Hebrews 12
12:1 Like a great cloud, there are a lot of witnesses round us. Let us then throw off all that would stop us doing what we should. Let us stop doing the sins that would spoil our trust in God. Life is like a race. Let us run hard, and concentrate on the end of the race. 12:2 Let us keep looking to Jesus. He is the source of our faith. He is at the end of our path of faith. He is working to make our path perfect. Jesus’ own path of trust led him to die on a cross on our behalf. But Jesus thought nothing of the shame of such a death. He looked beyond death to the joy ahead of him. Then he sat down at the right side of God’s seat of great honour.
12:3 Think about Jesus. He suffered so much as bad men spoke evil against him. Yet he continued to the end. Let him be your great example, so that you will not tire and fail.
12:4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet had to risk your life. 12:5 Have you forgotten the words that he spoke to you as sons? ‘My son, listen to the Lord, when he is training you by discipline. Do not give up, when he shows you where you are wrong. 12:6 For the Lord trains those whom he loves. He punishes each one whom he accepts as a son’ (Proverbs 3:11-12). 12:7 Accept God’s discipline, because it shows that you are his sons. For what father does not give discipline to his son? 12:8 If God does not give you discipline, you are not a true son of God. If that is so, then God is not your Father, for a father gives discipline to all his sons. 12:9 We have all had human fathers who gave us discipline to train us. We now respect them for it. How much more should we obey the Father of our spirits and live! 12:10 Our fathers trained us in discipline for a short time, as they thought was right. God trains us in discipline for our good, so that we may become holy like he is. 12:11 Discipline is hard and not pleasant. We do not enjoy it. But later we can see the good that came from it. Those, whom it has trained, have a quiet heart from doing what is right.
12:12 So make your tired hands and your weak knees strong. 12:13 Make straight paths for your feet. Then the weak leg will not get worse, but rather it will heal. 12:14 Let your desire be for unity with all people and to be holy. Only those who are holy will see the Lord. 12:15 Take care that none of you misses the goodness of God. Let no anger grow in you and cause trouble. That would spoil the belief of many. 12:16 See that none of you is guilty of wrong sex. Do not forget God as Esau did. He sold his rights, as the first son of his father, for a single meal. 12:17 Later he wanted to get back the rights that he had sold, but it was impossible, although he cried. He was not really sorry for what he had done (Genesis 25:29-34).
12:18 You have come to a mountain, but not to a mountain that you can touch. It is not the fiery mountain that scared the Israelites. Neither have you come to darkness, deep shadow or a fierce storm, as they did. 12:19 You have not heard that trumpet or the voice that spoke. The Israelites who heard it cried out to God to stop speaking to them (Exodus 19:10-25; Deuteronomy 4:11-12; 5:22-26). 12:20 They could not dare to listen when God said, ‘If even an animal approaches the mountain, you must kill it with stones’. 12:21 The sight of Mount Sinai was so awful that Moses said, ‘I am trembling with fear’ (Deuteronomy 9:19). 12:22 No, you have come to the mountain of Zion, and to the city of the God who is alive. You have come to the Jerusalem in heaven and to the large crowd of angels who are praising God. 12:23 You have joined that great crowd and the church of those who trusted in God before you. The Lord has made them at home in heaven. You have come to God who is the judge of all people. There are the spirits of good men whom God has made perfect. 12:24 Jesus who made the new agreement is there. There also is the blood that Jesus gave on our behalf. That blood is better and more powerful than the blood of Abel.
12:25 Make sure that you do not refuse to listen to God. They who refused him who warned them on earth did not escape. How much less shall we escape, if we turn from him who warns us from heaven?
12:26 His voice shook the earth then. Now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake, not only the earth, but also the heavens’. 12:27 This phrase ‘yet once more’ shows that God will remove all he shakes. That is, all created things. All that he does not shake will remain. 12:28 We are receiving a place where God is the king. That place will remain always, for nobody can shake it. Let us then give to God the praise and honour that please him. Let us respect him and live in the fear of him. 12:29 For our God is like a fire that can burn up everything.
