Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (8/18/2019) 8:30 am
Hebrews 11:29- 12:2
...So great a cloud of witnesses.....
The letter recounts over and over again how it was “by faith” that Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses’s parents, and Moses endured. The list of names, clearly intended to inspire and encourage the letter’s readers, surely would have caused them to recall the stories of these biblical figures in all their complexity. It is because of their faith alone that the writer sees each of them, these flawed and messy human beings, as righteous (10:38). Along the way, the letter specifically mentions “Rahab the prostitute” who “did not perish with those who were unbelieving, because she had received the spies in peace” (11:31). As a Canaanite woman who welcomed the spies “by faith,” she represents the letter’s insistence that outsiders, like she and Melchizedek (5:6; 6:20; 7:1-17) can also embody the pattern of Christ.
We are reminded that struggle is a part of our following the Jesus way, and we are reminded to encourage ourselves and others of this. We have great hope and faith is our key.
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In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake