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These verses, as translated in the King James, are often quoted but not always understood. i.e. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for..." The Greek word "hypostasis" is here translated "substance". It's meaning is post or column for supporting something, essence, assurance, confidence and substance. So "faith", is that which supports all that we believe. We believe and expect that God will do all that He has promised in Christ Jesus. This belief should be so strong that all doubt will simply fade away.
Notice what the "things" are that we hope for:
So the Author is saying to these Hebrews that by faith, we have the assurance of all these things.
But notice that Faith is not only the assurance of things hoped for, but it is also the "evidence" of things not seen. Matthew Henry says, "Faith allows you to see with the eye of your mind, what you cannot see with the eye of your body." It says that even though I cannot see God nor His Son, Jesus Christ, I can, by faith, believe and have evidence of their being. Faith is designed to serve the believer in areas where we cannot see.
Notice in verse 2, that by faith, men of old, received divine approval. i.e. it
is said that by faith, Abraham did so-and-so, by faith, Moses did so-and-so, by
faith, Enoch was translated, never knew death. The Grace of faith has been a gift
to man from the beginning of time. It dates back to the beginning, it is not a new
gift from the Lord. The oldest and best of men, even some of the worse, have been
the recipients of God's gift of faith. He bestows it upon whomever he wills. Many
have done exceptional things by the power of this faith. By faith, we can accept
and believe, even when we may not understand, all that is written in God's Word.
Walk of Faith, Examples of Faith
["Click here for Hebrews 11:4-40"]
Our first example of faith is Abel.(Gen. 4:1-7) These verses in Genesis create many questions. Why Abel and not Cain? Is this an example of God's prerogative? What was the difference in their sacrifice? What the problem not in the sacrifice but in the sincerity of the one making the sacrifice? But the Bible says that by faith, Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice. Some scholars look for answers in the characteristics of the two boys or their work, or the very nature of their sacrifice. But the Author of Hebrews leads us to believe that the difference was simply faith. "By faith, Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice."
Notice what this faith did for him. It made him justified before God. This was evidenced by the fire consuming his sacrifice. He became a witness, for all eternity, of the gift of faith and what it will do for you. Abel is still speaking to all who will listen, that faith is God's prerogative and the results are to His glory. His example shows us that as recipients of God's faith, that we, as sinners, can worship God with hope of acceptance. That we, by faith, can hope to have our offerings accepted, and that this acceptance will bring envy from the world.
So Abel is our first example of a man who possessed the Gift of God's faith.
Our second example of men who walked in faith is Enoch, son of Cain, father of Methuselah (Gen. 5:21) who was the oldest man that ever lived, believed to have lived 969 years.
"Enoch walked with God." Matthew Henry says this means that he really, eminently, actively, progressively and perseveringly had communion with God. His faith was so great that he never knew death. He was "translated", taken up directly into Heaven (Gen. 5:24) like Elijah (II Kings 2:11) Enoch experienced what all believers will experience who are alive at the second coming of Christ.
Why was Enoch taken up to be with the Lord? Because he "pleased God". He, by faith, walked with God, in a sinful world, and this pleased God. The Author says that without faith, it is impossible to please God. We must believe that He exists, that He has revealed Himself through Christ and that He is faithful and just to reward those who diligently seek Him.
So Enoch, by faith, walked with God and is an example of faith worth immolating.
The third example of faith used by the Author is Noah. "Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord." (Gen. 6:5-8) When you consider the task that God asked of Noah and the kidding that he took all of those years, you see demonstrated, a faith that was unsurpassed in his day. God told Noah to build an Ark, a huge boat. He warned Noah of a flood that would come and destroy everything on earth. In Genesis it says that Noah moved with fear. His faith first moved his emotions and then his actions.
Notice the reward for Noah's faith was obvious. He and his family were saved while the rest of mankind perished. His faith saved his wife and their three sons and their wives. Secondly, he judged the world. His obedience condemned their false security. Good examples of obedience to God will either convert or condemn people. Thirdly, he became heir to God's righteousness by faith. By faith, the Ark became Noah's salvation. By faith, Christ becomes our salvation and we become heirs of righteousness.
So Enoch, by faith, was saved from drowning and became heir to God's righteousness.
The fourth example of faith is Abraham. "Abraham, by faith, obeyed God and received an inheritance." (Gen. 12:1-5) Abraham was called by the Lord to leave his home and go into a foreign land. He obeyed God and became the father of the Hebrew Nation, the called people of God.
There are 6 basic religious doctrines in the call of Abraham.
Abraham went out on faith, not knowing where he was going. We to are asked to go out on faith, not knowing where the Lord will lead us in our service. So Abraham, by faith, inherited a promised land.
The fifth example of faith is Sarah, Abraham's wife. Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old. Sarah had no children and because of her age, had given up on having any children. When the Lord told her that she would have a child, she at first, doubted. Then she realized that all things were possible with God and by faith, she had a son and called him Isaac. (Gen. 18:9-19) Therefore as verse 12 so apply puts it, from Abraham, and he as good as dead, were born descendants, as many as the stars in the heavens.
So we see in these five examples, people who, by faith, accomplished great things that weren't possible with normal human beings.
The remaining verses are a continuation of the Authors effort to remind these "back-sliding" Hebrews that their ancestors lived by faith and it was that faith that encouraged God to continue to work with them and eventually send His only Son to save them.
Verses 13 thru 16 explains the condition of those in the Old Testament who died in the faith, those like Abel, Noah, Enoch, Abraham and Sarah who died believing in all the promises of God. They were "justified" by their faith in God's promises. God was not ashamed to be called their God, for He had prepared a place for them. Matthew Henry, in his commentary, says "It shall never be said, to the reproach and dishonor of God, that He adopted a people to be His own and then took no care to make a suitable dwelling place for them.'
Verses 17 thru 19 speak again of the faith of Abraham. God tried the faith of Abraham many times, but this was the ultimate trial. Isaac, the son of Sarah, given to them in their old age, from whom the descendants of Abraham were promised, was ordered by the Lord, to be sacrificed. (Gen. 22) To Abraham, the Lord said, "Take your son Isaac, whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah and there offer him up for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will show you." No greater trial was ever put upon any parent.
What did Abraham do? He obeyed God. Isaac gathered the wood, stacked it and prepared the fire. Then Isaac said, "Father, where is the sacrifice?" This story is actually an example of faith on the part of Abraham and on the part of Isaac. Isaac, at the time, was about 20 years old and Abraham was 120. Isaac could have easily overpowered his father, but his faith in his father was equal to Abraham's faith in God.
Why didn't Abraham question this? How could God keep His promise of descendants through a dead man? Well, Abraham believed that God was able to raise up descendants even from the dead, after all, wasn't Isaac a product of 2 dead people, physically speaking. Well, Abraham's faith was well founded, God ended the sacrifice of Isaac by providing an animal sacrifice.
Verse 20 says, "By faith, Isaac invoked future blessings upon his sons, Jacob and Esau." Isaac married Rebekah, they had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob was his mother's favorite and Esau was his father's favorite. Esau was the first-born therefore heir to his father's blessing. When Isaac became quite old, and had lost his eyesight, it became time to pass on the birthright to the first-born. He sends for Esau, but Rebekah sends in Jacob, disguised as Esau, and Isaac give the blessing, intended for Esau, to Jacob. Jacob became the prime ancestor of the Israelites and Esau became the prime ancestor of the Edomites.
Jacob, who had received the blessing through treachery, found his life to be full of fear and exile. He was forced to leave his fathers land and go to Mesopotamian (Padan-aram) to live with his mother's brother, Laban.
There he falls in love with Laban's daughter, Rachel and works for 7 years for her only to find out after the wedding, that he had been deceived into marrying Leah, the older daughter. He then worked 7 more years for Rachel and eventually she bore him a son called Joseph. Between Rachel and Leah, Jacob had 12 sons.
When Jacob became old, he to was deceived into blessing the younger son of Joseph. The blessing was to go to the older son, Manasseh, but by divine direction, Jacob laid his hand upon Ephraim, the younger. Now, why all this talk about people being deceived into blessing the younger instead of the elder? This was done by the Author to show these Hebrews that the Gentile church, the younger, would have a more abundant blessing than the older Jewish church.
Joseph died in Egypt. He gave directions to his people that he was to be buried in the land of Canaan. By faith, he believed that God would deliver His people and one day they would be allowed to go back to Canaan. This was before the people of Israel were made slaves in Egypt and almost 400 years before they were allowed to return to Canaan.
Verses 23 thru 28 speak of Moses. The first act of faith mentioned in these verses is the faith of the parents of Moses. Only the mother of Moses is mentioned in the account in Exodus, but from what is said here, it would seem that the father was also involved. The placing of the infant Moses in a reed basket and letting it float down the Nile to Pharaoh's daughter, was an act of faith on the part of these parents.
What motivated these parents to do this? Obviously, the first and foremost reason was to save the life of the child. But the Author of Hebrews suggests that there was another reason. It was God's will and plan for Moses. Moses was described as being "exceedingly fair". The word used here relates to the way God sees a child, and in this case, the way God saw Moses. i.e. He was from the beginning, fair and chosen of God. So God put into the hearts of the parents of Moses, the desire, and perhaps even more important, the way in which Moses could be saved for God's use, to take the enslaved people of Israel to freedom. Never-the-less, theirs was an act of faith.
Now what about Moses? Moses knew his mother only as a nursemaid. His mother, as far as he knew, was Pharaoh's daughter. This woman had no other children. She had found Moses and adopted him. He would become King of Egypt and as such, render an invaluable service to Israel. But, by faith, when Moses was grown up, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose rather, his heritage. What was it that enabled Moses to make this choice? Verse 26 says it was because of the "reward". What was Moses' understanding of the "reward"? He believed it was God's promise to deliver the people of Israel out of Egypt.
He must have known, in some way, that he was to be a part of that deliverance for by faith, he chose his heritage, he left Egypt, he dwelled in Midian for 40 years, he returned to Egypt, disregarding the threats on his life and by faith, he performed the miracles that resulted in the plagues upon Egypt.
Verses 23 thru 28, speaking of Moses, cont. By faith, Moses kept the Passover. Death was a sure thing for all first born that night of the last plague in Egypt. Deliverance from that death called for the shedding of blood of a lamb, then the smearing of that blood on the doorpost. The "Angel of Death" passed over all households that were covered by the "blood of the lamb". Though all Israel kept this Passover, it was by Moses that God delivered the plan and though this was a great mystery to Moses, by faith he delivered it and kept it for his own household. So we can see in Moses the kind of faith we must have, faith that is evidenced by obedience and action, faith in God's plans, even when they are a great mystery.
Further evidence of the faith of Moses is told in verse 29. With a vass army approaching from the rear, with steep rocky mountains on the left and on the right and with the Red Sea in front of him, Moses continued on, believing that God would do as He had always before, provide a way, and so He did, He parted the waters of the Red Sea and Moses and the people, by faith, crossed that sea between two walls of water.
By faith, others, verses 30 thru 40. By faith, Joshua marched the Israelites around the city of Jericho for seven days and the walls of the city fell down. By faith, Rahab, the harlot, did not perish with the destruction of Jericho because she had given shelter to the Israeli spies. What would have happened if Joshua only walked around the city 6 days, would the walls have fallen down? How much obedience did it take to go seven? How much faith did it take to believe that the huge walls that surrounded the city could possibly fall down simply by marching around them? And Rahab, how much faith did she have in an unknown God, to place her life and the lives of her family in the hands of a few foreign spies? Rahab obtained a place of honor by her faith. She is mentioned in Psalm 87, she had a son named Boaz who married a woman named Ruth, who had a son named Obed, who had a son named Jesse, who had a son named David. Thus a harlot in the city of Jericho, by faith, obtained a place in the linage of the Christ.
Then the Author goes to the time of the Judges, from 1300 BC to 1000 BC, a time of sin, judgment, repentance, restoration and rest, each time God used a man of faith to restore the Israelites from His judgment. Here the Author speaks of the faith of four of those men, Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah. Gideon, a humble man of meager means, was visited by an Angel who commissioned him to deliver the Israelites from the Midianites, the means that God had used to bring judgment upon them for their disobedience, who had his meager army reduced from 32,000 to 300 yet by faith, he obeyed God and the army of the Medianites was destroyed.
Barak, another man of faith that was used to restore Israel. He received his commission from a Prophetess by the name of Deborah, and by faith he defeated the armies of Canaan. By faith, he defeated the armies of Sisera and by faith, he pleased God by giving God all the credit for the victories.
Samson, another not so perfect man of faith, was used of God to deliver Israel from the Philistines by the use of his superior strength.
Jephthah was the son of a harlot, but by faith, he ranks with the best. God often uses the most unlikely persons. He was called to deliver the Israelites from the bondage of the Ammonites. He agreed to do so only after he had the approval of his plans from the Lord. With the Lord's approval, he went out in faith and defeated the Ammonites.
Then the Author holds up David as an example of a man of faith. Few men ever met with more trials than did David, few ever had a more vibrant faith. His faith gave him a victory over a lion, a bear, a giant and an ungrateful father. Faith also gave him patience and an everlasting covenant with God. He did not accomplish all of those victories without some sin coming into his life, but perhaps it was because of this and the sadness that it cost him that David grew in faith and was able to encourage and enlighten us all with his Psalms.
Samuel, the last of the Judges and the first of the prophets after Moses. Only a man of faith could have lived through the turmoil that was the life of this man. God revealed Himself to Samuel when he was but a child. His birth was a gift of God to his mother, Hannah, after she had made a vow to consecrate her first born to the work of the Lord. He was trained by Eli, the Priest.
He condemned the shrine at Shiloh because of the pagan fertility rites being practiced there. He prophesied the death of Eli's sons because of their irresponsibility. The Ark of God was captured by the Philistines and Eli was killed in the process. As the result of this, Samuel was established as a prophet.
His concern over the threat of the Philistines caused him to call the people to assemble at Mizpah where the Philistines attacked and God caused a sever storm to put them in panic and ultimately, in defeat. Because of the unfitness of Eli's sons to succeed him, the people demanded a king. Samuel was commanded by the Lord to anoint Saul as king.
Samuel's faith in God and his spiritual insight and ability to inspire others in a critical time in Israel's history, made him one of their great leaders.
These 20, plus the other prophets, by faith did what they were led to do by the Lord. The Author mentions some of the great things that they did because of their faith. By faith, David, Joshua and others, conquered kingdoms. By faith, they forced justice and brought about rightness. By faith, they received promises from the Lord. By faith, Sampson and David closed the mouth of lions. By faith, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego lived in a fiery furnace. By faith, they were mighty in war, put pagan armies to flight and others demonstrated their faith by being persecuted for that faith, because the believed in the promise of the resurrection.
Matthew Henry says of this persecution, "We cannot understand the wickedness of human nature that is capable of perpetrating such cruelties on fellow creatures, or, the greatness of Divine Grace that is able to bear up the faithful under such cruelties and carry them through it all."
What did these people obtain by this? First, they obtained a good report. They were tested and found worthy. Secondly, they obtained an inheritance in the "promise". They had the promise of the Messiah but not the possession of it. They only had the promise of better things but these Hebrews that the Author was writing to had the reality of it in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Should not more be expected of them and us.
Why did the Author include this 11th. chapter in his letter to the Hebrews? He was reminding them of their heritage. After all those years of being dispersed in foreign lands, he thought that they needed to be reminded that people did and could be faithful in the face of persecution without back sliding as these people obviously had done.
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