Hebrews 12:25

See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: REFUSE NOT - through unbelief. As the blood of sprinkling speaks to God for us (Hebrews 12:24), so God also speaks to us (Hebrews 1:1). His word now preludes the last 'shaking' of all things, Hebrews 12:27. The same word which is heard in the Gospel from heaven will shake heaven and earth, Hebrews 12:26. WHO REFUSED HIM, [ paraiteesamenoi...

25._See that ye refuse not him that speaketh, etc. _He uses the same verb as before, when he said that the people entreated that God should not speak to them; but he means as I think, another thing, even that we ought not to reject the word destined for us. He further shows what he had in view in the last comparison, even that the severest punishment awaits the despisers of the Gospel, since the ancients under the Law did not despise it with impunity. And he pursues the argument from the less to the greater, when he says, that God or Moses spoke then on earth, but that the same God or Christ speaks now from heaven. At the same time I prefer regarding God in both instances as the speaker. And he is said to have spoken on earth, because he spoke in a lower strain. Let us ever bear in mind that he refers to the external ministration of the Law, which, as compared with the gospel, partook of...

18-29 Mount Sinai, on which the Jewish church state was formed, was a mount such as might be touched, though forbidden to be so, a place that could be felt; so the Mosaic dispensation was much in outward and earthly things. The gospel state is kind and condescending, suited to our weak frame. Under the gospel all may come with boldness to God's presence. But the most holy must despair, if judged by the holy law given from Sinai, without a Saviour. The gospel church is called Mount Zion; there believers have clearer views of heaven, and more heavenly tempers of soul. All the children of God are heirs, and every one has the privileges of the first-born. Let a soul be supposed to join that glorious assembly and church above, that is yet unacquainted with God, still carnally-minded, loving this present world and state of things, looking back to it with a lingering eye, full of pride and gui...

Verse 25. _SEE_] βλεπετε. _Take heed, that ye refuse not him _- the Lord Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, who now speaketh _from heaven_, by his Gospel, to the Jews and to the Gentiles, having in his incarnation come down from God. _HIM THAT SPAKE ON EARTH_] Moses, who spoke on the part of God to the Hebrews, every transgression of whose word received a just recompense of reward, none being permitted to _escape_ punishment; consequently, if ye turn away from Christ, who speaks to you from heaven, you may expect a much sorer punishment, the offence against God being so much the more heinous, as the privileges slighted are more important and glorious....

SEE THAT YE REFUSE NOT - That you do not reject or disregard. HIM THAT SPEAKETH - That is, in the gospel. Do not turn away from him who has addressed you in the new dispensation, and called you to obey and serve him. The meaning is, that God had addressed “them” in the gospel as really as he had done the Hebrews on Mount Sinai, and that there was as much to be dreaded in disregarding his voice now as there was then. He does not speak, indeed, amidst lightnings, and thunders, and clouds, but he speaks by every message of mercy; by every invitation; by every tender appeal. He spake by his Son Hebrews 1:1; he speaks by the Holy Spirit, and by all his calls and warnings in the gospel. FOR IF THEY ESCAPED NOT - If they who heard God under the old dispensation, who refused to obey him,

EXPOSITION The exhortation, begun at Hebrews 10:19, but interrupted at Hebrews 11:1. I by the chapter on faith, is now taken up again with increased force from the array of examples that have been adduced to support it. Observable in the Greek is the fine roll of the majestic and well-ordered phrases with which this chapter begins, as if the writer had felt the dignity of his subject, and the commanding power with which he can now approach it. Even the initiatory word τοιγαροῦν,_ _rather than the usual ὅθεν,_ _or οὖν, or διό,_ adds _to the effect. HEBREWS 12:1 WHEREFORE LET US TOO ("we also," in the A.V.,_ is _wrongly placed

SEE THAT YE REFUSE NOT HIM THAT SPEAKETH,.... Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, whose blood speaks better things than Abel, or than his blood and sacrifice: he was the speaker in the council and covenant of grace, that spoke for the elect; in the creation of all things out of nothing, that said, and it was done; in giving the law to the Israelites, in the wilderness, for he is the angel which spake to Moses in Mount Sinai, he spoke to God for the Old Testament saints, and was the angel of God's presence to them; he spoke in his own person, as the prophet of the church, in the days of his flesh; and he now speaks in heaven, by appearing in the presence of God for his people, and by presenting his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice; he speaks by his Spirit, in and to the hearts of his saints; and by his ministers in the Gospel, and the ordinances of it: nor should he be refused, as...

The apostle, having deserted the heroes of the faith, represents them as witnesses of the great race which Christians in all ages have to run. All through the chapter he keeps up the idea of the great Olympic games, and represents the saints as occupied with spiritual athletics in the presence of God, the angels, and glorified men. Hebrews 12:1. _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,_ In those games, those who ran and wrestled wore very little clothing, or often nothing at all. A runner might lose the race through being entangled by his scarf, so he laid aside everything that might hinder or hamper him. Oh, for that blessed consecration to our heavenly calling, by which everything that would hi

CHAPTER 12 _ 1. Looking away unto Jesus (Hebrews 12:1)_ 2. The Contradiction of sinners (Hebrews 12:3) 3. Chastened as sons (Hebrews 12:5) 4. Exhortations (Hebrews 12:12) 5. The end of faith (Hebrews 12:18) 6. The final warning (Hebrews 12:25) Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore seeing we also are compassed about with so grea

The theme of the epistle has been the contrast of the old and the new covenants, and this contrast is now summed up in a splendid closing passage. The first covenant was established on a mount that might be touched an earthly, material mountain [E. C. Selwyn, in JThS, xii. 134, suggests _pephepsalmenô,_ calcined. A. J. G.] which was encircled with terrible manifestations of fire and darkness and storm. The voice in which the Law was proclaimed struck terror into the people, and even Moses was so filled with awe at the nearness of the unapproachable God that he trembled (Hebrews 12:18). But in receiving the new covenant we have the vision before us of the heavenly Zion. the holy city above, of which Jerusalem with its Temple is nothing but the symbol. Drawing near to this holy city we are brought into fellowship with its inhabitants, who are myriad hosts of angels, and the whole company o...