Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:3-4)
Who killed Jesus? Over the centuries, some folks have claimed the Jews did, and they mistreated the Jews. The Jews and some others submit that it was the Gentiles – specifically the Romans. I think it proper to say that I did, and you did because we made it necessary for Him to die. Lucifer did because he made it necessary for Jesus to die (though I don’t think he wanted him to die the way He did. That’s why the temptation in Gethsemane was so hard, it was to escape from God’s plan, not to go along with it.)
Jesus told us the truth of the matter. He laid down His life, and He took it up again. But the world (system) rejoiced. In other words, everyone killed Jesus. And Jesus resisted sin to the point of sweating blood in Gethsemane, and of shedding blood on Calvary. Even though it resulted in His death, He did not sin.
The readers of this letter were facing struggles. According to the commentaries I’ve read over the years, they were Jewish converts to Christianity. That meant that both the Romans and the Jews hated them. The whole letter that we know as Hebrews was written to address the question of whether following Christ was a wise move, and whether they should go back to being Jews – at least in terms of their public life.
In a way, what the writer of Hebrews has just done is said, “You think Abel, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Barak, Samson, David, and all the prophets were heroes? You think Jesus was the Hero? They all died holding on to their faith. Are you still alive? Then why are you talking about going back to “Egypt”?
Even Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father doesn’t have all that was promised to Him yet. We are not with Him. Every knee does not bow. But we complain because we being a Christian is tough? Because we don’t have things just as we want?
Fix your eyes on the finish line. Keep focused on Jesus. Whatever suffering we endure for His sake (or because we’re His) is what will make us heroes. Either way, we’re going to suffer. We can either be victims or victors, like Jesus and the rest of the folks in the Hall of Faith.
Who killed Jesus? Over the centuries, some folks have claimed the Jews did, and they mistreated the Jews. The Jews and some others submit that it was the Gentiles – specifically the Romans. I think it proper to say that I did, and you did because we made it necessary for Him to die. Lucifer did because he made it necessary for Jesus to die (though I don’t think he wanted him to die the way He did. That’s why the temptation in Gethsemane was so hard, it was to escape from God’s plan, not to go along with it.)
Jesus told us the truth of the matter. He laid down His life, and He took it up again. But the world (system) rejoiced. In other words, everyone killed Jesus. And Jesus resisted sin to the point of sweating blood in Gethsemane, and of shedding blood on Calvary. Even though it resulted in His death, He did not sin.
The readers of this letter were facing struggles. According to the commentaries I’ve read over the years, they were Jewish converts to Christianity. That meant that both the Romans and the Jews hated them. The whole letter that we know as Hebrews was written to address the question of whether following Christ was a wise move, and whether they should go back to being Jews – at least in terms of their public life.
In a way, what the writer of Hebrews has just done is said, “You think Abel, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Barak, Samson, David, and all the prophets were heroes? You think Jesus was the Hero? They all died holding on to their faith. Are you still alive? Then why are you talking about going back to “Egypt”?
Even Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father doesn’t have all that was promised to Him yet. We are not with Him. Every knee does not bow. But we complain because we being a Christian is tough? Because we don’t have things just as we want?
Fix your eyes on the finish line. Keep focused on Jesus. Whatever suffering we endure for His sake (or because we’re His) is what will make us heroes. Either way, we’re going to suffer. We can either be victims or victors, like Jesus and the rest of the folks in the Hall of Faith.
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