Fabulous Faith

Review

last week we left our study in Hebrews on somewhat of a cliff hanger. You see, the author has laid out a strong case for why Jesus was superior to the old covenant in every way and most notably the part where sin is removed. Yet this brings up an interesting contrast.

What is Faith?

In order to understand what faith is, and its importance, the writer starts out with a definition.

Hebrews 11:1 TLV

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of realities not seen.

I particularly love the wording in the TLV translation here because it makes the Greek super clear. It is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of realities not seen! Can you just let that sink in a second. Let’s examine really quickly the Hebrew word for faith because remember, Jesus was a Jew and thought like a Jew. His first disciples were all Jews and they also though and talked like Jews. The Hebrews were all - you guessed it Jews. So with that in mind, let’s take a look a the Hebrew word for faith - emunah

That word is generally translated in English as faith, belief or faithfulness. Emunah is derived from the Hebrew word aman, which means firm, something supported and secure, or someone who is firm in his actions. It occurs for the first time in the Bible in Genesis Let’s read it.

Genesis 15:6 NKJV

And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

So the let’s break that down. Abraham believed God, he had aman in God. who credited to him as righteousness. In other words, Abraham was firm, supported and secure in his actions, and those actions demonstrated the profundity of his belief in the Word of God. James points out:

James 2:18 NKJV

But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Faith is Active!

James is pointing out that to have faith in God is not merely the knowledge that God exists, or that He can or even will do something, it is acting with firmness toward God’s will having a certainty of God’s will. Emunah then, is faith that results in action, it does not simply happen in the head or even in the heart, it happens in the entire body. Emunah is innate and alive, it grows as we grow in Christ Jesus.

So to achieve this kind of firmness requires more than is possible for men. As Jeremiah says.

Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV

“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

and then the sentiment echoed by Paul to the Romans:

Romans 3:11–12 NKJV

There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Faith Comes by the Grace of God

You see saints emunah does not work by reason alone, it is only accessible through the grace of God. How many times have you heard the following passage quoted?

Ephesians 2:8–10 NKJV

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

In the past I’ve gotten hung up on something seemingly unnoticed, and that is, I always thought that the act of exercising one’s faith was a work unto grace. But we see that you can’t exercise emunah, it emanates from within, and when it happens in relation to salvation, it doesn’t even come from us to begin with, it comes as a work of grace!

So why is this so important to know? Well because from the very beginning, it was never the Law of Moses that saved. The Torah, in relation to atonement wasn’t unto salvation because to have faith in the blood of lambs or goats would have been sinful and idolatrous. But for a Jew to have faith in a crucified Messiah would have been a bridge too far. Nothing would have made sense to them. They required a supernatural measure of faith and the instrument by which God brings that faith is grace. If it wasn’t by the blood of lambs and goats, and it wasn’t by being obedient to the commandments that one was saved, then what was it? Well Hebrews goes on to tell exactly what it is. Keeping in mind what we know about emunah or faith, let’s read this together.

Hebrews 11:3–12 TLV

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen did not come from anything visible. By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain. Through faith he was commended as righteous when God approved of his gifts. And through faith he still speaks, although he is dead. By faith Enoch was taken so as not to see death, and he was not found because God took him. For before he was taken, he was commended as pleasing to God. Now without faith it is impossible to please God. For the one who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. By faith Noah, when warned about events not yet seen, in holy fear prepared an ark for the safety of his household. Through faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he was to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he migrated to the land of promise as if it were foreign, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob—fellow heirs of the same promise. For he was waiting for the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive when she was barren and past the age, since she considered the One who had made the promise to be faithful. So from one—and him as good as dead—were fathered offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and as uncountable as the sand on the seashore.

Now let’s pause here and take another look at the definition of faith.

Hebrews 11:1 TLV

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of realities not seen.

When each of these people had faith, their circumstances were dreadful, it’s only after the death of Christ. Their emunah made God’s unseen promises a reality even before they came to fruition. So much so that they acted on that emunah that rose up within them! The writer continues.

Hebrews 11:17–38 TLV

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had received the promises was offering up his one and only son— the one about whom it was said, “Through Isaac offspring shall be named for you.” He reasoned that God was able to raise him up even from the dead—and in a sense, he did receive him back from there. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he bowed in worship while leaning on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when his end was near, made mention of the exodus of Bnei-Yisrael and gave instructions about his bones. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was an extraordinary child and they were not afraid of the king’s decree. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Instead he chose to suffer mistreatment along with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. He considered the disgrace of Messiah as greater riches than the treasures of Egypt—because he was looking ahead to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger—for he persevered as if seeing the One who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the smearing of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as if on dry ground. When the Egyptians tried it, they were swallowed up. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were circled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she welcomed the spies with shalom. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets. By faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, and made foreign armies flee. Women received their dead raised back to life; and others were tortured, after not accepting release, so they might obtain a better resurrection. Others experienced the trial of mocking and scourging—yes, and even chains and prison. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were murdered with the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins; they were destitute, afflicted, mistreated. The world was not worthy of them! They wandered around in deserts and mountains, caves and holes in the ground.

When I was a young man and my mother was new in her faith, she was going through a particularly rough time and I told her to read Hebrews 11. It brought me a great deal of comfort, but later when I asked her if it had helped, she said, “no all I read is about a bunch of people who didn’t get what they were promised.” That was confusing, because I didn’t understand what she was talking about. Then I read the last part of that passage.

Hebrews 11:39–40 NKJV

And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

They didn’t receive what they were promised! Yet they were still commended? So what good was their faith to them? Well the key is in the very last part of verse 40.

“so that only with us would they reach perfection.” How is perfection attained? Not by the law, because according to Yeshua, the law had not yet been perfected. But in fact, Yeshua came to complete the law - to perfect it, they received their salvation after their death! Why? Because they, like us, put their faith in Messiah. They put their faith in the future Messiah, and we put our faith in Messiah who has already come. They attained salvation the very same way that you and I obtain salvation. By grace, they were given the grace of God to endure what they did and that grace that they were given was the emunah to remain steadfast and to act on the evidence of what they hoped for clinging to the substance of REALITIES not yet seen!!!! Saints, we don’t have emunah strength faith in promises that are okay maybe. We have faith in realities! Can I get an amen?

Putting it All Together

When Paul says we are not saved by Grace, or not saved by obedience to the Torah, he’s not laying down new theology. He’s not describing the New Covenant. Contrary to what has been traditionally taught in churches, Paul is not abolishing the Law of Moses. He’s merely restating a principle that is clear from Old Testament scripture, but it seems tended to occasionally be missed by Jews at the time, and that is that Observing Torah was not done for the purpose of salvation, it was done because that is what pleases God. It was done to get closer to God. Obedience is not what saved! The only thing that was credited to them as righteousness was faith, but not the faith that you and I know, the emunah kind of faith that firmly and even stubbornly acts because the person exercising it cannot be convinced that God’s word will not come to pass, and even death itself cannot prevent the promises of God from being fulfilled. And this saints, is one of the greatest miracles that God performs. It is the miracle of his grace that imparts faith. Emunah faith that allows us to see the realities of the invisible realm.

Let’s pray together,