven our sins. It tells us that God makes us clean and that we have peace with God. [12.11].

The writer will tell us again in the next verse that God speaks to us from heaven. We need to join what is said about this in verse 25 with what is said in verse 24.

Verses 25-29: The last warning

It may help if we fill out what the writer says in these verses.

Verse 25: You are no longer Old Testament people of the Law. Now you are New Testament believers in Jesus Christ. Be careful that you do not refuse to hear and to obey God who speaks to you. Remember! He speaks kind words of peace and forgiveness. (verse 24). The Jews at Sinai did not escape punishment by God when they refused to hear and to obey what God (or Moses?) said to them on earth. (The words 'on earth' suggest we should understand Moses to speak here: but verse 19 might rather suggest God). It is much more true that we shall not escape God's punishment if we rudely turn our backs to God when He speaks to us from heaven.

Verse 26: At that time when the Jews were at Sinai, the voice of God was so strong that it shook the earth. But in Haggai 2: 6 God has made a promise and He is keeping it in the New Testament. There He said that He would shake not only the earth, as He did at Sinai: He will also shake the sky. We have already found words like this in 1:10-12. And He will do this only 'once more'.

Verse 27: God will shake heaven and earth in order to separate the things that have been made from other things which cannot be shaken. [12.12]

Verse 28: One thing that cannot be shaken is the Kingdom of Heaven. God gives this to us. We should be thankful that God gives us something, which no one can shake, and we should hold on tight to God's grace. We should worship God in a way that meets with His approval. That does not mean at all that we must say certain prayers and not say others. Nor does it mean that we must choose the right worship songs to sing. It means that our hearts and minds must be right. When we worship we must think how great God is. We just cannot imagine it! We must remember how small we are. And we must think how good God has been to us (Isaiah 54: 10).

Verse 29: For our God is a fire that burns everything up.

The words of verse 29 are taken from Deuteronomy 4: 24. There Moses told the Jewish people how important it was for them to obey God's Law. But it will help us to understand the words if we think about some other places in the Old Testament. One place is Leviticus 9: 23 and 24. There, we are told that fire came from the presence of God and burnt up the offerings, which had been placed on the altar. (It is quite different at the beginning of the next chapter). In I Kings 18:38, Elijah on Mount Carmel has laid his offering to God on the altar. Fire comes down from God and burns up the offering, but it does not spread beyond the altar. (See also Judges 6:21; 13: 20.) The fire from God burns up the offering, but does not spread beyond the altar to the people around. Christ is our offering for sin.

We may say that the fire of God burnt up our Lord Jesus Christ yet the fire spares sinners like us.