So, would there be even one person out there who would not believe that this is my #1 favorite passage in the Scriptures?  Yes, what is not to like about it? It is all about the elements of long distance and endurance running! Oh, what I would give to be able to run again! But of course, this is an illustration of running the life of faith; and I can still do that with you, and you with me.

12:1 – Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, 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, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Before I talk about the four directives we may take from these verses, there is first for us to note the connection to what has preceded – the heroes of faith, those who are now called “a great cloud of witnesses.” Seeing this as a stadium full of spectators who have completed their race and who are now cheering us onward as we run our own is to press the analogy a bit too far. We should not think of these “witnesses” as watching us from heaven and yelling “go baby go, you can do it,” but rather as those who by the stories of their lives can testify what it means to be successful in the marathon of life.

The first of four directives is to get rid of anything that hinders running successfully. To run over a long distance for a long time, it requires the shedding of anything that is going to weigh down the competitor. Perhaps for the Hebrews it was ridding themselves of their heavyweight traditions and fears that had thwarted their progress. Beyond that is the issue of sins – described as entanglements, and sin certainly is that in terms of successfully running for the Lord. But the word here rather has the idea of something that is always hanging around nearby; and we know that sin is like that as well, always close and ready to hitch a ride like burrs that detach and stick to your clothing.

The second encouragement is to run the race with endurance. To be successful at a marathon, one has to prepare strategically for a long day on your feet. It helps to know the entire 26.2-mile course – where are the hills and more difficult sections to be found. I would sometimes go a day early to a city where I was running a marathon for the first time and take a map and drive the course route. As well, dehydration can be a problem, and a runner has to drink a lot early and often in the race, even if not thirsty at that point. It you wait until you really need it, it is too late. There are going to be difficult sections, and mental preparedness in advance is a necessary element. The Christian life is like all of these things – there are going to be tough times and difficult stretches. Keep moving! The crest of the current hill might be very near … just keep going and trusting.

The third encouragement is to have your eyes set upon the goal or prize at the end. The early part of a marathon is the easiest run in a runner’s life. It goes by quickly and easily. But after a while, fatigue begins to set in and difficulties emerge. As a runner you stop thinking about how far you have come, and next about how much remains. The goal is the glory of the finish line. The first marathon I ran was in Washington. And my fastest mile of the day was the last one – coming down off Capitol Hill to a finish in front of the National Gallery of Art. I was so excited to finish and complete my goal, I whipped through the final mile. And so should we in the race of life have the final goal in mind as we run.

And finally there is a consideration of the ultimate endurance example – Jesus Christ. His race was beyond anything that we will experience. He had a goal – the completion of his mission in obedience to the Father and the reward as the King of Kings. Christ’s life was full of suffering and difficulties, and at the end he carried the sins of all mankind upon the wretched cross. And even as we have encouragement from the faith of others such as the heroes of chapter 11, our ultimate example of encouragement unto full endurance is Jesus Christ.

So in conclusion (as Chris comes back to write the final six devotionals in this series) the plan for endurance in the Christian life is more than just avoiding the sinful things, but also denying lawful pleasures if they hinder spiritual progress. And it is the addition of a specific plan of growth. It certainly involves food – what one puts into one’s mind and life = God’s Word. And it certainly involves an action plan, with intermediate goals.

Just as a runner has no shot at being a champion without a long-term, well thought-out plan of training and racing, you have no shot at being a champion and enduring in the Christian experience without a plan of growth and development. We are talking about valuing the things that are eternal, and then making it happen a day at a time, a week, a month, a year … and before long, you’ve run a long way in the same direction and you can begin to count down to the glorious goal of finishing well and hearing the “well done.”

Endure. ENDURE.

I was far from a blazing witness for Christ in my secular high school when growing up in New Jersey. Most classmates who knew me were aware that I valued my church and issues of faith, though it was not often much of a topic of conversation. And though there was a handful of youth group kids from my church who went to my high school, none were in my specific class. In fact, at the time, only one other of the 129 students in my graduating class was certainly known to me as a Christian. A few came to Christ later, but even today, most of my classmates are very far from my values system – many of them embracing naturalistic worldviews, along with quite a number who are oddly into Eastern mysticism. I really felt very, very isolated and outnumbered in those years.

This has been the feeling and experience of many of God’s people over the years. Some of Israel’s greatest leaders were not only isolated in the midst of a world of surrounding pagan religions, many of them had to stand often rather alone for God within the nation in times of spiritual declension and apathy.

In our increasingly post-everything world, we too may have a similar sense of isolation and loneliness in a sea of unbelief. It can be a challenge to live confidently in faith, but the reward for such is worth it … if we ENDURE.

After elaborating on the stories of a number of biblical characters of faith, the writer begins to list some other examples (indicating as well that there were more than time and space could allow). Verse 32 lists four men from the period of the Judges in Israel’s history, before speaking of the well-known characters of David and Samuel.

32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets,

Without rehearsing each story, note the common theme of standing against larger powers and numbers: Gideon and his 300 against 135,000, David vs. Goliath, Samson pulling down the pagan temple walls, etc.  All of these characters were victorious in their high moments of life (most having some shameful low moments as well) by trusting God in the face of overwhelming opposition – impossible odds in which victory could only be accomplished by God’s divine strength and intervention. Going on about such biblical characters as these (and other unnamed) the writer says …

 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 

Many battles in Israel’s history could be in view here. And the “mouths of lions” makes us think of Daniel, while the “fury of the flames” reminds us of his three friends in Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace. Again, impossible victories by God’s strength and through their faith.

35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

Again, there are backgrounds in biblical stories for almost all of these references of difficult situations – the prophets in particular being persecuted. There is no specific recorded instance biblically of anyone being sawn in two, though there is a tradition that this was the fate of Isaiah. Joseph was imprisoned for a number of years, Elijah was mocked and fled for his life, Obadiah hid 100 prophets in a cave from the wrath of Jezebel.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

All of these characters were worthy of commendation for their faith, though they did not receive the full benefits of it. Yes, they had mighty answers to prayer, but not a perfect ending. And how could they? The Messiah was yet to come and make the final sacrifice for sin.

Verse 39 talks about the Old Testament saints, whereas verse 40 is talking about us – those of the church age who have our faith in the finished work of Christ.

We have the greater advantage. We know historically and through our faith about the culmination of God’s redemptive plan in the death and resurrection of Jesus. So we are by God’s grace better off and better informed, yet we do not have the complete fulfillment either – not like we all shall have together at the consummation of time.

Whatever suffering or shame we endure, even if it is to be final, is not entirely unusual for those of God’s people at any time in human history. But the common denominator through all of time is the commendation and pleasure of God in those who trust him through everything. And the reward for that is “out of this world” and is worth it all. Nothing compares to it. Don’t cash in your faith for comfort or convenience. ENDURE.

After talking about the pre-patriarchal characters followed by Abraham, the list of faith heroes today picks up with the family that became Israel, highlighting selected heroes down through the time of the conquest of the Promised Land.

This laundry list begins with the son of promise, Isaac, who of course had two sons who were twins…

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

What is interesting in these two generations of the family is that the younger is blessed over the elder. Birth order and genealogical blessing were a big deal in the Hebrew mind. But we know from multiple places in Scripture that the younger son Jacob received the blessing over Esau. As with Cain and Abel, one had a heart for God, whereas the other did not – all of which was fleshed out over time. The same is true of Joseph, who was next to last of the many sons of Jacob. Reuben was the oldest, but Joseph was the one who would save the family through trusting God in faith in Egypt. And the younger of his sons was the more blessed by their grandfather Jacob, and the tribe of Ephraim especially prospered – the name Ephraim sometimes being used synonymously of the northern 10 tribes in the way Judah was used of the southern kingdom.

22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.

OK, so what’s the big deal with this? Joseph wanted to be buried back in the Promised Land, back to the place where God was to bless the family and nation. Generations in advance, Joseph believed it would happen, though it would be another 400 years before it actually occurred. And it was the great character Moses who would lead them out of Egypt and back to Palestine…

23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

Moses had parents who could discern in some way that this child was destined to accomplish something great for the nation, and in hiding him from the edict of Pharaoh, they risked their own well-being.

You know the story of Pharaoh’s daughter finding Moses hidden in the bulrushes, thus saving his life and putting him into a place of prominence and privilege. The main idea of this entire long paragraph is that Moses could have chosen the easy life that was fully open to him, but he rather identified with the despised slave nation of Israel. This was a choice that was made in faith and confidence in the one true God, though it put him at odds with the most powerful nation of that time. It would mean a lifetime of hard living in wilderness areas surrounded by an ungrateful mob of people. But he obeyed God in faith, with eyes on the bigger picture of God’s work in the world.

Moses led the nation through some of the most incredible displays of God’s power …

29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

Would you want to pass through two columns of water standing up tall on two sides – with the wind blowing and the threat that it could all come crashing down upon you, as it did on the Egyptians?  Israel passed through that scene in faith.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

Jericho was a powerful city. The Israelites were told to march around it for seven days. Did this make sense … just walking around a city? It only would, if done in faith that God was going to do something incredible because you obeyed him.

Rahab risked everything. It would have been much more logical for her to have told the authorities of her own people about the spies she hid and about all that she knew from them. Instead, she believed in faith that the God of Israel was the one true God, and that she could trust him to deliver her.

By bringing up these stories to the Hebrews, the readers were reminded that they were far from the first to suffer for identification with Christ and with God’s plans. And they were not the last. We live in a time when there are actually more martyrs for Christ than in any other century or age.

It could happen even to us. Yes, it is a stretch to imagine, though not as much of a stretch as even just a few years ago. But in any event, it is not as if we hope for such to occur, but if it does, it is not something to fear or be shameful about – not if you have the big picture in mind of God’s greater eternal work and reward.

Have you ever gone to or lived in a place where you felt entirely out of step with everyone around you? I had some culture shocks at times when I lived in Texas for a few years, but I never felt completely lost and alienated.

When I was a pastor in northern New Jersey, I remember feeling just horribly for this very sweet young couple who had come to live and work in my hometown area and attend my church. They were from Iowa – where I am told that life is slow and easy, and everyone is kind, friendly and non-combative. None of those terms describe Jersey! The fast-paced, aggressive, loud, in-your-face culture was totally traumatizing for these folks. Simply driving and getting yelled at was a daily horror for them.

The finale for this couple was coming home from vacation to their rural house and fortunately noticing the curtains on the inside move as they came up the driveway. Pulling back from the home, they called the police. When the authorities came, a man ran out of the house shooting at the police who in response shot him. He was a drifter, who found an empty home and simply lived there while they were on vacation. But that was the final straw for this couple! Back to Iowa they moved!

Do you feel out of step with the rest of the world around you? I’m speaking of the idea of living for Christ and being identified with Him in a world that is increasingly hostile to faith and objective truth. If you feel like you are out of step with the much larger majority, it is probably because you are seeking to walk in the opposite direction than what the crowd is travelling.

This is how the readers of Hebrews felt. Maybe they should just stop swimming upstream … just turn around and take the easy route of going with the flow!

So the writer tells them that such an about-face would not please God. If they desired God’s commendation, they needed to live by faith and trust in Him, even in a crazy-pants world. And doing this was nothing new. Even the great patriarch Abraham had to do the same and live in a way that had him fully at odds with his world.

Think about what he did, even late in life, in obedience to God …

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

At the peak of his life, while living in the most prosperous place on earth at the time, Abraham was called to leave Ur and go to a place that God would later identify … just some place somewhere far away – a place he could receive as his inheritance. And when he got to the Promised Land, he didn’t really inherit the place. He basically lived as a nomad, wandering from place to place in tents. The only actual property he ever owned was a cave he purchased in order to bury his wife and family.

But it was okay. It was sufficient. He did not complain, because it says he was looking for a city (a place of permanence) who was designed by and built by God. So that means it was not of this world. This tells us of his focus: It was not on this world and its comforts, rewards or lack thereof. His gaze was beyond the temporary.

Beyond the material element of his sojourning, what good was a promise that he would inherit a great land and have offspring that would become a great nation … when there was no sight of such a reality? He was childless. He was too old to have children, and he had no prescription for Viagra! And beyond that, Sarah was WAY BEYOND childbearing years. This is a big problem. But he had a promise. And he trusted in that, and God blessed.

Taking some verses out of order, let’s finish off talking about Abraham specifically before reading the application paragraph in the text …

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

The well-known story is one of the great displays of obedience and faith. God had said that Abraham’s blessing would come through his one son Isaac, but then God said to offer that one and only son as a sacrifice. We read of his total obedience in Genesis, but his full thought process is actually revealed here in Hebrews. He was willing to kill his son of promise, believing so strongly in that promise, that God would raise Isaac back up from the dead. That is impressive faith!

Hey Hebrews – do you guys still think you have some life challenges while living for Christ? So, how are your difficulties compared to these faced by Abraham?  Here is the application (about Abraham and the others of faith mentioned to this point in the narrative) …

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

If anyone should have justly received the blessings of fulfillment and earthly ease and successful reward, it would be these heroes of the faith. But instead, none of them did. They died without the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise. Through the eye of faith, they could see the realities of these things from a distance – that the fulfillment would be in some measure in the lives of others to come after them, or not really until eternity. And that final place is the “country” they longed for … not an earthly place of comfort, or else they would have gone back to that comfort zone. Instead they pressed forward toward what the Apostle Paul would term the “high calling in Christ Jesus.”

Having eyes for eternity resulted in the approval of God – as he said he was not ashamed to be called their God and was preparing a place for them.

So, I am going to guess that some of you reading today struggle with these thoughts and truths as do I.  This passage eats my lunch … not gonna lie. I am so often disappointed and discontented that there is not more visible reward for laboring for Christ and investing my life as I have. I’m not talking about material gain, because I don’t honestly care that terribly much about that. I’m more talking about visible and measurable ministry success. Yet honestly, I’ve had an easy calling in all the places I have been. They have all been bigger and better by standards of measurement than the average calling to service in the body of Christ, as so many who have given all of life to building the church have had to labor in smaller and more difficult pastures of ministry.

The challenge for us all is to get our eyes up and away from our feet and the immediate surroundings, rather to cast our gaze ever more toward the horizon of earth and heaven – toward the goal at the end of it all. We need to stop expecting pleasure and fulfillment in this world, that while serving faithfully to the tasks at hand for today, to do so also with the appropriate understanding that we are aliens and strangers in this world. And that viewpoint changes everything.

Seeing is believing. So goes the old adage and English language idiom that full confidence in something is only surely to be found in physically experiencing it with the senses.

But the Scriptures speak that there is a component of belief that is called faith. It is believing in the reality of something as totally real, even though it cannot be seen. It is being as confident of its reality as if it was fully within sight.

The disciple named Thomas is famous for stating he would only believe if he could experience the physical risen Christ. He is chided for needing that substantial evidence, with the statement of blessing for those who would believe without such physical experience.

God commends faith. Faith is necessary, as there is no way to know everything experientially. This begins with creation, where no person was there to bear eyewitness to God calling it into being out of nothing but his spoken word. Yes, that is crazy talk to evolutionary scientists, though they stumble and postulate a great deal about the source of original matter.

The writer to the Hebrews had finished the thought of the passage at the end of chapter 10 with the phrase that he was confident his readers were people who would move forward in faith. And to bolster and encourage this, he brings to their remembrance that operating in faith in the midst of difficult times was the experience of their ancestors. And these Old Testament “heroes of faith” were particularly commended by God for operating on convictions of belief rather than selling out to achieving the comforts and ease of this world.

And therein is the timeless truth that gives this favorite Scripture passage of Hebrews 11 its significant meaning. There is a delayed gratification involved in living the Christian life. It is believing that as one trusts God during the inevitable struggles of honoring him in a sinful and evil would, there will be great reward in the end … and maybe not always even in this world, maybe almost certainly not until arriving at eternal life in the world yet to come.

11:1  Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.

3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

The writer illustrates this principle with an entire list of characters, saving the major points of application to the very end. But along the way, these people are commended by God for the evidences of their faith and confidence in God – trusting in unseen realities in face of persecution and difficulty.

Today we start with three characters, to be followed in the next devotional (Monday) on the great illustration of faith in Abraham.

First in the list is Abel. Recall that he is the second son of Adam and Eve. And though the details are not recorded, it is clear from the Genesis record that God had told them how to approach him in worship – both in substance, and more importantly, in attitude of heart and mind. Abel obeyed; Cain blew off God’s commands. And when God was dissatisfied with Cain’s offering, instead of blaming himself, he took his anger out on his brother by killing him. Abel’s faith is commended and rewarded eternally by God.

4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

Next in the list of pre-patriarchal characters is Enoch, whose brief account is in Genesis 5.  Again the details are scant, but it is clear that there was something very unique about this man and his passionate heart for God and for fellowship with him. In the end, he did not see death, but God simply took him. The application is that there is a commensurate value to be found in pleasing God in faith … the more you trust him, the more he is pleased and extends his pleasure and reward in this life, and the next.

5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”  For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

And finally there is Noah – far from a perfect man. But consider what he did and what he had to endure (and don’t picture that from any recent movies about him!).  There is a view of this account in the Scriptures that there had never been rain before the flood – that there was a canopy of vapor that surrounded the earth and gave it a greenhouse effect throughout. The ground was watered from below. So, the idea of a flood was REALLY “out there” … and nothing of the sort would have ever been experienced by anyone. (Even if this view is not true, Noah was building a very big boat in a place where floods simply did not happen.)  The point is that Noah must have looked a bit eccentric to the evil world around him, as he preached the word of God to them for many years. That preaching condemned the unbelievers of his era, and his faith saved his family and the human race.

7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

Hey, I’d rather see and believe than have to have faith. It is certainly easier. It would be great to have God physically show up once in a while at least, have lunch and talk over what I should be doing and not doing. That would certainly seem to be easier than having to pray, read Scripture, and look to see God’s providential hand operating about me in terms of open doors and circumstances. Yet the biblical record reveals that those who had such experiences often became too used to them and devalued them over time, leading to inexplicable failures. Sin is a mess.

But faith tells us there is reward for being faithful and living in trust. There is evidence of it in the lives of those who are older and who have gone before us in the Christian life. But the best evidence is in God’s record to us – the Scriptures. And to please God, we need to know what they say, and then believe and act upon what we know. Long-term faith is rewarded … someday.