Hebrews 12:1-17.  Today’s reading stars with the word “therefore”.  That word tells us that what the author is about to say come from what he has already said.  It’s like saying, Because of that then this.”  In this case he says because of the great example of faith all of these people have given us let us life wholeheartedly by faith too.  The author uses the idea of a running race to help us understand.  Fist we must get rid of things that might slow us down.  We also need to get rid of things that can trip us up.  In this case he says “sin” can trip us up.  Sin is the disobedient things we do with respect to God.  But the author doesn’t just tell us what to avoid but also how, by concentrating on Jesus.  It’s like that fad a few years ago, WWJD-What Would Jesus Do.  It’s still a good question to ask and it fits with what the author of Hebrews is telling us to do here.

Verse 2 contains some interesting facts about Jesus.  First Jesus is the “author” of our faith.  That word means he is the first or main leader.  He is the greatest example of faith.  Why?  Because when he thought about dying on the cross all he could think about was how many people would be save by his sacrifice.  It was all about us not about him.  This is also seen in the next fact, he despised the shame that would normally be a part of being a convicted and executed prisoner.  The word despised means “against regard” or you might think “against reputation”; Jesus really didn’t think about his reputation but about our restoration.  The final fact is that he is sitting right there in Heaven next to God.  This part reminds me of Hebrews 1;3 where Jesus is seated next to God in honor.  It is interesting that the very thing that made people mock and look down on Jesus is the very thing that brought him and God great glory and honor.

Verse 3 then reminds us again to remember Jesus and be encourage to be strong.  Also in verse 3 is a hint at the reason for this letter to the Hebrew believers.  Jesus had people who hated him and the Hebrew believers were to remember that and be encouraged in their own lives.  That is probably because they too were being treated badly for being believers in Jesus.

Verses 4-13 help the believers have even more perspective.  The author says basically, “Look you haven’t died for your faith yet (like Jesus did)” and then he reminds them that all children “suffer” at the hads of their parents.  It’s not because the parents want to hut us but because they want to help us.  Sometimes athletes or coaches will say, “No pain, No Gain.”  Physical progress in a sport usually involve working hard and doing things that we don’t want to do, you have to be disciplined; it doesn’t always feel good as we work to get better at something.  When parents make us do things that are unpleasant or hurt often it is for our long range benefit.  And remember that looking way ahead is what the examples of faith in chapter 11 did.  In verses 12-13 the author tells the readers to stick with it, keep on working, keep on living each day for God, to “suck it up”.  By being faithful they will be able to find the right way to go, a way which not only lead to eternity with God but results in les and less sin in their lives (that is the idea behind the lame limb being healed).  I think there is also a hint at the problems that were going on in their lives and a hint at what the author is going to say next.  Although the most normal way to look at his instructions to strengthen the hands and feet is to apply it to their own lives he may also be telling them to encourage others.  This certainly fits with what he said in Hebrews 10:24-25 and also fits with the next few verses too.

In verses 14-17 the author tells them not to go looking for trouble.  He tells them to try to be at peace with others but he also tells them to “pursue the sanctification”.  Sanctify means to “set apart”; it’s like saving something for a special occasion.  So we need to make sure we are special for God but we also need to try to be at peace with others.  Verse 15 gets back to the idea of our influence on others, especially other believers.  We need to help God’s good news about Jesus get told to those around us.  The author tells the believers to make sure that no one among them makes trouble by looking for the easy way out.  That is the example of Esau who sold his place as leader in his family for a bowl of stew.  This probably refers back to the earlier talk about being disciplined and following Jesus’ example even if it wasn’t fun.  We need to be careful that we do not read too much into this example though or that we miss some important parts.  Later when Esau did not receive the blessing as the leader of the family he was very sorry but that did not change things, he was not to be the leader of the family.  On the other hand he was still part of the family.  We need to be careful that we do not think that the author is saying that we can get “unsaved” if we fail as believers.  Remember that the original readers of this letter were being hunted down and punished for following Jesus.  There was a lot of temptation to lay low, not hang out with the other believers too much.  Failure does not make you “unsaved” it just makes you unproductive.  We want to be productive as Christians, Jesus helped us on the cross and we should want to help others be “sanctified”, special for Jesus, even if it is painful sometimes.

Jesus help me be faithful.  Help me be in the special place you want me in.  Help me not be obnoxious but help me follow you.  Let me understand what you would do and do it.  Let me be an encouragement to those around me.  Help me help them see the way into eternity with you.

Hebrews 11:17-40.  I hope this means I am back permanently.  A couple of weeks ago I got a call out of the blue and an old friend said God had put me on his heart.  He asked me if there was anything He could pray for.  A couple of things came to mind but the one thing I asked him to pray for was this blog.  He said he would but then told me that something was better than nothing.  I appreciate the prayers but I have a little trouble with the rest of the advice.  The point of this blog is to help you all read your bibles regularly and understand what you are reading.  In order to help you understand what you are reading I need to understand what I am reading and communicate that accurately to you.  James told the readers of his letter that not many of them should be teachers because teachers would be judged for their teaching (James 3:1).  This isn’t just a discussion about a movie or the weather this is about the reality of a relationship with God.  Like the chapter we are in the middle of (Hebrews 11) this blog is about eternity.  I don’t want to cut corners, which means that this blog will take me some time each day both studying (which I finished for Hebrews over a month ago) and writing (which I am obviously behind in).  I hope what you read here will help you understand the Bible more each day and will improve your relationship with the God of the Bible today and for eternity.

The second half of Hebrews 11 continues with more of Abraham’s example.  If you read yesterday’s post (well the one before this one anyway).  You should remember that Abraham was promised that his descendants through a child Sarah would have would bring a blessing to the world.  As we will see tomorrow Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise and he does descend from Isaac.  In verses 17-19 the author of Hebrews brings up a very strange event in the life of Abraham, he was told to take Isaac up on a mountain and sacrifice him, tie him up, stab him in the heart and burn the body; pretty gruesome.  This sort of thing was done regularly with animals but we usually consider human sacrifice pretty evil.  Although Abraham went all the way up to putting Isaac on the pile of wood and raising the knife over him I think he really expected God to step in.  In the story in Genesis 22 he told Isaac that God would provide the animal (Genesis 22:8).  According to the author of Hebrews Abraham thought that if he did go through with the sacrifice that God could bring Isaac back to life (Hebrews 11:20).  That’s a lot of faith.  Fortunately Abraham never got that far because God interrupted the sacrifice and did supply an animal.  Now before you go all PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) on me and want to reject God as an animal murderer let’s remember where all this death and trouble started, with Adam disobeying God.  Before sin the world was a happy place (Remember Genesis 1:31, “it was very good”).  And it appears that we were all vegetarians at that time (Genesis 1:29-30).  Personally I think that God changed all of that after the fall so we would have a constant reminder of the trouble we brought into creation (See also “The Old Testament Connection”).

Verses 20-31 give several more examples for the history of Israel (the descendants of Jacob, see “The Twelve?” and “What’s in a Name”).  Theses example all deal with actions by the people mentioned which were based on promises God had made, or more specifically based on the one promise that Abraham’s descendant (see Galatians 3:16) through Isaac and Jacob (Israel) would make the world a good place again.  One person that I would like to point out is Rahab.  Not only was she not a descendant of Jacob but she was also a woman.  For her to be included in this list really shows that the promise of good was for the whole world.

Verses 32-38 uses example from the book of Judges (You can read more about theses people in the posts on that book), the book of Isaiah (although the Bible does not tell us how he died Hebrew tradition is that he was sawn in two by King Manasseh), and other Old Testament prophets.  What is interesting about this part of the reading is that we see that the events of these faithful people’s lives were not all fun and nice, we see that faithful people can have trouble in their lives too.

Verses 39-40 come back to an idea that is similar to what I shared about sacrifices above.  The lives of these faithful people were filled with tests and trouble because the world is not what it ought to be; not what it will be.  But the world will not be that that “very good” place again until all the people God is waiting to come back to him actually do return.  We see from this chapter that that means people who may not even have been born yet.  Rom this chapter though, we learn that God has made promises and God is faithful to his promises.  As a result we can live lives that show we believe God and are willing to live for and wait for his eternal kingdom.

God I know that the time is not here yet for you to restore the world to perfection.  There are millions of people who would miss out on “the city whose architect and maker are you” if you brought your kingdom to earth today.  Help me live each day a life of faith, focused on your promises.  Help me be a representative of your kingdom each day.  When people are horrified by the evil in the world help me remind them of the source of and the solution to evil.  Thank you for Jesus.