Hebrews 12.14
November 16th 2014
Meat
Welcome
Prayer
Sing
Silence
Okay – the principle has been made clear – God of our spirits will chastise those who are His children.
And the chastisement is for our benefit or profit as it leads to us “producing the peaceable fruit of righteousness.”
But the writer makes it clear – such chastisement is NOT easy to endure or take.
In the face of this fact he gives some instructions to the members of the church, and says:
Hebrews 12:12 Wherefore (as a result of all I have said on the subject) lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Okay, back to verse 12 “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
It appears that the writer, since he is writing to Jewish converts, appeals to the Old Testament and cites Isaiah 35:3 which says:
“Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.”
It is highly possible that Isaiah was pulling from Job, where one of Jobs critics, Eliphaz the Temite said of Job:
Job 4:3 Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
4 Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.
The obvious application and interpretation of the writers choice of citations is:
“In view of all the facts which have been clearly stated get in an comfort people who are under the discipline of the Father” expressed in the lines, “Lift up the hands which hang down” and “strengthen the (weak) and feeble knees” of those who are so burdened.”
Freaking be an encouragement, a help, be a people who look upon the burdens of others that cause them to drop their arms and cause their legs to crumble underneath them from the load and assist them!
Look around, the writer seems to be saying, “we are all under the pruning hand of our Father. Reach out and touch someone. Make their day. Encourage them. Support them. Assist them. Help them bear their load. Enhance their faith through encouragement.”
All captured in the lines, “lift up the hands that hang down,” and “strengthen the feeble knees.”
Both lines tend to relate to exhausted people, people weary from the load they bear and the suffering they are undergoing.
We have a living picture of this principle all the way back in Exodus 17.
There we read of the COI under Moses entering into battle with Amalek. And this is what it says:
9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
(now I suppose this rod was the same rod Moses used to shepherd, which God had Him use with pharaoh and which he did many things with in his work among the nation. I would also assume it was weighty)
10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
(Notice how some were placed right in the hand to hand battle, Moses went to the Hill and Aaron and Hur assisted him in helping the COI win? All involved, all doing what they were meant to do, nobody complaining and fighting but accepting their respective part in the war. Interesting.)
11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
(and to the passage in Hebrews)
12 But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they (Aaron and Hur) took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon (Moses sat on a Rock in which to rest provided by Aaron the High Priest); and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
All very picturesque and pointing to victory in Christ. But we note that none in the battle more or less important than they others.
The warriors (lead by Joshua) were in the thick of it and there would have been no victory without them. Moses was inspiring them to victory and without Him raising His staff they would have been defeated, and Aaron and Hur were there lifting up Moses weary hand, which if they didn’t he would have failed, and then so would the warriors.
If the warriors had failed Aaron and Hur would have lost their ability to be high priests over the nation.
These are all pictures of spiritual warfare and not literal pictures for our fighting the world.
Note that success in the literal hand to hand combat was based in Moses raising the rod of God, an emblem of canon or the Word of God.
When Moses, wearied, and failed to raise the emblem over those who were fighting, the fleshly warriors would wane in the battle and the enemy would begin to prevail.
And so Aaron, the high priest, and Hur, the husband of Miriam and probably of the tribe of Judah, stood by and made sure that Moses arms would remain raised, being that in his flesh Moses was also unable to do it alone.
Being that the ones who held his arms up were the High Priest (Aaron) and Hur of the tribe of Judah, we have the two representing Christ, as well as the rock upon which Moses sat.
Getting back to our instructions here in Hebrews, we have a choice when we see those around us who too weary in battle.
We can encourage – lifting up hands and helping feeble knees – or we can discourage, and add to their burdens and cares.
In my opinion the writer, appealing to Job, and Isaiah, and even this instance in Exodus, is indirectly telling the believers in that day to be encouragers, to lift, and support, to help – like their faithful predecessors.
It’s really an interesting dynamic the author is presenting. God will chasten those He loves but those who are His are expected to support and assist those who are undergoing the chastening at His hand.
Sort of paradoxical isn’t it.
I sometimes get the feeling that in the church when a brother or sister is under the chastisement of God believers think it’s their duty to join in with God by adding to the burden, maybe almost feeling it is their right – since God is doing some painful pruning – to do the same.
Not so, according to what we are reading here.
In fact the New Testament equivalent would be the apostles turning on the Lord when He was chastised for our sin and adding their two cents to his pain.
(beat)
Maybe we can choose to be compassionate on everyone’s plight – whether they appear to deserve it or not.
Maybe we can choose to lift weak hands and strengthen feeble knees whenever they present themselves, and refuse to
add to anyone’s true emotional or spiritual pain. Why? Because it is more than evident from our narrative here in Hebrews that weariness from toil and trials CAN lead people to spiritual failure in their walk.
People can become so disheartened, so overwhelmed, so burdened by persecution, and trial, and chastisement – even when it is by the hand of God – that they stumble over the slightest obstacle in their path.
The writer is telling the believers to assist those who are in such a weakened state, and help them along.
And to this he adds:
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
I consulted a bunch of other translations and all of them concur that instead of where the King James says,
And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
The preferred translation would be
And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be dislocated, or put out of joint; but let it rather be healed.
The author may have borrowed from Proverbs 4:25-27 and from the cultural practice of clearing roads and paths of the many obstacles which would naturally exist before concrete or asphalt – and which would be a hazard to those with pre-existing leg ailments.
Proverbs 4 says:
“Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.”
Here in Hebrews the word used for straight in the Greek relates to surface or shape clarity.
It can be used to refer to moral uprightness but it seems that here it literally means straight horizontally as in level, plain, smooth and without variance.
The word is orthos, where we get orthodontia, orthodoxy, orthopraxis, and orthopedics – making things straight, right and without malfunction.
Looking at the Proverbs verse and the use of Orthos here the meaning the writer seems to be trying to convey is,
“Hey, take hold of those who are weary and weak, make the path you walk level and easy to traverse by removing any obstacles that may serve to trip them up and therefore cause them to not only stumble and fall but to experience a dislocation.
Make the Christian walk for yourself and others as clean as possible. Get rid of anything that would cause your brother or sister, who have been compromised by trials, to dislocate an already weak knee.
Practically speaking a lame man needs a smooth path to walk on. Anything that is the least bit out of the ordinary in the path can cause a serious accident.
Spiritually speaking I would suggest that we do our best to remove anything that would cause those who are weak to get weaker.
I am endlessly amazed at the callous and harsh treatment compromised people can get from others acting in the name of God.
I think of mothers who have lost children to suicide who are told by “Christians” that their child is in hell, or people who are struggling to make ends that are told if they would only pay tithes to the church God would heal their finances.
I think of people with homosexual family members who are told that God hates fags, or divorcees who are turned out from fellowship.
The examples go on and on and on – all having the potential to take weak and feeble souls and dislocate them right out of fellowship.
Not good, the writer says.
By removing such things, the writer says, instead of a dislocation, there is a chance that the feeble would rather be healed.
Spiritual wounds, exhaustion, ailments, and weakness out to be treated tenderly allowing people the time to let the salve of Christ heal them rather than more exposure to stress and challenge to break them down even more.
The writer, in the vein of all of this adds another passage, and it is one that has helped altar my world view as He says:
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
There are two important points here that I think are worth discussion from a biblical perspective.
“Follow peace with all” (men is not in the original mss) and
(follow) “holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.”
We could approach this by citing the number of times “peace” is used in the Old Testament 327, reveal the original Hebrew word (Shalom) and cite some of the better uses of it (like)
Isaiah 53:5 which says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
We could even tie this verse (and the line in it that says “the chastisement of our peace was upon Him”) to our discussion last week where we saw that the word “chastisement” (as in God chastises those who are His) as a means to produce the “peaceable fruit unto righteousness” in our lives . . . but were not going to do that.
I think I’d rather address first the obvious meaning of the line, “follow peace with all,” and then show how this directive relates to the second directive, “and follow holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.”
First, we might ask, how literally do we take this first command, to “follow peace with all.”
I used to think that warfare was an important part of the Christian walk. I would use passages like “contending” for the faith,” literally and believe it was more the rule than the exception.
But Paul confirms the edict, saying in
Romans 12:18 “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”
Admittedly, there are exceptions to our interpretation of the line, “and follow peace with all,” because the establishment of truth in the lives of others can create disruption.
But let’s look at the words closely – “follow peace with all.” (repeat)
The (ASV) says: “Follow after peace with all men,”
The (BBE) says: “Let your desire be for peace with all men . . .
Darby say “Pursue peace with all,”
The (MNT) read “Run swiftly after peace with all . . .
The NKJV says, “Pursue peace with all [people],
The Revised says “Strive for peace with all . . .”
The TCNT suggests we “Try earnestly to live at peace with every one,”
And “persistently strive for peace with all”
The key is in the world follow because translated into “run swiftly after,” and “strive,” and “pursue,” and “let your desire be” tells us plainly that the issue is a matter of the heart, it is an attitude, it is a purposed intention.
In other words we are ardently looking to keep peace between us. This does NOT mean we roll over and avoid difficult issues but it does mean that amidst these differences our goal is the presence and maintenance of peace.
This only makes sense when our Lord and Savior is known as the prince of peace. How could our King be the prince of peace but His servants be mongers of strife, division and unrest?
We also note that the writer says “with all people.”
Mix in the fact that when we are presenting truths and living Christian truths that there is an automatic division that occurs between us and the world, one that creates unrest – especially in those who resist or resent it.
So how can we apply this passage to all of these obvious factors that seem to be at immediate odds with being peacemakers, as described by the Lord as blessed in Matthew 5?
I would suggest believers are constantly striving after, constantly attempting to implement peace between parties while never giving an inch on Christian essentials.
I would add that determining what are truly Christian essentials will go a long way in helping us pursue peace with all people.
In other words, if we as believers make a thousand things essentials to our faith we will have a thousand opportunities to make war with the world and those in it.
But if we can reasonably take the Good News and all that it entails, and genuinely cull the essential Christian truths out we probably will stand a better chance of following peace with all rather than making war with most.
Paradoxically, but right in harmony with Satan and His ways, when Christian essentials are reduced down we automatically create division and war with people who think there ought to be more – and so the relentless, arduous, and tenuous nature of following after peace with all people (believers and not) becomes even more present in our lives.
Maybe like you, I once had a series of essentials that I insisted were necessary to please God and when they were not embraced as I embraced them they became “fightin words.”
After an honest examination of my heart and self I honestly can say that none remain.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t believe there are essentials to the faith but I just don’t want them to serve as the impetus for “fightin words” any longer?
Passages like this here in Hebrews 12 helped open my eyes.
I truly believe and promote the idea that Christianity is a subjectively applied faith, and no matter what the topic, there will be differences among true, loving Christian believers.
I understand this smacks of relativism and post-modern thinking. It’s not that I don’t believe that there are concrete truths upon which Christianity is built but its more how all people – who are all at various stages and maturities and intellects relate to, and assimilate and understand these truths that varies.
Therefore the ONLY way (in my estimation) for a true Christian to pursue “after peace with all people” is to patiently understand the situation, to avoid dogma, and to allow God through His spirit to bring all up and around to where He wants them to ultimately arrive.
For me, at this point in my walk and life (and some of you may be well ahead of me in this area so bear with me) but for me, the ONLY essential to the Christian faith is whether a person has genuinely been spiritually regenerated by the Holy Spirit (made possible by the shed blood of Jesus Christ).
If they have, they are responsible to God for their walk as they will face God alone in His assessment of them as possessors of His spirit.
If they have not I believe it is encumbent upon me and all other Christians to share the marvelous gift delivered into their hands nearly 2000 years ago.
Everything else – all knowledge, all doctrine, all growth and maturation, all theologies, all practices – are in the hands of God and the individual involved.
With this deconstructed approach believers are put in a position to allow God to work and be in control or them or not, and for them to patiently receive all others with love and patience who too are in the same situation.
This approach ultimately allows for us to actually pursue peace with all people – believers (especially) and NOT.
Some might say, “Well what do we do about what the Bible says?”
We teach it – by all means – to the best of our ability. And every individual is then given the ability by the spirit to discern what is right and what is not.
Too many wrongs, the truth seeker walks, without animus, and pursues what they can accept, and understand, and support.
In this way I, as a believer of a certain ilk, can readily support, and love, and live in peace with other regenerated brothers or sisters who worship a trinity, who are urgently looking for a rapture of the church, and who ardently believe all who die without Jesus will burn eternally in a literal hell.
So often the apostles of Jesus wanted to cast people out, and call down fire from heaven to consume those who thought or acted differently then themselves.
Jesus always seemed to defend those who walked and thought differently and warned the apostles that they did not realize “the spirit that they were of.”
Additionally, to pursue peace will all people requires a pretty sound understanding of what Christianity is and what it is not all about.
To make the mistake that thinking Christianity is about clearing the world of evil, reforming sin and calling people out on inappropriate or sinful actions is to live a life that will certainly to pursuing peace with all people.
The prince of peace reconciled the world to Himself, paid for all sin entirely, and the point and purpose now is to get people to understand that there is a loving solution to their failures – given by God Himself – a solution that will enable them to work out their failures and proclivities without condemnation.
If we are under the assumption that the world is still under condemnation and God is looking to wipe it out (in spite of the finished work of His Son) we too will feel justified in adopting a condemnatory attitude toward it – and all who do not live as we think they should.
This is NOT the good news.
To effectively live peaceably with all men we have to comprehend what the prince of peace – our Lord and King – did for all men, and then share THAT message – and no other, as His ambassadors.
When the world receives the message poorly, we do what He did – turn the other cheek, forgive, even give our lives for it to understand.
Not INCREASE unrest.
I do not think it is by accident that the writer first says
“Follow peace with all men,” and then adds (“and follow”) “holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”
The two concepts – peace and holiness – are so inextricably linked it sort of gets overwhelming to try and describe their relationship as separate entities.
But I’ll try.
In this world unrest and turmoil – emotional, spiritual, psychological, physical – occurs when there disunity occurs.
Physically, when something invades our bodies or an infraction occurs against our flesh or frame, we find ourselves ill – (as in ill-at-ease, or “dis” eased). And the last thing we are experiencing at these moments is peace.
When we are disjointed psychologically, and our minds are running a mile a minute over invasions great and small again, we are not whole, but broken and full of anxiety and unrest. The opposite of peace.
So it is with us spriritually. Now stay with me. As physical disease puts in a state of physical unrest, and emotional interruptions and disquietude creates in us anxiety (the opposite of peace) so also, when we have division between ourselves and God do we find ourselves lacking peace.
When we are one with God – which requires us to be right with God – which means we have been justified and sanctified by Him (MADE HOLY).
So with personal holiness comes peace and where spiritual peace abides there is always the presence of personal holiness.
How can I say this – because where there is no holiness there is division. And when a person is separate from God they are spiritually anxious and ill at ease, the very antithesis of peace.
So again, the greatest state a person can find themselves in in this fallen world is to be wholly at peace, and therefore to see themselves as completely holy before God!
With me so far.
So the question is: “By what means does a person reach or achieve the level of holiness that produces such peace?”
Of course, depending on the individual and their respective subjective view of walking with God, there are all sorts of responses to this questions floating around out there.
So let’s first consult the Greek used in Hebrews 12:14
Follow peace “eirene” with all and . . .
holiness “hagiasmos” without “choris”
which no man shall see “optanomai”the Lord.”
Hagiamos (translated holiness) means purified, purity.
Old Testament it was achieved, in part, through washing rituals and shed animal blood.
New Testament, by the blood of Christ, who came to baptize with the Spirit and fire.
Now, remember, what were these Jewish Converts tempted to do? Walk from faith by re-embracing the Law. So the writer plainly says,
“Follow peace with all men,” and then adds (“and follow”) “holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”
The question – BOTTOM LINE QUESTION THAT MUST BE ASKED is this . . . “how do Christians follow Holiness, without which no man will see the Lord?”
If you suggest that they follow it by mimicking Christ in your life I cannot deny that this certainly does offer some holiness and peace in the life of a believer.
I would be lying to suggest otherwise. Clean, holy living – in the face of living a life of sin – produces more peace in this world than any sinner can imagine, right?
I mean, even if a person is NOT a believer, and chooses to stop partying and sleeping around and doing things that are positive to body and mind, peace comes hand in hand with their newly acquired purity, holiness, or sanctification.
But the spiritual sanctification the writer is speaking (without which no man will see the Lord) involves more than moral reformation of character and even action.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit (not, not the work of the flesh) brought about by the power of the truth which, as a result of our yielding to it, brings our flesh and will more and more under the influences of God and His holiness.
I would describe it like this:
At rebirth all regenerated believers possess 100% of God’s holiness.
We are forgiven and completely purified – bestowed upon us by the baptism of Christ Jesus in our receiving Him and His shed blood.
The fullness is complete but the believer’s reception of it is not. Again, the Holiness of God (bestowed by His grace through faith) is 100% but being in flesh our willingness to embrace it is not.
And so we enter into a relationship with Him where He is constantly calling to each of us to receive all He has given.
To turn from the flesh and embrace the power we now have by the spirit.
The Converts here were considering to fall back to the Law. This would have meant a loss of peace and holiness and so the writer is telling them “to pursue peace with all” and “holiness because without it no body would ever “see the Lord.”
This is so true. What is not true is to think that the author was telling them to create their own holiness – that would have been the opposite of his message because to create or pursue their own holiness would come by pursuing the Law –the last thing in the world He would have suggested!
The concept is easily missed and misunderstood.
Some clarity comes in Paul’s writings in Romans, when he says:
Romans 6:13 “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
Reading this at first it seems like it is a call to personal holiness but the lines “don’t yield yourselves to sin but yiled yourselves to God” let us see that it is Him and His holiness we are yielding to, and not our own.
Again, the opposite approach to finding holiness by the law for the flesh is seen when Paul added:
“for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
1st Corinthians 6:19 adds:
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”
It is all about receiving the holiness God has given us by dying to the flesh and yielding to His ever-present gift, remembering that the gift is fully present, so we have no fear about not being purified at the day of our seeing God.
Looking at context and the rest of scripture, quite frankly, the further we step from faith is what determines loss of peace and holiness – not the failures we experience in the flesh.
Granted, the flesh cannot help but conform to Jesus commands to love as we sojourn here on this earth, but it is the faith and the knowledge that we have embraced in Him that keeps the holiness sufficient to see Him after this life – and nothing more.
We can say this because a being is either holy or they are not – like God is either holy or He is not.
With this being the case, our Holiness has to come by Him and no other since we cannot possibly reach holiness while we inhabit the flesh.
Perfect sanctification is not attainable in this life (1Ki 8:46; Pr 20:9; Ec 7:20; Jas 3:2; 1Jo 1:8).
John said it clearly to believers in 1st John 1:8
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
If we have sin the only way holiness could possibly be present is in and through Him.
So cling to Him and we will discover peace and purity, without such no one will ever see God.
