January 29, 2008
Hebrews 11:35b-12:2
Hebrews eleventh chapter lists men and women of God who accomplished extraordinary deeds by their faith. Beginning with Abel, Enoch and Noah, the list extends to tell about Abraham and Isaac; Jacob and Joseph; Moses and Joshua; Rahab, Gideon and Barak; Samson and Jephtha; and David and Samuel, how they conquered Pharaoh, liberated the people of God, subdued kingdoms, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fire and raised the dead. Tremendous stories of faith!!!
The tone changes when we read down from the middle of verse 35. We are told about “others” who for their faith were mocked, scourged, stoned, sawn asunder and slain with the sword. Being tormented, they wandered about in sheepskins and goat skins in deserts, mountains, dens and caves of the earth! (Of whom the world was not worthy). It appears that they have not achieved anything by faith leave alone anything spectacular!
While the first part of the chapter talks about the heroes of “Triumphant Faith”, the second part tells us about “others” who with their “Trial enduring Faith” willingly suffered. Why did they suffer? Is ‘trial enduring faith’ lesser than ‘triumphant’ faith’? I did not understand it till I read “that they did not want to escape suffering in order to obtain a better resurrection” They are the unsung heroes of faith. Neither their names nor their positions mentioned. They endured extreme persecution for the sake of their faith.
Their faith did not cease because of their suffering.
There are times we go through sufferings in spite of our faith. Some times we doubt if it is worth it? Or has God forgotten us? Do not be discouraged! Let your heart not faint! God will not desert us. Keep believing! Hold on to Faith!!! The psalmist says in Psalm 44; “For Thy sake, we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. All this has come upon us. Yet we have not forgotten You!!!
Daniel was put in the lion’s den. God sent His angel and shut their mouths. The three Hebrew men were thrown into the fiery furnace. But they were not consumed. Only their bonds were burnt. They were walking in the midst of the fire with the Son of God. He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”.
In verses 39 and 40 we read “And all these having obtained a good testimony through faith did not receive the promise: God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.”
What does ‘not be made perfect’ mean. In Greek, perfect is teleois which means task completed. And without us, their task is not complete.
Faith is like a relay race, each one carrying the baton and passing it to the next person. We are running the Faith race; something like a relay race. The heroes of faith who ran before us have given us the Baton-the precious gospel. They all ran in faith! They did it faithfully. The baton is passed on to us to complete the race!!!
It is reported than in one of the Olympics, one team was doing extremely well, till the fourth person was about to receive the baton and run. While the baton was passed on to him, alas, he dropped it and the race was lost!
In the race that we are running, we are surrounded by the heroes of faith, who gave their lives for their faith, encouraging us to run. You can almost hear them shouting “Run, Do not give up! Do not drop the baton!! It’s all worth it!!!”
