Lesson 9 - A Race, a Mountain, and an Ash Heap

• Left foot, right foot - we are in a race!
• Endurance requires discipline
• We’re heading toward a mountain!
• Wait - what’s this ash heap?

I’ll bet - hmmmm. I can’t bet, I’m a Baptist - but I’ll wager that most of you are far too young to remember the Graucho Marx show. Like many vaudville comedians who made the transition to early television he hosted a variety show that was more comedy than anything else.

At the start of the show he’d pick a “secret woid” and if any of his guests said it, a stuffed bird would drop down on a string and they’d win $50. Hey, that was BIG money in those days!

OK - the “secret woid” for today is - are you ready? - endurance. Well, maybe it isn’t the most secret word in the Christian vocabulary, but it’s certainly one of the most important. Our author comes at endurance several ways in the closing two chapters.

Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot . . . it’s a race!

If Hebrews had been written in our culture, you’d probably find the word “marathon” somewhere in the first verses of Chapter 12. Although it's not the longest nor the toughest race people run, it symbolizes endurance more than anything else.

Historically it marks endurance unto death, for traditionally the first “Marathon” was run in BC 490 by Miltiades from the plain of Marathon to Athens to announce the defeat of the Persion invaders. “We conquer!” he cried, and dropped dead. True or not, it makes a great story!

Whatever the case, it’s this kind of race we're called to run. So how do you run a marathon? By putting one foot in front of the other, over and over again. Left foot - right foot - left foot...you get the idea.

While you’re running a long race, you tend to look around. You’ll see those who look like you - slightly overweight and out of shape - but are moving. You'll talk to others who may tell you of other races they've been in. You find encouragement from those around you.

See why Chapter 11 came before Chapter 12? If these people, these flesh-and-blood people like us can endure through faith, surely we can! With such a “cloud of witnesses” (= examples) around us we can find encouragement to continue.

As if that isn’t enough, the writer points to Jesus as another example. Here was someone who endured by despising the shame and hostility that came his way and keeping his eye on the prize. In the end he won the victory!

Endurance requires discipline

I like the concept of endurance, but I don’t like the discipline it requires. It’s fun to run a marathon when people are standing all along the route, cheering you on. But the miles, the endless miles you run getting ready for the race are no fun! Mile after mile, no one watches, knows, or cares. You run because you choose to. You’re exercising self-discipline.

There's another kind of discipline - the loving discipline that comes from the Father. It can be harsh, this discipline. The writer quotes from the Proverbs in verses 5-6, and my translation uses the word “scourge.” Yep, that’s the same word used to describe some of the torture Jesus experienced at the hands of his Roman guards.

Our Father knows what we need, and He gives us to it, or allows it to happen to us, however you think of it. His goal is simple - that we share His holiness. Nothing less will satisfy. If Jesus learned through what he suffered, how much more do we need this discipline?

Endurance is a race in which we must set aside sinful encumbrances, keep our eyes on the goal, and accept the discipline our Father gives us.

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We're heading toward a mountain!

Two mountains stand out in the Old Testament - not because they are unusually high, but because God was unusually close to them. You can guess the first one - Mount Sinai where Moses received the rules and regulations of the Old Covenant.

This was an unbelievably scary scene! Check out Exodus 19 - thunder, lightning, clouds, and the blast of a loud trumpet shattered the quiet desert air. "Stay back! Do not come near!" No one, not even the priests could approach this holy mountain. Yahweh had come to earth and this Holy God could not be approached by an unholy people.

Part of the Old Covenant's rules regulated how, when, and who could enter into God's presence. We’ve looked at that back in Chapter 8. Mount Sinai was not a pretty picture.

The other mountain is Mount Zion where Solomon built the Temple. Here was a little bit of heaven's beauty on earth, made special by the very presence of God Himself. True, the same rules of access applied, but here was a place where God's people could seek Him, find Him, and pray to Him.

Old Testament poets and prophets celebrated Mount Zion as a beautiful place, an exhalted place, a special place.

Our writer, too, leads us past Sinai with its fearsome blasts of light, clouds, and sounds to Mount Zion - the "city of the living God." Our race leads us through the open gates of this city, onto its wide streets, past cheering angels, past uncounted believers who have gone before, into a final turn past the cheering crowds, and across the finish line at the feet of God, the "Judge of all."

Okay, okay. So I’m getting carried away - or maybe ought to be! But that's the symbolism of these two mountains. One, where the Old Covenant was ratified, dramatically displayed the separation between the holy God of that covenant and the unholy people with whom He made it.

The other mountain showed something of the beauty of a God whose righteous demands had been met, a place where people could actually find fellowship with Him. One day this will be literally true for us. One day we will enter into His presence without fear because of our faith in Jesus whose sacrifice removed our guilt before God. One day . . . !

Until then, keep running!

He gives us specfic things to do or not do as we continue in our faithful endurance -

• Pursue after peace with all men
• Purse afer the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord
• See to it that no root of bitterness causes trouble
• Show hospitality to strangers
• Remember the prisoners
• Honor marriage
• Do not love money
• Respect the church leaders

Keep moving - keep on keeping on!

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Wait - what’s that ash heap?

Ah, you saw that! Down there, in that gully, is a large pile of ashes, still smouldering, smelling like your last barbeque, the one where you burnt everything to a black crisp. Yes, that's part of the Day of Atonement, too.

The regulations of the Old Covenant gave all or parts of most sacrifices to the priests and Levites as their inheritance in the land. Some sacrifices, however, were completely dedicated to God. What was left after the ritual was burned in a special place - a place outside the camp in Moses’ day, outside the city in Solomon’s.

Yes, the course we’re running goes by this ash heap. It’s a ritually unclean place, avoided by most people. In his final Old Testament allusion the writer takes us to such a place. Here, he says, is where our Sacrifice, was made. Not inside the Temple, but out here, in the place of shame and rejection

So, too, we must come here, accepting the shame and rejection of this place. After all, our savior suffered here, outside the camp. So don't worry about the shame and rejection that you’re receiving. This is a temporary situation. Just keep on keeping on!

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And finally . . .

Thanks for walking through Hebrews with me! While I did these notes for a specific group at Salem Alliance Church, I hope they have a wider application. If you, from whatever background, place, and time, have found them helpful, wonderful!

If they’ve raised questions, feel free to click Contact Us and send me an Email. Me? I’m already looking forward to my next class!

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