HEBREWS 12:4

The Bible says in Hebrews 12:4, “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Remember that we are in the context of talking about the life of faith for the Christian. ”The just shall live by faith.” “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” But you cannot say that you are living the life of faith if you are living in sin. God is holy, and His will is that His children live holy lives. Hebrews 12:4 tells us that we should be putting forth a great effort to avoid sin. The word “striving” means “fighting.” The Christian life is a battle, a war, and a fight. One of the things that we are fighting against is sin in our own lives. It takes an effort to win a fight: a maximum effort. In the fight against sin, Jesus Himself prayed all night long at times. How big of an effort do you make against sin? The Scripture says, “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Jesus prayed and sweat great drops of blood. Jesus went to the cross of Calvary and shed His blood for the sins of the world. Jesus won the battle that no other person could win: the battle against sin. How ashamed some Christians will be when we stand before the Lord, see the scars in His hands, and admit that we sinned much too easily because of the small effort that we made to be holy.

In this effort to make us holy we are God’s children, and He is our Father. He wants to teach us and to lead us into the paths of righteousness, just as a loving father would always want to do for all his children. Before you are saved, God is working in your life to bring you to faith in Christ and to salvation. After you are saved, God is working in your life to strengthen your faith and to bring you into a closer walk with Christ. Every Christian needs to learn, and Christ is the teacher. Concerning God’s teaching of His children, it says in Hebrews 12:5 “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 are rebuked of him.” The first thing that is important to know about this verse and the verses that follow is the meaning of the word “chastening.” It means literally “the teaching of children.” The word is very clear. Another form of the word means teacher, and the root of the word means “children.” The word “chastening” does not mean “punishing.” Beware. Do not misunderstand this passage of scripture. It is not talking about the punishment of children. It is talking about the teaching of children.

God teaches his children. There are many things for all of us to learn about this life of faith, and God wants us to learn them. He is the teacher, and we are the children who need to learn from the teacher. Notice that Hebrews 12:5 says, “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord.” When you have a teacher and a student, the attitude of the student is a critical factor in the learning process. No matter how good the teacher is, if the student despises the teaching; nothing will be learned.

This part of Hebrews is actually a quotation from Proverbs 3:11-12 that says, “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.” When God teaches us, there is a lot that needs to be corrected. He is teaching us in order to improve our lives. But we must willingly receive His teachings. If we are going to get the correction that we need, we must have a receptive attitude. God is going to show us the truth about ourselves, and the truth hurts. God is going to show us the worse things about ourselves, and it will not be pleasant. Before we can improve, we must see the truth about ourselves. Only God can reveal the truth to anyone. Every Christian needs to be learning from the Lord. If you see a Christian who needs to have their life improved, what they need is to learn of the Lord. Only the Spirit of God can bring someone under conviction of the errors of their ways.

God wants every Christian to improve and to become more holy. And so God is working in the heart and life of every Christian to this end. Hebrews 12:7-8 says, “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.” We know that in this world there are two kinds of people: those who are children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and those who are not children of God. It says in First John 5:11-12, “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” There is no in-between. You are either a child of God, or you are not. One way that you know that you have become a child of God is that God begins training and teaching you. “But if ye be without chastisement (training), then are you “not sons.”

The Bible says in Hebrews 12:9, “Futhermore 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?” This verse tells us to be “in subjection” to the father of spirits. If you are in subjection to someone, it means that you are willingly under their authority. Once again we see that a leader cannot lead and a teacher cannot teach and a parent cannot be a parent unless those under them are under them with an attitude of subjection. A normal human being learned in childhood to be in subjection to a father. Take that same attitude and transfer it to God. If you do, then you will “live.” If you do not, then you will not “live.”

The Bible says in Hebrews 12:10, “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.” This verse gives us two reasons why God is involved in our lives to teach us and to correct us. The first reason is “for our profit.” God loves us, and He wants to see the best things happen to us. He knows what is best for us. God knows that unless we learn the things that we need to learn from Him, we will suffer greatly and we will lose much. He does not want that to happen. Jesus said, “I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly.” But that will only happen if we learn of Him, and we will only learn of Him if we subject ourselves to His correction.

The second reason that God teaches us and corrects us is so that we will be “partakers of His holiness.” God wants His children to live holy lives. He did not save us so that we could continue to sin. He saved us so that we would follow the paths of righteousness. He saved us so that we would become better people. He saved us so that our faith would grow strong and stay strong. These things will only happen if we receive His correction with the right attitude. God knows where we need to improve. He will convict us, He will reprove us, and He will correct us. And once one area in our life has been improved, God will find something else in us that needs to be improved. If you are without this kind of teaching and correction from God, then you are not a child of God. God wants to make His children holy. Once you become saved, that is God’s will for you. If you are a child of God, then whenever anything happens to you, whether good or bad, one of the thoughts that should go through your mind is: what is the Lord teaching me through his?

The Bible says in Hebrews 12:11, “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.” Why is He doing in our lives the things that He is doing? Why is God permitting in our lives the things that He is permitting? Why is He correcting us? Why is He teaching us in such a way? These things seem to bring such pain. Why are they happening? Hebrews 12:10 says that God is leading us into “holiness,” and Hebrews 12:11 says that God is leading us into “righteousness.” In other words God is giving us the opportunity to become the Christian that He wants us to be: holy and full of faith. It is not pleasant to go through God’s teachings. God will use a crucible and a fiery furnace sometimes, but for those who stay submitted to Him the result is always the same: “the peaceable fruit of righteousness.”

The Bible says in Hebrews 12:12, “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.” Hands that hang down and feeble knees give us a picture of people that are tired and weary. Once you face the sufferings and the trials and the tribulations and the disappointments day after day, you might become tired and weary of the battle. This verse is an encouragement to not let that happen. This verse is also a quotation from Isaiah 35:3. If we look at the first several verses of Isaiah chapter 35, we have a good idea of the context in which this was first written. It says in Isaiah 35:1-4, “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.”

There are several great truths presented in these verses from Isaiah. We are told clearly that God has a wonderful future prepared for His children. The day will come when God will take the things that man cannot fix, and God will fix them. God will make the bad thing good. That which is destroyed God will raise up and make it live again. That which had sorrow, and sadness, and emptiness “shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing.” Believers have such a wonderful future planned for them by God. There shall be joy and singing and laughter and happiness. Think of the future that God has planned. He will bring judgment and justice. He will make things right. “Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.” Do not let yourself be discouraged by the present difficulties. Think of the great future that God will give to all of His children.

The Bible says in Hebrews 12:13-14, “And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” These verses emphasize the importance of a Christian always doing the right thing. A Christian should always ask the question, “What is the right thing to do in this situation?” If you do not have that motivation, then you are walking a crooked path. There is a warning in Hebrews 12:13. It says, “Lest that which is lame be turned out of the way.” You have an opportunity to walk the right path, but the opportunity will not be given to you forever. If you are not in the right path, there is something wrong with you, and you need to be “healed.” Only the Savior can give you the spiritual healing that you need.

Hebrews 12:14 says that Christians should “follow peace with all men.” The people of the world are vengeful people. Human nature can be highly competitive in a negative way. The history of the world is made up of one human against another human, and one group of humans against another group of humans. The Christian should not follow the path of meanness and aggression, but should “follow peace with all men.” Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Stating the reason that Jesus came, the Bible says in Luke 1:79 “To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” What Jesus said to the woman who anointed his feet with her tears, He says to all of his children; “thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” Without Jesus human beings know nothing about peace. Romans 3:17 describes human beings without God and says, “And the way of peace have they not known.” Revelation 6:4 speaks of the worse time that the world will ever see: the Great Tribulation, and says, “And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.” It is no wonder that the Lord emphasizes the need to follow peace. There are so few on the earth who are peacemakers. What a blessing to have Jesus as Savior. He is the Prince of Peace.

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