Hebrews 12:1–17 (NKJV)
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking 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 has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. 14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
The opening words of Hebrews 12 are very comforting; they remind us as Christians that we are never alone. We are surrounded (Greek: “encircled, enclosed”) by saints among us in God’s Church. We draw strength from other like-minded Christians whose testimony to God’s faithfulness in their lives strengthens our own.
Hebrews 12 teaches us by the Holy Spirit to be thankful that we have not yet given our own blood in our spiritual trials, and to understand that any hardship that comes our way is either given or allowed by God for our good. We are to see life’s chastenings as signs of God’s love and care for us, the same way human parents discipline and chasten their children in order to mold them into Godly people and productive citizens. The Christian life is a “race” (v. 1) that we “run with endurance” by the power of the Holy Spirit. God works in us through the Gospel and Christ’s sacraments which deliver forgiveness, strength, and peace in ways the world cannot give.
As we live out our various vocations suffering rejection, chastisement, and persecution for standing in the one true faith in Christ, we remember that God Himself chastened his own Son. Christ, the perfectly innocent only-begotten Son of God was mocked, ridiculed, scourged, hung on a cross, and killed in our place. His substitutionary death for all sins of all people of all time bought forgiveness of sins for all who believe in Him by God-given faith. And Christ’s resurrection from the grave on the Third Day gives us the sure and certain hope of our own resurrection, so that we have everything to look forward to when our Lord calls us Home to be with Him in heaven. There we will be free from all the ravages and effects of sin forever and have eternal fellowship with all the saints and witnesses who have gone before us.
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, thank You for enduring the wrath that my sins deserved and for giving me Your forgiveness, life, and salvation. Strengthen me in the true faith unto the end. Amen.
