Hebrews 12.1-2:
Therefore, 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. (ESV)
We are exhorted to run our race fixing our eyes on Jesus. Verse 2 above gives us two reasons to do so. Namely, Jesus is the founder and perfecter of our faith. And these two reasons are linked together into one unified thought, with our faith as the inseparable catalyst that makes Jesus alive in us. Jesus as the founder of our faith means that He is the originator and author of our faith, the one who brings it all into being. To the point that without Jesus, and His work of redemption, we would have no basis of faith and we would not have the possibility of a relationship with God.
The Old Covenant, together with its Law and requirements of sacrificing certain animals as the payment for sin, did not work because of the children of Israel’s inability and failure to faithfully carry out this covenant in accordance with God’s requirements. That old sacrificial system was torn down when the Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 A.D., even though Jesus had previously made it all obsolete by His death on the cross. Jesus came to earth, born of a virgin, fully God, fully man, lived a sinless life, and was crucified on a cross as the once for all payment for the sin of the whole world. The suffering of Jesus on the cross established the new and final way for people to have their sins forgiven and enter into a right relationship with God. The sinless life, death, and resurrection of Jesus established the New Covenant and so He is the founder of this faith. We enter into this New Covenant by placing our faith in Jesus.