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“Look beyond the mountains to the One who made the mountains
Look beyond the raging sea to the glorious horizon that awaits you
Look beyond the problem to the One who is the solution to the problem
Look beyond this squalid evil world to the heavenly country which awaits you
Look beyond every difficulty, every hardship, every form of suffering, to the day when you will be free from all these things
Look beyond the arguments of men to the wisdom of the Almighty God
Look beyond whatever is facing you.

Look beyond

Look beyond the wonders of creation to the One whose genius created it
Look beyond the starlit sky to the One who designed the galaxies
Look beyond the brevity of life on earth to the One who inhabits eternity
Look beyond the grave to the One who is the resurrection and the life
Look beyond your weaknesses, failures and sins to the One who paid the price for them all at Calvary.

Look beyond.”

www.davidpetts.org/look-beyond

Looking to Jesus

Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Therefore – Because of all the people in the previous chapter who lived by faith who were looking forward to a greater reward than anything here on earth.

Hebrews 11:10

⁸ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹ By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰  For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Hebrews 11:13-16

¹³ All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. ¹⁴ People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Hebrews 11:24-26

²⁴ By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. ²⁵ He chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

This is the context of the ‘therefore’ at the beginning of chapter 12. Because of these people who lived by faith, because of their faith in something more, because of their looking beyond the current battle, problem, scenario.

And since we are surrounded by these witnesses let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.

Everything that hinders. What might that be for us today? What hinders you from looking beyond? What makes you look down rather than up? Or around rather than beyond? What is there around you that contradicts the gospel, the good news that Jesus is on the throne, and he has a plan for the salvation of his children, a plan that was written before even the world was founded? What hinders you?

And what sin so easily entangles you? There is no judgement here. The word ‘easily’ means you didn’t go out of your way to sin. It just slipped in. The next line talks about running the race. You can’t run life’s marathon with sin around your ankles. Throw it off!

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

This is the ultimate way of ‘looking beyond.’ Jesus is the name above every other name. He is seated at the highest place, exalted there by God the Father. You cannot look any higher than Jesus. Let us look to him in our difficulties, in whatever circumstances or internal battles we are going through. Look to Jesus. Fix your eyes on him.

There is determination in that word, ‘fix’. It’s not a glance. It’s not a daily morning devotional. It’s a continuous fixing. Like Peter walking on the water, when he took his eyes off Jesus and saw the waves he began to sink. Let us keep our eyes fixed on him. He is the pioneer and perfector of faith. How?

For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus himself looked beyond. He saw beyond the cross. He endured it, scorning its shame, because he saw the joy on the other side.

And we too must take up our own cross.

Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

As we fix our eyes on Jesus we can look beyond the cross that he bore and see him exalted in heaven, resurrected, glorified and coming again. But we can also look beyond our own crosses, for there is great joy set before us too. Abraham was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God (11:10).

In fact, all these people in chapter 11

 were longing for a better country – a heavenly one (11:16).

And

²⁴ By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. ²⁵ He chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

Let us too look beyond whatever we see around us, knowing the reward is great. Next time we will consider how we might fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen (2 Corinthians 4).