Hebrews 11 English Standard Version (ESV) Listen: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Heb.11 By Faith 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. 6 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. 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 20 By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. 21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. 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. 29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. 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. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. 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. 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. Last time we followed the Hall of Faith from creation through Joseph which makes up the entire book of Genesis (the book of Beginnings). We will now pick back up after Joseph's death when a new Pharaoh came about that did not know Joseph or fear his God (the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). The Israelites were put into slavery for about 400 years and God heard their cries and prayers, but waited this long to bring about deliverance to protect His people from the wickedness of the Canaanites and to wait until such a time as His people would be able to execute His righteous judgement on those that lived in the Promised Land and take it back (yet they had no idea at first that this was what was going on...they just wanted to get out of slavery and out of Egypt). We'll pick up here in verse 23.
The Pharaoh not only feared the number and strength of the Israelites and put them into slavery to control them, but he feared that they may raise up an army capable of defeating him and his empire, so he ordered that the midwives who assisted the mothers with delivering their babies kill any male babies as soon as they were born. The Hebrew midwives feared God more than the king and did not obey the command. This angered Pharaoh and he ordered all of his people to cast all the Hebrew male babies into the Nile. One of the male children born at this time was born into the tribe of Levi and would be named Moses. In order to protect Moses from the king's edict, his mother placed him in a basket sealed with pitch (by the way, this is how we later knew there had to be oil and other petroleum products in the Middle East) and left him in the river with his sister watching over him. He floated all the way to the palace where he was taken out of the water by Pharaoh's own daughter and was raised as a prince. Even in this, God blessed Moses' mother by lettering her be hired by the princess to take care of the child until he could be weened. One day Moses saw one of the Hebrew slaves being mistreated by one of the taskmasters. Knowing these were his people he rose up in indignation and killed the taskmaster. He thought this had been done in secret, but the Hebrews heard of it, and eventually word got back to the palace and Moses fled for his life and gave up his royalty to become a shepherd in Median for 40 years (the same amount of time that he had lives as a prince in Egypt). He then met God while out in the wilderness and God told Moses his covenant name and that He had not forgotten about His covenant people and that He had chosen Moses to deliver His message to Pharaoh--"Let My people go." Moses was still afraid though and asked that God send someone else so God said He would let Moses' brother, Aaron, the future high priest, join Moses and God gave special power to both Moses and Aaron to be able to bring about the plagues that God used to execute His judgement on Egypt. The final plague which is mentioned here is known as the Passover and is the foreshadow of the salvation that we all have. An innocent lamb must be killed and every household that believed in the salvation that was going to be provided should mark their doors with the blood of the lamb and stay inside their house fully dressed with their sandals on and their walking stick in hand ready to leave in a moment and they should eat the roasted lamb standing up. The angel of death would come that night and would pass over (hence the name Passover) the houses marked by the blood, but all the houses not marked by the blood would have the firstborn son die--not just humans, but animals as well. This was the final straw that led Pharaoh to let the people of God go, but he soon regretted his decision and began to chase after them. On their way out of Egypt, God had led the people to the Red Sea and they were encamped in such a way were the sea had cut them off from any chance of escape from the approaching armies. The people cried out that God had just led them out of Egypt to kill them, but Moses prayed and God told him to stretch out his staff over the Red Sea and all the people (millions of them by our best estimates) crossed on dry land. After all the people had crossed over, God made the sea crash back in on top of the Egyptian army and kill Pharaoh and all of his army in a reversal where in one day all the empire fell all without the men of Israel needing to do anything other than trust in God for their deliverance--and our salvation is no different. The people wandered in the wilderness (like Moses) for 40 years and God used this time to prepare a new generation that was ready to enter and retake the Promised Land. Only two people from the original generation had believed the promises of God and been faithful to him--Joshua and Caleb. Joshua was the new leader in the place of Moses and Caleb was given strength to drive out the giants that inhabited the land, even in his old age. One of the battles of the conquest that so many remember is that of Jericho. The people of Jericho had heard about what God had done in Egypt and how all the nations that had opposed Israel had been defeated, but they remained rebellious against God and His people. God's plan to take the stronghold? March around the city one time for six days in a row without anyone making a sound and on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, but this time instead of going back to camp, have the priests blow their ram's horns and have all the people shout a shout of victory and the LORD made the walls of the city fall down and crushed the people inside (with the exception of Rahab who had helped the spies and believed God--she would actually be on of the ancestors of Jesus). This covers the period of the Exile in Egypt, the Exodus and the Conquest of Canaan. We'll pick back up in the next blog with the period of the judges and the kings and will progress quickly through the periods of the nation in exile once again and the prophets that God sent to the people during this time to speak judgement on His people who broke His covenant and the nations around them who oppressed them and to speak of the hope of the coming of a Messiah that would restore everything and everyone. The faith of the apostles and martyrs of the early church will also be mentioned (though none by name) While these deeds may seem epic and fanciful and bigger than life, I assure you that these were ordinary men that came in contact with an extraordinary God that radically transformed them and their reality as they were just living their lives until He showed up and chose them to be instruments in His service. While recognition is not supposed to be part of our calculation, would your story read anything like this if someone were write a biography of your life? Would it be obvious to even the casual observer that God was at work in and through you to bring about extraordinary means through an ordinary person? Will you by faith let God be in control and see what He will do in and through you? Will you be an example for others to look at and say, "I know God is real because I see Him at work in their life."? Will you be counted among the faithful?
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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