TOPIC:"The Race We Are to Run"
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:Hebrews 12:1-2
"Let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (12:1)
The time in which the author of Hebrews wrote this letter running was a very popular sport in Greek life and culture. The Greeks were very interested in athletics and they were the ones who literally gave us our present day Olympic games. In Paul's day these Greeks would gather together in a great oval stadium with rising tiers of seats filled with cheering spectators, and they would look down on the various sports, of which one of them was running.
So here the author of Hebrews draws upon the figure of an athlete, and using this analogy he compares the Christian life to a race. And such a race the Christian is to run is not a sprint, but a long distance run which demands commitment, consecration and completion. We as believers don't select the course we are to follow. It is divinely predetermined for us as the writer suggests in the words of verse 1: "the race that is set before us" or as the NIV has it: "the race marked out for us." But if we are genuine followers of Jesus Christ we know it will be "the way of the cross."
Let us now take a closer look at the race the Christian is to run according to the author of this magnificent Epistle. I want us to consider three important points as found in the words before us.
I.
Think, to begin with, of the DIVINE INCENTIVE as described in the race the Christian is to run. The author writes in verse 1: "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses."
There is a question as to what the writer of Hebrews had in mind by the phrase "so great a cloud of witnesses." There are those who believe they are glorified saints looking down as spectators from Heaven as they observe the lives of those on earth. That is a beautiful thought, but I doubt this is what the Apostle had in mind when he wrote those words. Still others believe these words refer to a heavenly host of angels as they look down from Heaven encouraging us on to finish the race. But both of these interpretations, I believe, miss the truth of who these witnesses really are according to the author of this Epistle.
The "witnesses" here refer rather to those who give evidence of the victorious life of faith as found in the 11th chapter of Hebrews and throughout the pages of the Old Testament. The New International Version caught this truth as they translated these words to read: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses . . .