Hebrews 11-13

“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (12:1-2). Hebrews tells us that Jesus is our sacrifice, our high priest, and our model in the life of faith. Just as he endured the cross because of “the joy set before him” (12:1), we also should “endure hardship as discipline” (12:7). God is “treating us as his children” and training us in strength and maturity (7-13) just as he did our spiritual ancestors (ch 11).

Hardship does not mean we are distant from God. Through Jesus we are citizens of “Mount Zion, the city of the living God” (12:22), children of an unshakeable kingdom (12:28).