In our last study we took a hurried view of Hebrews, chapter 11, which has been termed "the roll call of faith." As we then saw, this discussion was given in order to show men what faith really is—the faith that saves the soul. Men are saved by faith—pure faith; but are rewarded according to their works. Faith is a trusting attitude toward God and the provisions which He has made through the Lord Jesus Christ who can and will save all who come unto God by Him. One accepts Christ by faith—pure faith. When one has such a faith one will have the attitude exhibited by the Apostle Paul: "What shall I do, Lord?" A saving faith is always an obedient one. We must, however, always differentiate between faith and the obedience of faith. Men are saved by faith—not by the obedience of faith. The apostle therefore encouraged those who were already saved to manifest their faith by a loyal, obedient life in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the first studies of this series we learned that the Epistle to the Hebrews was written by the Apostle Paul to the entire nation of Israel. This document was God's last call to the Jews of the first century to accept the Lord Jesus Christ. This book therefore must be interpreted in the light of this fact. This epistle in the New Testament is like the Book of Isaiah of the Old Testament. Isaiah, while he addressed the nation as a whole, at the same time spoke of and to the remnant of Israel, the inner circle. As one studies Isaiah, one must keep this fact in mind; for the prophet very frequently blended his special message to the remnant with that to the entire nation. This same literary phenomenon we observe in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The believers of the first century constituted the remnant within the nation. We therefore must look very carefully and see what applies to the entire nation and what is applicable to the remnant--the church--in this instance.

In the first two verses of chapter 12 we find the Apostle Paul expressing his thought under the imagery of the Roman amphitheater. In different places where I have been throughout the Old Roman Empire, I have seen the ruins of these amphitheaters, consisting of the arena and the elevated tiers of seats surrounding it. An excellent example of this is the Colosseum in Rome. The apostle thought of those men of God whom he had mentioned in the eleventh chapter as being in the seats of an amphitheater and of himself and the other Christians of his day as being in the arena. Those who are represented as being in the upper seats and looking upon those in the arena are the saints of God who have already gone into the presence of the Lord and are looking down upon those who are now running the Christian race or fighting the Christian warfare.

He calls attention to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ during His life ran His course and took hold of the crown at the end of His earthly career. In one particular we are to do as the contestants in the various Grecian games did—to lay aside every weight and the sin (unbelief) which does so easily beset us and to run the race with patience, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of the same.

Are we to conclude from this majestic imagery that our loved ones who have already gone into the presence of God are looking down upon us and know what we are doing and how we are acting? Some scholars answer this question in the affirmative, whereas others insist that such an interpretation pushes the language far beyond that which is legitimate. On this point, however, I shall not be dogmatic, but I am rather inclined to believe that it favors the former interpretation. Especially am I led to this view when I read Revelation 6:9-11. In this passage we see the souls of certain Tribulation saints who have been beheaded for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are in heaven and are under the altar there. At the same time they are conscious of the fact that those who executed them are still upon the earth and have not been punished for their crimes. This fact shows that the departed saved are conscious, at least to a certain extent, of what is going on upon the earth. For the Christian to depart this life and to be with Christ is far better than remaining here. In such promises is the idea of association and full possession of one's spiritual and intellectual faculties. To be in the body is to be absent from the Lord, but to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. This statement connotes full possession of one's intellectual powers after death and apart from the body. In view of these facts it is quite likely that the dead in Christ whose spirits are with the Lord are conscious of what is going on, at least in a general way, here upon the earth and are observing us as we are running our race.

When we read Hebrews 12:3-13 and study it in the light of 10:32-39, we see that the Hebrew Christians of Paul's day were suffering persecutions and being imprisoned. The apostle in the present section exhorted them not to faint under such trials, but to consider Jesus who suffered as no one else had ever done. They had, prior to this time, resisted evil, but their stand had not been the occasion of any martyrdom—"Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin."

The apostle quoted from Proverbs 3:11,12. There are three possible attitudes for one to take toward suffering for the Lord: (1) To accept suffering very lightly; (2) to go to the other extreme and to faint under it and despair of hope; (3) and to realize that God permits suffering to come in order to correct some evil in the life of His child who is thus suffering. If one does not receive chastisement, one is not a son of the Lord but is rather a bastard.

All parents who have the proper idea of their relation to their children and who have correct ideals will punish their children whenever they do wrong. Punishment or chastisement is with one design only; namely, to correct the error. God is wise, discreet, and loving and will chasten His children only as they need to be corrected.

It is true that He sometimes permits some great calamity to come upon one of His children who does not need correction. Such afflictions then cannot be classified as chastisement. His case is that of God's using him to demonstrate some great spiritual lesson. Of course whenever God thus permits one of His servants to suffer for His name's sake—when he does not need chastisement—He will reward such a one for thus accepting that which He has chosen for him. The reward will therefore be commensurate with the intensity of the suffering and all the factors entering thereinto.

At the present time no chastisement or punishment is pleasant; but, when it is accepted properly, "it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness" (12:11). Whenever any of God's children are thus suffering, others should encourage them and assist them in every possible way. This exhortation is seen in verses 12 and 13:

12 Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees; 13 and make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned out of the way, but rather be healed.

In the paragraph consisting of verses 14-17, the apostle seems to have turned from addressing individual believers, who constituted the faithful spiritual remnant of his day, to the entire nation. Such a change of viewpoint is familiar to those who are acquainted with the writings of the prophets. The nationalistic element in this passage is in the foreground, while the individual has receded into the distance. This fact becomes apparent when one realizes that the apostle quotes from Deuteronomy 29:18. One should, however, turn to this passage and read the entire paragraph—verses 14-21. One sees from this Deuteronomy passage that these instructions were given to Israel nationally. The fact that the Apostle Paul thus quotes this verse confirms the idea that he was talking to the nation as a whole and not to the individuals who constituted the spiritual remnant of the nation.

As we have seen in former studies, the apostle called upon the entire nation to accept Jesus of Nazareth as their Lord and Messiah. Here again he sounded the same note and urged the nation to purge out the profane and wicked ones and to avoid the mistake that was made by such men as Esau who for a mess of food sold his birthright. Esau was living on the carnal plane and had very little appreciation for spiritual matters. After he made his fatal mistake, he attempted to correct it—but all to no avail. Thus Israel was urged here to accept the exhortation given by Moses and to follow after peace and sanctification without which no one can see the Lord. If the nation continued to reject the Lord Jesus Christ and allowed the period called "to-day," mentioned in chapters 3 and 4, to pass, it would be selling its birthright for a mess of pottage as did Esau. Then of course it would be too late for God to change His plan and purpose (humanly speaking). The Lord gave Israel that period called "to-day"—the forty years from 30 A.D. to 70 A.D. as we have seen—to accept Jesus as Messiah nationally. When the epistle was written, it was almost over. The date of Hebrews was probably, as we have seen, 68 A.D. At the end of the period of "to-day" the nation, if it acted as Esau did, would find no change of mind with God. Those who did not accept the Messiah within that period of time would come short of the glory of God and would be profane persons like Esau.

In Hebrews 12:18-24 the writer contrasts the blessings of Israel of Moses's day with those offered to the Hebrews of his day and time. When Moses led Israel out of Egypt, he guided her to Mount Sinai where the law was delivered. It was given amid thunders, voices, and lightnings—tokens indicating the character of the law and the administration which she was accepting voluntarily.

On the other hand the Jews of the first century were brought to Mount Zion, Jerusalem, the symbol of grace, mercy, peace, salvation, and all spiritual blessings. They are said to have come to the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable host of angels, to the general assembly and the church of the first-born, to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus Christ "the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel." Law condemns; grace makes alive. The covenant of Sinai meant death; the covenant of grace means life to all who accept it. Those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and are regenerated have come into personal spiritual contact with God, Christ, and all the saved. We are of that great company now even though we do not see them face to face but shall at the second coming of our Lord.

The apostle thus saw the culmination of the fruits of grace which will be in evidence at the end of this age when our Lord returns with the angels and with all the redeemed. Thus he told the Hebrew Christians of the first century that such was their ultimate destination and the fellowship into which they who accepted Christ had been inducted and that they would at the proper time enter into the closest fellowship with God and Christ and realize the blessedness of these spiritual realities.

The national call to Israel is sounded again in verses 25 and 26 of this chapter. The nation was warned not to refuse Him who speaks from heaven. To show the necessity of their obeying this exhortation, he called their attention to the fact that those who refused him who spoke upon earth in the past did not escape the judgment of God. Moses spoke to Israel upon this earth, and every disobedience and transgression received a just recompense of reward. No rebel in Israel escaped punishment; neither will anyone who now refuses to accept the Lord Jesus Christ,—who has come from heaven to speak to man the message of God's love,—escape. Such is the gist of verses 25 and 26.

The Lord of glory, Jesus of Nazareth, is the one whose voice will cause not only the earth to tremble, but also the very heavens. In verse 26 we have a quotation taken from Haggai 2:6. An examination of this prediction in its original context shows that the prophet was speaking about the Lord's second coming when He will shake both the heavens and the earth, will take the world situation in hand, and introduce the new order—the kingdom of glory. The apostle therefore applied this passage from Haggai to the removal of the present order and the introduction of the glorious millennial kingdom at the return of our Lord. In view of the great change that will take place then and the great glory which will be extended to us, the prophet declared that we are the ones who will be receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Certainly this kingdom is not the church, for it has suffered many setbacks and reverses. Many changes have come to it, but the kingdom of which the apostle was speaking is none other than the glorious millennial reign of our Lord upon the earth, which He will establish at His return. In view of the fact that we are to be heirs of such a manifold demonstration of God's grace, "receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well pleasing to God with reverence and awe: for our God is a consuming fire."