From our Sunday service on March 29, 2026, Hebrews 12. This is part 9 of our Hebrews series. Watch the full message: At the Foot of the Mountain – Hebrews Series #9 on YouTube.
We’re in Hebrews chapter 12 today. We’re in the last section of the book of Hebrews, the application section. This is the most practical portion of Hebrews, where the author starts giving us advice we can take and apply to our lives.
Last time, the author of Hebrews gave us a great encouragement to persevere in faith to the end, showing us that our faith isn’t without a cause. It is built on the faith of all those who came before us. In chapter 11, the author went through the entire Bible and listed all the people of faith who are examples to us that God is always faithful. Because of the foundation they laid, we don’t have to go without faith. We have a foundation of testimonies to base our faith on.
Today he’s going to take that knowledge about the foundation of faith and start transforming us to live in light of it. It’s good for us to know there’s a foundation of faith, but it’s better for us to take that foundation of faith and use it. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey as the King of kings. Had Israel accepted their Messiah, surely he would have become king at that time. But because they rejected him, and because he had to go to the cross, we still await the day of our coming King. And as we await him, we have much to do for the kingdom in between. So today’s message is about living with the kingdom in mind.
God wants you to know that the only eternal investment is the kingdom of God.
Running the Race
Let’s review a little and read the first four verses, where we left off last time.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
Hebrews 12:1–4
I didn’t have as much time as I wanted last time to talk about everything in these verses, so I’ll take a slightly different focus today. The basic summary of these verses is that we have a whole Bible full of testimonies to encourage us. People have laid down a foundation of faith for us to build on. So we should find in Christ the endurance we need to persevere in our faithfulness to him, just as those who came before us did.
It says we need to look to Jesus, “the author and finisher of our faith.” We talked about how he is the founder and completer of our faith. But it also says, “let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” We didn’t get to talk about that in much detail. The faith is called a race. So what does our faith look like? The author says it’s like running a race. You need to do some things to ensure that you run a race successfully. It involves removing the things from our lives that slow us down in our spiritual walk, and the sins that trip us up, so that when we run our race, when we walk through our lives, we do so consistently.
Pace, Fuel and Practice
How do you win a marathon? Think about it for a second. When the gun fires and you start running an endurance race with the goal of winning, do you run at full sprint right off the bat and try to get into first? No. You don’t win a marathon by being in first right at the start. You don’t speed ahead of everyone. You pick a stable pace and run consistently at that pace throughout the race. It’s not just a challenge of who can be the fastest, but who can persevere the longest. You need to run not just fast, but efficiently. If you’re going to run a 5K and you exert all your energy in the first 1K, you’re not going to run your race well.
A lot of times we see our Christian faith more like a roller coaster. How many of you would say, “My Christian faith has been a roller coaster. I’ve had high moments and low moments and high moments”? If you try to run your race like a roller coaster, you say, “I’m at the top of the mountaintop. I’m going to put everything I have in right now.” Then you’re burned out, and there goes your faith. You didn’t pace yourself in the race. You got excited and put all your energy in, but you didn’t have the persistence to keep going. Who wants to be honest with themselves today? “My faith has been like that. I had all the energy. I exerted it to try to get ahead, and then not long after, I found myself at the back of the group.” The author of Hebrews is saying that when you run your race, you have to do it consistently.
At this time, the Olympics were already going on. They already had Olympic races. They already knew what it looked like to run laps around a coliseum. They knew you had to have endurance. When you run a marathon, you have to make sure you’re both fueled and hydrated. What do they have alongside the road as you’re running? Cups of water to keep you hydrated. Running a long-distance race requires fuel and water. You can’t go without anything to sustain you.
You also can’t go without practice. If you say, “I’ve never run a race in my life, and I’m going to start with a 5K,” how well do you think that’s going to go? You’re going to be a mess, twisted in knots on the side of the road. To run a consistent, long, enduring race, you have to run at a steady pace, you have to run with fuel and water, and you have to practice. You can’t just get up one day and be ready to do it. If you pace yourself efficiently and have the energy to keep the pace, eventually you’ll reach the finish line successfully. Without those things, you can’t do it.
It’s the same way with the Christian life. You have to practice good works to build up your endurance in the faith. You need to feed yourself with the word of God and give yourself drink from the living water. You have to pace yourself and prepare yourself to run consistently, not just in short bursts of holiness, but in your consistent daily life.
Jesus Is the Power to Run
The power to run that race doesn’t come from us. What does it say? Jesus is “the author and finisher.” If we try to run that race in our own power and ability, we’re going to burn out real quick. That’s why you have the mountaintop experience when the Holy Spirit is there, and then you say, “Okay, I’m going to do it.” You messed up right there, because you said, “I’m going to do it,” and you’re destined for failure. Only Jesus can help you run your race.
That’s the gist of what the author is doing as we get into this application section. He’s telling us how to prepare ourselves to run this race for the kingdom. How can we invest in this kingdom race so that when the end of our life comes and we make that final dash across the finish line, we come out successful?
God’s Correction Is a Blessing
In our first section, verses 5 and 6, we’ll see that God’s correction is a blessing.
And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Hebrews 12:5–6
In verses 5 and 6, the author of Hebrews is getting ready to give correction to the Hebrews who had been discouraged. We’ve gone over this a lot. They were being persecuted under Nero. The unbelieving Jews were persecuting them as well. They were ready to give up. They were burned out. They were trying to run their race in their own power, and it wasn’t working. So he says, “Let me give you some encouragement. Just remember: whom the Lord loves, he corrects. Just because I’m telling you that you need to improve on things doesn’t mean I don’t love you. Discipline from God is a good thing.”
He’s going to say that the persecution they’re facing is actually a good thing, because persecution purges the church. It gets rid of those who are just there to say, “Yes, I believe the Lord,” but in their true faith don’t believe it and aren’t dedicated to the cause of Christ. Whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth. He gives difficulty to purify, to try and to perfect. So when you see these difficulties, don’t be discouraged, because God allowing difficulty in your life is an opportunity for him to make you into something better. Don’t be discouraged by the persecution or the correction.
He reminds them of Proverbs 3:11-13.
My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
Proverbs 3:11–13
God Corrects Us for Our Benefit
So when God corrects you for a mistake, you should be happy. Why? Because that correction means God loves you. If he didn’t love you, he’d never punish you for your mistakes. He’d let you be self-destructive. He’d let you lead yourself to your own destruction.
God does not correct us for the fun of it. It says, “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.” He doesn’t do it for fun. God doesn’t get any benefit out of correcting us. Who gets the benefit? We do. God’s commands are for our benefit. The focus is on us, not him. What benefit does God get from giving us the Ten Commandments? Does he need to be reminded what’s right and wrong? No. Does our righteousness affect the righteousness of God at all? No. So why does he give us the commands? Why does he give us correction when we mess up? Is it to make his life easier? No. It’s to make our lives better.
When we go through difficulty, we get so mad at God: “God, why would you allow this?” And he says, “Do you think I did this for my benefit? Do you think your difficulty brings any benefit to me?” It doesn’t affect God at all. All it does is affect you and allow you to grow closer to him. He does it for our benefit, not for his.
Correction Demonstrates Connection
Why is this? Correction demonstrates connection. Verses 7 and 8 tell us about this.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Hebrews 12:7–8
The passage says God corrects us because he cares about us. What kind of father would someone be if he never disciplined his son for any of the mistakes he made? If he never corrected his son’s errors, I would argue he would not be any kind of father to him at all. Does he care about his son? No, because he doesn’t prepare his son for life. When a child is young, it’s important that he learn some things to give him the skills to live life successfully. A father who doesn’t discipline his children doesn’t care about his children. He has no investment in their success. He doesn’t care whether they succeed or fail.
So the author of Hebrews says, “If a human father who doesn’t correct his son doesn’t care, then why are you upset when God corrects you? Obviously God cares about you. He doesn’t get a benefit from correcting you. You get the benefit. You learn the lesson. You’re prepared for the future. You’re prevented from further sin and self-destruction when God sends correction your way.”
The Adoption of Sons
He’s teaching that to refuse to correct someone is to deny their identity. If a father refuses to correct his son, he is denying that child’s identity as his son. That son should be a representation of him and his leadership in the family. If he doesn’t correct his son, that means he doesn’t identify with his son.
In the Roman era, you could choose not to identify with your son, and he would be considered your slave. The adoption of sons, so to speak, was when you officially recognized your son as your own. In this culture, it was completely normal and acceptable to say, “My son didn’t learn from me, so I’m not going to adopt him. He won’t legally be my child.” That was an option. So the author of Hebrews is saying, “Do you understand that God corrects you and teaches you for the adoption of sons, so that he can identify himself with you? Do you understand that this is about your blessing, not your suffering?” Anybody who doesn’t receive correction from their father might as well have been born fatherless, because in the end it has the same effect.
The Father of Spirits
Consider God’s correction compared to that of a biological father. Verses 9 and 10:
Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Hebrews 12:9–10
Another way you could translate “reverence” is “respect.” Verse 9 tells us we have respect for our earthly fathers. How many of you have respect for your father? I see a lot of hands going up. We respect our fathers. Why? Because they taught us what it’s like to be responsible. Everything we know about responsibility came from our parents, unless we had to learn it the hard, difficult, regretful way.
So he says, “Christians, you respect your fathers. They corrected you when you were children, and you respected them for it.” Maybe we didn’t when we were kids. We thought it was unfair that we got spankings, or got grounded, or had things taken away to teach us a lesson. But the older you get, the more you look back and say, “Oh my goodness, thank you, Dad. Thank you, Mom, for teaching me discipline. I see some of the people around me who didn’t have that, and where they are is not somewhere I want to be.”
So he says, if we’re that way toward our biological fathers, or our adoptive fathers here on earth, why would we not be the same way toward God? “Shall we not much rather be in subjection,” or submission, “unto the Father of spirits, and live?” Our biological father can only do so much for us on this earth. He cannot get us into heaven, but our heavenly Father can. When he disciplines us, he’s preparing us for the heavenly kingdom.
Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, ushering in the kingdom of heaven. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and we have that kingdom to work for. Our kingdom here on earth is temporary. That one is eternal. If we’re thankful for living well in this kingdom, shouldn’t we be thankful for living well in the eternal kingdom as well?
For a Few Days, After Their Own Pleasure
Verse 10 continues this thought: “For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.” The skills we have in this world are for a temporary time. This earth will one day pass away, and a new one will come. We’ll spend a lot more time in the heavenly kingdom than we’ll spend in the earthly one. When God prepares us for the heavenly kingdom, he prepares us for something much more long-lasting and enduring. In fact, it’s eternal. It’s unending. It’s infinitely more valuable than our time here on earth.
Our fathers, it says, chastened us for a few days “after their own pleasure.” There’s a difference between God’s discipline and a human father’s discipline. Remember, I said God doesn’t get any benefit from disciplining us. But our earthly fathers do benefit from disciplining us. Why? Because a misbehaving child can bring shame to the father. How many of you have been in the store with a toddler who starts bringing shame on you very quickly, and you want to leave immediately? How many of you have seen somebody else’s child and felt bad as a third party for the way that child behaves?
There is a benefit to a human father chastening his children, because a father is shamed by the way his child behaves. When fathers correct, they do it partly for their own benefit, because they want to be respected by the other people in their community. If their kids are off causing problems and getting into all kinds of trouble, the consequences can come quickly. Not just shame. When the kids get older, you can start talking about crimes and jail and horrible things you don’t want in your life, things that cause not just embarrassment but financial ruin as well. Nobody wants to bail their child out of jail. So discipline them while they’re young. That’ll save you a lot of trouble later.
A Good Heavenly Father
Biological fathers get a lot of benefit from the way they correct. God does not have that benefit in the same way. Because parents are innately correcting for their own benefit, a parent can be self-focused and teach his children incorrectly. Sometimes that leads to teaching that isn’t right. A parent can lead a child to learn things the wrong way. Have you seen a parent who taught his child that stealing is okay? I’m sure we’ve all seen it once in a while: “Hey, it’s okay to take a chocolate bar from the big corporation. They have all the money. It doesn’t hurt them at all.” A child can be taught wrong by a parent, because the way the parent trains the child benefits the parent. Parents can teach false things. A child who’s taught it’s okay to steal from a big corporation is not going to do well later in life when he finds out there are severe consequences for theft.
We have a good heavenly Father who doesn’t teach us false things for his benefit. He only teaches us the things that are righteous and holy, that bring benefit to us. Praise the Lord that he does not teach us in that way. God has no bias. There is no benefit to God in disciplining us. The benefit is purely ours. Why? So that we can be “partakers of his holiness.” God wants us to be like him: sanctified, dedicated, set apart as a holy, righteous people who carry his name faithfully.
Exercised Thereby
Let’s continue to verses 11-13.
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
Hebrews 12:11–13
Another word you could use for “joyous” is “enjoyable.” Notice the key word “exercised.” That draws back to our race analogy.
Verse 11 tells us that even knowing discipline is beneficial doesn’t mean it’s going to be enjoyable. For the present, it doesn’t seem to be joyous. How many of you enjoyed being disciplined by your parents? How many of you loved being grounded, not being able to do anything with your friends for a week? I know I didn’t. How many of you enjoyed the spankings? I didn’t. It was not enjoyable in the moment. If it’s not enjoyable when our biological parents correct us, why would we think it’s going to be enjoyable when God corrects us? It’s not. That’s just a fact of life. When God sends correction our way and gives us consequences for our actions to teach us a lesson, it’s not going to be enjoyable in the moment.
But then comes the word “nevertheless.” Despite not being enjoyable in the moment, what does it eventually yield? “The peaceable fruit of righteousness.” He uses the word “peaceable” because he wants us to seek peace with others. He’s going to talk about that in a moment. When you have righteousness, it brings peace to your life, because you don’t have to carry guilt over the same mistakes you keep making over and over again. You have peace, you have a testimony, and you live life well. In the moment there’s going to be some discomfort. But that discomfort can be beneficial for us in the long run, because the result is a righteous life. And if our sin consistently leads to consequences in our lives, then naturally we’re going to want to avoid it.
Exercise Your Faith
Verses 12 and 13 say, “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.” Because we know our difficulties purify us, it should give us strength when we see times of difficulty. Why? Because it means God has a plan to exercise our faith and build better habits.
Remember, we can’t run the race consistently unless we exercise ourselves to run consistently. Otherwise we’ll be on that roller coaster: a high moment, a low moment, a high moment, a low moment. We have to exercise our faith. Part of that is getting corrected when we mess up and learning from it. Not getting mad at God. Not letting the correction distance us from him: “God, you allowed this difficulty in my life. I don’t want to be associated with you anymore.” That’s like the little kid saying, “Dad, you don’t let me do anything! You grounded me! I don’t want to talk to you anymore!” We think that teenager is so embarrassing. Yet we do the same thing to God when he allows hardship in our lives. Instead of being exercised by the discipline, we harden our hearts and make the roller coaster of Christianity even rougher. If we want to run the race consistently, we need to thank God even in the difficulty and understand that if he’s allowing it, he’s trying to teach us something.
Make Straight Paths
So what should our response be when difficulty comes? We should prepare ourselves. As verse 13 says, we need to “make straight paths for your feet.” That is, we need to get the things we can trip on out of the way, so we can focus on moving forward.
If you’re going to run a race, one of the first things you need to do is clear the road. Most of the time, you don’t run a 5K in the middle of traffic. That would be crazy. It would be dangerous. If you know you’re going to run a race, you need to get the hazards out of the way. If you want to run a race with God, you need to get the hazards that trip you up out of the way. If there’s a sin in your life that you trip over time and time again, the first thing you need to do before you start running is clear the path. Make a straight road so you can run to your destination.
A lot of us just start running, and we trip every five feet. Some of our paths might look like your kids’ room when they haven’t cleaned it for a month. It’s going to be full of hazards. If you want to run faithfully, the hazards need to be removed. That means setting boundaries around the things you trip on. When people run a race, they put things on the side of the road. They put up barricades so runners don’t go off one way or the other. If you’re consistently tripping on sin in your life, you need to put up some barricades around the hazards so you don’t trip on them again. It takes some preparation.
Running the Race Lame
Verses 12 and 13 actually use a pretty interesting metaphor. They call us people who are disabled. Another way you could translate this is: “Raise your drooping hands and paralyzed knees,” because it literally is the Greek word for paralyzed. “Make straight pathways for your feet, so that the impaired limb is not twisted out of joint, but is instead healed.”
You need to realize that you’re running the race and you’re disabled. Christian, you don’t live in a glorified body. Your body is twisted by the sin nature. You are paralyzed in this race. You’re not running it as somebody who’s fit to run it. That’s what the analogy is saying. Your hands are wobbling and drooping, and your knees are shaking. You can barely walk, but you have a race to run, Christian. If you see yourself that way, you’re going to focus on moving the hazards out of the way. Why? Because when you’re disabled and you fall, it’s going to do a lot of damage.
Christian, you need to realize that your sin nature disables you from running the race. It’s going to weaken you. Don’t think of yourself as someone who’s so fit and strong and ready to run. No, it says you are lame. You need to be careful, because the hip you’re running with is going to be twisted out of joint. You’re not strong enough to catch yourself when you start tripping. If you trip on anything, you’re going to fall and hurt yourself severely. So you need to run with the intention of making sure you don’t fall. We’re naturally in a state of disability when it comes to morality. We are broken and damaged people. So we must walk carefully. If we don’t want to fall, we need to actively prepare safe pathways to walk in.
Repentance Brings Transformation
Let’s continue as he talks about how repentance is what causes transformation. Verses 14-17:
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
Hebrews 12:14–17
We’ve got a big deal alert here. This is our first practical, actionable advice from the author of Hebrews. In this application section, he gives us a very interesting challenge: seek peace and holiness with everyone. That’s a pretty interesting first instruction to give in the whole book. That’s the first thing it says to do.
Follow Peace and Holiness
Verse 14: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” He’s telling us our number one priority in our walk with God should be to get along with others and practice good morality. Why is that so important? Because if we do, other people will be pointed to Christ. And if we don’t, then we don’t personally believe what Christ taught at all.
It says, “without which no man shall see the Lord,” and that works two ways. If you haven’t repented, if you haven’t turned away from your sins, you don’t truly believe in God. The demons believe in God, but they don’t obey God. They don’t go to heaven. That’s not enough to save them. You need to believe in God, and when you truly believe what God says, it’s going to change the way you act. So if you don’t seek peace with all men, and holiness, it says no one’s going to see the Lord, because if you don’t seek peace and holiness, you don’t truly believe what God called you to.
Just read the epistles John wrote. They’re all about loving others. If you don’t truly believe that loving others is important, then I’ve got some scary news: you’re probably not saved, because you probably don’t believe what God taught. You might say, “I believe some of it, but I don’t think I need to seek peace with everybody.” The Bible says, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” If you aren’t seeking peace with everyone, you should be scared, because without that, no one’s going to see the Lord.
Two ways. First, you’re not going to see the Lord, because you don’t believe that what God said about seeking peace is true. Second, no one’s going to see the Lord in you, because your testimony is going to be rotten, dirty and useless.
Change Yourself
So the first and most important step is to seek peace with all men, and holiness. That means you want to get along with everybody, but you’re also trying to make your own life moral and upright. You want righteousness, holiness and godliness in your own life.
I think a lot of us struggle because we love to point out the wickedness in others, but we hate to look at our own. Christian, it’s not really important what other people do in this world. What’s really important in the Christian walk is what you do, because you cannot change what other people do. No matter how hard you try, no matter how much effort you put into it, the only person you can change 100% of the time is yourself. If you’re putting all your energy into trying to change everybody else in the world, you’re wasting a lot of energy you could be spending making yourself more like Christ.
A Root of Bitterness
Verse 15 doubles down on the fact that we need to seek peace and holiness: “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” True Christians will seek peace and holiness. To do otherwise is to deny what Christ called us to. Any Christian who denies peace and holiness has this root of bitterness springing up. It’s like the weeds that choke out the plant. This root of bitterness is going to poison the soil of our faith and make us waste away.
Like Esau
He compares this to Esau in verses 16 and 17: “Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat,” or a meal, “sold his birthright.” If you do this, you would be like Esau, who had the promise of an inheritance and threw it all away for something worthless.
Jesus promised us eternal life if we believe in him. Jesus put that promise into your hand. The question then becomes: are you going to sell the promise and reject it for something worthless, like holding a grudge? God says, “All you have to do is believe in me.” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” The name Jesus means God is salvation, by the way. That’s what you need to believe. Then it calls us to repent.
He says, “Christian, are you going to say that your bitterness and your sins, your envy, your lust, your fornication, are more important than the gift Christ is offering you?” I have this gift in my hands. But over there is that meal, that temporary sustenance, like Esau saw. He was hungry from hunting, and he said, “I could sure go for a meal.” He sold his entire inheritance for a single meal. That’s why he says, “Christian, your entire eternal inheritance is in your hand as a gift. You have the birthright of heaven. Are you going to trade it for a temporary pleasure?” A little snack might give you a little pleasure for a little while, but then it’s gone, and your eternal reward has passed you by.
Repentance Requires Transformation
Repentance requires transformation. Repentance literally means a change of mind. Jesus said, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In other words, “Change your mind. Change the way you think about life.” A change of mindset always results in a change of action. If you believed something one way and now believe a different way, you should be living differently after that change.
Say you were going to invest in a company. Maybe it was Apple, and you saw Apple early on in the ’90s and said, “Things are shaky here. I don’t believe Apple’s a good company.” So you wouldn’t invest. Why? Because you don’t believe Apple’s a good company. But then you have a repentance, a change of mind. You see Apple’s stock really growing: “I could have had a couple thousand dollars by now.” If you now believe Apple is a good investment, what are you going to do? Are you still not going to invest? If your perspective has changed, you’re going to put your money into Apple, because you believe it.
What good would it be if you went around saying, “I believe Apple is the best investment in the universe,” and when people asked, “How much did you invest?” you said, “Nothing”? No one would believe that you believed Apple was a good investment. Maybe if you had no money. But if you have money sitting around and keep telling everybody Apple’s the best investment, but you haven’t invested in it, what good is that belief? Do you really believe it? Is anybody else going to change their mind because of your belief? Absolutely not. Why would I invest in something you haven’t invested in yourself?
When you repent, when you have a change of mind, it always leads to a change in action. That’s what’s being talked about here. Esau’s change of mind should have been that he valued the inheritance, and he should have lived by that knowledge. If we believe what God said about peace with all men, and holiness, if we believe what Jesus said, then our change of mind should show in seeking peace and holiness with all men.
At the Foot of the Mountain
In verses 18-21, he makes an analogy and places us at the foot of a mountain.
For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
Hebrews 12:18–21
The author of Hebrews compares the giving of the law under Moses to the giving of grace under Christ.
The Sermon on the Mount
This picture of Mount Sinai is not unique to the author of Hebrews. Matthew sets it up the same way in his gospel with the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’s largest proclamation of what the kingdom of God is. Remember, that’s what we’re talking about: investing in the kingdom of God. When Jesus gives the Sermon on the Mount and says, “This is what following me looks like,” Matthew compares it to Mount Sinai.
Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness before the Sermon on the Mount. Moses spent 40 days on top of Mount Sinai before the giving of the law. Jesus gave eight Beatitudes as a summary of the law, and Moses received the Ten Commandments. The detailed instructions follow the Beatitudes, just as Moses’s detailed instructions follow the law. So we have this picture of Jesus giving the rules of the kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount, what we should follow. He summarizes them in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are…,” and then gives the details that follow.
Through Christ’s own words, God has given us a standard to follow and seek after: to be righteous, to love others, specifically to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to believe in Christ and live a transformed life.
Will We Listen?
The people who stood at the foot of Mount Sinai were supposed to receive the law from God themselves. But you know what happened? They said no: “God is too scary. The mountain is shaking. There’s thunder. There’s lightning. There’s fire. I’m terrified. I don’t want God to talk to me about the law, lest he kill me.” Did you know God said that if an animal touched the mountain, it would be killed? “This is too dangerous for me to hear from God.” And they said, “Moses, you go up the mountain and receive the commands.”
That didn’t happen the second time, when Jesus came as a man in the flesh. He sat on the mountainside and taught what God’s commands were. As believers, we also sit metaphorically at the foot of the mountain. So we need to make a decision, like those who stood at the foot of Mount Sinai. Are we going to listen to the heavenly decree given by Jesus and the moral standards he teaches? Or are we, like the Israelites, going to close our ears and say, “I can’t bear it. I don’t want to hear it. It’s too much for me”?
Mount Zion
He continues with the idea of the heavenly mountain in verses 22-24.
But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Hebrews 12:22–24
We haven’t come to a literal mountain like the Israelites did, but to a metaphorical, spiritual and eternal one. As the author of Hebrews has already demonstrated, we now have the best covenant, sealed with the best oath and blood, with Jesus, the best representative, as our mediator. So we should value this opportunity more than anything else.
We are more equipped now than the people at the foot of Mount Sinai were. We have Jesus Christ as our mediator. He died on the cross for our sins. He gives us the blood of purification and dedication. He’s our great High Priest, an advocate with the Father who can go on our behalf for any need we have at any time. And he made a promise and sealed it in his own blood. We are more fit than ever to go to the mountain, hear the commands of Christ and live by them. We have a race to run, and we’re more equipped than ever to run it, with Jesus as our strength.
A Kingdom Which Cannot Be Moved
So what does he say in verses 25 and 26?
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Hebrews 12:25–26
Why would anybody, like Esau, want to walk away from the promise given? Who would give up the eternal promise of the kingdom for a little bit of sin on this earth? A little bitterness, a little anger, a little lust, a little envy. Who would trade it? That promise means everything. If those who walked away from Moses were not spared, how much more will those who walk away from Christ not be spared? Just as Mount Sinai shook at God’s presence, the earth as a whole will shake once more at the end of this age, and afterward everyone will be judged. We need to live in light of this.
Verses 27-29 continue about living in light of this reality.
And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:27–29
“Reverence” here you could also translate “respect.” Everything that exists will be shaken once again, and all those things will be gone forever. Everything in this world will eventually be gone: the money, the property, the cities, the towns and the governments. Everything will be shaken away, so that only what is done for God remains. So if you want something valuable that can never be taken away, there’s only one place to invest: the kingdom of God, running the race for Jesus.
What Are We Investing In?
Today we’ve been reminded that endurance doesn’t come from ourselves, but from Jesus, who is both the author and perfecter of our faith. We’ve been reminded that even though God’s correction can be painful, it’s proof that his love is shaping us into something better. With this knowledge, we’ve been called to live differently: to pursue peace and holiness, and to guard our hearts from bitterness, knowing that repentance isn’t just words, but a change in perspective that transforms us from the inside out.
We’ve been shown a powerful contrast: one mountain that brought fear and distance, and another that brings grace, access and a relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ. And the author of Hebrews brings it all to this final, unavoidable truth: everything in this world will one day be shaken. Every temporary thing we cling to, our possessions, our status, our comfort, everything in this world we rely on, will one day be gone. The only things that will remain are the things we did in God’s kingdom.
So the question we have to ask ourselves is this: What are we investing in? Are we living for things that won’t last? Or are we building our lives on the only thing that cannot be shaken? God is offering us something eternal, an eternal promise greater than anything else, a kingdom that cannot be moved. The only right response to that kind of gift is to live with gratitude and reverence for the God who is both a loving Father and a consuming fire.
So let’s run the race set before us with endurance, removing the temptations that trip us up and the sins that entangle us. Let us prepare, through exercising ourselves in good works, to run a race fit for our coming King.
God wants you to know that the only eternal investment is the kingdom of God. So will you choose to invest in God’s kingdom today?
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