Today we are going to conclude our study of Chapter 11, "the Hebrews hall of faith". The author will mention several more names that are familiar to us, then he will say that there are too many men and women of faith for him to discuss in detail. We have so many great examples of the Bible to follow. We have examples of people who received great promises and who did extraordinary things because of their faith. We also have examples of people who did not live to see the fulfillment of the things they believed in, yet they stood firm in faith anyway.
The author was talking about Moses when we concluded yesterday, so he picks up there today. "By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel." (Hebrews 11:28) It took faith for Moses to believe that God would spare the firstborn of Israel if the blood of a lamb was applied to the doorposts of the houses. It took faith to accept that this simple act would cause death to pass over them when the death angel saw the blood. But let me tell you, it takes just as much faith for us today to accept that applying the blood of the Lamb to our hearts saves us from our sins. Our act of faith when we believe on Christ is just as great as any act of faith that Moses performed, and God is pleased with our faith.
"By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned." (Hebrews 11:29) The people of Israel believed in the God whose power held the walls of water back. But the soldiers of Egypt did not, so the waters fell in on them.
"By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days." (Hebrews 11:30) Did it make sense to the men of Israel to march around Jericho for seven days in a row? Probably not, but their God told them to do it and they did it. If they had missed even one day, or if they had failed to make a complete circle around it even once, the city would not have fallen to them. They had to perform this act of faith to be ready to take the city.
"By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient." (Hebrews 11:31) The people of Jericho were living in opposition to God. This is why Jericho is one of the cities God promised to the people who trusted in Him. Rahab, out of all the citizens of the city, was the only person who feared the God of Israel and who, because of that fear, saved the lives of the spies. In return she and her family were spared when Israel took the city. It took faith for her to go against her own citizens. It took faith to believe in a God who had never been worshiped by her people. And it took faith to hang the scarlet thread outside her home, believing that this would cause death and destruction to pass over her. The scarlet thread, like the blood of the Passover lamb, symbolizes the blood of Christ. Rahab lived long before the advent of Christ, but because of her faith we find her in His genealogy in the gospel according to Matthew. If this is indeed the same Rahab, which most mainstream scholars believe since Matthew takes such care to name a woman in the genealogy of the Lord, then she not only possessed the faith to believe that God would spare her life, but she possessed the faith to completely convert, to become a respectable woman, and to marry into the nation of Israel. She gave up her past and her national and religious background to become a woman of God whose name would later be found in the family tree of Christ.
"And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets," (Hebrews 11:32) Did all these men start out as heroes? Did all these men remain heroes? No. When the Lord called Gideon, Gideon was hiding in a winepress in order to thresh wheat to keep the enemy from stealing it. Gideon was a doubtful man who needed several signs from the Lord in order to have the courage to do what the Lord told him to do. Barak was fearful and had to be encouraged by a female judge, Deborah, before he could lead a victorious battle. Samson made one mistake after another all his life, but in the end his faith in the Lord revived and in his dying moments he managed to kill a great number of the Philistine enemies. Jephthah was mighty in defeating the Ammonites, but he made an unwise vow that brought tragedy to his household. David had a lifelong and unwavering faith, yet he gave into temptation and committed heinous sins. He was mighty in battle and he was successful as a king, but he failed miserably as a father. All these men made pretty bad mistakes, yet we find them listed in the Hebrews hall of faith anyway. This is because our God does not demand perfection from us; He knows we aren't capable of it. But He does demand faith.
Because the people of Hebrews 11 maintained their faith in God, they were able to do mighty things for God, and they received the fulfillment of wonderful promises from God. This is why the author says that they, 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 to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again." (Hebrews 11:33-35a)
Others didn't live to see the fulfillment of the things they believed, and some endured persecution for their faith, but they stood strong. "There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed 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, living in caves and in holes in the ground." (Hebrews 11:35b-38) Persecution didn't begin when people began to believe on the resurrected Christ. There has been persecution against the people of God since the very beginning. Ever since God said to the serpent that the seed of Eve would bruise his head, Satan has sought to completely remove from the earth the people who are faithful to the Lord.
Because these Old Testament saints didn't live to see the advent of the One they awaited, the author says, "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." (Hebrews 11:39-40) Until Christ came, God's plan of salvation could not be said to be complete (the word used for "perfect" can also mean "complete"). The Old Testament saints were made right with God by faith, but they didn't live to see the One whom God had promised. We are living in an age when the Promised One has already come, in a time when God's plan of salvation has been completed, and we are blessed to be on earth during the days when we can worship and celebrate the resurrected Christ. We are living in days when the things the believers of old longed for have been fulfilled. Many of these old saints would have given anything to trade places with us. They wanted very much to fully understand how God was going to offer salvation to all mankind, but in their days they could only "see through a glass darkly". Yet that dim glimpse was all they needed to firmly believe that God was going to do everything He said He would do. We have much more to hang our faith on than they did, so what's our excuse if we don't believe?
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