Hebrews 11:1,2 - Faith is ...

11:1

This is undoubtedly the best known chapter in Hebrews. We do well to look back at what has just gone before,

We do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

So now he expounds on what it means to have faith. He does so first with some general features of faith, and then begins a long list of examples from throughout the Old Testament of people who lived by faith. Some of these examples do not seem obvious to us. Faith is often shown by the example of someone’s life, by key decisions that they make, rather than correct doctrinal affirmation. THis is not to say that correct doctrine is unimportant, but God does not give us a theology test, but a life test.

“Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”. Now there are many sermons, mostly charismatic I guess, that apply this to believing for miracles and the like, but that is not the context here. What has the writer been going on about for the past ten chapters? It is about the all sufficiency of the work of Christ, His perfect sacrifice, His perfect priesthood, His perfect cleansing of our sins. We do not yet see the full outworking of this, for if we look at our own lives we still see sin. But when Christ returns we will be transformed in the twinkling of an eye, the work of transformation has begun, it will be brought to completion. So faith is having assurance of what we do not yet see.

11:2

The “ancients” are the heroes of the Old Testament. There are numerous people in the Bible whom God commends. Why were they commended? Because they had faith, and they were looking forward to a better place. None of them actually received the fullness of what God had promised. Abraham had one son, he did not see the whole world being blessed. Moses was not allowed into the promised land. David was not allowed to build a temple. Daniel was told that many of the things he saw in visions were for a future time. The Old Testament, correctly understood, is a looking forwards.

Hebrews 10:30-33 - Remember those days

10:30,31

The writer then quotes from Deut 32:35,36. God has not changed. There is still a day of judgement ahead, a day of retribution. Indeed, it is because there is such a day that God sent His Son to die on the cross for us, so that we could escape that judgement. Never, ever be taken in by the notion that judgement went out of the window with the New Testament. The New Testament is all about judgement!

10:32,33

The writer now reminds them of the things they had endured. It seems that earlier on there had been a time of persecution, but now things had eased off. The early church did endure persecution. Sometimes it was severe, but it did not last forever, it also varied greatly from place to place. We live in a time in the West when the Christians are now being discriminated against, though it is not yet really persecution, certainly not to the extent to which Christians in some other parts of the world are experiencing. We need to realise that suffering for our faith is a normal state of affairs as far as the Bible is concerned.

Hebrews 10:34-39 - You need to persevere

10:34,35

They stood by those who had been imprisoned, and suffered material loss in the form of property being confiscated. We do well not to hold on tightly to material possessions. The Hebrews were able to withstand these attacks because they knew they had “better and lasting” possessions. This verse shows the poverty of prosperity gospel teaching. The so-called prosperity gospel will never equip Christians to stand up in the face of serious opposition.

So the direct attacks on them had failed, but the danger was the subtle attack that was seeking to get them to trust in useless sacrifices. When we come through a time of trial we need to be on our guard against more subtle attacks. We must never drop our guard.

10:36,37

There are numerous instructions in the New Testament about the importance of perseverance. It is God’s will that we continue to believe in Christ. Being saved is not just a one off thing, but a whole way of life. We then get a quote from Isaiah 26:20 (or Hab 2:3). The fulfillment of all we hope for will only happen when Christ returns.

10:38,39

We then get another quote from Hab 2:4, perhaps indicating that writer was actually thinking of Hab 2:3 in the previous one. This was a favourite verse of Paul, used in both Romans and Galatians. It also contains a warning. The chapter closes with the writer stating that he is convinced that his hearers are actually of those who persist, rather than those who shrink back. We need to live by faith everyday.

Hebrews 10:26-29 - A fearful expectation of judgement

10:26,27

We now come to one of the severe warning sections in Hebrews. Rather than getting involved in silly “once-saved-always-saved” debates, we do better to look at the text and to heed the warnings. The writer has just spent sometime focusing on the absolute completeness of the sacrifice of Jesus, how he has dealt with our sins once and for all. The people needed to believe this and to fully appreciate it, as do we. However, the danger is that we will then swing to the other error and think that it doesn’t matter what we do because whatever sin we commit Jesus has already paid for it, so we can live how we like. The New Testament never teaches this view and roundly condemns it on multiple occasions.

So if we keep on deliberately sinning we can expect only judgement. We have been saved, justified, so that we can live a new life, not so we can carry on living the old life.  Notice that the writer is careful to make it clear he is talking about deliberate persistent sin. He is not saying we will never sin if we are true believers. We should also note that the God of the New Testament is exactly the same God of the Old Testament. Fire and judgement are as much a part of the NT as the OT.

10:28,29

The writer has spent much effort comparing the Law to the Gospel, showing how the Law was a shadow of the reality. Everything in the gospel is so much greater than the shadows we see in the Law. The same principle applies to judgement! Under the Law rejection of the Law resulted in judgement. So the price of rejecting the gospel is so much greater. For if we reject the gospel we are rejecting the Son of God, we are saying He needn't have bothered shedding His blood, dying on the cross. We have rejected the Holy Spirit. Too often we talk as if we sit in judgement on the gospel, as if we can choose to accept or reject it. The choice we have is whether or not to obey the gospel, for the command of the gospel is to repent and believe. If we choose to disobey we will take the consequences.

On preaching

I have just posted a short note on preaching on my other blog. You might like to take a look.

Hebrews 10:24,25 - Spur one another on

10:24

Faith is not just a personal thing. God created us as a community, so we are to encourage each other, to urge each other to live by faith, to have love and to do good dees. The word translated “spur one another” is the same term used of people causing a riot. So we are to be fervent in encouraging one another, it is not something we are to do in a half-hearted manner.

10:25

It seems that some were neglecting to meet together. We were designed to need each other. If we become isolated then we put ourselves in danger. The danger will come from our own thoughts, which need the encouragement of others if we are to keep on the right path. Danger will also come from the world, for if we are not listening to godly teaching we will be listening to ungodly teaching, and that will inevitably have a detrimental effect upon us. We see the Day of the Lord approaching. This was written nearly two thousand years ago, and the return is undoubtedly nearer now than it was then.

Hebrews 10:21-23 - Let us draw near to God

10:21

We have a great high priest over the house of God. The Hebrews were tempted to look for an earthly priest, much as they had had under Judaism. There is no need for such a priest, for we have Jesus. Now we might think we, especially if we are in evangelical, reformed or charismatic churches, don’t think like that, but this is not always the case. We can easily put a preacher, teacher or prophet in the role of “high priest”. Jesus is our high priest and the only one we need. We should note also that Jesus is actively head of the church. His being head of the church is not just a “theological truth”, but a living reality. He directs the church, He prays on our behalf, representing us to the Father.

10:22

So the upshot of all this is that we can approach God with complete confidence, for God Himself has provided the means of purification, of justification, the blood of His own Son. We put our faith in Jesus, the Son of God, and all that He has done. So we are cleansed from a guilty conscience and are perfectly acceptable to God, we do not, indeed cannot, do anything to make ourselves acceptable to God. He has done it all!

10:23

The Hebrews were tempted to go back to at least some of the Jewish practices. This would have been an act that was a lack of faith in what Christ has accomplished on the cross. See that we are urged to hold fast to the hope we profess. Our hope is a sure hope and it is that through Christ we are perfectly acceptable to God. Our hope is not based on human wisdom, but on the promise of God, He has told us that it is true and we can trust Him completely.