HEBREWS
CHAPTER 12
Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth—God is the Father of spirits—To see God, follow peace and holiness—Exalted saints belong to the Church of the Firstborn.
1 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.
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:
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
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.
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.
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane [ If you look up the entomology of the word "profane", you’re gonna find that the word comes from the Latin word "pro", which means "before or outside". And the Latin word "phantom", which means "temple". And when you put pro and phantom together, you get the Latin word "profanus", from which our English word profane is derived, which literally means "outside the temple". The word profane literally means one who is not sacred, one who is not allowed to enter sacred temple space. Profane comes from procul a fano, "far from the temple." When the ancients, even heathens, were about to perform some very sacred rites, they were accustomed to command the irreligious to keep at a distance ] person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, [ Paul is instructing use here that He lives and that he will reside in the Holy City, Zion - New Jerusalem. ] the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
[ A vast host that has access to it. It would appear that there will only be a small number that live there 15-20,000 people. (For the size see D&C 42:9 (History of the church volume one page 357-359)) ]
23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, [ "The Church of the Firstborn is Christ's heavenly church, these are those who are joint heirs with Christ and its members are exalted beings who gain an inheritance in the highest heaven of the celestial world and for whom the family continues in eternity.
In the scriptures Jesus Christ is called the Firstborn. He was the first spirit child born of God the Father in the premortal existence and was in the beginning with God (John 1:1-5, 14). Christ also became the Firstborn from the dead, the first person resurrected, "that in all things he might have the preeminence" (Col. 1:18; Acts 26:23; 1 Cor. 15:23; Rev. 1:5). Even as the first principles and ordinances, including baptism in water and the reception of the Holy Ghost, constitute the gate into the earthly Church of Jesus Christ, so higher ordinances of the priesthood constitute the gate into the Church of the Firstborn. To secure the blessings that pertain to the Church of the Firstborn, one must obey the gospel from the heart, receive all of the ordinances that pertain to the house of the Lord, and be sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise in the Celestial Kingdom of God (D&C 76:67, 71, 94;77:11;78:21;88:1-5; TPJS, p. 237).
Revelations to the Prophet Joseph Smith supplement those of the New Testament to indicate that the Church of the Firstborn consists of those who have the inheritance of the Firstborn and become joint-heirs with Christ in receiving all that the Father has (Rom. 8:14-17; D&C 84:33-38; see Heirs: Heirs of God). The Lord said, "If you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; …I…am the Firstborn; …And all those who are begotten through me are partakers of the glory of the same, and are the Church of the Firstborn" (D&C 93:20-22). The Church of the Firstborn is the divine patriarchal order in its eternal form. Building the priesthood family order on this earth by receiving sealings in the temple is a preparation and foundation for this blessing in eternity (see Gospel of Abraham).
When persons have proved themselves faithful in all things required by the Lord, it is their privilege to receive covenants and obligations that will enable them to be heirs of God as members of the Church of the Firstborn. They are "sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise" and are those "into whose hands the Father has given all things" (D&C 76:51-55). They will be priests and priestesses, kings and queens, receiving the Father's glory, having the fulness of knowledge, wisdom, power, and dominion (D&C 76:56-62; cf. 107:19). At the second coming of Jesus Christ, the "general assembly of the Church of the Firstborn" will descend with him (Heb. 12:22-23; JST Gen. 9:23; D&C 76:54, 63)." Bibliography
Smith, Joseph Fielding. DS, Vol. 2, pp. 8-9, 41-49. Salt Lake City, 1973. ] , which are written in heaven, [ They are known and they have earned a place at his right hand. Their names are recorded in the Lambs Book Of Life. ] and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, [ This is explained in D&C 76:66-69. ]
24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, [ Which points to Gethsemane. ] that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
[ Abel's martyrdom points to death and separation. Christ dying points to life and reunion. ]
25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.