"1Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."
Hebrews 12:1-2
If the 'cloud of witnesses' speak of the possibilities of faith, and the words 'let us run....' of the challenge of faith, then 'looking unto Jesus' is the inspiration of faith and for faith. In saying this the Apostle is simply underlining what he has been saying throughout the entire epistle - his whole concern has been simply to fix his readers' attention on the excellency and sufficiency of Christ. But it is important to realise that he is doing more than pointing to Christ as a great Example - he is setting before us the finished work of Christ, His death, resurrection and ascension, as the ultimate source of faith and its only true continuance and development. In the Greek, the words are arranged thus: "looking unto the author and finisher of faith, Jesus Who...." The placing of the words is important. You cannot separate in the verse what He did from what He is. It is Christ in His Person and Work Who is the author of faith, and therefore 'looking unto Jesus' is not to look at the life of Jesus as an example to be followed so much as coming to a fountain of living water and drinking deeply, drawing from, the finished work of Christ supplies of virtue and power sufficient to keep us steadfast and unmovable day by day. This is how the Christian life both begins and continues, not by the doubtful inspiration of a historical figure taken as an example, but by coming in contact (by the 'look' of faith) with a living dynamic that renews and transforms life. As the old, old hymn says, 'There is life for a look at the Crucified One'.