After the famous chapter 11 on faith, the writer likened the Christian pilgrimage to a race. It is a race that requires endurance, perseverance and is probably a long distance race like a marathon.
One cannot run a race with ease if one is weighed down with hindrances and burdens that prevent the runner from moving freely and with less effort. Similarly, the Christian needs to deal with the spiritual hindrances and sin that entangle him and impede him from running the race and finishing it well. The hindrances may take the form of legitimate issues of life like career, relationships and family; these legitimate issues may take the place of God and the gospel in our lives and they become real hindrances and even sin that clings closely to us. It is no wonder that Jesus raised such areas for believers to consider when they sought to be his disciples. Such areas can hold believers back from embarking on the narrow road of discipleship. It is helpful to note that the Christian race is a collective race; we help one another to finish the race and it is not an individualistic race when one seeks to win at the expense of others.
We need to keep our eyes on Jesus as we run the race. He is our forerunner; He is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. He not only begins with us; He runs alongside us, encouraging us, enabling us, and He waits at the finishing line to welcome us.
DISCIPLINE FROM GOD
The focus changes to examining the place of discipline in this Christian race. Discipline, in this context, is tantamount to training and correction. The earthly father disciplines us for our good; the heavenly father disciplines us so that we can share His holiness. The rebellious child needs to be reprimanded; the struggling one requires training to be strengthened and to be more conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus; the one who is making progress requires discipline to become more matured and more able to bear more responsibilities and ministry. All discipline is unpleasant but the end-result is the fruit of righteousness. Even bad intentions from wicked individuals and spiritual pressure can be sovereignly used by God in such training. We recall how God used a messenger of Satan to keep the Apostle Paul humble in the light of the great revelation he received when he entered the third heaven.
We need to be careful not to allow the root of bitterness to grow in our lives when we encounter discipline God allows in our lives. The negative example of Esau is highlighted to remind us that we should not reject what is important and crucial from God by choosing what fulfils our fleshly appetite instead. Esau rejected his birth-right for food and in effect rejected God and God’s plan for salvation along the line of Abraham. Being the firstborn, he would have been intimately involved in the line of Abraham and David, playing a significant part in God’s salvation plan for the world. Similarly, if the Jewish Christians turned their back on Jesus and went back to Judaism, they would have rejected God’s salvation plan in His Son Jesus for the immediate escape from persecution and pain. Believers must not choose what satisfies our momentary appetites at the expense of rejecting Jesus and our eternal well-being.
THE TWO MOUNTAINS
The writer then turned to the comparison of two mountains, depicting two different covenants: mount Sinai and mount Zion. The Lord Jesus, in His sacrifice, opens up access to God, giving believers the right to enter the presence of God through His blood and body. Believers can look forward to being welcomed by angels in the new heaven and new earth into the very presence of God almighty. Mount Sinai speaks of terror, fire, earthquake as Israel approached the awesome holy God. Even the high priest can only enter the holies of holy once a year on the Day of Atonement. If he entered not according God’s instructions, he may be struck dead. What we have in Jesus and the new covenant is of such great privilege that we can freely enter into God’s presence without fear, being accepted by Him. It is foolishness to abandon Mount Zion and return to Mount Sinai.
The chapter ended with a sober warning not to reject Him who spoke from heaven when rejecting Him who spoke on earth already entails a fearsome judgment. God is still the same holy, awesome God, a consuming fire. If we reject what He offers in Christ and turn away from His kingdom, choosing the earthly kingdom instead, we will have nothing. For the earthly kingdom will not stand when God finally shakes the created things. Only what cannot be shaken will remain. This is the kingdom of God. Those who choose the earthly kingdom, the kingdom of the evil one, will not remain.