Hebrews 11:1 ¶ Now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. 2
For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds
were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of
things which do appear.
This chapter is famous among Christians as
the “faith chapter.” Faith, Paul says, is in some substantial thing that is
hoped for and evidence of something we as yet cannot see. People who have faith
in the God of the Bible understand things that the secular humanist or the
atheistic determinist cannot understand. That person hopes for something that
is real but that they have not as yet seen. They believe God in His eternal
promises. The elders, men and women of the past, were approved by God for their
faith. This is clear from reading the Bible. We have faith that God created
things we can see out of things we cannot, out of nothing in many instances
from our perspective but it was not out of nothing in reality as at the very
least it came from His own mind.
Belief is the foundation of faith and trust
goes with it hand in hand.
John 1:1 ¶
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. 2 The same was in the beginning
with God. 3 All things were made by him;
and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Period. Done. Do you have faith in those
statements?
Romans 3:22a
Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all
and upon all them that believe…
Hebrews 11:4 ¶ By faith Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was
righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. 5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should
not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before
his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that
he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things
not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house;
by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which
is by faith. 8 By faith Abraham, when he
was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an
inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise,
as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob,
the heirs with him of the same promise: 10
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker
is God. 11 Through faith also
Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child
when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
12 Therefore sprang there even of one,
and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude,
and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. 13 These all died in faith, not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them,
and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims
on the earth. 14 For they that say such
things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country
from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
16 But now they desire a better
country,
that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for
he hath prepared for them a city. 17 By
faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received
the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy
seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was
able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received
him in a figure. 20 By faith Isaac
blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. 21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed
both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his
staff. 22 By faith Joseph, when he died,
made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment
concerning his bones. 23 By faith Moses,
when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he
was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
24 By faith Moses, when he was come to
years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater
riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of
the reward. 27 By faith he forsook
Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is
invisible. 28 Through faith he kept the
passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn
should touch them. 29 By faith they passed
through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do
were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of
Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. 31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with
them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.
The context of these verses shows that Paul
is talking about faith that is not experiential. These people had faith BEFORE
they saw the promises made to them fulfilled. This is not about you saying you
have faith because of the wonderful answers to prayer you’ve seen in your life.
This is faith regarding things that have not been seen. And these are often big
things that are huge in comparison to the faithful’s interactions with God
before these events were promised. Here is also a very important point in that you
cannot please God if you don’t believe in Him or believe Him. So, an atheist
who thinks of himself or herself as a good person doesn’t really have a leg to
stand on. Saying someone was a good person at their funeral and that they have
gone to, “a better place,” is an absurdity if they do not believe in the God
who created them or believe Him.
It would fill up pages to go back over the
events in Genesis and Exodus which I discussed in my comments on those books so
I will assume you are familiar with these events.
Another important Bible truth is shown in verse
19. Enlightenment era philosophers would say that God was a monster for demanding
that Abraham sacrifice his promised son and that Abraham had to suspend all
reason to be willing to do so. But here we have the fact that Abraham knew that
God could raise his son from the dead so he was willing to obey by his complete
and utter trust in God. We also learn that Abraham realized that God would
provide Himself as a sacrifice in a future prophecy of Christ as a ram was
found in a thicket for the immediate sacrifice.
Genesis 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so
they went both of them together.
And
a ram was made available in place of Isaac;
Genesis 22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked,
and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went
and took the ram, and offered him up for
a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
It is noted that many of these people of
faith did not receive the promises in their lifetime that were afar off in
time, but they had faith nonetheless. How strong and complete is your faith in
God? Would you have faith if your life was a torment and your years were spent
in agony waiting on the promise of eternal life with God AFTER you died
physically?
As a side note, in verse 12, notice the
equivalence between the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.
Genesis 22:17
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply
thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea
shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
Although we can never know this
number in this life scientists do approximate that there is a similar number of
both although many insist that there are more stars in the heavens than sand.
In any event, the point of this is not to engage in a scientific statement but
to underscore the concept of a lot of or
very many. This is done in other
places to signify a large amount.
Deuteronomy
28:62 And ye shall be left few in
number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou
wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God.
But if you insist that this does
refer to an exact number then you must also consider the possibility of
interpreting the Bible in such a way that in eternity the Jews, who some
commentators muse will inherit the physical earth while followers in Christ
from the church age will abide in the New Jerusalem, will reproduce fully
populating from their scant ten million roughly today on the earth to perhaps
the entire universe as Rebekah’s brother and mother prophesied a number in the
billions for them eventually. The following is more of a specific kind of
number.
Genesis
24:60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said
unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those
which hate them.
Of course, this is
fun to just kick around mentally but the ultimate meaning of such a phrase is a
very large number or lots and lots of people. It doesn’t have to carry with it
an exact meaning.
On another side
note, look at verse 5.
5 By
faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found,
because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this
testimony, that he pleased God.
The popular word, rapture, referring to the
removal of the church before the end is a belief of the early church as I have
noted elsewhere with numerous quotes of early church “fathers.” The Bible word
is translation as in the Medieval Relic Translation where the bones of a
saint were taken from one place to another. In verse 5 translation is mentioned
three times, which is significant in prophecy. But see my comments on
Revelation for more information on that.
Hebrews 11:32 ¶ And what shall I more say? for the time would
fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of
Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought
righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the
edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight,
turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35
Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were
tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better
resurrection: 36 And others had trial of
cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
37 They were stoned, they were sawn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in
sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they
wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of
the earth. 39 And these all, having obtained
a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us,
that they without us should not be made perfect.
There are many references here, some notably
not found in the Bible, but clearly were in the general historical memory of
the Jews taught through tradition. An example might be that some believed that
the prophet Isaiah was ordered murdered by being placed in a hollow log and
sawn in half by the wicked Manasseh. We don’t have any outside authorities
other than Jewish writers on some of these things. However, we can imagine the
lives of Christian martyrs after Hebrews was written facing the same types of
agony. I had such a list of tradition and fables to consider but realized that
such “nuggets of wisdom” don’t do anything for our understanding even if they
tickle our ears.
In Paul’s argument for the Jews he has called
them to the faith that many of their ancestors had, leading them to believe on
Christ as the Messiah. Perfect in verse 40 can be linked to the concept of
being finished or complete. What the Old Testament figures had faith in but did
not receive awaits for us.
2Chronicles 8:16 Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto
the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was finished. So
the house of the LORD was perfected.
James 1:4
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing.
One could say that the entire Old Testament
narrative points to Christ as the ultimate effort of God’s ministry of reconciling
mankind to Himself.
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