Friday, October 2 –
We come to the end of the workweek and continue reading in
the book of Hebrews. Today’s reading is
from one of the most familiar chapters in Scripture. The faith chapter is a historical look at people
of faith. We’ll read Hebrews 11:1 – 40,
but please come back after you’ve read the passage.
This is a great section of Scripture to both read and meditate on. In its context, the writer had just reminded
them that there was only one choice that lay before them – to put their trust
in Christ, their Savior, and Lord. After
admonishing them to have faith in Christ, the writer nows turns their attention
that anticipates the question, “what is faith?”
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of
things not seen” (11:1)
We begin at the end. Notice that faith
has to do with the invisible things – the things not seen. Faith is not sight, but anticipates seeing
fruit from a confidence in God – the assurance of things hoped for. All of the faith heroes he lists were people
who saw life beyond the immediate and lived as pilgrims. They knew there was a future beyond the life
they lived because of God. Living by
faith gives us a better chance to discern the present – convictions of
things not seen. Without faith,
people often think in terms of what is best at the moment, without considering
the future. Faith is a humble response
to God’s word and his promises.
The reality confronting the believers that were hesitating
in their faith was that their expectations were often immediate, and without
regard to God at work in their circumstances.
He tells them -
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw
near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him”
(11:6).
By the time we read those words, the author has already mentioned two heroes of
faith. Abel (11:4) wanted to please God
from his heart, and by faith offered gifts that God approved, instead of
choosing his own way. Enoch (11:5) is
one of only two in the Bible that had the kind of faith that so pleased God that
He delivered him from death – “God took him.”
He continues on examples of faith in Old Testament
saints: Noah (11:7), heard God warn of a
judgment to come in the flood, and by faith, built an Ark. While the world was destroyed, his family
survived and became the forerunners to God’s redemptive plan. Abraham heard God’s call to leave his country,
and he responded with faith that obeyed (11:8).
He didn’t know where God was leading him to go, but nevertheless, he
obeyed. When God led him to Canaan, he
heard God tell him that this land would be a promised land for His family for
the rest of time. At the time, Abraham
didn’t have a child! Yet he saw God’s
promise as an “assurance of things hoped for” (11:11-12). It was Abraham who saw into eternity and
believed God for a city God would build in heaven (11:10). Abraham’s faith was severely tested in
waiting for God’s promise to come to pass.
He lived in the land of Canaan for twenty-five years, and when Isaac was
born, Abraham was ninety-nine years old – Sarah was ninety! She laughed, and God said to Abraham, when
the child is born, name him “laughter” (Isaac).
The author pauses to make an important point about what it
means to have faith.
“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but
having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they
were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it
clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that
land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.
But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for
them a city” (11:13-16).
“These all died in faith, and never did receive the things promised, but
looked ahead and saw they would come to pass one day. They weren’t earthbound with their faith, but
saw beyond this life to the life to come” (my paraphrase). The people of faith are always “strangers,
exiles on the earth.” This is not our
final home, and Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. Lives of faith are lived with God as their
God. This section challenges us to
reevaluate how we live in a world where materialism often describes our lives. Do we have a vision that moves us beyond our
limited view to see God? Do we care that
a world exists that is marked by poverty, injustice, and separation? Do we ultimately believe that all people bear
God’s image, and we who have much will have much required of us?
Abraham had the most conventional and precious possession –
his Son, the son of promise, Isaac. Yet,
God tested his faith by asking him to take his son and offer him up as a
sacrifice to God (11:17). After all that
Abraham and Sarah had gone through, could we understand if he said, “No, God, I
cannot do that”? Yet, he didn’t. How could Abraham saddle that donkey and take
his son away? In Genesis 22:5, Abraham
had looked at his servants when they arrived at the mountain and said, “Stay
here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come
again to you” (Genesis 22:5).
In the original Hebrew, Abraham told them that “we will go and
worship, and we will come again.”
Abraham was convinced that if he sacrificed Isaac, God would bring him
back from the dead (11:19). The story is
bizarre to us, beyond our comprehension, but God never let Abraham kill his son. Yet, God did test his faith, or trust, in
obeying God’s word.
Despite their human weaknesses, generations followed, and
faith prevailed in Isaac, then Jacob, and then Joseph, as Israel goes to Egypt
(11:20-22). In Egypt, four hundred years
pass, and God asks Moses to place his faith in Him to lead Israel's children
out of Egypt (11:23 – 28). Moses had
been raised in Pharaoh’s family, but he chose “to be mistreated with the
people of God, rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (11:25). A trio of faith follows in Moses leading. The Children of Israel believe Moses is
hearing God, and watch the Red Sea open so that they could pass through, while
Egypt’s soldiers drown (11:29). The
children of Israel watch in faith, as Joshua tells them God has told them how
to conquer the land and Jericho walls fall before their eyes (11:30). And faith even comes to a non-Jew, Rahab, who
believes what God will do, and obeys (11:21).
The author pauses again – “ And what more shall I
say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of
David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms,
enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made
strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight” (11:32-34).
All of these were triumphs of faith…but he does not leave it there, for there
were also tragedies of faith -
“ Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured,
refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.
Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword.
They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—
of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and
mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (11:35-38).
Faith inspired heroism on the one hand, and faith also coped with tragedy when
it came. Faith is visionary, seeing
beyond the immediate to the ultimate, and faith does not believe everyone will
approve of a life of faith.
And all these, though commended through their
faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided
something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (11:39-40).
All of these examples were rooted in Old Testament Covenant
history. Yet, the point is made – their
faith was always trusting, obeying, and looking forward, anticipating God had
something better to be fulfilled.
Nothing they did was without faith, and yet nothing they did fulfilled
what God was ultimately to do in sending His Son, who would be the fulfillment
of His promise that would make all who trusted in Him, perfect.
Faith is not a “thing” but a Person – God. Whatever we do in life, it has to be because
of faith, or it will not last. These
heroes were real people – people like you and me. In general, they were often
nobodies at the time, but God often made them into somebody to do great things
through them. Yet it wasn’t always
triumph, for some of what he would do was tragic. The life of faith is not a steady, straight
line, but a wandering, meandering journey, allowing God to lead the way – we
shouldn’t ever want it any other way.
Peace
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