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HEBREWS CHAPTER 11 KJV WEB See previous page Heb 11,1-40 (99n) Thy kingdom come >> Perseverance (Working to keep in motion) >> Persevere in faith – This chapter literally defines faith in the very first verse, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (KJV), and then uses examples of faith throughout the rest of the chapter from many Old Testament characters to punctuate its meaning, and note that in every case actions were involved. That is, genuine faith is anything but mental ascent. Faith to a little child is simple, but faith to most adults is hopelessly complicated. Faith was not complicated to the people mentioned in this chapter, though the things they did were not easy, yet many of them changed the course of this world. If we want to wield that kind of power, we will need the faith of God, and His faith will lead us to sacrifice everything as those did who are mentioned in this chapter. See also: God is faith; Heb 11,1-3; 124l / God's substance is faith; Heb 13-15; 77b (194a) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Run to God >> Run the race that is set before us Heb 11,1-34 (95h) Thy kingdom come >> Attitude >> Having an obedient attitude >> Ready to do God’s will Heb 11,1-3 (118c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Seeing through the eyes of your spirit (124l) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love is the action of God’s faith – Here is the definition of faith: the substance of God. It is questionable if Christianity has effectively defined it. Most people would just use the synonym “believe” to define faith, but that is not accurate, for "believing" is equal to obedience, whereas "faith" is equal to love, and love is the definition of God. So, to say, "God is love," is to say, 'God is faith.' If we exercise our belief in God through obedience, He will impart His faith into us as born-again believers. The obedient believer possesses something that originated from heaven, whereas the one who believes in mental ascent is just striving after wind (Ecclesiastes 1-17). Christianity starts with the hearing ear, goes to believing and ends with obedience, and the result is an anointing from God, which is the Spirit of faith given to fulfill His plan in their lives. This has been the case throughout the millennia, but now more than ever as we approach the end of days. We hear the voice of God speaking in us, conveying His will, and if we fulfill it, the summation of these things is faith. This is how Jesus fulfilled His purpose: He heard the voice of His Father at an early age telling Him that He was the Son of God and that He was to die for the sins of the world, and then He followed that plan to fulfillment. Jesus is our example of the Christian life. The result: the Father raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His right-hand, and this is what God will do for us. He will seat us at Jesus' right-hand, who sits on His Father's throne, and our position with Christ will be determined by the extent that we walked with Him on the trail that He prepared for us. See also: God is faith; 212b (151i) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Creation is evidence of God >> No other source but God can explain the creation – God said, "'Let there be light,’ and there was light'" (Gen 1-3). This was a statement of faith. God has given us the earth as a gift, and He won’t take it back. God has made us in His image, who have a will, and He is unwilling to violate it, for to do so would make us less than a reflection of Him. God is unwilling to jeopardize His original creation of us in His image, but honors our right to exercise our right to make choices as He does. Whatever God says comes to pass, but if He violated our will, He would dishonor His own word, and the stars would cease to shine. To us stars are tiny specks of light in the sky, but these burning giants of fire are millions of miles across, so huge we can see them trillions of miles away. He has created entire galaxies full of stars so far away that we can only see them with high-powered telescopes. These things are unimaginable, yet we can see them with our own eyes. Only recently have we come to know these things about God. Had people known about them a thousand years ago, they would have fallen on their faces and worshipped Him (then made idols of them). What is our reaction to God today? We thumb our nose at Him as we learn about the complexity of the atom. When we break the atom, we discover new particles that are themselves made of particles; it seems that the infinitesimal is as infinite as the universe. We see the complexity of God and yet it doesn’t scare many who are discovering them, because they are jaded. It doesn’t invoke fear or wonder or amazement in God's ability to create things, because our hearts are hardened. What the writer of Hebrews is saying in verse three is that looking at the universe we understand: 1) the universe cannot create itself, and 2) it had to be created by something non-physical. (212b) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> He is the creator >> The creation glorifies God >> God created all things through Christ – God the Father is composed of faith. This is incomprehensible, but this is what Scripture teaches. The Bible explicitly says that God wants us to believe in Him, “so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Mat 5-45). When Jesus said this, He was talking about loving our enemies, which requires all our faith. If faith makes us children of our Father in heaven, then our Father in heaven consists of faith. This flies in the face of New-Age teachings and many other false religions that believe in pantheism, that attempts to explain the essence of God as energy, saying, God is all, and all is God. When we look at the creation, the amount of energy that it possess at the core of every atom Einstein posited in his equation: E=MC2 . This equation states that the creation equals energy, and for this reason many false religions say that God is energy, but the Bible teaches that energy exists because of God’s faith (Heb 11-1). There is a big difference between the essence of God being faith and the essence of God being energy; if He is energy, then new-agers and pantheists can worship the creation the same as worshipping God, but they contradict the Scriptures on virtually every other level. Keeping with the Scriptures—the essence of God is faith—we must worship Him by faith, which by definition must be constrained to the truth, because faith must believe in something, but new-agers don’t care about the truth. They prefer to believe in the creation rather than in God, which violates Rom 1,18-21. See also: God is faith; Heb 11-1; 90b / Cults (New Age); they love the world and reject the Spirit of Christ; Rom 5-5; 35f (230d) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Partaking >> Partaking of the power of God >> Partaking of the ministry of the Holy Spirit -- These verses go with verse 19 Heb 11-1 (90b) Thy kingdom come >> God convicts us >> Conviction leads in the way of faith – If God quit believing in Himself, He would suddenly blink out of existence, and everything would suddenly disappear with Him. Space itself would disappear, along with the planets and stars. God spent an eternity alone before He made anything. His experience must have been similar to Helen Keller, who could not see or hear. She had very little evidence to prove that she existed (though she could feel, taste and smell). Before God created anything He was conscious of self, and that alone was enough for Him. His greatest revelation was that of His own existence, like the saying, “I think I am; therefore I am.” God went through this in His mind for an eternity, and through the revelation of His own existence He, the great I AM, created all things, in that if He existed, then He could cause anything He wanted to exist. Before the beginning nothing existed but God. If anybody else were in God’s place before creation and spent eternity alone, instead of engineering an intricate universe, he would have simply gone mad. People released from isolation are often marred internally, but just the opposite with God; instead, He began designing things, starting with infinitesimal particles, pieces smaller than the elements themselves, and He assembled the particles to compose the atom, and then He designed stars and galaxies made of these things, and then He made us. God commands us to walk by faith in order that we may be sons and daughters of our heavenly Father, because He exists by faith. See also: God is faith; Heb 11,1-40; 99n; Time (2000-year periods); Mat 25-5; 237c (110l) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spiritual substance and truth >> Spiritual substance follows the truth – What is faith, really? It is the very essence of Christianity, and therefore it is something we need to properly understand. We know the definition of faith according to this verse, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (KJV), but what does that mean? Faith is knowing the will of God and doing it. We read the Bible to know God’s general will, and then we take the Bible into prayer with us and ask God for a hearing ear so we can hear what He is saying. Whatever He says to us we do, and doing it is the very essence of faith. In other words, faith is defined as obeying the Holy Spirit. When we compare that simple definition to Heb 11-1, there is a striking similarity. “The substance of things hoped for;” is that which the Holy Spirit is saying, and doing what He says brings the invisible to light. We live and walk by a voice that speaks to our innermost being, and obeying the Holy Spirit we see what cannot be seen. See also: Holy Spirit; Heb 11-5; 90j / Resisting the Holy Spirit; 1Jn 5-20; 112a (121k) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Hope Based On Faithfulness >> Hope based on character (122f) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Confidence in yourself as you die to sin >> Confident in what you are doing (255e) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> God’s word is Spirit >> God is Spirit – This is the Faith chapter, “The Hall of Faith.” As the Trinity is three in one, interchangeable and identical, so is faith and love. Faith is closely tied to the Holy Spirit, Paul calling Him the Spirit of faith (2Cor 4-13). If a person were required to provide a definition of “faith” and were unfamiliar with this verse, he would no doubt furnish a definition quite different from this one: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (KJV). It would behoove the believer to treat faith as a substance, since that is how God sees it. So many people want nothing to do with matters of faith because it rates with “those lovely intangibles,” as Mr. Gailey (the lawyer) said to his fiancé in the Christmas movie “Miracle on 34th Street.” Our bodies are made of flesh and for that reason we are used to working with the material world, which tends to crowd out any concerns for spiritual things, such as faith and love. However, when we look at it from God’s perspective, faith is more substantial than the things that constitute our physical lives, for faith will outlast the natural world. God treats His faith as a substance, and we have His substance dwelling in us (Rom 8:9). Faith is the substance of God. These things may seem nebulous to us, but a day is coming when we will be judged by these things after we have shed our fleshly existence and made to participate in the spiritual realm. What did God say to Moses at the burning bush? “I AM.” That was a complete sentence, having both subject and verb. It was God’s statement of faith; it is the definition of God. It states that God always was and He always will be, so that the only thing relevant is the present, being the reason Jesus taught us to live in the moment. God is eternally present; He exists through faith, which is incomprehensible to us. However, we will probably understand it better in eternity, though God’s past will forever remain a mystery, since we had a beginning. This is why faith is more important to God than we will ever know. In fact, even in eternity we will probably not fully understand why God loves us so much, simply because we will never have the capacity to set a proper value on faith. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 11-2 (247i) Priorities >> God’s priorities >> God’s interests >> Things that please God -- This verse goes with verse 5 Heb 11-3 (111g) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Word and the power (meaning) of God >> Circumstances cannot evade the voice of the Spirit (114g) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Obeying the Holy Spirit >> Implementing the revelation of the Holy Spirit (150h) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness of Jesus >> Speak the word of the Spirit >> Speaking the words that God speaks Heb 11,4-40 (31c) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> He favors you in your circumstances (85m) Thy kingdom come >> Belief >> Treating the knowledge of God as fact >> Believing the Son by obeying the Father >> Obeying the old covenant through the new – Using Abraham as our example, new covenant believers are still seeking a country of their own. Although Israel exists as a sovereign nation with a capital city from which Christ will reign for a thousand years, yet Jerusalem exists as a mere shell, compared to what it will be in that day, and even then Jerusalem is a mere prototype of the heavenly city. Eventually God will create a new universe and establish the New Jerusalem upon the new earth. As far as we know, this is the very essence of God’s purpose for mankind, but since God is infinite and eternal, this too may turn out to be a mere prototype of what is to come. See also: Abraham; Heb 11,6-40; 5i / New heavens and a new earth (Our inheritance is infinite and eternal); Mk 12,18-27; 224g Heb 11-4,5 (155h) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Witness of the believer >> The Father bears witness of the believer – Was it by faith or was it by good fortune that Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain? Abel was a shepherd and Cain was a farmer. Naturally, Abel offered to God a living sacrifice, whereas Cain offered Him vegetables. These were their professions through no fault of their own. It was not less of Cain to be a farmer, and it wasn’t better of Abel to be a shepherd. Nonetheless, this is why Abel’s sacrifice was better than Cain’s: God predestined the animal sacrifice to be Israel’s mode of worship until the time set by the Father, who would send His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to die on the cross for the sins of mankind. After Abel made his animal sacrifice, he gave up his life as a type of Christ, who both were murdered from jealousy (Mat 27-18). Had Cain simply sought the Lord and asked for understanding, God might have revealed to him that his sacrifice was not inferior; it simply wasn’t chosen, just like God chose Jacob over Esau. Esau was not inferior; he simply wasn't chosen. Abel was righteous because he was chosen, and that is the case with all of us who are born of God. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 11-4 (130l) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Accept one another >> Accept the weak – God accepted Able and so Cain should have accepted him too, for they could have had a symbiotic relationship together as farmers. The relationship between farmers today is the same; some farmers till the ground and others raise cattle. They have huge fields of corn or soybeans and sell the produce, and other farmers buy it to feed their livestock. Neither the field farmer nor the cattle farmer is superior to the other; on the contrary they need each other. What good would it do to fill their silos with corn if there were no animals to eat it, and how could a farmer raise cattle if they had nothing to eat, and so they are both equally important. Had Cain approached God about his concerns and asked for wisdom, God would have told him that selecting Abel’s animal sacrifice over vegetables had nothing to do with the quality of his sacrifice. God may have spoken further to Cain about His purpose for mankind; instead he chose ignorance and foolishness. Now, the name “Cain” invokes thoughts of jealousy and murder. (151g) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> Adam (157k) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Having a murder spirit – Abel’s offering was a comparison of Cain’s, not that Abel gave such a wonderful offering. God said to Cain, ‘Your brother’s offering is better than yours,’ and it made Cain jealous, and so he slew his brother. How was that supposed to fix anything? Cain’s knee-jerk reaction of murder was meant to vent his frustrations, and it made him feel bigger for a moment, but it cost his entire future. It says that Abel made a better sacrifice through faith, meaning that faith came first and then his offering. It was because of Abel’s faith in the character of God that he offered a better sacrifice than Cain. So, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Cain, who apparently lacked faith, would choose to murder his brother. Abel was the first martyr from jealousy, demonstrating that the spirit of antichrist operates on elementary principles that never change. (189c) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Holy sacrifice >> Acceptable sacrifice -- This verse goes with verses 17-19 Heb 11-5 (29c) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> Delivered from death -- This verse goes with verse 34 (90j) Thy kingdom come >> Keeping the law >> We do not nullify the law through faith; we fulfill it – Was Enoch such a good person, or did God view him in contrast to his neighbors? Maybe his neighbors were utterly sinful, and Enoch was a good man by comparison, remaining faithful to what he knew was right, like Noah, who refused to integrate into the world’s debauchery. Before the law God controlled mankind through his conscience. Man knew in his heart what was right and wrong, so if he did evil, his conscience would tell him. This was a foolproof system, except that man found ways around it, and for this reason God commanded Noah to build an Ark. God started again with Noah and his family of eight people and recreated mankind through them, commanding them to replenish the earth, and soon after God called Abraham to become the father of a nation, Israel, whom God would later lead through Moses. They had their conscience plus the law now, and that didn’t work either. It helped, but it was by no means a solution. Finally, God sent His Son to die for mankind and sent the Holy Spirit in His place, who supercharges our conscience bearing witness to the law (Heb 8-10,11). A person first needs to be saved, and then he needs to obey the Holy Spirit to receive any benefit from God’s indwelling presence. After God has done all these things to help man understand that he is a fallen creature and needs to submit to Him, the end of all things is again at our doorstep, because people refuse to acknowledge that they are sinners. Once man opened Pandora’s Box, sin has become an unsolvable problem, until it is finally subjected to the authority of Christ. See also: Holy Spirit; Heb 11-7,8; 106o / History of the Church; Act 2,1-13; 80a (237f) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> The Church is transferred to the kingdom >> Rapture of the blameless – Enoch and Elijah the prophet were both righteous and holy men; they were the only two who were Raptured in the Old Testament, suggesting that only Holy and righteous people will participate in the Rapture. In the last days the Two Witnesses will be raptured in the First Resurrection, who have the anointing of Moses and Elijah, and the rest of the Church will soon follow. Many people talk about a theoretical righteousness in that God has made us holy through Christ, who has cleansed us of all unrighteousness. However, the Bible doesn’t speak of a people raptured who have a mere theoretical righteousness but a practical righteousness that is able to manifest in the natural realm, meaning that if we cannot present our righteousness in the natural realm, then we simply will not participate in the Rapture (Eph 5-27). (247i) Priorities >> God’s priorities >> God’s interests >> Things that please God -- This verse goes with verse 2 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 11,6-40 (5i) Responsibility >> Discipleship tested >> God tests your loyalty >> God tests your commitment to believe Him – People have called God evil for telling Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, to actually kill him, after waiting decades for the promise to be fulfilled. For Abraham to tell God, “No, Lord, I won’t do it,” would have been unbelief, whereas Abraham was a man of faith and believed the voice that spoke with him. He knew that whatever God said would be the right thing and become his destiny. The devil could say something sweet and it would have turned to poison had he listened to him, but God could tell him to slay his family member, and it turned into a blessing for all mankind. The hidden secret of faith is knowing His voice. Abraham didn’t doubt the voice that was speaking with him was God (but if we hear a voice telling us to kill someone, don’t listen to it). The devil is able to imitate God’s voice, but he is not able to fool the chosen and faithful, for they can pick His voice from a crowd of impersonators. Abraham had every intension of killing his son; he took the knife and was about to plunge it into his son’s body when God stopped him. Having received no sign that it was merely a test, in Abraham’s mind Isaac was as good as dead, yet Abraham had faith in God that He could even raise the dead, and in fact Abraham received back his son as a type of resurrection. God planted into Abraham the seed of God’s intension, that of sacrificing His own Son to receive Him back as the first born from the dead. See also: Abraham; Heb 11,6-10; 233h / Israel was born at Abraham's first step; Phi 3,3-11; 177i Heb 11,6-10 (233h) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> Seek His glory without wavering >> Seek His glory by faith – Abraham is the father of our faith—when he was called, he obeyed. This definition of faith is quite different from Paul’s version of faith, who separated faith from works, not because they naturally exist apart, but to make the point that our works cannot save us. Rather, our works naturally follow our faith. Anyone who includes works as an element of salvation invariably sidesteps the cross and falls into the trap of legalism and witchcraft, where their works have a spiritual function, promising things they cannot deliver; namely, they cannot give us favor with God. Here in verse eight the writer of Hebrews joins faith and works, as the book of James does, showing them together as they should be, and reminded us that Abraham left his homeland as a result of faith. See also: Abraham; Heb 11-6; 64b Heb 11-6 (64a) Limits Of God (Key verse) (64b) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Limits of God >> God cannot tolerate sin >> Impossible to please God without faith – Abraham sojourned through foreign lands over many years, and God put it in his heart that wherever his foot trod belonged to him and his descendents forever. He kept looking for a specific place he could call home, not realizing that everywhere he went was home. The reason God called Abraham as a sojourner is that when He finally got around to describing Abraham's land inheritance (Gen 15,18-21), Abraham had been there and knew these places that God was describing to Him. The greatest significance of Abraham’s example of faith was that he didn’t know where he was going, yet he never wandered as his descendants did, searching for the promise land but dying in the wilderness, because they did not seek Him by faith. This too is true of the Christian walk. See also: Abraham; Heb 11-7,8; 106o (137d) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Jesus is the foundation of God’s favor in our lives (205j) Salvation >> Salvation is based on God’s promises >> Faith versus works >> The faith of God versus the faith of men >> Faith is the law of righteousness – What are the minimum requirements of salvation? There are only two: 1) you must believe that God exists, and 2) you must believe He is a good person, “a rewarder of those who [diligently] seek Him.” There are those who believe God exists but don’t believe in Him (agnostic), and there are others who don’t even believe He exists (atheist). Neither of them are saved until they have a change of heart. Jesus defined salvation as the indwelling Holy Spirit, so it is our belief and acceptance in God that allows Him to deposit His seed of salvation in us, who defines our salvation and whose influence grows over the years until it becomes the leading force of our lives (Mat 13-31,32). (226k) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >> God rewards us for obeying Him >> Rewarded for believing in God – Many believe that those who obey Christ in hope of a reward do not have pure motives, much like a pigeon in its primitive pursuit of a pellet for pecking on a certain button, but if there were no reward for seeking God, we just won’t do it. God wouldn’t ask us to seek Him without the promise of a reward. That doesn’t make us pigeons; it makes us people. Not even God is willing to do anything without a reward. God sent His Son to die for our sins, and His reward was the Church, and our reward for seeking Him is a better resurrection (v35). KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 11,7-10 (97f) Thy kingdom come >> Attention >> Facing in the direction of the Lord >> Focusing your mind on God (118i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Giving God your attention >> Resolutely focus on the glory of God >> Focus on the direction He is leading you -- These verses go with verses 26,27 (230b) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Partaking >> What we must do to partake of the kingdom >> Partaking which requires our participation Heb 11-7,8 (86j) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Be doers of the word >> Clothe yourself with the word of God >> Walk the truth (106o) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Purpose of hearing from God >> God ordains our calling – Abraham pleased God though He made mistakes. This suggests that it is not our righteousness or absence of sin that pleases Him but our faithfulness. There are commandments in the Bible that tell us what we should do, but if we are unwilling to obey His written word, then we cannot hear the small, still voice in our heart, much less do what He says. The Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible that testifies what God has spoken in the past, but when He speaks in our heart He conveys what God is thinking about us today. If we obey the Holy Spirit, we are truly pleasing to God, for this is how Abraham found favor with God. See also: Abraham; Heb 11,8-19; 151bb / Holy Spirit; Heb 11-8; 91g Heb 11-7 (8i) Responsibility >> Responsible to defend God's cause >> Preparing for Judgment (49b) Judgment >> Nations are destroyed >> God judges the nations through the Church – The writer of Hebrews gave many examples of faith, all that had obedience in common. Noah built an ark by faith, and the rains did not come until the ark was completed. It says that God condemned the world by the ark that Noah built. How did Noah's ark condemn the world? To understand this, we need to understand the manner in which God judges the world, and to understand this we must understand God’s concept of justice. There are a couple verses suggesting that His justice is comparative. Mat 12-41,42 says, “The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here” (Also see Mat 11,20-24). So, these verses suggest that God judged the ancient world by comparing it to Noah's faith and his family. The completion of Noah’s ark did two things: 1) it preserved humanity from extinction, and 2) it bore witness against the world that its deeds were evil. Anyone was welcome to sail with Noah and his family in the ark, but once the door was shut and it began to rain the offer expired. They may have stood outside the ark in the rain and pounded on the door saying, ‘Noah, Noah let us in,’ and Noah may have answered them through the door, “Truly I say to you, I do not know you” (Mat 25,10-12). For people to approach Noah before the rains came and even help him build the ark would have gained them a ticket on the boat, but after the rain started, faith was no longer possible, hence repentance was impossible. Noah could not trust anybody who did not believe in God, for their only motive was to save their own skins. Righteousness of faith was absent in those outside the ark, though they sought repentance with tears that mixed with rain. See also: God's judgment takes precedence over His love; Act 26,4-11; 185b (51a) Judgment >> World & church >> Warning of wrath >> Consequences of sin (88k) Thy kingdom come >> Fear of God >> Revering God KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 11,8-31 (129k) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Being in one accord >> Single minded >> Determination Heb 11,8-19 (151bb) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> The Patriarchs >> Abraham >> Story of Abraham – God spoke the nation of Israel into existence through Abraham, who is the father of their nation, being the only Hebrew to receive the promises of Israel without being born into them. In this way, God created a nation completely from faith, Israel being the only nation that can boast of such origins. Abraham was looking for a city that was yet to be constructed; he was looking for something that didn’t yet exist. This is the very concept of faith! Christians throughout the world are still looking for that city whose architect and builder is God. The city he was looking for was Jerusalem, which is a type of city that is to come in the heavenly Jerusalem that we seek today. See also: Abraham; 206g (206g) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to promises >> Conditions to the gifts of God >> Conditions to the promises of God – Sarah received ability from God to conceive beyond the proper child bearing years. God waited for Abraham and Sarah to become elderly before He fulfilled the promise of Isaac, whose birth was a miracle. Otherwise, had Abraham and Sarah had a son in their youth, it would have proven nothing. God’s plan was to stack miracle upon miracle, so that the nation of Israel was founded upon multiple acts of God. He wanted a nation founded on His own power and ability through faith to represent His name, and to demonstrate how the world should live and walk with God. After Abraham received the promise that he would father a nation, he had every reason to expect Sarah would conceive right away, but many decades transpired, until he became an old man and Sarah aged with him, all the while God was gleaning faith from them. Most people take offense at God for making them wait so long, accusing Him of playing sadistic mind games, but an entire nation would be built on Abraham’s faith, who would become the seed of Christianity that would blossom into a new heavens and a new earth upon which the New Jerusalem will finally dwell among men, that which Abraham ultimately sought. God asked a little from Abraham compared to the significance of his faith even as He asks a little from us compared to the significance of our faith, being our most valuable possession. When we meet God, we will realize that the faith we showed Him was the smartest thing we ever did. See also: Abraham; Heb 11,8-10; 36g Heb 11,8-10 (36g) Gift >> God opens His home to us >> Inheritance >> We heirs through faith – Abraham went to receive an inheritance that he could not partake in this life, but was meant for the life to come. Although God promised him on earth that he would become a father of many nations, yet in heaven he became the father of only one, the most important nation of all, Israel, and from it a man descended who would die for the sins of all mankind and make one people from all nations who would become God’s worshippers forever. Abraham was the headwaters of this people, both genetically and spiritually. See also: Abraham; 114d (105lb) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Led by the Spirit into the wilderness >> Wilderness is the true nature of this world -- These verses go with verses 32-40. God Himself spoke to Abraham and told him to leave his fatherland, his family and friends, and go to a place he did not know. This was a very difficult thing. It took tremendous faith, but he did it because he knew who was speaking with him. (114d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Obeying the Holy Spirit >> Obeying the revelation from heaven >> Obeying the revelation of God’s word -- These verses go with verses 28-31. Abraham heard the voice of God, and the experience was so persuasive that he dropped everything and went on a life-long journey into the unknown in search of the voice that spoke with him, making sure the voice he heard was at the very center of his life. This is exactly how we too should live in the new covenant age. His manner of giving us directions is similar to the way he spoke to Abraham, who packed his belongings and traveled south. God didn’t tell him where he was going, but He did tell Abraham why he should leave: there was an inheritance that he was to seek, and he devoted his entire life pursuing it. See also: Abraham; Heb 11-8; 12c (224h) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The joyful kingdom >> Heaven is better than earth -- These verses go with verse 16 Heb 11-8 (12c) Servant >> Examples of God’s people >> Abraham is our example of faith – Abraham is our model of faith and of the Christian walk; he was essentially the very first Christian. Old covenant believers were Christians in the hope that Jesus would come, and new covenant believers are Christians by the sacrifice He made, and both new and old covenant believers please God through faith in waiting for the second coming of Christ. Abraham was by no means perfect, yet it says that Abraham was pleasing to God in Jm 2-23, “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.” This suggest that it is more important to be faithful than good; both are fruits of the Spirit, though in Abraham we see an emphasis applied on faithfulness. For example, he lied to kings about his wife being his sister, yet there is no record of God reprimanding him, because he was on course in his sojourning (Genesis 12,10-20; Genesis 20). Abraham left his fatherland and went to live with a lot of strangers. This was not an easy thing to do, especially back then. People didn’t relocate from their relatives back then, though it is common today. It would be impossible to explain to anybody that he was making a life-decision based on a voice he heard, yet it was exactly the case. God has a plan for each of us, and that plan is to respond to the call of God and walk on the designated trail of good works that He has prepared for us. See also: Abraham; 91g (90k) The Called (Key verse) (91g) Thy kingdom come >> The called >> Walking along the narrow way >> Responding to the call of God – Following the voice of the Holy Spirit is the very essence of Christianity. Abraham is a perfect example of this, whom the Bible dubbed as the father of all who believe. He obeyed the call of God and left behind everyone he knew and loved, except his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot and loaded up his caravan and headed in a certain direction but to a place he did not know. The only thing God told him regarding his destination was a simple point on a compass (Gen 12,1-4). He didn’t know where He was going but had the promise that he would receive an inheritance. God briefed him with the details along the way, like a light that shines on our path; all we need to know is where to plant our next footstep. God enjoys his people walking in faith and depending on Him. He wants to keep us close so we don’t wander into the darkness. Abraham will enjoy his inheritance throughout all eternity, for everyone in heaven will be his sons and daughters in faith, having followed in his footsteps, having found their place in heaven in the same manner that he did. See also: Abraham; Heb 11-11,12; 128ia / Holy Spirit; Heb 11,20-40; 151c Heb 11-10 (137b) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Jesus is the foundation >> Jesus is the rock of the Church’s foundation (140g) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Christ builds the temple from the bricks of the Church -- This verse goes with verse 16 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 11-11,12 (128ia) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Bearing fruit >> Living a fruitful life >> Be fruitful and multiply >> Growing numerically – We know there are lots of stars in heaven and grains of sand on the seashore. He didn’t specify which seashore it was, so we must assume He was referring to every seashore along every ocean in the world. If each grain of sand represented a person, they would account for more people than can fit on the earth, representing trillions and quadrillions of people. This is not an exaggeration. What is the real purpose of Israel? Abraham was the beginning of a nation that would continue to grow throughout eternity! God will never cease to create people for Himself, though the Church will not reproduce. God will always have people who can, so His kingdom will never cease to increase in number who will worship God throughout the expanse of His empire. We are talking about an infinite kingdom extending throughout eternity, and Abraham was the first man to receive a formal invitation to that kingdom. See also: Abraham; 225j / New heavens and a new earth (Our inheritance is infinite and eternal); Rev 15-4; 140b (225j) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Parables about nurturing the people of God >> Parables about a woman in labor giving birth to a child – God considered Sarah faithful even though she faltered. God ignored the fact that she gave Hagar to Abraham to have relations with her, and she bore Ishmael, the descendants of whom are the radical Muslims of the Middle East that are now terrorizing the whole world. God has allowed her mistake to breed and multiply and become the scourge of the earth. That is the effect of unbelief. Although God forgives and instead focuses on our faith rather than our disobedience, the sins we commit return to haunt us, and they become tools in the hands of the destroyer, and God doesn’t always stop him. Just because God has forgiven us doesn’t mean He will keep the consequences of our sins from multiplying and wreaking havoc. He looks at us with favor, but He allows our sins to punish us and teach us a lesson that the things we do apart from faith in His Truth have a very corrosive influence in our lives and on the world. God focused on Isaac and his descendants, who multiplied like sand on the seashore; meanwhile the descendants of Ishmael did the same, but that is not at issue here, because Ishmael was not the child of promise, for the promise would come through Sarah and not through Hagar or any other woman. In this we could adopt the perspective that God promised Sarah through her husband, Abraham. How interesting it is that Abraham got all the notoriety, though the promise was actually to His wife (Genesis 17-16). Abraham had a son through Hagar, but she was not the woman God named regarding the promise, and so Abraham and Sarah went back trusting God, and because of it God was pleased with them, and she conceived and bore a son in her old age. Isaac married Rebecca, and she had Jacob, who married two sisters, Leah and Rachel, and they gave him twelve sons, who became the sons of Israel. They grew in number in Egypt as slaves, and then the story begins with Moses delivering the Hebrews from pharaoh’s hand and leading them to Mount Sinai, where he received the Law, and through this nation came the Messiah, Jesus Christ through the tribe of Judah. See also: Abraham; Heb 11-11; 214b / History of Israel; Heb 12,25-29; 141i Heb 11-11 (102g) Thy kingdom come >> Faithfulness (Loyalty) >> Trustworthy >> Faithfulness (214b) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God’s timing transcends our comprehension >> God’s time does not make sense to the natural mind – Why did God wait so long before He fulfilled His promise to Abraham and Sarah? He made them wait beyond the normal childbearing years so their son would be a miracle, also to extract faith from them. God exists by faith, so He expects His people to live by faith that we might be His sons and daughters (Mat 5-44,45). Some people would say that Sarah did not consider God faithful who had promised, who instigated Hagar to mate with Abraham in order that they might have a child together through her maid (Genesis 16,1-11). When God makes promises, He does not accept surrogate fulfillments, yet so many times we have done this, receiving a promise from God, but becoming impatient with the Lord and devising our own way of fulfilling God's plan. Sarah giving Hagar to her husband to bear her a child is something she may have done apart from a promise, for what she did had nothing to do with faith. This was one step better than adoption, since her husband was the father, but it was not the will of God. See also: Abraham; Heb 11-13; 118b Heb 11,13-16 (191j) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Set apart >> Set apart from the world Heb 11-13 (58g) Paradox >> Opposites >> To seek and not find (85g) Thy kingdom come >> Words that are spoken in faith >> Testify of God’s works (118b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Seeing through the eyes of your spirit >> Everything you can see you can have -- This verse goes with verses 39&40. The only divine promise that was fulfilled while Abraham remained alive in the flesh was Isaac, and he became wealthy, but he never saw any other promise fulfilled beyond that. He took up what few possessions he had in the land of Ur and sojourned to unfamiliar places, being led by the Spirit. God caused him to wander through life, and then in his old age God told him that everywhere he had gone would become his descendants' inheritance in the land of Canaan, a place flowing with milk and honey. Sometimes we feel that we are aimlessly wandering in the wilderness seemingly without guidance, feeling we are accomplishing nothing and have nothing to show for all our effort, but if we are faithfully walking by the Spirit, then we are walking in the steps of promise, and with those promises there is fulfillment. See also: Abraham; Heb 11,14-16; 78n KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 11,14-16 (76i) Thy kingdom come >> Desires of your heart >> Your interests (78n) Thy kingdom come >> Putting your heart on display >> The result of a renewed mind – God called Abraham and he knew it was God who created the stars of heaven speaking with Him. Abraham didn’t know anything about God, until he heard His voice, and then suddenly he knew everything about Him that He needed to know. It wasn't an accumulation of knowledge throughout his life but an instantaneous revelation in coming to know God, and the Bible says that he heard an audible voice. We don't have the luxury of hearing an audible voice but an inaudible voice; then again, we are not headwaters of an eternal covenant but partakers of one. Abraham learned something else about God just by hearing His voice. He knew there was no other besides Him. God is not in the company of gods, and Abraham knew this person who was calling him was bigger than his imagination and that He was worthy of his obedience. Whatever God asked of Him, he could do, and God called him to do some very difficult things. Abraham didn’t reason whether he should do what God said, for his obedience originated from one premise; he believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness (Genesis 15-6). See also: Abraham; 234e (234e) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> Set your mind on the glory of God – Abraham must have expected God to lead him to something that was otherworldly and divine that transcended his natural mind, but he never experienced anything divine except the voice of God. He was constrained to the natural realm with the voice of God ringing in his ears with a commandment what to do. None of his beliefs or expectations led to anything beyond this world. When Abraham followed God's voice, he probably thought he was heading toward a heavenly city located somewhere that nobody knew, like the Garden of Eden, hidden in a secret place (Psalm 91-1). It was less than four hundred years after Noah’s flood; there weren’t many people alive at the time compared to today, so there were many places on the earth conceivably where a lost city could be found, but he found nothing. He walked to a foreign land and met foreign people, leaving all his relatives behind. The only thing Abraham achieved was obedience through faith. None of his goals were fulfilled; actually Abraham didn’t have any personal goals; he threw them all away; not even God's goals were fulfilled in a timely manner. He probably had plenty of personal goals before he heard the voice of God, but His voice changed his life, and he threw all his plans into the dumpster and took up God’s plan and purpose for his life, and it led him nowhere that he could see. With his eyes he was not allowed to see what he was really doing. The only manifested promise of God was the son that was born to him in his old age. Isaac was a miracle, but by that time it was anti-climatic. Had Sarah given birth to Isaac early in life, it would have made a lot more sense to Abraham, for he could have seen his grandson, Jacob and possibly even seen some of his great grandchildren, but he was not allowed to see any of his descendants except the one that was promised him. All he did, he did for us. See also: Abraham; Heb 11-14,15; 232a Heb 11-14,15 (191d) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Extract the leaven of false doctrine (203j) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Back-slider >> Withdraw from obeying God >> Withdrawing from the narrow way (232a) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >> Count the cost >> Don’t look back >> Don’t look back to the past – A lot has transpired since Abraham. Jesus was born supposedly through his lineage, the promised Messiah; He died for the sins of the world; He rose from the dead, ascended to the Father and has been growing the Church for the last 2000 years, adding multitudes to His kingdom that He will eventually establish on the earth at the second coming of Christ. Then God will create a new heavens and a new earth, and he will establish the holy city the New Jerusalem on the new earth. This holy city was the city that Abraham sought as he wandered the earth in the flesh; think how distant he was from finding it so many centuries ago. Some would say it was unfair of God to make him search for something that wasn’t there, and give him dreams to never see their fulfillment, but such criticisms are in human terms from a temporal standpoint. Abraham is still alive Jesus said (Lk 20-37,38); his flesh retuned to the earth, but his spirit is living in the city that he sought, the New Jerusalem. Abraham is rejoicing in the presence of God, whose voice he followed. All the promises that God made to Abraham have come true and are still coming true. God will work with His people in much the same way throughout eternity. God is not done making promises to His people; He hasn’t finished speaking, and the words that proceed from His mouth all have their fulfillment. See also: Abraham; Heb 11-16; 8d KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 11-16 (8d) Responsibility >> Prepare to interact with God >> Entering the realm of the Spirit – The city He has prepared for us is the New Jerusalem, which Abraham sought by faith his whole life and never found, but we under a better covenant have access to it through faith in Christ. We search for this city too just like Abraham, though physically we are empty-handed, but spiritually we find that it resides in our heart, the essence of Jesus Christ Himself. See also: Abraham; Heb 11,17-19; 189c (140g) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Christ builds the temple from the bricks of the Church -- This verse goes with verse 10 (224h) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The joyful kingdom >> Heaven is better than earth -- This verse goes with verses 8-10 Heb 11,17-19 (189c) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Holy sacrifice >> Acceptable sacrifice -- These verses go with verse 4. Abraham wanted nothing more than to cherish and nurture this young boy for whom he waited his whole life, yet he would have let God kill his only begotten son by His order. Instead of raising Isaac from the dead, He stopped Abraham, knowing that he intended to go through with it, which was what God wanted Abraham (and us) to know. He would not let Abraham murder his own son, though Isaac was the perfect sacrifice, whom he loved. God wanted to see if Abraham loved Him more than His gift, Isaac, who resulted from obeying the Lord. Isaac became as though raised from the dead, and as a result, Isaac became a type of Christ, who became the father of Israel. In order for us to have the kind of confidence in God that Abraham had, we need proof that it is actually God speaking to us, for we could not in good conscience kill anybody, being also contrary to the Law, and God would never command us to do such a thing. See also: Abraham; Heb 11,20-40; 151c (236j) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Invest in the treasures of the kingdom >> Invest your life in God’s faith Heb 11-19 (38g) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> Resurrection of freedom (230d) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Partaking >> Partaking of the power of God >> Partaking of the ministry of the Holy Spirit -- This verse goes with verses 1-3 Heb 11,20-40 (151c) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> The Patriarchs >> The sons of Abraham – Here is that word again, “better”. This chapter uses this word (Vs 4,16,35,40) and in other chapters, referring to the new covenant as better than the old. It is a simple word, yet it describes the new covenant better than any other word. The examples that chapter 11 gives are all from the Old Testament. Although many apostles showed tremendous faith and we have their stories in the book of Acts, yet the faith of Abraham and his significance to the whole unwinding saga of mankind, told through God’s perspective, has provided a foundation for our faith, which makes his example more poignant than anything that happened in the New Testament, especially after saying in verse 39 that he never received what was promised. The promise of the old covenant was essentially the new covenant. After all that Abraham went through in his life, what did he receive but Isaac? How many couples have had children born to them, yet one couple thousands of years ago had a son; the significance was Abraham’s faith in the voice of the Holy Spirit. It is one thing to have faith in something that you believe, but it is another thing to have faith in something God believes. People choose to believe what they want, and they think they are living by faith, but great faith is defined as believing what God believes. Believing in the voice of God is the very essence of faith. Isaac was closer to receiving the fullness of promise than his father, and so it has gone through the generations, and now we are are closest to receive the fullness of God’s promise in the city that He has prepared for us, yet even we will never see the fulfillment of God’s promise. Our children and their children will be closer to seeing it than ourselves. We demonstrate the faith of Abraham by believing in Jesus, and we walk by the spirit as a new covenant form of searching for the city whose architect and builder is God, which is what all the patriarchs have done throughout the ages. See also: Abraham; Heb 11,28-31; 114d / Holy Spirit; Heb 11,28-31; 114d Heb 11,23-35 (98i) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance >> (Faith ↦ Suffering [Integrity] ↦ Glory [Reward]) – Moses received the reproaches of Christ even thousands of years before Christ was born, in that the same things they hated about Christ they hated about Moses, who turned his back on the world and all that it offered and sought God instead, according to the principles of faith. He looked forward to the reward; isn’t that our motivation too? There are levels of rewards in heaven in searching for a better resurrection (v35). What does it mean to have a better resurrection? God will give us bodies that differ from each other as star differs from star in glory (1Cor 15,40-44), so the children of God will differ in glory based on the obedience we showed Him in this life. Heb 11,23-31 (151d) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> The Patriarchs >> Moses – Moses saw the voice of God in the burning bush, and it changed him in ways that change the world. Even before that he never showed an interest in being a son of pharaoh, being the reason God chose him. He lived in the wilderness for years, banished from Egypt with the warning that if he ever returned, he would immediately be arrested and killed. He no less returned in the name of the Lord with His authority, and nobody touched him. Had Moses sauntered back to Egypt on his own authority, he would have been killed before he had a chance to open his mouth. Instead, he came in the authority of God, stepping into the royal chambers in disregard of pharaoh, addressing him with an ultimatum. This was boldness times seven for a wanted man with the sentence of death over his head to wave his audacity in the face of his enemies, plowing his way into the king’s courtroom and having the gall to threaten pharaoh in front of all his mighty men. This was beyond anything we have seen since Jesus Christ disgraced the Pharisees in the streets of Jerusalem and rebuked the high priest in front of Israel’s most respected leaders with no one able to stop Him. Moses was a man who met God face to face in the burning bush, who heard a voice proclaiming Himself, “I Am,” commanding Moses to tell pharaoh what he has seen and heard and to demand the immediate release of His people. God changed Moses, who altered the course of pharaoh and Egypt and Israel and altered the course of history. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 11,24-29 (56d) Paradox >> Opposites >> humble yourself to be used of God – Instead of royalty, Moses chose loyalty and sided with God and his brethren, the Jews. He didn’t have royalty coursing through his veins, at least not Egyptian royalty, but that of God’s chosen people. Moses chose reality over living a lie and acquired the royal garb of an eternal kingdom. What he sacrificed became the seed that grew into an exile from Egypt that led to the promise land, where Israel became a nation and dominated the Canaanites through God’s power. It sealed forever the fact that they are a chosen race by the miracles that God performed through them. Now that Moses has died and gone to heaven, God will give him great authority in eternity, because he was faithful in the days of his flesh. (154g) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Witness that the world is rebellious against God >> Witness against sin – Nobody in this world respects our faith in Jesus Christ, except those who are being called into the same kingdom by the same Spirit, who hears the same call of God on their lives. Some Christians don’t have much to relinquish; they are born into poverty and have nothing, but they still must renounce the world as Moses did. We must recognize it as ruled by Satan, the epitome of evil, which makes anybody who identifies with the world intrinsically evil. Regardless of our financial status, when we give up the world, we are doing it by faith, and God honors us for it; meanwhile, the world interprets our faith as a rebuke. When people discover why we have rejected the world, because of faith toward God, they condemn us all the more. They say they would never dedicate their lives to something written in a book, but in fact they have done this very thing. College professors teach from their science books that proclaim evolution their mother and the cause of their existence, and the world assimilates the information without question, assuming these things are true, because they believe in the world, but when we believe in the Bible, they ridicule us. They believe their gods and we believe our God. See also: Atheism, the Religion of unbelief (Secular humanism); Mat 7-26,27; 186d Heb 11,24-27 (98l) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Endurance invites the Holy Spirit into your life >> Endurance invites the glory of God (165h) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Hardship >> The hardship of persecution -- These verses go with verses 35-38. When we look at Moses’ life and what he did before he led Israel from Egypt, being the grandson of pharaoh, the nobility of kingship was on a path prepared for his feet, but he abandoned it, because Egypt oppressed the Hebrews, the people called and chosen by God through Abraham, the father of all who believe. When he discovered that He too was Hebrew, it made him determined all the more to desert his place as prince of Egypt; then add God’s calling and the man of God was prepared for the dessert furnace of testing and humility. He rejected the nobility of kingship for the sake of becoming leader of Israel, who sensed that God was calling him to be their deliverer. He understood these things by faith, and not one Egyptian respected him for it. This was the reproach of Christ. Heb 11,24-26 (168a) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Do not conform to the world >> Do not let the world’s approval shape you to itself (188e) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Suffering >> Suffering the will of God in your life -- These verses go with verses 35-38 (201h) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Jesus is an offense >> Jesus offends the world >> Faith offends unbelief Heb 11-24,25 (170h) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance >> Temporary >> Rewards of this life are temporary – Imagine what Moses would have lost had he chosen to be pharaoh’s grandson and pursued the passing pleasures of sin? He would have heard the words from his maker, “You have received your reward in full.” God would have equated him with the Egyptians and judged him along with the rest of Israel’s oppressors. As it stands, Moses became Israel's ruler, and his reward will be exponentially multiplied to him throughout eternity for his obedience, until his faithfulness becomes a mere speck in a vast ocean of God's blessing. Contrast that with remaining pharaoh’s grandson and helping him oppress the Hebrews. God would have found another deliverer, and Moses would have gotten a few good meals from his rebellion, wore fine clothes, enjoyed pomp and circumstance for a season, been honored by men, but the benefits of being ruler of Egypt would have terminated at his last breath; then a mountain of consequences for his disobedience would have befallen him. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 11-25 (183a) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Witchcraft >> Sin is the incubator of witchcraft >> Through rebellion – The writer of Hebrews called the lifestyle of kingship “the passing pleasures of sin.” What exactly was so sinful about living a royal life? Two things really: 1) virtually every government in the world throughout time has oppressed the people under it, and 2) royal nobility is not a life of faith, and everything apart from faith is sin (Rom 14-23). The choice that Moses made to endure ill-treatment with the people of God was by faith, whereas had he agreed to remain Pharaoh's grandson, he could have lived the life of a king, a life of unbelief, his heart hardening against his own people, perhaps more than pharaoh if possible, through the knowledge of his Hebrew origins. The moment he learned that he was a Jew, it made him choose between the Egyptians and his Semitic identity. Had he sided with the Egyptians and God sent another man to deliver Israel, Moses may have been in the position of Pharaoh by then, and the man sent by God would have confronted him with the words, "Let my people go." We are speculating here and following the logic to its conclusion, but these suppositions are real! Many have been called by God but never answered the call, persons of nobility like Moses. God called them and they refused to live by faith, and their lives ended in disaster. What level of glory did they sacrifice to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin? Heb 11-26,27 (118i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Giving God your attention >> Resolutely focus on the glory of God >> Focus on the direction He is leading you -- these verses go with verses 32-38. Moses fled after he killed the Egyptian, scurried into the desert, had his wilderness experience, found his wife, became a shepherd, and there God formerly called him as Israel’s deliverer. He returned to Egypt and commanded pharaoh to let his people go, and we know the rest of the story. The writer of Hebrews said that he did not fear the king, but when we read Scripture, it says that Moses fled after killing the Egyptian once he realized that word was spreading about him, that it would eventually reach the ears of the king; he fled into the desert before pharaoh had a chance to vanquish him. Moses did not care about his status as prince and future king of all Egypt. Benefits, nobility and prestige that he stood to receive, attracting a beautiful wife, having children, living in splendor is what Moses traded, the treasures of Egypt for God's acceptance as deliverer of the Hebrews. Moses recognized that God was more respectable than the pharaoh of Egypt, and that being a child of God was more honorable than being the prince of a heathen nation. Heb 11-26 (56m) Paradox >> Opposites >> The poor in spirit are rich in faith (227d) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >> God rewards endurance >> Rewarded for overcoming sin Heb 11,28-31 (114d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Obeying the Holy Spirit >> Obeying the revelation from heaven >> Obeying the revelation of God’s word -- These verses go with verses 8-10. Passover was based on a simple trust in God, yet it moved the spiritual realm. The Israelites marked their doorpost with the blood of a lamb, a simple gesture of faith, yet it held as much credence as the faith of Abraham and all the toil and hardship he endured to fulfill the call of God on his life. They passed through the Red Sea, and marched around Jericho, and Rahab welcomed the spies, all examples of a simple faith in God. However, faith isn’t easy. Abraham became a man of God, not while he resided in his homeland planning out his personal life, but after he heard the voice of God and dumped all his plans and followed the direction of the Holy Spirit. That was not easy. Faith is faith, regardless of the ease of God’s requirement or its difficulty. We determine in our heart to obey Him, whether it is smearing a little blood on a doorpost or wandering in a foreign land throughout life. No matter where it leads, we will go; no matter the suffering we endure for Jesus' sake who dwells in us. We do all things in His honor and for the hope of eternal life. The ways of God are different from our ways, and the things He asks of us are not anything we could do without Him. See also: Abraham; Heb 11,4-40; 85m / Holy Spirit; Heb 11,32-40; 151e KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 11,29-31 (217l) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> You cannot control the judgment of God >> You cannot control how God responds to sin – The Israelites walked around the city of Jericho seven times and its walls fell, and they annihilated the people by faith, because God required it of them. The land was filled with sin in those days and it was only a matter of time that Canaan's addictive lifestyle would have spread throughout the entire world and infected people beyond their borders. Before long the whole world would have regressed to the days of Noah when there was no hope of repentance, and God would have had to exterminate the human race again. He did not want to do that, so He sent Israel to cleanse the earth from those who lost the right to live. There was no talking to them; His only alternative was to destroy them to keep their sinful ways from spreading. See also: History of mankind; Phi 3-20,21; 229a Heb 11-29 (19c) Sin >> Mocking God Without a cause >> Motivated by demons (93l) Thy kingdom come >> Following Jesus >> The multitude follow Jesus – The Israelites followed Moses through the Red Sea, delivering them from those who held them in bondage. It is the same with us; the Egyptians represent the diverse bondages that can befall the Church, and in many respects the same process is required to become free. When Jesus talked about freedom, He was referring to a Church that was united, not a church that was dilapidated and falling apart. The premise of His vision was unity in the body of Christ; therefore, if we are determined to experience the freedom of Christ, we will need to do it together as a body of believers. There is only so much victory we can enjoy as individual believers, but it will not be the kind of freedom that Jesus meant for us. Anybody can have a partial freedom, but to experience the vision that Jesus had for the Church, we need to come together in unity. There aren’t many churches in heaven but one, and Jesus said, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven” (Mat 6-10), so there should be just one Church here on earth, and for that to be a reality it needs to be united. See also: Unity; 1Pet 4,17-19 11c (140a) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >> The doorway (159d) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit godliness >> Counterfeit righteousness (162c) Works of the devil >> Carried away by the Holy Spirit (175a) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Trying to bend kingdom principles (180ca) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Be shrewd as wolves and more innocent than they appear >> Fighting off wolves with a clever innocence >> Being more clever than their sin (182b) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Self deception >> Believing you know God when you don’t (246c) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Literally set free from bondage – The Church in a state of unity pursues freedom, following the Great Shepherd, and Moses is leading the analogy, walking across the Red Sea on dry land as a means of defeating Israel's pursuers who had enslaved them. Hence, the Egyptians represent: “immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing” (Gal 5,19-21). They are all forms of slavery, and when a person gets trapped in them, they all blend together in a single state of bondage. Moses was leading the way to freedom, following a route that was literally miraculous. God had to part the Red Sea before Israel could be free from its slavery to the Egyptians, so there needs to be a miracle in our lives too in order to truly experience the freedom of Christ, something we cannot do on our own. For example, heroin addicts try to become sober while pursuing a drug-induced euphoria at the risk of their lives. Demonstrating the power of addiction, they need a miracle to enjoy the freedom of Christ. We play a part in the miracle of freedom, safe, though walking between walls of water ready to crash together at any moment. If our enemies come after us while the Lord is miraculously delivering us from their hands, they will pay for it with their lives (Rev 12-15,16). See also: Freedom from addiction (Free and forgiven); Act 13-39; 118l KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 11-31 (21d) Sin >> Disobedience will condemn you to hell (237n) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The Church is transferred to the kingdom >> Transferred from lawlessness to righteousness – All the victories mentioned in this chapter the faithful achieved by a faith that was no greater than that of Rahab. People equate strong faith with their volume of achievements, yet the people the writer of Hebrews mentioned didn’t necessarily have great faith; they just had faith, which is defined in many ways, but in this chapter and context it is defined as believing in God to fulfill our calling to promote His coming kingdom. When the spies met Rahab the harlot, her simple faith harbored them until the Israelites sprang their attack against her city to destroy the people, including her own relatives. Rahab was a harlot, not an upstanding citizen, yet the fact that she recognized Israel as a weapon of righteousness in the hand of God indicates that the life she lived was not what she really wanted. She was looking for an alternative and couldn't find it, until Israel came and introduced to her a new way of life, free from the various bondages of sin. The Church holds the same ministry in the world. There was no place in her society where she could go and find peace for her soul. She knew what she wanted, and when she met the Israelites, she sensed they were sent by God. She didn't complain or resist, but saw the justice in it because of her society's wretchedness, and she latched onto them for a new way of life presented to her. She didn’t harbor the Israelite spies just to save her own neck, who were scheming a coo against her people; instead, what she did she did by faith and was rewarded, and she was adopted into the family of Israel, the people of faith. She was welcomed into the nation and integrated into its culture which was controlled by God. Heb 11,32-40 (105lb) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Led by the Spirit into the wilderness >> Wilderness is the true nature of this world -- These verses go with verses 8-10 (151e) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> The Patriarchs >> The Old Testament prophets – This passage is a description of the life of a prophet in a world that hates God. He is very much alone in the world; everywhere he goes he is treated as a second-class citizen. The man of God doesn’t have to speak a word, and people instinctively know that he is a prophet, and they despise him for it. People are willing to accept any form of person, color, race or creed, but the world does not accept someone who has transcended this world by following the Holy Spirit, for he follows a foreign Spirit who is alien to this world. All Christians have a certain amount of faith, but the prophet has a relationship with God that he protects with his life and God protects him, and he refuses to expose his life to the eroding power of sin, which turns faith into unbelief. A person can have any religion of preference and people will accept him on some level, but the prophet who obeys the Holy Spirit has a hard life, for he lives in a world that is controlled by Satan, who is the god of this world and god of everyone who loves the world. See also: Holy Spirit; Heb 11-39,40; 8f Heb 11,32-38 (118i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Giving God your attention >> Resolutely focus on the glory of God >> Focus on the direction He is leading you -- These verses go with verses 7-10 Heb 11-34 (9e) Responsibility >> God strengthens us from our weaknesses (29c) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> Delivered from death -- This verse goes with verse 5 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 11,35-40 (96a) Thy kingdom come >> Positive attitude about suffering >> Suffering under the hand of men – People of faith over the centuries were willing to endure a barrage of injuries, afflictions and insults from the world against their person for the privilege of doing God’s will. Suffering is the gate through which we must pass in order to accomplish the will of God, for it is impossible to do his will without suffering because of opposition from the world, the flesh and the devil. Their lives were reduced to living in caves and holes in the ground, and wandering in deserts, because there was no place for them in the world. Jesus was born in a stable so he would not insult all the prophets who came before Him, who lived much the same way, like animals, pressured from society, because they believed in God and enjoyed His company. They lived by His principles and promises, and they wouldn’t give them up for anything. (189e) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Martyr >> Tested for faithfulness to the death (192g) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Gain by losing >> Waiting for God to do it His way >> Being patient to receive something better Heb 11,35-38 (32i) Gift of God >> Father will honor you if you die to self >> Father honors His word in you (56h) Paradox >> Opposites >> He must increase, but I must decrease (165h) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Hardship >> The hardship of persecution -- These verses go with verses 24-27 (188e) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Suffering >> Suffering the will of God in your life -- These verses go with verses 24-26 Heb 11-35 (39b) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> Characteristics of the resurrection (209g) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Righteous saved with difficulty >> Righteous saved with casualties (226j) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >> Levels of reward >> Rewarded by levels of glory in our spiritual bodies (233a) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >> Seeking the goals of the kingdom >> Seek the goal of the resurrection – Imagine the faith it would take to receive back their dead by resurrection; that is how much faith it takes to be tortured, not accepting their release that they might obtain a better resurrection. Some people from the Old Testament believed in the resurrection from the dead, which was a foreign concept until Jesus brought it to light in the preaching of the gospel. What goes along with faith and insight in the knowledge of God is persecution and suffering, and God ministered to them in their circumstances about a future covenant that God would make with His worshippers. Those who understood such things in the old covenant were prophets, men who understood God's wisdom before He made it known to others. The revelation of God’s word is faith that performs miracles, since it is a miracle that we know these things. See also: Prophets; Rev 18,17-24; 49f (233j) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> Seek His glory without wavering >> Seek His glory through perseverance KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Heb 11,36-38 (243f) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecuting the Church of God Heb 11-36 (216f) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Compelled by the Spirit >> God forces His bond-servants to do His will (243c) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Mocking >> Mocking the Church Heb 11-37 (23f) Sin >> Poverty (Oppression) >> Rich are those who are poor in their own minds (160j) Works of the devil >> Temptation to walk in unbelief >> Tempted to abandon your convictions Heb 11-38 (71d) Authority >> Ordained by God >> Worthiness of man >> God makes us worthy of heaven Heb 11-39,40 (8f) Responsibility >> Prepare to interact with God >> Law prepares you for the Spirit – When the new covenant came to pass, Paul brought to light that we no longer use the Law to determine good from evil. We now rely on the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures, who is the substance of the new covenant, who acts like a supercharger to our conscience. He monitors our heart and tells us when we are dragging Him through the mud and leads us to repentance. People in the old covenant didn’t have the Holy Spirit as we do, though we know that King David possessed the Holy Spirit, because he asked God not to take it from him after he sinned (Psalms 51-11); this is in reference to his kingly anointing. After Jesus rose from the dead, he breathed on His disciples saying to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20-22), indicating that the indwelling Holy Spirit was made available to all who believe in Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, meaning not even David had what we have. We have been made perfect compared to old covenant standards, though we are by no means perfect as we will be in heaven. “Provided something better for us” refers to the forgiveness of sin afforded by the blood of Jesus, suggesting that there were disadvantages to old covenant believers looking forward to Christ's sacrifice, compared to us who see His sacrifice already accomplished. That is, we have the Holy Spirit that Jesus sent in His place to assist us in fulfilling God’s plan and purpose for our lives. See also: Holy Spirit; Heb 11-1; 110l (44g) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Transformed >> Complete >> Lacking in nothing (118b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Seeing through the eyes of your spirit >> Everything you can see you can have -- These verses go with verse 13. Peter spoke about faith as more valuable than gold; this is how we should value our faith. When it matures, it becomes evidence that heaven exists; that is, it becomes evidence of "things not yet seen." (217a) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> God Is Independent Of His Creation >> No one can make God do anything (229j) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Partaking >> Partaking of Jesus >> Partaking of Jesus’ gift See next page