"we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses" - Hebrews 12:1
Last night, my brother, Ben, sent the encouragement in today's verse to me out of the clear blue. I received it just as my daughter, Cassidy, and I were pulling back onto her college campus and laughing at the pulpit-humor (i.e. corny) joke that the campus security guard had just told us as we pulled up to and stopped at the campus gate.
Cassidy and I had shared that same kind of laughter for the whole two hour drive as we celebrated "the great cloud of witnesses that surround us," including 1) the people who we'd left earlier at church who lovingly sacrificed time for a meeting on Labor Day, 2) my other daughter, Calley, who texted that she loved us, 3) my son, Caden, who called to apologize for literally breaking the metal of Cassidy's toenail clippers as we all then laughed at his feat of feet, and 4) Cassidy's old friends from high school and new friends at college, especially her awesome smiling roommate Kimberly, along with so many other people who make up "the great cloud of witnesses that surround us." (Hebrews 12:1)
So very simply, just what is a "great witness" within "the great cloud"? A "great witness" is a person who has the same three strands as God himself, even as does God's word. God, God's word, and a great witness all have courageous love, faith in what God says is right, and a passion for encouragement.
But that being said, how does that play out in real life? In 1 Thessalonians 4, we see that a "great witness" speaks God's word of life into dark and despairing places. We see that God, His Word who is Jesus, and God's witnesses who are filled with God's Spirit, courageously face grim situations, stand on the truth of God's word, and call others to believe that God and his ways will prevail!
So whether it's a storm (like the one surrounding Jesus's disciples in the boat), or despair (as had overcome Elijah), a trap (as the Pharisees constantly set for Jesus and the prophets before him), or death itself, a "great witness" loves people enough to say, "I know this is a rough patch, but God has a powerful word of promise even for this. So hang in there because the Lord will indeed prevail."
To God be the glory as we thank God for the "witnesses" who will encourage us today! And may God help us to be a witness for others!
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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