Haikus through Hebrews, chapter 12

Overview of chapter 12

Looking up ahead
Throwing off encumbrances
Running with patience

Focus on Jesus
Author and perfecter who
Endured shame for joy

No one volunteers
For discipline, and yet the
Alternative is

To be unreceived,
Illegitimate sons, not
Loved or corrected.

Yet peace, holiness,
And righteousness await those
Under its training

We have come to the
City of God, gathering
The heirs of promise

Through faith we've become
Firstborn sons of God the Judge
In new covenant

God will once more shake
Heaven and earth, that what can't
Be shaken will stand.

Serve God in holy fear
Holding on to grace, for God
Consumes all with fire.

"As so often in the Christian life, reminding yourself of truth, not trying to conjure up feelings of this or that sort, is the way to keep going in faith and patience."
-N.T. Wright, Hebrews for Everyone (Copublished in 2004 by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, and Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, KY)

*Important Note: Please read through the whole of Hebrews (I recommend the English Standard Version or New American Standard Bible) for contextual significance (and significant context!).  As always, I pray that the Spirit will cover over any errors made on my part, and most importantly, that He will speak truth to your heart.  To God alone be the glory!

12:1
Therefore since we are
Surrounded by so great a 
Cloud of witnesses

12:1 (continued)
Let us also lay
Aside every weight, and sin
Which obstructs our path

12:1 (continued)
And let us run with
Endurance the race that God
Has set before us.

12:2
Let us fix our eyes
On Jesus, the author and 
Perfecter of faith

12:2 (continued)
Who for the joy set 
Before him endured the cross,
Despising the shame,

12:2-3
And has sat down at
The right hand of the throne of
God.  Consider him

12:3
Who has endured such
Hostility from sinners
Against himself, so

12:3-4
That you may not grow
Weary and give up in your
Striving against sin

12:4-5
You have not yet come
As far as to blood, nor have
Your struggles killed you.

12:5
You have forgotten
The word of encouragement
That addresses you

12:5 (continued)
As sons, "My son, do
Not regard lightly the Lord's
Discipline, and do

12:5-6
"Not lose heart when he
Rebukes you, because the Lord
Disciplines the one

12:6-7
"He loves, and scourges
Every son whom He receives."
Endure suffering

12:7
As discipline: God
Is dealing with you as sons.
For what son is there

12:7-8
That a father does
Not discipline?  If you are
Without discipline--

12:8
Which all received--then
You are illegitimate
Children and not sons.

12:9
Furthermore, earthly
Fathers disciplined us, and
We respected them

12:9 (continued)
Should we not submit
Even more to the Father
Of spirits, and live?

12:10
For they disciplined
Us for a short time based on
What seemed good to them,

12:10 (continued) 
But God disciplines
For our good, so that we may
Share his holiness.

12:11
For the moment all
Discipline seems not to be 
Joyful, but painful.

12:11 (continued) 
Later it yields the
Fruit of peace and righteousness
To those trained by it.

12:12
Therefore, strengthen the
Hands that are weak and set your
Shaky knees firmly.

12:12-13
Therefore, strengthen your
Feeble arms and weakened knees,
Walk along straight paths,

12:13
That what is lame may
Not be put out of joint, but
That it may be healed.

12:14
Pursue peace with all,
And holiness; without it 
None will see the Lord.

12:15
Make sure that no one
Falls short of the grace of God,
That no bitter root

12:15
Springing up causes
Trouble, or many of you
Will become defiled

12:16
Make sure that no one
Is immoral or godless
Like Esau, who sold

12:16-17
His birthright for a 
Single meal.  For you know that
Even afterward,

12:17
When he desired to
inherit the blessing, he
Was rejected, for

12:17 (continued) 
He found no chance to
Repent, even though he sought
It with bitter tears.

12:18
You have not come to
What may be touched, a blazing
Fire, to darkness, gloom,

12:18-19
And storm, to the blast
Of a trumpet and a voice
That made the hearers

12:19-20
Beg not another
Word be spoken to them, for
They could not endure

12:20
The order given,
"If even an animal
Touches the mountain,

12:20-21
"It must be stoned to
death."  Indeed, the sight was so
Terrifying that

12:21-22
Moses said, "I am
Trembling with fear."  But you have
Come to Mount Zion,

12:22
To the heavenly
Jerusalem, the city
Of the living God,

12:22
To myriads of
Angels joyfully gathered
Together, and to

12:23
The assembly of
The firstborn who are enrolled
In heaven.  You have

12:23 (continued)
Come to God, the Judge
Of all, to the spirits of
Just men made perfect,

12:24
And to Jesus, the
Mediator of a new
Covenant, and to

12:24 (continued) 
The sprinkled blood, which
Speaks a better message than
The blood of Abel.

12:25
See that you do not
Refuse him who is speaking.
For if the people

12:25 (continued) 
Of Israel did
Not escape when they refused
The one who warned them

12:25 (continued) 
On earth, how much less
Will we escape if we turn
Away from the one

12:25-26
Who warns from heaven?
And his voice shook the earth then,
But now he's promised,

12:26
Saying, "Once more I
Will shake not only the earth
But also heaven."

12:27
This expression, "Once
More," means the removal of
What can be shaken,

12:27 (continued) 
That is, what he has
Made, so that what cannot be
Shaken may remain.

12:28
Therefore, since we are
Receiving a kingdom that
Cannot be shaken,

12:28 (continued) 
Let us hold on to
Grace.  By it we may serve God
Acceptably, with

12:28-29
Reverence and awe,
After all, our God is an
All-consuming fire.