True faith in Jesus Christ perseveres. There is no experience life can throw at believers that will cause them to stop trusting God s clear promise of salvation in His Son. That kind of faith, despite adversity, will only be affirmed and more focused on heaven. The writer of Hebrews has been making one salient point in chapter 11: All the saints of Old Testament Scripture first and foremost demonstrated faith in God s very specific promises about salvation in Christ (v. 1). Without question, they believed the LORD s purpose for the creation is to unveil and carry out His plan to bring sinners to Himself through the righteousness of Jesus (v. 3). From the most ancient believers (vv. 4-7) to the Hebrew patriarchs (vv. 8-22) to Moses (vv 23-29), everyone whom the Jewish people highly regarded demonstrated absolute trust in what God had revealed. God testifies to the faith of His people by showcasing it in the Bible (v. 2). And with a brief recounting of Jewish history, closes out this chapter by emphasizing the fact that faith prevails over uncertainty, unrighteousness, suffering and imperfection.! 1
Faith Prevails (11:30-40) It Prevails Over Uncertainty (vv. 30-31) After referencing faith in God s promises that were so evident in the life and ministry of Moses, the writer now continues chronologically with more examples from Jewish history. Moving from Moses leadership to Joshua s, he notes the first act of Hebrew conquest in Canaan, which was the city of Jericho (Joshua 1-6). This refers to God s promise to establish Israel in that land a foreshadowing of heavenly rest after deliverance from sin (Heb. 3:7-4:16). While the Hebrews in Moses day had failed to enter the land by faith (cf. Num. 14), the next generation acted on the LORD s promise and prevailed over the uncertainty that had destroyed their fathers in the wilderness. The previous generation was terrified by the inhabitants of Canaan and refused to move forward. But those under Joshua s leadership trusted God to go before them and conquer their enemies. The walled city of Jericho was a formidable and seemingly insurmountable obstacle to their success. However, God promised that if they would obey His command to march around the city in the prescribed manner, the walls would fall down flat (Joshua 6). They believed God, and the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days (v. 30). They waited on God, and He caused them to prevail.! 2
The same could be said of the harlot Rahab. This resident prostitute of Jericho demonstrated her trust in what she understood of God s promises. She only knew that the God of heaven and earth was with the Hebrew people and had promised to give them the land of Canaan and destroy the pagan inhabitants. While her people trusted in their city walls to protect them, Rahab responded by faith, when she earlier received the [Hebrew] spies with peace into her house and hid them from Jericho s king (Joshua 2). She trusted God. As a result, Rahab and her family did not perish with those who did not believe when the walls fell (Joshua 6:22-25). Her faith in God prevailed over the uncertainty that came with the advancing Hebrew nation, and God honored it by preserving her life. She would come to fully know God s promise and later became part of the Hebrew nation by marriage God even graciously includes her in Christ s genealogy (Matt. 1:5). Uncertainty cannot keep believers from living by faith (2 Pet. 1:5-11). It Prevails Over Unrighteousness (vv. 32-34) Faith also prevails over unrighteousness as demonstrated by the next group of saints. This section essentially covers the remainder of Jewish history before Christ. Because it is such an extensive history, the writer acknowledges that time would fail [him] to tell at length of the rest of the Hebrew saints who clearly demonstrated faith in God s redemptive purpose and plan.! 3
While he has certainly given enough examples to make his point ( And what more shall I say? ), the writer is compelled to at least mention the faith demonstrated during the era of the judges ( Gideon Barak Samson..Jephthah), as well as the kings, of whom David was the most righteous example and from whose royal line the Christ would arise (2 Sam. 7). Likewise, Samuel is the notable first in a line of many prophets during the time of the kings who called the nation to righteousness. Each of these and many other saints sought first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33). They prevailed over the unrighteousness within their nation and without through faith in what God had revealed about the kingdom of His righteous Son. They subdued [earthly] kingdoms, worked righteousness [as they led Israel in accomplishing God s will], obtained promises [as God revealed more of His purpose and plan], stopped the mouth of lions (literally e.g. Samson [judge], David [king], Daniel [prophet]; perhaps also symbolic of satanic opposition to righteousness; 1 Pet. 5:8), quenched the violence of fire (Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego; Dan. 3:19-30), escaped the edge of the sword [wielded by their enemies], out of [human] weakness were made strong [by God s gracious intervention to accomplish the task He gave to them], became valiant in battle [and] turned to flight the armies of the aliens [as seen throughout Israel s many military conflicts].! 4
In the lives of these saints, faith prevailed over the unrighteousness of those who did not fear God, and the righteous of God s kingdom was upheld and represented. Unrighteousness cannot keep the saints from being salt and light to the earth for God s glory (Matt. 5:13-16). It Prevails Over Suffering (vv. 35-38) Uncertainty and unrighteousness are indeed challenges to faith, but perhaps even more so is suffering. Jesus said that all who desire to live godly will suffer the world s hatred to some degree because they are doing the Fathers will just as He did (Jn. 16:33; 2 Tim. 3:12). In fact, the believer is to anticipate the possibility of persecution even to the point of death. Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him (Mark 8:34-38). But while suffering can be the direct result of persecution, God may simply bring it into our lives to test our faith and use that trial for His glory. God s Word testifies to the faith of Old Testament saints who suffered to various degrees, and the writer alludes to many from Israel s history. The women [who] received their dead raised to life again (v. 35a) is certainly a reference to the widow of Zerephath (1 Kings 17; Elijah the prophet) and the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4; Elisha the prophet) who both tragically lost their sons. The LORD ordained both because He wished to validate the message of His prophets by working through them to miraculously raise the dead (cf. Lk. 7:11-16 - widow of Nain; Acts 20:9-12 - Eutychus).! 5
Still others (v. 35b) who demonstrated faith in suffering experienced it due to persecution. Some were tortured (likely beaten to death) because they would not deny God s truth ( accept deliverance ); they viewed the final resurrection from the dead as better than temporarily escaping death by denying Christ (cf. vv. 17-19 [Abraham & Isaac], 24-26 [Moses]). And still others experienced suffering ( had trial ) by way of mockings scourgings chains and imprisonment (v. 36; e.g. Joseph and Jeremiah). Some prophets were stoned (v. 37); some were sawn in two (the tradition of Isaiah s death); and many prophets and other saints were slain with the sword (e.g. 1 Kings 18:4). Many who were faithful to God were often ostracized from society and were barely able to survive ( destitute, afflicted, tormented ). They were homeless ( wandered in deserts mountains dens and caves of the earth ) and forced to live off the land ( sheepskins goatskins). The writer deems that the world was not worthy of those saints of old who suffered so severely for their faith. It is not simply that they suffered for believing that God exists, but that they absolutely trusted His very specific promises of redemption in Christ, and they did so at great personal cost. They considered gaining Christ to be well worth anything they lost (Heb. 11:26; cf. Matt. 13:45-46).! 6
As Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:12: I suffer nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day [of Christ]. Suffering cannot destroy the faith of believers; they endure the hostile world and keep desiring heaven (cf. Heb. 11:13-16). It Prevails Over Imperfection (vv. 39-40) Finally, the writer points out that the faith of all these Hebrew saints recorded in Scripture prevailed over imperfection. In other words, it is a faith that saves sinners from their own unrighteousness because it believes God s promise to provide righteousness in Christ the perfect Son (cf. Heb. 2:10; 5:9). This is the perfection which the writer has emphasized throughout the letter (Heb. 6:1; 10:14, etc.). The saints of the Old Testament period did not receive the promise of this righteousness in the sense that it was yet to be secured by Christ s righteous life and sacrificial death. But they obtained a good testimony through faith, which looked to His future life and ministry, which seals the covenant of grace. That is the something better of verse 40.! 7
The only way to satisfy the covenant of law for the sinner is for Christ to fulfill it and impute that righteousness by grace through faith i.e. the new covenant (ch. 8). That is the promise these Hebrews saints believed, and it is what everyone who looks back to the cross of Christ believes. Therefore, the saints of old were not made perfect apart from us who believe the Gospel after the cross. In other words, they are not saved by some means other than faith in Jesus Christ (i.e. the power of the Gospel; Rom. 1:16). No, the object of their faith was the same as ours, and their perfection comes by grace through faith in Christ just as it does the Christian today. So the writer is urging the Hebrews in his day to believe in Jesus Christ as God s perfect Son and High Priest of heaven just as the Hebrews of old did. Everyone who believes God s promise of righteousness in Christ will be made perfect in Him. The faith of every true saint of God prevails over uncertainty, unrighteousness, suffering and imperfection. How does your faith measure up to the examples given in this chapter? Do you believe God s promise of righteousness in Jesus Christ?! 8