“Listen up: this is better” -- A study on the Bible book of Hebrews A 13-week series given in 2020
To watch this given live on 9 October 2020, click this link
Lesson Eleven: The Hall of Faith
Shalom to each of you here on the Zoom call and those who will watch this class lecture on YouTube later. I hope you will feel welcome and when this section ends in about 20-25 minutes, that you will be a participant in the rest of the questions and discussion time. This letter to messianic Jews was written before the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. Today we study chapter 11, and if you haven’t yet read it, please, those of you on YouTube, pause the playback, read the chapter, and then press play again to re-join us. Thanks.
Today we will look at historical celebrities whose roles were significant in their days, and who are being called, almost to a witness stand, to help the messianic Jews in the First Century, and dare I say, those of us 2 millennia later, to be encouraged to stay the course. It’s not a surprise that the list is like a Hall of Fame of biblical characters. And it’s also not a surprise that it’s introduced by the theme of ‘faith.’
In modern days, faith is often used as a synonym for religion, as in a common question we receive, “What is your faith?” And then there are others who use the term ‘believe’ much like the idea of wishing or hoping. When Peter Pan’s little fairy “Tinker Bell” was dying, Peter turns to the audience and begs us to “believe” so that Tink can live again. On the side-lines of many sporting teams will be a sign “Believe” so that the crowd gets onside with the team and prevents loss. But neither Tinker Bell nor the footy chant is in view here. Faith is taking God at his word. It’s not making something out of nothing. It’s letting God make what he wants in a world which is more often than not hostile to him.
So, the chapter divides into two sections. Even though it’s 39 verses, it’s only two sections. One is the definition or practical understanding of faith and the other is examples of those who lived as people of faith. Those Older Testament saints are models for us in these days.
I like that. I’m a fairly analytical person so I like the first part. Explanations and definitions help me to get along in life. And then I’m also a people person who enjoys being with people and bringing people together. So, I like the way narratives explain and give deeper sense to the definitions of the first part.
Let’s unpack the chapter now that we see the overarching themes again and see what it has to say to us as 21st Century believers. If you are not yet a believer, it’s good for you to see what’s ahead for you, so you can make wise decisions and know with whom to walk.
A. The definition of faith
Verse one: Faith is… the term is defined. I told you I’m a fairly analytical person. Most of the time, therefore, when I’m reading the Scriptures, I’m frustrated. The Bible rarely defines things, at least, not with such clarity as we see here. We usually have to read between the lines if we want to get it, but here in chapter 11, verse 1, faith is defined. Sweet.
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence or conviction of things not seen. It is a sure thing, in other words.
What prompted this definition is the ending of chapter 10. Let’s look there for a moment to see the catalyst.
38 “BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM. 39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”
We see the author quoting Habakkuk chapter 2, a central watchword in Jewish life. It’s also quoted in Romans (1.17) and in Galatians (3.11). Paul knew it to be a central tenet of the Jewish religion and would become a basis of much of his theology.
In fact, when asked what the major themes are, or what can one boil all of Judaism down to, most would say the Ten Commandments. That’s true. Then those 10 can boil down to three. Micah 6.8. Those three down to two: love God and love your neighbour. But when the rabbis are asked to bring all of Judaism down to one theme or one thought, it’s this: The just or righteous shall live by faith.
The author of Hebrews in chapter 10 verses 38 and 39 brings that verse to the courtroom to say that if you shrink back, that is, into messiah-less Judaism, you give God no pleasure. And the result is destruction, but, and that but shouts loudly, but we are of those, who have faith to the preserving of the soul. That’s what prompts the author to unpack faith itself. What it is that we hold so dear? What others have experienced that gave them hope, no matter what, and what can we learn from them to help us in the preserving of our soul? That’s what chapter 11 is for.
Back to verse one. Faith is the assurance. Faith is the evidence. Really? Yes. Some things just don’t have a clear empirical, scientific explanation. In fact, if scientists are honest, they will always admit that much of what we see is unknown and may never be known in their lifetime. Science, the Latin word for knowledge, is ever limited. We know only so much. We strive to know more, even ache to know more. And the more we know, the more we know we don’t know. That’s why we keep studying. That’s why we keep asking questions. And the honest answer we can usually give to those who seek answers from us, when we don’t know, is to say, “I don’t know.” That is, there are some things that are just beyond us.
In terms of religion, we have to admit ignorance about many things, many concepts, many people, many theological conclusions. Our answer might sound like a cop-out to those who want to paint us into a corner, but reality is that in terms of philosophies and theologies, no one has a corner on the market of knowledge. My answer is often, I trust the Lord. I don’t know, but I know the One who does know, and when He wants to unveil things to me or to us, then we will know. This is not laziness at all; this is active and participatory faith.
Faith itself tells me that God created the world. (verse 3) Science in its limitations tells me that the creation of the world is itself a bad term. Science tells me that the world always was, which doesn’t explain anything. Science tells me that there was a Big Bang which started the world, but doesn’t explain, nor can it, from where the elements came that pounded together into the Black Hole which exploded and bang, out came the expanding universes in which we travel. Science, meaning knowledge, is limited. Then all honest scientists have to find an explanation, or evidence, or something that convinces them of what they do not know. That is their faith. It’s actually guesswork, and based on good information, hopefully. But for us, ‘faith’ is itself the evidence and conviction.
People have lived in faith, in this kind of faith, since the beginning, and the author is going to highlight 19 folks particularly who represent.
B. The people of faith: Older Testament
Abel is contrasted with his brother Cain in verse 4. It was not what they learned in Sunday School or at cheder. It was not who played what instruments or whom they married. It was a single contrast of a double incident that is recorded in Genesis 4.1-8. There we see two men, two offerings, and two reactions by the Almighty. And the summary here in verse 4 of Hebrews 11.
Abel “obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”
Abel brought an offering as did Cain, but God accepted the offering of Abel and that acceptance speaks. The death that followed, that is, Cain killing his brother Abel, is the angry response of Cain in being dissed by the Eternal One.
The point in this list is this… there will be suffering and consequences to your faith. The first consequence is that God will accept you. The 2nd is that others won’t accept you.
Enoch (verse 5) is found in Genesis (5.22-24)
Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
The author of Hebrews tells us
“Enoch obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.”
Two consequences happen usually to each of these folks listed. 1) God is pleased, rather than (10.38) God not having or taking pleasure in us and 2) others will despise or reject us.
Enoch walked with God and God was pleased with him.
In fact, the author shouts in verse 6, and you should memorize this one, if you can.
“Without faith… and he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.” You want to please anyone? Please God. How? By faith in what he has said and in who he is.
Verse 7 is Noah, who trusted God with the building of an ark, and he condemned the world by that same faith. He chose his friends; he chose his enemies well.
Verse 8 introduces us to Abraham (#4). The Father of Faith. He demonstrated his faith when 1) he was called (Gen. 12), when he lived as an alien with Isaac and Jacob, looking for a city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God (not humans). His being an alien is key, his having family is also key. We are called to wear the same troubles of misidentification, or being a foreigner, dwelling not in lavish palaces, but in tents, looking for something better than what the ‘world’ can give us.
Verse 11 brings in Sarah (#5). What is highlighted is GOD who is faithful and helps Sarah at 90 years old to conceive and help fulfill the promises of the Lord to Abram, decades later.
Verse 13-16 helps like a rest in music, like Selah in the Hebrew in Psalms, to give us time to reflect before we get back to Genesis and Abraham.
In this rest period of 13-16, the author shows that all these are faith-filled believers who are looking to God’s fulfillment of his own promises and that they (that is, WE) can continue their work of faith, in looking for a city or country that is above, that is not what the world gives us. Let me make this clear. God wants us to have a desire to live in heaven, not Bega or Vaucluse. Not St Kilda or Mission Hills. Heaven. Another place where nothing damages the reality of eternity and peace.
Verse 17 brings us back to faithful Abraham (#4) and the scene of the Akedah. Many in synagogues worldwide just heard that story on Rosh Hashanah and will hear it again in a few weeks’ time in the ordinary reading of the Torah. Here the author highlights the binding as a statement of faith, and uses the one Hebrew letter, the “noon” of Genesis 22.5 (I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.)That’s why here in Hebrews 11 we read in verse 19, “God is able to raise people from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.” (Parable)
Verse 20 we see Isaac. (#6) And the scene of choice that highlights the faith of Isaac is the blessing of Jacob and Esau. (Genesis 27.26-40) That was a moment in their history of selection and thus deselection. Faith in what was to take place and the cost for Esau of not being chosen. That same choice is yours, the author is saying, in following Yeshua today.
In verse 21 we see Jacob (#7) in a similar blessing situation (Genesis 47-48) where he chose to bless Ephraim over Menashe, the “sons of Joseph” and made tradition to bow to God’s sovereignty. And those two boys would represent the same situation for the people of the author’s days in the first Century, and for us in our days, too.
In verse 22, another, the third of three blessing-when-dying scenes takes place with Joseph (#8) giving orders for his bones and such.
Verse 23 introduces one we have already seen in this letter, and that’s Moses (#9), but really, it’s the faith of Amram and Yocheved which is highlighted. They chose to go against government in Egypt and to trust the Lord.
#10 is Moses himself in verse 24 and following. He chose to trust God and to go against the flow in killing the Egyptian, but it was the choice he made in verse 25 which is key.
“choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” That’s the theme in a nutshell. Choose with whom you are going to walk. Heaven is filled with people of faith. So should your life be today.
Verse 27, another episode in Moses’ life evidenced his faith, and he did it by seeing the Invisible one, and in verse 28 by keeping Passover and the Red Sea drama.
Verse 30 shows us Joshua’s faith (#11) in the falling of the walls of Jericho. Do you see it’s almost always two consequences for the faithful?
Verse 31 brings up Rahab (#12) who welcomed the spies. And lost her job in the city of Jericho as a result.
The summaries finish with verse 32 and following. We meet Gideon (#13), Barak (14), Samson (15), Jephthah (16), David (17), Samuel (18) and then the final summary the prophets (19) which of course would make many more than just 19 which are highlighted.
Verses 33 to the end shows activities of the faithful, but the summary is in verse 39 and 40:
Heb. 11:39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive 2what was promised, 40 because God had 1provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.
These folks gained approval, not by what they did, but that they believed in the One who would preserve them, no matter what, and now with us, and really Yeshua, coming along, those promises made will see their fulfillment.
The author here uses these words “mocking” and “scourging” (verse 36) and in chapter 12 adds other words of rejection which are the pains and suffering that the author is highlighting. Lions, fire, edge of sword, tortured… you get it. There are reasons to shrink or drift back. There are troubles in this world. There is significant tsuris that might cause you to wonder if this is worth it all.
Let me say to you as simply and directly as possible.
Nothing the world gives us, in either pleasure or pain, is worth the walking away from the Lord of glory.
“Destitute, tempted, afflicted ill-treated wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.” (verse 37-38)
Dear friends, the point today is to help you see that we are not the first and won’t be the last of Jewish followers of Jesus. We saw several of our biblical ancestors who survived and in a single defining moment evidenced their faith. Therefore, you are not alone and it’s because the Messiah has settled the situation with God once for all. This whole arrangement is better. Our job is to receive his love and grace. And to stay the course…to keep meeting together. Some of you are wrong to think you can make it on your own. None of us is an island. Sorry John Donne. None of us is alone on an island. We need others to survive and to thrive. Maybe that’s one of the great lessons of COVID-19. We thought we could make it on our own. Not true. You cannot. And thank God for zoom and other online methods of sharing life. Our own D-Groups highlight that weekly.
If you’ve never received Yeshua as your Lord and Saviour, I invite you to do so now. Right where you are. Receive him who gave his life for you. Say a prayer of thanks. Say a prayer like “I need you, Lord Yeshua” … he loves to give to you of his life.
If you want to write to me with a question, I’m happy to try to answer. Just write to me at the address on the screen, it’s bob@jewsforjesus.org.au and I’ll give it a go.
Until next week, when we will meet again to share about chapter 12, the disciplined life of the believers who have come to the New Mountain, until then, chag sukkot s’meach and Shabbat shalom.
Actual text:
Heb. 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval.
Heb. 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Heb. 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; 10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE.
Heb. 11:13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. 15 And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.
Heb. 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; 18 it was he to whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.” 19 He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type. 20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come. 21 By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones.
Heb. 11:23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. 29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were 1drowned.
Heb. 11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.
Heb. 11:32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women receivedback their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; 36 and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
Heb. 11:39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.
Bibliography
Allen, Ronald, Lord of Song, Multnomah Press, Portland, 1985.
Jacob, Alex, The case for Enlargement Theology, Glory to Glory, Walden, UK, 2010.
Ladd, George E., A Theology of the New Testament, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1974. (Pages 571 – 587)
Lane, William L, Word Biblical Commentary Series, Hebrews.
Vine, W.E., An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Revell, Old Tappan, NJ, 1966.
Weirsbe, Warren. Be Confident. David C. Cook Publishing, Colorado Springs,1982.
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D-Groups for this week
1) Tuesday 11 am Sydney time. Led by James Howse
2) Monday 10 am Sydney time, led by Rebekah Bronn
3) Thursday 7 pm, Sydney time, led by James White
(Contact our office for zoom details)
If you’d like to host a D-Group either online or in person, please contact bob@jewsforjesus.org.au for further details.
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