SOURCE FOR QUESTIONS
Hebrews 11:1 through 13:25

‍KEY VERSE FOR MEMORIZATION
“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, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

BACKGROUND

Hebrews was written to the Jewish Christians and was penned approximately A.D.70. The writer of Hebrews wanted to remind these people of the “great cloud of witnesses” that God had honored and helped under the old dispensation. These last three chapters of Hebrews reiterate the beginning of mankind and cover church history up to when the epistle was written. The writer created a “big picture” of the church age so these Christians could see where they fit in under the new and better dispensation. He admonished them not to be discouraged by their sufferings, but to look to Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith.

Hebrews 11 is the climax of the epistle. In it the writer reached the culmination of all he had to say. Prior to that chapter he had brought out the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament dispensations by unfolding their meanings step by step. Having shown how the old dispensation had fulfilled its mission, in this chapter he listed certain worthies who attained to what God had designed under that provision. They did this by faith in God and what He had said. These “witnesses” shone out like beacon lights, having proved the possibility of attaining God’s best even before Jesus was born.

Chapter 12 begins with a picture of an athlete running a race, giving a striking illustration of a Christian striving toward Heaven. The author wanted his readers to understand that they were not on a pleasure excursion or loitering on a promenade; they were not just filling time. They were engaged in a great contest. Then he proceeded to admonish them on how to endure and therefore succeed in their Christian lives.

QUESTIONS

1. Write Hebrews 11:1 in your own words. Then name some invisible items that you have faith in.
   
2. Hebrews 11:2 lets us know that by faith “the elders obtained a good report.” The word elders refers to the many believing individuals cited in this chapter. How did these people demonstrate their faith?
   
3. Where do “spiritual giants” come from? Consider those who have influenced you in your spiritual walk. What steps can we take to gain more faith and stability in our own lives?
   
4. Consider the key verse. What are some of the “weights” we may carry that hinder us?
   
5. Hebrews 12:5 mentions the “chastening of the Lord.” Such chastening may not be enjoyable, but it is very necessary. What encouragement did the writer give to the Hebrew Christians regarding these times of discipline from the Lord? Why is chastening necessary for us today?
   
6. What is being compared and contrasted in verses 18 through 29 of Hebrews 12? Why does the writer make this comparison?
   
7. Chapter 13 includes a number of practical applications. List three instructions the writer gives these Christians. How can we apply these in our day?
   
8. The writer warns of being carried away with “divers and strange doctrines” (Hebrews 13:9). In the world today, what might be some doctrines that would threaten the pure message of the Gospel?

CONCLUSION

Those who lived under the Old Testament dispensation caught glimpses of the age in which we live, but they died in faith, not having received the fullness of the Gospel because Jesus had not yet come. We have received the Gospel in its entirety. Their testimonies and examples of faith need to cause us to be complete and entire representatives of this dispensation of grace. We must “carry the torch” down the final stretch of God’s perfect plan for mankind to our Home in Heaven.