May the mumbling commence!
We are looking back and looking forward. We are looking faithfully through the windshield of the car called faith to see and anticipate what is ahead – the Second Coming. We are looking as faithfully through the rearview mirror of the car called faith to remember and be encouraged by the path of others that has led us to this place.
We hope that we will live to see Christ come back to earth, though this hope may not be fulfilled. For this reason, we must continue to pass the torch of faith to our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren – as far as we can reach. Someday you and I will join that great cloud of witnesses described in Hebrews chapter eleven. Read the culmination of chapter eleven and the beginning of chapter twelve:
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 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. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated – the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
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. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (11:32-12:3)
Together, we stand in a Christian family where the continuum of time has no hold. Through the grace of God, chronology looses all meaning. Instead, through the eternal and divine moment, that has no beginning or end, we stand with both those that have come before us and those who will come long after we have left this world for the next.
The author of Hebrews began this roll call of faith with Abel and ended up running out of time and parchment space to continue with the early judges of Israel. The author summed up the rest of the forefathers and foremothers of faith with the passage above. Each of these people received either victory or infamy among their peers.
Each of these people looked forward to the promise of God, but they never received it. God’s plan cannot be contained within any one grouping of generations. Each generation is dear in the eyes of God. God’s plan is that each successive generation will make the previous generations perfect.
What a great cloud of witnesses! Even as we look into the fog of our futures, we can be encouraged by this cloud of witnesses. You and I have the advantage of those in the cloud who came before Jesus. We know the author and perfecter of our faith. We know the perfectly faithful and obedient way to live our lives.
So, we speak: “Be gone!” Go away all those things that hinder or entangle or snares us from running a faithful race. As we run the marathon of our faith lives, let’s keep our eyes on the finish line – becoming more and more like Jesus. Never lose heart over the trials of our lives, because Jesus faced much worse upon the cross.
Be ready to pass the baton of faith to the next generations so that we may be made perfect. Yes, you and I need to be perfected by the generations that succeed us. The seemingly endless cycle of Advent and Christmas and Lent and Easter will end in magnificent glory one day soon. But it is anybody’s guess when…
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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