It is entirely possible that I have written and taught more on this passage than any other passage in the Bible. Having said that, I'm not sure my thoughts here are all that profound. I think it's far more that this is a difficult passage to read and stomach.
When I was in college, I somehow was given the responsibility of writing a weekly devotional for the campus newspaper (it was a small, Christian college). Every week I was supposed to meet with the chaplain to clear the devotional with him. Things went fine until I wrote up a few thoughts on Hebrews 12. He read what I wrote and wouldn't accept it, not because anything I said was wrong, but that "it might be too hard for college students to accept." (I broke the rules and published it anyway. I then didn't clear any others with him either.)
What makes this passage so hard? Is it that we don't like to think about God punishing us? Is it that punishment somehow is diametrically opposed to the concept of love in our minds? Is it that we try to disavow a wrathful God from being part of the New Testament?
I think Hebrews 12 exposes us to some characteristics of God that don't match our sometimes "warm fuzzy" picture of Him. We don't like to think of God as someone who still punishes. "Didn't that all end with Christ's death on the cross?" we might like to think. We tend to ignore that God is still holy. That is one of the key themes throughout the book of Hebrews. He is completely set apart from sin and cannot stand to be in its presence. We must come to Him on His terms. He offered us a path. The path won't be easy as He will still punish us as His children. He won't accept us if we reject Him (thus violating the path He created). Even when we follow the path, the path will be hard.
Maybe this is why so many of us have so much trouble with this passage. We want the version of Christianity we might have heard as a child, "God loves you and all you need is to accept Jesus into your heart and you can go to heaven." While the words are true, the way they are presented might be misleading. The "all you need to do" implies a simple, easy journey. It isn't. It is a hard, perilous journey. This is why the author of Hebrews repeatedly warns his readers against falling away. The warning is there because we need to hear it.
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