Hebrews 12
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![]() So who are the “cloud of witnesses,” and how is it they “surround” us? To understand this, we need to look at the previous chapter, as evidenced by the word therefore beginning chapter 12. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the rest of the Old Testament believers looked forward with faith to the coming of the Messiah. The author of Hebrews illustrates this eloquently in chapter 11 and then ends the chapter by telling us that the forefathers had faith to guide and direct them, but God had something better planned. Then he begins chapter 12 with a reference to these faithful men and women who paved the way for us. What the Old Testament believers looked forward to in faith—the Messiah—we look back to, having seen the fulfillment of all the prophecies concerning His first coming.
We are surrounded by the saints of the past in a unique way. It’s not that the faithful who have gone before us are spectators to the race we run. Rather, it is a figurative representation and means that we ought to act as if they were in sight and cheering us on to the same victory in the life of faith that they obtained. We are to be inspired by the godly examples these saints set during their lives. These are those whose past lives of faith encourage others to live that way, too. That the cloud is referred to as “great” indicates that millions of believers have gone before us, each bearing witness to the life of faith we now live. -Got Questions ![]() In Christian Nationalism (faux Christianity) form, former Vice President Mike Pence said this in a prayer in an August 2020 speech to the Republican National Convention: “Let’s run the race marked out for us. Let’s fix our eyes on Old Glory and all she represents. Let’s fix our eyes on this land of heroes and let their courage inspire. And let’s fix our eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith and freedom and never forget that where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom — and that means freedom always wins.”
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On the night before Jesus’ death, he told his disciples:
“If you love me, keep my commands. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” (John 14:15, 21)
Jesus makes it clear that if we truly love Him then we will show it by obeying His commands — to love Him and others, and to show the world what God is like.
This kind of obedience to God isn’t just some external act where we strive to “do the right thing” or somehow earn His favor. It should flow out of love, never guilt or outward performance.
But, why does God require our obedience if we love Him?
Obedience is the organ through which intimacy with God is obtained.
Even Jesus connects His love for the Father through His submission and obedience to the Father’s will. He… for the joy set before him… endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2) Jesus obeyed the Father and willingly chose to go to the cross. Why? — Because He loves us and wants the world to know the Father’s love.
Today, Christ is inviting each of us to love Him through our obedience to Him. This doesn’t mean that we won’t struggle with our temptation to sin, but we are able make different choices through the power of the Holy Spirit.
---Chip Ingram; Living on the Edge; Does Love Equal Obedience?
“If you love me, keep my commands. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” (John 14:15, 21)
Jesus makes it clear that if we truly love Him then we will show it by obeying His commands — to love Him and others, and to show the world what God is like.
This kind of obedience to God isn’t just some external act where we strive to “do the right thing” or somehow earn His favor. It should flow out of love, never guilt or outward performance.
But, why does God require our obedience if we love Him?
Obedience is the organ through which intimacy with God is obtained.
Even Jesus connects His love for the Father through His submission and obedience to the Father’s will. He… for the joy set before him… endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2) Jesus obeyed the Father and willingly chose to go to the cross. Why? — Because He loves us and wants the world to know the Father’s love.
Today, Christ is inviting each of us to love Him through our obedience to Him. This doesn’t mean that we won’t struggle with our temptation to sin, but we are able make different choices through the power of the Holy Spirit.
---Chip Ingram; Living on the Edge; Does Love Equal Obedience?

Rise up and activate your whole being: “...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us...” (Hebrews 12:1).
The Book of Hebrews confirms that the authority of Jesus supersedes all other voices, idols, or temptations. The writer is encouraging us, even today, to persevere.
It’s saying that even when we’re down, we are still surrounded by a supernatural cloud of witnesses to God’s majesty that will make the enemy his footstool.
When Satan is messing with your mind, you might find it helps to activate your body. Get up, change your surroundings, go for a walk — or even better — run. Cleanse whatever is clogging up your thoughts with the oxygen of God’s creation.
We are whole beings, and when our minds threaten to paralyze our bodies, it may be time to get fresh air.
--Lia Martin; Christianity.com; How Do We Take Our Thoughts Captive? 2.22.21
The Book of Hebrews confirms that the authority of Jesus supersedes all other voices, idols, or temptations. The writer is encouraging us, even today, to persevere.
It’s saying that even when we’re down, we are still surrounded by a supernatural cloud of witnesses to God’s majesty that will make the enemy his footstool.
When Satan is messing with your mind, you might find it helps to activate your body. Get up, change your surroundings, go for a walk — or even better — run. Cleanse whatever is clogging up your thoughts with the oxygen of God’s creation.
We are whole beings, and when our minds threaten to paralyze our bodies, it may be time to get fresh air.
--Lia Martin; Christianity.com; How Do We Take Our Thoughts Captive? 2.22.21
One fundamental mistake that believers of our time are making is placing their faith in human beings as opposed to placing their faith in God. No doubt, there are people that God has called to be his servants and he has used them to accomplish great things in their times and won souls into the kingdom of God enmasse. He called and used people like Moses, Samuel, David, and Paul the Apostle in Bible times. In contemporary times, you have heard of John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, and John G Lake demonstrating both the saving and healing power of God.
Our time is nothing short of names like these. We have been blessed with men that God has raised for this generation. However, while God has raised these specially appointed men to take a leadership role in the church, he still expects individual believers to place their faith only in Him and have only the Bible as the final authority. The Apostle Paul puts it emphatically when he says “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith,’’ – Hebrews 12:2 King James Version. The Lord expects that believers should look up to no man but Him alone. Of course, this does not in any way contradict what Paul the Apostle tells us when he wrote to the Corinthian church, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ,” – I Corinthians 11:1 King James Version. It is the placing of unbridled authority on the words of men that has led some to make some erroneous statements and abuse the trust that their members place in them. |
Some think that by working to be good and treating others well will put them over the top. Many join the church thinking that will be the key to fulfillment. What is the answer to the great dilemma of striking the balance in life?
Jesus answered this question and said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). When we trust God with our life and put our faith and trust in Him, He brings the balance. He enables us to look to Him, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
The ancient king of the Babylonian empire appeared to have everything life could offer but was weighed in the balance and found lacking by God (Daniel 5:27). Why? Because he did not acknowledge God. He thought he was all-powerful, egotistical, and prideful. Jesus said, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled [brought down]” (Matthew 23:12).
--Billy Graham
Jesus answered this question and said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). When we trust God with our life and put our faith and trust in Him, He brings the balance. He enables us to look to Him, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
The ancient king of the Babylonian empire appeared to have everything life could offer but was weighed in the balance and found lacking by God (Daniel 5:27). Why? Because he did not acknowledge God. He thought he was all-powerful, egotistical, and prideful. Jesus said, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled [brought down]” (Matthew 23:12).
--Billy Graham

In his Bible Expositions, MacLaren illustrates the Christian life by drawing parallels between the traveller and the runner. While the traveller goes through life at his leisure, the runner “must not look askance, must not be afraid of dust or sweat, must tax muscle and lungs to the utmost, if, panting, he is to reach the goal and win the prize…”. He goes on to say that the Christian life is “to be ‘run with patience’, by which great word the New Testament means, not merely passive endurance, noble and difficult as that may be, but active perseverance which presses on unmoved, ay, and unhindered, to its goal in the teeth of all opposition.” We all endure, but do we endure passively, or actively? Are we working out our faith? To run the race actively, we must continually look unto Jesus. -Hope Reflected

The first thing I would like for you to see in verses 1-3 is the encouragement that he gives to us in our struggle for sanctification. What he is talking about in this whole chapter is a call to us to work to apply ourselves to, to purpose ourselves to growing as Christians. One of the vows of membership that we take at this church says, "Do you now resolve and promise in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit that you will endeavor to live as becomes Christians?" That is exactly what he is calling us to. He is saying, I want you Christians to endeavor to live as Christians.
But what that is going to involve is you warring against the remaining sin in your hearts, you warring against the temptations which the world holds up before your eyes and your hearts. You have got to be prepared to struggle for that sanctification.
It is very interesting, that in the New Testament two things are stressed about how we grow. One aspect is that it is the Holy Spirit who enables us to grow. We can never grow in Christ on our own. That is why that beautiful third question of membership is so precisely phrased. It says, "Do you now resolve and promise that you will endeavor to live as becomes Christians?" How do you do it? You endeavor by the grace of the Holy Spirit to live as becomes Christians.
So there is this stress in the New Testament that it is the grace of God, it is the Spirit of God who enables us to grow up and be more like Christ.
But there is this other stress in the New Testament and you find it in Paul and you find it in John and you find it in Jesus and you find it right here in the author of Hebrews, that we ourselves must apply ourselves to growing in grace. And the author of Hebrews is saying let me give you some encouragement for why you ought to join this struggle, join this battle for growth in grace, for holiness, for sanctification. And he basically is reminding us here, that we have got to purpose ourselves to grow in grace. We will not just accidentally grow in grace. We have got to purpose to grow in grace. It has got to be something that we aim for. It is not something that we do in our own strength. But it has got to be something that we aim for. It has got to be a goal in our own hearts.
And he gives us encouragement because he knows this is not easy. And the encouragements come first interestingly. You might think that he would give us the exhortation and the encouragement last. But he starts with the encouragements. And maybe that tells us how hard a job this is. He's got to encourage us to even get us out of the block.
So in the first three verses here are the encouragements. Look at what he says. First, he pictures the Christian life here in terms which are emphatically not passive. You know, we often hear people tell us things like well you know the way to grow in the Christian life is you let go and you let God. Well, it is very interesting that you couldn't find a bit of that theology in this passage. It is strive, it is purpose, it's lay aside every encumbrance. It's run the race ahead of you. It's strive against sin. There is no passivity here. We are to be actively involved in the Christian life.
And so the author is calling us here to run. And by the way, that image of run is commonly used by authors in the Greco Roman world to illustrate the moral quest. The Stoic philosophers have used this. But the author of Hebrews is taking this imagery from the arena, from the race tracks of the day, the Olympic racetracks where the runners would strip themselves down to prepare to run the race. And he is using it and applying it to his moral contest that is Christianity. He knows that Christianity entails a commitment to holiness, a life of holiness, and he compares this struggle against sin, this life of holiness to a race. We're to run that race and we're not to quit until we get the prize.
And so the author calls us here to a struggle for sanctification by reminding us of two things. We will see these in verses 1 and 3. First, he says, "I want you to remember you have a great cloud of witnesses." One of the things that happens when we are called to be different from the world, when we are called to be strangers in a strange land and that is what we are called to be as Christians, is we immediately feel like, "Oh my, we are the only ones who have ever had to do this." And the author of Hebrews wants us to be aware, he wants it to be part of our conscious experience, that we are simply part of a great cloud of witnesses who have been faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. Contrary to popular belief, though we are called to be strangers in our own time, in our own worlds, in our own land. There is a great multitude, a multitude that no man can number that has gone this same way and has been faithful. So, our charge is far from unprecedented, even if we feel alone sometimes when we are called to be faithful. We may be actually alone in our place of work. We may be the only practicing Christian in our place of work. And yet, we are far from alone. There is a great cloud of witnesses who have been faithful. And so the author says I want you to remember that. I want you to remember that you are not alone. This is just like the prophet when the Lord told him "there are 7,000 who have not yet bowed the knee to Baal." He thought he was the only one left in the land. But no, there are 7,000 who have not bowed the knee.
So that is the first encouragement. You are not alone in this. And then in verse 3 he goes on to say that we need to consider Jesus. Here he is reminding us that we have a reigning Savior who has already endured things that we cannot imagine. And there are several things that he tells us about that savior in verses 2 and 3. Look at them with me briefly.
First, he says that the joy that was set Jesus died was a significant source of His ability to persevere even in the cross. The fact that Jesus had His focus on what the Father had promised to Him from the foundation of the world, enabled Him to endure the cross and not simply to endure the shame, but look at the word, He endures the cross, but what did He do to the shame? He despises the shame. The shame is not worth comparing to the glory that is before Him.
And so here's the first clue to our own perseverance. If the Lord Jesus persevered to the cross, looking to the joy that was set before Him, is that not also how we ought to persevere? We've got the prize before our eyes. That is why Jonathan Edwards spent 20 minutes every day meditating on Heaven. Because this life tricks us into thinking that this all there is and that these are the ultimate blessings. So we have to consciously work to realize that the blessings of this life cannot measure to what the joy is set before us.
If you look again in verse 2, Jesus, we are reminded, is in fact right now sitting at the right hand of the throne of God. All that He has endured has resulted in His being crowned in majesty. And if we believe the New Testament, the New Testament says that all of us as saints will participate in that glory with Him. That majesty with which He is crowned is something that we as His children share with Him. Look again at verse 3. Here, Christ in His earthly life and ministry endured every manner of hostility from sinners. There is no hostility that we can experience, for our faithfulness to God that the Lord Jesus has not experienced Himself. Even so, He reigns now.
Finally in verse 3, we are told to consider Jesus. Why? So that we will not lose heart. When we consider that He set the glory of God's joy before Him and He endured the cross, despising the shame, when we realize what He went through in terms of the hostility of sinners, when we realize that He is now sitting at the right hand of the Father in glory, it gives us strength to face the trials that we must face.
Furthermore, if you look at verse 1, two specific exhortations are given. It's not just that He gives us this encouragement, but He gives us two specific challenges. He says "lay aside every encumbrance," and he says "let us run with endurance." This is sort of the negative and the positive. On the one hand we are to set aside anything that gets in the way of our quest for glorifying God through Jesus Christ. It is interesting that he doesn't just say get rid of sin. He says to get rid of sin and every encumbrance. It may be something legitimate. But if it encumbers us in our quest for glorifying God through Jesus Christ, it's got to go. So on the one hand we are to lay aside everything that gets in our way for this quest for glorifying God through Christ, and on the other hand he says we are to run with endurance. In other words, we are to run without quitting this race for grace-empowered transformation of our lives. It's very clear in this passage that the race the author is talking about is this battle against sin. ---J. Ligon Duncan III
But what that is going to involve is you warring against the remaining sin in your hearts, you warring against the temptations which the world holds up before your eyes and your hearts. You have got to be prepared to struggle for that sanctification.
It is very interesting, that in the New Testament two things are stressed about how we grow. One aspect is that it is the Holy Spirit who enables us to grow. We can never grow in Christ on our own. That is why that beautiful third question of membership is so precisely phrased. It says, "Do you now resolve and promise that you will endeavor to live as becomes Christians?" How do you do it? You endeavor by the grace of the Holy Spirit to live as becomes Christians.
So there is this stress in the New Testament that it is the grace of God, it is the Spirit of God who enables us to grow up and be more like Christ.
But there is this other stress in the New Testament and you find it in Paul and you find it in John and you find it in Jesus and you find it right here in the author of Hebrews, that we ourselves must apply ourselves to growing in grace. And the author of Hebrews is saying let me give you some encouragement for why you ought to join this struggle, join this battle for growth in grace, for holiness, for sanctification. And he basically is reminding us here, that we have got to purpose ourselves to grow in grace. We will not just accidentally grow in grace. We have got to purpose to grow in grace. It has got to be something that we aim for. It is not something that we do in our own strength. But it has got to be something that we aim for. It has got to be a goal in our own hearts.
And he gives us encouragement because he knows this is not easy. And the encouragements come first interestingly. You might think that he would give us the exhortation and the encouragement last. But he starts with the encouragements. And maybe that tells us how hard a job this is. He's got to encourage us to even get us out of the block.
So in the first three verses here are the encouragements. Look at what he says. First, he pictures the Christian life here in terms which are emphatically not passive. You know, we often hear people tell us things like well you know the way to grow in the Christian life is you let go and you let God. Well, it is very interesting that you couldn't find a bit of that theology in this passage. It is strive, it is purpose, it's lay aside every encumbrance. It's run the race ahead of you. It's strive against sin. There is no passivity here. We are to be actively involved in the Christian life.
And so the author is calling us here to run. And by the way, that image of run is commonly used by authors in the Greco Roman world to illustrate the moral quest. The Stoic philosophers have used this. But the author of Hebrews is taking this imagery from the arena, from the race tracks of the day, the Olympic racetracks where the runners would strip themselves down to prepare to run the race. And he is using it and applying it to his moral contest that is Christianity. He knows that Christianity entails a commitment to holiness, a life of holiness, and he compares this struggle against sin, this life of holiness to a race. We're to run that race and we're not to quit until we get the prize.
And so the author calls us here to a struggle for sanctification by reminding us of two things. We will see these in verses 1 and 3. First, he says, "I want you to remember you have a great cloud of witnesses." One of the things that happens when we are called to be different from the world, when we are called to be strangers in a strange land and that is what we are called to be as Christians, is we immediately feel like, "Oh my, we are the only ones who have ever had to do this." And the author of Hebrews wants us to be aware, he wants it to be part of our conscious experience, that we are simply part of a great cloud of witnesses who have been faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. Contrary to popular belief, though we are called to be strangers in our own time, in our own worlds, in our own land. There is a great multitude, a multitude that no man can number that has gone this same way and has been faithful. So, our charge is far from unprecedented, even if we feel alone sometimes when we are called to be faithful. We may be actually alone in our place of work. We may be the only practicing Christian in our place of work. And yet, we are far from alone. There is a great cloud of witnesses who have been faithful. And so the author says I want you to remember that. I want you to remember that you are not alone. This is just like the prophet when the Lord told him "there are 7,000 who have not yet bowed the knee to Baal." He thought he was the only one left in the land. But no, there are 7,000 who have not bowed the knee.
So that is the first encouragement. You are not alone in this. And then in verse 3 he goes on to say that we need to consider Jesus. Here he is reminding us that we have a reigning Savior who has already endured things that we cannot imagine. And there are several things that he tells us about that savior in verses 2 and 3. Look at them with me briefly.
First, he says that the joy that was set Jesus died was a significant source of His ability to persevere even in the cross. The fact that Jesus had His focus on what the Father had promised to Him from the foundation of the world, enabled Him to endure the cross and not simply to endure the shame, but look at the word, He endures the cross, but what did He do to the shame? He despises the shame. The shame is not worth comparing to the glory that is before Him.
And so here's the first clue to our own perseverance. If the Lord Jesus persevered to the cross, looking to the joy that was set before Him, is that not also how we ought to persevere? We've got the prize before our eyes. That is why Jonathan Edwards spent 20 minutes every day meditating on Heaven. Because this life tricks us into thinking that this all there is and that these are the ultimate blessings. So we have to consciously work to realize that the blessings of this life cannot measure to what the joy is set before us.
If you look again in verse 2, Jesus, we are reminded, is in fact right now sitting at the right hand of the throne of God. All that He has endured has resulted in His being crowned in majesty. And if we believe the New Testament, the New Testament says that all of us as saints will participate in that glory with Him. That majesty with which He is crowned is something that we as His children share with Him. Look again at verse 3. Here, Christ in His earthly life and ministry endured every manner of hostility from sinners. There is no hostility that we can experience, for our faithfulness to God that the Lord Jesus has not experienced Himself. Even so, He reigns now.
Finally in verse 3, we are told to consider Jesus. Why? So that we will not lose heart. When we consider that He set the glory of God's joy before Him and He endured the cross, despising the shame, when we realize what He went through in terms of the hostility of sinners, when we realize that He is now sitting at the right hand of the Father in glory, it gives us strength to face the trials that we must face.
Furthermore, if you look at verse 1, two specific exhortations are given. It's not just that He gives us this encouragement, but He gives us two specific challenges. He says "lay aside every encumbrance," and he says "let us run with endurance." This is sort of the negative and the positive. On the one hand we are to set aside anything that gets in the way of our quest for glorifying God through Jesus Christ. It is interesting that he doesn't just say get rid of sin. He says to get rid of sin and every encumbrance. It may be something legitimate. But if it encumbers us in our quest for glorifying God through Jesus Christ, it's got to go. So on the one hand we are to lay aside everything that gets in our way for this quest for glorifying God through Christ, and on the other hand he says we are to run with endurance. In other words, we are to run without quitting this race for grace-empowered transformation of our lives. It's very clear in this passage that the race the author is talking about is this battle against sin. ---J. Ligon Duncan III
Hebrews 12:11:
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” |
![]() When God does allow difficult things to happen in our lives, He is like an earthly parent trying to correct a wayward child. Sometimes we get on the wrong path in life and God needs to correct our course. Like any loving parent, God wants us to follow the right road, even if getting on that road requires discipline and sacrifice.
Almost every child has heard his parent say at one time or another, “Because I said so!” It’s the parent’s way of saying, “You can’t possibly understand why I’m doing this, but you have to trust me.” It works the same way with God. While we can’t possibly hope to understand how and why God works in our lives the way He sometimes does (Isaiah 55:8-9), we are called to trust in Him completely. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). -Brad Schultz; Zion Evangelical Church |

Affliction is to the believer what the wing is to the lark and what the eye is to the eagle, the means by which the soul mounts in praise heavenward, gazing closely and steadily upon the glorious Sun of righteousness. Chastening seals our sonship, sorrow disciplines the heart, affliction propels the soul onward. We should have a more vivid conception of the power of affliction as an ingredient of holiness if we kept more constantly in remembrance the fact that all the afflictive, trying dispensations of the believer are covenant dispensations, that they are not of the same character nor do they produce the same results as in the ungodly. They are among the 'sure mercies of David'. In the case of the unregenerate, all afflictions are a part and parcel of the curse and work naturally against their good; but in the case of the regenerate, they are, in virtue of the covenant of grace, transformed into blessings and work spiritually for their good. Just as the mountain stream coursing its way meets some sanative mineral by which it becomes endowed with a healing property, so afflictions, passing through the covenant, change their character, derive a sanctifying property, and thus become a healing medicine to the soul. -Octavius Winslow

Afflictions are God's most effectual means to keep us from losing our way to our heavenly rest. Without this hedge of thorns on the right hand and on the left, we should hardly keep the way to heaven. If there be but one gap open, how ready are we to find it and turn out at it! When we grow wanton, or worldly, or proud, how cloth sickness or other afflictions reduce us! Every Christian, as well as Luther, can call affliction one of his best schoolmasters; and with David may say, 'Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.' Many thousand rescued sinners may cry, O healthful sickness! O comfortable sorrow! O gainful losses! O enriching poverty! O blessed day that ever I was afflicted! Not only the green pastures and still waters, but the rod and staff, they comfort us. Though the Word and the Spirit do the main work, yet suffering so unbolts the door of the heart, that the Word hath easier entrance.
Hebrews 12:14-17
Hebrews 12:28:
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: |