Author: iolaHC

I am an Artwork in progress

Make Straight Paths – Part 1

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Hebrews 12:12-13 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. 

‘Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.’ Ten commands for Christians: Lift up the hands which hang down (12:12). Strengthen the feeble knees. Make straight paths for your feet (12:13). Let the lame be healed. Follow peace with all men (12:14). Follow holiness – consecrate by setting yourself apart from the world. Look diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God (12:15; Gal. 5:4). Look diligently lest any root of bitterness springing up defile you (12:15). Look diligently lest you become a fornicator as Esau (12:16). Look diligently lest you be rejected and find no repentance (12:16-17).

‘Lift up’ [Greek: anorthoo] means to set upright again; restore; to set straight again. Translated as “lift up” (12:12); “set up” (Acts 15:16); and “make straight” (Luke 13:13).

‘Feeble’ [Greek: paraluo] palsied, as translated elsewhere (Luke 5:18, 24; Acts 8:7; 9:33). Quoted from Isaiah 35:3 of worn and sick persons who are totally discouraged. Here, they are exhorted to take courage and persevere to the end (12:12-15).

‘Make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.’ Make straight paths, lest you get into rough and stoney ways, become lame, and be prevented from reaching the goal. If you go into the proper path, though you have been wounded in the wrong path, your wound will be healed.

To be continued…

His Holiness

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Hebrews 12:10-11 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. Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 

‘Few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit.’ Even earthly parents chasten for only a few days. Shall we believe that God is less loving (Matt. 7:7-11)? Shall we say that lifelong sicknesses are His doing and that He is the only parent who never finishes chastening His children? Is God one to continue chastening after obedience has been learned? Paul is here showing that God is a better parent than men, not a worse one.

Christ is better than parents and others: Christ suffered more than they (12:3). His chastening to a better end (12:10). Not a fornicator as Esau (12:16-17). Provided the better way to God (12:18-24). Provided the better covenant (12:24). Provided the better atonement (12:24). Speaks from heaven (12:25-29). Gives us a kingdom (12:28). The same always (13:8). Sanctified us (13:12-13). The way of goodness and praise (13:15-16). The Great Shepherd and source of perfection and works (13:20-21).

‘That we might be partakers.’ This is the object of all the chastening (child training) and correction of God.

‘His holiness’ – not the man-made kind that sets up human standards of dress and outward appearance which create pride, false humility, and strife among Christians. God’s emphasis is on inward holiness; man’s emphasis is on outward appearance (1Sam. 16:7).

‘No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous.’ Neither correction, restraint, rebuke, nor discipline is pleasant for the moment, but by these means obedient children and men are made.

The Father of Spirits

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Hebrews 12:9 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? 

‘Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?’ True chastening or correction is by learning the will of God through the Word and by the Holy Spirit. As we live in the Spirit we are led, taught, and shown the will of God daily (John 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15; Rom. 6:16-23; 8:1-26; 1Jn. 1:7). This is proper and true child training, and if one rebels he has to be dealt with according to his sowing (Gal. 6:7-8).

‘The Father of spirits.’ Sets forth the biblical doctrine of the immortality of the souls and spirits of all men, and the distinct difference between the material and spiritual natures of man (Num. 16:22; Isa. 42:5; Zech. 12:1; Heb. 12:23). All souls and spirits are in the keeping of God (Eccl. 12:7). Those who have already left their bodies (Jas. 2:26) are either in hell awaiting their resurrection (Isa. 14:9; Luke 16:19-31), or in paradise awaiting the resurrection (2Cor. 5:8; Php. 1:21-24). God will have the final say as to their destiny (2Cor. 5:9-10; Rev. 20:11-15).

Without Chastisement

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Hebrews 12:8 But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons. 

‘Without chastisement’ – If you are not chastened you are not a child of God, but a child of satan – he whom you obey and follow you are a child of and he is your father (John 8:44). Either our consequences will pull us towards God to life in obedience to His Word so that we can be under His protection (Ps. 91), or we will rebel, complain and blame and move away even further from Him and play right into the enemy’s hand who will bring destruction to our lives (John 10:10; 1Pet. 5:7-8).

Ephesians 1:5 says we are predestined unto adoption to become children [of God] by Jesus Christ to himself. Predestinated [Greek: proorizo] means foreordained. Here God has predestined all children of God to be adopted into His family, but who becomes a child of God is left up to each individual (John 3:15-20; Rev. 22:17; cp. 1Tim. 2:4; 2Pet. 3:9).

The child of God must be led by the Spirit, to live and walk in the Spirit, and to meditate on His Word and to obey it – if he is to have success and live a Christian life (Rom. 8:1-16; Gal. 5:16-26; Jos. 1:8; Ps. 1:3-4).

‘All are partakers’ – referring to all true Christians who follow Christ according to Biblical standards (1Pet. 2:21-23) and don’t live in sin any longer (Rom. 6; 1Jn. 3).

The Chastening of the Lord – Part 3

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Hebrews 12:5-7 And you have forgotten the exhortation which spoke unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou are rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not?

Eight reasons when and why God chastises – allow consequences: When people refuse to hear (Job 33:1-33). When they commit iniquity (2Sam. 7:14). When people provoke God (Ps. 6:1; 38:1). When they forsake God (Ps. 89:30-32). When people refuse to judge themselves (1Cor. 11:32). When they stubbornly rebel (Deut. 11:2-6; Lev. 26:14-31; Num. 14:1-45). When people sow to the flesh (Gal. 6:7-8). When His children need instruction and correction (Heb. 12:5-10; Rev. 3:19).

Two kinds of chastening: [1] Child correction and training. The Greek word paideuo means child training. It is used of: (1) Instruction to rebels (2Tim. 2:25). (2) Rebels learning not to blaspheme by being turned over to satan (1Tim. 1:20; cp. 1Cor. 5:5). (3) People being educated in school or by private instructors (Acts 7:22; 22:3). (4) Grace teaching people (Tit. 2:12). (5) Christians being trained in the way of righteousness (Heb. 12:5-11; 1Cor. 11:32; Rev. 3:19). (6) Persecutions for the gospel through which Christians learn much (2Cor. 6:9). (7) Punishment of Christ who was accused of being a criminal (Luke 23:16, 22). [2] Punishments upon rebels. It is simply the law of sowing and reaping in operation. For rebellion, God promised certain curses and did allow certain plagues in Leviticus 26: (1) Terror, consumption, burning ague, and material loss (Heb. 12:16). (2) Death, oppression and fear (Heb. 12:17). (3) Humbling and poverty (Heb. 12:18). (4) Weakness and crop failures (Heb. 12:20). (5) Human beings and stock killed by wild beasts (Heb. 12:22). (6) Wars, pestilences, defeat in war, and famines (Heb. 12:25-26). (7) Cannibalism and destruction of cities (Heb. 12:29-31; Deut. 11:2-6; 28:1-64). 

Ten ways of chastening: Wars (2Sam. 7:14; Lev. 26:28-40; Hos. 10:10; Jer. 30:14). Whipping (Deut. 8:5; 21:18; Pro. 13:24; 19:18). Fasting (Ps. 69:10; Dan. 10:2-12). Persecutions (2Cor. 6:9; 11:23-30). Famine (Lev. 26:28-29). Fines (Deut. 22:18-19). Captivity (Hos. 7:12). Scourging (Luke 23:16, 22; 1Kin. 12:11, 12:14; 2Chron. 10:11, 10:14). Judgments (Deut. 11:2; Isa. 53:5). Sickness on sinners (Job 33:14-30).

‘Scourge’ [Greek: mastigoo] means to whip, flog or beat. Always translated as “scourge” (Matt. 10:17; 20:19; 23:34; Mark 10:34; Luke 18:33; John 19:1; Heb. 12:6).

The Chastening of the Lord – Part 2

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Hebrews 12:5-7 And you have forgotten the exhortation which spoke unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou are rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not?

One thing is certain, God is not to blame for sicknesses upon His obedient children and to claim such is to cooperate with satan and not God (John 10:10; Luke 13:16; Acts 10:38). If people use Job as an excuse for unbelief, let them realize that Job did not know the gospel. He had no written revelation, covenant, or promise, and yet he was healed by God. Let people likewise fight as Job did until they get an answer and healing (Job 42:10; Jas. 5:10-11).

Would any earthly father chasten or train a child through cancers, tumours, or innumerable sicknesses and diseases? Would this demonstrate true fatherhood, as Jesus taught of God in Matthew 7:7-11 and Luke 11:9-13? What earthly parent would allow a child to suffer physically if he could help it? Shall we say that God is the only Father who loves to see His children sick? How could He love them much more than earthly parents if He were this kind of being? Are sicknesses the only method God has for training His children?

We have to carry our consequences so that we can learn from them and also to enable us to be done with sin and its destruction – by our own free will (Isa. 26:9-10).

The wise man sees clearly and weighs carefully the consequences of all he does; whereas the fool has no guide to his reason and no check on his passions as he blindly walks, groping in unbridled lusts (Eccl. 2:14). Our moral nature affirms in many ways that there is a future life and that we must prepare to get the good out of it or we will suffer the consequences of sin forever (Ps. 9:17; Rev. 14:9-14; 20:11-15).

Two ways of repentance are described in God’s Word: The Greek word metamellomai means to regret the consequences of sin, not the cause (Matt. 27:3; 2Cor. 7:8) and stands in contrast with the Greek word metanoia which means a real change of mind and attitude toward sin and its cause, not merely the consequences of it (Matt. 3:8, 11; 9:13; Luke 24:47). We all choose one or the other, and this decision will determine our eternal destination.

To be continued…

The Chastening of the Lord – Part 1

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Hebrews 12:5-7 And you have forgotten the exhortation which spoke unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou are rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not? 

‘My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou are rebuked of him. Quoted from Proverbs 3:11-12. We are not to shrink away from chastening.

Some Christians do not think of chastening any other way except by sickness and disease. They believe they are being chastened when sick and yet they know nothing in particular that they have done. The facts below prove that when God actually allows plagues there is a reason which will be known to the individual or nation (satan still delivers them because of access given through sin – John 8:44; 10:10; Isa. 59:1-3; Job 2:7). God never uses drastic means except as a last resort, when all other methods of getting men to obey have been exhausted. Leviticus 26:1-46 and Deuteronomy 28:1-68 are clear chapters on this point. In Job 3:25; 33:14-29 we have the cause of sickness in many cases.

If a child of God wants to claim he is being chastened by God, then let him acknowledge also that he has repeatedly refused to listen to God or obey Him (Job 33:1-33). Let him acknowledge his sins, for God does not send plagues upon obedient children. They are given promises of healing and protection from plagues if they will but appropriate them (Ex. 15:26; Ps. 91:1-16; 103:3; Matt. 7:9-11; 17:20; 21:22; Mark 9:23; 11:22-24; John 14:12-15; 15:7, 16; 1Pet. 2:24; 2Jn. 1:2; Jas. 5:14-16). Only those who sow will reap and only those who rebel will be cursed (Gal. 6:7-8; Job 33:14-29; Lev. 26:1-46; Deut. 28:1-68).

To be continued…

Striving Against Sin

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Hebrews 12:3-4 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 

‘You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.’ You have not resisted against sin as to sweat blood. We have to resist the temptation to sin (Jas. 1:14-15). There are seven steps in temptation: Tempted: the thought of evil (Jas. 1:14). Drawn away: strong imagination. Lust: delight in viewing it. Enticed: weakening of the will. Lust conceived: yielding (Jas. 1:15). Sin: a sinful act committed. Death: the result of actual sin.

We have to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ – we take every thought prisoner and lead it into captivity to obey Christ (2Cor. 10:5). Lascivious, vain and evil thoughts of all kinds are brought down and made obedient to His laws. That includes any thinking which is contrary to virtue, purity and righteousness (Matt. 15:19; Mark 7:21-23; 1Cor. 13:5; Php. 4:8; Gen. 6:5; Pro. 15:26; Isa. 55:7; 59:7; Jer. 4:14).

In James 1:27 we are warned to keep ourselves unspotted from the world and in Ephesians 5:27 not to have spot or wrinkle, but to be holy and without blemish so that we can be presented to God the Father by Jesus Christ at the time of the rapture (Php. 3:21; 1Cor. 15:51-55).

Cloud of Witnesses

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Hebrews 12:1-2 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does 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. 

‘Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight …’ Five things to do: Lay aside every weight (12:1). [Greek: ongkos] meaning bulk; mass; heap; weight. In a bad sense, it means arrogance and conceit. Paul’s purpose here is to get the believer to lay aside whatever weight is hindering Christian progress. Lay aside the sin which so easily beset us (12:1). [Greek: hamartia] missing the mark in a moral sense. The sin that easily besets is the one each person has been addicted to, whatever his weakness. Run with patience the race set before us (12:1). [Greek: agon] meaning fight or conflict. Translated as “race” (12:1); “fight” (1Tim. 6:12; 2Tim. 4:7); “contention” (1Thess. 2:2); and “conflict” (Php. 1:30; Col. 2:1). Look unto Jesus (12:2). He is the head of all the long train of faith heroes. He is the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Consider Him (12:3). Observe and analyze every part of His life and conduct, His courage in suffering.

Christ is better than Old Testament saints: He is the Creator of all (1:2; 11:3). He is the author and perfecter of their faith (12:1-2). He was their Saviour (12:2; 10:1-18). The one they all looked for and had faith in (11:4-40).

‘Joy that was set before him.’ The joy set before Him was the redemption of creation through doing the Father’s will (Ps. 40:6).

‘Set down at the right hand of the throne of God.’ This is His rightful place because of His achievements and exaltation to original glory (Matt. 26:64; Mark 16:19; Acts 2:34; 7:56-57; Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1Pet. 3:22). After Christ made His supreme sacrifice His work for sins was finished. He could then sit down and wait to see His work completed in the lives of believers who would be freed from sin and delivered from their enemies (10:12-14; 1:3; 12:2; Ps. 110:4).

Through Faith – Part 2

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Hebrews 11:33-40 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;  (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. 

‘Received not the promise.’ The promise referred to here is that of the coming Messiah, the sum and substance of all the Old Testament promises (10:36-37; Luke 1:67-79; Rom. 1:2-5). Old Testament saints relied upon the promise of the Messiah but did not live to see Him come in the flesh, fulfil His work of redemption, make the new covenant, and establish His body.

‘Better thing for us.’ The better thing for us is no doubt the new covenant and its realities of which the old covenant sacrifices and rituals – even the sacrifices of Abel, Noah, and Abraham – were shadows. The verse could read, “God foresaw something better for us; He would not have them perfected without us.”

‘Perfect’ [Greek: teleioo] to make a full end; consummate (Php. 3:12). Translated perfect (Php. 3:12; Luke 13:32; John 17:23; 2Cor. 12:9; Heb. 2:10; 5:9; 7:19; 9:9; 10:1, 14; 11:40; 12:23; Jas. 2:22; 1Jn. 2:5; 4:12, 17-18); fulfil (Luke 2:43; John 19:28); and finish (John 4:34; 5:36; 17:4; Acts 20:24). This kind of perfection refers to the complete and glorified state.