| The Christian Life | May 1942 |
Resisting unto Blood
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth 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. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.”—Hebrews 12:1-4
THERE is much in the Book of Hebrews to indicate that the ones to whom it was written were showing tendencies toward lack of faith in God and Christ, and a cooling of their zeal for the doing of His will. In the opening of the second chapter the apostle writes, “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” In chapter 3:12 he says, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.”
The fourth chapter starts out by saying, “Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” In chapter 5:12 is revealed the lack of progress these Hebrew Christians had made. The apostle says: “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.”
In the sixth chapter the apostle emphasizes the need for being rooted and grounded in the truth, and for one to have his anchor of faith firmly fastened within the veil, “Whither the forerunner is for us entered.” (Heb. 6:20) Chapter 10:23 admonishes, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised).” From these and other statements in the epistle it seems clear that it was written to encourage this particular group to a greater steadfastness in the truth, and a more enduring zeal in their endeavor to follow in the footsteps of the Master.
THE CAUSE OF CHRISTIAN SUFFERING
A careful analysis of the letter seems, also, to indicate that one cause for the cooling zeal of these Hebrew Christians was the ignominy and suffering that continued upon them as a result of their being followers of Jesus. They had accepted Jesus as the Messiah. To any believing Jew, the Messiah was one who was destined to fulfill all the wondrous Kingdom promises of the Old Testament. They probably were not surprised that a cause so young would meet with some measure of opposition, so in the beginning they had “taken joyfully the spoiling of their goods.” They had willingly been locked in the stocks, and rejoiced in the privilege of being the companions of those who were so used.—Chapter 10:32-35
But as time went on they probably began to wonder why the Messianic cause should continue to be subject to so much opposition and persecution. Perhaps they had not understood clearly those doctrinal truths pertaining to the “suffering of Christ,” that only after this suffering was all complete could the glory be attained. Perhaps they thought that the suffering of Christ was supposed to have ended at Calvary, and now that the followers of Jesus also had to suffer might indicate that possibly there was some question about Jesus really being the Messiah. Whatever their reasoning may have been, the apostle makes it plain in the second chapter that it pleased God “in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.”—Chapter 2:10
Here was information showing that while many sons were to have positions of glory in the Messianic Kingdom, yet they all must attain to that position by way of suffering. This would help them the better to understand why some of them had been made a gazing-stock and why they had had their goods spoiled as a result of their association with the Messianic cause. If they had been wondering why their suffering was necessary, here was the explanation, or, at least, a part of it.
And then, in the 12th chapter, a further reason is given for Christian suffering. Here it is shown to be a part of the necessary discipline by which we are trained as sons of God for the high position to which we have been called. And those whom the Lord really loves as His children, the apostle explains, should expect to be chastened. Indeed, if they lack such experiences they have reason to doubt their sonship standing before God.—Hebrews 12:6-8
THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWLEDGE
We sometimes speak of a faith that will enable us to walk in the dark with God; which is very good. But in order to have such a faith, it is necessary for us to know that God is with us in the dark. We can walk rejoicingly in the dark with Him as long as we know that He is holding our hands in His. But to be walking in the dark without the certain knowledge that God is with us is another matter. If the Hebrew Christians were looking for the glory of the Kingdom, hence didn’t understand why they were called upon to endure so much suffering, then they were walking in the dark without knowing whether or not God was with them. Without this necessary knowledge it could be that their suffering meant that they had espoused a counterfeit Messianic cause.
This would seem to explain why the apostle dwelt at length on the point of sacrifice and suffering, as it had been illustrated in the tabernacle services, and pointed out to these Hebrew Christians so clearly that it was their privilege, and quite in harmony with the divine arrangement, for them to go to Jesus “without the camp” and share in His reproach and suffering. (Ch. 13:10-13) If they could clearly understand that their suffering was truly a part of the Messianic purpose in which it, was their privilege to share, this would surely fortify them for whatever experiences they might be called upon to bear.
It is in harmony with this thought that the apostle writes, “Now faith is the substance [margin, ‘ground,’ or ‘confidence’] of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb. 11:1) It has been suggested that a literal translation of this statement would be that faith is the “understanding” of things hoped for. This understanding of things hoped for would therefore seem to be the “evidence” of things unseen. They had accepted Jesus as their Messiah, and they hoped to share in the Messianic glory. A proper understanding of their suffering would constitute one of the strong evidences of the unseen glory for which they were striving. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him,” it is elsewhere stated.—II Tim. 2:12. See also II Cor. 4:17,18.
THE CLOUD OF WITNESSES
Throughout the 11th chapter the apostle tells about the faith-life of the ancient worthies. They, too, were associated with the Messianic cause. Their faith in that cause, and their loyalty to it, also resulted in suffering and death. They did not partake of the suffering of Christ in the same sense as does the church of this Gospel age. Their sacrifice was not represented by the brazen altar in the court of the tabernacle. Their sacrifice, nevertheless, was fully in keeping with the “better sacrifices” of this age, as illustrated in the killing of the red heifer, whose blood was sprinkled seven times toward the door of the tabernacle.—Numbers 19:1-4
But it took faith on the part of the ancient worthies in order for them to continue faithful. By their faith they “obtained a good report,” the apostle says. He then tells us of various individuals in the ancient worthy class, and of what their faith enabled them to do and to endure. By faith Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. By faith Noah built an ark. By faith Abraham, in obeying God, left the city of Ur and journeyed to the promised land, not knowing whither he was going. Faith enabled this class to suffer and to die. It enabled Moses to decide that the “reproach of Christ” was more to be esteemed than the “treasures in Egypt.”—Heb. 11:24-27
Through faith they “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 trials 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.”—Heb. 11:33-40
What a “cloud of witnesses” is here produced as evidence before the Hebrew Christians. All of these as servants in the Messianic cause had gladly suffered and died in it and for it. Should the house of sons, being prepared for still higher glory, expect to attain the high position offered to them without suffering? And besides, the “Captain” of their salvation also suffered and died; and in His life and death the Christian is furnished with the, best of all examples of faith and obedience. How logical, then, that the apostle in this wondrous admonition to faith and zeal, should step from the martyrs of the Old Testament, to the Chief Martyr of the New Testament, even Jesus Himself.
“RUN WITH PATIENCE”
When introducing Jesus as the greatest of all examples to the Christian (Heb. 12:1,2), Paul shows that the Christian life is, in some respects, like that of one who trains for and runs in a race. “Let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” he admonishes. And he gives us some helpful suggestions as to how this can be done successfully. He says, “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us”; and, laying aside these hindrances, we are to look “unto Jesus”—that is, be guided by His example and inspired by His faith and devotion.
We are to “lay aside every weight.” Tradition tells us that a part of the training of ancient marathon runners was that of purposely weighting down their feet over a period of time prior to the race for the purpose of developing the muscles of their legs; and also that when these weights were removed their feet would seem unusually light by comparison, enabling them to run faster as well as longer distances. Perhaps the apostle had this in mind when admonishing the Hebrew Christians to lay aside their weights.
Followers of the Master do not, of course, purposely weight themselves down in training for the Christian race-course. We are burdened with many weights without the necessity of specially adding them. It is true, however, that it is only as we lay aside these weights that we can run successfully in the narrow way. But in order to lay the weights aside we must recognize the weights. All of us were by nature weighted down with sin and imperfection. The Hebrew Christians first to be addressed in this epistle had had this weight specially emphasized by the Mosaic Law, and all their lives they had been struggling toward righteousness, weighted down so heavily with this burden that no real progress could be made.
With or without the Law, Adamic imperfection is a weight to those who are seeking to know and do the will of God. When we enter the Christian race-course and lay aside this weight in accepting by faith the imputed merit of Christ, what a burden is lifted! The poet’s words, “Ceaseless struggling after life, weary with the endless strife,” well express the experience of all who seek after righteousness apart from Christ. Yes, this is one of the “weights” that must be laid aside if we are to run the Christian race successfully.
We lay it aside by faith—faith in the precious blood, a faith that justifies us and gives us peace with God. (Rom. 5:1) What a burden is thus lifted, and how free and light-hearted it leaves us as we “look unto Jesus,” seeking to “run with patience” the race that is set before us. But we shouldn’t burden ourselves again with this weight after we lay it aside. This is what we would be doing should we attempt to justify ourselves before God through the merit of our own works; or should we permit our unwilling imperfections to discourage us from pressing forward in the race.
How foolish it would have been for the ancient runners, once they had lightened their feet for the race by removing the weights, to start putting on weights after the race had started; yet this is what Christians are sometimes induced to do. The weight, or hindrance, of Adamic imperfection is removed by the blood of Christ—if we have faith to believe it. But we should avoid taking on other weights.
If we permit ourselves to be overcharged with the cares of this life, these cares become a weight which impedes our progress. (Luke 21:34) There are certain responsibilities of life which the Scriptures impose upon us. These we must carry, but they cannot be construed as weights, because, being proper, the Lord helps us to bear them. We are Scripturally exhorted to provide for our own. To do this faithfully is to perform a part of the Lord’s will for us. It is a part of the all things which are to be done to the glory of God. But to he “overcharged,” and to be carried away with the deceitful lure of riches, or over much comfort and joy in this life, is to add weights which are sure to hold us back from final victory in the narrow way.
So, brethren, not only is it absolutely necessary that we lay aside whatever weights we may have before starting the race, but we must keep laying e side the weights as often as we find ourselves becoming burdened by them. And there are so many things that might serve as weights to slow down our progress toward the Kingdom. The love of money, the love of ease, and the desire to make a fair showing in the flesh—any or all of these might easily become weights. If we keep cur affections set upon things above, determined that we will be interested in and do only “this one thing,” then we will remain free from the weights which might otherwise rob us of a victorious conclusion of the race.
THE BESETTING SIN
We are also to lay aside “the sin which doth so easily beset us,” the apostle tells us. Every Christian undoubtedly has one or more weaknesses, or imperfections which serve to handicap him in his effort to do the Master’s will, but this doesn’t seem to be what the apostle is referring to here. If we can judge from the general subject matter of the epistle, the besetting sin to which the apostle refers is evidently that of the lack of faith, and consequent lack of zeal.
“Whatsoever is not of faith is sin,” the apostle tells us. (Rom. 14:23) One of the chief sins of natural Israel was their lack of faith in God and in His overruling providence in their behalf. In chapters three and four of the Epistle to the Hebrews Paul reminds us of this, and exhorts that we strive to enter into the rest of faith which God has provided for us through Christ. “Without faith it is impossible to please God,” the apostle says, adding further that those who draw hack through lack of faith cannot have divine approval. This sin of a weak faith is a besetting one indeed, and one which every Christian should endeavor earnestly to set aside by grasping more firmly and more resolutely all the exceeding great and precious promises by which he is assured of victory.
“And let us run with patience,” the apostle adds. Cheerful endurance is the thought here in the Greek. The trials of the way make it necessary to endure, but the endurance should be cheerful. Going to Jesus without the camp bearing His reproach, is not a cheerful thing in itself—it is something rather to be “endured”—but if we have the proper knowledge of what is involved, and strong faith in the promises of God as they pertain to both the present and the future, we should be able to endure cheerfully.
And it will help us to endure cheerfully if we “look unto Jesus, … who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame.” God’s design for all of His intelligent creatures is that they may be happy. When the divine plan of redemption and restitution is complete all sorrow and sighing, all suffering and trials, will have fled away. But this doesn’t mean that the immediate objective of the Christian life is to be free from suffering. True, we can by faith enter into the “joy of the Lord,” but this joy is not based upon present ease and present freedom from suffering.
The joy that meant the most to Jesus, and which enabled Him to “endure the cross,” was the joy that was set before Him by the promises of God. This same joy may be ours—must be ours—if we are to endure faithfully whilst we go to Him without the camp bearing His reproach. It is, the joy of anticipation—the joy of faith. It is, as it were, a down payment of that “fulness of joy” which will be ours when, through faithful and cheerful endurance of present trials, we attain a place at His right hand where there are “pleasures forevermore.”
“CONSIDER HIM”
“Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself,” the apostle adds. The ancient worthies endured many hardships; the Hebrew Christians had had their goods spoiled and had been locked in the stocks, but none of these, by comparison, had endured as much as Jesus, had endured. Moreover, they were all imperfect, and to some extent their suffering may have been due to their imperfection; but not so with Jesus. He was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners; yet He suffered—not for Himself, but on behalf of others, that even those who caused Him to suffer might be blessed.
It is hard for anyone to endure contradiction; yet Jesus, the perfect One, had the main facts of His life contradicted and was put to death because of this contradiction. Jesus was the Son of God, and the King of kings, yet these great facts of His life were subjected to a campaign of contradiction from the very beginning of His ministry, culminating only when He finished laying down His life and died upon the cross. Hanging there as the world’s Redeemer, the challenge was hurled at Him to come down and thus to prove that He was the Son of God. In derision the inscription was placed above His head, “This is Jesus the King of the Jews.” “He has saved others,” the crowd shouted, “let Him save Himself.” They didn’t realize that by enduring this contradiction and refusing to save Himself, He was providing salvation, not only for Himself, but for all mankind—all the families of the earth.
Surely here is something to consider as we endeavor to walk in the Master’s footsteps. We are called to a heavenly calling, to reign with Christ in His glorious Kingdom, but to attain this we must “suffer with Him,” and endure with Him. Yes, we must endure “contradiction.” When we are wrong in our position and have our error pointed out to us, it requires humility to acknowledge the wrong. Such humility is essential in the Christian life. But when we are contradicted pertaining to things wherein we are right, and take it patiently, we are enduring in some small degree that which Jesus endured. But how are we enduring? Are we enduring cheerfully, and at the same time seeking opportunities to bless those who contradict us; or are we enduring grumblingly, while we seek occasion to “get even” with our accusers?
Then follows the apostle’s climax—“Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” This is another way of saying, You have not yet died for the Messianic cause. The Hebrews had suffered much, and they had been faithful to a degree. In the beginning, they had taken joyfully the spoiling of their goods, and had been locked in the stocks, but they had not as yet “resisted unto blood”—they hadn’t followed the Master all the way into death. Until they had done this the joys which had been set before them could not become realities, so they were to continue “looking unto Jesus,” and continue to be inspired by the promises that inspired Him, until they had reached the full end of the way.
To do this every follower of the Master must “hold fast the profession” of his faith; must watch that he does not “let these things slip”; must not “draw back”; must “endure chastening” as sons; and must be safeguarded against all possibility of failure by having faith’s anchor fastened securely “within the veil, whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus.” (Heb. 6:19,20) Only thus may we hope to victoriously reach the end of the race-course marked out for us by Jesus who ran before to show the way. And not until we have “resisted unto blood” will we have reached the end of that way. Only those who are “faithful unto death” may hope to receive “the crown of life.” (Rev. 2:10) We cannot win the prize by running only half or three-quarters of the way—we must continue to run all the way—stopping short of nothing, but determined to continue faithfully “resisting unto blood, striving against sin.