Hebrews 11:39-12:4 And all these [great heroes in the hall of faith], having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 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 has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.
All time was divided by one individual and in God’s plan of redemption on the world from the fall by sin in the Garden of Eden, the BC (Before Christ) believing patriarchs lived by faith in the promised Messiah, the coming Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the Christ, Emmanuel (God with us) but did not live to see the day that the world received the promise. They were given the vision and the promise to put their steadfast faith in and hold onto in firm reliance. But the A.D. (Anno Domini, which is Latin for "Year of Our Lord.") believing Christians have been provided “something better” by God with the blessed Redeemer, the Word, the Way, the Truth and the Life, God incarnate, the Savior of the world to all who repent of sin, believes by faith and receives Jesus – the gift by God to justification, salvation, sanctification and glorification and eternal life, being made perfect in the blood of Christ on the Cross.
The BC heroes of faith paved the road and set the stage, just to witness in us A.D. believer experience in the forgiveness of sin in what the father of the Reformation Martin Luther called “The Blessed Exchange” of our sin for Christ’s righteousness. In every human’s fallen flesh nature, we are easily tempted, distracted, lured, ensnared and trapped by sin (the voluntary departure of a moral agent from a known rule of rectitude or duty, prescribed by God; any voluntary transgression of the divine law, or violation of a divine command). They are our great cloud of witnesses, elated to now see this time fulfilled.
Recognize and realize the great privilege of receiving the promised Savior of the world and in believing, not only receive salvation by faith in Christ, but also by abandoning the evil sin that enslaves us and follow Jesus as Lord of our life, running with endurance the race that is set before us. Galatians 5:1,16 instructs us to “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, was sent by our loving Father in Heaven to set the captives of sin free, to conquer death, to give life and be our Lord.
Hebrews 11:1 declares, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Jesus died for you. Will you live for Him? Walk by faith and not by sight. Citizenship in the kingdom of God is yours now; residency in Heaven is next. As Bible Commentator Matthew Henry stated: Let us then pray continually for the increase of our faith, that we may follow these bright examples [in the hall of faith], and be, with them, at length made perfect in holiness and happiness, and shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father for evermore. Faithfully run the race of faith with joy.
In Christ, Brian
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