Hebrews 11
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CHAPTER 11
Men of Faith—Abel to Abraham (11:116)
1-2 Men have faith in two kinds of things: things we hope for—that is, future things; and things we do not see. The main invisible thing that men put faith in is, of course, God Himself. And the main thing we hope for is the fulfillment of God’s promises.
If we see something with our eyes, we are sure that thing is true. In the same way, through faith we can be sure that something is true even though we cannot see it. It is the same with future things, like promises. These also are invisible things. Yet, through faith, we can know that a particular promise will be fulfilled.
Therefore, faith is the assurance and certainty that invisible things are true and that future things will come true.
But that is not all. The proof of true faith is its fruit, that is, good works and obedience. If we say we have faith in God, we must do what He says. All the men of faith that are listed below showed proof of their faith by their actions. Faith without works is a dead faith, a false faith (see James 2:14,17,20-24 and comment).
The men of faith listed in this chapter are mentioned in the order they appeared in history. In each case, the faith these men had was faith in God. God promised, and they believed. God commanded, and they obeyed. Through these men of faith, God fulfilled His purposes for Israel, the Jewish nation. Therefore, in this chapter, the writer of Hebrews gives us a brief history of the Jews from the beginning right up until the time of Christ. In this way, the writer has given us an outline of the Old Testament.
By the examples of the faithful men mentioned in this chapter, the writer wants to show us that in order to receive God’s promises and God’s power there is one thing necessary above all: namely, faith.
3 But before the writer begins talking about these men of faith, he thinks about God and His creation. Just as we can “see” through faith what cannot be seen with our eyes, so God created the universe (or world) from what is invisible. God did not create the universe from any material substance; He created everything by His command alone. Before God spoke, there was nothing. He spoke, and the creation came into being (Genesis 1:3,9,11,24).
When we look at the earth and the heavens, we cannot understand everything about them. Our eyes cannot tell who made the earth and sun and stars. But by faith we can tell. By faith we know that everything visible was made by an invisible God.
4 Abel and Cain were the sons of the first man Adam (Genesis 4:1-2). Abel’s sacrifice was better than Cain’s, because Abel was righteous and Cain was not (Genesis 4:37; 1 John 3:12). The Lord detests the sacrifice ofthe wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him (Proverbs 15:8).
By faith [Abel] was commended as a righteous man; that is, because of Abel’s faith in God, God declared him to be righteous. In the Bible, faith and righteousness always go together; they can never be separated. By faith Abel was declared righteous; therefore, his sacrifice was acceptable and pleasing to God.
Cain then killed his brother Abel out of anger and jealousy. But Abel, in a way, is still speaking. His blood cries out … from the ground for vindication (Genesis 4:10). And by his example of righteousness, Abel is still speaking to us today.
5 Enoch belonged to the sixth generation after Adam (Genesis 5:21-24). According to Genesis 5:24, Enoch walked with God; that is, he obeyed God’s will. Therefore, the writer of Hebrews says here that Enoch was commended as one who pleased God. By faith Enoch pleased God, because without faith it is impossible to please God (verse 6). How can we please God if we don’t believe in Him?
By faith Enoch was taken from this life into heaven. Because of Enoch’s faith, God saved him from death.
6 In order to have true faith, we must first believe that God exists. We must also have faith in His word, in His promises (see verse 1 and comment). If we earnestly seek him, God will reward us. That is, if we seek God, we will find Him; and when we find Him, He will bless us. God said: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). James wrote: Come near to God andhe will come near to you (James 4:8). Enoch and all the other men of faith mentioned in this chapter earnestly sought God by faith, and they had the sure hope that He would reward them.
7 Noah was in the ninth generation after Adam. At that time, all the men in the world except Noah had begun to follow evil ways. Therefore, God determined to destroy all men (except Noah and his family) and every other living thing by causing a flood to come over the earth. Noah was a righteous man (Genesis 6:9); therefore, God commanded Noah to build a large boat so that he and his family might be spared.
As Noah was building the boat, his neighbors undoubtedly mocked him. To them, building a boat so far away from any sea was utterly foolish. But Noah had faith in God’s word. By his faith, therefore, Noah condemned the world.21 By faith Noah was saved. But because of unbelief and wickedness, the world was condemned and destroyed (Genesis 6:13-22; 7:12-24).
8 God commanded Abraham to leave his own country and go far away to a land he didn’t know. And God promised Abraham that He would bless him and make him into a great nation (Genesis 12:1-2).
By faith Abraham … obeyed. Obedience is the proof of one’s faith. That is why Abraham’s faith was real. Abraham believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).
9 Abraham himself never received the land that God had promised to him as an inheritance. He lived in that promised land like a traveler, a foreigner. But Abraham knew by faith that God would give the land to his descendants. And about four hundred years later, Abraham’s descendants (the Jews) under the leadership of Joshua finally took possession ofthe promised land (Joshua 1:1-3).
10 How could Abraham be so patient? He had left his own home and country. He had come to a strange and unknown land. But that land was not given to him. Why didn’t Abraham complain against God? The answer is that Abraham was not seeking any land in this world. He was looking for a city with foundations—a permanent city that can never be destroyed—that is, a heavenly city (see Hebrews 12:22; 13:14).
11 God had promised to make from Abraham’s descendants a great nation (Genesis 12:2). For that promise to be fulfilled, it was necessary for Abraham to have a son (Genesis 15:2-4). But Abraham and his wife Sarah were already very old, and had no children. It was physically impossible for them to have a child at their age. Nevertheless, Abraham and his wife believed God’s promise. And when Abraham was one hundred years old and Sarah was ninety, they had a son Isaac (Genesis 17:1517,19; 21:1-3).
12 For fathering a son, Abraham’s body was as good as dead. Nevertheless, he had a son; and from that son, Abraham’s descendants began to increase in ever and ever greater numbers (Genesis 15:5; 22:17; Romans 4:18-22).
13 All these people—Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob (verses 8-12)—did not themselves receive the things promised. They did not receive the promised land, and they did not see their descendants become a great nation. But they had faith that in the future God would bring to pass all that He had promised. By faith, they saw these things from a distance—that is, far in the future. And they died still living by that faith.
It is well for us to remember that in this life even those with great faith do not always get what they hope for.
14-16 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth (verse 13). Their true dwelling and true citizenship was in heaven (see Philippians 3:20). The country they sought was a heavenly one, a country that would last forever.
Because they sought God’s country, God’s heavenly city, God was not ashamed to be called their God (verse 16). God says: “Those who honor me I will honor” (1 Samuel 2:30). By believing in God, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob honored God. And God honored them by calling Himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:6). What higher honor can any man have than that?
Men of Faith—Abraham to Christ (11:17-40)
17-19 The story of how Abraham, at God’s command, took Isaac to the top of a mountain to sacrifice him is written in Genesis 22:1-18.
To believe in God’s promise is a great thing. But, having received a promise, to then give it up is an even greater test of a person’s faith. And that is what God commanded Abraham to do—to give up the son that God had given to him. In doing this, God tested Abraham (verse 17). According to Genesis 21:12, God had said to Abraham, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned” (verse 18). Nevertheless, God now commanded Abraham to kill his son Isaac as a sacrifice. If Abraham did that, how then could God fulfill His promise to make [Abraham] into a great nation? (Genesis 12:2).
Abraham did not question God. Abraham knew that God had the power to raise the dead to life. It was God’s responsibility to fulfill His promises. It was Abraham’s responsibility to obey.
At the very last moment, God stopped Abraham’s hand from killing Isaac. In a way, Isaac was as good as dead; therefore, the writer says here that, figuratively speaking, Abraham received Isaac back from death (verse 19).
Then the angel of the Lord said to Abraham: “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son” (Genesis 22:12). Then the Lord said, “… because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore … through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me” (Genesis 22:16-18).
One day God will surely test each of us in a similar manner. Perhaps He will test us many times. He will test us in different ways. But always He will test us where our faith is weakest, where our obedience is shakiest. He will ask us to offer to Him that thing which we love most of all. That thing which He asks us to offer to Him could be our possessions, our skills, our time, our honor, our family, or our own life. When God calls us, as He called Abraham, let us be ready to obey whatever He says (see Mark 10:17-21,29-30).
20 The story of how Isaac blessed his two sons, Jacob and Esau, is written in Genesis 27:1-40. It was the custom among the Jews for the father to give a blessing to his sons. The oldest son always received the greatest blessing. But Isaac had become blind in his old age. His younger son Jacob deceived Isaac by pretending to be Esau, and so Jacob received the greater blessing that was meant for his brother. But when Isaac discovered that he had been deceived, he did not take back the blessing he had given to Jacob. Instead, accepting it as God’s will (Genesis 25:23), Isaac confirmed Jacob’s blessing (Genesis 27:33). Isaac had faith that, through Jacob, God would fulfill His promise to make Abraham into a great nation.
21 Isaac’s son Jacob (also called Israel in the Old Testament) had twelve sons. Jacob gave the highest blessing to his eleventh son, Joseph22 (Genesis 49:26). And Jacob (or Israel) also blessed Joseph’s two sons; but he deliberately gave the higher blessing to Joseph’s younger son, just as he himself had received the higher blessing from his father Isaac. And Jacob gave his blessing by faith, knowing that God would fulfill His promise to the descendants of Abraham (Genesis 48:11-20).
22 Joseph had been sold by his own brothers into slavery in Egypt (Genesis 37:1236). He was later given authority over the entire land of Egypt (Genesis 41:41-43). Even though Joseph spent the rest of his life in Egypt, he continued to have complete faith that God would give to his descendants the land He had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And according to that faith, Joseph instructed his sons to carry his bones to the promised land and bury them there (Genesis 50:24-26; Exodus 13:19).
23 The Jews remained in Egypt 430 years (Exodus 12:40). As they grew in numbers, the people of Egypt began to persecute them. The Jews were put into bondage and made slaves (Exodus 1:6-14). Then Pharaoh23 ordered that all Jewish male babies were to be killed as soon as they were born (Exodus 1:22). But when Moses was born, his Jewish parents hid him (Exodus 2:1-3). By faith, the parents knew that God had somehow specially blessed Moses.
24-25 Pharaoh’s daughter found Moses, and brought him up as her own son (Exodus 2:5-10). When Moses grew up, he became a ruler of Egypt. However, he gave up all the authority and wealth of Egypt in order to suffer with his fellow Jews (Exodus 2:11-12).
26 Moses gave up the treasures of Egypt. Moses considered disgrace for the sake of Christ to be of greater value than all the wealth of Egypt (see Philippians 3:7). Moses didn’t know about Christ, but by giving up everything for God and for His people (the Jews), Moses was acting just as Christ later acted. Therefore, just as disgrace fell upon Christ and His followers, so the same kind of disgrace fell upon Moses (see Psalms 69:9; 89:50-51; Romans 15:3; 1 Peter 4:12-14). But in spite of such disgrace, Moses persisted in faith to the end, being confident that God would one day reward him.
Therefore, let these Hebrews, to whom this letter was written, follow the example of Moses. Moses, who never knew Christ, was ready to suffer disgrace for His sake. Thus these Hebrews, who knew Christ and had received His Spirit, should all the more be ready to suffer for Christ’s sake.
27 Even though Pharaoh tried to kill Moses, Moses didn’t fear him; instead, he feared God. Therefore, by faith Moses left Egypt, and for forty years lived in the land of Midian (Exodus 2:15). And he persevered there, because by faith he could see the invisible God. In this, Moses is an example and encouragement for all believers; for we too, like Moses, will be enabled to persevere as we look to the invisible God through the eyes of faith.
One day, toward the end of his stay in Midian, Moses saw the invisible God with his physical eyes! God appeared to Moses in a burning bush, and told Moses to return to Pharaoh and bring the Jews (Israelites) out of Egypt (Exodus 3:1-10).
28 By faith Moses delivered the Jews from bondage in Egypt. Through Moses God brought many plagues on Egypt, but in spite of the plagues, Pharaoh at first would not let the Jews go. Finally God sent an angel to kill all the firstborn of Egypt (Exodus 11:1; 12:29-30). By faith Moses commanded the Jews to put the blood of a sacrificed lamb on the doorframes of their houses as a sign; by this means the destroying angel, seeing the blood, would pass over their houses and spare their firstborn (Exodus 12:21-23). Thus, because of the sprinkled blood, the angel passed over the Jewish homes; and from this event the PASSOVER festival of the Jews originated (Exodus 12:24-27).
In the same way, through the blood of Christ, we too can be delivered from the judgment and condemnation of God. Christ Himself is our Passover sacrifice, our Passover lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). He is the Lamb of God, who makes atonement for the sins of the world (John 1:29). We are saved not by our own righteousness but by the sprinkling of blood, Jesus’ blood.
29 When Pharaoh saw the firstborn of Egypt killed by the destroying angel, he de-cidedto letthe Jews (Israelites) go. But when the Jews had gone only a little way from Egypt, Pharaoh changed his mind and sent the Egyptian army to capture them (Exodus 14:5-9). When the Jews saw Pharaoh’s huge army coming after them, they were afraid and began to rebuke Moses. Ahead of them was the Red Sea; behind them was the Egyptian army. They thought they would surely perish (Exodus 14:10-12).
But by faith Moses said to the Jews: “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today” (Exodus 14:13). Then, through Moses, God separated the waters of the sea, and the Jews by faith passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. But when the pursuing Egyptians tried to cross the sea, they were drowned (Exodus 14:21-28).
30 Forty years after being delivered from Egypt, the Jews entered the promised land, Israel. But first it was necessary to conquer the people who had been living there. The first thing the Jews had to do was to overcome the city of Jericho. God told the Jewish leader Joshua how to capture the city. Jericho was surrounded by a great wall. The Jews were to march around the city for seven days blowing their trumpets. On the seventh day all the Jews were to give a great shout, and the wall would fall down. Then they would be able to enter the city and capture it. And it happened just as God had said (Joshua 6:1-5,12-16,20).
Who ever thought of capturing a big city in such a way? Joshua’s faith in God surely must have been great. But God of ten works in such unusual ways. ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty (Zechariah 4:6).
We can take Joshua’s faith as an example for ourselves. In our lives there are many “Jerichos” which must be overcome. Like Joshua, we too can overcome them through faith. Paul said: The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4).
31 Joshua had first sent spies to Jericho, and the prostitute Rahab had hidden them in her house. She had believed in the God of Israel, the God of the Jews. She knew through faith that the Jews would destroy Jericho. Therefore, she gave help to the spies sent by Joshua, and thereby saved her life (Joshua 2:1-3,6,8-14; 6:24-25).
Notice that Rahab was both a Gentile (non-Jew) and a sinner; yet she was saved by faith. Furthermore, though she was a despised prostitute, God used her to accomplish His purposes.
32-34 In these verses, the writer gives examples of some other Jewish leaders in the Old Testament, who through faith accomplished great works for God (Judges 7:1921; 15:14-16; Daniel 3:16-28; 6:16-22).
35 Thetwowomenwhosesonswereraised from the dead are mentioned in 1 Kings 17:17-24 and 2 Kings 4:32-37. Other men offaith refused to be released from death, because they didn’t desire to be “resurrected” in this world, but preferred a better resurrection in heaven.
36-38 Here we read of Old Testament heroes who suffered severely because oftheir faith. But they all remained firm to the end.
… the world was not worthy of them (verse 38). In worldly men’s eyes these heroes of faith were unworthy; but in God’s eyes they were worthy. They were fully worthy to inherit the heavenly city of God (verses 10,16).
39 None of these Old Testament heroes of faith received what had been promised. A number of them obtained some promises, but none of them received the one great promise—that is, the promise of a Savior. None ofthem saw that day when God’s Son Jesus came to earth. God’s greatest promise to mankind is the promise of salvation in Jesus Christ. But in their own lives on earth, none of these Old Testament heroes obtained that promise.
40 However, these Old Testament men of faith will one day be made perfect; that is, they will receive full salvation just as we will. When Christ comes again, these Old Testament heroes, together with us who have believed in Christ, will be resurrected and receive eternal life.