For Heaven’s Sake.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. – 1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV

Humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand.

Cast all your anxieties on God.

Be sober-minded.

Be watchful.

Resist the devil, standing firmly in your faith.

Know that you are not alone in your suffering.

Suffer well, knowing that it is temporary, but that God’s plan for you is eternal.

Sometimes we just need words of reminder and encouragement, because this life can be difficult at times. The promises of God can appear to be so distant and even unrealistic in our daily lives. The peace He promises can seem non-existent. The joy He offers can be overwhelmed by the sorrows of life. The satisfaction He said we would find in Him can leave us feeling, well, unsatisfied. And we can sometimes feel as if His love for us is nowhere to be found, even though He promised that nothing could ever keep Him from loving us. When it comes to our relationship with God, perception is not always reality. How we feel is not always a good indicator of how things really are. What we sense to be the case rarely is. So we need to be reminded to keep our eyes focused on God. We need a gentle nudge to realign our thinking and recommit our trust to God and His Word. And that is exactly what Peter seems to be doing as he wraps up his letter.

For two chapters, Peter has addressed the issue of suffering. It was an everyday reality for his audience. The likelihood of them suffering for their faith was not a matter of if, but when. So he took great pains to discuss the topic with them. It was his desire that they suffer well. He wanted them to keep their focus on the promises of God. That is why he wraps up his letter with the simple admonition: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God” (1 Peter 5:6 ESV). They were to willingly submit to God’s faithful plan for their lives, recognizing that suffering was part of that plan. As the sovereign God of the universe, He was in control of all things. He was well aware of all that was happening in their lives. And He had a purpose for it all. James gave similar words of encouragement in his letter.

But he [God] gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. – James 4:6-10 ESV

Humility is a state of mind, not a condition. It is not to be confused with humiliation. Humility is a mindset that communicates our willing reliance upon a God who is bigger, smarter, more powerful, and far more loving than we could ever imagine. It is an attitude that looks past circumstances and zeroes in on the character of God. He is loving, faithful, all-knowing, all-powerful, sovereign over all, and never fails to keep follow through on His commitments. Peter does not deny that we will have anxieties and worries in this life. Those things are natural and normal human reactions to difficulties. But he tells us to cast them on to God. We are to give them over to Him. Why? Because He cares for us. He knows we have doubts. He if fully aware of our fears and apprehensions. He is not blind to our struggles and sorrows. But rather than dealing with them on our own, God wants us to bring them to Him, recognizing that He alone can help and comfort us. Peter is not telling us that God will take away all our problems and pain. He is not promising us that God will eliminate all our difficulties. But he is saying that God is to be our one and only place of refuge and hope.

We have to live in this world with a sober-minded outlook, recognizing that we have a real enemy who is out to destroy us. Jesus warned us about the intentions of our enemy. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10 ESV). We can’t go through this life with a cavalier or complacent mindset, thinking that everything is meant to be easy and care-free. As believers, we walk around with target on our chest and a real-life enemy who is gunning for us. Which is why Peter warns, “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8 ESV). So we need to resist him. Paul warned the believers in Ephesus:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:10-12 ESV

We are in the middle of a spiritual conflict. It is a real battle with real casualties. And our only hope is our faith in God, trusting in His power and leaning on His promises. The church is under attack all over the world. And where we stand the most vulnerable as individual believers is when we allow the enemy to cause us to doubt, deny, and disobey what God has said. That was the point of attack of Satan in the garden. He said to Even, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1 ESV). His attack was subtle and sly. He wanted to get her to doubt God’s word. Because he knew that doubt leads to disbelief and disbelief ultimately results in disobedience.

The key to making it through this life is to keep our focus on the life to come. God has called us to “eternal glory in Christ” (1 Peter 5:10 ESV). That is the ultimate outcome of our faith in Christ. And the day is coming when God will “himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (1 Peter 5:11 ESV). Yes, we can experience that in some measure on this earth, but the real fulfillment of our hope is the future redemption of our bodies and our final glorification. We have to constantly remind ourselves that our team wins. God is in control. His plan is perfect and unstoppable. We may suffer now, but the day is coming when we will never suffer again. He rules. He reigns. He finishes what He starts. He fulfills what He promises. “To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

An Unshakeable Kingdom.

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. – Hebrews 12:25-29 ESV It pays to listen to God. That should go without saying. Yet when God had spoken to the Israelites from Mount Sinai, they trembled in fear, but refused to obey what He had to say. They had been scared out of their wits by all the booming thunder, lightning and smoke, but that fear didn’t turn into faithful obedience to His commands. The author tells us “the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them” (Hebrews 12:19 ESV). They heard, but they felt like they had heard enough. Even Moses trembled in fear at the sight of God descending upon the top of Mount Sinai. And it was from the top of that mountain that God would give him the Ten Commandments. From that point forward, the righteous expectations of God would be clearly articulated and scrupulously regulated. Sin went from being a somewhat subjective, arbitrary thing to a highly objective, non-debatable trespass against a holy God.

The author of Hebrews warns his readers not to repeat the mistake of their ancestors. “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking” (Hebrews 12:25a ESV). God had come down to earth. He had descended upon Mount Sinai. And there He gave to Moses His list of commands. His voice had shaken the heavens and His physical glory could be seen in the thunder, lightning, smoke and fire. But they had refused to listen to God. “And they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth” (Hebrews 12:25b ESV). Even while Moses was up on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments from God, the people were down in the valley worshiping and dancing before a false god they had made. As a result of their disobedience, Moses commanded the Levites, “‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’ ²And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell” (Exodus 32:27-28 ESV). The rest of the history of the people of Israel would be marked by disobedience and disloyalty to God. In spite of them hearing His voice, they had refused to listen and had to suffer the consequences.

And so, the author of Hebrews warns his readers not to repeat the same mistake. This time, God is speaking from heaven, where He is accompanied by His Son. And quoting from the Old Testament book of Haggai, the author of Hebrews credits God with the words, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens” (Hebrews 12:26 ESV). The actual quote from the prophecies of Haggai is “For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land” (Haggai 2:6 ESV). At this point in Jewish history, the people of God had returned from exile in the land of Babylon and had rebuilt the temple. It was just a shadow of its former glory. The city of Jerusalem was still being reconstructed and the nation was in a highly weakened state, with no king and no army to protect them. Haggai went on to prophecy, “And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts” (Haggai 2:7-9 ESV). That prophecy has yet to be fulfilled. But the author of Hebrews is telling his readers that it one day will be.

God is going to one day shake the earth again. This time, it will involve “the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:27 ESV). God is going to redeem what He has made. He will destroy the old created order, marred by sin, and replace it with something new and free from the effects of sin.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”  – Revelation 21:1-4 ESV

Isaiah speaks of the same incredible event:

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. – Isaiah 65:17-19 ESV

Peter gives us another glimpse of that coming day.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. – 2 Peter 3:8-13 ESV

So what should our response be to all of this? The author of Hebrews tells us, “let us be grateful for receiving an kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29 ESV). We have much for which to be grateful. Our God is in control. He has a perfect plan. He will one day complete that plan and restore things back to the way He made them before the fall. Let us listen to His words of promise and rest in His holy character, fully believing that we will receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Walking In Circles In Faith.

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. – Hebrews 11:30 ESV Moses was gone. An entire generation of Israelites had died during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness, all because they had refused to believe God and enter the land He had promised them. Their disobedience had brought God’s judgment and that generation would never enter the rest that God had promised to provide for them. Now, Joshua led a new generation of Israelites into the promised land. They would not just waltz into the land and take over without a fight. The occupants of the land of Canaan were going to have a real problem with the descendants of Abraham showing up and making claims that the land belonged to them because Yahweh, their God, had given it to them. The land and all its provisions was not going to come without a fight. But God would give Joshua, the new leader, a piece of important news.

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. – Joshua 5:13-15 ESV

This occasion recalls that of Moses at the burning bush. Joshua, like Moses, had a personal and up-close encounter with God Himself in the form of a theophany. Joshua saw what he believed to be a man and this stranger announced himself as the commander of the army of the Lord. That word “commander” can be translated “prince” or “captain.” It is believed that this “man” was actually the pre-incarnate Christ. Joshua’s immediate reaction reveals his awareness that he was speaking with more than just a man. He fell on his face and worshiped. The very next chapter records the words that the Commander of the army of the Lord shared with Joshua.

Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.” – Joshua 6:1-5 ESV

This would have been strange counsel to Joshua. The very first city they encountered was fortified and well-armed, and the Lord was telling Joshua that He would give the city into their hands. But the conditions for achieving this victory were a bit odd. The Lord was explicit in His details. He left nothing to chance or to Joshua’s imagination. For six days, they would make a single circuit around the walls of the city. No arrows would be fired. No spears would be thrown. Imagine the reactions they would have gotten from the people behind the walls and the soldiers looking down on this spectacle from the tops of the walls. There would have endured ridicule and countless words of derision. The men of Israel would have struggled with feelings of shame and embarrassment as they marched in a silent column around the city, listening to their enemies question their sanity and manhood. Their swords hung at their side, unused. Their strength was being used up walking instead of fighting. According to the instructions of the Commander of the army of the Lord, “The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually” (Joshua 6:9 ESV). No one said a word. No one fired a shot. In keeping with the command of Joshua, no one could respond to the jeers and insults coming from behind the well-fortified walls of Jericho. But the people of Israel continued to walk – day after day for six days. But then the seventh day came.

On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction.” – Joshua 6:15-17 ESV

This day was going to be different. Six days of seemingly pointless activity were going to be followed by an incredible miracle from God. Just as they had the previous six days, the people marched in silence, this time circling the city seven times. And after their final trip around the city “the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword” (Joshua 6:20-21 ESV).

For seven days they had walked and waited. For a solid week they had done as they had been told. They had been faithful and obedient to the Lord’s command. That doesn’t mean they didn’t have doubts. It doesn’t mean they didn’t question the Lord’s plan. There was most likely a fair share of grumbling and grousing around the campfires at night. The people probably wondered if Joshua had really heard from God at all. But they walked. For seven days they did as they had been told. Their walking was evidence that they were trusting God. They didn’t know exactly how the walls were going to fall. God had not explained how He would do it. But they knew the part they were called to play. They were to march. They were to obey. And they were to wait on the Lord. Their pride had to take a back seat. Their physical abilities had to be used walking and not fighting. But as the author of Hebrews tells us, “by faith the walls of Jericho fell down.” It wasn’t their faith that caused the walls to fall. It was God. But their faith was instrumental in God’s power being unleashed and put on display. Had they stopped walking, the walls would not have fallen. Had they decided to take up their swords and attack the city in their own strength, the outcome would have been radically different. Their faith was in God. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV). They hoped for victory, and they were convinced it would happen – not because they marched, but because their God had promised it. Their marching was simply an expression of their faith in God. Sometimes trusting God requires us to step out – in faith – and walking in seemingly meaningless circles. But if we truly trust God, walking and waiting is well worth it. He always comes through – in His way and according to His will.

The First Step Is The Hardest.

By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. – Hebrews 11:29 ESV After God had destroyed the firstborn of Egypt, including the son of Pharaoh, the Egyptians were ready to see the Hebrews leave. “All the Egyptians urged the people of Israel to get out of the land as quickly as possible, for they thought, ‘We will all die!’” (Exodus 12:33 NLT). Not only did they urge them to leave, they loaded them down with wealth just as God had said they would. “And the people of Israel did as Moses had instructed; they asked the Egyptians for clothing and articles of silver and gold. The Lord caused the Egyptians to look favorably on the Israelites, and they gave the Israelites whatever they asked for. So they stripped the Egyptians of their wealth!” (Exodus 12:25-26 NLT). And they marched out, more than a million strong, under the leadership of Moses and the direction of God.

This is where the story gets interesting. “When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land” (Exodus 13:17 NLT). Instead, “God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea” (Exodus 13:18 NLT). God took them the long way. But not only that, He eventually had them do a U-turn. “Then the Lord gave these instructions to Moses: ‘Order the Israelites to turn back and camp by Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and the sea. Camp there along the shore, across from Baal-zephon’” (Exodus 14:1-2 NLT). They were going backwards. God had them head back toward Egypt and He told Moses why. “‘Pharaoh will think, “The Israelites are confused. They are trapped in the wilderness!” And once again I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after you. I have planned this in order to display my glory through Pharaoh and his whole army. After this the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord!’ So the Israelites camped there as they were told” (Exodus 14:3-4 NLT). God had one last trick up His sleeve for Pharaoh. He knew that once Pharaoh heard that the Hebrews were camped nearby, he would change his mind and go on the attack. This whole encounter was part of God’s plan.

So Pharaoh didn’t disappoint. He showed up with a huge army complete with 600 chariots and he found the Israelites camped before the Red Sea. “As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt?  Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, “Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!”’” (Exodus 14:10-12 NLT). They were not happy. They were in a full-blown panic. And yet, the author of Hebrews says, “By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land.” They don’t appear to be very faithful in the Exodus account. They don’t seem to have much faith in God. They were scared, disillusioned, and confused. This was not what they had been expecting. Everything had looked so promising and now there were facing the entire army of Pharaoh. They were in a bad spot. They were in a jam. Their circumstances could not have been any worse. But remember, God had led them there. This was all part of His plan. What looked like the beginnings of an unmitigated disaster was actually going to be a divine deliverance.

Even Moses told the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent” (Exodus 14:13-14 ESV). They had front row seats to what was going to be the greatest show on earth. They just didn’t realize it yet. You know the story. God miraculously parted the Red Sea. “Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left” (Exodus 14:21-22 ESV).

There are those who say that they people had no faith. They reason that the faith of which the author of Hebrews speaks is that of Moses. It was his faith that got them across the sea. But the Exodus passage makes it clear that “the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea.” Each and every one of them had to place his or her sandals on ground between those two walls of standing water. They had to take that initial step of faith and walk the path that God had provided. It would have been scary. It would have been intimidating. They would have had doubts along the way, wondering if the walls of water would suddenly crash down, drowning them all. It would have taken a while for more than a million people to make the crossing. The ones in the back of the line must have been wondering if they would ever make it across before Pharaoh’s army arrived. And yet, by faith, the people crossed – each and every one of them. Their salvation, the work of God, required that they step out in obedience. They had to walk if they wanted to live. They had to take the path God had provided, in spite of their fears, doubts and apprehensions.

As we walk on this earth as followers of Christ, we will find ourselves facing difficult and sometimes disillusioning circumstances. God’s path for us will not always be easy or make sense. We will have doubts and fears, second thoughts and last-minute temptations to stop in our tracks and refuse to walk the path God has placed before us. But in those moments, we must remember the words of Moses, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord” (Exodus 14:13 ESV). That doesn’t mean our fear is sin. It simply means that, at some point, we have to stop fearing and start trusting. We have to remember that God is in control and He has a plan for our lives. The path He lays out before us may seem illogical and even dangerous at times. His solution may appear worse than the problem we are facing. But we must learn to trust Him and step out in faith. The people of Israel doubted, but they walked. They feared, but they took the first step. When there had been no way of escape, God had provided one. And they took it – in faith – weak and wavering as it may have been. And they got to the other side.

Tested By God.

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, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. – Hebrews 11:17-19 ESV This story deserves a second look. There are four little words that should raise a certain amount of suspicion and create a bit of confusion in our minds – “when he was tested.” The account of this story found  in Genesis says, “After these things God tested Abraham” (Genesis 22:1 ESV). God tested Abraham. The Hebrew word for “tested” is nacah and it can mean “to test, try, prove, tempt, assay, put to the proof or test” (Hebrew Lexicon :: H5254 (KJV). Blue Letter Bible. Web. 8 Feb, 2016). We might ask ourselves, why would a good God test Abraham? We might also ask why an omniscient, all-knowing God would have to test Abraham. What was the purpose of the test? Was it to prove, test or try Abraham’s faith? Wouldn’t God have already known what the outcome of such a test would be? Didn’t he already have a ram ready to serve as a substitute offering in place of Isaac? Was God really waiting to see what Abraham would do? It would seem that God was testing Abraham, not for His own enlightenment, but for Abraham’s. God already knew the outcome. The psalmist would have us remember that God is all-knowing.

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. – Psalm 139:1-4 NLT

God did not need to know what Abraham would do. But Abraham needed to know what God would do when he was fully obedient – even in the face of an impossible, illogical request. The test was for him. There is another story that speaks of God’s testing. It is found in the book of Exodus. It took place early in the story, immediately after their deliverance from Israel and the miraculous parting of the Red Sea.

Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them… – Exodus 15:22-25 ESV

In recording this event, Moses used the same Hebrew word, nacah. God tested them. But notice the difference between the two stories. In this case, the people, who had just witnessed God’s divine deliverance, arrive at Marah and immediately begin to complain about the lack of water. Remember, they had seen God send ten plagues on the people of Egypt. They had seen Him destroy Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea. But when they found themselves in the wilderness without water, they grumbled and complained, saying, “What shall we drink?” They didn’t even take their problem to God, the one who had delivered them. They complained to Moses. And Moses took the need to God. Despite their complaining, God took care of their need and provided them with sweet water. There he tested them. But again, who was the test for? Did God not know how they were going to react? Was He not fully aware of their hearts and completely unsurprised by their reaction? Wasn’t He the one who led them right to that spot, fully knowing that there was no water? This was a test for them.

And God, after providing them with drinkable water, said to them, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer” (Exodus 15:26 ESV). God wanted them to know that He could be trusted. He wanted them to know that He was all-powerful. He was testing their knowledge of Him and their faith in Him – for their benefit. The lack of water at Meribah showed them that they did not really know or trust God. It revealed their lack of faith. When they had stood on the banks of the Red Sea with the army of Pharaoh bearing down on them, Moses had told them, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today” (Exodus 14:13 ESV). And God had delivered them. But as soon as they faced their first problem, they doubted God. They failed the test.

But Abraham passed his test – with flying colors. God was not surprised. He knew Abraham would be obedient. He even had a ram caught in a thicket to serve as the stand-in for Isaac. But that day Abraham learned a great deal about himself and about His God. His faith grew. His hope in God's promises increased. His conviction in the things promised by God, but not yet seen, deepened. The test was for Abraham’s benefit, not God’s. He learned what true obedience to God looks and feels like. In a way, Abraham was testing the faithfulness of God, counting on Him to come through. He even told his son, Isaac, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:8 ESV). He was putting all his faith in God, counting on Him to spare his son or even raise him back to life should he have to follow through with God’s command. God was not testing Abraham in order to see what he would do. The test was so that Abraham could see what God would do and grow in his faith. The apostle Peter gives us an insight into the tests we face in this life.

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. – 1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT

Like Abraham, our faith will be tested at times. We will find ourselves facing situations and circumstances that will reveal whether our “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV). Will we allow the lack of water to cause us to complain? Will we balk at God’s seemingly unreasonable request and refuse? God knows what we will do? He is never surprised. But the question is whether we know what God will do? And are we willing to trust Him with the outcome? Paul gives us a word of encouragement.

For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! – 2 Corinthians 4:17 NLT

God-Focused Faith.

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, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. – Hebrews 11:17-19 ESV There will be times when the life of faith seems illogical. By definition, it involves “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV). Faith has a future orientation. It looks ahead. It maintains an eternal perspective. And because of those things, on this earth, it will be tested. Abraham had been promised a son by God. There would be no plan B, not adoption of an heir, no acceptance of another son born through a slave girt. God had promised a son born by Sarah, in spite of Abraham's old age and her barrenness. But God had also promised a multitude of descendants and a land in which they would live. And God kept His word.

The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” – Genesis 21:1-7 ESV

God came through. When Abraham had celebrated his 100th birthday, God provided him with a son. He and Sarah had to have been beside themselves with joy and a deep sense of relief. They had waited so long. They had hoped for a son and now God had delivered on His promise. And they would enjoy every moment of every day with their young son, Isaac. Every time they looked at him, they would remember the faithfulness of God and realize that this young boy was the hope they had been waiting for for so long. Or was he? The day came when God gave Abraham the hardest choice he would ever make.

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” – Genesis 22:1-2 ESV

Can you imagine the shock? Can you begin to feel the sense of incredulity Abraham must have felt? As God acknowledged in His statement to Abraham, this was his only son, the son he loved. And now God was asking, no He was commanding Abraham to offer him up as a sacrifice. He was telling Abraham to take the life of his own son, his only son, the one who was the key to Abraham becoming the father of a multitude of nations. Or was he? You see, as much as we may be appalled at the idea of God commanding Abraham to make a human sacrifice, we must keep in mind that, as the Scriptures say, this was a test. It was God’s way of determining if Abraham had transferred his hope in God to his son. Had the gift he had been given become more important than the Giver of the gift? It is interesting to note the response of Abraham to this shocking news from God. The Scriptures somewhat matter-of-factly record: “So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him” (Genesis 22:3 ESV). He didn’t argue. He didn’t remind God of His promise. He didn’t accuse God of unfairness or injustice. He simply obeyed. While he probably did not understand all that was going on, he kept trusting God. When his young son asked him, “My father, behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7 ESV), Abraham calmly replied, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:8 ESV). Whether Abraham was simply hiding the grim reality from his son in order to protect him or if he truly believed that God would provide a substitute lamb, we are not told. The very fact that Abraham ended up binding his son, placing him on the altar and raising the knife to take his life, gives us ample evidence that he was willing to go through with God’s command. In his heart of hearts, Abraham trusted God and believed that He could still keep all His promises even if Isaac had to die. In fact, the author of Hebrews tells us, “He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead” (Hebrews 11:19 ESV).

Abraham passed the test. God sent an angel to stay his hand and prevent the death of Isaac. The angel of the Lord said to Abraham, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (Genesis 22:12 ESV). And then God miraculously provided a ram caught by its horns in a thicket, to act as substitute sacrifice. Isaac was spared. Abraham had shown that his faith was in God, not his son. He had proven that he trusted the Giver more than he did the gift. His hope was in God and he had full assurance and a strong conviction that God was going to do all that He had promised, and nothing, even the death of his own son was going to prevent it from happening. He had faith in God.

God had asked Abraham to do the unthinkable. He had commanded Abraham to take the life of his only son, his most precious possession. Isaac had not been simply the fulfillment of a long-awaited dream, but he was the hope of God’s promise of multitude of descendants taking place. Or was he? You see, the problem we all face is the tendency to take our eyes off of God and place them on things other than Him. Isaac was not to be Abraham’s hope. He was just a boy, who would grow up to be a man. But Isaac would not bring about the fulfillment of God’s promises. Only God could do that. No man or woman will ever be able to bring to fruition the promises of God. For the divine will of God to happen, it must be accomplished by God Himself. We must never take our hope off of God and place it on anyone or anything else. Abraham’s test was one of allegiance. It was a test of his hope and, ultimately, a test of his faith. Now that he had a son, was he going to transfer his hope to Isaac and off of God? He passed the test. His faith was in God. His assurance of things hoped for was in God. His conviction of things not seen was in God. He had an eternal perspective that would not allow the illogical and seemingly unthinkable to deter his faith in his faithful God.

What Are You Hoping For?

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. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 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. – Hebrews 11:13-16 ESV “These all died in faith.” That statement sounds so odd. It seems to make no sense. These people (the patriarchs), had faith, but they died, “no having received the things promised.” Then what is the point of faith, we might ask. Why bother having faith if it isn’t going to do you any good? But that is not the author’s point. He is juxtaposing our temporal, earthly perspective with one that is eternal and future-oriented. Faith is not a point-in-time experience that takes place once in a lifetime. It is a way of life for a lifetime. We often hear people express their faith story in terms like, “I came to faith in Christ when I was 14-years old” 0r “I placed my faith in Christ when I was in my thirties.” Those statements are not incorrect or inaccurate, but they display an insufficient understanding of what faith really is. Faith is a journey, a pilgrimage. It involves this life, but it goes beyond it. As the familiar verse says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV). Our faith or belief in Christ is to have an eternal focus, not a temporal one. Jesus told Mary and Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25 ESV). Physical death is still inevitable, but our faith is based on the promise that it is not the end of life, but rather, just the beginning.

When the author opened up this section of his letter with the words, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” we tend to read them with a temporal slant. We hope for a lot of things in this life. We hope for success. We hope for good health. We hope our marriage will survive. We hope for a better-paying job. We hope our children will one day accept Christ and live for Him. And then we try and muster up enough faith so that these things will come about. But that is a misunderstanding of faith. Faith is not just another version of the power of positive thinking. In our lifetimes we have seen faith turned into some distorted name-it-claim-it theology that attempts to turn God into some kind of a cosmic genie in a bottle. We come up with our list of hopes and wishes, and then He is obligated to make them happen. But that is not the essence of biblical faith. The apostle Paul would have us understand faith differently. He wrote, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4 ESV). Seek the things that are above. Set your minds on things that are above. Have an eternal-focus and a heavenly perspective. Paul told the believers in Ephesus that he longed for their spiritual enlightenment, “that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18 ESV). Ultimately, as believers, our hope is to be on our future redemption and glorification. Paul said, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18 ESV). We live far too often with temporal hopes rather than eternal ones. We place all our hopes in this world instead of the next. We expect and sometimes demand heaven on earth, but God has something else in store. Something far better.

The patriarchs had to acknowledge that “they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” Abraham and Sarah had to live as nomads, moving from one place to another, never having a real home and never getting to live in the land promised to them by God. They never had the pleasure of seeing their descendants multiply into a great nation. By the time that happened, they were both long gone. But they had faith that it would happen. They also had faith that they would live in a better country. Abraham left his hometown and headed out for a new land. He had no idea where he was going, but was simply trusting God’s word. He believed that what God was offering him was better than what he already had. He left behind his old way of life for a new one. The author says that God “has prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:16b ESV), a heavenly city. The ultimate reward received by Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, David, Enoch, Abel and all the other Old Testament saints listed in this passage, was heaven. Their lives spent on this planet were temporary and their days were filled with trials, troubles, set-backs and disappointments. But they maintained their faith in God and His goodness.

As Christians, we must live with a constant awareness that this world is not our home. We are simply passing through on our way to some place better. Like Abraham, we are to recognize our role as aliens and strangers in this “land.” We are not to get comfortable here. We are not to demand of God our best life now. We are not to put our hopes in things that rust, decay, break down, fall apart, get stolen, go out of style, and always fail to bring us the joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment we hoped they would. Remember the author’s description of faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV). We are to be assured of our future place in God’s eternal kingdom, and it is to be what we hope for. We are to have a strong conviction regarding our future glorification and the redemption of our bodies. It is that for which we eagerly wait. Paul put it this way:

And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. – Romans 8:23 NLT

We will all one day die in our faith. But because we have faith, our death will not be the end. It will be the beginning of our eternal life with God the Father and Jesus Christ, His Son. The city in which Abraham and Sarah live at this very moment is far better than any city they could have inhabited on this earth. The descendants they can claim are far greater and more in number than they could ever have imagined, and they include people from every tongue and nation. When we place our faith in God, He does great things. His will is far better than our most ambitious wishes. His promises are far better than anything we could ever dream up or hope for.

Faith Is Not A Commodity.

By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 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. – Hebrews 11:11-12 ESV The line, “even when she was past the age” is a bit of an understatement. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was way past the age of being able to conceive. She was close to her nineties and, on top of that, she was barren. We read in Genesis 18, “Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah” (Genesis 18:11 ESV). And when they were given the news from God that they were going to have a son, both Sarah and Abraham expressed doubt. When God had told Abraham that he would make the father of a great nation, Abraham’s response was, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” (Genesis 15:2 ESV). The only solution Abraham could see was using one of his household servants as an heir. Sarah’s solution was to give Abraham her Egyptian household servant to impregnate. “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her” (Genesis 16:2 ESV). And, of course, Abraham took her up on her offer. But God had other plans and informed Abraham once again what He intended to do. “I will bless her [Sarah], and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her” (Genesis 17:6 ESV). Abraham’s response? He laughed. And he said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” (Genesis 17:17 ESV). But God confirmed His promise and assured Abraham that the impossible would happen. Some time later, when God appeared to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre, God gave him exciting news. “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son” (Genesis 18:10 ESV). And Sarah, eavesdropping at the door to the tent, “laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?’” (Genesis 17:12 ESV). She had doubts, reservations, and a bit of a hard time seeing how any of this was going to happen. The circumstances surrounding her life seemed to strongly contradict what God was saying.

And yet, Hebrews says, “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive.” This seems like a gross exaggeration of the facts. Both Abraham and Sarah laughed at the news of God’s plan. Both came up with alternative options, plan B’s, to help God out. And yet it says that Sarah had faith. I think the problem is that we tend to put the emphasis on Sarah’s faith, rather than the object of her faith. It says that by faith she received the power to conceive. All Sarah could do was trust the power. Her faith did not bring the power into existence or make the results of that power come about. She had to stop trying to do things on her own and simply rest in the power of God’s promise. She had to take her eyes off the circumstances, her old age and barren condition, and trust God. It was by faith that Sarah had to wait for the miracle of conception and the fulfillment of God’s promise. Remember how this chapter started out. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Genesis 11:1 ESV). Sarah had longed and hoped for a child for decades. She had desperately desired to have a baby, but had been forced to give up on that dream because of her condition. But when God promised to give she and Abraham a child, she had one recourse: to take what God said by faith. She was forced to trust God. He was going to do what He had promised to do and He was not going to accept any alternative solution, no matter how well-intentioned. Eleazar and Ishmael would not suffice. Adoption was not an option. Sarah was going to have to trust God. And so it says, “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive.”

Sarah had to come to grips with the fact that God was faithful and that He was powerful. He had the character and the power to back up what He said. And it says she “considered him faithful who had promised.” After all her conniving, doubting, whining and self-sufficient planning, Sarah determined to trust God. She decided to put her faith in the one who had promised. And in God’s perfect timing, “The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him” (Genesis 21:1-2 ESV). She placed her faith in God and He came through. “And Sarah said, ‘God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.’ And she said, ‘Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age’” (Genesis 21:6-7 ESV). Sarah’s faith did not make any of this happen. Her faith was simply a confidence and conviction that the one who promised it would happen had the power to make it happen. She put her hopes in His hands. She put her fears and doubts on His shoulders. She quit worrying and started believing. She stopped trying to take matters into her own hands and  left them in the highly capable and powerful hands of God. Our problem is not that we don’t believe what God has promised, it is that we somehow think He needs our help in bringing it about. Faith is about giving up and resting on God’s faithfulness and sufficiency. It is about reliance upon His power, instead of our own. It involves putting our hope in God rather than allowing the circumstances surrounding us to suck the hope out of us. Faith is less a commodity than it is a state of being. It is a place to which we come when we are ready to take God at His word and rest in the reality of His power to do what He has promised. “Therefore from one man [and woman], 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.”

Faith Described and Demonstrated.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. 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. – Hebrews 11:1-3 ESV What exactly is faith? How do you know when you have it? When do you know that you are living by it? The author of Hebrews, like Paul, spent a great deal of time defending the doctrine of faith. They both believed it was essential to salvation and non-negotiable. The author of Hebrews even goes so far as to say, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6 ESV). Both Paul and the author of Hebrews quote from the passage in the book of Habakuk, “but the righteous shall live by his faith”, to support their position on faith. For both men, faith and righteousness were inseparable. You couldn’t have one without the other. To attempt to achieve the kind of righteousness God demands, apart from faith, would be impossible and illogical. He had given the law to the people of Israel to show them the extent of the righteousness He required and the utter futility of trying to live it out on their own. They couldn’t do it. And because God knew they would not be able to keep the law, He provided them with the sacrificial system to atone for the sins they would inevitably commit. And as the author has already revealed, the law and the sacrificial system were “but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities” (Hebrews 10:1a ESV). The people sinned and the offered sacrifices for those sins, year after year. And the author broke the news to his Jewish audience, “it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near” (Hebrews 10:1b ESV).

The law was intended to reveal God’s righteous standards and expose man’s sin. Paul explained, “For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are” (Romans 3:20 NLT). The sacrifices demonstrated that God’s wrath against sin was real and required the shedding of blood to atone for those sins. “In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22 NLT). But while the blood of bulls and goats could provide temporary atonement for sins, God sent His Son to provide a permanent solution to man’s sin problem and a way to escape the sentence of death hanging over his head. But God’s plan of salvation would require faith – “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV).

Faith is always forward looking. It is based on the yet unseen and the as yet unfulfilled. Peter gives us a wonderful glimpse of what faith should like for us as believers:

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. – 1 Peter 1:6-9 NLT

The author of Hebrews has told us, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water¸” (Hebrews 10:22 ESV). We are to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering” (Hebrews 10:23 ESV). He praised his readers for having “joyfully accepting the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one” (Hebrews 10:34 ESV). In other words, they were willing to put up with loss in this world because of their confidence in the promise of God that assured them of great gain in the world to come. They were “not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” (Hebrews 10:39 ESV). Their faith was future-oriented. They believed the promises of God. They had an assurance of things hoped for and a conviction of things not seen.

That is exactly what Paul encouraged the believers in Corinth to keep doing: “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT). If we remove the hope of God’s future promises, we will find it hard to endure the present trials of this life. If we live as if this is all there is, then we will grow weary, disappointed and disillusioned with our salvation. But God’s salvation includes our future glorification. There is more to our faith than simply the assurance that we have been saved and our sins are forgiven. We will one day be redeemed and given new bodies. We will be freed once and for all from our battle with indwelling sin. Our faith must always have a future focus. The apostle John, like a loving pastor, reminds us, “Dear friends, we are already God's children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is” (1 John 3:2 NLT). That is our hope. That is the basis of our faith. And the author of Hebrews will spend the rest of this chapter demonstrating what this kind of faith looks like in real life, using the Old Testament saints as examples of living, breathing faith lived out in real life.

No Shrinking Back.

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. – Hebrews 10:26-39 ESV Because of all that Jesus has done for us and made available to us, we should have confidence, a secure assurance that we have access into God’s presence because we have been right with God. But we must “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering” (Hebrews 10:23 ESV). We have a part to play. Among all the distractions and difficulties of this world we must keep our eyes focused on the hope to come: the return of Christ and our final glorification. As followers of Christ, we will find the going tough at times this side of heaven. Living as a Christian requires faith, because so much of what we have been promised in Christ is yet to be fulfilled. Chapter 11 will give a glimpse of what faith looked like for the Old Testament saints. Each of the ones mentioned is recognized for having had faith – “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV).

This section of chapter 10 is difficult. There are many different interpretations as to what the author is saying and who he is referencing in these verses. There are those who use this passage to prove that Christians can lose their salvation. There are others who say it is referring to Christians who “fall away” from the faith and risk losing their rewards at the judgement seat of Christ. I am not sure either view is correct. The author is writing to a congregation made up primarily of Jews who have heard the good news of Jesus Christ and expressed faith in Him as their Messiah and Savior. Up until this point, the author has been diligently attempting to help his Jewish audience to understand the superior value of Jesus and His sacrifice on their behalf. He has spent nine chapters contrasting the old and new covenant, presenting Jesus and the new covenant in His blood as not only superior, but singular in its effectiveness. Through His death on the cross, Jesus accomplished for man what the Law could never have done. His sacrifice provided a means by which sinful men could be made right with a holy God.

But there were evidently those in the author’s audience who were having second thoughts about the efficacy of saving work of Jesus. They were having doubts as to whether His death was enough. So they were reverting back to their old habits of relying on the law. They were evidently offering sacrifices in order to cover over their sins, which meant that they were still sinning. The author starts off this section by saying, “for if we go on sinning deliberately” (Hebrews 10:26 ESV). What he has in mind are those sins that are willful and planned, not those that are committed out of ignorance or weakness. It would seem that there were those who were sinning on purpose, and relying on the old sacrificial system to atone for those sins. The author accuses them of having “trampled underfoot the Son of God” and having “profaned the blood of the covenant” (Hebrews 10:29 ESV). In falling back to the old covenant as their source of atonement, they were saying the sacrifice of Jesus was not enough. They were essentially rejecting His offering as not having fully appeased the wrath of God. The author warns them that if they reject Christ’s sacrifice, there “no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:26 ESV). If Jesus is not enough, then all that remains is judgment.

So to whom is the author referring? Is he warning Christians from falling away from the faith and losing their salvation? That interpretation would contradict too many other passages that promise believers the assurance of their salvation. Jesus Himself said, “And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day” (John 6:39 NLT). “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29 NLT). Paul tells us, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns” (Philippians 1:6 NLT). Jesus’ sacrifice was fully sufficient and completely effective. It accomplished the will of the Father by paying in full the debt that was owed as a result of man’s sin. He died once and no other sacrifice is needed. The problem the author is warning about is the very real possibility of someone hearing the good news regarding Christ’s sacrificial death, seemingly accepting it, but then later determining it was not enough. The issue is one of confidence. The author uses this word two times in chapter ten. In verse 19 he tells his readers, “Therefore brothers, since we have this confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus…” Then in verse 35 he warns, “Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward…”

Saving faith is enduring faith. It lasts. But there have always been those who seem to express faith in Jesus, but then, when the troubles and trials come, they turn away. They reject the truth. They determine that Jesus is not enough and the promise of salvation is not sufficient. Unwilling to wait for the final fulfillment of God’s promise they seek their satisfaction in this life. They refuse to believe that their sins are forgiven. They fall back on to a life of works and self-righteousness, or simply reject the idea that they can be made right with God altogether. The author warns that these individuals face the judgment of God. He gives the very sobering warning, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31 ESV). It would seem that his talk of God’s vengeance and judgment has nothing to do with believers, but with those who never fully believed in the first place. He makes this clear when he reminds his readers of their “former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated” (Hebrews 10:32-33 ESV). In other words, they had been through difficulty in the past, and they had endured. They had remained faithful and he reminds them, “you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one” (Hebrews 10:34 ESV). These people had not rejected the saving work of Jesus at the first sign of trouble. Why? Because their faith was real. Their hope was in something greater than a trouble-free life. Their confidence was in the promise of God of a great reward to come, not their best life now. So the author encourages them, “you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised” (Hebrews 10:36 ESV). The one who “shrinks back” will have no reward. God has no pleasure in him. But the author makes it clear that “we are not those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” (Hebrews 10:39 ESV). True believers believe the truth and endure. They have confidence and continue to hold fast regardless of the circumstances.

No Rest For The Weary.

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” ⁵ And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.”

Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. – Hebrews 4:1-13 ESV

There is an ominous-sounding warning in these verses. When the author speaks of the people of God not entering the rest provided for them by God, it can’t help but get our attention. But what does he mean when he writes, “those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of unbelief” (Hebrews 4:6 ESV)? There have been many over the centuries who have tried to equate the crossing over of the Israelites into the land of Canaan with the death of the believer and their entrance into heaven. But if we apply this analogy to the author’s meaning of “rest” we will find ourselves wrestling with the possibility of one losing their salvation. Because he is writing to believers and he is warning them not to make the same mistake as their ancestors in the wilderness. They “heard and yet rebelled” (Hebrews 3:16 ESV). They sinned and their “bodies fell in the wilderness” (Hebrews 3:17 ESV). “They were unable to enter because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19 ESV).

That last line is key to understanding what is going on in these verses. The issue is that of unbelief. He warned his readers, “Take care, brothers, lest there by in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12 ESV). He encouraged them to exhort one another, “that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13 ESV). The problem with equating the promised land with heaven is that the people of Israel had to immediately to battle once they entered the land. They had to strive to possess the land and dispossess the people that lived there. Their time in the land of promise was one of testing, conflict, and a constant struggle to trust God rather than their own resourcefulness. Yes, God blessed them. He gave them victories over their enemies. But because of unfaithfulness, they were eventually evicted by God from the promised land and sent into captivity for their rebellion against Him. That is why making the promised land analogous to heaven makes no sense and eventually breaks down. No one will be evicted from heaven because of unbelief.

So what is the author talking about? What is this rest he warns against not entering? Several times in these verses he refers to the “good news” they had received. “For the good news came to us just as to them” (Hebrews 4:2 ESV). He uses the Greek word, euaggelizō which is the same word used by Jesus when referring to the gospel message He preached. It is the same word used by the angels when they told the shepherds in the field of the good news regarding the birth of Jesus. The author of Hebrews says that the people of Israel had heard the good news, “but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened” (Hebrews 4:2 ESV). They heard, but they did not listen. They heard, but failed to believe the good news given. They had evil, unbelieving hearts.

Several times in this passage the author refers to the sabbath rest of God. He talks about the fact that God, after having created the universe, rested on the seventh day. The Hebrews word shabbath means “rest.” God was not tired, but he ceased from His labors because His work had been completed. All that He had intended to do had been done. His will had been accomplished. The writer makes it clear that the entering into the land was not the rest that God intended. “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later one” (Hebrews 4:8 ESV). In fact, he writes, “there remains a sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:9 ESV). The issue seems to be that of works verses faith. The rest the author is speaking of is the belief we are to have in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and our complete and total dependence on what He has done for us. We can rest in the sufficiency of His sacrifice. There is nothing more that we need to do. The Jewish audience to whom this letter was addressed had heard the good news regarding Jesus and His sacrificial death on the cross, but they ran the risk of hearing, but not listening. They, like their ancestors, were prone to go back to their own methods of attempting to achieve a right standing with God. Rather than resting in the finished work of Christ, they were being tempted to go back to Judaism with all of its ritual and rights. So the author warns them to “strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:11 ESV). He is not suggesting that they can lose their salvation, but that their initial “belief” may not have been belief at all. They had not been fully convinced that God’s redemptive work on their behalf was complete. They were not resting in the promise of eternal salvation. They were not trusting in the sufficiency of Christ and the hope of their future redemption.

Jesus did not promise us a trouble-free, peaceful life on this earth. He did say, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30 ESV). And yet, He told His disciples right before His death, “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:32-33 ESV). Our time on this earth is anything but easy. But we can have peace in the midst of the struggles because we know that He has overcome the world. Our rest is found in the promise of His finished work. He is going to some day return and wrap up what He started and complete what God has given Him to do. It is in that fact that we are to find our rest. The temptation for all of us is to doubt God, to fail to take Him at His word. We can look at the circumstances surrounding us and begin to disbelief His promises and question the reliability of all that Christ has done. So the author invites us to allow the Word of God as a divine scalpel to penetrate our hearts and expose and remove those thoughts and intentions of the heart that would cause us to doubt and disbelieve God. He wants us to rest in the reality of our future rest. He wants us to trust in His promise of not only our future redemption, but the final restoration of the world. God’s will WILL be done. And we can rest in that fact.

The Danger of Disbelief.

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. – Hebrews 3:7-19 ESV

Reaching back into the pages of the Old Testament narrative, the author quotes from Psalm 95, using the history of people of Israel as a life lesson for his Hebrew audience. The psalmist recounts the story of Israel’s rebellion against God during their journey from Egypt to the promised land. Under the direction of God, they had reached a place called Rephidim, and after setting up camp the discovered, “there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, ‘Give us water to drink’” (Exodus 17:1-2 ESV). Moses’ response was to ask them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” (Exodus 17:2 ESV). But driven by their physical thirst, they demanded, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” (Exodus 17:3 ESV). The people were so angry with Moses that he feared for his life, suspecting that they would stone him. But God told Moses, “‘Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.’ And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’” (Exodus 17:5-7 ESV). That last line is key to understanding the story and to grasping the point that the author of Hebrews is trying to make. Influenced by the negative nature of their circumstances and their own physical desires, they doubted the presence, power and provision of God. This was in spite of all He had done to deliver them from Egypt and secure their freedom from slavery. The miracles of the ten plagues and the wonder of the Red Sea crossing faded into oblivion at the first sign of trouble. Suddenly, their God was no match for their personal problems. And they grumbled. They complained. They revealed their ingratitude for all that God had done. And yet, in the face of their rebellion, God graciously provided them with water – from a rock. The apostle Paul provides with insight into what was going on behind the scenes.

I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. – 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 NLT

The rock was Christ. It was a representation of the mercy and grace of God that would one day be expressed through the gift of His Son. Moses was instructed to strike the rock. The rock was beaten and from it came living water. God provided for them the very thing for which they had grumbled and complained. But while they “drank the same spiritual water,” God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. They never made it to the land of promise, the place of rest. The psalmist clearly portrays the anger of God with those who had doubted His saving power. “For forty years I loathed that generation and said, ‘They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known “my ways.” Therefore, I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest’” (Psalm 95:10-11 ESV).

The letter to the Hebrews provides us with the application. “Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still ‘today,’ so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ” (Hebrews 3:12-14 NLT). The author is not suggesting that we can lose our salvation. But he warns against having “evil and unbelieving” hearts. The danger the Jewish believers in his audience face is turning away from the saving grace provided by God through Jesus Christ and returning to their old, familiar faith in Judaism. Warren Wiersbe writes, “every believer is tempted to give up his confession of Christ and go back into the world system’s life of compromise and bondage.” Again, this is not about losing our salvation, but missing out on all that God has promised us as believers in this life. By turning away from God and doubting the sufficiency of His Son’s saving work, F. F. Bruce provides with the context: “a relapse from Christianity into Judaism would be comparable to the action of the Israelites when they ‘turned back in their hearts unto Egypt’ (Acts 7:30); it would not be a mere return to a position previously occupied, but a gesture of outright apostasty, a complete break with God’ (F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews).

There will always be the temptation to doubt God and return to whatever way of life we lived before. We may even be tempted to try something completely new and different, other than the walk of faith. That is why the writer of Hebrews warns us, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12 ESV). The issue is one of unbelief. That is why we are to “exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today’’ (Hebrews 3:13 ESV). We need to encourage one another to keep the faith, to remain committed to the cause of Christ. We must not allow circumstances or our own personal passions to drive us away from God and back to the false promises of this world. We must continue to believe in and rest on the promises of God, in spite of all we see happening around us. As the writer of Hebrews puts it a little later on in this letter, “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” (Hebrews 11:6 ESV).

The Danger of Doctrinal Drift.

Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken through angels proved to be so firm that every violation or disobedience received its just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, while God confirmed their witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. – Hebrews 2:1-4 ESV After his powerful opening regarding the supremacy of Christ, the author of Hebrews provides his readers with a warning against slipping away from the truth regarding salvation. That message of salvation came from the lips of Jesus Himself and by virtue of His bodily sacrifice on the cross. Jesus had clearly taught, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 ESV). He claimed, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved” (John 10:9 ESV). He had told Martha, just before he raised Lazarus from the dead, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26 ESV). And Jesus told Nicodemus, the Pharisee, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV).

So the author tells his readers, “we must pay much closer to attention to what we have heard” (Hebrews 2:1 ESV). The message of Jesus, carried on by His disciples after His ascension into heaven, had been circulated among both Jews and Gentiles, resulting in many people coming to faith in Him as their Savior. But there was always the real possibility of drifting away by those who had embraced the good news of the gospel. The Greek term the author uses is pararreō and it means to “let slip, glide by.” Rather than remain anchored to the truth regarding their salvation, they could easily find themselves drifting away, carried by the current of moral subjectivity and doctrinal heresy. In chapter six of this same letter, the author reminds his readers, “So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary” (Hebrews 6:18-19 NLT). We will not drift as long as we remain firmly attached to the truth of the gospel. Those who fled to Jesus for refuge from condemnation and the penalty for sin, can have great confidence that He will one day return for them. Drifting always begins with doubting. When our assurance weakens, the likelihood of our drifting increases.

That church’s experience 2,000 years ago intersects our lives in this way: drifting is the besetting sin of our day. And as the metaphor suggests, it is not so much intentional as from unconcern. Christians neglect their anchor—Christ—and begin to quietly drift away. There is no friction, no dramatic sense of departure. But when the winds of trouble come, the things of Christ are left far behind, even out of sight. – R. Kent Hughes, Hebrews

The author compares the message concerning Jesus with “the message declared by angels,” which refers to the Mosaic law. Moses recorded in the book of Deuteronomy, “The Lord came from Sinai and revealed himself to Israel from Seir. He appeared in splendor from Mount Paran, and came forth with ten thousand holy ones. With his right hand he gave a fiery law to them” (Deuteronomy 33:2 NET). Paul expanded on this in his letter to the Galatians. “Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the descendant to whom the promise had been made. It was administered through angels by an intermediary” (Galatians 3:19 NET). And the author of Hebrews says that message, the law, proved to be reliable. What is said about sin and punishment was accurate, just and righteous. It revealed that all men are sinners and incapable of living up to God’s holy standard. So, the author asks, “So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?” (Hebrews 2:3 NLT).

This passage is not talking about losing your salvation. But it is talking about drifting away from the truth and hope of the gospel. It is talking about allowing doctrinal drift to subtly creep into your life, causing you to doubt the hope promised to you in Christ. The message of salvation declared by Jesus was carried on by the apostles. It was supported by signs and wonders. It was proven by the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to the church. But in spite of all this, there is always  the temptation to lose our grip on the solid rock of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. The issue has to do with doctrinal drift that begins with doubting the promises attached to the gospel message. When we begin to wonder if faith alone is enough, we will begin to add to the gospel. This usually begins when we allow present circumstances to define the veracity of the gospel message. In other words, if things do not appear to be going quite the way we expected, we begin to wonder if something is missing. We begin to question whether there is more that we need to be doing. Difficulties can bring doubt. Doubt can lead to drift. Drift can result in shoddy doctrine. And we end up neglecting or making light of “a great salvation.” As soon as we start taking our salvation for granted, we will find ourselves prone to doctrinal drift, a subtle, but dangerous unmooring of our faith in the one thing that can truly provide us with hope. It does not mean we lose our salvation, but we will most certainly lose our ability to enjoy peace in the storm, joy in the midst of sorrow, hope in spite of setbacks, and assurance in the face of uncertainty.

Fully Convinced.

In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. – Romans 4:18-25 ESV Belief does not come without its obstacles. It does not go unopposed or unchallenged. The author of Hebrews gives us great working definition: “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see” (Hebrews 11:1 NLT). It is not a timid thing. It is not half-in kind of a commitment. It requires confidence and assurance, both of which must be firmly placed in God, not the thing for which we are hoping. Earlier in chapter four, Paul wrote, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3 ESV). Paul was quoting from the Old Testament account found in Genesis 15, where God promised Abraham, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them. So shall your offspring be” (Genesis 15:5 ESV). And it says that Abraham believed God. He took Him at His word. But Abraham had plenty of reasons to doubt God. He had just offered an alternative plan, suggesting that God consider using one of his male servants as his heir. The problem, as Abraham saw it, was that he was old and his wife was barren. He believed that God was going to do what He had promised, but he just wasn't sure how. That is why Paul says, “in hope he believed against hope.” The New Living Translation puts it this way: “Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations.”

Abraham had every reason to doubt. His situation and circumstances shouted out to him daily, “This is hopeless!” All he had to do was take a look around and the evidence would suggest that God's promise was nothing more than a dream. Yet Paul says, “he did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old)” (Romans 4:19 ESV). As long as Abraham looked at his circumstances, he would find himself doubting. But his faith was in something else. Even when he considered the fact that his wife was barren, rather than conclude that God's promise was null and void, Paul says, “no unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God.” Instead, “he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God” (Romans 4:20 ESV). He was “fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:21 ESV). His faith was in God. His confidence was in the source of the promise. And Paul says, “this is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:22 ESV).

Martin Luther wrote, “Faith is something that is arduous and difficult. First, it is directed to what a person does not see; indeed, to the very opposite of what one perceives. It seems utterly impossible” (Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans). Abraham grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God. There is a reciprocal nature to our faith. When we believe and trust in God, He is glorified. And as we believe in Him, our faith is strengthened as we see Him work in ways we could never have imagined. Placing our faith in God provides us with front row seats in which to watch Him work. To believe God is to glorify God. Trusting God increases our faith in God. When we trust Him in spite of the circumstances swirling around us and the doubts welling up within us, we get to see God work. As a result, our faith in Him grows stronger.

Abraham's faith was in God. Yes, he believed the promise of God, but his faith in the promise was based on the faithfulness of the one who had made the promise. He knew that God was good for it. He would come through. He was fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. And Paul uses the faith of Abraham as an illustration of the kind of faith we are to have. We are to place our faith in God and His gospel message, “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16 ESV). And when we “believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification,” our faith is counted to us as righteousness. It is our faith in God and His ability to save us through His Son's death, burial and resurrection that results in His declaration of our righteousness. We are saved by faith. And while the world will constantly strive to cause us to doubt the veracity of God's words and to question the reality of the gospel message, we must remain fully convinced and unwaveringly confident in the one who stands behind the promise. Our circumstances will stand against us. The evidence will not be in our favor. Our hopes will begin to waver. But like Abraham, in hope we must believe against hope, and believe that God is able to do what He has promised.