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Hebrews 12

Heb. 12:23 KJV (With Strong’s)

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23

To the general assembly and church of the firstbornk, which are λwrittenl in heaven, and to God the Judgen of all, and to the spirits of just meno made perfect,

k

Rev. 14:4• ⁴These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. (Rev. 14:4)

l

Luke 10:20• ²⁰Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10:20)

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or, enrolled.

n

Gen. 18:25• ²⁵That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Gen. 18:25)

o

1 Cor. 15:49,54• ⁴⁹And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
⁵⁴So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Cor. 15:49,54)

More on:

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Assembly,

Church,

God,

Heaven,

Perfect,

Writing

Cross References

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Ministry on This Verse

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the general.

Psa. 89:7• ⁷God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. (Psa. 89:7)

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Psa. 111:1• ¹Praise ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation. (Psa. 111:1)

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Acts 20:28• ²⁸Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. (Acts 20:28)

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Eph. 1:22• ²²And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, (Eph. 1:22)

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Eph. 5:24‑27• ²⁴Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
²⁵Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
²⁶That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
²⁷That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (Eph. 5:24‑27)

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Col. 1:24• ²⁴Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: (Col. 1:24)

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1 Tim. 3:5• ⁵(For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) (1 Tim. 3:5)

the firstborn.

Ex. 4:22• ²²And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: (Ex. 4:22)

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Ex. 13:2• ²Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine. (Ex. 13:2)

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Deut. 21:17• ¹⁷But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his. (Deut. 21:17)

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Psa. 89:27• ²⁷Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. (Psa. 89:27)

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Jer. 31:9• ⁹They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. (Jer. 31:9)

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James 1:18• ¹⁸Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18)

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Rev. 14:4• ⁴These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. (Rev. 14:4)

which.

Ex. 32:32• ³²Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. (Ex. 32:32)

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Psa. 69:28• ²⁸Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. (Psa. 69:28)

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Luke 10:20• ²⁰Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10:20)

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Phil. 4:3• ³And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlaborers, whose names are in the book of life. (Phil. 4:3)

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Rev. 13:8• ⁸And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Rev. 13:8)

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Rev. 20:15• ¹⁵And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev. 20:15)

written. or, enrolled.

God.

Heb. 6:10‑12• ¹⁰For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
¹¹And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:
¹²That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Heb. 6:10‑12)

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Heb. 9:27• ²⁷And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Heb. 9:27)

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Gen. 18:25• ²⁵That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Gen. 18:25)

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Psa. 50:5‑6• ⁵Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
⁶And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah. (Psa. 50:5‑6)

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Psa. 94:2• ²Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud. (Psa. 94:2)

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Psa. 96:13• ¹³Before the Lord: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth. (Psa. 96:13)

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Psa. 98:9• ⁹Before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity. (Psa. 98:9)

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Matt. 25:31‑34• ³¹When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
³²And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
³³And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
³⁴Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: (Matt. 25:31‑34)

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John 5:27• ²⁷And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. (John 5:27)

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2 Thess. 1:5‑7• ⁵Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
⁶Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
⁷And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, (2 Thess. 1:5‑7)

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1 Peter 2:23• ²³Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: (1 Peter 2:23)

the spirits.

Heb. 11:4,40• ⁴By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
⁴⁰God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. (Heb. 11:4,40)

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Eccl. 12:7• ⁷Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. (Eccl. 12:7)

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1 Cor. 13:12• ¹²For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (1 Cor. 13:12)

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1 Cor. 15:49,54• ⁴⁹And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
⁵⁴So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Cor. 15:49,54)

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2 Cor. 5:8• ⁸We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (2 Cor. 5:8)

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Phil. 1:21‑23• ²¹For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
²²But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I wot not.
²³For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: (Phil. 1:21‑23)

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Phil. 3:12‑21• ¹²Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
¹³Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
¹⁴I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
¹⁵Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
¹⁶Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
¹⁷Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
¹⁸(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
¹⁹Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
²⁰For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
²¹Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Phil. 3:12‑21)

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Col. 1:12• ¹²Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: (Col. 1:12)

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Rev. 7:14‑17• ¹⁴And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
¹⁵Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
¹⁶They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
¹⁷For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Rev. 7:14‑17)

• those who compose it are here characterized: (1) in relation to Him Who was carefully shown us in Hebrews 1 to be the Firstborn, the established Heir of all things; (2) in relation by grace to our proper and destined sphere of glory, heaven, and not earth, where Israel as such rightly look for their blessedness and triumph under Messiah's reign. (“Hebrews 12:22-24” by W. Kelly)

• It is God in His judicial, His universal judicial glory, not of His people only as in the magnificent Psa. 55 but here of all without exception. The millennial era will be the grand display of this, as doctrinally set forth in Eph. 1:10, Col. 1:20 (cf. Phil. 2:10-11) and prophetically in Rev. 21:9 (“Hebrews 12:22-24” by W. Kelly)

• Seven times in Scripture Christ is spoken of as the Firstborn or First-begotten, for He must ever be preeminent. Here the word is in the plural, and refers to the saints who compose the church. (“God's Means to Keep Us in the Path of Faith: Hebrews 12” by H. Smith)

• The names of these firstborn ones are registered in heaven, speaking of their heavenly home, for we belong where our names are written. (“God's Means to Keep Us in the Path of Faith: Hebrews 12” by H. Smith)

• God the judge of all….This surely has no reference to God exercising sessional judgment, as at the great white throne, but as the One who will govern the earth in righteousness. (“God's Means to Keep Us in the Path of Faith: Hebrews 12” by H. Smith)

• There will be the saints of all ages before the cross. They are spoken of as the spirits of just men made perfect, intimating that they have all passed through death and have now received their bodies of glory after having been in the unclothed state. (“God's Means to Keep Us in the Path of Faith: Hebrews 12” by H. Smith)

J. N. Darby Translation

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23

the universal gathering; and to the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven; and to God, judge of all; and to the spirits of just men made perfectb;

JND Translation Notes

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b

The words "made perfect" relate to "just men," not to "spirits." Compare ch. 11.40

W. Kelly Translation

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23

and to an assembly of firstborns, enrolled in heavensa; and to God judge of all; and to spirits of just ones made perfect;

WK Translation Notes

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a

See note to {vi 23674}{/vi}.