“Where there is no Vision..”

“The Race for Eternal Life” is a phrase well known to the brotherhood and one well founded in the Word, particularly the writings of Paul.*

The principles involved in this Race are indeed profound and worthy of much consideration in these last days as the Race nears its completion for both the victor and the drop-out.

Paul while in Corinth on more than one occasion would have observed the Isthmian Games, second only in greatness to the Olympic Games for the sport-minded Mediterranean countries.

The games were the symbol of man’s greatest achievement at that time. Months and years were spent in arduous and sometimes tortuous training and practice; all aimed at receiving the crown (STEPHANOS–coronal wreath) of laurel leaves as the emblem of that supreme achievement. The runner in the games ran naked in order to minimize weight and drag and so increase his speed. Women therefore were refused admittance as spectators. The victor in the race was given a “ticket” on the town and permitted to enjoy his lusts and desires with virtually no restrictions.

This great event provided an appropri­ate illustration for the Apostle, guided by the Spirit, to contrast the different appli­cation of similar principles to the Eccle­sia in the Race for eternal life.

“Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate (self-controlled) in all things”. There in 1 Cor. 9:25 Paul alludes to the “Games”, as the word “mastery” means. The “striveth” indicates “to agonize (Grk AGONIZOMAI) and expresses the agony associated with a fatigued runner forcing his aching and almost numbed muscle fibres to continue struggling on toward the crown of victory. This pain and agony often led to the strong bodies of mighty runners dropping dead at the completion of the course. So grueling was this race for victory.

“Now,” say the Apostle, “they do it to obtain a corruptible crown”, a mere wreath of laurel leaves that faded and died (like the Hower of the field, Isa. 40:6-7) within two or three days of it being placed on the winner’s head. All that labor was wrought for so ephemeral a reward. “But we an incorruptible (crown)”. An unfading, everlasting standard of “victory through faith”, pictured in symbol in the Apocalypse as “crowns of gold” upon the heads of the Priests of the Age to come. (Rev. 4:4) “I therefore so run”, says Paul, “not as uncertainly” (Grk ADELOS, not manifest), that is, not without vision, faith and conviction. When the contender in the Games left the starting blocks, he ran, not being able to see the end of the course, nor knowing if his own strength would carry him to the end of the race. Paul with Vision and Faith ran in Yahweh’s strength and grace “toward the prize of the high calling” (Phil. 3:13-14)…

Israel as a nation had lost the Race to the promised inheritance through lack of vision and faith. The Spirit refers to them as an example, or “type,” in the following chapter: “For they were overthrown (Grk CATASTRONOMY, a ca­tastrophy) in the wilderness” (1 Cor. 10:5). Well said the wise King of Israel, “Where there is no VISION, the people perish” (Pros’. 29:18).

Paul further states, “Now all these things happened unto them for examples (margin, “types”) and they are written for our admonition” (v. 11), but the Corinthian Ecclesia also “fell”, failing to appreciate the same principles in their Race for inheritance.

Again the Apostle draws out attention to the “runner” in his epistle to the Hebrews (his authorship of which is stronghold vindicated). In chapter 11 is presented that great exhibition of “FAITH in action” among Yahweh’s servants, “by faith” being attributed to fifteen names, not counting “Gedeon, Barak, Samson. Jephthae, David, Samuel and the prophets ( 32). These were all contenders in the Race for eternal inheritance.

Chapter 12 follows with the words, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses (the “martyrs” of ch. II —as spectators in our race), let us lay aside (an expression denoting the laying aside of clothes for physical activity– Acts 7:58) the sin which doth so easily beset us (Grk EUPERISTATOS, to surround one, like the garment) and let us run with patience (James 1:3-4) the RACE (Grk AGONA, the race course, arena track) that is set (marked out) before us”. This verse thus deals with the application of faith to the race, of putting down “the lusts and desires” of the flesh that would draw away the mind from the race, causing one to quit and “fall” by the wayside and to give up the fight of “patience” and of suffering. The “witnesses” or “martyrs” means those who have suffered unto death for the Hope that is before them (Grk MARTUS) . This does not mean that they suffered a violent execution at death, as such was not the case with many of the mentioned faithful. Rather does it illustrate that they refused to give in to the weakness of the flesh, proving that they had “presented their bodies as a living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1). “mortifying (putting to the death) their members which are upon the earth” (Col. 3:5). They heralded the Race of the faithful contenders in Christ, that we with them may bring to perfection (maturity) the true “ecclesia of the firstborns which are written in heaven” (Heb. 11:40; 12:23).

Hebrews 12:2 now deals with the second aspect of the race, the VISION; “looking unto Jesus, the author (margin, the beginner or chief leader, one who has completed the race) and finisher (Grk TELEIOTES, to bring to maturity and completion) of our faith, Who for the Joy that was set before Him endured the stake, despising the shame (of nakedness and ignominy) and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”. Without this vision of joy set clearly in his mind’s eye, Christ could not have finished the race of which he was the “beginner”. Yet this vision that was before him was no abstract and uncertain wish for something he desired with no positive basis. His vision of joy was that of the glory of his Father’s Kingdom, when his “Bride”, the Eccle­sia, would share that glory’ with him. This was his heart’s desire, as his beautiful prayer in John 17 testifies.

This vision is made up of a clear and intelligent understanding of the “Hope that is within us”, which in turn rests in an accurate understanding of the prophecies of the Word of Truth. We must be able to translate words into pictures to set before us the Glory of Zion and the grandeur of the Age to come, where we. as King-Priests, shall live and reign with Christ Jesus as “victors” over sin and death. Such visions of glory are seen in word-pictures in the Apocalypse, where each section of historical fulfillment is preceded with such a vision for the eccle­sia at that time (chapters 1, 4, 5, 7, 10. 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22).

We are living in the very eve of Christ’s return, and as such are almost upon the finishing line of the Race. As in the natural race where the running is harder, more tiring and more demanding near the end, so is it also in the spiritual Race. The “vision” today, because of the pressures of this flesh-ridden world, is not as brightly shining before the ecclesia as it was at the beginning of the Race. There is, therefore, a need for close attention and meditation upon the “Glory of Yahweh which shall fill the earth”, that the “vision” fail not from our eyes, for ”He which testifieth of these things saith, Surely I come quickly”. May we with all confidence and dedication declare as our beloved brother Paul did to Timothy, “I have fought a good fight (contest), I have finished my course (race) . . . henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me in that day .. . and To all that have Loved his appearance”.