Christ's Death vs. Our Trials

May 18th, 2026
by Lance Waldie

Hebrews 12:3-4 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.

The author of Hebrews is admonishing his audience to “run with endurance the race that is set before us” (12:1)—the “race” (Gr. agon) being the Christian life itself, at times filled with agonizing hurdles. Two vital tactics for effectively running the Christian race are, first, to “lay aside every encumbrance,” and second, to “lay aside the sin which so easily entangles us.” Encumbrances are those habits that are not sinful in and of themselves but that tend to weigh Christians down—from too much TV to social media to busyness to leisure, etc. These should be controlled by Christians, not be controlling over Christians. But of course the sin that easily entangles us must be repented of and shunned for faithfully completing our Christian race. For that is what the race is—a task to be completed and to completed faithfully. It is not a race whereby Christians compete with each other; it is a race of faithfulness from birth to death.

The author’s immediate audience were Hebrews (aka, Israelites, Jews) who came to know Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah, or Christ. They therefore had converted from Judaism to Christianity. In so doing, they not only invited criticism from their fellow Hebrews who had not converted, they incurred threats of death from the Roman Empire who, from time to time, viewed Christians as enemies of the state.

As with most new Christians, the Hebrew Christians experienced many early joys in knowing Christ as Lord and God. The truth of the gospel had set them free, and they wanted everyone they knew to experience their same joy. But then reality set in, and their joy was put to the test by the trials they began to endure in the agon, the race. Old friendships were lost, family bonds were shaken, jobs were lost, and marriages whereby only one partner converted and which were stressed contributed to these Hebrew Christians questioning whether their conversion was worth it all. Added to that, it became clear to all that following Christ did not shield them from all the common frailties of life like ongoing illness, infirmities, and death.

All of these issues are what motivated the author of Hebrews to put pen to paper in order to encourage his beat-down brethren. While some of them were still in the race faithfully slugging it out, some were lagging far behind, and some it seems had quit the race altogether and were standing on the sidelines completely out of breath and with little or no motivation to re-enter. They were like many Christians today: downtrodden, depressed, disappointed, tired, and wondering if following Christ is truly worth the struggle.

In vv. 3-4, the writer first compares the “author and perfecter of faith,” Jesus, who “for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame” with the Hebrews audience. Jesus’ race was truly the worst of the worst, for He endured the worst that mankind could dish out, and He ultimately endured the wrath of God for the payment of man’s sin (cf. John 19:30; 2 Cor. 5:21). As a result, Jesus “sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (v. 3). He endured hatred, scorn, torture, and death. In comparison to Jesus, the author of Hebrews in v. 4 says, “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.” So while Jesus endured the worst of the worst, his audience wasn’t really even in the same ballpark. In other words, life for us may be difficult at times, but it’s never as bad as it could be.

Food For Thought
Complaining today about how unfair life is? Playing the victim? Consider all that Jesus endured. He is our model. Since we’re still alive, we can keep on running our race. Faithfully.