When I was in junior high school, I had a coach who felt it his duty to make an athlete out of me. Everybody in my class could have told him he was wasting his time, because I was the worst athlete in the class—perhaps in the school! I entered a city-wide school competition, running the low hurdles. I knocked down six hurdles, fractured my left ankle, and immediately abandoned my sports career. (Shortly after, the coach enlisted in the army. I may have driven him to it.)
Coach Walker used several techniques to get me to do my best. “Other students have done it, and so can you!” was one of his encouragements. “Just think of what it will do for you physically!” was another. “Now, watch the other kids—see how they do it!” was a third. As I reflect on this experience, I am amazed to discover that these same three approaches are used in this paragraph, to encourage us in the Christian race.
Look around at the winners (v. 1a)! The “great … cloud [assembly, mass] of witnesses” was introduced to us in Hebrews 11. They are the heroes of the faith. It is not suggested here that these men and women now in heaven are watching us as we run the race, like people seated in a stadium. The word “witnesses” does not mean “spectators.” Our English word martyr comes directly from the Greek word translated “witness.” These people are not witnessing what we are doing; rather, they are bearing witness to us that God can see us through. God bore witness to them (Heb. 11:2, 4–5, 39) and they are bearing witness now to us.
“I rarely read the Old Testament, except for Psalms and Proverbs,” a believer once told me.
“Then you are missing a great deal of spiritual help,” I replied. I asked him to open to Romans 15: and read the verse aloud.
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”
I then explained that “patience” means “endurance,” and that “comfort” means “encouragement.” One of the best ways to develop endurance and encouragement is to get to know the godly men and women of the Old Testament who ran the race and won. If you are having problems with your family, read about Joseph. If you think your job is too big for you, study the life of Moses. If you are tempted to retaliate, see how David handled this problem.
Look at yourself (v. 1b)! Athletes used to wear training weights to help them prepare for the events. No athlete would actually participate wearing the weights because they would slow him down. (The modern analogy is a baseball player who swings a bat with a heavy metal collar on it before he steps to the plate.) Too much weight would tax one’s endurance.
What are the “weights” that we should remove so that we might win the race? Everything that hinders our progress. They might even be “good things” in the eyes of others. A winning athlete does not choose between the good and the bad; he chooses between the better and the best.
We should also get rid of “the sin that so easily entangles” (Heb. 12: niv). While he does not name any specific sin, the writer was probably referring to the sin of unbelief. It was unbelief that kept Israel out of the Promised Land, and it is unbelief that hinders us from entering into our spiritual inheritance in Christ. The phrase “by faith” (or “through faith”) is used twenty-one times in Hebrews 11, indicating that it is faith in Christ that enables us to endure.
Look at Jesus Christ (vv. 2–4)! He is “the author [originator] and finisher of our faith.” It was in “looking to him” that we were saved, for to look means “to trust.” When the dying Jews looked to the uplifted serpent, they were healed, and this is an illustration of our salvation through faith in Christ (Num. 21:4–9; John 3:14–16). “Looking unto Jesus” describes an attitude of faith and not just a single act.
When our Lord was here on earth, He lived by faith. The mystery of His divine and human natures is too profound for us to understand fully, but we do know that He had to trust His Father in heaven as He lived day by day. The writer of Hebrews quoted our Lord saying, “I will put my trust in him” (Heb. 2:13). (The quotation is from Isa. 8:17.) The fact that Jesus prayed is evidence that He lived by faith.
Our Lord endured far more than did any of the heroes of faith named in Hebrews 11, and therefore He is a perfect example for us to follow. He endured the cross! This involved shame, suffering, the “contradiction [opposition]” of sinners, and even temporary rejection by the Father. On the cross He suffered for all the sins of all the world! Yet He endured and finished the work the Father gave Him to do (John 17:4). Though the readers of Hebrews had suffered persecution, they had not yet “resisted unto blood” (Heb. 12:4). None of them was yet a martyr. But in Jesus’ battle against sin, He shed His own blood.
What was it that enabled our Lord to endure the cross? Please keep in mind that during His ministry on earth, our Lord did not use His divine powers for His own personal needs. Satan tempted Him to do this (Matt. 4:1–4), but Jesus refused. It was our Lord’s faith that enabled Him to endure. He kept the eye of faith on “the joy that was set before him.” From Psalm 16:8–10, He knew that He would come out of the tomb alive. (Peter referred to this messianic psalm in his sermon at Pentecost, Acts 2:24–33.) In that psalm (16:11) David spoke about “fullness of joy” in the presence of the Father. Also, from Psalm 110:1, 4, Jesus knew that He would be exalted to heaven in glory. (Peter also quoted this psalm, Acts 2:34–36.) So “the joy that was set before him” would include Jesus’ completing the Father’s will, His resurrection and exaltation, and His joy in presenting believers to the Father in glory (Jude 24).
Throughout this epistle, the writer emphasized the importance of the future hope. His readers were prone to look back and want to go back, but he encouraged them to follow Christ’s example and look ahead by faith. The heroes of faith named in the previous chapter lived for the future, and this enabled them to endure (Heb. 11:10, 14–16, 24–27). Like Peter, when we get our eyes of faith off the Savior, we start to sink (Matt. 14:22–33).
Since Christ is the “author and finisher of our faith,” trusting Him releases His power in our lives. I could try to follow the example of some great athlete for years and still be a failure. But if, in my younger days, that athlete could have entered into my life and shared his know-how and ability with me, that would have made me a winner. Christ is both the exemplar and the enabler! As we see Him in the Word and yield to His Spirit, He increases our faith and enables us to run the race.