In chapter twelve we have the fifth and final warning in the book of Hebrews. This book has a special arrangement. It has five main teachings, and with each teaching there is a warning. Three of the warnings come after the teachings (Heb. 3:7-4:13; 10:19-39; 12:1-29), and two are inserted into the teachings (Heb. 2:1-4; 5:11-6:20). All of chapter twelve is a warning which follows the teaching given in chapter eleven. This warning tells us to run the race and not to fall away from grace. The race needs the grace, and the grace is sufficient for the race.
Before we consider the matter of falling from grace, I would like to say a further word concerning the race. In chapters ten and twelve we have three synonymous terms. In Heb. 10:20 we have the “new and living way” and in Heb. 12:1 we have the race. As we have seen, the race is the way on which we are running. If we are walking, the way remains a way, but once we begin to run, the way becomes the race. The third of these synonymous terms is paths (Heb. 12:13). The living way, the race, and the paths all point to the same thing. The way on which we walk should be the race we are running, and the race should be the paths. Whether we call it the race, the way, or the paths, the meaning is the same.
Perhaps you are wondering why both the way and the race are singular while the paths are plural. This is like one freeway which has many sections. The many sections are many paths.
The way in 10:20 is the way to enter into the Holy of Holies, and the race in 12:1 is for reaching the goal and obtaining the reward. In 12:13 we see that on this highway into the Holy of Holies and toward God’s goal, there are paths, and that these paths must be straight, not having any curves. Some Christians have weak ankles. If their way is not made straight, they will fall away because their ankles are weak. Hence, we must make straight paths that their ankles would not be put out of joint, that is, be dislocated or wrenched, but rather be healed.
To remain in the Holy of Holies is to continue the running of the race. According to our experience, whenever we exercise our mind to compromise a little, we can sense deep within our spirit that we are away from God’s presence, that we are no longer in the Holy of Holies. Immediately, our way of contacting God is no longer straight; it has become curved. This curve leads us away from the Holy of Holies, away from the ark of testimony, the hidden manna, the budding rod, and the tables of the testimony. Although at the beginning we may be only a short way off from the Holy of Holies, eventually we find that we are a great distance away.
Our race must eventually be in the Holy of Holies. If we are running the race only in the outer court, we are too shallow. We must run our race in the Holy of Holies. Perhaps you are thinking that the Holy of Holies is too small an area in which to run a race. Yes, in the tabernacle it was a cube only ten cubits in length, width, and height (Exo. 26:8, 16). In the temple it became twenty cubits in length, width, and height (1 Kings 6:20). Eventually, in the New Jerusalem it will be twelve thousand stadia in length, width, and height (Rev. 21:16). The cubical dimensions of the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and in the temple and of the New Jerusalem signify the completeness of God’s eternal being. From any direction, God is perfect and complete. His completeness and perfection is eternal, unlimited.
The more we run, the larger the Holy of Holies becomes, expanding from the tabernacle, to the temple, and ultimately to the New Jerusalem. When we first run the race in the tabernacle, it is ten cubits. As we continue to run, it becomes twenty cubits in the temple and twelve thousand stadia in the New Jerusalem. When we run the race in eternity, we shall discover that it is eternally spacious. This is very meaningful.
We can never exhaust the race in the Holy of Holies. I have been running the race for many years, and the more I run, the longer, wider, and higher the Holy of Holies becomes. For the young people, the Holy of Holies in which they are running may be just ten cubits long, wide, and high. After they have been running the race for a number of years, it will be much larger. When we enter into eternity, we shall see that the whole city of New Jerusalem, which is the same in each of its three dimensions, is the Holy of Holies. Today our continual race is in the Holy of Holies, and the paths of this continual race must be made straight. In order to make the paths straight, we must have grace. We must run the race and not fall away from grace. We need grace to run the race.
Now we must ask a crucial question: what is grace? When I was young, I was taught by some great teachers that grace means that we do nothing and that God does everything for us. According to this teaching, anything we do is work, not grace, but whatever the Lord does for us is grace. For example, there is no need for us to do anything for our sins. If we do this, it is our work. The Lord Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and that is grace. Are you satisfied with this definition of grace? For a while, I was satisfied with it. But as a result of considering certain verses in the Bible, I began to question it. John 1:17 says that grace came through Jesus Christ, and John 1:16 says, “Of His fullness we all received, and grace upon grace” (Recovery Version). In 1 Corinthians 15:10 the Apostle Paul says, “By the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” One day, as I was comparing this verse with Galatians 2:20 where Paul says, “Not I, but Christ liveth in me,” I realized that grace is just God in Christ dispensed into our being for our enjoyment in our experience. It is not only the work the Lord does for us; it is the Triune God Himself dispensed into our being and experienced as our enjoyment. In brief, grace is the Triune God experienced by us. According to the entire revelation of the New Testament, grace is nothing less than God in Christ dispensed into our being for our enjoyment. Firstly, He is dispensed into our spirit, and then, as He spreads into our inward parts, He becomes our enjoyment. This grace has come to us through Christ (John 1:14, 17), and it is the grace of Christ (2 Cor. 13:14; 12:9), even Christ Himself (Gal. 6:18; cf. 2 Tim. 4:22).
To fall away from the grace of God is to fall away from Christ. When we are “fallen from grace” we are “severed from Christ” (Gal. 5:4, Gk.). In this matter Paul warned the churches of Galatia, which were in the same danger as the Hebrew believers, not to be “severed from Christ” by being turned aside to the law of the Jewish religion, lest they fall away from the grace of God which is Christ Himself. We should not fall away from grace, but rather “have grace” (v. 28), “be confirmed by grace” (13:9), and “stand in grace” (Rom. 5:2). Both Galatians and Hebrews close with the blessings of grace (Gal. 6:18; Heb. 13:25).
According to the Greek, to be severed from Christ means to be cut off from Him like a branch is cut off from a tree. We all have had this experience. A number of times when we were cut off from the fellowship with the living Christ, we also had the sense that we were severed from grace. On the contrary, when we are in intimate fellowship with the dear Lord, we have the deep sense that we are in grace, having grace for our strength and enjoyment and for our every need. If we need life, grace is life. If we need strength and comfort, grace is our strength and comfort. Thus, in an experiential way, not in a doctrinal way, we clearly see that grace is Christ Himself.
For the Hebrew believers to fall away from the grace of God was to give up the enjoyment of Christ in the new covenant way and to return to their old religion. The arrangement of the furniture of the tabernacle is a revelation of the enjoyment of Christ. At the altar, we enjoy Christ as our sacrifices, and at the laver we enjoy Him as the life-giving Spirit who washes us. At the showbread table we enjoy Christ as our daily supply, at the lampstand we enjoy Him as our light of life, and at the incense altar we enjoy Him as the resurrection fragrance by which we are accepted by God. Then at the ark of testimony within the Holy of Holies, we enjoy Christ as the hidden manna, the budding rod, and the law of life. This is the enjoyment of Christ according to the new covenant way. If the Hebrew believers had given up this way, they would have fallen away from grace. We should not understand 12:15 in a superficial way. If we plunge into the depths of Hebrews, we shall realize that what the writer meant by not falling away from the grace of God was not giving up the new covenant way of enjoying Christ. In other words, the writer seemed to be saying, “Hebrew believers, do not go back to Judaism. If you do, you will be giving up the way to enjoy Christ as your grace, and you will fall away from the grace of God.”
Verse 28 says, “Let us have grace, through which we may serve God well-pleasingly with godly fear and awe.” For the Hebrew believers to remain in the new covenant way was to “have grace.” I prefer the translation, “take grace” to “have grace,” for the word “have” in this verse is the equivalent of “take.” A mother will often say to her child, “Take your food,” or “Take your milk.” Likewise, we all need to take grace and to help one another to take grace. If your wife is about to give you a difficult time, you must tell her to take grace. To remain in the new covenant way is to take grace. Whenever we take even a little grace, the entire situation is changed. Sometimes when a brother and his wife are sitting at the dining table, everything is dark. In such a situation, I would advise the wife to be the first to take grace. If she would do this, the dining table would shine, and the husband would say, “Praise the Lord!” Grace certainly is the most healthy food.
In 13:9 Paul tells us to “be confirmed by grace,” and in Romans 5:2 he says that we should stand in grace. Since we all have received grace, we now need to stand in it. Once we take grace and have been confirmed by grace, we shall be able to stand in grace.
In verses 15 and 16, Paul says, “Looking carefully lest anyone be falling away from the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and through this many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one meal gave up his birthright.” In these verses we see three causes of falling away from the grace of God: the bitter root, the fornicator, and the profane person. According to the implication of the context of this book, the root of bitterness must be some Judaizer who could cause the Hebrew believers to be turned aside from the grace of God to the rituals of Judaism and, neglecting the holiness of God, to thus defile themselves in the sight of God. This root of bitterness troubled the Hebrew believers by convincing them with Judaism and capturing them back to Judaism to be defiled in the common religion, rather than to be sanctified unto the Holy God. The Judaizers attempted to convince the Hebrew believers that the new covenant way was wrong and that the old covenant way was right. In principle, there have been some roots of bitterness in the churches in the Lord’s recovery. Such a root of bitterness will say that there is heresy in the churches. Recently there was such a root of bitterness in one of the churches, and several dear ones were poisoned. Once this poison of bitterness enters into a person, it is not easily extracted. I have seen this not only in the United States but also in Taiwan and in mainland China.
We should not listen to the roots of bitterness, for their intention is to damage the Lord’s recovery. The root of bitterness can cause us to fall away from the grace of God. I have the full assurance that the Lord’s recovery is the best place for us to enjoy grace today. If you leave the Lord’s recovery, you will certainly fall away from the grace of God. Deep within our spirit, we know that before we came into the church we never enjoyed grace like we do now. Do not care for what the opposers say; care for your experience. The opposers always try to stir up your mentality, just like the serpent stirred up Eve’s mind. Once they have stirred up your mentality to think things over, they will poison you with their talk. As a result, you will either leave the Lord’s recovery, or else you will be cold and negative concerning it.
The second cause of falling away from the grace of God is the fornicator. When Paul wrote verse 16, he might have had in mind Reuben, the first son of Jacob, who was wrecked by his fleshly lust and thereby lost his birthright (Gen. 49:3-4; 1 Chron. 5:1). By the lust of the flesh, the fornicator is kept from the enjoyment of Christ in God’s new covenant. Nothing ruins God’s people as much as fornication does. We all must flee it. The fornicator, like Reuben, will lose the blessing of the birthright because of the defilement of his lust.
The third cause is the profane person. The profane person is one who loves the world and the worldly things, and who is captured by the entertainment of physical things. He is like Esau who sold his birthright for one meal (Gen. 25:29-34). Esau’s birthright as the firstborn son of Isaac was the double portion of the land, the priesthood, and the kingship. Due to his profaneness in giving up his birthright, the double portion of land was given to Joseph (1 Chron. 5:1-2), the priesthood went to Levi (Deut. 33:8-10), and the kingship was assigned to Judah (Gen. 49:10; 1 Chron. 5:2). Verse 17, speaking of Esau says, “For you know that also afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it with tears.” The words, “no place for repentance,” do not mean that Esau had no ground to repent, but that he had no way to reverse by repentance the result of what he had done.
We Christians, born of God, are the “firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:18) which He has reaped in His creation. In this sense, we are the firstborn sons of God. Hence, the church composed of us is called the church of the firstborn ones (12:23). As the firstborn sons of God, we have the birthright of the firstborn. This includes the inheritance of the earth (2:5-6), the priesthood (Rev. 20:6), and the kingship (Rev. 20:4), which will be the main blessings in the coming kingdom and which the profane, world-loving-and-seeking Christians will lose at the Lord’s coming back. Eventually, this birthright will be a reward to the overcoming Christians in the millennial kingdom. Any worldly enjoyment, even one meal, can cause us to forfeit this birthright of ours. If after such a serious warning, the Hebrew believers still preferred to indulge in one meal of their old religion, they would have missed the full enjoyment of Christ and lost the kingdom rest with all its blessings.
Actually, what we are privileged to enjoy in Christ today is the foretaste of the blessings in the coming kingdom. The proper enjoyment of this foretaste will usher us into the full taste of the kingdom blessings. If we do not enjoy Christ today as our good land, how can we enter into His rest in the kingdom and inherit the earth with Him? If we do not exercise our priesthood today to contact Him and prayerfully minister to Him, how can we fulfill our priestly duty in the kingdom? If we do not exercise our spirit with a God-given authority to rule our self, our flesh, our entire being, and the enemy with all his power of darkness today, how can we be Christ’s co-kings and rule the nations with Him in His kingdom (Rev. 2:26-27)? Our enjoyment of Christ and the practice of the priesthood and kingship today are the preparation and qualification for our participating in Christ’s kingdom tomorrow.
In Genesis 1, we see that God created man in His image so that man might express Him. According to the deep thought of the book of Hebrews, expressing God is a matter of the priesthood. To have the priesthood today in the new covenant way is to have the law of life work God into our being that we may become His expression and testimony. This is what it means to be the priesthood expressing God’s image. From the very beginning, man was destined to be God’s priest. Furthermore, the man created in the image of God was committed with God’s dominion to rule over all created things. This is the kingship. Expressing God in His image is the priesthood, and ruling over all created things with God’s dominion and authority is the kingship. Hence, both the priesthood and the kingship were with man in the beginning. Moreover, God gave the earth to man that he might take possession of it and replenish it through the spreading of God’s expression and dominion. Therefore, in Genesis 1 we see the priesthood, the kingship, and the land, the three things assigned by God to man as his destiny.
After Adam fell, God selected another race, the race of Abraham, to be His people. By reading the Old Testament, we see that God’s intention with the children of Israel was the same as with mankind originally. God intended to give the children of Israel the priesthood that they might express Him and His authority that they might represent Him. God also gave them the best land on earth. Hence, with the children of Israel there were the priesthood, the kingship, and the land. However, most of the children of Israel became fallen. Although Reuben, the first son of Jacob, should have had the birthright, he lost it due to his fall and the defilement of his fleshly lust. As a result, the birthright was divided. The land portion of the birthright went to Joseph, whose two sons received the double portion of the land, the priesthood portion went to Levi, and the kingship portion went to Judah.
When we come to the New Testament, we see that God’s intention is that all the church people express God through the priesthood, represent Him with the kingship, and take possession of the land in order to have the proper human living. No one on earth today has a proper human living. The unbelievers do not have it because they are still fallen, and we Christians, though we are saved, do not have it now because this is the time for us to lose our soul and to suffer for God’s testimony. According to the book of Hebrews, one day we shall have all three items of the birthright. The land, the coming inhabited earth, is mentioned in chapter two. In the future, the inhabited earth will be given to us, the human partners of Christ. In the next age, we shall possess the land, rule the whole earth, and be the priesthood. During the coming millennial kingdom, we shall have the proper human life. That will be the full recovery of what was lost in Genesis 3. When, in the coming age of the kingdom, all the overcomers take possession of the inhabited earth, express God as priests, and rule as kings over the nations, everything that was given to man in Genesis 1 will be recovered. That will be the proper human living. This is God’s intention.
Because not all of God’s people care for His intention, He has made it a reward for those who do care for it. In the past, we have seen the reward and the gaining of the soul. The gaining of the soul is simply having the proper human life with the proper humanity. We cannot have such a life today because the earth has not been cleared up. But in the coming age of the kingdom, the whole earth will be cleared up, and we shall enter into our possession and be God’s priesthood to express Him and His kingship to represent Him. Then we shall be the proper humanity living by Jesus, the proper man, to fulfill God’s eternal purpose. At that time, Genesis 1 will be completely fulfilled. The whole earth will be under the possession of the proper humanity, which will be the expression of God in the priesthood and the representation of God in the kingship. This is God’s intention in His eternal purpose, which has been assigned by our wise God and Father to be our portion and reward. During the coming age of the kingdom, we shall be in perfection and glorification and shall gain our soul to enjoy the proper human living with the proper humanity. This is the goal of God’s intention, the reward, and the birthright.
Since we have this birthright today, we must exercise it. We must exercise our spirit to express God, to represent God, and to enjoy Christ as our real land. If we fail to do these three things today, how shall we be able to do them during the coming age of the kingdom? We must practice the priesthood and the kingship and we must enjoy and take full possession of our good land today. If we do this, we shall be fully prepared to enter into the joy of taking possession of the coming inhabited earth and of exercising our priesthood and kingship. At that time, we shall receive the reward and enjoy the birthright. This is God’s goal.
