² looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Although chapter 11 set forth a long list of those who walked by faith, Jesus is the ultimate example.

² looking unto Jesus,

The idea of “looking” is to both look away and look to something. This is focused concentration on something. It excludes anything that might distract us from our goal. Jesus is the supreme model for endurance. He is the goal, the One on whom we are to fix our eyes. The Greek words for “looking to” imply definite looking away from anything other than Jesus as our primary goal. An athlete who takes her eye off the goal will not gain victory. The point is that when a believer takes his eyes off the target, then he goes off course. This slows his walk with the Lord.

“Jesus” is the name for our Lord’s humanity. We are to look at the human example Jesus set for us. The human Jesus experienced trials and adversity that we encounter.

the author [captain, pioneer]

“Author” suggests that Jesus pioneered how Christians should exercise their faith persistently. He is the Leader of our faith. He is the ultimate Pioneer on how to walk by faith (He 2:10). He is the Pathfinder or Trailblazer of walking by faith.

and finisher of our faith,

“Finisher” means that Jesus arrived at the destiny of successfully walking by faith. He walked the path of faith from the beginning to the end. Jesus manifested faith in its fullest form. His life was the perfect realization of walking by faith. Jesus finished successfully His course of living by faith.

Faith finds its perfect representation in Him. Jesus finished well. He is the perfecter of our faith, who brings it to a triumphant completion. He is the supreme model of our faith. He is our pre-eminent example of how to live by faith. Jesus carried faith to its conclusion. He finished His life of faith through the crucifixion, resurrection, and exaltation. He did everything necessary to pay for our sin. Our experiences may be wonderful, but only Jesus could bring to a conclusion what was essential for our salvation.

The two terms “author” and “finisher” span the whole range of experiences Jesus encountered. He both gives the capacity to live by faith and completes it.

PRINCIPLE:

Jesus set the example for the entire range of experiences we encounter.

APPLICATION:

There is one absolute condition of victory—look to Jesus. The heroes of chapter 11 are examples of those who walk by faith, but Jesus is the one absolute example to whom we look. Jesus set the pace of how we should conduct our walk of faith. He is the supreme example of walking by faith.

Since Jesus is who He is, we can look to Him during times of duress (2 Ti 1:12).