LOOKING UNTO JESUS
“…looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12: 2).
These three words, “looking
unto Jesus,” seem to be at the heart of Paul’s letter to the 1st
century Hebrew Christians, but it is also the heart of the Gospel message to
every soul that has received Him from the 1st century until
now. Paul especially wanted to make sure
that these Jewish converts were placing their faith solely on Jesus Christ and
His finished work of redemption rather than in the trappings of religion they
formerly trusted. He knew that it would
do no good for them to rely on angels, a worldly temple, an earthly priesthood,
a temporal Promised Land, a fleshly covenant, or carnal sacrifices to secure
their eternal salvation. All those
things were part of the old covenant and were ineffective in bringing God’s
people to perfection. It was Jesus Who
was sent to be the Savior of the world and Redeemer of mankind. He was the Lamb of God Who would take away
the sin of the world. His appearance
ushered in the New Covenant and created an abundant entrance into the Kingdom
of God. In Him was life, and that life
became the light of the world.
The first verse of Hebrews chapter 12 begins by saying, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses…”
Paul makes the case in chapter 11 that the heroes of faith he
mentions there were able to accomplish their great exploits, miracles, and acts
of obedience by keeping their eyes on the reward that was set before them. Even though they didn’t see the ultimate
reward in their lifetimes, they still endured and persevered, trusting God for
what He had promised them. Their faith
looked forward to a time when the promised Messiah would be revealed to the
world. These faith warriors like Enoch,
Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, and many others form a great “cloud,” or mass, of witnesses whose lives and examples testify to
us of what faith should be. This is the
hope that we have in Christ, and it is set before us as an inheritance that
will never fade away. It is
incorruptible, undefiled, and is reserved in heaven for us (See 1 Peter 1:4). Jesus Himself has already passed from death
to life and has gone ahead to prepare us a place in heaven. He is our hope, He is our strength, and He is
our final victory. This is why it is
essential to our success as Christians to look
to Jesus at all times.
In Matthew chapter 14, we read about the miracle of Peter
walking on the water. I won’t go into
the whole story here because I have written on it at length elsewhere, but
there is one portion that speaks to our subject. That is when Peter had heard the Lord’s
invitation to come to Him on the water, got out of the ship, and began to walk
to Jesus on the water. At this critical
point in the story it says, “But when he [Peter]
saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid;
and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.” (Matthew
14:30). We can do miraculous things as
long as we look to Jesus, but the minute we take our eyes off Him and focus on
the storms, sorrows, trials, fears, and troubles of our life, we will quickly
begin to sink just like Peter. We cannot
focus on Jesus and on the storms of life at the same time. As one who has had to cry out “Lord, save me” many times in my life, I
know a little about this; but I also know that the Lord always hears our cry
and reaches down to lift us up when we are struggling to learn to trust Him.
Continuing in verse one of Hebrews 12, we read, “…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…” There are “weights” and “besetting sins” in each of our lives that we must learn to deal
with. Paul tells us simply to “lay them aside.” On the surface, this
may sound a bit simplistic. Too often we
lay them aside only to pick them back up again later on. I can certainly appreciate the idea that Paul
is illustrating in this verse, however.
If we are to run a race effectively and competitively, we cannot do it
while carrying heavy weights in our arms.
It is easy to understand the necessity of just dropping them in this
case, but how do we do that with spiritual weights and besetting sins? The answer, again, is to look to Jesus. He is
the way, the truth, and the life; and no one can come to the Father but by
Him. Our opening verse goes on to tell
us that Jesus is the Author and the Finisher of our faith.
Like any good author, Jesus has begun our story and intends to keep
writing until He has finished it! He is
the creative mastermind behind this work.
If we want to understand the story line, we must look to Him. He is not interested in giving us the pen and
letting us finish what He has begun. He
alone knows how our story must unfold, and we can trust Him that it will be
glorious! Paul wrote, “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6). If through our failures, God is always
working.
Verse 2 continues, “…Who
for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of
the throne of God.” There are those
who are willing to trade their birthright in Christ for some temporal
gratification, and then there are those who esteem the reproach of Christ to be
greater riches than all the treasures that this world can offer them. Jesus kept His eyes on the prize. He never lost sight of the joy that was set
before Him. This is how He was able to
endure the cross and disdain the shame of it.
He knew God would highly exalt Him and set Him at His [God’s] own right
hand. We, too, need to understand that
God rewards those who diligently seek
Him (Hebrews 11:6). This is an aspect of
faith that many Christians neglect. They
are quick to confess that they believe God is real, but they hesitate when it
comes down to altering their lives in order to please Him. Jesus freely receives everyone who comes to
Him for salvation; and He receives them just as they are. He doesn’t expect us to become perfect before
He will accept us. After we are
converted, however, He begins the process of teaching us and training us in the
things of God. Step by step, line upon
line, and lesson by lesson, He uses the blessings and the difficulties of life to teach us His ways. Can you imagine enrolling in college and
paying your fees, but expecting to remain just as you are without trying to
learn anything new or becoming any more knowledgeable? It is assumed that when you join up that you
are ready to grow and to learn.
It is the invisible, or spiritual, world that we need to
be more aware of. Paul admonished the
believers in Corinth to, “…look not at
the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are
temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians
4:18). The Jews put their trust in a lot
of tangible things: their temple, their rituals, their sacrifices, and their
law. God, however, was trying to make
them see that He, and nothing else, was their salvation. Without faith they would not be able to find
their way because it would be impossible to please their heavenly Father
otherwise (Hebrews 11:6).
In the 6th
chapter of 2 Kings there is a story about the Prophet Elisha and how God
delivered him from great danger. The
king of Syria at the time was warring against Israel, and each time that he
would command his troops to camp in a certain location, God would reveal to
Elisha where the enemy was, and he, in turn, would warn the king of
Israel. Several times this happened
until the king of Syria suspected that there must be a spy in the midst of his
army. One of his servants assured him,
however, that there was no spy, but that the prophet Elisha was able to discern
the things that the king said in private and was then telling the king of
Israel. The king of Syria therefore said
to his servants, “Go and spy where he
[Elisha] is, that I may send and fetch
him. And it was told him, saying,
Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent
he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and
compassed the city about.” (2 Kings 6:13, 14). When Elisha’s servant saw the army
surrounding the city, he was alarmed and asked Elisha what they were going to
do. Elisha’s answer was inspiring. He said, “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they
that be with them.” And then Elisha prayed and said, “LORD, I pray Thee, open his eyes, that he may see.” (2 Kings 6:16, 17). Scripture then tells us, “And the LORD opened the eyes of the young
man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of
fire round about Elisha.” (vs. 17).
Whatever our enemy throws at us, God always has a larger force to
protect us. Just because we can’t see it
with our natural eyes is no evidence that it is not there. Like Elisha’s servant, we are prepared to believe
only what our eyes tell us, and not what God has promised us in His Word. His Word tells us that greater is He that is
in us (the Holy Spirit of God whom the world cannot see) than he that is in the
world (the devil who uses the temporal world to allure, distract, and destroy
the children of God).
The Apostle Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus that
the eyes of their understanding would be opened so they could comprehend, “…the exceeding greatness of His [God’s]
power to us-ward who believe, according
to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised
Him [Jesus] from the dead, and set
Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality,
and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in
this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under
His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is
His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” (See Ephesians
1:15-23). Read these verses again, and
then again, until faith begins to stir in your heart and you begin to see the
things that God has prepared for you in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let the mountains that are in your life melt
away and become plains in the light of what God has wrought for us in His Son. Every valley will be lifted up, every
mountain will be leveled, every crooked path will be straightened out, and
every rough way will be smoothed out when we prepare a way for the Lord in our
hearts and lives. God is always moving
in the background to aid and deliver His children. Though we may often be unaware of Him, He is
there just the same. His eye is always
upon us, and His ear is open to hear our cry for help.
There was another time when Jesus’ disciples were out on
the sea and encountered a very bad storm.
They were sure that their boat was going to sink and that they all would
be lost. In their distress, they went to
Jesus Who was asleep in the back of the ship, and said, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die?” (Mark 4:38
HCSB). Jesus simply arose and rebuked
the wind and the sea, and then chided the disciples for their unbelief. They could have taken comfort in the fact
that Jesus Himself was unconcerned enough about the storm to be sleeping
through it all, and they should have looked
to Him for their example. What
they focused on, instead, was what they could see with their natural eyes, and
not what was true in the spiritual realm.
The weights and sins of this life can grow very
heavy. If we look to Jesus and keep our
focus on Him, we will find that His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. In Christ we will find that we can run and
not grow weary, and walk and not grow faint.
No matter how strong our enemies are, we don’t have to fear, for, “... they that be with us are more than they
that be with them.”
In the Book of Psalms, King David wrote, “I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and
delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto Him, and were
lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the
LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encampeth round about
them that fear Him, and delivereth them. O taste and see that the LORD is good:
blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.” (Psalm 34:5-8).
In closing, I’m reminded of the old chorus that says:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth
Will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
Let’s look to Jesus, Beloved, and let Him finish the work that He has begun in our lives. Only He knows the path of eternal life because He has walked it ahead of us, and blazed the trail for us to follow.
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