Witnesses

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so a great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and fiinisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
Hebrews 12: 1-3 NKJV

My friend calls it being assured "From the bleachers."  There is a moment where someone is given that assurance, either through others or through His word, of our Lords provision and presence in our lives.  For such is Gods word spoken into our hearts.  For me, it came in a conversation with a friend of my mother.  For some time I had struggled with thoughts of whether my mother had been proud of her son.  Of course, she had told me this on numerous occasions.  This, however, was confirmation of all that I probably should have known already.  One thing that I can definately learn from this is that our fears and doubts often interfere with what our Lord is trying to speak to us.  For me, my mother often spoke of how proud she was of me, yet somehow I needed confirmation of this.  Is it not heeding Gods voice, or our own flesh and desires that interferes with God speaking into our hearts?   Whatever it is, our Lord does not hesitate to speak to us what we often so need to hear.  What of that person who is struggling with pain of grief?  In their despair, they may not hear the words which God is trying to tell them.  I know this because I was there.  Despite my mother taking every opportunity to tell me how proud she was of me, I still questioned this at times in my heart.

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to  us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as Hhe has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Hebrews 1: 1-4 NKJV

Those very witnesses who have gone before us have heard Gods word spoken into their hearts.  Abraham, Noah, Moses and Mary, being told of the birth of the Christ child whom she would bear.  It is no different for us even today, that great cloud of witnesses still surrounds us.  Be it family or loved ones who have passed on, or others whom we may  not even have known.  Our Lords reach is not so short that He cannot speak to us today as He has to others in the past.  Are we listening?  Of course, even if we are not, God will find a way to speak what He needs to.

"There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day, but there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich mans table.  Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.  So it was that the beggar died, and was acrried by thhe angels to Abraham's bosom.  The rich man also died and was buried.  And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bossom.  Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.'  "But  Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.  'And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.'  "Then he said, 'I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my fathers house, 'for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.'  "Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.'  "And he said, 'No father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'  "But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.' "
Luke 15: 19-31 NKJV

I find it interesting here in Luke 15: 19 that the rich man that Jesus speaks of is attempting to negotiate with Abraham for the salvation of his own family.  Self preservation has gone out the window here.  Notice the point here in Hebrews 12:1 as compared to the parable of Jesus here in Luke 15.  For in Hebrews we are told of the great "Cloud of witnesses" who have gone on before us.  They have finished their race.  However, here in Luke 15, the rich man Jesus speaks of seeks to prevent his family from the mistakes which he had made in life.  One interesting verse occurs in Luke 15:31.  Here, in response to the rich mans claim that his family would be persuaded should one who has passed on visit them from the dead, Jesus perhaps makes a prediction of the future.  "But he said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded should one rise from the dead."  How true is this?  For even today, there are those who have not been persuaded despite one HAVING been raised from the dead!

~Scott~