“Hebrews 12”

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

The Christian life is often portrayed in the New Testament as a race. It is not a 100 meter sprint, however. It is a marathon and so the author encourages us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

The Old Testament heroes of faith mentioned in the previous chapter are described here as the spectators who are cheering us on to successfully complete the course and not to stop short of the finish line.

In order to finish the Christian race victoriously, we must “lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us.” Nothing must cause us to take our eyes and hearts off the goal. In the context, “the sin” (note the singular is used, not the plural) is a lack of faith and trust in God. Remember that the apostle Peter walked on water until he took his eyes off of Jesus. When he lost that focus, he sank.

There are many things we need to “lay aside” because they could cause us to lose our souls. Some of them are sinful things that we need to repent of. Some of them are not sinful, but they take up so much of our attention that we don’t make time to serve the Lord as we should.

The writer, in this chapter, makes the point again that we are not under the Old Law, but are to submit to the New Covenant. He reminds us that we do not “come to” Mount Sinai, “the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire,” to learn how to serve God in the last days. Rather we come to Mount Zion, the physical mountain where Jerusalem is located.

It was in Jerusalem that the gospel, including the death, burial and resurrection of Christ was first preached in its fullness (Acts 2). The Great Commission instructed the apostles to preach the gospel to the whole world, “beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47).

--Roger Hillis

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