11:2
"For our ancestors won God's approval by it." The Hebrews may have wondered, "how did our ancestors win God's approval?" For many of them did, Abraham, Moses, David and the like. Was it not by the sacrifices? No, it was by faith that they gained God's approval. As it says in Gen 15:6, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, a point made by Paul in his letter to the Romans. It is faith, not sacrifices, that please God.
11:3
Creation and whether it we have a young or an old earth, whether the development of life is all down to evolution, or whether there is intelligent life, are contentious issues. "It is by faith that we understand that the universe was created by God's command". Faith is what counts. No one was there at the point of creation, by definition! It is by faith that we believe God created the universe. This does not mean that scientific evidence is irrelevant, indeed, as far as I can see the evidence is consistent with an intelligently designed and created universe. "So that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible". The Hebrews would not have questioned the statement that God created the universe and everything in it, yet they had not seen it. So, we do not see Christ in heaven, yet we believe that He has won our salvation.
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