Hebrews 12:29

For our God is a consuming fire. [ Kai (G2532) gar (G1063)] 'For even;' 'For also:' an additional incentive to diligence. From Deuteronomy 4:24. OUR GOD - in whom we hope, is also to be feared. He is love, yet He has also wrath against sin (Hebrews 10:27; Hebrews 10:31)....

29._For our God, etc. _As he had before kindly set before us the grace of God, so he now makes known his severity; and he seems to have borrowed this sentence from the Deuteronomy 4:24 of Deuteronomy. Thus we see that God omits nothing by which he may draw us to himself; he begins indeed with love and kindness, so that we may follow him the more willingly; but when by alluring he effects but little, he terrifies us. And doubtless it is expedient that the grace of God should never be promised to us without being accompanied with threatening; for we are so extremely prone to indulge ourselves, that without the application of these stimulants the milder doctrine would prove ineffectual. Then the Lord, as he is propitious and merciful to such as fear him unto a thousand generations; so he is a jealous God and a just avenger, when despised, unto the third and the fourth generation....

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 Hebrews 12:29. _FOR OUR GOD_ is _a consuming fire._] The apostle quotes Deuteronomy 4:24, and by doing so he teaches us this great truth, that sin under the Gospel is as abominable in God's sight as it was under the law; and that the man who does not labour to serve God with the principle and in the way already prescribed, will find that fire to consume _him_ which would otherwise have consumed his _sin_. _Additional remarks on verses_ Hebrews 12:22. On the whole, I think the description in these verses refers to the state of the Church _here below_, and not to any _heavenly state_. Let us review the particulars:...

FOR OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE - This is a further reason why we should serve God with profound reverence and unwavering fidelity. The quotation is made from Deuteronomy 4:24. “For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” The object of the apostle here seems to be, to show that there was the same reason for fearing the displeasure of God under the new dispensation which there was under the old. It was the same God who was served. There had been no change in his attributes, or in the principles of his government. He was no more the friend of sin now than he was then; and the same perfections of his nature which would then lead him to punish transgression would also lead him to do it now. His anger was really as terrible, and as much to be dreaded as it was at Mount Sinai; and the destruction which he would inflict on his foes would be as

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

FOR OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE. Either God personally considered, God in the person of Christ; so the Shechinah, with the Jews, is called a consuming fire n. Christ is truly God, and he is our God and Lord; and though he is full of grace and mercy, yet he will appear in great wrath to his enemies, who will not have him to reign over them: or rather God essentially considered; whose God he is, and in what sense, and how he comes to be so, Hebrews 8:10, what is here said of him, that he is a consuming fire, may be understood of his jealousy in matters of worship, Deuteronomy 4:23, and so carries in it a reason why he is to be served acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. God, and he only, is to be worshipped; and he is to be worshipped in a way suitable to himself; and he has the sole right of fixin

L, 2. _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 Apostle seems to say, since so many look on from heaven, and earth, and hell, and we are runners in the great life race, let us strip to it: let us throw aside everything that would make our running difficult; every weight, however golden; every garment, however richly embroidered, lest it should entangle us in our course. And then when we have set out, let us not conclude that we have won the victory, but «run with patience,» on, on, on, till at last we reach the goal. Hebrews 12:2. 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 dow

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...