Read or listen The Epistle to the Hebrews chapter 12 online (ESV, Bible Gateway)

A Christian's life is a struggle – Hebrews 12:1-13

People are often impatient these days. We are not willing to wait, we want everything right away. Even as Christians, we easily think that we should become perfectly holy right away, in the blink of an eye.

Growing in faith is a battle against one's own desires and the temptations of Satan (compare Eph 6:10-20, the Christian's armor). This battle should not be made more difficult by unnecessary burdens. No soldier carries unnecessary equipment, let alone something that is only a nuisance. Sin prevents us from committing to Jesus. It is like a rope that gets tangled around our feet (verse 1) and with which Satan draws us towards himself.

It may be that the author has in mind those sins that each of us falls into especially easily and repeatedly. It is important to see that Satan tempts us individually. Something may be the most difficult temptation for you, but someone else will have no problems with it. One should not judge another's fall too lightly, because he may be much stronger than you in another area.

"...Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith..."
(verse 2)

Jesus is not only the originator of our faith, but also its sustainer and finisher. Compare with Rev. 1:8: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." Therefore, a Christian should not be self-centered but Christ-centered, looking not to himself but to Christ (verse 2).

Verse 4 has been interpreted in various ways. Some think that it indicates that a long time had passed since the persecutions mentioned in Hebrews 10:32-34. The Epistle to the Hebrews would therefore have been written well after the persecutions of Nero. Others see this as evidence that the letter could not have been written to the Christians in Rome, since they had already been persecuted to the point of death. The passage has also been seen as evidence that the letter was written to Rome very early, before the persecutions of Nero in the mid-60s.

In any case, the author is preparing his readers for the coming persecution. Jesus also predicted that his followers would be persecuted:

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake."
(Matthew 24:9)

Suffering can at best act as a cleanser, a reformer. But if we lack patience and endurance, but become embittered (verse 15), suffering will not produce good fruit but bad. It is important to see that in times of God’s discipline, the essential issue is also how we as Christians respond to it (verse 11). If we do not see God's promises (verses 5-6), our own reason makes us curse God (Job 2:9).

From within man arises not obedience to God’s will, but rebellion against God (Matthew 15:10-20). In our own strength and reason, we either regard lightly the discipline of God or we overreact to it and see it as a devastating threat (verses 5-6).

In verses 7-9 the author speaks of the discipline that parents give their children. While this passage should not be seen as a teaching on child rearing, it is worth remembering that if parents are stripped of their authority, their power over their children, chaos will result.

Two Mountains: Sinai and Zion – Hebrews 12:14-29

The passage speaks of two ways of salvation:
Law = Mount Sinai
Grace = Mount Zion (compare Gal 4:21-31; Hagar and Sarah).

In verse 24 it is worth seeing that grace overcomes the law. This is also stated in Romans 5:20-21:

"Now the law came in to increase the trespass,
but where sin increased,
grace abounded all the more,
so that, as sin reigned in death,
grace also might reign through
righteousness leading to eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord."

At Sinai, Israel was frighteningly close to God, but on Mount Zion, at Golgotha, we are even closer to God. This also brings greater responsibility (verse 25).

The Holiness of God is a central feature of God in both the Old and New Testaments (see for example Exodus 19:9-25, Isaiah 6:1-13, Revelation 1:9-20).

"See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God..."
(verse 15)

One perspective that is often forgotten today is responsibility for other Christians (verse 15, compare Matt 18:15-18 "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother..." ).

Although Christian faith is specifically a you-me relationship between man and God, faith is born and always lives in a community, in the church. And a community whose members are indifferent to each other cannot function and survive.

Of course, it is important to recognize that anyone can fall into sin (1 Cor. 10:12). Our job is not to judge other people, but to support them in their afflictions and temptations.

Notice also the warning about bitterness in verse 15. Bitterness is like a poison that spoils everything. A liter of dirty water is enough to spoil a gallon of clean water, but a liter of clean water will not cure a gallon of dirty water.

In this section, another of the author's "favorite themes" emerges: he wants to warn his readers about the power and dangers of sin. It may be that playing with sin leads to a situation from which there is no return (verse 17). If a Christian starts pursuing temporal pleasures, etc., it is easy to forget the entire eternal reality, the invisible world, as happened to Esau (verse 16).

Verse 27 refers to the second coming of Jesus, which will change everything except the eternal destiny of people. Everything present will disappear, but the path that man has walked in this time will continue in eternity. The choice itself between heaven and perdition has already happened, when Jesus comes it will only be revealed.