1Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls. 4You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin. 5You have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children,
“My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord,
nor faint when you are reproved by him;
6for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline? 8But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are illegitimate, and not children. 9Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they indeed for a few days disciplined us as seemed good to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. 11All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
14Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord, 15looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and many be defiled by it, 16lest there be any sexually immoral person or profane person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal. 17For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears.
18For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm, 19the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them, 20for they could not stand that which was commanded, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned”. 21So fearful was the appearance that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.”
22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels, 23to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.
25See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven, 26whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.” 27This phrase, “Yet once more” signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. 28Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can’t be shaken, let’s have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, 29for our God is a consuming fire.
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Who are these witnesses? This is one of the most intriguing lines in the Bible. I’ve thought about this for many years. Some people have surmised that we have witnesses looking down on us from heaven. But what the text says is that we have the testimony of those we just studied in Hebrews chapter 11, and their testimony (like a witness in court) tells us what a life of lived-out faith looks like. We come to the end of the Hall of Faith, and then we come to this loaded word “therefore”. Because of all of those great patriarchs that went before us, we see their lives as the testimony of witnesses to us.
The writer gives us specific ways we, too, can participate in the godliness of this faith. Life is a race, isn’t it? This is all laid out in the context of a race. I was never a track runner of any kind, but I did play soccer throughout my school years. I was thinking about this, and we used to put weights on our legs a few days before a game. We’d wear them around for days, and at first, they felt shockingly heavy. After a day or two, you hardly even notice that they are still on your legs. And then, the day of the game, we would take those weights off, and it made you feel like you were flying while you played a long soccer game. We took them off because they were a hindrance.
The writer lists two problems. One is “every weight,” and the other is “sin which entangles us.” What are the things that might hinder you in the race of life? For the Greeks, it didn’t mean everything was negative and heavy; it meant ANYTHING that might be adding weight to their running had to be taken off. They had to eliminate anything that stood in the way of them being the very fastest runners they could be. You might have heard before that the Greek athletes would run naked. They did! They didn’t want ANYTHING to weigh them down. They wanted to run as fast and as lightly as they could, and they were willing to take off anything and everything that might slow them down the slightest bit.
The author then talks about “sin that so easily entangles us.” Sin does entangle us, but some sins do so more than others. We get ourselves into every kind of mess imaginable. I think when the author talks about “sins that easily entangle us”, it sounds a lot like addictions of all kinds. These things entangle us because they get a hold of us, and we can’t get loose from them. We can easily get ourselves addicted to alcohol, drugs, pornography, work, sex, food, and a host of other things that give us temporary pleasure or ecstasy, but in the end, it’s all a trap. We are easily attracted to things that should not hold our attention, while we get distracted from the things that should. My, what messes we get into! I am so glad that His mercies are new every morning and His grace is unending. Throw off the sin that weighs you down and entangles you, and start running!