Faith That Can Be Seen

Sometimes Hebrews chapter 11, ‘Faith’s Hall of Fame’, is presented apart from the message of the Epistle as a whole. Actually, it plays a vital role in the appeal to the readers to maintain their confidence in Jesus as Messiah and Lord. D. W. GooDinG explains, ‘The great need of the Hebrews to whom the letter was written was faith’.¹ The heroes of faith before Christ came belonged to the Hebrew believers, not to those who clung to Judaism. Believers in Christ were the heirs of the long line of men and women of faith who lived in Old Testament times. The immediately preceding context is a challenging call to the readers to persevere in faith.² The succeeding context reminds us that in running the race of faith ‘we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses’.³ Those witnesses are the men and women whose faith has been celebrated. They are examples of living faith to all the readers of the Epistle.

Faith is not only exercised when we first trust Christ for salvation, it shows its presence by the evidence of the overall direction of our lives. It brings certainty about future events which we hope for and conviction about unseen realities.⁴That certainty and conviction should be displayed in the choices each of us make in life.

The biggest question men and women face is, ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?’ The only true answer is that the universe was formed out of nothing by the spoken word of the personal Creator.⁵ That answer is revealed in His written word. We grasp it by faith.⁶ Creation by God is a fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith.

So is the need for blood sacrifice for humans to approach God. That is the testimony of Abel, the first named witness to living faith. Probably on the basis of teaching from his parents, Adam and Eve, who in turn had received revelation from God, Abel acted in faith by offering the very best of his flock of sheep. He was accepted by God as a result of the acceptability of that sacrifice. Now the only way to secure acceptance by God is to come to Him relying on the once and for all sacrifice of Christ.⁷Abel was the first martyr. He was murdered because of his faithful witness. He still speaks after long centuries, reminding people of faith so that they can face opposition and even persecution. Sadly, this persecution often comes from people who are merely religious, like Cain.

The next named witness is Enoch. By faith he lived a life that pleased God and was spent in close personal fellowship with Him. Enoch did not experience death. God called him into His immediate presence without him dying. A similar privilege awaits Christians who will be alive and remaining at the return of Christ.⁸ Noah received a warning from God about future judgement. He responded by building the Ark. No doubt this involved scorn and derision from the people of his day. However, by building it he brought salvation to his household and condemnation to the world’s system.

It is not surprising that the longest treatment is given to the faith of Abraham. Paul describes him as ‘the man of faith’.⁹ He is the leading example of faith in the Old Testament. Abraham’s home was Ur, the centre of the leading civilization of its day. Yet Abraham abandoned Ur and became a pilgrim, seeking a far greater city. His hope was focused not only on Canaan, but even more so on the heavenly city of God.¹⁰ He left his homeland in implicit obedience to God and total trust in Him and His promise. Never ever did he seek to return to Ur. Abraham’s wife, Sarah, shared his faith. Trusting in the promise that she would have a son together with Abraham, she experienced a supernatural conception of Isaac, despite her age and Abraham’s.¹¹

The greatest test of the faith of Abraham came when he was commanded by God to offer up Isaac in sacrifice. It proved to be the greatest display of Abraham’s trust in God, the One who keeps His promises. So convinced was he that God would keep His commitment to create a nation, through Abraham and his line, that he believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead if he had been slain. He was sure that God could do this and would do it even though he had never known of any resurrection taking place.

The writer goes on to briefly describe specific episodes in the lives of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Perhaps surprisingly, he includes Isaac’s blessings on Jacob and Esau. Beyond all of Rebekah’s plotting and his own gullibility, God saw ‘a core of genuine faith’¹² in Isaac that the line of promise would run through Jacob, the younger brother and not the older one, Esau. God had already declared in advance that this was His purpose. Jacob, on his death bed, and much chastened by the hard knocks of his life expressed the same principle by blessing the younger son of Joseph over his older grandson. Joseph, just before his own death, expressed a certain hope that Israel would eventually leave Egypt and return to the promised land. He also expressed a desire to be buried in Canaan. Despite his highly successful career in the government of Egypt, his heart was with his own people who were indeed the people of God.

Moses is clearly one of the leading figures in the history of Israel. After his birth, his parents displayed their faith by hiding him from Pharaoh’s pogrom. They trusted that God had a special role for their infant son. As a young adult, Moses made highly significant choices which reflected his faith. He preferred being identified with the people whom God had chosen to the status of a prince in the royal family of Egypt. He did so, accepting mistreatment and reproach instead of enjoying all of the pleasures of the palace. He was motivated by eternal values. Egypt’s pleasures were only for time. God’s reward was forever. Moses had the great privilege, under God, of leading Israel’s deliverance by blood at the Passover, and by power at the crossing of the Red Sea.

God’s people gained the land of Canaan by faith. The walls of Jericho were not impregnable. They fell to the assault of Israel’s army who believed that the strange tactics God told them to use would prevail. Rahab, a woman of ill repute, was saved from the destruction of Jericho by her faith in Israel’s God. She believed that He was the great Creator and that He had given Canaan to His people. She put this faith into action by welcoming Israel’s spies, even though that was treason to her city.

The great chapter of faith ends by giving an impressive list of ‘Faith’s victories and apparent defeats’.¹³This section of the chapter would give great encouragement to the first readers who were suffering persecution for their faith. ‘They died without being vindicated. Faith is not always seen to be triumphant in this life. And it takes greater faith to suffer apparent disaster, unvindicated, and to go on believing still’.¹⁴ Such was the experience of the only perfect man of faith, the Lord Jesus Himself.¹⁵He endured what appeared to be total disaster and defeat but through it all He has reached the highest place in glory. His followers are promised a similar blessing.¹⁶

We, the contemporary readers of this tremendous chapter, are challenged that we should follow the steps of the men and women of faith and display faith that can be seen.