23 to the general assembly and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Nevertheless, don't rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
You shall tell Pharaoh, 'Thus says Yahweh, Israel is my son, my firstborn,
Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn't the Judge of all the earth do right?"
God having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them. We desire that each one of you may show the same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end, that you won't be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherited the promises.
He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly,
Yes, I beg you also, true yoke-fellow, help these women, for they labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I don't regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, think this way. If in anything you think otherwise, God will also reveal that to you. Nevertheless, to the extent that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us be of the same mind. Brothers, be imitators together of me, and note those who walk this way, even as you have us for an example. For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, as the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself.
giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the assembly;
This is an obvious sign of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which you also suffer. Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, and to give relief to you that are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,
(but if a man doesn't know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the assembly of God?)
Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,
Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
Who, when he was cursed, didn't curse back. When he suffered, didn't threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously;
I told him, "My lord, you know." He said to me, "These are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb's blood. Therefore they are before the throne of God, they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. They will never be hungry, neither thirsty any more; neither will the sun beat on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shepherds them, and leads them to springs of waters of life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been killed.
These are those who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed by Jesus from among men, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb.
They shall come with weeping; and with petitions will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin-- and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written."
"Gather my saints together to me, Those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." The heavens shall declare his righteousness, For God himself is judge. Selah.
Let them be blotted out of the book of life, And not be written with the righteous.
I will also appoint him my firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.
Before Yahweh; for he comes, For he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, The peoples with his truth.
Praise Yah! I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart, In the council of the upright, and in the congregation.
And the dust returns to the earth as it was, And the spirit returns to God who gave it.
"But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will tell those on his right hand, 'Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
He also gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man.
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.
As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let's{NU, TR read "we will" instead of "let's"} also bear the image of the heavenly.
We are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.
But as the assembly is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will bring fruit from my work; yet I don't make known what I will choose. But I am in a dilemma between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hebrews 12
Commentary on Hebrews 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 12
The apostle, in this chapter, applies what he has collected in the chapter foregoing, and makes use of it as a great motive to patience and perseverance in the Christian faith and state, pressing home the argument,
Hbr 12:1-3
Here observe what is the great duty which the apostle urges upon the Hebrews, and which he so much desires they would comply with, and that is, to lay aside every weight, and the sin that did so easily beset them, and run with patience the race set before them. The duty consists of two parts, the one preparatory, the other perfective.
Hbr 12:4-17
Here the apostle presses the exhortation to patience and perseverance by an argument taken from the gentle measure and gracious nature of those sufferings which the believing Hebrews endured in their Christian course.
Hbr 12:18-29
Here the apostle goes on to engage the professing Hebrews to perseverance in their Christian course and conflict, and not to relapse again into Judaism. This he does by showing them how much the state of the gospel church differs from that of the Jewish church, and how much it resembles the state of the church in heaven, and on both accounts demands and deserves our diligence, patience, and perseverance in Christianity.