“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, 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” (Hebrews 12:1,2).
The letter to the Hebrews has been one of the most rewarding letters I’ve studied. Every chapter contained in this letter systematically undoes the lies taught by Adventism. It dismantles the worldview that defends its adherents against knowing the God of Scripture and His gospel testimony to humanity. It clearly articulates the person and work of the Lord Jesus, and it calls the people of God to a pure faith and a holy life in the strength of all that God gives those who are His.
This week on the Former Adventist Podcast, Colleen and I discussed the first 17 verses of Hebrews chapter 12. As I prepared for that episode, my heart was once again convicted and encouraged by the commands in the first two verses: commands that change everything about how we run our race of faith. I want to spend a little time looking closer at those and then consider with you how these verses instruct those of us who’ve left Seventh-day Adventism.
“Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…”
The “therefore” at the beginning of 12:1 connects the reader to what was said in the chapter before. Chapter 11 is often referred to as the Great Hall of Faith. It’s where we learn that faith is the God-given result of a God-initiated revelation. Faith is the assurance of what God has promised and the conviction of what we can’t yet see (Heb. 11:1). Here the author interrupts his prior teaching on who Jesus is and what He has accomplished to outline several testimonies of those who by trust in God submitted to Him in life and deed.
The “great cloud” referred to in this text describes a cloud so great that its boundaries can’t be perceived as it stretches in all directions on the horizon. A cloud this large would impact the way we perceive the landscape around us as anyone who lives in a grey winter climate can testify to. This cloud metaphor was often used in ancient greek writing and its use here gives us the picture of innumerable saints who have trusted God before us and whose lives bear out witness to the reliability of the word and promises of God. The impacts of their lives have forever imprinted human history in various and verifiable ways. God has not left us to believe for the sake of belief; our faith is founded upon evidence and testimony!
In 12:1,2 the Hebrew church is called to emulate this faith and to live a life forever rooted in and altered by God’s final revelation in His Son (Heb.1:2; 12:1,2). God’s people are called both to trust Him and to live lives which put that trust on display no matter the cost or the loss.
“Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely…”
As we move through these verses we will see the author of Hebrews calling believers to run a race. As any athlete or spectator will understand, a race is best run without burdensome weights or entangling obstacles. In the context of the letter, the author has been admonishing the Hebrew believers to let go of the weight (legalism) and sin (unbelief) of reaching back to the law and sacrificial system which ultimately is a rejection of the better High Priest and the better covenant enacted on better promises.
As mentioned already, the author previously detailed examples of how saints of old were also called to let go of weights and sins to follow the Lord of truth. In the same way believers today must be willing to follow these examples.
Whatever weight or burden it is that prevents us from running with endurance will become clear to us as we strive to run. The added weight may not be more profound than giving up distracting habits which may not be bad in themselves but which prevent us from running well, or it may be as complicated as letting go of a relational dynamic, or a relationship altogether which demands a kind of loyalty only belonging to God.
The sin that clings so closely is sin that pursues us and seeks to entangle us. It purposes to prevent us from running well or even at all. Clinging sin may be an idol of the heart, an addiction, or the temptation to return to false religion. Whatever it is that God calls His children to lay aside, it’s something that prevents them from active, purposeful, obedient endurance running.
Reflecting on Moses
One of example of worldly loss for the gain of Christ which has impacted me greatly as a Former Adventist is found in Hebrews 11:24-27, “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.”
Moses refused to be identified by all that his world and upbringing sought to identify him with. No doubt it was seen as profoundly disrespectful and ungrateful for him to leave the mother who raised him and the life she gave him to go and identify with a people group she despised. I would love to sit with Moses and hear from him what kinds of things he had to work through as he made this decision. Even so, Moses had somehow been given the “assurance of things expected, and the evidence of things unseen” (Heb 1:1) for by it he gave up all he knew to identify with the people of God—even with the loss of reputation, wealth, and all the treasures of Egypt. Not only this, but Moses was so assured and convicted to do so that he did not fear the anger of the king whom he rejected by his leaving, for he “endured as seeing Him who is invisible”. The reality of God and all He promised was more real to Moses than anything else.
“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”
The greek word used for endurance in this verse is hypomones which means resolving to bear up underneath something. It means to remain under a burden, refusing to swerve in any direction no matter the trial that comes. To run a race with this resolve means to continue running no matter the terrain or obstacle we face on our horizon. This sort of picture helps us understand better why we need to lay aside the weights and entanglements that will seek to set us off course.
This kind of endurance is achievable for those who’ve been born again because this race has been “set before us” by our good Father in whom we’ve placed our trust and who has promised to supply all we need. We can know there’s nothing ahead of us on the terrain that will surprise Him or that has not been purposed by Him. Our Father knows us intimately, and He knows how to heal our weak places and how to train us for the endurance we will need ahead. To be sure, the race is not a simple one. The word translated “race” comes from the Greek word agona where we get the English word agony. This race is not intended to be without trial, but it is purposed for our good and for God’s glory (Romans 8: 28-30; Hebrews 12:7).
“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.”
I know it is true of me that too often as I run the race set before me, I spend far more time glancing back at the weights, the temptations, and the sins, or obsessing about the path underfoot, or looking forward at the daunting terrain approaching me from the distance. That kind of misplaced focus is enough to cause me to slow to a jog and grow increasingly wearied.
This verse corrects that by telling us that we are to fix our eyes not on temptations or terrain but on the Lord Jesus Himself who authored and will perfect our faith, who is already seated victoriously in the Heavens, and who has already run the race that saved our souls by setting Himself under the burden of the cross in obedience to the Father. We must keep looking to our merciful and compassionate High Priest and continue to draw near to the throne of grace in our time of need and in our race of faith.
If we were to continue in this chapter we would see in the very next verse that we are to “Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” The Greek word translated “consider” is analogizomai, and it means to “think out carefully, reason thoroughly with careful deliberation, consider accurately and distinctly, again and again” (preceptaustin.org). Here we see that we must not only keep our gaze fixed on Jesus, but we must also carefully study the way Christ endured for the joy set before Him even in the midst of great hostility and shame, so that we will not grow weary.
Leaving Seventh-day Adventism
For me, there was truly nothing easy about leaving Adventism—except knowing that I had to. I will never forget the moment at that 2010 Former Adventist Fellowship conference when I stood outside of the church, staring up to the clouds above the worship center, and I knew profoundly that it was time to make a decision. I knew my leaving Adventism would disappoint a lot of people, but I knew that not leaving meant saying no to what God was asking from me. The God who created me and who had been drawing me all my life had called me to that moment, He opened my eyes and revealed His truth and His promises to me. He assured me of them in a way I cannot explain, and He convicted me of the reality of the things I cannot see. He brought me to a point when I knew He was calling me to respond. In that moment I knew I was being asked to lay aside a false religion and the sin of fearing man rather than God. I knew I was being called to lay my life down at His feet in repentant faith and in submission to Him, and to entrust Him with everything our future together would bring—knowing it would encompass losses.
While at that moment I didn’t understand the full extent of the losses along the way, the months and years that followed that decision would reveal them in God’s time and for His purposes. Even so, as I made my way down the path of this race, encountering a great many weights and sins, and learning how to lay them aside and trust them to my Father, I have grown in my endurance and learned new strides which I know will only improve with time as I entrust this race to my Father who gave it to me.
For those of you who may still be struggling with the decision of leaving, please know that there’s nothing you will face in your race of faith that God will leave you to face alone. If He has revealed the truth of His gospel to you and He is calling you to leave false religion, do not fail to recognize the miracle that this moment is. If He has brought you to this point, He will carry you all the way as you respond to Him in faith. There is nothing God will not redeem in your life as you submit to Him. There is nothing you will lose which He knows you need, and all that you need He will provide and protect. He will give you Himself, the truth which sets free, a family in Him to love you and run with you, and He will heal your heart as you entrust all your losses to Him. Do not fail to respond to His call. Look to those whose lives give witness to His faithfulness, and entrust Him with all you fear or all that has imprisoned you in a place of dissonance or indecision.
If you are a born again believer, then the Lord Jesus is your Great High Priest who is both merciful and empathetic. He has run before you, obtained the victory, and now runs beside you training you and promising to perfect and complete your faith in Him. Do not fear the loss of the weights that prevent you from running well or allow clinging sin to trip and distract you. It is our privilege as God’s children to lay them aside and entrust them to our Father to deal with.
Just as Moses left all he knew and entrusted his life to God, enduring as seeing Him who is invisible, may we too joyfully give to God that which isn’t ours to keep and run this race with our eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus!
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Phil. 3:8-10).
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