Christ's Instructions

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433) Heb 12:14b . . Pursue holiness, without which no one will see The Lord.

The Greek word translated "pursue" is sometimes translated persecute;
which implies persistence, doggedness, and/or stalking, i.e. determination.

The Greek word translated "holiness" basically refers to purity; defined by
Webster's as chastity, innocence, modesty; i.e. goodness, righteousness,
virtue, morality, decency, decorum, and propriety.

The same Greek word is sometimes translated "sanctification" which is
supposed to be a work in progress involving not only the hand of God, but
also one's own hand. (Rom 6:19, 1Thess 4:4, and 1Tim 2:15)

The word "see" is somewhat ambiguous. It can relate to physical eyesight
and it can also relate to mental perception. I'm inclined to believe it's related
to mental perception in this case.

As an allegory: at one time I had cataracts in both eyes. As a result, my
vision was really blurry because the cataracts scattered light, thus
preventing the natural lenses in my eyes from bringing things into sharp
focus. After surgery to replace the natural lenses with artificial lenses, I can
now see sharply; i.e. my vision's clarity was greatly improved and I'm able
to notice details that were virtually invisible before.

In other words; people with no interest in pursuing holiness lack clarity; i.e.
their perception of The Lord is fuzzy at best because there are details in view
that they are unable to make out due to their mind's mental cataracts, so to
speak.

● John 14:21 . . .Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one
who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will
love him and show myself to him.
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434) Heb 12:15a . . See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God

The Greek word translated "comes short" also means destitute; defined by
Webster's as lacking possessions and resources; especially suffering extreme
poverty, i.e. deprived.

I think it's pretty much a given that there are always going to be members
in every congregation that are spiritually destitute. The idea here is that
their spiritual destitution not be due to negligence.

In other words, the spiritual element in congregations should take it upon
themselves to make an effort to assist the non spiritual element to at least
know how to obtain the grace of God, i.e. congregations are responsible to
police themselves, so to speak, rather than leave this aspect of the Christian
way of life entirely up to church staffs.

The answer to Cain's question "Am I my brother's keeper?" was NO to his
way of thinking, but it's supposed to be YES to the spiritual Christian's way
of thinking.
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435) Heb 12:15b . . See to it that no root of a bitter plant, sprouting up,
causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;

The Greek word for "defiled" basically means to taint, sully, and/or
contaminate.

Seeing as how this epistle is addressed to Hebrews, then I think we're pretty
safe to assume that the "root of a bitter plant" likely refers to Deut 29:18-19
which reads thus:

"Make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.
When such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on
himself and therefore thinks: I will be safe, even though I persist in going
my own way."

Why those kinds of people even bother coming to church is a bit of a
mystery seeing as how they have no intention whatsoever to either
exemplify and/or implement Christ's instructions. As far as they're
concerned, Jesus should mind his own business and stop trying to meddle in
their affairs. Such folk aren't harmless, no, they are quite pernicious.

Moses warned in the 29th chapter that toxic people can lead a country to
ruin. Well, the lesson here is obvious: bitter plants can lead a church to ruin;
and if allowed to become pervasive, will be difficult to eradicate.
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436) Heb 12:16-17 . . See to it that there be no immoral or secular person
like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that
even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected,
for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.

Webster's defines "secular" as not overtly or specifically religious, viz:
irreverent, which can be roughly defined as having little or no respect for
sacred things.

Esau is a good example of the limits of God's patience. Another example is
located at 1Cor 11:27-30

I think it's nigh unto impossible to fix all the secular people attending
churches, but at least they can be warned of the consequences so they don't
go around with the false assumption that God is flexible with their behavior.
Same goes for the immoral people.

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong;
Gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
(Thomas Paine)

NOTE: When God came to the point where it was necessary to destroy much
of the human life that He brought into existence; He expressed regret for
even creating human life in the first place.

I would suggest following His example when complying with Heb 12:15-17.
In other words: do so with sympathy, with reluctance, and with regret;
rather than with the sharp teeth of a barracuda.
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437) Heb 12:25-26 . . See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if
they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on Mt. Sinai, much more
shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from Heaven,
whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying: Yet
once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.

"Him who spoke on Mt. Sinai" was an angel of the Lord rather than the
supreme being Himself in person. (Acts 7:53) In point of fact, Jesus said
that the Jews had neither heard God's voice nor seen his shape. (John 5:37)

The voice of the angel of the Lord was audible; but the voice that shook the
mountain was inaudible-- it's quite possibly the self-same voice that did all
that work of creation beginning with Genesis 1:3.

In contrast Jesus wasn't an angel, nor did he speak for God as a run of the
mill holy man; rather, Jesus spoke as the embodied voice of God. (John 1:1-3,
John 1:14 & Heb 1:1-2) viz: a theophany; and though we today only have
Jesus' words in print form, they are just as serious as his voice in human
form because Jesus' recorded words were spoken as God's voice rather than
speaking for God like the prophets once did.

"Yet once more" indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken,
as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may
remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be
shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. (Heb 12:27-29)

The "kingdom that cannot be shaken" is very likely a reference to Dan 7:9-22.

It's not uncommon for people to ask: What is grace? Well; you're likely to
hear any number of definitions; but quite few of grace's aspects are touched
upon in the letter to Hebrews, e.g. concern for the welfare of others,
generosity, morals, marital fidelity, clean speech, maturity, gratitude, and a
sensible attitude towards wealth. Those aspects easily qualify as serving God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

What is reverence and godly fear? Well, a rough-hewn definition is: having a
high enough opinion of God's core values to adopt them for your own and
put them into practice. (Eph 5:1)
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