Hebrews 11

Michael Collum

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Hebrews 11

Hebrews 11

1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Faith, trust, certainty this is defined by thing sure of things we cannot see . recently i saw a church billboard that said "faith is living by invisible means of support" and it gave me a bit of a chuckle so i thought i'd pass it along . Faith is another way of seeing . but it involves a premise opposite of our regular seeing . this premise is trusting God in everything .

2This is what the ancients were commended for.

The people who followed God in the past were commended for their trust in God .

3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

By trust in God we understand that the universe was formed at God's command and that the visible is made out of the invisible . So faith is not ignorance . faith is a means to understand what cannot be explained by our eyes .

4By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.


Abel's sacrifice had trust . but Cain's did not . So Abel's sacrifice was accepted but Cain's was not . Faith is what makes one righteous . actions as Cain illustrated do not make one righteous . This also shows that Faith is a power that reaches beyond the grave . when God said, your brother's blood is crying out from the ground against you . It was a statement of fact . because by trusting God he still speaks even though he is dead .

5By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

By trusting God Enoch was taken from this life without having to die . He was commended as one who pleased God .

6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.


Without faith it is impossible to please God . Without trusting God it is impossible to please Him . i feel like a kid on a blackboard .. how many times do i need to write it out before i get it? lol . to come to Him you must first believe that He exists and trust that he rewards those who sincerely seek Him .

7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Trusting in God sometimes makes a separation between those who do trust God on something .. and those who don't . and those who don't may feel left out . in Noah's case they just died and he lived on .

8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

Faith sometimes means not knowing where you're going and why you're doing it . that's why it's called trust .

9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Faith does things . and quite often faith makes one seem like an alien from another planet (or at least one that does not belong) in their surroundings . Trusting in what you don't see . builds something beyond imagination later . so keep trusting .

11By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.

Trusting the source of the message no matter how ludicrous it may seem . when you know it is God speaking . is what Trust is all about .

12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

If it seems like "it's over, there's no way that's going to happen" keep trusting God . odds are there have been more impossible odds than what you're currently facing and God helped people through that too . just keep trusting .

13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.

Living by faith means not getting to see exactly what God promised to you in this life . but you may get to see the beginning of your Godly dream from a distance and welcome it as other people of faith walk into your promise .. and receive Godly dreams of their own . and so faith builds upon faith from generation to generation .

And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.

Living by faith also means not doing things the way this planet tends to do things .. because God is always into doing something new . Living by trusting God means after a while .. you'll realize that the place you are now is not your home . and that your Home really is with God in the place where He is .


14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.
15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.


People who admit that they are aliens and strangers on the earth are looking for a home in God . this is Trusting Him . Jesus said something similar "the foxes have holes, and the birds have their nests but the Son of Man has no where to rest His head." and so it is with anyone who would say "i will follow you wherever you go" . And those who seek to be with God and are not ashamed to say this earth is not my home but by Home is with God .. God is not ashamed to be called their God and has prepared a city for them .. probably that one in revelation coming down from the sky .

17By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." 19Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

Trust that God can raise from the dead is something important to Him and is core to our current covenant too . i guess this would be type and shadow of the resurrection .

20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

This would be an example of blindness and faith working together . sometimes we might be blinded or the full perspective hidden from us so we do what God wants instead of what we think is best .

okay at half point so gonna stop there . might continue later . but i'm reading the passages and nothing is coming to me . and it's an important chapter . gotta proceed by faith right?
 
There's a particular translation of Hebrews 11:1 I like:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (KJV)
I have a sermon based on this translation. http://www.christianforumsite.com/bible-studies/5813-substance.html

In Genesis it says God has finished creating. The Law of Conservation of Matter/Energy says the amount of each is fixed and matter and energy may be changed from one to the other (E=Mc^2). Basically, Faith is what God uses to do His work.

There are many examples of Jesus performing miracles. What do the accounts have in common? 'You're faith has ..."
 
I remember that wonderful sermon and went to review it again .... Thanks HMS .... awesome .

Loooking into the Bible Dictionary I found SUBSTANCE :

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) That which underlies all outward manifestations; substratum; the permanent subject or cause of phenomena, whether material or spiritual; that in which properties inhere; that which is real, in distinction from that which is apparent; the abiding part of any existence, in distinction from any accident; that which constitutes anything what it is; real or existing essence.
2. (n.) The most important element in any existence; the characteristic and essential components of anything; the main part; essential import; purport.
3. (n.) Body; matter; material of which a thing is made; hence, substantiality; solidity; firmness; as, the substance of which a garment is made; some textile fabrics have little substance.
4. (n.) Material possessions; estate; property; resources.
5. (n.) Same as Hypostasis, 2. 6. (v. t.) To furnish or endow with substance; to supply property to; to make rich.


This is a very important word .
 
Hebrews 111Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

This word hope does not mean the same as the common hope as we use today. It is "expecting".


Now faith is being sure of what we expect and certain of what we do not yet see
 
The word 'hypostaseos' is the same used when the author says that Jesus is the exact representation of the 'essential nature' of God.

The verse is the second half of a motif pair (shadow/reality). You can find many of them in Hebrews.

Hebrews 10:1 ¶ For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
Hebrews 11:1 ¶ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

The law has something that is not the law, yet it is firmly attached to the law as a shadow. Faith is the reality typified by such shadows.

It might be suggested then that "the good things to come" and the "things not seen" are but two more of the nearly thirty references to the Kingdom of God such as, The Day, the Day of His coming, the promise, etc.

If that is the case, then the law is a shadow of the kingdom of God, and faith is the essential nature of it. The lists that follow are of saints who built the kingdom with the essence of their faith. They were willing to be obedient to God in the face of ridicule, torment and death, because they believe God would do what He said He would do.

I think we miss the whole point if we come up with some sort of definition of faith that says, I believe that I will get what I want because I really believe it though I can't see it. The real point of faith is obedience to Christ because we believe He has conquered sin and death.
 
Yes the real point of faith is believing . because we know who Jesus is .

about the shadow/body as the writer to colossae says .. these things were a shadow but the reality (or look at the greek and see body as a possible also) is christ .

and i see a picture of the light of God in eternity shining backwards in time .. in the past we would see the shadow of Christ .. and the body we are .. and before that just light shining in the darkness and no one understanding it .. and now .. we see that light .. but not so clearly .. but as Daniel heard from the messenger

Daniel 12:2-3

2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.


So from glory to glory .. it's like .. we see God .. but we also at one point .. see ourselves there also . through faith .
 
I think we miss the whole point if we come up with some sort of definition of faith that says, I believe that I will get what I want because I really believe it though I can't see it. The real point of faith is obedience to Christ because we believe He has conquered sin and death.

This brothers and sisters this is the point so well said . Obedience and trust have to be our mandate otherwise all else is pointless... Thanks for that BOB .
 
Thank you Dusty and Bob, That's part of the point . To the carnal Corinthians . that was exactly what Paul would have said .

1 Corinthians 7:19
Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts.

But to the Galatians who knew the law . he had a completely different message .

Galatians 5:6

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Galatians 6:15
Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.

All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. (Philippians 3:15)
 
All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. (Philippians 3:15)

Maybe that should have been .... All of us who are mature in Christ.

15Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you
 

The The lists that follow are of saints who built the kingdom with the essence of their faith. They were willing to be obedient to God in the face of ridicule, torment and death, because they believe God would do what He said He would do.

I think we miss the whole point if we come up with some sort of definition of faith that says, I believe that I will get what I want because I really believe it though I can't see it. The real point of faith is obedience to Christ because we believe He has conquered sin and death.

That's how these saints were who were listed: they believed they would receive the promise and acted on their faith, even though they did not see the answer yet. That doesn't mean it didn't happen later. And we should be the same way. In faith be obedient to His leading and He will bring it to pass.

2 Pet 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.


He has already given us all we need through His promises to us. That is what we ask for and base our prayer and faith on, that He will do what He said, not just something we want that is not promised. You can't have Bible faith for something that is not in the Bible. That is just a natural faith that will fail or either it's presumption, sometimes even foolishness.



 
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