11/08/2017 RUN WITH PERSERVERANCE
Hebrews 12:1 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 perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to JESUS the pioneer 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.
Persevere/Perserverance: to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counter influences, opposition or discouragement: steadfastness [Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary]
One of the purposes of the Hebrews letter was to encourage Christians to remain faithful to the faith, despite the hostility and dangers surrounding them. Since Greek athleticism and the Olympic Games were well-known, the author compares being a GODly believer to running a race with perseverance.
The idea of running a race with perseverance means that there will be difficulties, opposition and hard times. There will be moments when the runner may even want to give up and quit.
But despite these things, the runner must be steadfast and stay the course running toward the finish line where the ultimate prize awaits. The author states that just like in the Olympic games in a great Greek amphitheater, “faith runners” should remind themselves that they don’t run alone and that there is a great “cloud” of people (i.e. witnesses, ancestors whose prayers still sustain us) there to both cheer them on and to provide inspiration. Those “witnesses” include those great Olympians of the Old Testament---those great “Olympians of Faith.”
Hebrews Chapter 11 mentions Able, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Gideon, David and Samuel. There were women runners too, like Sarah, Abraham’s wife, and Rahab, who some called a harlot.
Sarah had faith. She had the strength and faith to carry a child through months of pregnancy and deliver, despite her old age. Rahab lived in a border town, across the river in the Jericho region. She was a working woman, who supported herself running an inn. She too had faith.
The name “Rahab” means “fierceness,” “insolence,” and “pride.” In Psalms 87:4 Egypt is poetically called “Rahab.” In Psalms 89:10 haughty Egypt is again referred to a “Rahab,” but the writer notes that GOD broke “Rahab/Egypt” “in pieces.”