Tag: faith

Faith Enough to Secure a “Yes”; Faith Enough to Endure a “No,” part 4 (Hebrews 11:32-40)

So we noticed in our study of Hebrews 11:32-38 that our author contrasts two groups of people.  All of these people lived by faith, but for some of them God came through in spectacular ways and delivered them from their troubles, while for other people (whose faith was just as strong) God did not deliver them from pain and hardship and death.

So much for the prosperity gospel!  Here are saints who are so holy and so full of faith that the world is not worthy to contain them, and yet they are called to persevere in persecution, deprivation, and death.  Not only that, but the reason they are able to persevere is their great faith!  Christians under the oppressive old paganism of Roman culture were to take note, and so must we in the darkening neo-paganism of our day.

Here is God’s resounding commendation, not of those whose faith enabled them to overcome, but for those whose faith helped them endure even the most devastating experiences: these were men “of whom the world was not worthy.”

Along with “Well done, thou good and faithful servant,” I don’t think there is any more valuable commendation that we could receive from God than, “This world was not worthy of you.”  Why does God say that?  Because despite the fact that they did not receive glorious deliverances or protection, but instead suffered through pain and persecution and even death, but did it all trusting in God and his promises, God is even more pleased with that kind of faith than in the faith that “gets it all.”  I know most of us would rather have the triumphs, but it is our faith in the tragedies that really finds special commendation from God.  We love it when our faith in God “gives”; but God loves it when He “takes away” and we still persistently trust Him.

One of my favorite chapters in C. S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters is his fifth chapter called The Law of Undulation.  It expresses the reality that every one of us in life go through hills and valleys.  We love the mountain top experience but lament slogging through the valley.  Yet, there is something within all of us that longs, however inarticulately, for a life free from these undulations.  Why do we experience these unwanted alternations in life?

For those who don’t know, Screwtape is a demon writing to an apprentice demon named Wormwood. Thus, all that is said is said from the perspective of the demon.  When you hear the word “Enemy,” he is referring to God.  So he starts off…

MY DEAR WORMWOOD,

So you “have great hopes that the patient’s religious phase is dying away”, have you?  I always thought the Training College had gone to pieces since they put old Slubgob at the head of it, and now I am sure.  Has no one ever told you about the law of Undulation?

Humans are amphibians—half spirit and half animal [by which he means we consist of body and soul}.  (The Enemy’s determination to produce such a revolting hybrid was one of the things that determined Our Father to withdraw his support from Him.)   As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time.  This means that while their spirit can be directed to an eternal object, their bodies, passions, and imaginations are in continual change, for to be in time means to change.  Their nearest approach to constancy, therefore, is undulation—the repeated return to a level from which they repeatedly fall back, a series of troughs and peaks.  If you had watched your patient carefully you would have seen this undulation in every department of his life—his interest in his work, his affection for his friends, his physical appetites, all go up and down.  As long as he lives on earth periods of emotional and bodily richness and liveliness will alternate with periods of numbness and poverty.  The dryness and dulness through which your patient is now going are not, as you fondly suppose, your workmanship; they are merely a natural phenomenon which will do us no good unless you make a good use of it.

To decide what the best use of it is, you must ask what use the Enemy wants to make of it, and then do the opposite.  Now it may surprise you to learn that in His efforts to get permanent possession of a soul, He relies on the troughs even more than on the peaks; some of His special favourites have gone through longer and deeper troughs than anyone else.  The reason is this.  To us a human is primarily food; our aim is the absorption of its will into ours, the increase of our own area of selfhood at its expense.  But the obedience which the Enemy demands of men is quite a different thing.  One must face the fact that all the talk about His love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not (as one would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth.  He really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself—creatures, whose life, on its miniature scale, will be qualitatively like His own, not because He has absorbed them but because their wills freely conform to His.  We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons.  We want to suck in, He wants to give out.  We are empty and would be filled; He is full and flows over.  Our war aim is a world in which Our Father Below has drawn all other beings into himself: the Enemy wants a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct.

And that is where the troughs come in.  You must have often wondered why the Enemy does not make more use of His power to be sensibly present to human souls in any degree He chooses and at any moment.  But you now see that the Irresistible and the Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of His scheme forbids Him to use.  Merely to over-ride a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless.  He cannot ravish.  He can only woo.  For His ignoble idea is to eat the cake and have it; the creatures are to be one with Him, but yet themselves; merely to cancel them, or assimilate them, will not serve.  He is prepared to do a little overriding at the beginning.  He will set them off with communications of His presence which, though faint, seem great to them, with emotional sweetness, and easy conquest over temptation.  But He never allows this state of affairs to last long.  Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives.  He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs—to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish.  It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be.  Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best.  We can drag our patients along by continual tempting, because we design them only for the table, and the more their will is interfered with the better.  He cannot “tempt” to virtue as we do to vice.  He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles.  Do not be deceived, Wormwood.  Our cause is never more in danger, than when a human, no longer desiring, but intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.

This is why God is so proud of those whose faith doesn’t win the day, but still trusts Him as it goes through the long night of the soul.  Let me read that last sentence again: “Do not be deceived, Wormwood.  Our cause is never more in danger, than when a human, no longer desiring, but intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”

But why would any follower of Jesus Christ pursue this?  Because a true follower of Jesus Christ cares most about this “better life” (Heb. 11:34) which comes through a resurrection.  That is what they are looking for—they are looking forward to God’s promises being fulfilled not in the here and now, but in eternity.  Paul says it like this: “to live is Christ, to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).  Faith endures the present pain for the sake of future glory.

Pastor and author John Piper, commenting on these verses, says, “The common feature of the faith that escapes suffering and the faith that endures suffering is this: both of them involve believing that God himself is better than what life can give to you now, and better than what death can take from you later.  When you can have it all, faith says that God is better; and when you lose it all, faith says God is better…. What does faith believe in the moment of torture? That if God loved me, he would get me out of this?  No.  Faith believes that there is a resurrection for believers which is better than the miracle of escape.  It’s better than the kind of resurrection experience by the widow’s son, who returned to life only to die again later.

Some of us feel like we’re living the nightmare rather than living the dream.  We don’t seem to be conquering any kingdoms; rather, evil seems to have its way with us.  The lions are devouring us; the fires are consuming us; the swords are cutting us to pieces.  What does Hebrews 11 have to say to those living the nightmare?  It says that the dream really is still alive!  It says that the nightmare cannot kill the dream.  It says that the heavenly dream is worth the earthly nightmare.  It says the heavenly dream is better than the earthly dream by far.  It says, for all those reasons, “Hang on to Jesus.”

All these people, whether in victory or defeat, had faith, what Piper calls “death-defying passion for God.”  A modern example of one with such faith is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who in 1933 left his prestigious position as a professor at the University of Berlin to join the struggle against the Nazification of the church in Germany.  The professor of systematic theology at the university deemed it foolish, saying, “It is a great pity that our best hope in the faculty is being wasted on the church struggle.”  God chose for Bonhoeffer the route taken by those in Hebrews 11:35b-38.  He was eventually arrested and hanged naked in the Flossenburg Concentration Camp.  His body was tossed aside into a pile of corpses and burned just days before the end of World War II.  Some quench the power of fire; some do not.  As he faced the fury of the Third Reich, here is what Bonhoeffer said: “The ultimate responsible question is not how I can heroically make the best of a bad situation but rather how the coming generations can be enabled to live.”  That’s faith.  That’s death-defying passion for God!

Why did Bonhoeffer have to die and others to live?  Look at verses 39-40 in Hebrews 11.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

These verses are showing that by God’s mercy He allows all the believing to experience eternal reward.  Some would not experience temporal victories and deliverances and blessings; but all those who exercise their faith in Jesus Christ will receive eternal reward.

Notice that verse 39 says “these were ALL commended for their faith.”  All the people mentioned in Hebrews 11, both those who experienced God coming through for them in spectacular ways and those for whom God seemed to be silent at times, all of them had real faith and all of them will receive the promises.

A lack of faith is not what brought on suffering.  All those in chapter 11 expressed faith in God.  Some won in this life, some lost in this life; both will win in the life to come.

What, then determines whether one escapes the sword or dies by the sword?  The answer is not really a “what” but a “Who.”  God determines it and we don’t always know why.  He doesn’t tell us why here.

In the midst of the deliverances and the non-deliverances, there is something that God is looking for.  The people of Hebrews 11, literally, were “commended” because of their faith.  They were noticed by God (10:15; 11:4) that they were righteous (11:4, 7) and pleasing to Him (11:5-6).

The facts that God shares his witness of these people with us in the Scriptures (7:8, 17; 10:15), but specifically in Hebrews 11, shows that he wants the world to realize the value of faith.  People of faith, then, become God’s witness to the world regarding the validity of faith.  For some, that witness will come with triumph.  For others, their witness will arrive in defeat.  For most of us, our witness will come in both.  For all of us, eternal reward is coming!

Why God chooses some for one kind of witness and others for another kind of witness is a mystery.  He must know what will make a good witness in a certain person’s life.  The disposition of God, though is not a mystery.  He is good, and faith believers that he is good even in the face of mystery.

Despite the fact that the people of Hebrews 11 were pleasing to God because of their faith, they “did not receive what was promised” in their lifetime.  God had promised a new and better country for people of faith (11:13-16), but none of these people experienced the fulfillment of that promise.  The reason that they didn’t is given in verse 40, and that reason, believe it or not, is “us” (the author and readers of this epistle, including you and I today)!

Although many promises had been given and fulfilled in their lifetimes, they did not receive the great promise—namely, the coming of the Messiah and salvation in him.  Every one of the faithful in Old Testament times died before Jesus appeared.

As Leon Morris says:

Salvation is social. It concerns the whole people of God.  We can experience it only as part of the whole people of God.  As long as the believers in Old Testament times were without those who are in Christ, it was impossible for them to experience the fullness of salvation.  Furthermore, it is what Christ has done that opens the way into the very presence of God for them as for us.  Only the work of Christ brings those of Old Testament times and those of the new and living way alike into the presence of God (Morris, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary , vol. 12, pp. 132, 133).

Their faithfulness makes our faith a little easier. The writer to the Hebrews began this chapter speaking of faith in the present tense: Now faith is… By faith we understand (Hebrews 11:1 and 11:3).  The end of the chapter reminds us that faith is and it is for we who follow in the footsteps of the faithful men and women of previous ages.

God literally “foresaw” something better for “us.”  And the “something better” that God provides for us is connected to the “better resurrection,” which is equivalent to being “made perfect,” God completing the process of making us conformed to the image of His Son.  Our new bodies and hearts will be perfectly suited to this new life in a new world, unlike our present bodies and hearts (which aren’t even that well suited for this world because of the curse!)

Do you see what the writer of Hebrews is saying?  He saying that this story—God’s great story of faith—is not complete without you and me today.  We are the final chapter of God’s story of faith.

Long ago God foresaw our lives as the final chapter, the climax of this book of faith.  We, too, are commended by God for our faith, and it will be shown to all creation that we who have followed Jesus faithfully are pleasing to God.  God is now adding the storyline of our lives, our faith, our triumphs and our sufferings to His record.

The author’s point is that if the Old Testament saints were faithful through all of these trials, even though they didn’t receive the promise of Christ in the flesh, how much more should we be faithful, since we have Christ!  John Calvin (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], p. 308) put it, “A small spark of light led them to heaven; when the sun of righteousness shines over us, with what pretence can we excuse ourselves if we still cleave to the earth?”

What are some of the lessons we have learned from Hebrews 11?

First, biblical faith is not limited to any one personality type, gender, age, status, or race.  Even ordinary, different people with faith are being added to God’s Hall of Faith today.

Second, biblical faith is not limited to those who have are consistent moral or spiritual giants in their walk with the Lord.  And I thank God for that!  George Guthrie discusses a common danger we face in thinking that these people are all different from us.  “After all, they are in the Bible.”  However, our author’s point is that even imperfect, inconsistent people are commended for their faith.

Third, biblical faith is willing to believe God against the odds.  From universal floods, to having children at age 90 to walls falling down, people believed God could do the impossible.

Fourth, biblical faith may be present in a variety of outcomes, both positive and negative.  Faith can result in triumphs; faith can be present in tragedy.

Finally, biblical faith will always be rewarded by God.  Perhaps now; perhaps not now, but definitely in eternity.  Friends, the books will be balanced.

So what is faith?  Faith is confidence in God’s promises that results in obedient action carried out in a variety of situations by ordinary, fallible people, with various earthly outcomes either good or bad, but always with the ultimate outcome of God’s commendation and reward.

Faith Enough to Secure a “Yes”; Faith Enough to Endure a “No,” part 3 (Hebrews 11:32-40)

Some of you remember the book, or have seen the movie: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  It’s about a little boy whose day was “terrible…horrible…no good…and very bad.”

This one excerpt will give you a good sense for what it’s about.

“I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. 

At breakfast Anthony found a Corvette Sting Ray car kit in his breakfast cereal box and Nick found a Junior Undercover Agent code ring in his breakfast cereal box but in my breakfast cereal box all I found was breakfast cereal.

I think I’ll move to Australia.

In the car pool Mrs. Gibson let Becky have a seat by the window. Audrey and Elliott got seats by the window too. I said I was being scrunched. I said I was being smushed. I said, if I don’t get a seat by the window I am going to be carsick. No one even answered.

I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

At school Mrs. Dickens liked Paul’s picture of the sailboat better than my picture of the invisible castle. 

At singing time she said I sang too loud. At counting time she said I left out sixteen. Who needs sixteen?

I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. 

I could tell because Paul said I wasn’t his best friend anymore. He said that Philip Parker was his best friend and that Albert Moyo was his next best friend and that I was only his third best friend. 

I hope you sit on a tack, I said to Paul. I hope the next time you get a double-decker strawberry ice-cream cone that the ice cream part falls off the cone part and lands in Australia.” 

Now, what in the world does that have to do with the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11?  Well, up to now in the description of what happened when these people expressed faith, in general good things happened to them.  We read about that in vv. 32-35a that they “through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35a Women received back their dead by resurrection.”

But not every act of faith resulted in good news, in blessings, in victories and deliverances.  Not every prayer of faith results in the healing of a child or the saving of a marriage.  Not every prayer of faith means that we receive admittance to the college of our choice or that we keep a job we’ve had and depended upon for years.  Sometimes what we pray for doesn’t happen in the way we desire.  Sometimes our dreams are dashed, our hopes are quenched, our relationships fall apart and our bank account is drained.

The test of faith is trusting God when all we have are His promises.  When the waters are piled high all around us and problems and dangers are about to overwhelm us, this is when faith is tested, and when the Lord takes special pleasure in showing us His faithfulness, His love, and His power.  When we have nothing but His promise to rely on, His help is the nearest and His presence the dearest to those who believe.  (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 358)

That reality is reflected in these next verses in Hebrews 11, the verses that we wish were left out.

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—38 of whom the world was not worthy–wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

If verses 32-35a sound like a dream, vv. 35b-38 sound like Stephen King’s worst nightmare!

But God blesses some who trust Him with the grace to escape serious trials and others the grace to endure serious trials.  You and I might not see it as a “blessing” at the time—to go through trials—but in the long run we will see the blessing.  For example, Paul says in Roman 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”  Even more clear is 2 Corinthians 4:17 when Paul writes, “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”

The reality is that some will be “tortured.”  The word “tortured” is tumpanizo, from which we get the term tympani or kettledrum, an instrument with a tightly drawn skin over it.  In this case the victim would be stretched on a rack or wheel until their skin was tight as a drum, and then beaten while every nerve was taunt until every bone was out of joint and that person eventually died.

Second Maccabees details the gruesome torture of a ninety-year-old priest, Eleazar, who refused to eat swine’s flesh (2 Maccabees 6:18–31), and then goes on to recount the even more revolting accounts of the systematic torture of seven brothers for the same reason (2 Maccabees 7:1–42).

The Maccabean accounts of the torture of the seven brothers carry the words of heroic encouragement by their mother based on her hope of the resurrection:

I do not know how you came into being in my womb.  It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you.  Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws. (2 Maccabees 7:22, 23)

What a difference from the first part of this verse!  Some received back their dead raised to life again, while others were tortured and refused to be released.  One group was triumphant in victory through faith, while the other group was triumphant in suffering through faith.

But notice that this is a choice on the part of these martyrs.  They “refus[ed] to accept release.”  They could have escaped this torture, but rather they chose it.  Why?  So that by dying in this way, faithful to the cause of Christ, “they might rise again to a better life.”  They were willing to endure pain in this life to gain the pleasures of the life to come.  “Refusing to accept release” refers to the countless brethren that refused to renounce their Christian faith, accepting instead the punishment allotted them.  That is still going on today.

At the Nicene Council, an important church meeting in the 4th century A.D., of the 318 delegates attending, fewer than 12 had not lost an eye or lost a hand or did not limp on a leg lamed by torture for their Christian faith. (Vance Havner)

It is embarrassing for me when I read about the earliest Christians who yearned for and even sought out martyrdom.  I have to admit that holding on to life is precious to me, but they thought it precious to die for their Savior.

These men and women were willing to undergo torture in order to “rise again to a better life.”  What does this mean?  Some people interpret it as receiving a better reward when they are resurrected to eternal life.  Others think it refers to the resurrection of the righteous as compared to the resurrection of the unrighteous.

But I think the best explanation is when you compare it to the resurrection already stated at the beginning of verse 35.  Some women received back their dead, raised to life again.  That was a resurrection back to this life with all its sorrows and pains, and it was not permanent.  It would be better termed “resuscitation.”  Each of those brought back to life would eventually die again.  But the “better resurrection” is the resurrection to eternal life, which is permanent and frees us from all pain and suffering forever.

The phrase “refusing to accept release” literally means “not having accepted the redemption.”  It’s a phrase which implies freedom by payment of a ransom.  In other words, they were offered freedom for a price, but because that price included denying God and his word, they refused.

But the point is this: only faith will ultimately help you to persevere through the suffering of physical persecution.  Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.  You cannot see the “better resurrection,” but you can be sure of what you hope for and that will then give you the strength to go on.

Verse 36 gives us four additional examples of physical persecution.  Verse 36 says:

Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

This happened to Jeremiah, for one.  Jeremiah 20:2 says, “Then Pashhur (he was a priest who was the chief officer of the temple) beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the LORD.”  Another time, fulfilling God’s commands but being suspected as deserting to the Chaldeans, we read “And the officials were enraged at Jeremiah, and they beat him and imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for it had been made a prison.  When Jeremiah had come to the dungeon cells and remained there many days, (Jeremiah 37:15-16; cf. 37:18-20; 38:6-13).  The prophet Micaiah was slapped in the face, insulted and sent to prison for telling the truth (1 Kings 22:24-28).

Samson was mocked at the feast of the Philistines.  Of course, even Jesus was mocked and flogged.

The Greek word for “mocking” in verse 36 can mean mocking, but it can also refer to brutality.  This same word is used in 2 Maccabees to describe the treatment of the second of the seven brothers who had the skin and the hair of his head torn off. (2 Maccabees 7:7).  And so, these four words in verse 36 taken together refer to all sorts of harsh treatment.

In the New Testament Paul and the apostles suffered these forms of mistreatment.  Even the recipients of this letter to the Hebrews were no strangers to persecution.  Listen to these words from Hebrews 10: “Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions” (Heb. 10:32-34).

Again, the writer of Hebrews is including these shocking examples to reveal to us severe sufferings do not automatically mean that someone lacks faith.  In fact, it could very much be the presence of a strong faith that gets them into this much trouble!  Faith not only sometimes leads to victory; at other times it leads to difficult suffering.

Faith not only helps us endure physical pains and persecutions, but it also helps us endure even unto death.  Verse 37 encourages the readers that: “They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword.”

In each of these cases the person who is memorialized for their faith suffered excruciatingly painful deaths.  Their faith didn’t save them from suffering and pain, but rather it helped them endure it.

Stoning was a common Jewish form of execution.  The Bible records that Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, was stoned to death (2 Chron. 24:20-22; Luke 11:50-51).  According to Jewish tradition the prophet Jeremiah was also killed by stoning while living in Egypt.  Jesus implied that the stoning of God’s prophets was a common offense in Israel.  Jesus cried out in the gospel of Matthew: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you.” (Matthew 23:37).  In the New Testament both Stephen and Paul were stoned, with Paul somehow surviving his (Acts 7:58-60; Acts 14:19-20; 2 Cor. 11:25)

As to being sawed asunder, there is no record of this happening to a martyr in the Bible.  However, the writer here draws on a non-Biblical haggadah in Ascension of Isaiah, which asserts that the prophet Isaiah was sawn in two by the false prophets of Manasseh, who stood by “laughing and rejoicing,” and that “he neither cried aloud nor wept, but his lips spake with the Holy Spirit until he was sawn in twain” (5:1, 2, 14) (R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament , vol. 2 (London: Oxford, 1968), p. 162; cf. also TB Sanhedrin 103b).

And, of course, untold numbers of the faithful were devoured in a more conventional manner by the sword.  So we see that although some “escaped the edge of the sword” through faith (v. 34) on the one hand, while others, equally faithful, suffered its pain on the other hand. 

Louis Evans remarks:

Here, I cannot help thinking that our author has in mind the martyrdom of Paul, which probably took place just one or two years or even a few months before the writing of this epistle.  If Paul had played the game a bit more politically, he doubtless could have had his freedom (Acts 25:12; 26:32).   If, as tradition has it, Paul was beheaded in A.D. 67 or 68 and this epistle was written in A.D. 68 or 69 as we have argued, then the memory of his death still burned as a fresh, hot fire on the hearth of his mind.  (Louis H. Evans, Jr., The Communicator’s Commentary: Hebrews, 209-10)

Many saints “were tempted” to abandon their faith and to pursue the pleasures and treasures of the world (e.g., Moses; vv. 24-26).  The priests at Nob and their families were “put to death with the sword” by Doeg the Edomite (1 Sam. 22:18-19).  This fate also befell at least 100 of the Lord’s prophets in the days of Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kings 19:10) and the prophet Uriah in Egypt (Jer. 26:23).

The final list speaks of deprivation.  Our text says, “They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated…”  Just like Jesus, Elijah and Elisha were homeless, wandering the country because they had a price on their head.  Escape to the desert or the hills was a usual response to such manhunts (cf. 1 Kings 19:1-3).  Obadiah hid 100 prophets in caves to protect them from Jezebel’s fury (1 Kings 18:4, 13).  On the run, those who were persecuted slept in anything they could find, even holes in the ground (Isa. 42:22).

People who “went about in sheepskins and goatskins” as their clothing were those who were forced to exist on the barest necessities.  Some were impoverished (“destitute”), “afflicted” in their minds and bodies by their persecutors, and “tormented” by others who encountered them.

Faith in God carries with it no guarantee of comfort in this world:  this was no doubt one of the lessons which our author wished his readers to learn.  But it does carry with it great reward in the only world that ultimately matters.  (F. F. Bruce, The New International Commentary on the NT: Hebrews, 329)

Our author does not identify all the men and women he refers to in these verses, but they have been noticed and numbered in heaven.  Read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs or Men of the Covenant or The Reformation in England or The Scots Worthies or By Their Blood: Christian Martyrs of the Twentieth Century, or the biographies of William Tyndale, Hugh Latimer, Jim Elliot, and Johnm and Betty Stam, and you will discover that throughout history, and even in our day, countless men and women who have faced great suffering capped by inhumane executions.

What distinguishes those in vv. 33-35a from those in 35b-38?  In some cases, nothing!  In some cases they are the same people, receiving both resounding victories and painful deaths.  Actually, there is one thing that distinguishes those who experience serious losses versus those who experience spectacular results: these are men and women of whom “the world was not worthy.”

What an epitaph!  What a resounding commendation…from the very lips of God!  Next week we will look a little deeper into why these people, whose faith did not save them from difficulties and death, but that faith helped them endure and for us to see why God reserved this commendation for them.

Faith Enough to Secure a “Yes”; Faith Enough to Endure a “No,” part 2 (Hebrews 11:32-40)

We are continuing our study in the last portion of Hebrews 11 as the author is once again setting forth people who expressed faith in God and saw God often bring about spectacular results, turning things around in His people’s favor.

The first heroes of faith did receive what they asked for…

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35a Women received back their dead by resurrection.

We pointed out last time the fact that God answered the prayers and fulfilled the desires of people who, although very flawed, exercised faith—Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David and Samuel, the first of the prophets.  Of course, there were many more prophets down through Israel’s history.

Viewed together, this dynamic half-dozen bore remarkable similarities to one another. Each lived in a time when faith was scarce—definitely the minority position.  During the days of the judges, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25), and this ethic was very much alive during the transfer to the monarchy.  From Gideon to David, each battled overwhelming odds—Gideon with his three hundred against an innumerable host—young David against the giant.  Each stood alone contra mundum, against the world.  And most significantly, perhaps, each of these heroes had a flawed faith.  John Calvin remarked:

There was none of them whose faith did not falter.  Gideon was slower than he need have been to take up arms, and it was only with difficulty that he ventured to commit himself to God.  Barak hesitated at the beginning so that he had almost to be compelled by the reproaches of Deborah.  Samson was the victim of the enticements of his mistress and thoughtlessly betrayed the safety of himself and of all his people.  Jephthah rushed headlong into making a foolish vow and was over-obstinate in performing it, and thereby marred a fine victory by the cruel death of his daughter.

And to this we could add that David was sensuous (2 Samuel 11:1ff.), and Samuel lapsed into carelessness in domestic matters (1 Samuel 8:1ff.). Calvin concludes:

In every saint there is always to be found something reprehensible.  Nevertheless although faith may be imperfect and incomplete it does not cease to be approved by God.  There is no reason, therefore, why the fault from which we labour should break us or discourage us provided we go on by faith in the race of our calling. (William B. Johnston, trans., Calvin’s Commentaries: The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews and the First and Second Epistles of St. Peter (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1963), p. 182).

God’s power allows trusting people to accomplish great things for God.  Faith looks at impossibilities and smiles in light of the power of God!  Our writer now rehearses a litany of faith’s accomplishments: “who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35a Women received back their dead by resurrection.”

Our author lists nine empowerments grouped in three successive groups of three.  The first three give the broad empowerments of authentic faith: “who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises” (v. 33a).  This was not only the corporate experience of the half-dozen, but the general experience of the preceding sixteen members of the Hall of Faith.

Some of those who “conquered kingdoms” were David, Joshua, King Asa, Jehoshaphat, King Hezekiah, and King Josiah.  William Barclay has an interesting comment here.  He says “There are two principal ‘kingdoms’ which the Christian is called upon to ‘subdue’: one is within himself, the other without him—the ‘flesh’ and the ‘world.'”  It was easier for Solomon to subdue the Philistines than his own flesh.  This reminds us that success in the battle for character is more important than victories over our enemies.

Among those who “enforced justice” were David (2 Sam. 8:15), Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, and the other prophets in general; King Josiah also.  Some established justice and righteous governments.  Or maybe he was thinking about Daniel, who served kings of Babylon and Medo-Persia for 75 years, and walked in integrity throughout it all.

And among those who obtained promises we could include Caleb, Gideon, and Barak.  Performing acts of righteousness is faith living biblically; obtaining the promises is faith waiting biblically. 

The second trio lists some of the forms of personal deliverances that they experienced: “who…stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword” (vv. 33b, 34a).

The test of faith is trusting God when all we have are His promises.  When the waters are piled high all around us and problems and dangers are about to overwhelm us, this is when faith is tested, and when the Lord takes special pleasure in showing us His faithfulness, His love, and His power.  When we have nothing but His promise to rely on, His help is the nearest and His presence the dearest to those who believe.  (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 358)

Samson, David, and Beniah all shut the mouths of lions through physical force. Samson, barehanded, took a charging lion by the jaws and ripped it apart.  David grabbed a sheep-stealing lion by the beard and thrust it through.  Beniah descended into a pit on a snowy day and dispatched another king of the beasts.  But Daniel is the preeminent example, through his faith and prayer (Daniel 6:17–22). 

When I was as teenager the Pat Terry Group had a song about Daniel.  I would encourage you to listen to the whole song, but the part about Daniel and the lions goes like this…

Early in the morning when the sun came up
The king was feeling down
He went to the lions’ den, he looked in the window
And what do you think he found?
Oh, Daniel was leading all the lions in a hymn
They were clapping their big brown paws
He said an angel of the Lord done arrived last night
And he clamped them lions’ jaws
He really did now

Deliverance from the lions’ jaws came not because Daniel was stronger than the lions, but because of God’s miraculous protection and Daniel’s faith in that protection.

While you and I might not be thrown to lions don’t overlook the fact that we’re told the Devil is on the hunt – he’s even now walking around, like a roaring lion, seeking someone to discredit (I Peter 5:8).  Stephen Davey reminds us: “Every time you trust God – every time you do the right thing – every time you respond biblically – every time you avoid the snare of temptation – you effectively shut the mouth of that old lion.”

The phrase about quenching the power of fire goes straight back to the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in Daniel 3:19-28.  These three young men were condemned to the fire because they refused to bow down to Nebucchadnezzar’s idol.  Given a second chance by the king, with the warning “But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.  And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” (Daniel 3:15b).

I love their response. 

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

They knew that God could deliver them, but “if not…we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image you have set up.”  Even if God chooses not to deliver us, we will not deny Him.  He is the true God, not you, Nebucchadnezzar.

And God did deliver them, even though the furnace was heated “seven times more than it was usually heated” (Daniel 3:19).

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire.

You might not be thrown into a fiery furnace – you might not be thrown into a den of lions, but every day you re-enter your world, whether you know it or not, you face the threat of a firefight and a cunning lion.  We’ve been given the “shield of faith” to quench the fiery darts of doubts and lies that Satan projects our way.  Those fiery darts dipped in temptation or impatience or unbelief or pain.

King David (against both Goliath and Saul, and others), as well as the prophets Elijah and Elisha and Jeremiah, “escaped the sword,” as did many others (1 Samuel 18:10, 11; 1 Kings 19:8–10; 2 Kings 6:31, 32; Psalm 144:10; Jeremiah 39).  Moses escaped the sword of Pharaoh, and Elijah escaped the sword of Jezebel.

The third triad tells about the astounding power that came by faith: “[who] were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection” (vv. 34b, 35a).

Some of those “made strong out of weakness” were Sarah, Gideon, Abraham, Esther, and King Hezekiah.  Faith requires recognizing our weakness, but at the same time, laying hold of God’s strength. As Jesus said (John 15:5), “… apart from Me you can do nothing.”  Philip Hughes writes, “Faith is the response of all who are conscious of their own weakness and accordingly look to God for strength” (The Epistle to the Hebrews, p. 510).

Spurgeon reminds us “Many of us may never have to brave the fiery stake, nor to bow our necks upon the block, to die as Paul did; but if we have grace enough to be out of weakness made strong, we shall not be left out of the roll of the nobles of faith, and God’s name shall not fail to be glorified in our persons.”

Paul described his own life as being weak and experiencing God’s strength in 2 Corinthians 12. Starting in verse 7 he says, “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

And in 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul once again speaks of how our weaknesses do not disqualify us from being mightily used by God: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

Every Christian who has accomplished great things for God has known this truth as the very foundation of what they did. Robert Morrison, a pioneer missionary to China was asked, “Do you really expect to make an impact on that great land?”  He replied, “No sir, but I expect God to” (source unknown).  George Muller’s biographer wrote of him, “Nothing is more marked in George Muller, to the very day of his death, than this, that he so looked to God and leaned on God that he felt himself to be nothing, and God everything” (A. T. Pierson, George Muller of Bristol [Revell], p. 112).  Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to inland China, said, “All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on God being with them” (source unknown). (https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-43-faith%E2%80%99s-reward-hebrews-1132-40)

William Carey was a cobbler by trade.  Most churchmen in his day believed that the Great Commission had been given only to the apostles, and thus they had no vision for “converting the heathen.”  But Carey came to the revolutionary idea that foreign missions were the central responsibility of the church.  He wrote a book promoting that thesis, and he spoke to a group of ministers, challenging them to the task of missions.  In that talk, he made the now-famous statement, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God” (Tucker, p. 115).

What are you trusting God for right now that is beyond your comfort zone or human ability?  Are you praying for God to do anything that, if He did it, there could be no human explanation for it?

Several of the Psalms express how David and his men “became mighty in war …” experiencing God’s strength to do battle against their enemies (Psalm 17, 18, 59, etc.).  Allied with that phrase is the next, “put foreign armies to flight…”  David did it on numerous occasions, so did the renowned Maccabeans during the 3rd century B. C. against Antiochus Ephiphanes, the ruthless Syrian king.

Even when experiencing the greatest loss in the temporal realm–death–faith triumphs.  Our author ends this list of mighty triumphs by saying, “Women received back their dead by resurrection” (Heb. 11:35a).  He saves this feat until last because it is the greatest expression of God’s delivering power.

What are you trusting God for right now that seems impossible and is far beyond your comfort zone or human ability?  Are you praying for God to do anything that, unless God shows up in a mighty way, you fall flat on your face?

Faith always involves the risk of putting yourself into a situation where, if God does not come through, you fail miserably.  This doesn’t mean that we should be sloppy in our preparation or planning or follow through.  There is nothing spiritual about sloppiness or lack of preparation or just being lazy.  But it is to say that after all of our planning and preparations and conduct, we should be still praying, “God, if you don’t work, this whole thing is going to be a colossal failure!”

Like Peter stepping out of the boat into the water, we should be very much aware that if He doesn’t hold us up, we’re going to drown!  So pray with me that God would accomplish things through our lives and churches that can only be explained because God did it.

But even before we decide to go out and do miracles and conquer kingdoms, let’s focus on a more personal and practical level.  Let’s first remember that private victories precede public victories.

  • How are you doing on taming your temper…or your sharp tongue?
  • How about conquering that bitter, unforgiving spirit?
  • How about loving your spouse with unconditional love, giving 100% of your time, energy and effort to doing what is best for them?
  • How about reconciling with an enemy?

Believe me, those are miracles too!

Faith Enough to Secure a “Yes”; Faith Enough to Endure a “No,” part 1 (Hebrews 11:32-40)

Today we hear a lot about the “health and wealth gospel.”  These preachers try to tell us that if we have enough faith then we shouldn’t get sick and we will live in prosperity.  Some go so far as to say that if we “name it and claim it” God is obligated to give it to us.  This has not only affected believers in the United States, but around the world.

A third-world pastor Dieudonne Tamfu and a recent professor at Bethlehem College & Seminary defines prosperity theology like this:

The prosperity gospel is an idolatrous perversion of the gospel according to which Jesus is a means to God’s full blessings, primarily of wealth, health, and might, now available to those who trust and obey certain faith principles prescribed by a particular man of God. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-gods-of-the-prosperity-gospel, accessed 5/20/24)

In prosperity theology the God of heaven has been reduced by the religious con artists to nothing more than a dispenser of gifts that gratify the basest lusts of men, and a god that can be manipulated by positive thinking.

The Christian life in America has become synonymous with prosperity, so that any failures, illnesses, or tragedies are ruled to be outside the sovereignty of God, and beneath the dignity of the Christian.  But faith is not a magic button to get God to do what you want him to do.

None of this modern teaching finds any resemblance to Hebrews 11, or the balance of Scripture for that matter.  We err when teaching of faith only in terms of some tangible success or accomplishment.  Faith is just as active, just as real, and just as powerful when all circumstances are unfavorable, when we face deep personal loss, when our enemies appear to conquer us, and when all hope of comfort and happiness are gone.

Yes, we should have faith enough to secure a “yes” from God, even in impossible situations.  But we must also have faith enough to endure a “no” from God, trusting Him still not only when He gives, but when He takes away.

Again, faith in Christ is just as active, just as real, and just as powerful when all our earthly circumstances and experiences are distasteful, when we experience deep personal loss, when our enemies overwhelm us, and when all hope of comfort and external peace are gone.  Faith takes us through the rivers of woe, through the fiery furnace of adversity, over the hills of difficulty, and through many stormy seas.

Both kinds of faith receive God’s approval.  Notice v. 39, at the end of this passage in Hebrews 11.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised…

Now the “all these” includes everyone mentioned in Hebrews 11, but in particular the two groups of people mentioned in vv. 32-34a and vv. 34b-38.  One group experienced miraculous victories and deliverances, but the other group did not.  Yet, all of them were commended for their faith.  You see, faith is not measured by whether we get what we ask for or by whether we succeed in what we do.  Rather, faith trusts God and submits to His will, in spite of the results, in view of a greater reward.

Remember verses 1 and 6 in Hebrews 11 say, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” …“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Faith in God, the eternal God who is faithful to all His promises, looks beyond this life.  It doesn’t put all of its emphasis on whether God “come through” in the here and now.  Faith believes that the best is yet to come!

The writer of Hebrews in the 11th chapter has been providing his original audience (and us) with one example of faith after another.  He has selectively displayed different individuals and their faith-based actions in chronological order, beginning with Abel, the son born to Adam and Eve.  In verses 32-40, he focuses on the periods of the judges, kings, prophets and beyond.

This passage is bracketed by the words “through faith” in verse 33 and “through their faith” in verse 39.

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35a Women received back their dead by resurrection.

That all sounds great, doesn’t it.  These people, “through faith” were victorious and successful and experienced miraculous deliverances.  But that isn’t the whole picture of people of faith.

But in the middle of verse 35 we start to find situations in which people did not get delivered, did not experience victory or health or prosperity.

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—38 of whom the world was not worthy–wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And our author summarizes this whole chapter, again emphasizing the hope for future reward:

39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

Our text falls into three portions:

  • In verses 32-35a, he shows how sometimes God blesses those who trust in Him with spectacular answers to prayer.
  • But without even catching his breath, in the middle of verse 35 he shifts direction to show (11:35b-38) that sometimes God blesses those who trust Him with the grace to endure horrible persecutions and difficulties without wavering.
  • He then concludes (11:39-40) by showing that God will definitely bless all who trust Him with eternal rewards.

This is our author’s crescendo and conclusion.

God blesses some who trust Him with the power to secure spectacular results.

Our author begins this portion with a rhetorical question: “And what more shall I say?”  Need he add more examples of faith?  Need he say anything more to prove the necessity and effectiveness of faith?  He admits that he does not have the space or time to do it, “For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets…”

By mentioning these men we see that God’s grace allows flawed people to accomplish great things for God.  Even our flaws cannot prevent God’s grace from accomplishing some great things through us!  Each individual that the writer mentioned was far less than perfect, as is every believer today.  Yet God approved the faith of each one—no matter how weak or frail.

Leon Morris points out: “Gideon was slow to take up arms; Barak hesitated and went forward only when Deborah encouraged him; Samson was enticed by Delilah; and Jephthah made a foolish vow and stubbornly kept it.”

Four of these men were identified in the book of Judges, during that period when “every man did what was right in his own eyes,” and faith appeared to be almost non-existent.  But here’s the reality: Although all five of these men had serious shortcomings, God still honored their faith.  When they expressed their faith in God, God honored that.  He came through.

Ellingworth comments:  “The order of names here may be understood if they are read as three pairs, Gideon-Barak, Samson-Jephthah, David-Samuel, the more important member of each pair being named first” (Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews (New International Greek Testament Commentary, p. 623)

Gideon did lead Israel in victory over the Midianites and he did express faith in God that his 300 men could defeat the Midianite army of 135,000, but when God originally approached Gideon, he was hiding in the winepress to escape the notice of the Midianites.  At that point “the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor” (Judges 6:12).  Gideon was anything but a “mighty man of valor” at this point.  He was hiding out of fear.

Then, when God called him to “save Israel from the hand of Midian” (Judges 6:14), Gideon made excuses (Judges 6:15).  Even though God promised to be with him, Gideon tested God two times, asking him to make a sheepskin wet with dew while the ground was dry and then to make the ground wet with dew while the sheepskin remained dry.

But, in Judges 7 Gideon led his 300 men (which God had pared down a couple of times from 22,000 to 10,000 to 300) in victory against the Midianites.  That took faith and God provided the victory.  Gideon would know that he could not possibly win on the strength of his army, but totally relied on the strength of God.  Gideon’s feat was an act of faith with spectacular results.

Barak also led Israel to victory, however he seems to do so on the coattails of Deborah.  Barak, who was from the tribe of Naphtali and led the Israelites against Jabin’s forces, was better than most of the judges who came after him.  Yet, he was no paragon of faith.  God spoke through Deborah, telling Barak to lead men from Naphtali and Zebulun against Sisera, Jabin’s general, and the Canaanite forces.  Moreover, Barak was promised victory (Judges 4:6-7).  However, Barak resisted, saying that he would go only if Deborah went with him (v. 8).  The promise of God was insufficient for him, evidencing a lack of faith on his part.  Deborah consented to go with him, but she told Barak that in the victory to come, he would not receive the glory (v. 9).  God can use people even when their faith is less than perfect, but we lose out on those blessings ourselves when we doubt His promises.  God can give victory, even when our faith is less than perfect.

I hope that is encouraging to you.  God can still use your little faith to accomplish His will.

By the way, just let me remind you that for all his faith in building the ark, Noah got stone cold drunk!  Abraham twice lied about who Sarah was in order to save his own skin.  Jacob was known as the deceiver and is perhaps most famous for having stolen his older brother’s birthright.  Moses committed murder.  All of these men of faith were less than perfect.

Samson routed the Philistines on several occasions, but his whole life rarely evidenced any faith in God, until the very end.  Samson was victorious over the Philistines men; it was the women that tripped him up.

Jephthah was the son of a harlot, initially driven away by his half-brothers.  But later, the elders of his hometown pled with him to return and lead them in battle against the enemy.  He did win a great victory, but then made a rash vow to sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house when he returned home from battle and that happened to be his only daughter.  I mean, what did he expect to come out of the house to greet him?  The vow was foolish, but he ended up keeping it.

One wonders why God would put a man like Jephthah into a list of faith heroes.  In our minds hard to reconcile such an act with Hebrews 11:32 and its record of Jephthah’s being a man of faith.  Yet we should note that the author of Hebrews is giving an evaluation of Jephthah with respect to his military victories, not this specific incident.  In Scripture—as in the world today—people who trust in God also sometimes commit awful sins.  That is not to excuse our transgressions.  Jephthah should have repented of his rash vow and not killed his daughter, for God does not want us to fulfill vows that break His commandments.  We can be grateful that God’s grace covers all of our sin when we trust in Christ, but that gives us no license for evil. (https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/jephthahs-rash-vow)

The writer does not go into all the details about what these men did. But if we examine the OT record, we find that each man battled against overwhelming odds so that, humanly speaking, there was little chance of his coming out on top.  (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 12, 129-30)

“Hearts of iron, feet of clay” is a phrase coined by Gary Inrig to describe many of these Old Testament heroes.  And no one fits that moniker better than David, the only king named in all of Hebrews 11.  Though as famous for his sins as for his faith, he was clearly one who from childhood had a simple faith in God—taking on lions and bears with his bare hands, as well as Goliath using a simple slingshot, it seemed not even to occur to David not to trust in his God in those cases.  Though quite imperfect, God still called him “a man after My heart; he will do everything I want him to do” (Acts 13:22).

Samuel is the last person mentioned in this list by name.  He was the last of the judges of Israel but the first of the prophets.  Though not a warrior like the rest, he fought a battle as fierce as any faced by the military leaders—only it was against immorality and idolatry among his own people.  It often takes more courage, as we all know, to stand up against our friends and our own people than against our enemies.

His (Samuel’s) great foes were idolatry and immorality. He had to stand up in the middle of a polluted society and fearlessly speak God’s truth.  His severest opponents frequently were not the Philistines, the Amorites, or Ammonites–but his own people.  It often takes more courage to stand up against our friends than against our enemies.  (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 366)

Even Samuel, although a godly man himself, failed to raise his sons to follow the Lord (1 Samuel 8:1-3).  Samuel was regarded as the first of the prophets, and so the term covers everyone from his day down to Malachi that functioned as a prophet—revealing God message to His people.

The reversal of the order of Samuel and David may be intended to bring Samuel into closer contact with “the prophets” who are mentioned immediately after, Samuel being the first in the continuous “prophetic succession” of the age of the Hebrew monarchy.  (F. F. Bruce, The New International Commentary on the NT: Hebrews, 320)

As a whole, these people boldly proclaimed God’s truth, and often suffered for it.  But overall, put the men of verse 32 into a scale and it tips upwards towards those who had glaring flaws.  John Calvin said, “In every saint there is always to be found something reprehensible.  Nevertheless, although faith may be imperfect and incomplete it does not cease to be approved by God.”

It is not the perfection of our faith that God honors, but the perfection of the object of our faith.  God approves faith even when it is displayed through the weakness of flawed personalities, because faith looks to Christ.

I hope this is encouraging to you.  You do not have to be perfect, or have perfect faith, or be a spiritual giant to be used by God.  Just exercise the faith you have in the promise and person of God.

On the other hand, this is not an excuse for not dealing with sin in your life.  If we have sinned, we need to confess our sins and repent and change.

It’s not our faith, but God’s faithfulness that brings the victory.  Even when we are weak, or especially because we know we are weak, it is God’s strength that accomplishes His purposes.

We will continue with what these men of faith did in vv. 33-34 next week.

Faith for the Impossible, the Irrational, and the Immoral, part 2 (Hebrews 11:29-31)

Last week we noted that faith attempts the impossible, as Israel did when they walked through the Reed Sea on dry ground because God had promised to make that possible, while the Egyptians were buried under the waves because they had no promise.  Israel faced a dangerous and impossible situation.  They were about to be annihilated or captured by the Egyptians, who were pursuing them, while in front of them was a body of water they could not cross.  But God made a way where there seemed to be no way.

Today, we want to look at Hebrews 11:30, which shows us that faith sometimes accepts the irrational.  There was approximately forty years between the faith exhibited by Israel in v. 29 and the faith exhibited in v. 30.  In between was a lot of unbelief.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

At this point Israel had wandered around in the desert for a total of 40 years, during which the older generation (the one that murmured so often and ultimately didn’t believe, (cf. Heb. 3:7-19) died off and a new generation had arisen.  God had instructed them again in the law through the book of Deuteronomy and now they are at the edge of the land.  Now remember, God had promised them this land.  This is what Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had all been waiting for.

So Israel was now camped on the Plains of Moab on the eastern side of the Jordan river.  Their first obstacle to entering the land and conquering it was the city of Jericho.  The problem is that Jericho was a well-fortified city.  Israel had a largely untrained army and no siege weapons.  How could they possibly overcome it?

Jericho was the gateway city to Canaan that the Israelites came to when they entered the Promised Land.  The city of Jericho was surrounded by walls so that no one was able to get in, and the walls served as solid protection against attacks.  The gates could be locked to keep the Israelites out (see Joshua 6:1). 

Humanly speaking, Joshua bore all the lonely responsibility of the leadership of his fickle, frightened people.  How he would have liked to have Moses there to talk to.  But there was no Moses.  Joshua now has sole responsibility.  He needed to get away to pray, to meditate, to plan the conquest.

Joshua had sent spies to scout out the city, Israel had crossed the Jordan and sanctified themselves, celebrated Passover, and then something strange happened.  As Joshua was out strategizing how to take on this walled city, the LORD appeared to Joshua in human form as the “captain of the Lord’s army” (so obviously an important person) and this man told Joshua God’s plan for victory (Joshua 5:13-6:5).

When we come to it straight from God’s presence, no task can ever defeat us.  Our failure and our fear are so often due to the fact that we try to do things alone.  The secret of victorious living is to face God before we face men.  (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series, Hebrews, 159)

I believe (along with Calvin and Keil and Delitzsch) that this “commander of the army of the LORD” was a theophany, an appearance of Jehovah in the form of an angelic messenger.

Joshua asked “Are you for us or for our enemies?”  It was Joshua’s responsibility, as the shepherd-leader of Israel, to determine whether this warrior was a friend or an enemy.  The man replied, “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come” (Joshua 5:14)  This reminds me of Abraham Lincoln’s remark during the Civil War, when asked if God was on his side, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side,” said the President, “my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”

So Joshua, are you on God’s side?  That could only be proven by faith and obedience.  “Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, ‘What message does my Lord have for his servant?’” (Joshua 5:14b)

The commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.”  And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5:15).  This command obviously reminded Joshua of Moses calling at the burning bush.  He was taking this man seriously.

This encounter with God served to steel Joshua and arm him for the conquering of Jericho, for very specific reasons.  He saw not only that God was with him, but God’s mystic appearance—with his sword pulled from his scabbard and held ready for battle—was indelibly printed on Joshua’s consciousness.  God would fight for him!  He knew that whatever the enemy mobilized, it would be matched and exceeded by heavenly mobilization.  It was this same awareness that galvanized Philipp Melanchthon, the primary theologian of the Reformation, for the immense battles he fought, for his favorite verse was Romans 8:31: “If God is for us, who can be against us?”  Melanchthon is said to have referenced this verse many times in his writings—and on his death bed.  It was his repeated (victorious!) refrain.

That was great.  The problem is that the plan was absurd.  Listen to it.

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.  March around the city once with all the armed men.  Do this for six days.  Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark.  On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets.  When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in” (Joshua 6:2-5)

Does that sound like a sensible battle plan to you?  No one else in history has tried this.  No military commander has sent his men into battle with this strategy.  It’s just absurd.

But in Joshua it produced the bedrock faith that introduces Hebrews 11—“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”—faith’s dynamic dual certitude. He had incredible visual certitude, for he had seen the unseen.  His conviction regarding the invisible would gird him in every battle.  He had awesome future certitude regarding what he hoped for—namely, the fall of Jericho and the taking of the Promised Land.  He was confident those walls would fall! 

But from this historical account we can learn five lessons.

First, salvation brings us into conflict with powerful enemies.  We’ve already seen this when Israel faced the Egyptian armies at the Reed Sea.  Being God’s people doesn’t insulate us from encountering significant problems.  Rather, it often is the catalyst for conflict, conflicts that wouldn’t have happened had we not been chosen by God.

You see, before you and I were saved, selfishness, pride, ego, greed, lust and many, many other sins didn’t trouble us.  In fact, sometimes we even thought of them as virtues!  But when we got saved and realized that these “fortified cities” (the New Testament calls them “strongholds”) would forever cause us problems unless we conquered them.  The problem is, they become deeply entrenched in our hearts and we have difficulty conquering them.

Not only do we now face enemies within, but salvation also brings us into conflict with people. 

  • Family members don’t like your newfound faith, because it now threatens their own favorite vices.
  • Bosses don’t like the fact that you won’t cheat or lie for them anymore.
  • Former friends malign you because you won’t join them in their parties and corrupt practices (cf. 1 Peter 4:3-4).

A second lesson we can learn here is that God’s way of victory usually accentuates His power and our weakness.

Marching around a walled city for seven days while blowing trumpets is not a sensible battle plan.  It must have seemed silly to many in Israel and certainly to everyone inside Jericho.  “This is the mighty army of Israel?  This is what we were afraid of?”

If Joshua had held strategy meetings with his top commanders, none of them would have suggested this plan.  One might have argued for direct assault, with siege ramps and battering rams to overpower the city.  Another may have suggested waiting it out until the city was starved into submission.  But no one would have dreamed of this plan.

Yet God chose this strange approach to teach them that victory over powerful enemies comes not when we trust in ourselves and our best strategies, but when we trust totally in our God.  Often, our problem is not that we are too weak, but that we think we are strong in ourselves.  Because we are so prone to pride, if God granted us victory in such situations, we would take at least some of the credit for ourselves.  Therefore, God’s plan for victory often humbles our pride by accentuating God’s power and our weakness.

We see this in the way that God reduced the army of Gideon from 32,000 men to just 300 men, all to take on the Midianite army of 135,000.  It wasn’t until Gideon was weak in number, weak enough to know that his only hope was in God, that God would grant them victory and they would give Him the glory.

Likewise, Paul spoke of the thorn in the flesh as something that humbled him.  He testified that “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10) because God’s strength was being manifest in his weakness.  In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul says, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay [our weak, earthly bodies…why?] to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

Hudson Taylor said that when God wanted to open inland China to the gospel, He looked around for a man weak enough for the task.  One of the things Hudson Taylor would be marked by was a sense of humility; and a deep sense of joy – almost a sense of surprise – that God had chosen to use him for His glory.  He would write, “I often think that God must have been looking for someone small enough and weak enough for Him to use . . . and He found me” (R. Kent Hughes, 1001 Great Stories and Quotes, (Tyndale House, 1998), p. 213).

So, God’s path to victory always involves faith, sometimes faith in something that is totally irrational, so that our weakness is revealed and God’s strength alone is recognized as the power behind the victory.

Thirdly, faith must obey God implicitly.

Genuine faith always obeys.  If fact, we cannot really say that we believe unless we do obey God.  But faith for the impossible obeys God’s completely.  The LORD had given explicit instructions to Joshua that demanded implicit obedience from the Israelites (cf. Joshua 6:2–5; 6–10).

Israel could have said, “That’s a really fascinating plan, Joshua, and we do believe that God could do it that way.  But we’ve got a more sensible approach.”  That would have been rebellion.  It might look like good sense but it’s not.

Obeying God in this situation, unlike Israel at the Reed Sea, involved wearying effort.  Every time around that wall would involve 30-60 minutes of walking, and on the seventh day it would involve 3 ½ hours.

You know, I would have been grumbling even before the seventh day, saying, “We’ve been walking for five, six, seven days, and NOTHIN’ has happened!”  Maybe somebody said that; we don’t know.

What we do know is that on the seventh day, just like God had instructed, and Joshua 6:20 records, “When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.”

Only a fool would have attempted such a courageous approach to battle apart from God’s direction and power.  From the perspective of faith, only a fool would not attempt such a thing when he has God’s direction and power.  (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 364-5)

The writer of Hebrews tells us, in a simple sentence, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days” (v. 30).  This is the key to the spiritual understanding of the fall of Jericho: the walls of Jericho fell because of the faith of Joshua and his people. It was the greatest corporate act of faith in Israel’s history, one never to be exceeded.

And Calvin is right when he says, “It is evident, that the walls did not fall through the shout of men, or the sound of trumpets; but because the people believed that the Lord would do what he had promised”  (John Calvin, Commentaries: Hebrews, 300).

Obedience like that is always based on God’s revealed Word.  In this case Joshua had heard directly from God.  There was really no confusion about what God had said.  They were not ignorant of God’s command.  For us we have the Scriptures.  And while they don’t speak to all the particulars of life, they give enough general commands to provide us with sure guidance. 

The question is whether we will obey it, especially when it seems so against human reason.  Like Mark Twain said, “It’s not the parts of the Bible I don’t understand that bother me, it’s the parts I do understand.”  Those parts we must obey.

A fourth lesson we learn here is that faith must often wait upon God.

God could have said, “March around Jericho once, blow the trumpet and shout!  The walls will fall down.”  Every day that victory or those answers to pray are delayed, it tests our faith.  We don’t like to wait.  Waiting is one of the hardest things we have to do.

And the intensity of the problem likely increased day to day.  Every day they likely heard jeers from the people on the wall.  When the Canaanites got a good look at the procession, they undoubtedly exploded in incredulous laughter and then hoots and catcalls. They could not believe their eyes. What fools these Israelites were—clowns! And secretly some of the Hebrews agreed.

Every day they wondered whether Jericho’s defenses were being strengthened and improved.  But God didn’t allow them to defeat Jericho in a day.

They had to wait for God’s timing.  And that’s never easy.  Next to suffering, waiting is the hardest thing we have to do as believers.  Abraham had to wait, Isaac and Jacob did too.  Moses had to wait.  Every believer will have to wait.  It’s not that God is slow.  He just realizes how much good soul work can be done while we are waiting.  It is during these slow times that we have time to look up to God, to remind ourselves of His past faithfulness and to feed our hope on His promises.

What do we do while we are waiting for the culmination of God’s promise?  “Just do the next thing,” Elisabeth Elliot often said, quoting a poem. Until God reveals our next steps, we have much to keep us busy while we wait.

Finally, faith waits with expectancy.

Israel believed that God would act if they obeyed.  It didn’t happen quickly, but they believed He would act in their behalf.  When he told them to shout, they did so, with expectation that in that moment God would bring the walls down.

Several years ago, I learned as I was preaching on John the Baptist and how he was in prison struggling with whether his cousin Jesus really was the Messiah, that there is an important difference between expectation and expectancy.  Expectation has a definite picture in mind of what you want to see happen, while expectancy is an attitude that is open to whatever God might want to do.

While we don’t always know how God will answer our prayers or desires, we can face the future with the expectancy that He will do something for our good.  It might not be the “good” we have in mind, in fact it might even be better!  And that’s the way that God is: we don’t want to put Him into a box by having definite expectations of what God will do or how God will answer our prayers.  We don’t demand that God do it the way we expect.  Instead, we should carry an attitude of expectancy that “Yes, God is going to act, He’s going to work.  He may surprise us in the exact ways that He accomplishes His purposes and fulfills His promises in our lives.”

The video, “Jericho Unearthed,” effectively demonstrates that the Bible and Jericho’s archaeology do indeed match.  You can pick up the DVD or watch it online through Amazon instant video.

https://www.holylandsite.com/jericho-tell-es-sultan

Faith for the Impossible, the Irrational and the Immoral, part 1 (Hebrews 11:29-31)

John Gardner once wrote:  “We are faced with a series of great opportunities—brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.”  Have you ever felt like you’re in an impossible situation, with no solution in sight?  Now, that word “opportunity” is definitely not my favorite word to use to describe a challenge.

Our text over the next few lessons comes from Hebrews 11:29-31, with one verse focusing on the Exodus and the other two verses focusing on the battle of Jericho.  Each of them presents a “disguised opportunity” which seemed almost impossible, yet they were opportunities to trust God and watch Him do wonderful things.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Jim Cymbala, pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle and author of several books, leads a prayer meeting with several thousand people on Tuesday nights, and he said in his book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, “I despaired at the thought that my life might slip by without seeing God show himself mightily on our behalf.”

I hope that you have that desire as well.  I hope you desire to see God “show himself mightily in your behalf,” to come through in an impossible situation.  For that to happen, first you have to be in an “impossible” situation and second, you have to cry out to God for help and then believe that God will help you.

Listen to our author, in Hebrews 11:29-31…

29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. 31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

Today we’re going to look at verse 29 and the exodus from Egypt.  The children of Israel here in verse 29 face an impossible situation.  Here, in Exodus 14, they had the Red Sea before them and the Egyptian army pursuing them.  They were truly “between a rock and a hard place,” an impossible situation.

Faith Attempts the Impossible

Although Moses is the one leading the people, the emphasis of verse 29 is that it was the faith of the people that provided the reason for God parting the Red Sea and allowing Israel to pass through on dry land.

This may seem somewhat surprising given that the author of Hebrews has consistently viewed that generation of Israelites as “evil and unbelieving” (Heb. 3:8-12) and Paul says that “God was not pleased with most of them” and most of them died in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:2, 5).

But, we’ve already seen how generous God can be in describing even the best of the patriarchs as being people of faith, even though they didn’t always act that way.  Perhaps the best way to interpret this is that “by faith” refers to a believing remnant and that faith is then generalized to refer to the whole nation—that is, the faith of a few is seen as characteristic of the whole nation.  There is a similar situation in the New Testament when everyone on the ship with Paul was saved because of Paul’s faith, even though they did not believe God.

Israel is in an impossible situation, caused by their exodus from Egypt.  Pharoah, despite having the nation and his own household devastated by the plagues, decided he didn’t really want to lose his workforce and so he took off after the Hebrews.  Israel had been on their way out of Egypt when God told Moses, ““Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon” (Exod. 14:2).  This would, according to verse 3, cause Pharoah to think that Israel was just wandering around confused…ripe pickings.  Not only that, but God would once again harden Pharoah’s heart.  Why?  So that Yahweh can “gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” (Exod. 14:4).  So Pharoah mobilized his army and “pursued the Israelites and overtook them” (Exod. 14:9).  The Israelites “looked up,” saw the army and “were terrified” (v. 10) and then characteristically said, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?” (Exod. 14:11).

One of the things we will notice in both verses 29 and 30 of Hebrews 11 is that faith does not exempt us from going through trials and difficulties.  Even though they idealized their past, in believing that Egypt had been “so great,” in reality it had been very difficult living.

Here they harp against Moses, but it was God who had led them there.  So here they were, with the Red Sea in front of them and the Egyptians hotly pursuing them.  It was an impossible situation and unless God intervened, they were doomed.  Of course, this was God’s plan all along, to save them in such a dramatic and miraculous fashion that even the Egyptians would have to admit that Yahweh was the supreme God.

Israel needed to learn that salvation is completely from God, that salvation “salvation belongs to the Lord” (Psalm 8:3), which Jonah had to learn.  He said, “What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the LORD,’” (Jonah 3:9).  There was absolutely nothing they could do to save themselves.  There was no place to MacGyver the situation and make an escape.  God led them into this desperate, impossible situation so that they would have to trust solely in him.

That is how God grows our faith today.  Sure, we know in our heads that we need to trust Him totally, every moment, but we don’t believe it in practice until He throws us into the deep end, into situations where there is absolutely no way out unless God comes through for us.

God delights in turning our overwhelming impossibilities into exhibitions of His might.  John Flavel once said, “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.”  During the day of extremity, there is an opportunity for God to do what He does.  To deliver.  To save.  To bring good out of bad and order out of chaos.  Trials are like the gymnastic apparatus that makes the muscles of our faith grow stronger.

Here was a situation in which Israel’s enemy thought that they had an easy victory.  But God did miraculously what was impossible.  With God all things are possible.  He piled the waters on either side, allowing Israel to walk through on dry ground (Exodus 14:21-22), then he allowed the Egyptians to confidently pursue them.

The Red Sea is also called the Sea of Reeds, and we are not sure of the exact location where the Israelites crossed, but it clearly took place at a point where there was plenty of water.  I think it is humorous how some liberal scholars will say that the place where Israel crossed was just a few inches deep.  Not only is that not the way the Bible describes it, but then you have to deal with a completely different miracle.  How did God drown the entire Egyptian army in just a couple inches of water?  You can’t have it both ways!

Surely the Egyptians should have noticed the trap!  Water piled up in towering walls alongside them ain’t normal.  But John Owens observes, “There is no such blinding, hardening lust in the minds or hearts of men, as hatred of the people of God and desire for their ruin.”  The Egyptians abandoned all reason and rushed to their own destruction.  And thus a helpless, defenseless, disorganized band of two million slaves were delivered from a powerful, well-equipped army.  Nothing is too difficult for God Almighty!

The particular lesson of faith we learn from the crossing of the Red Sea is this: When you are trapped by impossible circumstances, trust in God’s miraculous deliverance.  Don Moen wrote the song “God Will Make a Way.”  In it he writes:

God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me

Now, come back to the reason that God delivered them.  Our author says that it was “by faith.”  But after expressing their desire to return to Egypt (Exod. 14:12), “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.  The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exod. 14:13-14).

Up to this point it was really Moses who, up to this point, had faith.  They were full of fear.  He comforts the people and then this eventuated in Moses’ preeminent display of faith when he stretched his hand out over the Red Sea, and the Lord drove back the waters with a strong east wind, and Israel passed through as on dry land (cf. Exodus 14:21, 22).

Both the book of Exodus in the Old Testament and the book of Hebrews in the New Testament stress the fact that the Israelites crossed over the Red Sea on dry ground.  The Israelites did not have to swim or wade across.  They didn’t even get their feet wet!  God pushed the waters back, and the Israelites crossed over on dry ground.  Now that is a miracle.

Meanwhile, the Egyptians followed them into the sea and immediately started experiencing problems.  Their chariot wheels were jammed and they had difficulty steering their chariots.  Then “Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place.  The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the LORD swept them into the sea.  The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived” (Exodus 14:27-28).

The end result is that “That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.  And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant” (Exodus 14:30-31).

One man’s faith, which led to God’s action, resulted in the people “putting their trust in [the LORD].  What a sublime fact we have here!  One man’s faith can be so authentic and effectual that it can elevate a whole people and secure their deliverance! In lesser ways we have seen this in the lives of such people as Martin Luther and John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards.  This truth holds great promise for us.  Vibrant, authentic faith can elevate our families, churches, and communities.  Because Moses believed, the Israelites believed.

Now, it’s important to understand that the way God opens up for you will still require faith on your part.  Notice God did not just pick the Israelites up and deposit them safely on the other side of the Red Sea.  Exodus 14:22 says, “and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

God created a passageway for them through the Red Sea, but they still had to walk through that passage believing that God would protect them.  I would imagine it took tremendous faith for them to step onto the dry bed of the Red Sea with those walls of water towering above them on the right and on the left.  Only God was holding those great walls of water back, and if He chose to let go at any moment, there was nothing anyone could do to stop that water from flooding back in.

When you are trapped by circumstances, God will make a way for you.  But that way will still require faith on your part, again proven by obedient action.  Sometimes the way God opens up for you involves making hard decisions or taking great risks in order to do that which is right.  Sometimes it requires confession of sin, not only to God but to the person you sinned against.  Sometimes it means letting go of some things that you hold dear in life.  God never promises you an easy way, but he does promise to make a way if you will follow him in faith.

And most important of all, when you do follow God, God promises to go with you.  You never walk the path of faith alone.  When you go with God, God promises to walk with you every step of the way.  God says this in Isaiah 43: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you” (Isa. 43:2).  That is exactly what happened with these Israelites.  The rest of the verse says, “When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze,” which happened to three Hebrew young men who trusted God and refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s idol.

Why does the LORD do this?  Look at verses 3 and 4 of Isaiah 43: “For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead.  Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life.”

First, I am “your God” and “your Savior.”  You belong to me as my people and as your God I will save you.  He specifically says here.  “I give Egypt for your ransom.”  That was the redeeming price for saving Israel.  Second, we see God’s affections.  He is loyal because we belong to Him, but He is also affectionate towards us.  He saves us because we are “precious and honored” and “because I love you.”  Therefore, God will deliver them from other nations throughout their history.

Notice that what God did for Israel He did not do for the Egyptians.  He saved Israel and destroyed the Egyptians, even though they also went into the Reed Sea.  However, the difference, beside the fact that they were not God’s people, is that they didn’t enter the Reed Sea by faith, but by presumption.  They just presumed that if Israel could do it, so could they.

But it is dangerous to presume upon God and faith is not like that.  Faith is based upon God’s revealed promises.  The Egyptians had no promises to go on.  They acted on the presumption that nothing bad would happen to them.  The Egyptians had as much (or more) courage than the Israelites, but they didn’t have the promises.  So let’s not be like the Egyptians, presuming upon God when He has given us no assurance through revealed promises.

A. W. Pink notes: “”There are three degrees of faith. There is a faith which receives, when as empty-handed beggars we come to Christ and accept Him as our Lord and Saviour: John 1:12.  There is also a faith which reckons, which counts upon God to fulfill His promises and undertake for us: 2 Tim. 1:12.  There is also a faith which risks, which dares something for the Lord.”

None of these degrees of faith are effective and beneficial to us unless they are backed by God’s promises.  We can receive nothing by faith unless God has promised to give us something.  We cannot reckon on something being true unless God’s Word tells us so.  And we dare not take dangerous risks unless God clearly tells us to do so.

The test of faith is trusting God when all we have are His promises.  When the waters are piled high all around us and problems and dangers are about to overwhelm us, this is when faith is tested, and when the Lord takes special pleasure in showing us His faithfulness, His love, and His power.  When we have nothing but His promise to rely on, His help is the nearest and His presence the dearest to those who believe.  (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 358)

So faith overcomes enormous obstacles, enduring by seeing the unseen God.  “But,” you may be wondering, “what about Peter Cameron Scott and all of his fellow missionaries that died young while trying to take the gospel into Africa?  Their faith did not deliver them!”

John G. Paton (1824-1907), who left his native Scotland to take the gospel to the cannibals of the New Hebrides Islands, answers that question well.  As he was getting ready to leave, an elderly friend repeatedly sought to deter him.  His crowning argument was always, “The Cannibals!  You will be eaten by Cannibals!”

Paton finally replied, “Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is to be soon laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms.  I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or worms.  And in the Great Day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer” (John G. Paton Autobiography [Banner of Truth], p. 56).

When Paton finally received his external call at age thirty-five and landed in the region in 1859, he was quickly “stunned by the dreadful loss” of his first wife, Mary Ann Robson, to fever (John Paton, John G. Paton: Missionary to the New Hebrides: An Autobiography, ed. Rev. James Paton (Geanies House: Christian Focus Publications, Ltd., 2009, p. 60), Their newborn son, Peter, followed three weeks later. His ministry was undergirded by this reigning thought: “This is strength; — this is peace: — to feel, in entering on every day, that all its duties and trial have been committed to the Lord Jesus, — that, come what may, He will use us for His glory and our own real good!” (Ibid, p. 101).

Let’s join Paton and Scott and Moses as people of overcoming faith, who endure by seeing the unseen God!

Faith Values the Greater Reward from God, part 3 (Hebrews 11:23-28)

We are talking about the faith of Moses, a faith that allowed him to give up a position of privilege and power, where he could have every pleasure and treasure his heart desired, opting instead for the yet unseen, but definitely real, “greater wealth” of the heavenly reward.  Like the patriarchs before him, he didn’t experience the greater treasures and pleasures in this life, but in the life to come, in the heavenly city (Heb. 11:13-16).

So turn with me again to Hebrews 11:24-28…

24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

We noticed last week Mose’s negative choice of “refusing to be called the son of Pharoah’s daughter.”  Today we will talk about his positive choice in verse 25, “choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.”

By the way, this was a permanent decision.  Warren Wiersbe tells the story about the mayor of a large American city who moved into a dangerous and decayed housing project to demonstrate the problems and needs of the minorities.  But she also kept her fashionable apartment and eventually moved out of the slum.  He concludes, “We commend her for her courage, but we have to admire Moses even more.  He left the palace and never went back” (The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: New Testament, p. 836)

So Moses chose to be mistreated rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin.

Let’s see, pain or pleasure, which shall I choose?  Few of us would willingly choose pain over pleasure, but Moses did.  Moses chose the pain of mistreatment rather than the pleasures of sin.

Ultimately Moses’ potential sin, had he chosen these “fleeting pleasures” would have been to abandon his faith in God as he became more and more immersed in the mindset of godless Egypt, much like Solomon’s heart was turned aside from God because of his pagan wives.  There was constant exposure and then pressure there to engage with the world’s system and pleasures, which could have turned his heart against the God of his fathers.

Moses knew that to go God’s way meant persecution and pain “with the people of God.”  It is fascinating that in the next verse our author shows that Moses thought of this as “the reproach of Christ.”  Somehow he connected his own sufferings to the sufferings that Jesus Christ would experience in his humiliation.  Maybe this was an unconscious connection on his part but the author shows that it is a real connection that any saint has with Jesus Christ when we suffer for his sake.  It is very similar to what Paul talked about in Philippians 3 when he says, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…” (Phil. 3:10).

Paul wanted to know Christ, not just intellectually, but experientially.  Because Christ was no longer alive and walking about on earth Paul didn’t have that firsthand interaction with Jesus.  Nevertheless, Paul had experienced and wanted to experience more, “the power of his resurrection,” but Paul knew that to experience resurrection he had to go through death, so he longed, strangely enough to our ears, to “share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”

Paul Miller discusses this fascinating idea in his book J-Curve.  The J-Curve is Jesus dying and rising.  Of course, positionally we die to sin and rise to God (Rom. 6) because we are united to Jesus by faith.  Also, we will one day die physically and ultimately we will rise physically.

But Paul Miller also shows that we can experience the J-Curve through suffering, repentance and love.  In suffering, we die to something.  It can be our health, a marriage, a loss of a loved one.  But if we perceive it as suffering “with Christ,” it turns what is wholly negative into something positive (an experience of deep fellowship and ultimately resurrection).  So see your suffering as “with Christ,” as engaging in His sufferings, and then expect and look for mini-resurrections.

The J-Curve also happens through repentance.  Here the evil is not outside us, perpetrated against us, but inside us.  We acknowledge that something needs to die, some sinful desire that we have, but when we give up that sin and experience fellowship with Jesus, we will experience the resurrection of joy and holiness and love.

Love is another J-Curve.  In this case we die to ourselves, our agenda, our pleasures, so that we can meet the needs of someone else.  We “put to death” some desire we have for our own pleasure, so that we can meet the needs or desires of someone else.  The result?  That relationship gets better and better!

This is what Moses was doing.  He didn’t know Jesus fully yet, but He knew God well enough to know that if he gave up the “fleeting pleasures” of sin for His sake, then something immensely more satisfying would be his in the future.

Disgrace suffered for Christ’s sake Moses valued as priceless honor.  Yes, Moses knew about Christ.  He himself said so in Dt 18:15 when he urged Israel to look for and listen to that greater Prophet who was coming.  Jesus also said so when he told the Pharisees in Jn 5:46, “Moses wrote about me” with the eye of faith Moses saw the coming Christ and identified with him by joining his people.  (Richard E. Lauersdorf, The People’s Bible: Hebrews, 143)

Notice how Moses viewed these pleasures, and it may shock us into realizing how we need to view our own worldly pleasures.  First of all, they are the “pleasures of sin” that we “enjoy.”  We sin because we enjoy it.  We sin because it is a pleasure. So let’s not deny that sin can be a pleasure.  That is the only way Satan can tempt us.  If it were a pain, we would avoid it.  If we got shocked every time we sinned, we would stop sinning.

But again, a shock is like Ulysses being tied to the mast.  It may stop us from sinning, but we still want to, we still long to.  We would just seek ways to get what we want without being shocked, like the addict who hides his addiction so that no one can see him and rebuke him.

John Piper recognizes the danger in the pleasures of sin, saying, “The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts.  And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth.  For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable.  (John Piper, A Hunger for God: Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer, 14)

Disobeying had many attractions.  Among other things, it would have been a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable in the short run.  It is hard enough to stop seeking worldly things.  It is even harder to give them up once we have them, and Moses had a great many of them by the time he was forty.  We have no reason to believe that he was ever involved in any immoral practices, but he enjoyed the pleasures of an extremely comfortable life.  He had the best food, the best living quarters, the best recreation, the best of everything that his age could provide.  These were not sins in themselves.  Joseph had enjoyed the same pleasures in the same place, while being perfectly obedient to God.  But they would have been sin for Moses, had he decided to stay in the Egyptian court, and he forsook them for the sake of God’s call.  (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 352)

Second, notice that these pleasures are “fleeting,” or some versions say “passing.”  They are temporary.  They don’t last.  You’ve experienced that.  You gave yourself to some illicit pleasure when you were all alone in the dark and it felt good…for a moment, for a brief moment.  Then, if you are fortunate, you began to feel guilty.  This is not the repressed conscience bequeathed to us by the Puritans, but rather is the precious gift of God.

The point is, Moses knew that these pleasures were real pleasures that could be enjoyed, but that they were also “fleeting.”  God’s reward is permanent, not passing; it is forever, not fleeting.

Remember that next time you are tempted.  Remind yourself: “I’ll feel good for a moment or two, but it won’t last.”  Then tell yourself that God’s way offers a better, more lasting reward.

As a family member in Pharaoh’s court, Moses enjoyed whatever pleasures anyone could seek.  He lived in luxury (picture the splendor of King Tut’s tomb!).  He ate the best food available.  He dressed in the finest clothes.  He could have any Egyptian beauty his heart desired.

Yet because he believed in a better reward—pleasures and treasures that were bigger and better than anything Egypt (or the whole world) could offer—he said “no.”  He chose rather to become an object of scorn and contempt along with the people of God.

Why?  Because by faith he believed in a better reward awaiting him.  Why would a man knowingly choose such suffering?  Was he a masochist?  Was he insane?  No, actually he was quite shrewd.  Like the man who sold everything he had to buy the pearl of great price (Matt. 13:45-46), Moses gained something better.

The “treasures of Egypt” were something that many coveted.  Discoveries such as the tomb of King Tutankhamen, who lived only a hundred or so years after Moses, have shown us how vastly rich Egypt was at its peak. Moses had access to a great deal of wealth, and likely had much in his own possession.  He had all the things the world holds dear.  He must have been strongly tempted to hold on to them; but he did not.  (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 353)

Moses shows us that men are known by their choices.  We make our choices and then our choices make us.  John MacArthur says, “Christian living involves making right decisions.  You can note the maturity of a Christian by the decisions he makes.  Holiness is making right decisions, carnality is making wrong ones.  Our Christian living rises or falls in maturity and holiness on the basis of the decisions we make.  When Satan tempts us, we decide either to say yes or no.  When we have opportunity to witness, we either take advantage of it or we do not.  We decide whether or not to take time to read the Bible and to pray.  It is not a matter of having time but of taking time, and taking time requires a decision.  In business we often have to choose between making more money and being honest and ethical, or between getting ahead and giving enough time to our families and to the Lord’s work.  Virtually everything we do involves a decision”  (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 346).  He goes on to say, “Right choices are made on the basis of right faith.  Often we cannot see the consequences of our choices.  Satan tries to make his way seem attractive and good and God’s way seem hard and unenjoyable.  When we know God’s will in a matter, we choose it by faith.  We know it is the right choice because it is God’s will, even before we see the results.  God’s will is the only reason we need.  When we choose God’s way, we put up the shield of faith, and the temptations and allurements of Satan are deflected (Eph 6:16). . . . The opposite of choosing God’s way is always Satan’s way, and not believing God is believing Satan.  Whenever we sin, we believe Satan; we believe that his way is better than God’s.  We believe the father of lies above the Father of truth”  (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 347)

From the worldly standpoint, he was sacrificing everything for nothing.  But from the spiritual standpoint, he was sacrificing nothing for everything.  (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 350).  Or, as Jim Eliot said, the missionary martyred by the Waorani Indians of Ecuador in 1954, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

God has designed this Christian life so that we would be motivated by rewards.  The emphasis in the Epistle to the Hebrews is: ‘Don’t live for what the world will promise you today!  Live for what God has promised you in the future!

People at Grace Bible Church have heard me quote this statement from C. S. Lewis often:

If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith.  Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are far too easily pleased.

We must not be troubled by unbelievers when they say that this promise of reward makes the Christian life a mercenary affair.  There are different kinds of reward.  There is the reward which has no natural connection with the things you do to earn it, and is quite foreign to the desires that ought to accompany those things.  Money is not the natural reward of love; that is why we call a man mercenary if he marries a woman for the sake of her money.  But marriage is the proper reward for a real lover, and he is not mercenary for desiring it.  A general who fights well in order to get a peerage is mercenary; a general who fights for victory is not, victory being the proper reward of battle as marriage is the proper reward of love.  The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation.  (C. S. Lewis; THE WEIGHT OF GLORY; Preached originally as a sermon in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford ‘, on June 8, 1941)

Moses knew that all the pleasures of Egyptian nobility would last only a short season, if he became ruler of Egypt himself.  But the reward of God, on the other hand, he believed to be eternal.  So it was a matter of trading the temporary for the eternal.  To him, the shame of being identified with the coming Messiah (Christ), was greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt. 

What were some of the blessings that Moses traded the “treasures of Egypt” and the “pleasures of sin” for?  Well, first of all, the company of God’s people.  Moses chose “to be mistreated with the people of God.”  Admittedly, they were not much to look at.  At the moment they were sweaty, dirty, poor slaves.  Certainly not the “in” crowd.  Later, these would be the very people that would give him a lot of trouble, grumbling about the conditions that he led them into.  Some would challenge his leadership. Eventually their grumbling frustrated Moses so much that he sinned by striking the rock in anger, so that the Lord kept him from entering the promised land. But in spite of all the problems he experienced with them, they were “people of God.”  Moses saw it as a far greater blessing to endure ill-treatment with them than to live in the worldly, superficial society of Pharaoh’s court.

Sometimes the “people of God” are not easy to live with, but Christian community really is a blessing.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his little book Life Together, written during the early days of the Nazi regime in Germany: “It is by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in this world to share God’s Word and sacrament. Not all Christians receive this blessing. The imprisoned, the sick, the scattered lonely, the proclaimers of the Gospel in heathen lands stand alone. They know that visible fellowship is a blessing. They remember, as the Psalmist did, how they went ‘with the multitude . . . to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday’ (Ps. 42:4). Let him, who until now has had the privilege of living in common Christian life with other Christians praise God’s grace from the bottom of his heart. Let him thank God on his knees and declare: it is grace, nothing but grace, that we’re allowed to live in Christian community with Christian brethren.”

Second, as we’ve already mentioned, Moses participated in “the reproach of Christ.”  He was able to experience, through his reproach, the reproach of Christ; through his sufferings, the sufferings of Christ.  It allowed him to rejoice in a deeper experience of Jesus Christ.

Finally, he would gain eternal reward in heaven.  Like the patriarchs, Moses looked ahead, looked to eternity.  The reward that he looked for was, “the better country, that is, a heavenly one” (11:16). When Moses appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration with Elijah and Jesus, it was his first time to set foot in the promised land.  But I have a hunch that he was thinking, “OK, this is nice, really, but when you do think we could get back to heaven?”

And he did it all by faith.  He made these choices because he believed in God’s promises of something better ahead.

Faith Values the Greater Reward from God, part 2 (Hebrews 11:23-28)

Thank you for joining me today in our study of this great epistle, or better put “sermon of exhortation,” which we call Hebrews.  We started last week discussing Moses as an exemplar of faith.  In particular, we looked at Hebrews 11:23 which spoke of the faith of Moses’ parents.

Today we will begin looking at Moses’ own faith in Hebrews 11:24-28.

24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

Moses expressed faith in a greater reward, which allowed him to turn his back on the privileges of being high up in Egyptian society (“called the son of Pharoah’s daughter”) and choosing to eschew the “fleeting pleasures of sin.”  Why?  Because he was “looking to the reward.”  Moses willingly chose mistreatment and the reproach of Christ because he wanted to, because he longed for the reward that was “greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt.”

Faith is what allowed him to do that.  Faith allowed him to see something that was invisible, to long for something that was yet future (cf. Heb. 11:1).  His faith in something better and more lasting caused his heart to long for that rather than the pleasures of this life.

What about you?  Do you say “no” to sin because you fear the consequences, or because you feel external pressures from family or religious associations?  Or do you gladly say “no” to sin because you long to be holy, because you value it as better and greater than the pleasures of sin?

Years ago, and then again just recently, I read this illustration in Sam Storms’ book Pleasures Evermore.  What Sam was doing was illustrating the difference between saying “no” to sin because we have to and saying “no” to sin because we want to.  Or, another way of saying it is saying “no” to sin because of external restraints and saying “no” to sin because our heart is captivated by something better, what Scottish pastor Thomas Chalmers called “the expulsive power of a new affection,” a higher and better desire.

He illustrates with two stories from Greek mythology.   Don’t let that put you off, because the principle is actually quite biblical.

The story concerns two men.  The first is Odysseus, also known as Ulysses.  Ulysses was a devoted husband to his wife, Penelope, adored his son, and agonized at leaving his home of Ithaca. But he was also a Greek, and duty called.

Paris, the prince of Troy, had stolen away Helen, the woman “whose face launched a thousand ships.”  She was the wife of Menelaus, the King of Greece.  He, together with his brother Agamemnon, Ulysses, and a mighty Greek army undertook the daunting task of recapturing her and restoring dignity to their beloved land. 

To make a long story short, hidden in the belly of a huge Trojan horse, Ulysses and his men gained access to the city, slaughtered its inhabitants, and rescued the captive Helen.  But the return voyage to Ithaca, which lasted nearly a decade, would prove to be far more challenging.

People are intrigued by Ulysses’ encounter with the witch Circe and his careful navigation between the treacherous Scylla and Charybdis.  And who can forget his blinding of the Cyclops Polyphemus, son of Poseidon, god of the seas? 

My fascination, however, has always been with the infamous Sirens.  The Sirens were, for lack of a better way of describing them, demonic cannibals who disguised themselves as beautiful women.  Countless were the unwitting sailors who, on passing by their island, succumbed to the outward beauty of the Sirens and their seductively irresistible songs.  Once lured close to shore, their boats crashed on the hidden rocks lurking beneath the surface of the sea.  The Sirens wasted little time in savagely consuming their flesh.

Ulysses had been repeatedly warned about the Sirens and their lethal hypocrisy.  Upon reaching their island, he ordered his crew to put wax in their ears lest they be lured to their ultimate demise. He commanded them to look neither to the left nor right but to row for their very lives.  Ulysses had other plans for himself. He instructed his men to strap him to the mast of the ship, leaving his ears unplugged. “I want to hear their song.  No matter what I say or do, don’t untie me until we are safely at a distance from the island.”

The songs of the Sirens were more than Ulysses’ otherwise strong will could resist. He was utterly seduced by their sound and mesmerized by the promise of immediate gratification.  One Siren even took on the form of Penelope, Ulysses’ wife, seeking to lure him closer on the delusion that he had finally arrived home.  Were it not for the ropes that held him tightly to the mast, Ulysses would have succumbed to their invitation.  Although his hands were restrained, his heart was captivated by their beauty.  Although his soul said “Yes”, the ropes prevented his indulgence.  His “No” was not the fruit of a spontaneous revulsion but the product of an external shackle. 

Ulysses’ encounter with the Sirens, together with his strategy for resisting their appeal, is all too similar to the way many Christians try to live as followers of Jesus Christ.  Like him, their hearts pant for what Hebrews 11:25 refers to as “the fleeting pleasures of sin.” Their wills are no match for the magnetic power of sensual indulgence.  Although they understand what is at stake, they struggle through life saying No to sin, not because their souls are ill-disposed to evil but because their hands have been shackled by the laws and rules imposed by an oppressive religious atmosphere.  It is the extra-biblical taboo that comes thundering from a legalistic pulpit or a long-standing denominational prohibition that accounts for their external complicity.  Their obedience is not the glad product of a transformed nature but a reluctant conformity born of fear and shame. 

I have no desire to live that way.  Neither do you, I suspect.  So, is your “obedience” the expression of your deepest heart-felt joy?  Is it the product of a passion that spontaneously and urgently springs from the depths of your being?  Or are you firmly bound to the mast of religious expectations, all the while yearning for the opposite of what you actually do?  What is the most effective scheme for confronting the sinful sounds of Sirens? 

Jason, like Ulysses, was himself a character of ancient mythology, perhaps best known for his pursuit of the famous Golden Fleece.  Again, like Ulysses, he faced the temptation posed by the seductive sounds of the Sirens.  But his solution was of a different sort. Jason brought with him on the treacherous journey a man named Orpheus, the son of Oeager.  Orpheus was a musician of incomparable talent, especially on the lyre and flute.  When his music filled the air it had an enchanting effect on all who heard.  There was not a lovelier or more melodious sound in all the ancient world. 

When it came time, Jason declined to plug the ears of his crew.  Neither did he strap himself to the mast to restrain his otherwise lustful yearning for whatever pleasures the Sirens might offer. But this was not the reckless decision of an arrogant heart.  Jason had no illusions about the strength of his will or his capacity to be deceived.  He was no less determined than Ulysses to resist the temptations of the Sirens.  But he chose a different strategy.  

He ordered Orpheus to play his most beautiful and alluring songs.  The Sirens didn’t stand a chance!  Notwithstanding their collective allure, Jason and his men paid no heed to the Sirens.  They were not in the least inclined to succumb.  Why?  Was it that the Sirens had ceased to sing?  Was it that they had lost their capacity to entice the human heart?  Not at all. 

Jason and his men said No because they were captivated by a transcendent sound.  The music of Orpheus was of an altogether different and exalted nature.  Jason and his men said No to the sounds of the Sirens because they had heard something far more sublime.  They had tasted something far sweeter. They had encountered something far more noble.

Here’s my point. Ulysses may have survived the sounds of Sirens.  But only Jason triumphed over them.  Yes, both men “obeyed” (in a manner of speaking).  Neither succumbed. Neither indulged his desires. Both men escaped the danger at hand.  But only one was changed. 

The vice-grip the pleasure of sin exerts on the human soul will be broken only by trusting God’s promise of superior pleasure in knowing Jesus.  The only way to conquer one pleasure is with another, greater and more pleasing pleasure.  Whether it’s the sound of Sirens in ancient mythology or the all-too-real appeal of contemporary society, the principle is the same. Our only hope is in maximizing our pleasure in God.

These are the options.  Like Ulysses, you can continue to fight against the restrictive influence of religious ropes and the binding power of fear, reprisal, and guilt, while your heart persists in yearning for what your hand is denied, or, like Jason, you can shout a spontaneous and heartfelt “No!” to the sounds of Sirens because you’ve heard a sweeter sound!  Either you devote your time and energy to demonstrate the ugliness and futility of sin and the world, hoping that such will enable your heart to say No to it as unworthy of your affection, or you demonstrate the beauty and splendor of all that God is for you in Jesus and become happily and joyfully enticed by a rival affection.  

So let’s examine how Moses came to make this decision, to say “no” because he could see greater joy and happiness and satisfaction and contentment, even pleasure and treasure, in God’s will and ways, than in the treasures and pleasures of Egypt.

Between verse 23, which speaks of Moses’ birth and his parents’ faith, and verses 24-26, which presents Moses as an adult making a choice to identify with his Jewish ethnicity, forty years have elapsed.

His identification began with a negative choice: “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter” (v. 24).  First, Moses said “no” to being called “the son of Pharoah’s daughter.”  He had a choice and he could have said “yes” to what was a great privilege and something he had been immersed in for 40 years.

Moses was known by the royal designation “son of Pharaoh’s daughter”—a title of self-conscious dignity that is emphasized here in the Greek by the absence of definite articles.  A modern equivalent might be Duke of York.

To be such during Egypt’s Nineteenth Dynasty would have meant immense prestige and wealth.  Any pleasure that the oriental or occidental mind could conceive of was his for the asking.  Like being a sports celebrity today, this could be intoxicating.  A man could have anything, or anyone, he asked for.

Such privilege and prestige could be delusional, as Boris Pasternak observed of the Russian aristocracy in Dr. Zhivago when the doctor remarked that wealth “could itself create an illusion of genuine character and originality.”

But Moses suffered no such delusions.  Fortunately, although the “son of Pharoah’s daughter,” he had been raised by a godly Jewish mother and had learned the stories about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.  He had heard about their faith and the courageous decisions they had made.  Now he was an adult and it was time to define himself.

So Moses publicly refused the title, which would be a grievous affront and insult to Pharoah.  Kent Hughes says, “True faith will announce its discord whenever God and conscience call for it.  Believers can love their culture, and there is much to love in most cultures, but they will refuse to be identified with the godless zeitgeist or spirit of the age.”

The “world,” in Scripture, is one of our three adversaries, along with our own flesh and the devil himself.  Of course, we acknowledge that this world was originally created “very good,” but since the Fall creation has been infected with pride, lust, and all manner of ungodliness.  The world’s fallen systems have no love for God and in many cases will be decidedly anti-God.

The apostle John told his disciples at Ephesus:

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world–the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions–is not from the Father but is from the world.  17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

And James writes in his epistle, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4).

John MacArthur, in his commentary on Ephesians, writes:

[The “world” is the system] which men are in basic agreement about what is right and wrong, valuable and worthless, important and unimportant.  Sinful men have many different ideas and standards, but they are in total agreement that the network of things in this world is more important than the divine perspective of God. In this most basic world outlook they are of one mind.  They resolutely work to fulfill the goals and values of their system, though it defies God and always self-destructs.  Sinners are persistent in their rejection, and the worse their system becomes, the more they try to justify it and condemn those who speak the Word of God against it.

And pastor Randy Smith says…

The world is the system of every age, the philosophy that opposes the things of God.  The world is forever brainwashing, seeking to squeeze people into their mold.  If the Bible calls for something, most often the world will be against it.  The world will persecute people that oppose its standard.  Nobody opposes the world more than Jesus. In biblical times confessing Jesus would put you out of the synagogue.  Now confessing Jesus will put you out of the good graces of politics, Hollywood, the press, academia and personal acquaintances.

This almost unconscious, inexorable pull away from God was present in Egypt’s culture as it is in ours today, and as Christ followers we have to be aware of it and fight against it.  Moses showed faith when he let God chart his destiny instead of allowing the values of Egypt or raw ambition for Egypt’s values to do it.

And that choice came freely from an imagination, and then a heart, that was captured by a greater vision, a more beautiful song, a more appealing story.  That motivated Moses’ heart to choose another course of action rather than going with the flow of culture and “enjoying” the pleasures and treasures of Egypt.

Moses “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter” so that he could say “yes” to something better and more satisfying.  Just like Jesus told his disciples that they must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him (Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 14:27).  We say “no” to ourselves so that we can say “yes” to Jesus Christ and follow Him.

Moses decision to renounce his relationship to Pharaoh’s daughter was the turning of his back on immeasurable wealth, unending pleasures, and unspeakable power and glory.  Who would do that?

Only those who by faith grasp that greater treasures and pleasures, even more abundant power and glory, are available to those who choose Christ.  The only way to liberate the heart from servitude to the allure of this world and the passing pleasure of sin is by cultivating a passion for the joy and delight of beholding the beauty of Jesus. 

Try to imagine the kind of life that is available to the billionaires of the day and the world leaders of the day.  That is what Moses gave up.  He surrendered all that pleasure and treasure and power and glory only because he considered “the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward” (Heb. 11:26).

And I hope you will too.

Faith Values the Greater Reward from God, part 1 (Hebrews 11:23-28)

Stephen Davey opens our discussion of our next hero of faith, Moses, with this story:

In a recent publication I was given, I read the fascinating story of the history of the automotive industry and the personal fortunes that were won and lost in the early 1900’s.

One of the most interesting characters among them was an entrepreneur by the name of William Durant. 

Billy Durant was the owner of a carriage business in the 1880’s and he built it by controlling everything that it took to put a buggy together.  And that’s exactly what he did later with his engine-powered buggies – and a corporation he called General Motors. 

In 1905, he rescued financially a car maker from bankruptcy by the name of David Buick. 

Billy would form a partnership with Buick and together they would create an empire by buying out smaller car companies – also named after their founders; names like Ransom Olds – of the Oldsmobile; a man named Walter Chrysler.

Durant teamed up with a French auto maker named Louis Chevrolet.  Then a French Canadian joined the group who’d named his company in honor of his ancestor’s last name –  Cadillac; the same ancestor who founded the city of Detroit, Michigan in 1701.

At one point, Henry Ford agreed to sell his young automotive plant to Billy Durant, but Henry Ford refused stock options in General Motors and insisted on cash, instead.  They finally agreed on a price, but Billy Durant missed the closing deadline and Henry Ford changed his mind – which, of course, changed the course of automotive history.

Over the next few decades, Durant and his partners made a fortune.  In fact, I read that more than 70 men became millionaires by joining or supplying General Motors – and that was in the early 1990’s.

But Billy Durant would lose his fortune and regain it and then lose it again.  His last attempt at car making ended in bankruptcy on the eve of the great depression (Adapted from Orrin Woodward, Resolved: 13 Resolutions for LIFE (Obstacles Press, 2011), p. 269).

In 1936, this ingenious creator of a billion dollar industry, was penniless, managing a bowling alley in Flint, Michigan.  In fact, before he and his original partner, David Buick, died, they were both too poor to own one of the tens of thousands of automobiles they had actually created. 

That’s what you call going from riches to rags.

Frankly, that fall from fame and riches to obscurity and rags is nothing compared to our next hero of faith.

And you’ll discover one of the key differences between Moses and Durant – and most everyone else – for that matter, will be the fact that Moses walked away from it all – willingly . . . in fact, he walked away, because of his faith.

What motivated Moses to do this?  It was because he evaluated his options and decided to go with the rewards that God had promised, rewards which could not be seen, choosing pain over pleasure, eternal treasures over temporary gains.  Moses believed that God’s reward was worth sacrificing for.

23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

Moses was considered to be Israel’s most famous prophet (Deut. 34:10-12; Numbers 12:6-8) and when he talked with God, his face shone from the glory of God.  Moses was the great lawgiver—bestowing on Israel the five books of the Pentateuch.  Thus, he was also Israel’s greatest historian, grounding their history in the patriarchs going all the way back to creation.  He was the greatest saint.  When challenged by rebellious people, God recorded for all posteriority that Moses was the most humble man on earth (Numbers 12:3).

Thus, the book of Hebrews had already said of Moses that he “was faithful in all God’s house” (Heb. 3:2) and was “was faithful in all God’s house as a servant” (Heb. 3:5).  Thus, Adolf Saphir says, “Of all the great men whom God raised up in Israel, there is none whom the nation regarded with a more profound veneration than Moses” (Saphir, The Epistle to the Hebrews: An Exposition, 2:620).

Significantly, in regard to Moses’ deliverance of Israel from Egypt, his liberating work was a huge act of faith from beginning to end. And this is what the author of Hebrews focuses on in verses 23–29 in the great Hall of Faith.

Our text tells us of two choices that were made that literally changed history.  The first choice was relatively routine at the time. Two slaves in ancient Egypt chose to defy the king’s edict to kill all male Hebrew babies by hiding their son. That son turned out to be Moses, the great deliverer of his people.

The second choice was that of Moses himself, and it was more difficult.  He chose to give up his position of influence and wealth in the Egyptian court in order to side with the enslaved people of God.  Both choices were motivated by faith and their lessons have eternal consequences for us.  Both choices teach that choosing eternal blessings often involves short-term pain and loss.

Here we have the anatomy of a faith that delivers others and sets them free.  This insightful teaching had special relevance to the ancient church suffering in its own inhospitable “exile” in the Roman Empire.  But it also shows us today that we are likely to face times when we have to give up present pleasures and treasures in order to gain what is truly lasting and genuinely best.

First, we see in this passage that the choice of Moses’ parents to obey God by faith resulted in short-term suffering, but also in eternal blessing (11:23).  The initial faith we are shown is not Moses’ faith, but the heroic faith of his parents: “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict” (v. 23).

Both parents were from the tribe of Levi (cf. Exodus 2:1), and Exodus 6:20 tells us that their names were Amram and Jochebed and that they also later had another son—Aaron, who would be high priest.  They also had a daughter—Miriam, the prophetess, who was their oldest child.

Amram and Jochebed were living in a very difficult time in Israel’s history.  There had arisen a new king “who did not know Joseph” (Exod. 1:6) and fearing that Israel was growing rapidly and could become an internal rebellious enemy, began to make life hard on the Israelites.  They were afflicted with “heavy burdens” (Exod. 1:11) in building cities and buildings, ostensibly to make them too exhausted to engage in normal sexual relations.  But instead “the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad” and so the Egyptians were filled with even more dread (Exod. 1:12). “So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service” (Exod. 1:13-14).

So the new king decided on Plan B—kill all newborn male children.  So they instructed the Hebrew midwives “”When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live” (Exod. 1:16).  Some believe, ironically, that Pharoah was asking these women to toss these newborn boys into the Nile to become crocodile food.

This is the difficult situation into which Moses was conceived (Exod. 2:1).  Interestingly, Josephus says the pregnancy was accomplished by Amram’s obedience to a vision in which God told him he would have a son who would deliver his people. Says Josephus:

These things revealed to him in vision, Amram on awaking disclosed to Jochabel(e), his wife; and their fears were only the more intensified by the prediction in the dream. For it was not merely for a child that they were anxious, but for that high felicity for which he was destined.

Although Josephus’ writings are by no means inspired Scripture, was something like this what engendered faith in Amram and Jochebed?

However that may be, when baby Moses came, his parents’ faith was in full force: “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful.”

Does that sound odd to you, that this was the reason they believed God and acted to preserve their son’s life?  Doesn’t every parent think their child is “beautiful”?

Obviously, there was something about him that was more than beautiful. Possibly there was something unique about his presence that confirmed God’s word.  John Calvin wisely remarked:

It seems contrary to the nature of faith that he says that they were induced to do this by the beauty of his form.  We know that Jesse was rebuked when he brought his sons to Samuel in the order of their physical excellence, and certainly God does not hold us to external appearances.  I reply that the parents of Moses were not induced by his beauty to be touched with pity and save him as men are commonly affected, but there was some sort of mark of excellence to come, engraved on the boy which gave promise of something out of the ordinary for him.

Stephen (Acts 7:20) calls him “beautiful to God” (literal translation). John Calvin points out that since Scripture forbids us from making judgments based on external appearance, Moses’ parents must have seen something in this baby boy to make them hope that he would be the promised deliverer of his people (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], on Heb. 11:23, p. 292).

They saw something in the child.  Maybe they could see destiny in this young child (like Mary did with Jesus), something extraordinary that sparked their faith, some indications that God had great things in store for this child.

A. W. Pink offers another alternative, since “faith comes by hearing.” He says, “Most probably the Lord made known to these parents that their child was to be the promised deliverer, and furnished them beforehand with a description of him.”  Stephen seems to be saying (Acts 7:25) that Moses grew up seeing himself as Israel’s future deliverer.

By the way, notice that Amram and Jochebed regarded God’s will concerning the sanctity of life as more important than obedience to the state, when national law required disobeying God’s will (cf. Acts 4:19). God honored their faith.

So Moses was born, but the Hebrews midwives feared God and didn’t do as instructed.  So chapter two opens with Jochebed, saying “The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months” (Exodus 2:2). 

Now, we might ask ourselves, why did they do this if they were “not afraid of the king’s edict” (Heb. 11:23).  Steve Cole reminds us “Faith is not opposed to using prudence. Trusting God does not mean taking reckless chances. While they did not fear the king’s edict in the sense that they defied it, they no doubt did fear not only for the life of their baby boy, but for all their lives.  If Pharaoh’s guards had caught them, they would have executed the entire family for insubordination to the king.  So their “by faith” choice to hide their son exposed the entire family to the risk of death” (https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-40-faith%E2%80%99s-choice-hebrews-1123-26)

Imagine the tension.  If you saw the movie Silence, where an alien creature could hear even the slightest of sounds and find you, you know the anxieties and terrors that must have seized their heart when their boy began to cry.  Who knew if state police were not out on patrol?

She cannot hide him long at home, so “she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank” (Exod. 2:3).  Miriam kept watch among the bullrushes.

In God’s providence Pharoah’s daughter came down to the river and was bathing.  There she spied the basket with Moses in it.  She saw that it was “one of the Hebrews’ children” (Exod. 2:6) but took pity on him.  Miriam offered herself and her mother to look after the baby.  So Jochebed got her son back and nursed him.

The end result is found in Exodus 2:10:  “When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son.  She named him Moses, ‘Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.’”

So Moses was preserved by his parents’ heroic faith.  But there is more, for he was also nurtured by their faith.  There in the slave hut of his parents Moses was surrounded by the pure atmosphere of faith.  There he became aware of his own origins.  There he was taught to fear God.  And there he was made conscious of his call to deliver his people.  Stephen informs us in his great sermon (Acts 7:25) that when Moses made his first attempt to defend his people, “[Moses] supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand.”

So Moses’ parents obeyed God by faith, believing that preserving Moses’ life was necessary not only for their sakes, but for the sake of the nation.  Moses would grow up to be the greatest leader in Israel’s history, to be their deliverer from enslavement to Egypt.  He would author the first five books of the Bible, foundational books for the Jewish people.  The seemingly small choice to save this one little life had huge consequences for world history! We may never know what eternal blessings will flow from our choice to obey God by faith.

R. Kent Hughes applies this to our lives today.  He writes:

What encouragement there is here for any who are attempting to try to raise a godly family in today’s secular desert.  Moses was preserved by his parents’ faith.  Their faith, their prayers, their bravery, and their creativity saved him.  And more, he became a great man of faith through their faith.  His experience was exactly that of the preacher who gave his mother the tribute, “My mother practices what I preach!”  Moses preached and practiced the faith he saw at home as a child.  Those of us who are parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and teachers not only have great power, but also immense responsibility to the children in our lives.  Israel’s deliverance began with an obscure couple believing God in the midst of darkness.  Think what a faith like that could accomplish today!

Charles Spurgeon was the most phenomenal pastor of the 19th century.  Thousands packed his church each week.  They measured attendance by how many were turned away!  Thousands came to faith in Christ under his preaching.  Hundreds of pastors were trained at his pastor’s college.  Orphans were cared for at his orphanages.  He has more books in print by volume than any other author in history, and God still uses them greatly.  What preacher wouldn’t want to be a Charles Spurgeon?

But Charles Spurgeon was the son of John Spurgeon.  Who was he?  He was a faithful pastor in a small English town.  If he had not been the father of a famous son, John Spurgeon would be unknown in history.  There have been thousands of godly, faithful pastors like him, but only a few like his son. 

So I hope you parents will take heart.  You may never become famous, but perhaps your child will.  Build into them a life of faith, courageously believing what God has promised and living faithfully.  Do what you can to prepare them to live in a world that is alluring and dangerous, and launch them into a life of ministry where they can be “beautiful before God.”

Could You Pass the Ultimate Test? part 2 (Hebrews 11:17-19)

We are in Hebrews 11:17-19

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

Genesis 22 tells us that “God tested Abraham.”  We noted that this does not mean that God tempted Abraham to sin (James 1:13).  God’s purpose in our trials is the building and perfecting of our faith (James 1:2-4).

Never forget that the one who prescribes the test works from the vantage point of omniscience and ultimate wisdom, from pure goodness and tender-heartedness.  That means that each test we undergo is customized to our own individual levels of maturity.

Paul tells us…

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

We wonder how the sufferer can do it!  At times our pain seems unbearable and we cannot endure it.  But Abraham did obey.  And He obeyed by faith, a faith that believed in God’s promises despite his circumstances shouting against that.  Augustine once said: “Give me the grace to do what you command, and then command what you will.”

God knew that Abraham’s faith had grown and deepened over the decades and knew that He could trust Abraham to pass this test.

Notice also that God did not test Abraham with this ultimate sacrifice early in his life, but rather “some time later.”  By this time Abraham’s faith had been tested many times and God had proven Himself faithful.  Now Abraham is ready to believe the impossible.

Abraham had exercised faith in leaving Ur and marching off the map, going wherever the Lord directed.  Abraham had exercised faith in believing that God would give him a son through Sarah, which God ultimately fulfilled.

Faith that remains unexercised atrophies from lack of use.  Lesser trials are used in Abraham’s life and in ours to build a stronger faith until we are able to face the ultimate test.  Trials are like the gymnastic apparatus that makes the muscles of our faith grow stronger.

Thus, the severity of the trial is in proportion to his faith.

But what was the nature of Abraham’s test?

On one level it was the test of allegiance.  Would Abraham value God more than his one beloved, long-awaited son?  You could understand if Abraham had attempted to negotiate.  He would have gladly sacrificed anything else!  He would have gladly sacrificed everything else!

When you have set your heart on something and it is about to be taken away from you, how do you respond?  Do you fight with God?  Do you bargain with God?

Some of our tests are tests of allegiance.  Allegiance to God or allegiance to our families is one.  Allegiance to Jesus Christ versus allegiance to our boss is another.  How about allegiance to Jesus and allegiance to our girl friend?  John Bunyan, in prison for preaching the gospel, grieved for his family, especially his blind daughter.  He was given the option of returning home if he promised never to preach the gospel again.  But instead he endured that loss out of allegiance to Jesus Christ.

Willim Cowper wrote a hymn with these words:

The dearest idol I have known,

Whatever that idol be,

Help me to tear it from Your throne,

And worship only Thee.

“Abraham, I want your one and only son.”  It was a test of allegiance.

But it was also a test faith.  There seemed to be an irreconcilable contraction between the command to kill Isaac and the promise that through Isaac would be all of Abraham’s future descendants.

It was one thing to call Abram to leave Ur.  There Abram was sacrificing his present comforts for future rewards.  But here God seems to be asking Abraham to sacrifice his future.  Through Isaac his seed was supposed to be.  To kill Isaac meant the death of that vision. 

Remember how important the “seed” is even to us!  Remember God’s promise to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15 that it is through Eve’s seed that Satan would be crushed.  Abraham’s seed was intended to be a blessing to the nations, not merely to Abraham.  God had made it clear that this “seed” would come through Isaac.

This was affirmed in Genesis 17, when God appeared to Abraham and said:

4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram ; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

Because Abraham had sired a child through Hagar, the Egyptian handmaid, God clarified when Abraham inquired:

18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” 19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

Ishmael was a child of the flesh, Isaac a child of promise, according to Romans 9:8 and Galatians 4:21-31.

So now I hope you see the tremendously high stakes that were in play here.  Now you see Abraham’s dilemma, which we should share with him.  God, what are you doing?!?  This is more than just a heart wrenching story of a father’s love.

The Messiah would come through Isaac.  The entire future of God’s purposes was at stake.  The sacrifice of Isaac puts all this in jeopardy.  Notice Hebrews 11:18.  Abraham sacrificed Isaac “even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’”

So what does Abraham do?  The only thing he can do—he puts it all in God’s hands.  He obeyed and headed to Mount Moriah.  How?  By concluding that it was God’s problem to solve, not his.

It was Abraham’s part to obey by faith, not to be able to figure it out.  We don’t have to figure it out before we obey.  We just have to obey.  It was now God’s problem to reconcile.

“The proof of Abraham’s faith was his willingness to give back to God everything he had, including the son of promise, whom he had miraculously received because of his faith.  After all the waiting and wondering, the son had been given by God.  Then, before the son was grown, God asked for him back, and Abraham obeyed.  Abraham knew that the covenant, which could only be fulfilled through Isaac, was unconditional.  He knew, therefore, that God would do whatever was necessary, including raising Isaac from the dead” (John MacArthur, Hebrews, p. 335).

How can you and I exercise faithfulness to God when confronted with a test that calls for the most extreme kind of personal sacrifice?

First, we must recognize that God is the author of the test.  It is no accident, no coincidence.  The devil didn’t do it.  It was God’s sovereign purpose in our lives.  How did Job put it?  “The Lord gives, the devil takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord”?  NO!  “The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Spurgeon said, “though we can’t trace his hand we can always trust his heart.”  This test has come from God for our good and for His glory.  We only need to trust and obey.

How can you and I exercise faithfulness to God when confronted with a test that calls for the most extreme kind of personal sacrifice?

Second, we recognize that God has omnipotence at his disposal.  Look at verse 19, “Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead…”

What?  Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead?  Had this ever happened before?  Was this something Abraham had seen before and hoped that it would happen to his son?

Notice that Abraham “reasoned” this.  He hadn’t seen it in his experience; he didn’t conjure it up in his imagination.  He counted up and weighed out the reasons why this could happen.  It was based upon what he knew about God.

But where does Abraham get the idea that God can bring life out of death?  Well, what were Abraham’s procreative possibilities at age 99?  Not very good, right?  Verse 12 reminds us that “he was as good as dead.”  He was totally sterile and Sarah was completely barren.  There was no natural ability to give birth to any child.

And yet God resurrected Abraham’s procreative powers, making it possible to have a child.  God showed His power by waiting 24 years before fulfilling his promise to Abraham just to show that man’s impotence is merely the stage upon which he can reveal His omnipotence.

So Abraham knew from experience that God could produce life out of death.  That is why he told the servants, “I and the boy [will] go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”  After all, they were going to worship El Shaddai, God Almighty.  That God has the power of resurrection and life.

He reasoned that God even was able to raise someone from the dead.

“The thought of sacrificing Isaac must have grieved Abraham terribly, but he knew that he would have his son back.  He knew that God would not, in fact could not, take his son away permanently, or else He would have to go back on His own word, which is impossible” (John MacArthur, Hebrews, p. 335).

Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead even before God had revealed this as a doctrine.  And Abraham “in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.”  Isaac serves as an illustration of what God can do in His omnipotence.  Knowing Abraham’s allegiance and faith, when Isaac was rescued from Abraham’s hand it was as though Abraham received him back from the dead.

For those of us who are well acquainted with the gospel, we can see the parallels with Jesus Christ.  He is “the one and only Son.”  He is “the beloved.”  He is the fulfillment of the promised seed.  Both sons were named by God; both were deeply loved by their fathers.

Both Jesus and Isaac were accompanied by two men—Jesus the two thieves and Isaac the two servants.

Mount Moriah is the place where Isaac was offered and Jesus was crucified.

Isaac climbs Mount Moriah with wood strapped to his back just as Jesus went up the hill with his cross.

Both asked a QUESTION of their father:

Isaac asked Abraham “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Gen. 22:7).

Jesus cried “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” from the cross (Matthew 27:46).

Both Isaac and Jesus were “offered up” as burnt sacrifices.  Both were sacrificial lambs.

Jesus and Isaac were both completely submissive to their fathers, trusted them and were willing to die.

Both were sacrificed by their fathers.  The Father, in heaven, is the executioner, willing to crush his Son.  The only difference is that the angel of the Lord did not stay the hand of the Father at the cross, since he was there on the cross.

Both were also raised from the dead on the third day.

The similarities between Isaac and Jesus’ sacrifice are numerous and incredible as you can see. Isaac is a type for Jesus, because God the Father wants to reveal His Son to us through the Old Testament.

Historian Roland Bainton tells this story about Martin Luther: “Luther once read this story [Genesis 22] for family devotions.  When he had finished, Katie said, ‘I do not believe it. God would not have treated his son like that.'”

“‘But, Katie,’ answered Luther, ‘he did.'”  God the Father did treat His Son Jesus like this.

Jesus also shares similarities with the ram.  Just as the ram was offered in place of Isaac as the sacrifice, so Jesus Christ takes our place.  We should be the ones who pay for our sins.  We should be the ones being judged.  Instead, Jesus took our place.

Abraham was handed the cup of sacrifice, but it was Jesus Christ who drank it to the very dregs.  Key passages in the Bible connect God’s wrath with the imagery of a cup.  Jeremiah 25:15 tells us, “Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: ‘Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.’”  Then Isaiah 51:17 says, “O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.”  In Revelation 14, an angel speaks, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger” (verses 9–10).

The cup was filled with God’s wrath upon those who had consistently sinned against him (see Ps. 75:8; Isa. 51:17; Jer. 25:15-16).

Jesus confirms this connection in Gethsemane when he prayed, the cross looming just ahead, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).  He drank that cup for us.

As the sinless Son of God, Jesus naturally dreaded the horror of the cross.  Thus he asked for “this cup” to be taken from him.  But, in the end, he accepted the will of his Father, and chose to suffer and die for the sin of the world.  He would drink the cup that was rightly yours and mine, so that we might drink the cup of salvation.

4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Jesus said, “Abraham rejoiced to see my day” (John 8:58).  That is because the joy of substitution and the joy of resurrection are the greatest of all joys.  That is why our worship should be characterized by so much more than somberness, because we live in light of the resurrection and the reality of substitution.

Do you know these joys?  The joy and gladness of substitution—that your sins were satisfactorily punished in another, in Jesus Christ?  He said from the cross, “It is finished,” it is fully paid for, there’s nothing else left to do.  Do you know that joy?

What about the joy of resurrection?  There is no greater joy than the joy of knowing that one day we who believe in Jesus will rise again to new life, eternal life.  We will have new bodies, the mortal will put on immorality and the corruptible will put on the incorruptible.

These realities are why we can laugh again!  The laughter of salvation found only in Jesus Christ.