Hebrews 11:17-40
Hebrews 11:17-40
Recap
We left off the first part of ch11 with:
Genuine faith has substance and evidence
Genuine faith is rooted in trusting that God is God and God is good.
Then he takes us through some OT examples that reveal what faith actually looks like:
Creation
Abel
Enoch
Noah
Abraham
Sarah
Why is it so significant that he pulls from the OT for examples of faith? Because it shows that whether OT or NT, it’s always been about faith.
Faith is not a NT concept. Faith has always been how we please God.
Picking up in v17 now with Abraham
Scripture
Hebrews 11:17-40 (NKJV) 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten [son,] 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” 19 concluding that God [was] able to raise [him] up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
God had finally blessed Abraham with a son, Isaac.
Genesis 22
Then God told Abraham to take Isaac up to the mountain and offer him up to God.
What is the significance of Abraham being tested with Isaac in particular? God uses testing to reveal to us what is most important in our hearts.
But notice v18: Abraham remembered that God had promised him that he would bless the nations through his seed.
V19, so Abraham concluded that since God had promised, and was now telling him to sacrifice Isaac, that God would raise him from the dead if He had to, but He could not break His word.
Abraham believed that God was sovereign and capable of raising him from the dead, but also that He was good and would therefore keep His word.
But Abraham’s belief didn’t merely stop at mental assent. It had substance moving him to act of those beliefs.
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
Isaac trusted God that would do what He had promised Abraham would happen
That God would multiply Abraham’s seed and make of them a nation in their own land.
And Isaac passed those promises on to his sons.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, [leaning] on the top of his staff.
Jacob and his sons were heirs to the promises made to Abraham.
Jacob blessed them, even in his old age, passing on that promise to his sons.
22 By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.
Joseph was Jacob’s youngest son who became 2nd in command in Egypt under pharaoh
He told his kids to take bones with them when they left Egypt and returned back to the land God had promised them.
Did Joseph see the fulfillment of Gods promise to bless the nations and set them up in the land? No
So what does his request to take his bones with them show us about faith? That even though he didn’t see it in his lifetime he trusted God to keep His promises.
Despite his circumstances, living in Egypt on his death bed, he trusted God was able to keep His promise and that God was good and would therefore keep His promise.
23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw [he was] a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.
Pharaoh had ordered all the Hebrew boys under 2 to be killed because their numbers were growing.
But Moses parents refused the command and instead put him in a basket and sent him downriver
What does this show us about obedience to government? That obedience to God is always first
Didn’t Moses mother offer Moses up as an offering to God? Yes, in the same way Abraham was asked to offer up Isaac.
What happened to Moses as a result? Pharaohs daughter discovered him and gave him right back to Moses mother to nurse and take care of.
24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, 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 passing pleasures of sin, 26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
Moses had every comfort being a legally adopted son of pharaoh.
But he chose God, refusing the comforts of this world.
Choosing to suffer as Christ would one day do. Rather than indulging in sin.
How does this demonstrate faith and not just moralism? Because he sought to be identified with Christ whom he hadn’t seen. He believed that the life to come was better than the pleasures immediately present.
27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
Moses left Egypt and went into the wilderness with the Jews.
He feared and desired God more than he feared the king.
This shows that he believed God was sovereign in authority and power.
And that God was good and greater to be desired.
28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry [land,] [whereas] the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.
31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.
Each and every person mentioned trusted in Gods ability to keep His promise and in Gods nature in keeping His word.
They all did so in some tangible way. Their faith had substance.
32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also [of] David and Samuel and the prophets: 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked 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, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented--
He speeds through a list of individuals who all trusted God.
Many of which did so in the midst of suffering
Their faith wasn’t based on their circumstances.
It was also not based on achieving a particular outcome.
It was based on God being sovereign over all things, and God being good in His character
To which he says:
38 of whom the world was not worthy. (The world wasn’t worthy of their presence) They wandered in deserts and mountains, [in] dens and caves of the earth. 39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith (they all had a reputation of being willing to suffer, despite having never received their permanent home), did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
God didn’t allow them to see the final fulfillment of the promise
Because God was waiting for all of us to partake together.
The final fulfillment will be when Jesus sets up His reign on this earth.
That’s when the lion will lay down with the lamb.
When we will beat our swords into plowshares
When He sets up His kingdom
That’s what they looked toward. That’s where their hearts were focused.
That’s why they could rejoice in the plundering of their goods.
Or why they could wander in deserts and caves being persecuted and still retain their faith.
Because their faith wasn’t rooted here. It was rooted in His kingdom come, in His will be done.
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