The Cloud of Witnesses: An All Saints Day Meditation on Hebrews 11 & 12

11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,

the evidence of things not seen.

² For by it the elders obtained a good report.

³ Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God,

so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

⁴ By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,

by which he obtained witness that he was righteous,

God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

⁵ By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death;

and was not found, because God had translated him:

 for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

⁶ But without faith it is impossible to please him:

 for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,

and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him…

 

¹³ These all died in faith, not having received the promises,

but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them,

 and embraced them, and confessed that

they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

¹⁴ For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

¹⁵ And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out,

they might have had opportunity to have returned.

¹⁶ But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly:

wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God:

for he hath prepared for them a city…

 

³² And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon,

and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae;

of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:

³³ Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,

 obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.

³⁴ Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword,

out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight,

turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

³⁵ Women received their dead raised to life again:

and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance;

 that they might obtain a better resurrection:

³⁶ And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings,

yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:

³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawn asunder,

were tempted, were slain with the sword:

they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins;

 being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

³⁸ (Of whom the world was not worthy:)

they wandered in deserts, and in mountains,

and in dens and caves of the earth…

 

12 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,

 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,

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.

 

It is easy, I think, to either reduce the idea of the saints to past irrelevance, or elevate them to the heights of idolatry.  Lutherans are accustomed to thinking of the saints as exemplars to lives of faith and duty according to their respective vocations, which instruct present Christians in their own vocational duties.  The inspired author of the Book of Hebrews offers an additional perspective of the saints, worthy of contemplation:  that of witnesses.  This idea of the saints as living witnesses of the present moment comports well with Jesus’ teaching about Abraham having rejoiced to see Jesus’ day, because God is a God of the living and not the dead. It also is a natural consequence of the Scripture’s repeated teaching that the just shall live by faith, not only in this world, but in the world to come.  The saints are not the saviors of the present Christian, nor are they irrelevant relics of a forgotten past; rather, they are eternally living in the fulfillment of the gracious promise of redemption in Jesus Christ by faith, both examples and witnesses to every present generation.

 

We live in a peculiar age today, where the challenges of modernity constantly batter the foundations of the societies in which we live.  Those who wish to tear down the ideas and monuments of our past to create a new future, are often devoid of the concept that history is more than what is recorded in books—it is the living witness of those who have gone on before us.  The world we live into today we have inherited, not by our own power or intelligence or sense of self-worth, but by the grace of God who breathed into us life, and ordained us for our time and place.  So it was true for thousands of generations before us, and so it will be true until the end of time.  No one decides by their own power to be born, but rather is brought into being by the will and providence of God, working through parents as the means of such creative grace.  And every person whom God creates, God desires to have in His eternal fellowship, through the Gospel of salvation He offers in Jesus Christ; a Gospel not established by the will and power of men, but by the grace and love of God, who alone can take upon Himself the sin and death of the world, and offer in their place forgiveness and eternal life.  Such a gift cannot be earned, but only received by humble faith and repentance.

 

The life which emerges from faith and repentance, a love outflowing from the love God first gave to us, is manifested according to our vocations in our time and place.  The neighbors we are given to care for become our duty, first within our families, then within our communities by virtue of our office and work.  The saints show forth their examples of how to be loving and faithful fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers; leaders and followers, managers and laborers; doctors and lawyers, craftsmen and artists; soldiers and policemen, rescue workers and caregivers; pastors and laity, missionaries and teachers; and every shade of calling in between.  Our duty is clearly shown to us by the need of the neighbors given to our care according to our callings and livelihoods, and the saints give us example of how to live faithfully and lovingly in a fallen world.

 

And yet, the saints are more than just examples—they are alive by grace through faith in Christ alone, living in the presence of the omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God, sharing blessed communion with both God and the Church in every age.  Those who have gone before us in faith, are now as we will be, when our short time of struggle and trail is over.  And while there may be however many billions of souls upon the planet at this moment, the heavenly host of saints and martyrs, prophets and apostles, and all the orders of the holy angels, gathered in from the foundation of the world, vastly outnumber our present moment.  If time would fail the author of Hebrews to recount only the lives of heroic saints set down in the canon of holy Scripture, consider how much more daunting it would be to recount the lives of every saintly parent and child, worker and leader, pastor and parishioner, who has lived in the last several thousand years.  The heavenly banquet hall is brimming with far more saints than we have revealed to us, or that are remembered in the annals of history.  To us in our present moment, these brave souls may be forgotten, but there, no one is forgotten, as it is God Himself who writes our names in His Book of Life, and gathers His people into His eternal Kingdom where the bonds of fellowship are never forgotten, and never broken.  No matter how extended our circles of family and friends are in this present moment, those circles are exponentially and unfathomably larger in world to come.

 

These are our witnesses, who cheer us on to lives of heroic faith and love in our time and place; who testify by their very presence to the goodness and graciousness of Almighty God.  These are they who have run their race before us, and rest in the fulfilled promises in which we now hope.  These are our brothers and sisters in Christ, who encourage us to endure and persevere in this short time we are given, knowing that when we join their heavenly choir not many days hence, our voices will join with theirs in eternal songs of victory, praise, and joy, all for Jesus’ sake.  Here we see only dimly what then we shall see with perfect clarity, as the fullness of what we were created to be is brought forth in us, and joined to the infinite beauty and variety of the People of God.

 

Let not your hearts be troubled by the shadows and vanities of our age.  The saints continue their witness, as Jesus continues His presence among us, by His Word and Spirit calling us to eternal lives marked by faith, hope, and love, and ultimately into the fullness of that fellowship where joy shall know no end.  Thanks be to our eternal and saving God, now and forever!  Amen.