Witnessing Him

"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..."

Hebrews 12:1

Upon first glance, this "great cloud of witnesses" listed in the preceding chapter, don't actually inspire me to endurance.  In fact, they make me wonder if I'm perhaps among those who "shrink back and are destroyed". [1]

The often dubbed "hall of faith" records men who crossed seas, women who defied kings, and saints who "stopped the mouths of lions".  If this is the measure of faith I'm called to, then surely my life would not please these witnesses of old━ much less the "founder and perfecter of our faith".

But Hebrews 12 spells out the true testimony of chapter 11:

 "let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus... Consider him."

The hall of faith is no different than any other chapter or book in the whole of the Bible: it is a story of One Man's faith.  One God's faithfulness to his children.

Abel may have offered the pleasing sacrifice, but it was God who provided the blood, and heard his cries.
Abraham may have left his homeland, but it was God who gifted him a new inheritance.
Rahab may have hidden the spies, but it was God who brought deliverance to her door.

Think about it...

Hebrews 11 doesn't list Abraham's scandalous son, nor does it recount Rahab's lie.  It doesn't record Sarah's laughter, and it fails to mention Moses' refusal to speak to Pharaoh.  Why?

Not because these men and women are actually greater than we originally thought, flawlessly full of faith.  But because God is faithful, and the story he tells is told through the lens of the cross.

I look at this season and see my doubt, but he looks at this season and sees his merciful preservation.
I look at that time of rebellion, but he sees his patient grace.
I look at my stumbles and scrapes, but he sees the perfect, completed race of Christ.

Oh Lord, help me see how you see. You have never failed me, and you never will...

"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.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."

Hebrews 12:2-3

Christ has lived the one, perfect human life.  Hebrews 11, and every other true testimony points to him.  It is because of HIM that we can have endurance.  HIS promises bring us hope, and HIS life grants us help.  

Is there a great cloud of witnesses, surrounding me?  Observing the seen and the unseen, the present and the outcome?

Perhaps...

But their eyes are not on me.  Both in their stories, and in my own, they witness the One Faithful One:

CHRIST.

[1] Hebrews 10:39