I heard the following verse quoted one Sunday while in college at Baylor. I think it was in a sermon (yes I went to chapel every day for two years and also to church a couple of times).
"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..." (Hebrews 12:1)
It was right after the annual NoZe Brotherhood "unsocial," as the noble brotherhood called it. I had had a great time although it was not what you would call a gathering of the saints. Anyway, when I heard this verse and the speaker say that all of our departed loved ones are witnessing our every move and "looking over the balcony of heaven - watching and cheering for us," I thought, Oh shoot (or a similar word)! Was Grandma Lakey really watching me this weekend? If so, she is NOT cheering. Dang!
It wasn't until nearly 25 years later that I learned that this esteemed speaker was full of it (the similar word), and I could rest assured that Grandma had not been witnessing all my indiscretions while in college.
So what was the writer of Hebrews saying?
Well, if you read the verse in the context of chapters 11 and 12, you will find that the writer had been naming all those FAITHFUL men of the Old Testament who TRUSTED the promises of God but had died before they came to pass. Yet they died assured that God would eventually DO just as promised. Their FAITH in what God had promised is a WITNESS to us that we should not get discouraged when life sucks and it seems the whole world is going to hell in a hand basket (so to speak). JESUS IS COMING AGAIN to this earth. And when he does, he will take care of everything in perfect righteousness and mercy!
"And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things...the fullness of the One completing the All in All...For even as in Adam all are dying, thus also, in Christ, shall all be made alive"... "that God may be All in All" (Ephesians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 15:22-28)
"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..." (Hebrews 12:1)
It was right after the annual NoZe Brotherhood "unsocial," as the noble brotherhood called it. I had had a great time although it was not what you would call a gathering of the saints. Anyway, when I heard this verse and the speaker say that all of our departed loved ones are witnessing our every move and "looking over the balcony of heaven - watching and cheering for us," I thought, Oh shoot (or a similar word)! Was Grandma Lakey really watching me this weekend? If so, she is NOT cheering. Dang!
It wasn't until nearly 25 years later that I learned that this esteemed speaker was full of it (the similar word), and I could rest assured that Grandma had not been witnessing all my indiscretions while in college.
So what was the writer of Hebrews saying?
Well, if you read the verse in the context of chapters 11 and 12, you will find that the writer had been naming all those FAITHFUL men of the Old Testament who TRUSTED the promises of God but had died before they came to pass. Yet they died assured that God would eventually DO just as promised. Their FAITH in what God had promised is a WITNESS to us that we should not get discouraged when life sucks and it seems the whole world is going to hell in a hand basket (so to speak). JESUS IS COMING AGAIN to this earth. And when he does, he will take care of everything in perfect righteousness and mercy!
"And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things...the fullness of the One completing the All in All...For even as in Adam all are dying, thus also, in Christ, shall all be made alive"... "that God may be All in All" (Ephesians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 15:22-28)