Hebrews 11:1-23
Good morning
everyone! Today’s message is the first
part of a two week exposition of Hebrews chapter 11. Some call this chapter the hall of faith or
the faith hall of fame. Through the
whole chapter, over this week and next week, we will explore examples of Old
Testament saints and their faith.
Chapter 11
starts off with examples from Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah,
Joseph, Moses’ parents, Moses himself, the people of Israel, and Rahab. Later in the chapter, there is a brief
mention of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel. Finally, there is a description of an
unspecified number of the prophets both of what they achieved and what they
endured.
That list is of
course a partial list of those who displayed faith in the Old Testament. It also seems to put the most emphasis on
examples of faith in the first five books of the Bible (also called the
Torah): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Sometimes you
hear this called the Pentateuch which means the five books. From the Jewish or Hebrew perspective, the
Old Testament or Tanakh is divided into three parts: the Torah, the Nevi'im, and the Ketuvim.
Torah
(Moses): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy
Nevi'im
(Prophets)
The former prophets
(Nevi'im Rishonim): Joshua, Judges, I
and II Samuel, I and II Kings
The latter
prophets (Nevi'im Aharonim): Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel
The twelve
minor prophets (Trei Asar, the twelve):
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah,
Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
Ketuvim
(Writings)
Documents of
truth (Sifrei Emet, Emet is an acronym of the first three letters of the books
and also means truth): Psalms, Proverbs, Job
The five
scrolls (Ḥamesh Megillot): Song of
Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther
Others: Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, I and II Chronicles
There are 39
books in the Old Testament. The New
Testament quotes 34 of them. (Ezra,
Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon are not directly quoted.) Jesus quotes 24 books of the Old Testament in
the New Testament. And, it is easy to
believe that Jesus spoke of all of them at one point or another. (Luke 24:27 “And beginning with Moses and all
the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures
concerning Himself.”)
I also found a
summary of an interesting paper that was written in 2002. The author examined Jesus’ quotes of the Old
Testament to see whether Jesus recognized or preferred or endorsed a specific
translation of the Old Testament.
At the time of
Jesus, there were 3 “versions” of the Old Testament. The proto-Masoretic Text or version in
Hebrew, which could be called the original version. The Septuagint in Greek that was created from
the mid 3rd century to early 2nd century BC. And the Aramaic translation called the
Targum. This arose in the mid first
century BC as an oral tradition as the people coming to synagogues understood
Aramaic language over the traditional Hebrew.
I mentioned already
that Jesus quoted the Old Testament 24 times.
The author gave 4-5 examples of Jesus using each of the three
versions. So not only did Jesus use
different versions, He used them in roughly the same amount. On top of these, the author explains that
Jesus’ “usage of scripture is allusive, paraphrastic, and-so far as it can be
ascertained-eclectic.” Allusive, not
elusive. Jesus also alluded to the Old
Testament by paraphrasing Himself.
This is
fascinating because, for me at least, I see this as a Jesus indirectly blessing
the effort to communicate the Bible in a way that people can understand
regardless of time, place or culture.
The truth in the Word of God is true for all time and for all people
everywhere. Making that accessible to
everyone is right and good.
People can get
really confused by the topic of Biblical translations or Bible versions,
especially when you have some people talking about “authorized versions.” Certainly, it is possible to have a bad or
wrong translation of the Bible. We need
to have awareness of that. At the same
time, it is good and even necessary to have different translations and also
paraphrases of the Bible.
And, all of the
Bible, both Old and New Testament, point us to Jesus. Jesus explained that:
Everything must be fulfilled that is written
about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. – Luke 24:44.
He acknowledges
that all parts of the Old Testament point to Him.
So what does
that have to do with Hebrews chapter 11?
We talked in earlier messages that this book was originally written for
Jewish believers to help them see and understand Jesus as the center of their
faith and not the legal requirements of the old covenant. These examples of faith that we are going to
explore today point back to the writings of Moses. In fact, every example in today’s message
comes prior to the introduction of the Law.
The author of Hebrews is going to describe faith to Jews using the
earliest Jewish or Hebrew examples.
Let’s pray and
jump into Hebrews 11.
Lord Jesus, You
are our Savior, our Redeemer, our Friend, and our example in all things. Teach us about faith in the examples given to
us in Hebrews 11. We pray in Your Name,
Amen.
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for
and assurance about what we do not see. – Hebrews 11:1
Chapter 10
emphasized faith, but faith is also a thread woven throughout Hebrews. Back in chapter 4, we see that the Old Testament
message to enter God’s rest had no value for the disobedient listeners. Why not?
Because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed (Hebrews 4:2),
obedience that was based in faith. In
that same chapter, we are encouraged to hold firm to our faith because of who
Jesus is, what He has done, and how even in His perfection He knows our
weaknesses and sympathizes with us. (Hebrews 4:14-15)
Chapter 6 opens
by describing faith along with repentance as foundational teachings. (Hebrews
6:1) Then in the middle of chapter, we are exhorted to imitate the faith and
patience of those who have inherited what has been promised. (Hebrews 6:12) In fact, we are warned not to be lazy but
rather to be diligent in helping God’s people who need help. The passage in Hebrews 6 is a sort of veiled
expression of the thought in James 2:20,
Faith without works (or action or deeds) is
dead (or useless). – James 2:20
Chapter 10
tells us that faith brings assurance (Hebrews 10:22) and then closes by saying
…
“But my righteous one will live by faith. And
I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” But we do not belong to those who shrink back
and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. -- Hebrews 10:38-39
We as believers
in Jesus belong to those who have faith and are saved. But, what is faith?
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for
and assurance about what we do not see. – Hebrews 11:1
And now, we are
given examples of what that looks like.
This is what the ancients were commended
for. By faith we understand that the
universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of
what was visible. -- Hebrews 11:2-3
A few weeks
ago, I spent a long while talking about the stars as an illustration to the
majesty of God. I didn’t share it during
that message, but a quote came to mind.
Reading Hebrews 11:3, I was reminded of that quote once again. It comes from a book by Robert Jastrow called
God and the Astronomers. Jastrow described himself as an
agnostic. And yet, he reasoned, based on
the evidence supporting the Big Bang, that astronomers had
…painted themselves into a corner because they have proven, by their
own methods, that the world began abruptly in an act of creation to which you
can trace the seeds of every star, every planet, every living thing in this
cosmos and on the earth.
Carrying that
thought one step further, he also explained that
…what I or anyone would call ‘supernatural forces at work’ is now, I
think, a scientifically proven fact.
I know I’ve
already quoted Jastrow twice, but neither was the quote that I was thinking
about. Here’s what came to mind again
when I read Hebrews 11:3.
For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason,
the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he
is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock,
he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for
centuries. Robert Jastrow God and the Astronomers
I am not
equating the realization that ‘supernatural forces must be at work’ or that
Jastrow’s observation that ‘theologians have been closer to the origin story
for the universe than scientists’ as faith.
In fact, I want to contrast that thought with what genuine faith
is. There is another step beyond
realizing the truth that there is a Creator beyond the creation. Faith acknowledges that the universe exists
because of God and His command, His Word.
By faith Abel brought God a better offering
than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of
his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. – Hebrews
11:4
Abel’s story is
a hard one, and I don’t really mean hard to handle in a message. It’s just heavy. It’s hard to know it. Cain and Abel made offerings to God. Abel’s offering was better. It was an offering of the choicest portion
from his flock while Cain’s offering was not.
God looked on Abel’s offering with favor and spoke well of it. In doing so, God commended Abel as
righteous. Abel did the right thing, and
his brother Cain out of jealousy murdered him.
Our sense of justice cries out, “Not fair!” And sometimes we want to know why God didn’t
stop Cain.
What Cain did
was horrible. It illustrates the
wickedness of sin that can be perpetrated against one another and in the very
first generation of humankind to be born.
It is grievous. But let us not
forget that God is the author of life.
Job says, “He gives and takes away.” (Job 1:21) Likewise, God can “take away and give again.”
Jesus explained
in Luke 18,
No one who has left home or wife or brothers
or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail
to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.
– Luke 18:29-30
Unlike us, God
can restore life and grant an even better life.
Abel’s righteous sacrifice speaks to God’s faithfulness. God commends the one who acts by faith.
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so
that he did not experience death: "He could not be found, because God had
taken him away." For before he was taken, he was commended as one who
pleased God. And without faith it is
impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He
exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. – Hebrews 11:5-6
Enoch was of
the seventh generation on the earth. I
think that’s interesting because seven is the number of perfection and
completeness, the seventh day is the day on which the Lord rested from His
creative work. But “lucky number 7”
isn’t the reason Enoch did not experience death. According to Genesis 5, Enoch walked
faithfully with God and as Hebrews tells us, Enoch pleased God.
How do we
please God? By having faith. Here in verse 6, we have a basic intro into
faith. Faith consists of belief. Belief that God exists, He is real, and the
He rewards those who seek Him. This
added emphasis of earnestly seeking isn’t a separate word in the Greek, but
it’s trying to capture the deeper meaning of the word that would be too mild if
translated as just “seek.” The idea is
to seek after carefully, search for diligently, crave or even demand. Enoch demonstrated that kind of faith as he
walked with God.
By faith Noah, when warned about things not
yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he
condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping
with faith. – Hebrews 11:7
Noah is an
interesting example. He was warned about
things that would happen, and he took action.
The things that he was warned about had never happened before and many
of them have never happened since.
Rather than dismissing or down playing what God had said, Noah took it
to heart and he followed God’s direction.
Simply by the fact that Noah followed God’s direction, he condemned the
world. This is similar to II Corinthians
2:15-16.
For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ
among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death;
to the other, an aroma that brings life. – II Corinthians 2:15-16
By faith, Noah
became an heir of righteousness.
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place
he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did
not know where he was going. By faith he
made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he
lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same
promise. For he was looking forward to
the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. – Hebrews
11:8-10
Abraham
received a call from God, and he obeyed and went. He didn’t even know where he was going. How could he do that? By faith.
Traveling has gotten a lot easier in my lifetime. I can remember the first time I went to
Europe. It actually turns out that it
was Italy. While I was there, I had
someone else to drive me either by cab or by the company I was visiting. On that same trip, I went to Germany, and I
traveled with another coworker who was already in Germany. After that, I traveled often on my own,
driving into places based on directions someone else had given me. I bought a road atlas for Germany which by
necessity could only be so large, and the detail was limited. You had to study in advance where you were
going and try to get the details right so that you wouldn’t get lost especially
when you didn’t know the language.
Today, I just
go. I pull up the map app and put in the
destination and go. I don’t pack an
atlas. I don’t look at where I’m going
in advance too much, just enough to make sure that the map app doesn’t
completely send me in the wrong direction.
Otherwise, I’m trusting that app almost completely.
Abraham had
nothing like any of that. He didn’t have
a map app. He didn’t have a road
atlas. There weren’t even roads. There were no cars. There were no travel guides. There weren’t even really borders of
countries. There were no hotels. Abraham camped in a tent in mostly sandy and
rocky areas nearly his entire life. In
the midst of this ancient world backdrop, God called Abraham to go, and Abraham
went. There was no indication that there
were any other factors pushing him to leave.
I think about times of famine or war and how that can affect people’s
decisions on where to live. But, if
everything is good, why would you leave your home?
Abraham left
because God sent him. Abraham’s faith enabled
him to go. And he lived as a stranger in
a foreign country by that same faith trusting in God’s promise.
And by faith even Sarah, who was past
childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered Him
faithful who had made the promise. – Hebrews 11:11
Abraham was not
a young man when he set out. Genesis
12:4 tells us he was 75 years old. In
verses 1-3 in Genesis 12, God promises to make Abraham into a great nation. Sarah and Abraham had no children until
Abraham was 100 years old. Romans 4:19
says that Abraham faced the fact that his body was as good as dead. That same verse is not quite so hard on
Sarah. It didn’t say that at 90 or 91
that her body was as good as dead, but it does say that her womb was dead, not
just past childbearing age. Sarah was
long past childbearing age.
While Sarah
laughed when she heard the three visitors say that she would have a son at that
age, she considered God faithful and it came to pass. The fact that Sarah laughed is even captured in
Isaac’s name because it means “he laughs.”
And so from this one man, and he as good as
dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as
the sand on the seashore. – Hebrews 11:12
And so, Abraham
did have a son, and a great nation did rise up from Abraham’s line. More importantly though, Abraham had a line
of children by promise. Galatians 3:6-9
explains that because Abraham believed God and His promise in Genesis 12:3, all
nations would be blessed through Abraham.
All who have faith are children of Abraham. Far more than the nation of Israel are the
descendants of Abraham.
All these people were still
living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they
only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners
and strangers on earth. – Hebrews 11:13
We too will not
receive all things that we are promised in this life. We must continue living by faith throughout
our lives. I don’t know about you, but
more and more, I feel like a foreigner or stranger on this earth.
I talked before
about travel. I used look at my U.S.
passport as virtually a badge of honor.
In the New Testament, it talks about the privileges afforded a Roman
citizen. In our time, many would gladly
accept a U.S. passport and the freedom of movement that it enables. I’m glad I am an American, but my enthusiasm
over that is tempered by hope that is…
looking forward to the city … whose architect
and builder is God. – Hebrews 11:10
People who say such things show that they are
looking for a country of their own. If
they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had
opportunity to return. Instead, they
were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. – Hebrews 11:14-16
May we long for
that better country. In our hope for
that heavenly country, God is not ashamed of us. He has prepared the heavenly country for us,
the New Jerusalem. Let us look forward
to a new home, a perfect one.
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered
Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice
his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac
that your offspring will be reckoned.”
Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner
of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. – Hebrews 11:17-19
Maybe not quite
as hard as the story of Abel, but disturbing nonetheless, God tests Abraham by
asking him to sacrifice Isaac. There are
at least two things we can draw from that story.
The first we
see here in Hebrews 11. Abraham’s faith
in God was so great that he reasoned God could bring Isaac back from the
dead. When it came to understanding God
in that moment, Abraham “got it.” Of
course, he didn’t always “get it,” as he made a number of decisions based in
his fears rather than confidence in God.
The second
point from this story is that God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac at Mount
Moriah which is located at Jerusalem. It
is the temple mount. God brought Abraham
to that place to sacrifice Isaac and stopped him. Two thousand years later, God brought His own
Son to that place at Golgotha or Calvary.
God did not stop His hand, and allowed His one and only Son Jesus to be
killed, a sacrifice for our salvation.
Abraham believed God could raise his son Isaac from the dead. God in fact did raise His Son Jesus from the
dead. God made the promise to bless all
nations through Abraham, and He did it by sacrificing His Son.
As difficult as
it is to understand, God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son was not more than
what God was willing to do Himself.
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in
regard to their future. By faith Jacob,
when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on
the top of his staff. – Hebrews 11:20-21
These same ones
who had not received “the things promised” but had only seen “and welcomed them
from a distance” (Hebrews 11:13) in turn blessed their children in regard to
their future. In other words, they did
not give up on their faith in what was yet in store. They blessed their children knowing the story
would continue and God’s plans and purpose would prevail.
By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke
about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning
the burial of his bones. – Hebrews 11:22
Joseph was an
integral part of bringing his family to Egypt.
It would be easy to look at the circumstances and think that there would
be no distinct nation of Israel in the promised land of Canaan. Wouldn’t they just stay in Egypt and become a
part of that culture? No, Joseph saw and
believed that God’s plans would come true.
By faith, Joseph spoke about the exodus and gave instructions that he
wanted his body to go up to that promised land.
Joseph’s as well as Isaac and
Jacob’s faith at the end of their lives on this earth was no less strong than
it had been in life.
By faith Moses' parents hid him for three
months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they
were not afraid of the king's edict. – Hebrews 11:23
Moses’ parents
had faith and hid Moses. The king’s
edict was to kill all Israelite males at birth.
Why would pharaoh, the king, make such a horrible law? The Egyptians saw that the Israelites were
prospering and continuing to increase in number. Their solution was to first make the
Israelites slaves and oppress them, but they still increased in numbers. Then, Pharoah tried to task the midwives to
kill the male babies, but they wouldn’t do it.
(Side note: God blessed the
midwives for saving the babies.) At that
point, the king’s edict became a general one.
Every boy that is born must be thrown into the Nile River. (Exodus 1:22)
What an
incredible risk to keep Moses for 3 months!
In case you don’t know, babies are not quiet a lot of the time. Finally, it became necessary to take
action. I think Hebrews just as easily
could have said that by faith, Moses’ mother prepared a water tight basket for
him and put it in a relatively safe place in the river. Pharaoh’s own daughter goes to the Nile with
her servants and spots the basket and retrieves it. Moses is crying, and the princess has
compassion on Moses. Moses’ sister
Miriam was there observing the whole thing, and then Miriam by faith speaks to
the princess and asks her if she’d like a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby
Moses. That results in Moses’ own mother
become his caretaker until he was weaned.
It was still an incredibly difficult situation for Moses’ family, but
Moses was protected in the midst of it all.
Crucial to Moses’ life was the faith of his parents.
That brings us
to the close of our passage for today.
As we saw at the beginning, this message covers the first half of
Hebrews 11. We’ll complete the remainder
next week.
The Old
Testament verse quoted at the end of chapter 10 is Habbakuk 2:4. “My righteous one will live by faith.” In Habbakuk 2, that verse is part of God’s
answer to Habbakuk’s complaint that the wicked are prospering, that those who
are treacherous take advantage of all people like fish caught in a net. Both the good and the bad people are caught
by evil men.
God’s message
is that His people are to wait patiently and live by faith, trusting God. Habbakuk was concerned about national
deliverance, the rescue of the kingdom of Judah from the Babylonians. It is clear by the use of God’s message “the
righteous will live by faith” here in Hebrews and also in Romans, Galatians,
and Ephesians that God is not talking just about the nation of Israel. This principle of faith is more importantly
for eternal salvation (spiritual deliverance).
The examples we
saw today show how faith is a part of the lives of the people of God. Faith affects their actions. Sometimes it enables us to do things like
understand things we don’t, figure out things we couldn’t, or communicate God’s
truth in ways we aren’t able. Often
faith initiates action like offering our best, stepping out and going where God
leads, living or working in a place that
is foreign to us, building something that’s never been done before, blessing
others even in our own adversity, worshiping in all seasons of life and health,
doing what is right despite the risks to ourselves. Faith also enables miracles like Enoch being
taken up by God and Sarah having a child in her advanced age. Faith enables us to please God and to be
commended.
Faith is a
difference maker. Faith changes us and
sets us apart. Let us live by
faith. I know II Corinthians 9:8 is
about giving financially, but I think it has application to this arena of
faith. Sometimes the things we do by
faith (including financial giving) are sacrificial.
This week, one
of my key team members interviewed for a job in a different department. For me, it is not a good time to lose his
help. And yet, it may be the right move
for him. At least, it seems like God has
uniquely equipped him for that kind of role.
I told him this week that of course I wanted him to stay with us, but
that I was for him and that I would never block him from growing. He and I have talked about spiritual things,
but this particular situation doesn’t feel especially spiritual. After he and I went different directions, I
felt like there was a cloud over me. I
wasn’t quite in Eeyore mode, but my heart was heavy at the thought my friend
might be moving on. As I was walking
back to my desk, the song “God Is Able” came clearly to mind. That song is based on II Corinthians
9:8. “God is able to make all grace
abound to you so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need,
you will abound in every good deed.”
Let us continue
to have and practice our faith. Let us
earnestly seek Him. Our hope in Him will
not disappoint. Amen.
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