I am grateful You have adopted us!
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, 2 Looking unto Jesus 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 down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards ["illegitimate" sons, cruelly ignored by their shirking father], and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
Hebrews 12
Me: Good afternoon, Father!
Abba: Good afternoon, Jon!
Me: It is humbling to admit the truth of Hebrews 12:2 while at the same time an incalculable blessing to receive as a gift the faith in which we are now called to walk. Oh, the price paid to secure that gift for us! We have neither initiated it, nor are we capable of finishing the journey.
Why does the third verse speak of enduring the "contradiction of sinners against Himself"?
Abba: The word is ἀντιλογίαν (antilogian). It conveys opposition to His word, His message. This opposition persists today, even escalating as the end of the age draws neigh. Do not miss that Jesus' sacrifice on your behalf – on behalf of all men – is timeless. He bore your sin, which at the time of the cross was yet future. He bears the opposition to His message in every time. Yet I am not willing that any should perish, but desire that all come to repentance (2 Peter 3) by accepting Our message. I want you to grow up into the fullness of what I designed you to be.
Isaiah saw and wondered, who would believe?
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. 4 Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was He stricken. 9 And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, He shall see his seed, He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53
Jesus reinforced the importance of believing and explained the inoculation of the "world" against the truth. Only the ones who desire to see, will see.
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. 15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
John 14:6, 12-20
Me: Amazing, Father, how from the before Jesus' incarnation, You were bearing witness to the message of Your love, demonstrated in Him! More remarkable still that you have given the Holy Spirit to bear witness to the truth in us! I love You!
Abba: I love you! Whatever you ask to convey the Truth I desire to convey, I will do. In fact, I Am doing. No matter the level of contradiction.
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