CHAPTER 11 MY RIGHTEOUS ONES SHALL LIVE BY FAITH. The writer now takes up and expands on the word, ‘But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrink back, my soul has no pleasure in him,' by outlining from Scripture the lives of those who have proved their righteousness by their faith. The... [ Continue Reading ]
TRUE FAITH IS FAITH IN GOD'S PROMISES (HEBREWS 11:1). Hebrews 11:1, ‘Now faith is assurance (hupostasis - ‘the substance' or ‘the underpinning' and therefore the ‘assurance', the ‘guarantee within the heart') of things hoped for, a proof (or ‘conviction') of things not seen, for therein the elders... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ By faith we understand (know in our minds) that the worlds (the ages) have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which appear.' So it is by faith that we accept that the world which endures through the ages was created by God; that it was His word th... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH IN THE ANTEDELUVIAN WORLD (HEBREWS 11:3). Faith is seen as giving us an understanding of the world as it is, and why it is as it is. Faith says it is like it is because God created it and is its invisible basis, and because God has revealed it to be so through His prophet.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness in respect of his gifts. And through it he being dead yet speaks.' The first to reveal his faith was Abel. He was a ‘righteous one' (Matthew 23:35)... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God translated him: for he has had witness borne to him that before his translation he had been well-pleasing to God.' Enoch too was a ‘righteous one'. He too was well-pleasing to God. He walked with God (Gen... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing to him; for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek after him.' The introduction to the chapter and these examples bring out that without such faith we cannot please God. The one who comes to Go... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith'. Noah was another who believed God. He was a righteous man... [ Continue Reading ]
FAITH REVEALED IN POSITIVE PRESENT ACTION BY THOSE WHO BELIEVED THE PROMISES OF GOD'S FUTURE REWARD FOR HIS OWN IN THE LIGHT OF THE FUTURE HOPE (HEBREWS 11:7). The essential of this next section is that faith resulted in positive action in the very circumstances of these people's lives as they looke... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he went.' Noah's faith pointed to judgment on the world, and preserved alive a remnant to go into the future. But now arose one who would offer hope to t... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, for he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.' Furthermore he continued to exercise that faith in... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith even Sarah herself received power for the laying down of seed when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised, for which reason also there sprang of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of heaven in multitude, and as the sand, which is by the seashore,... [ Continue Reading ]
‘These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth.' ‘These all died in (literally ‘according to') faith.' They walked in the path of faith in the promises of God. ‘Th... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For they that say such things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own.' For they who declare such things, that they are ‘strangers' and ‘sojourners' (as those who live in a foreign land and with no permanent possession or right of citizenship), are looking forward in fa... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And if indeed they had been mindful of that from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly, for which reason God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God. For he has prepared for them a city.' Indeed had they been so mind... [ Continue Reading ]
FAITH REVEALED BY THOSE WHOSE EYES WERE ON THE CERTAINTY OF THE FUTURE FULFILMENT OF THE PROMISES OF GOD WITH THEIR EYES ON THINGS TO COME (HEBREWS 11:17).... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly taken on himself the promises was offering up his only begotten son, even he to whom it was said, In Isaac shall your seed be called, accounting that God is able to raise up, even from the dead. From whence he did also in a fi... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come.' Similarly by faith Isaac proclaimed the future hopes of his sons in his blessings. His confidence in God and what He had revealed was such that he pronounced their futures hopes because God had promised them (Genesis 27:27; Ge... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped on the top of his staff.' In the same way did Jacob in his old age, when he was no longer able to physically support himself, bless the two sons of Joseph and proclaimed their futures as revealed by God, putting... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith Joseph, when his end was near, mentioned the departure of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones.' Many examples from the life of Joseph could have been chosen as examples of faith but he centred on Joseph's confidence about the future of God's people, his faith... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a goodly child, and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.' First was revealed the faith of his parents (the Hebrew text in Exodus 2:2 stresses the mother's part, but LXX refers to both p... [ Continue Reading ]
FAITH AS REVEALED IN CONNECTION WITH THE LIFE OF MOSES (HEBREWS 11:23). But then after a gap in time arose the one who would begin to solidify the promises. He would establish the nation of Israel and return them to their promised land. His name was Moses, and the life of Moses revealed his steadfa... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, accounting the reproach of the anointed one (Christ) greater riches than the treasures of Egypt:... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith he left behind/set to one side Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.' Whereas previously the emphasis has been on the choice he had to make, the emphasis here is on the outstanding courage which resulted from his faith. ‘He left behind/s... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them.' By faith he obeyed God and ‘kept the Passover', calling on the people in the face of the promises of God to observe the Passover in their houses, clothed ready to leave for t... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians attempting to do were swallowed up.' Note the change from ‘he' to ‘they', made more emphatic by the fact that he could have previously said ‘they kept the Passover' rather than ‘he kept the Passover', for the Passover rev... [ Continue Reading ]
FAITH THAT RECEIVED MIRACULOUS DELIVERANCES IN THE COURSE OF THE FULFILMENT OF GOD'S PROMISES (HEBREWS 11:29).... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encompassed about for seven days.' The same faith was revealed at the end of the journey by a new generation, led by a new leader Joshua, when they trusted God's promises and daily walked round the walls of Jericho for seven days in sile... [ Continue Reading ]
‘By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies with peace.' And there was another who had the same faith as Israel that God would deliver Jericho into the hands of Israel, a Gentile who became one with Israel (Joshua 6:25), Rahab the prostitute i... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FAITH OF MANY THROUGH THE AGES (HEBREWS 11:32). ‘And what shall I more say? For the time will fail me if I tell concerning Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah; of David also and Samuel and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mou... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Women received their dead by a resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.' It is noteworthy that he deliberately keeps on including women (note Sarah (Hebrews 11:11), Moses' mother (Hebrews 11:23) and Rahab (Hebrews 11:31)... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tested, they were slain with the sword, they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (of whom the world was not worth... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CONCLUSION (HEBREWS 11:39). ‘And these all, having had witness borne to them through their faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided (literally ‘foreseen') some better thing concerning us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.' This summary brings together what has... [ Continue Reading ]