Endure by Focusing on Jesus

1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3For y’all should contemplate him and the hostility he endured from sinners, so that y’all don’t grow weary and lose heart.

The Father’s Discipline

4In y’all’s striving against sin, y’all have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. 5And y’all have forgotten the encouragement that addresses y’all as sons,

7It is for discipline that y’all endure. God is treating y’all as children—for what child is there who is not disciplined by their father? 8But if y’all are not disciplined—which everyone undergoes—then y’all are illegitimate, not true sons and daughters. 9Furthermore, we had earthly fathers as instructors, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed good to them, but ʜᴇ for our good, that we may share in ʜɪꜱ holiness. 11Certainly, all discipline seems painful at the time, not joyful. But later it produces the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained by it. 12Therefore y’all should strengthen weak hands and feeble knees, 13and make straight paths for y’all’s feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

14Y’all must pursue peace with all people, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord, 15watching carefully so that no one falls short of the grace of God, and no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many. 16And watch carefully that no one becomes sexually immoral or a godless person like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal. 17For y’all know that later when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He found no opportunity to change what he had done, though he sought after the blessing with tears.

The Fear at Sinai versus the Joy in Zion

18For y’all have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire with darkness, gloom, and storm, 19or to the sound of a trumpet and the sound of words which those who heard begged to hear no more, 20because they could not bear what was commanded, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”+Exo 19:12-13 21The site was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am stricken with fear and trembling.”+Deut 9:19

22But y’all have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable multitude of angels, 23to the gathering of the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than Abel’s.

25Y’all be sure not to refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned them on the earth, how much more will we not escape if we turn away from him who warns from heaven. 26Then his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.”+Hag 2:6 27This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are shaken, the created things, so that what cannot be shaken remains. 28Therefore, since we are receiving an empire that can’t be shaken, let us show gratitude, through which we serve in a manner acceptable to God, with reverence and awe. 29For our “God is a consuming fire.”+Deut 4:24