Hebrews 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”
The “witnesses” in the Old Testament (Hebrews 11) and in the New Testament (Hebrews 12:1) were “witnesses” to what it means to “live by faith” (Hebrews 10:38). These Saints of Old relied upon their God-given “faith” and followed and obeyed the Lord, even under the most unbelievably difficult situations. They faced death and even died, endured floods, left their homeland only knowing they were obeying the Lord, fought against overwhelming enemies, endured awful miseries, and accomplished astonishing feats all by their God-given “faith”; they were faithful to their Lord even when it seemed that all was lost. They lived “by faith” laying “aside every weight, and the sin which” did “so easily beset” them and running their “race” “with patience”. They were faithful to the Lord, even under the most horrible and miserable circumstances. So, in our troubled time, are we going to “live by faith”, be “witnesses” of “faith”, or are we going to crumble and waste our time crying woe is me; or even worse, join with the enemies of “faith”? The “born again” Children of God (John 3:1-8) are clearly charged to “be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (I Corinthians 15:58); thus, “living by faith”. Joshua said it this way, “as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15). The Lord “prayed for” Peter “that” his “faith” would “fail not” (Luke 22:32). Let us pray for one another and joyfully “deny” ourselves “and take up” our “cross daily, and follow” our Lord (Luke 9:23)!