Hebrews 12 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Running with endurance the race set before us … If we have lived long enough, which for most of us doesn’t take very long, our faith has been put to the test … on more than a few occasions. The experience of sufferings, injustice and evil, trials, temptations and personal failures seem to contradict the promised “good news” of our faith. When our faith is shaken and our endurance waning, the writer of Hebrews’ clarion call summons us to look to the witnesses of faith, to those whose faith prevailed over every circumstance of life and death. The call to persevere must be accompanied by the sure and certain hope that our faith can prevail through the trials and vicissitudes of life. … We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses whose faith and endurance gained for them the imperishable prize of everlasting life. In the words of St Paul … they “have fought the good fight, … have finished the course, … have kept the faith; … there is laid up for [them] the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to [them] on that day … [and] also to all who have loved His appearing” (II Timothy 4:6-8).
The Greek word for witnesses in Hebrews 12 is martyroi, from which we derive the English word martyrs. A martyr or witness has several meanings in the NT era:
a witness who testifies to the truth in a court of law
a person or a group of people who are spectators of a competition or contest
a person who authenticates or affirms a person’s character
a Christian who witnesses to his faith by his suffering and death
In the Te Deum the Church Triumphant, that great cloud of witnesses, is witness both by the lives and in the deaths of the saints to God’s everlasting majesty and glory:
We praise thee, O God
we acknowledge thee to be the Lord
All the earth doth worship thee
the Father everlasting.
To thee all angels cry aloud
the heavens and all the powers therein.
To thee cherubim and seraphim continually do cry
Holy, Holy, Holy,
Lord God of Sabaoth; heaven and earth
are full of the majesty of thy glory.
The glorious company of the apostles praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise thee.
The noble army of martyrs praise thee.
The martyroi have completed the race and bear witness to the triumph of faith. They form a “cloud” of witnesses. The use of the word cloud (nephos in Greek) here refers to a large group. In Holy Scripture the cloud also represents the presence of God: the glory cloud over the Tabernacle (Exodus 40) and the Temple (II Kings 8:10-11); the pillar of cloud which led the children in the Exodus and in the forty years in the wilderness; the cloud at the Mount of Transfiguration (St Matthew 17); Jesus’ Ascension in the cloud in Acts 1. Accordingly, the “cloud of witnesses” are those who live in continual praise in God’s presence, bearing witness to Jesus Christ, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. There, in the midst of the trials and temptations of life, we fix our faith and hope, laying aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, running with endurance the race set before us.
JSH+