The Cloud of Witnesses
Notes
Transcript
Hebrews 12
Hebrews 12
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
The whole chapter that occurs before these verses is often referred to as the hall of faith. It depicts people from the entirety of the Old Testament and how they did all things by faith. People such as Able, Abraham, Moses, and David. These are the heroes of the faith, they lived by faith. It says in the opening of Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” These men lives assured and convicted. Now you may be wondering why so much from chapter 11, that leads us to chapter 12.
We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. This cloud of witnesses are the heroes of the faith. It is the people that are talked about through chapter 11, it is the apostles that walked with Jesus, it is the people through church history that stood for the gospel, it is your own spiritual mentors. These are the witnesses that we are surrounded by.
Since we are surrounded by this we are called to lay aside everything that holds us back, especially sin, and run the race that is before us. This race is the Christian life. We are to run well and we are to run with endurance. While we run we are to look to Jesus the founder and the perfecter of our faith.
Imagine this as an actual foot race where Jesus is standing there at the finish life and lining each side there are our own personal heroes of the faith all cheering us on to completion. This is an image of what the christian life should look like. We should not fixate on the pains that our legs feel or the fact that there is another hill to climb. Rather we should look to Christ at the finish line and let the encouragement of the crowd propel us on to finish strong.