And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned into strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated- the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
I can not tell you how much I love this passage. It fills me with such great joy and gracious humility. I could study the book of Hebrews my whole life and never come to the end of the riches found within. These verses (32-40) of the eleventh chapter stir my soul. These people had great faith, in the face of challenges of both wealth and poverty, and they persevered. They were not willing to waver or fold. They were not pulled off course. They were true to God. They trusted His promise. None of them did it perfectly, yet they were still found worthy of honour. God saw so much more than the black and white story we read, he was privy to their thoughts, their dreams, their goals, their ambitions, their desires. And it was enough for Him. There was true and abiding faith in these ordinary humans.
Can we take a moment and acknowledge that, though their stories become the stuff of legends in childhood Sunday School classes, they were merely human? They sinned and had limits and failed just as much as us. And yet God saw.
The most amazing thing to me about this, the list of Old Testament greats, is that they held fast to the promises. There was a conviction in them that would not allow them to be dissuaded. They were chainlinks holding to the anchor. Unilaterally, they were devoted to being used by God, to being lead by God, to being instruments of His work. And they did not have the fullness of the promise that we have. They did not have the vision of glory, laid out in print, in the way that we do. They did not get a picture of the breadth of God’s plan for humanity. They were so much more blind in their faith than we are. We have so much at our fingertips to explain the character and persons of God. We have the joy of being able to easily learn about the One we call Father with the flick of a few pages. We have the Holy Spirit, living and breathing in us, calling us to greater heights of faith, spurring us on. I cannot help but acknowledge that God has made it so much easier for us. And He has taken his creation from a place of fearful worship to wonder-filled worship. Do you see it? All these people from the Old Testament were walking up a steep, steep mountain. Their struggle and pursuit of God is so different than ours. Do you realise how great a life of luxury we live in our faith? How blessed we are? I am not talking about our earthly stuff; I am talking about the wealth of knowledge that has been laid at our feet. Are we grateful? Or are we stepping over it to grasp the bigger house or better car or sunnier vacation?
We have the story of the world, from creation to sin to prophesy to fulfillment to the glorious end. We have it all. And all these people of the past, who lived in such blind faith, so unaware of the immense glory and wonder and awesomeness of the arrival and life of Christ, should spur us on to greater things. If their faith was so great, being so far removed from receiving the promise, how much greater should our faith be, having at our disposal the entirety of the message of God. What excuse could there ever be for us to fall back and say that we didn’t really get it? The whole of God’s plan for the salvation if the crowning glory of his creation is laid out perfectly in a book that we can hold in our hands and study whenever we want. Is there any other response available but joy? We have been blessed beyond measure, not only by being saved through Christ, with whom we are co-heirs, but also by having tangible evidence of the solidity of God and his faithfulness to complete that which he has spoken. It defies all earthly concepts. There is nothing left to do but fall on our knees, with hands raised to heaven, and delight in the favour of a Father poured out on his beloved children.
I get it more now, how Paul so often repeated in his letters that we should live a life worthy. What else can we do? Having been blessed with so great a gift, there is nothing to do but live our best to honour God. Our joy is complete, not because the path is always smooth, but because we have so much evidence to give us assurance of the faithfulness of the One who has prepared a place for us at the banquet. That I would devote myself to learning as much as I can about God now, so that my education in heaven will be that much richer. There is an eternity to learn of the greatness of my God.
faith from the stove 