The Legal Mind Chapter Twelve

 The author points to this, exactly, in the first verse of chapter twelve. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us” (also) “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us” (also) “run with patience the race that is set before us.” We are exhorted to do the thing our forefathers did and in the same spirit. They persevered, they endured, they made the deliberate choice to run the race. We, also, can and should choose to do the same. Just like those forefathers of faith, we should be “looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,” and who is now “set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus blazed a trail that we may follow in his footsteps and join him where he is. Not only ourselves, but those who came before us, all of us ordinary saints, and heroes of faith.

As for looking to Jesus, we are asked to “consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself.” Nobody knows better than Jesus what it means to endure, to persevere, and to be patient. If we can keep that fact in our thoughts, we will not be wearied and faint in our minds. It is an obvious truth that the author of Hebrews brings up in verse four. In all of our “striving against sin,” we have not yet resisted unto blood, as did the author and finisher of our faith. We have really just begun. We are the newbies of faith, the untrained babes in the shadow of greater souls. Verse five calls to mind an exhortation that many of us have forgotten, those of us that at any time considered it. The exhortation speaks to the children that we are, saying, “My son,” (also daughter) “despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son ” (and daughter) “whom he receiveth.”

The author sums up in verses seven and eight. The hardships of growing up are common to all of us. Every child gets spanked and learns from it. This is part of being a child of the father. If you endure the chastening, learn, and grow, then the father deals with you as children. Chastisement is the seal of childhood. It is not some rare personal aggravation, it is common to all, removing the spirit of infractions and instilling the spirit of obedience. We have to ask, why would a father even bother? The answer is a feeling of love and a feeling of family unity. He bothers because you are a part of him. He will not expend the effort on someone who does not belong to him. For that reason, be glad in your chastisement, for it means that you are not an outsider – you really do belong.

The author makes a great case, but he is far from done. Continuing in verse nine, the author asks us to consider common worldly experience as the basis of his case. “Furthermore,” he adds, “we have had fathers of our flesh which have corrected us.” He points to our own Moms and Dads. Our parents, by no means, were experts in raising children. Neither of my parents, for example, had finished high school. As people, they had their own problems to deal with. With no special tools or abilities at their disposal, they had to play the hand that life dealt them. Then, after all their frustrations, and added on top of their grievances, their children came along with more setbacks in their daily struggles. Mom and Dad often spanked me simply because I annoyed them. In an attempt to maintain some meager amount of personal peace and sanity, they sent us kids away with a rosy bottom.

Yet, now, as a grown man, and like so many others of my age, I revere my Mom and Dad despite their drawbacks. I do not blame them for their faults – they did the best they could with all they had to work with. They are only memories now, but I honor their memories lovingly. Such is common to many of us, and the author points exactly to that shared experience. The comparison is laid out before us. Our fathers of flesh and blood “chastened us after their own pleasure,” and we honor them. How much more, then, should we revere and honor our heavenly “Father of spirits” and live? The difference between chastisements is that when God spanks us, it is for our spiritual benefit so that we can partake of his holiness. The word, partake, is a seldom-used expression in our day and age. Synonyms for the word include eat, drink, devour, and ingest. If we are to have anything to do with the holiness of God, it cannot remain outside of us, it must be absorbed into our very nature.

In verse eleven, the author addresses the nature of chastisement. It is two-fold. For the present, chastisement seems grievous. It is painful. It is a hardship. Then, after the tears, it yields the fruit righteousness. Righteousness flows from the “peaceable” spiritual core of a person's “exercised” nature. It is interesting that the author uses that expression. Chastisement is presented as the 'burn' in a person's spiritual workout. No pain, no gain. Every life is exercised thereby, and many of us find ourselves weary and exhausted. We can sympathize when we see others in our own condition. We should realize we are not in this alone. That is why the author gives this exhortation in verses twelve and thirteen. “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it be healed.”

In verses fourteen through sixteen, the author adds the argument of people who rage against their chastisement. We are all in the same club, feeling the same burn as we exercise our spirits. However, there are some people who find it all just a bit too hard. They give up and fail to show up on the following day. For clarity, those who quit are given a face. When we can identify that face in others, we can actively resist having the same face. Two descriptions and one name paint the portrait of that face. The two descriptions are 'fornicator' and 'profane.' Let us stop to consider the import of these two words. Synonyms for the word fornicator include, first, the word adulterer. That is a person who switches partners, a person who abandons, a person who is not loyal. The second synonym is related to the mental mechanics of being a fornicator. The second synonym is the word deceiver. Largely, one has deceived oneself as they never had it in themselves to begin with. The workout was all an act until they found out they bit off more than they could chew. The deceit ends when they fail to continue. A profane person holds that the good choice and the bad choice are equal alternatives.

I'll get to the name in a moment. Before I do, I must continue by saying, those who do not give up are the ones who “follow peace with all men.” They allow the fruit to mature. In company with like-minded practitioners, they follow the plan, employing self-discipline. They also continue with the “holiness” of God, realizing they have a piece of God inside themselves. It is a beautiful child within, and they are determined to nurture it and see it grow. The author states in verse fourteen that, in order to see the Lord at all, a person must have that holiness of God inside as a personal spiritual attribute. One must be diligent in this, otherwise, one will certainly fail to obtain the grace of God. What will cause a person to lose their diligence? Giving sway to any root of bitterness. Bitterness defiles the spirit within. It causes one to disavow loyalty to the goal of the workout, and choose a thing of immediate gratification.

That brings me to the name. The author, in verse sixteen, completes the portrait with a case study of the person, Esau. Esau owned a birthright that included all the real assets of his father, including the honors that went with it. It was a thing he had to wait to obtain. He wearied of the wait and turned to instant material gratification. He sold his birthright for a morsel of meat – so much for so little. The author shows that even people well aware of the great riches promised them grow weary and give up. I guess you can't have your birthright and eat it too. Later, Esau sought his birthright, eyes filled with tears, seeking any possible means to obtain the wealth that had once been promised to him. By then, there was no place where he might undo his earlier dereliction. There are no do-overs.

Continuing in verses eighteen and nineteen, the author alludes to the time when Moses led the children of Israel to the mountain. If you recall, Israel was terrified. The mountain was on fire, so much so that it was black. There was darkness overhead, and strong currents of wind buffeted them. The earth quaked beneath their feet, and they quaked within themselves. They were so scared, they could not approach much less touch it. It was a time when God spoke directly to the people, but they were so afraid, they asked that the words not be spoken to them. It was a case of conviction, cold turkey, and they found it all just a bit too hard. Alluding to that event in their recorded history, the author speaks to all of us when he says, “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and 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.”

The author continues in verses twenty and twenty-one by explaining how much more severe was that event above our present trials and fears. “(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: and so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.)” Moses was the strongest and bravest of the bunch. Moses was the one most faithful and dedicated to the goal. If it was difficult for Moses, imagine the others. What these remarks of the author serve to illustrate is the point of turning away. The fact that if one of their animals touched the mountain, it was too holy for them, shows that the nature in man places a great distance between himself and the goal. Many people feel that perfection is unobtainable, out of reach. They may want to reach it, but when it comes to actually reaching, they give up.

Once before in history, man drew near and failed. Now, the time has come again. Where do we find ourselves? We have come, as the author states in verses twenty-two through twenty-four, “unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to 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, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” Where we have come is just as serious as the burning mountain, but we need not be afraid, only believe. We are in good company, we are not alone. There are many from which we may draw encouragement to continue in our trials. Hand in hand, we extend our reach toward the goal.

The author's statement about blood opens a new insight, as it appears there is a first and a last blood. Jesus is often mentioned in a first/last reference. He is mentioned as the Alpha and Omega, as the second Adam, and now, we see, he is mentioned in relation to the first blood. Abel was slain by his brother. Jesus was slain by his own people. Abel's blood called to God from the earth, and God responded. The blood of Christ, by which we are sprinkled, provides better things in that regard, for it calls to God from each and every spirit in man sprinkled thereby. Be assured that God will respond.

Therefore, the author, in verses twenty-five and twenty-six, gives each of us a charge and directs us to, “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall we not escape, if we turn away from him speaketh from heaven: whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.” On a previous occasion, people heard the voice of God, a voice that shook the earth. They turned away, they gave up, they failed. They said it was too much, too hard, too far out of reach. Now, the voice calls to us from heaven. What will we say? Will we say it is too much, or difficult, or unobtainable? Will we also turn away? We are shaken, what does that mean?

An explanation of shaking is offered in verse twenty-seven. The expression 'yet once more' is used. It signifies “the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made.” The author, indeed the word from God, seems to indicate 'made things.' That would be all of our constructs, all of our crutches, all of our affectations, rationalizations, and excuses. Once those are removed, what remains? The author finishes his statement with, “that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.” What is unshakable in a man? His faith? His real connection to God? The blood of Jesus definitely speaks these things.

Chapter twelve concludes with verses twenty-eight and twenty-nine. In them, we find two truths and one charge. In the past, God spoke from the mountain. God was a consuming fire, setting the mount ablaze in a frightful manner. It is just as true that God is a consuming fire today. He sets minds on fire, consuming rebellion to expose obedience, consuming all our lies to expose the truth. The second truth is that God has shaken both heaven and earth, much will fall by the way. You and I will be left. What remains unshaken in us will allow us to serve God as we should – in the spirit of connection through the blood of Christ, in the mindset of grace, reverence, and respect for God. That is acceptable and will get us through.