Letter to the Hebrews Volume 157

 Jesus Christ is the Author & Finisher of our Faith

Hebrews 12:2 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. KJV

The fact that our Christian life here on the earth is a race seems to be the best metaphor that could be used to describe it. A race is not complete until the one running in it reaches the finish line and unlike any earthly race, whether it be race cars, speed boats, or human runners where the finish line is known and in some cases even seen by the participants, however, our race of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ could be as short as hours for some, weeks for some, months for others, and even many years for others. This reality is because our race of faith only begins when each sinner is born again and that begins our race of faith in Christ from that moment on until our Lord Jesus Christ calls us home to heaven to be with Him forever. So, we see that after telling these newly born again Hebrew believers (as well as all we believers today and of every era and generation) what they/we should be doing to run our race well, the writer of Hebrews now tells them/us where our full focal point should be and that being our Lord Jesus Christ, as it is written here, "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) (KJV). The English word 'Looking' that begins this verse of Scripture is translated by the Greek word aphoraō (used this one time only in the entire New Testament) meaning to consider attentively. The Lord God/Elohim/Adonai/Jehovah/YAWEH spoke these words through the Prophet Isaiah speaking of Himself, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself, the Word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." (Isaiah 45:22-23) (KJV). Note: "The idea that some human beings hold that God (if He exist) must not be in control of all things, for why would He (a loving God) allow so much evil to begin and continue upon the earth is not at all understanding of the way God created man, not as an android or robot, but as a free thinking being with 'free will' to choose Him or to reject Him and these Words He spoke through His Prophet Isaiah affirms that He will save any and every human sinner who bows their knee and looks to Him, but at the same time even those who resist, refuse, and reject Him will bow their knee to Him even as they are ushered into eternal damnation in hell." God the Son (our Lord Jesus Christ) laid aside all of His grandness, greatness, and glory to make Himself the same as His brethren, as it is written here by this same writer of Hebrews earlier, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." (Hebrews 2:14-17) (KJV). The English word 'author' is translated by the Greek word archēgos meaning a chief leader: - author, captain, prince. The English word 'finisher' is translated by the Greek word teleiōtēs (used this one time in the entire New Testament) meaning a completer, that is, consummater: - perfecter, finisher. Note: "Jesus Christ our Lord (the Word) was invisible just as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, as it is written, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' (John 1:1) (KJV); 'And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.' (John 1:14) (KJV), but for we sinners He put on human flesh (that He Himself designed and created) in order to save us from the original sin of the first man Adam (passed on to all humanity that came from him) and its consequence of eternal death, destruction, and damnation in hell. He now forevermore has a human body (glorified human body of flesh and bones (Luke 24:39), no more blood) and we his adopted sons and daughters will be made just like Him when He returns for each one of us that He personally has redeemed by His shed Blood, as it is written, 'Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.' (1 John 3:1-2) (KJV)." When the writer of Hebrews declares, 'who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame', he means this according to Vincent's Word Studies, "The joy was the full, divine beatitude of His preincarnate life in the bosom of the Father; the glory which He had with God before the world was. In exchange for this He accepted the Cross and the blame. The contrast is designed between the struggle which, for the present, is alone set before the readers (Hebrews 12:1), and the joy which was already present to Christ. The heroic character of His faith appears in His renouncing a joy already in possession in exchange for shame and death." Note: "The consummation of His work of redemption has now placed Him (as Man) at the position of Honor seated at the Right Hand of God the Father. The fact and reality that as God the Son (He Jesus Christ) is equal to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, but as the God/Man, the Man side of Him submits Himself to the authority of God the Father as Head as He (Christ) sits on a Throne of Grace ready and willing to give grace to the unbelievers to make them into believers and to keep on giving grace to every believer for what ever we need it for in our sojourn while we are still on this earth."

Here is what Alexander MacLaren had to say of Hebrews 12:2, "Our Lord is hero very emphatically set in a place by Himself apart from all that cloud of witnesses, who in their measure are held forth as noble examples of faith. All these, the greatest names of old, are in one class, and He stands above them in a class of which He is the only member. There we see no other man save Jesus only. Whatever be the inference from that fact, the fact itself is plain. He is something to all the fighters in the lists which none of these are. Our eyes may profitably dwell on them, but we have to look higher than their serene seats, even to His throne, and the relation between us and Him is altogether unlike that which binds us to the holiest of these. The names He bears in this context are noteworthy, ‘the author and finisher of faith,’ the former being the same word which, in Acts 3:15, is rendered ‘prince’ (of life), and in this Epistle (Hebrews 2:10), ‘captain’ (of salvation). Its meaning may perhaps be best given as ‘leader.’ All these others are the long files of the great army, but Christ is the Commander of the whole array. ‘As Captain of the Lord’s host am I come up, said the man with the drawn sword, who stood before Joshua as he brooded outside the walls of Jericho over his task, and that armed Angel of the Lord was He who, in the fulness of time, took our humanity that He might lead the many sons to glory. Not in order of time, but by the precedence of nature, is He the Leader and Lord of all who live by faith. He is also the finisher, or more properly the perfecter of faith, inasmuch as He in His own life has shown it in its perfect form and power; inasmuch also as He gives to each of us, if we will have it, grace to perfect it in our lives; and inasmuch as, finally, He crowns and rewards it at last. One more remark as to the force of the language here may be allowed. The word rendered ‘looking’ is an emphatic compound, and if full force be given to both its elements, we might read it ‘looking away,’ that is, turning our eyes from all other, even the grandest of these grand witnesses, to gaze on Christ alone. All these details serve to bring out the unique position which our Lord holds, and the attitude in which we should stand to Him. Christ is the one perfect example of faith. We are familiar with the rest of His perfect example in regard to other graces of the Christian character, but we dwell less frequently than we ought on Him as having Himself lived a life of faith. Many orthodox believers so believe in Christ’s divinity as to weaken their sense of the reality of His Manhood, just as, on the other hand, a vivid apprehension of His Manhood obscures to many the rays of His Divinity. We lose much by not making very real to our minds that Jesus lived His earthly life by faith, that for Him as for us dependence on God, and humble confidence in Him, were the secret of peace, and the spring of power. This very Epistle, in another place, quotes the words of the psalm, ‘I will put my trust in Him,’ as the very inmost expression of Christ’s life, and as one of the ways in which He proves His brotherhood with us. He, too, knows what it is to hang on God; and is not only in His Divine Nature the object, but in His true Manhood the pattern of our faith. And His pattern is perfect. In all others, even the loveliest of saints and most heroic of martyrs, the gem is marred by many a streak of baser material, but in Him is the one ‘entire and perfect chrysolite.’ That faith never faltered, never turned its gaze from the things not seen, never slackened its grasp of the things hoped, nor degenerated into self-pleasing, nor changed its attitude of meek submission. We may look to others for examples, but they will all be sometimes warnings as well, only to Jesus we may look continually and find uusullied purity and perfect faith. He is more than example. He gives us power to copy His fair pattern. The influence of heroic, saintly lives may be depressing as well as encouraging. Despondency often creeps over us when we think of them. It is not models that we want, for we all know well enough what we ought to be, and an example of supreme excellence in morals or religion may be as hurtful as the unapproachable superiority of Shake-spears or Raphael may to a young aspirant. Perfect patterns will not save the world. They do not get themselves copied. What we want is not the knowledge of what we ought to be, but the will and the power to be it. And that we get from Christ, and from Him alone. He stretches out His hand to hold us up in our poor struggles. His grace and His peace come into our hearts, Looking to Him, His Spirit enters our spirits, and we live, yet not we, but Christ liveth in us. Models will help us little. They stand there like statues on their pedestals, pure marble loveliness; but in Christ the marble becomes flesh, and the lovely perfection has a heart to pity and a strong hand stretched out to help. So let us look away from all others, who can only give us example, to Him who can give us strength. Turn from the circling thrones to the imperial throne in the centre. We are more closely bound to Him who sits on it than to them. Look away from the cloud of witnesses to the sun of uls, from whom, gazing, we receive warmth and light and life. They may teach us to fight, but He fights in us. They are patterns of faith. So is He, but He is also its object and its giver. Christ is the imperial Rewarder of faith. At the last He will give the full possession of all which it has looked and hoped for, and will lift it into the nobler form in which, even in heaven, we shall live by faith. In that region where struggles cease, and sense and sight no longer lead astray, and we behold Him as He is, faith still abides, as conscious dependence and happy trust. It is perfected in manner, measure, and reward. And Christ is the giver of all that perfects it. Let us, then, turn away our eyes from all beside, and look to Christ. He is the Reward as well as the Rewarder of our faith. As we look to Him we shall gain power for the fight, and victory and the crown. The gladiators in the arena lowered their swords to the emperor, before they fought, with the grim greeting ‘Hail, Caesar! the dying salute thee.’ So, in happier fashion, our Lord, who has Himself fought in the lists where we now strive. Then we shall have strength for the conflict, and when the conflict is drawing to its end and all else swims before our sight, and the din grows faint in our ears, we shall close our eyes in peace; and when we open them again, lo! the bloody field, and the broken sword, and the battered helm, have all disappeared, and we sit, crowned, and palm-bearing, at His side, hailed as victors, and lapped in sweetest rest for ever more!"

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…