Ancient history is never quite as far removed from our present as we might like to think. As part of the Ancient History course at my school, one of the ancient civilizations that I studied and quickly grew fascinated by was the iconic city of Pompeii – and in particular, its architecture. One key fact about Pompeii: along its north wall, overlooking the flat terrain where the city was most vulnerable, was built in 12 watch towers for defense. In each, a guard would have kept watch over the area, immediately alerting other soldiers if they detected an incoming attack.
For all its importance back then, we don’t typically have guard posts or watch towers anymore, but its premise still remains relevant and vital, especially for the Christian teen.
If we open Hebrews 12:3, “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart,” we might not spot anything even remotely related to watchtowers at first. Instead, when we consider the entire passage from verses 1-3, the author of the Hebrews is instructing us as Christians to run the race of our faith with “perseverance”, taking Christ Himself as our model so that “you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Yet wait. Linger at that word ‘perseverance’ with me. To persevere, according to our own knowledge, is to persist with something over a course of time, usually despite difficulties and discomfort. For me, I strongly associate perseverance with my recently completed HSC exams – I quickly found that the hardest part was not in fact the studying part, but to press on studying even when I’ve already lost all willpower and motivation, or even when I’ve just completed an exam completely below my expectations.
The Watch Tower
While the cost of not persevering would have been my ATAR (pretty important!), what was the consequence of failing to persevere for our old friends, the guards of those long ago watch towers? What happened if, let’s say the soldiers stationed on posts along the city’s borders got distracted, or fell asleep at their post? Likely, the city would fall, being unable to prepare a defense in time. The matter of guarding one’s post thus becomes a matter of life-and-death. Likewise, in Hebrews, God has entrusted us to guard our faith just as zealously. Yes, as Christians we have already been justified at the moment of our repentance – but this is only where the struggle starts, to hold onto and live out that faith despite what the world says. And just like those ancient guards, this is a serious matter concerning eternal life and death itself. How much more crucial could this duty be?
How to Keep Watch
The wonderful thing about Christianity is that the Commander who has sent us out on this mission is also our Father, who equips and provides abundantly exactly what we need to carry out this duty.
- Our Cloud of Witnesses
Why did Pompeii have those twelve towers, all within sight of each other? Why didn’t they just have the one? Not only did this allow them to alert each other and work together in the case of an incoming attack, but each guard could keep watch where the other couldn’t.
As Hebrews 1 reveals, we too are not alone in guarding our posts – in fact, we are “surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses” – those who have come before us and will come behind us. What this means for us is that our struggles are not unprecedented or unheard of. Even those giants of faith like Abraham, Moses, David, the apostles battled the same mundane, ordinary temptations that we faced – Paul’s “thorn in his flesh”, Moses’ hesitation, Abraham’s fear – so we can find comfort in the fact that they have won the race- not out of their own merit or strength, but because of God’s faithfulness. We do not suffer alone, but we triumph over these obstacles together.
In Christ, we are not only fellow soldiers, but brothers and sisters despite our different backgrounds, life stories, and even despite not being together in person. Like those guards, we watch and warn of each other’s blind spots through loving rebuke and reminder, we pray for each other, forgive each other, and ultimately we “build each other up” (1 Thess 5:11).
- Surely, I Will Be With You
I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not easy – but God never promised it would be. What He did promise is that:
- “I will be with you even to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20)
- “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble…The Lord of hosts is with us” (Psalms 46:1, 7a)
- “We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses…let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)
Be careful of Satan’s trap: to make us, in the words of the hymn ‘What A Friend We Have In Jesus,’ forfeit the peace we have been given and bear needless pain by forgetting or refusing to carry everything to God in prayer and supplication.
Press On
From our guard posts, we can only ever have a limited vantage point. We can see across the fields perhaps – enough to spot any approaching enemy – but we can’t ever see the full picture. In times of peace, we may begin to doubt whether it’s worth it to keep guarding this post. This is the danger that so many Christians face, particularly those who have served Christ wholeheartedly and genuinely for so many years but eventually burn out. They lose sight of our initial calling, mission, objective – to guard our own faith.
Yet isn’t that the nature of faith? – “being sure about what we hope for, being convinced about things we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1) This doesn’t mean that our faith is blind. We have faith because we have seen empirical evidence that the God we put our faith in is to be trusted – He’s already proved it in that wonderful, astounding miracle that is the cross and the resurrection.
For the Year 12s reading this, I hope we all enjoy and live life after school to the fullest, no matter where our respective paths lead us – but most crucially, I implore all of us to keep guarding the post God has entrusted us with. This is the one thing that will never change despite the tumult we may find our lives in, the sufferings and temptations that seem to grow stronger with every passing day.
So like the Evangelist instructing the persevering Christian in John Bunyan’s allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress, “Keep that Light in your eye”. The world may have shiny things too – the promise of a materialistic success, the world’s sweet validation – but these are fool’s gold that with time, will brittle and crumble and ultimately fail us. Instead, let us fix our eyes on this eternal, inexhaustible joy set before us, “that those who come behind us find us faithful, obedient to the end.”
Remember our calling, and remember the promise.
The finish line is just up ahead.
