A Great Cloud of Witnesses

1
A Great Cloud of Witnesses

• Jesus and theHeroes of Faith

2
The Heroes of Faith

• Abel
• Enoch
• Noah
• Abraham
• Sarah

• Isaac
• Jacob
• Joseph
• Moses
• Various Others

3
An Interesting Passage

• Hebrews 121-3
• Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of
  witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside
  every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily
  entangles us, and let us run with endurance the
  race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on
  Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for
  the joy set before

4
An Interesting Passage

• Hebrews 121-3 (Contd)
• ...Him endured the cross, despising the shame,
  and has sat down at the right hand of the throne
  of God. For consider Him who has endured such
  hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you
  may not grow weary and lose heart.

5
Why Is This Interesting?

• It almost seems out of place!
• He says look at Jesus, not look at all these
  examples
• What is the relationship?

6
Foreshadowing

• One of the most amazing things about the Bible is
  how it all fits together
• These heroes of faith are a foreshadow of the
  Messiah
• When we look at them, we dont see the examples,
  we see Jesus!

7
The Heroes of Faith

• Abel
• Enoch
• Noah
• Abraham
• Sarah

• Isaac
• Jacob
• Joseph
• Moses
• Various Others

8
Abel A Better Sacrifice

• Hebrews 1010
• By this will we have been sanctified through the
  offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for
  all.

9
Abel A Better Sacrifice

• Hebrews 1224
• and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,
  and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better
  than the blood of Abel.

10
Abel The Righteous

• Acts 314-15
• But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One, and
  asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but
  put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God
  raised from the dead, a fact to which we are
  witnesses.

11
Abel The Righteous

• Acts 752-53
• Which one of the prophets did your fathers not
  persecute? And they killed those who had
  previously announced the coming of the Righteous
  One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now
  become you who received the law as ordained by
  angels, and yet did not keep it.

12
Abel The Righteous

• Acts 2214-15
• And he said, The God of our fathers has
  appointed you to know His will, and to see the
  Righteous One, and to hear an utterance from His
  mouth. For you will be a witness for Him to all
  men of what you have seen and heard.

13
Abel Still Speaks

• Hebrews 11-2
• God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in
  the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
  in these last days has spoken to us in His Son,
  whom He appointed heir of all things, through
  whom also He made the world.

14
Abel Still Speaks

• 2 Corinthians 133
• since you are seeking for proof of the Christ
  who speaks in me, and who is not weak toward you,
  but mighty in you.

15
The Heroes of Faith

• Abel
• Enoch
• Noah
• Abraham
• Sarah

• Isaac
• Jacob
• Joseph
• Moses
• Various Others

16
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Enoch
• Noah
• Abraham
• Sarah

• Isaac
• Jacob
• Joseph
• Moses
• Various Others

17
Enoch Taken Up By God

• Acts 224-27
• And God raised Him up again, putting an end to
  the agony of death, since it was impossible for
  Him to be held in its power. For David says of
  Him, I was always beholding the Lord in my
  presence for He is at my right hand, that I may
  not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and...

18
Enoch Taken Up By God

• Acts 224-27 (Contd)
• ...my tongue exulted moreover my flesh also
  will abide in hope Because Thou wilt not abandon
  my soul to hades, nor allow Thy Holy One to
  undergo decay.

19
Enoch Taken Up By God

• Acts 19-11
• And after He had said these things, He was
  lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud
  received Him out of their sight. And as they were
  gazing intently into the sky while He was
  departing, behold, two men in white clothing
  stood beside them...

20
Enoch Taken Up By God

• Acts 19-11 (Contd)
• ...and they also said, Men of Galilee, why do
  you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who
  has been taken up from you into heaven, will come
  in just the same way as you have watched Him go
  into heaven.

21
Enoch Pleased God

• Matthew 317
• and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying,
  This is My beloved Son, in whom I am
  well-pleased.

22
Enoch Pleased God

• Matthew 175
• While he was still speaking, behold, a bright
  cloud overshadowed them and behold, a voice out
  of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son,
  with whom I am well-pleased listen to Him!

23
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Enoch
• Noah
• Abraham
• Sarah

• Isaac
• Jacob
• Joseph
• Moses
• Various Others

24
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Noah
• Abraham
• Sarah

• Isaac
• Jacob
• Joseph
• Moses
• Various Others

25
Noah Prepared Salvation

• 1 Peter 320-22
• who once were disobedient, when the patience of
  God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the
  construction of the ark, in which a few, that is,
  eight persons, were brought safely through the
  water. And corresponding to that, baptism now
  saves you...

26
Noah Prepared Salvation

• ...-- not the removal of dirt from the flesh,
  but an appeal to God for a good conscience--
  through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is
  at the right hand of God, having gone into
  heaven, after angels and authorities and powers
  had been subjected to Him.

27
Noah Righteous by Faith

• Romans 83-4
• For what the Law could not do, weak as it was
  through the flesh, God did sending His own Son
  in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an
  offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
  in order that the requirement of the Law might be
  fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the
  flesh, but according to the Spirit.

28
Noah Righteous by Faith

• Romans 106-10
• But the righteousness based on faith speaks
  thus that if you confess with your mouth Jesus
  as Lord, and believe in your heart that God
  raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved for
  with the heart man believes, resulting in
  righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses,
  resulting in salvation.

29
Noah Righteous by Faith

• Philippians 38-11
• More than that, I count all things to be loss in
  view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ
  Jesus my Lord not having a righteousness of my
  own derived from the Law, but that which is
  through faith in Christ,...

30
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Noah
• Abraham
• Sarah

• Isaac
• Jacob
• Joseph
• Moses
• Various Others

31
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Abraham
• Sarah

• Isaac
• Jacob
• Joseph
• Moses
• Various Others

32
Abraham An Alien

• Matthew 820
• And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes,
  and the birds of the air have nests but the Son
  of Man has nowhere to lay His head.

33
Abraham An Alien

• Philippians 25-8
• Have this attitude in yourselves which was also
  in Christ Jesus emptied Himself, taking the form
  of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness
  of men.

34
Abraham Offered His Son

• Offered His Only Son
• Mentions The Resurrection
• The Son of Promise

35
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Abraham
• Sarah

• Isaac
• Jacob
• Joseph
• Moses
• Various Others

36
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Sarah

• Isaac
• Jacob
• Joseph
• Moses
• Various Others

37
Sarah She Believed

• Luke 141-45
• And it came about when Elizabeth heard Marys
  greeting, And blessed is she who believed that
  there would be a fulfillment of what had been
  spoken to her by the Lord.

38
Sarah She Conceived

• Who Do You Think OfWhen You Think Of
  AMiraculous Birth?
• Who Had A ChildWhen It Was PhysicallyImpossible?

39
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Sarah

• Isaac
• Jacob
• Joseph
• Moses
• Various Others

40
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus

• Isaac
• Jacob
• Joseph
• Moses
• Various Others

41
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus

• Jesus
• Jacob
• Joseph
• Moses
• Various Others

42
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Joseph
• Moses
• Various Others

43
Joseph The Exodus

• Luke 930-31
• And behold, two men were talking with Him and
  they were Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in
  glory, were speaking of His departure which He
  was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

44
Joseph His Bones

• Joseph Did Not WantHis Bones Left InEgypt.
• But Whose Bones WereNot Left BehindAnywhere?

45
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Joseph
• Moses
• Various Others

46
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Moses
• Various Others

47
Moses Hidden As A Child

• Matthew 213-15
• Now when they had departed Arise and take the
  Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt for
  Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy
  Him....

48
Moses Refused Treasures

• Matthew 48-10
• Again, the devil took Him and showed Him all
  the kingdoms of the world, and their glory You
  shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him
  only.

49
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Moses
• Various Others

50
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Various Others

51
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus

52
The Heroes of Faith

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus

• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus
• Jesus

There Is No One Else