Weights
(39) And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:(40) God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.(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.
These verses are bursting with meaning, with necessity, and practicality. What I mean by that is the meaning, or theme, stretches all the way from the Old Testament, through Christ, to us: By necessity I mean it’s necessary for you to have a good knowledge of the Bible as a whole to really understand what is said in these 4 verses, which should really motivate you to get into some of those old books that you haven’t seen a reason to read yet. And lastly, by practicality I mean it is stated so simply that even by themselves, they give enough truth to challenge you to “Get up, run the race, and don’t get tangled up in the weights.”
I’ve mashed the verses together so you can see how they would’ve flowed when the original readers received this letter, as well to take away any confusion from what’s being said. I’ve heard people say that the “cloud of witnesses” is everything from angels watching over us, to dead saints in heaven looking down on us, or even that the dead saints are literally in the clouds watching us. But when you understand the word “Wherefore”, and that, as any of you who’ve been in the youth group for any time know, when used like this, always points back to the previous section, and we understand that it is the examples of everyone the writer JUST mentioned in chapter 11 that’s being referred to here in chapter 12.
See, chapter 11, which I encourage you to read, is an entire chapter devoted to proclaiming the accomplishments of the Old Testament believers who, for the sole reason of their faith in GOD, lived lives full of power and great deeds. It talks about Abraham and Sarah who were super old when GOD promised them a child, yet through faith and hope received a son at ages well beyond child bearing. And about Enoch who GOD beamed directly to heaven, and never saw death, because his faith was so great that it says “He walked with GOD.” Then about Joseph, and Moses, Noah, Gideon, Daniel, and even Rahab the harlot of Jericho who through her fearing faith in the True God was saved from Jericho’s destruction. Then the chapter ends with our first two verses which simply say that these guys did all these great things like building an ark, calling fire from heaven, and splitting the Red Sea in half, having faith in the promises GOD had told to them, but NEVER saw them come to pass.
Abraham was promised land, and a great family, and even that someone in his long line of children would save the world {3 guesses on who that was}, but he never actually saw any of it. Sure he had some children, but nothing like a nation. Joseph it says believed in the promise GOD made to Abraham so much that he commanded the children of Israel not bury his body in Egypt, because there was a land that would be theirs one day; but he never saw it, nor did any of the people that he gave that commandment to. Even after the land and nation part finally came to pass under Moses and Joshua, and the kings that came after them, the promise of the One who would be a blessing to all nations {ie, save the world}(Gen.12:3) was never seen by any of those great faithful characters of the Old Testament, even though it says they asked and searched diligently to understand what GOD meant.(I Peter 1:9-12)
The Point Is: I know I’ve taken way too much time, so let’s get to the point. The simple message of these 4 verses is that if those guys in the Old Testament, could have such amazing faith, and endure such hardship and trials because of the faith they had in a promise they would never see; how is it that we, now having full knowledge of Christ Jesus (The One promised, just fyi), seem to not have near as much faith as they did??
The Truth of It: The answer is that now being full of the knowledge of Christ, and doing the Church thing, and living in a country where it hasn’t cost us anything yet to name Jesus as our Lord, we lose the idea of how GREAT and AWESOME it is that we, right now, have experienced things that those who went before us waited THOUSANDS of years for. They heard the promise, they believed, and they waited, and lived lives that demonstrated they believed. We are the completion of those promises, but we get so wrapped up in the world around us, and even in the “good” things of life, that we lose the awe and wonder of Jesus, and the great power His Spirit has gifted us with so that we can change the world! All of this distracted living has honestly resulted in a rather weak and sickly {Church}body that’s hung up in the weight room, always practicing, always talking about Jesus, but never getting out on the track, and really showing the world what’s up, and actually following after Christ and the exanple Jesus left for us. And you see what happened to Him: He won. He's the Champion of all champions, and now sits in the highest seat of honour. Thats's what's up! So get out there, run that race, and remember, you are always broadcasting something: make it your faith in Christ that the world sees.