The Cloud

"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 set before us". Hebrews 12:1

This verse has become a great encouragement to me. The writer of Hebrews had just got done writing about many important, faithful, and active children of God. Hebrews chapter 11 is a long list and description of many different individuals from the Bible that played an important role in the history of God's people. Then beginning chapter 12, we have the verse listed above. The writer is making it known to the reader that they are in a long line of faithful people of God, and they must not only live in view of the history of God's people, but they must also let the history of God's people impact and drive them today. And the writer is making an important point still today in the 21st century. Not only does the church in 2016 have important Biblical people like Abraham and David, but there is still history since the book of Hebrews was written, important historical figures like Athanasius and Martin Luther, that are the cloud of great witness. The church today still must be encouraged, driven, and learned by the cloud of witness, both Biblical figures and more modern figures. And this is a great encouragement to me.

But this was not always the case for me. The third hurdle I had to get over was the hurdle that history and what it teaches is critically important and still vital for me today. So I came face to face with this reality at the same time I came face to face with the hard things I had to swallow and the truth about the community of saints.

I was 25 and I had just lost my job. The economy was starting to slow down and the construction company I was working for began to get slow. So on Halloween that year, I found out I no longer had a job. I had recently began serving in my church in leadership and had in fact preached my very first sermon in the church the summer before I lost my job. So there I was having a growing family, beginning to discover my gifts in the church, and now out of employment looking where I could turn. I began to look to God at this point, but I had no real depth of knowledge about God. I was asking God why did this happen, I began to get angry at God for letting this all happen, and I started to wonder what was next. That Christmas I received 2 gifts that would forever change my life, perspective of God, and understanding of history. I received a book entitled, "Knowledge of the Holy" and another book that was filled with sermons by Jonathan Edwards. As I sat around Christmas day, I soon discovered, from both of these historical works, that I had much to learn from God and much more I needed to learn about God. Through the writing of A.W. Tozer and Jonathan Edwards, my mind was blown wide open about who and what God is. I came face to face that winter with the reality that church history and works in Church history still had much to teach me today. Because of both of these works, my growth and journey has forever been changed.

And as a response to reading both of these works, I soon began to get a hold of anything I could find from the history of the church. I began to read Martin Luther, Augustine, more Edwards, Martin Lloyd Jones, the Puritans, and John Calvin. I studied men like Athanasius, John Knox, and Polycarp. I read about the Reformation, the Great Awakening, and the Missionary Movement of the last 200 years. Coming face to face with the history of the church, I soon discovered I had a lot to learn from men who were dead centuries before I was born. These were movements that are still felt today. These are theological struggles that are still around today. These are teachings that still matter today. And most important, these are men living in a world that I am still living in, dealing with the same sin and brokenness that I still deal with, and are teaching from the same Bible that I still read today. I soon discovered that my greatest teacher, outside of the Bible, was what Church history taught me about the Bible. And I had to clear this hurdle.

9 years later I no longer have to clear the hurdle of getting into, understanding, and loving what the history and cloud of witness teach me. I know turn to history as my greatest teacher. I use Calvin every week as I study the Bible. I turn to Athanasius when I need help on the Trinity. I look to Augustine to understand sin better. I read Edwards when I want to drink deep from God's depths. I let Luther speak into theological truths. And the Puritans make life with God that much more clear. Thanks to getting over this 3rd hurdle, I now love history more than ever. And History loves me more than ever as men and times still speak and teach me today. So the writer of Hebrews is right. We do live in view of a cloud of great witness, men who were faithful in some serious unfaithful times. The question that I have truly and deeply answered a yes on, is, do we let history still teach us today? If we don't, not only are we not clearing a hurdle that will drive our growth, but we are rejecting a Biblical truth from God Himself.