Hebrews 12

If you love the Law of God, if you are thankful for the heroes of the Hebrew Scriptures, if you desire to follow their good example of devotion to the Lord, then you need to imitate above their delight in the coming One who would secure the promises of God for His people at great cost to Himself. Those who claim to love the Word of God, but who seek to entangle the faithful in ceremonial requirements that are no longer the way of true covenant life, are not examples of holiness to be emulated but slaves and purveyors of serious error that are dangerous to the spiritual life of any church that seeks to follow Christ.

False or outdated works of ceremonial holiness are not merely harmless acts of devotion. They are sinful entanglements that promote spiritual death rather than the life that comes from the Lord. These false ways need to be cast off, along with all the sin that so easily entangles the church. Even now as we worship God through Jesus Christ, we are surrounded by a great glory cloud of heavenly witnesses who know the importance of hearing the true Word of God. We have a race to run during our brief stay in this mortal world, and we cannot finish well with the heavy weights of dead works and distracting sins tied around our limbs.

In this race we keep our eyes on the glorified Christ. He is our finish line. He ran His own race perfectly, focusing on the joy that lay ahead of Him in heavenly realms. It was that joy of what would surely come that sustained Him as He endured the cross. He did not love the shame of the cross. He hated it. But the cross is a past event, an offering that is never to be repeated. Jesus is not on the cross now. He is at the right hand of the Father.

When the church considers the sufferings of Christ, we do so with the encouragement that He passed through them for a most important purpose. He gave His life to accomplish the death of sin. We have not yet given our lives for anything. If we face the discipline of God's providential care, it is because we are being treated as beloved sons. That discipline will one day yield a great harvest of righteousness. It may not feel great at the moment, but we can trust God through it.

With God's sure word reminding us of the strong bonds of family love in the household of God, we need to make every effort to get back in the race. We need to be on the lookout for every root of bitterness that would spring up within us. The way of obedience is before us now, just as it has been for the people of faith since the beginning of time. The only difference is that the light along that road is so much brighter than it used to be during the time of the Old Testament ceremonial Law. God still loves purity and faithfulness. He still wants us to live at peace with others. His Holy Spirit is still leading us in the way of greater holiness. What else would we expect from the loving Spirit of God at work within us by the power of Jesus Christ?

For the church to choose the way of Esau would be a greater disgrace for us today than it was for Jacob's brother when he sold his birthright for a pot of stew. We know more than Esau did. Why should we allow ourselves to be enslaved again by immoral enticements? We want to see the Lord. There we choose holiness.

The people of God have moved beyond the experience of Sinai, where they begged not to hear the voice of God, lest they die. We have come to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the assembly of Jesus, the firstborn from the dead. Our names are written in heaven, where Christ has gone to prepare a place for us. We want hear the voice of God.

We have the best of all possible mediators. The One who represents us is the One who died for us. His blood purified the way for us into the heavenly sanctuary of God. That blood of the perfect Lamb speaks a great Word of innocence for us before the throne of God. The voice of Abel's blood cried out to God from the ground so long ago. The first generation after Adam and Eve contained one son who was murdered and another who was his assailant. That blood screamed out to heaven about the guilt of mankind. Now the blood of Jesus speaks gently to our Father about the perfect atonement that has satisfied God's justice.

God has done so much for us. We must not refuse Him. If He warns us, we must not consider His words to be of little substance. If we admit that the Law of Israel was so very serious in light of the frightening circumstances surrounding the giving of that gift, can we not also acknowledge that a warning from heaven is far more serious than a warning from Mount Sinai? Is it a small matter to walk away from New Covenant assembly of Jesus the Son of God?

The Lord will shake the heavens and the earth when He comes to save. Everything that is temporary will be gone. Only that which is permanent will last. The perfected body of Christ, the church, will last forever. We are receiving a heavenly kingdom that can not be shaken. Therefore, let us worship the Lord of heaven and earth through the perfect mediation of the resurrection Man. He is the only way for anyone to be able to stand in the midst of God's fiery judgment. Let us worship the Lord with reverence and awe, and let us be thankful. We have a Man to look to in our deepest troubles. Jesus Christ, the righteous, has conquered hell and the grave for us. We must not turn away from Him.