The Great Cloud of Witnesses – Hebrews 11 | Video Devotion with Dave Miers
Nov 24, 2025 6317
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Spiritual Weariness
How do you keep going when you’re tired?
Not just physically tired. Spiritually tired. When following Jesus feels costly, when the promises of God seem distant, when you’re tempted to just drift away.
The original readers of Hebrews were facing exactly that. They’d already endured persecution, public insult, and the seizure of their property. And now the pressure was building again. Some were thinking about giving up on Jesus.
How does the author help them in Hebrews 11?
He gives them witnesses.
Hebrews 11 is an incredible chapter.
Let me remind you of the warning at the end of chapter 10, from verse 35
[35] Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. [36] For you have need of endurance…” (Hebrews 10:35–36a ESV)
What Is Faith?
Before we meet the witnesses, we need to know what faith actually is. What is faith?
Look at the definition in Hebrews 11:1
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV)
David Peterson puts it like this in his commentary: “Faith gives substance to the hope that God has set before us, enabling us to live in its light.”
Faith is not just wishful thinking; it is a trust and dependence upon God, grounded in God’s dependable character and certain promises. Faith is trusting that God, even in the absence of sight, will keep his promises.
The Witnesses Line Up
And then the chapter unfolds. One by one, witnesses step forward – all of them an example of faith, those looking ahead to what God promised.
Noah builds an ark. By faith, he looked ahead to judgment he couldn’t yet see. Look at verse 7: “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.”
Then comes Abraham. By faith, he looked ahead to a city he would never build. Verse 10 says, “For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”
Along with Abraham, we hear about Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob – they too lived the same way. By faith, they looked ahead to promises they would never hold in this life. Here’s verse 13: “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” (ESV)
They were looking for something better. As verse 16 says, “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”
Then there’s Moses, who by faith looked ahead to a great reward. In verses 26 and 27, it says of Moses, “He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.”
And the list goes on as we’ll unpack this week.
All of them, in one way or another, were looking ahead. They were living by faith. All of them trusting God’s promises about a future they couldn’t yet see.
They Were All Waiting
Here’s the conclusion. Look at verses 39-40:
[39] And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, [40] since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39–40 ESV)
They were all waiting. Waiting for Jesus. They glimpsed him from afar and greeted him across the centuries. But they didn’t receive the fullness of what God had promised.
The Good News Is…
The good news is that what these faithful witnesses longed to see has now arrived. Jesus has come. We stand, along with the original recipients of the book of Hebrews, in an even more privileged position than Abraham, Sarah, Moses, and all those who lived by faith in the promises of God, because Jesus has come!
Abel’s sacrifice pointed to Christ’s perfect offering.
Abraham’s willingness to offer Isaac foreshadowed God not sparing his own Son.
Moses’ choosing reproach found its meaning in Jesus enduring the cross.
All of these Old Testament saints were ultimately perfected together with us through Jesus’ blood. They’ve entered the city they longed for – not apart from us, but with us, because of what Jesus has done in his life, death, and resurrection.
The example of the witnesses lined up in chapter 11 spurs us on. We run the same race they ran – but with even greater confidence, as those who stand on the other side of the first coming of Christ.
Reflection
What examples of faith in the promises of God, whether in the bible or others you have met along the way, encourage you in your faith?
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