Hebrews 12

The Necessity of Discipline Hebrews 12:3–6

³Verse 3. For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls. ⁴Verse 4. You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin; ⁵Verse 5. and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him; ⁶Verse 6. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.”

Purpose of Divine Discipline Hebrews 12:7–11

⁷Verse 7. It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline? ⁸Verse 8. But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not children. ⁹Verse 9. Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? ¹⁰Verse 10. For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.

¹¹Verse 11. All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.

Strengthening the Weak Hebrews 12:12–13

¹²Verse 12. Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees, ¹³Verse 13. and make straight paths for your feet, so what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

Pursuing Peace and Holiness Hebrews 12:14–17

¹⁴Verse 14. Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord, ¹⁵Verse 15. looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it; ¹⁶Verse 16. lest there be any sexually immoral person, or profane person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal. ¹⁷Verse 17. For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears.

Contrast of Mountains Hebrews 12:18–24

¹⁸Verse 18. For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm, ¹⁹Verse 19. the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them, ²⁰Verse 20. for they could not stand that which was commanded, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned”; ²¹Verse 21. and so fearful was the appearance that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.” ²²Verse 22. But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels,

²³Verse 23. to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, ²⁴Verse 24. to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.

Warning Against Refusal Hebrews 12:25–29

²⁵Verse 25. See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven, ²⁶Verse 26. whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.” ²⁷Verse 27. This phrase, “Yet once more”, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. ²⁸Verse 28. Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can’t be shaken, let us have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe,

²⁹Verse 29. for our God is a consuming fire.