Hebrews 11:33-40

Heroes of the Faith

Hebrews 11:33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Who do you think were the heroes of the faith for each statement.

Subdued kingdoms

David 2 Samuel 8:1–2 After this it came to pass that David attacked the Philistines and subdued them. And David took Metheg Ammah from the hand of the Philistines. Then he defeated Moab. Forcing them down to the ground, he measured them off with a line. With two lines he measured off those to be put to death, and with one full line those to be kept alive. So the Moabites became David’s servants, and brought tribute.

David subdued Philistia and Moab

2 Samuel 8:3–8 David also defeated Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his territory at the River Euphrates. David took from him one thousand chariots, seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. Also David hamstrung all the chariot horses, except that he spared enough of them for one hundred chariots. When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand of the Syrians. Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became David’s servants, and brought tribute. So the Lord preserved David wherever he went. And David took the shields of gold that had belonged to the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. Also from Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a large amount of bronze.

David defeated Syria Zobah and Aram

2 Samuel 8:13–14 And David made himself a name when he returned from killing eighteen thousand Syrians in the Valley of Salt. He also put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the Lord preserved David wherever he went.

David conquered Edom

Solomon expanded David’s kingdom.

1 Kings 4:21 So Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

Worked Righteousness.

Noah Genesis 6:9 “This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.”

Job Job 27:6 “My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go; My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live.”

Abraham obtained the righteousness

Genesis 16:6 So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.

Remember all our righteousness is as filthy rags

IT is only when we receive the righteousness of Jesus that we can stand before a holy God.

1 Samuel 26:23 May the Lord repay every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the Lord delivered you into my hand today, but I would not stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed.

Obtained God’s promises

Joshua Joshua 21:45 Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.

David 2 Samuel 7:12–16 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” 

Solomon 1 Kings 8:56 Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses.

Stopped the mouths of Lions

Daniel Daniel 6:20–22 “And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”

Hebrews 11:34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

Who quenched the violence of fire?

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

Daniel 3:24–25 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”

Who escaped the edge of the sword?

David

1 Samuel 19:10 Then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul’s presence; and he drove the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night.

Elijah

1 Kings 19:1–3 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

Who were out of weakness became Strong?

This one is tricky a lot of people could fit but I think that the author of Hebrews had Elijah on his mind

1 Kings 19:4–8 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

The reason for this is that is that he is the man who escaped the edge of Jezebel’s sword and he saw women recieve their dead back again.

This could have also have applied to Joseph, Job, Gideon, David, and Jeremiah

Became Valiant in battle?

David

1 Samuel 17:45–49 “Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.” So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.

1 Samuel 17:50–51 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

Turned aliens armies to flight??

Elisha

Syrians part 1 2 Kings 6:8-23

2 Kings 7.1-8

These are great stories but I would be amiss if I didn’t bring up Hezekiah and the Assyrians (different than the Syrians)

2 Kings 18-19

Look especially at 2 Kings 18:19–22 “Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What confidence is this in which you trust? You speak of having plans and power for war; but they are mere words. And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? Now look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?” ’”

2 Kings 18:27–30 “But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you?” Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew, and spoke, saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you from his hand; nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ’”

2 Kings 19:1 “And so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.”

2 Kings 19:4 “It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ””

2 Kings 19:15–19 “Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone.””

2 Kings 19:35–37 “And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.”

Hebrews 11:35–36 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.

Women received their dead back

Elijah (of course) 1 Kings 17:17–24

This is the first resurrection in the Bible

Elisha repeats the practice, solidifying this as normal and doubling his miracles

2 King 4.8-37

This is a great story that mimics the first but it is Elijah that gets the credit in the rest of the Bible like Moses before him with Joshua and Abraham (Jacob) and Joseph before them. Do you notice something the first guys aren’t great but their shadow is greater than that of the guy who comes after who may not be as controversial as the guy after them

Tortured

Jeremiah 20:1–2 “Now Pashhur the son of Immer, the priest who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord.”

Jeremiah 37:15–16 “Therefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and they struck him and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe. For they had made that the prison. When Jeremiah entered the dungeon and the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days,”

Hebrews 11:37 “They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—”

Stoned

Zechariah

2 Chronicles 24:20–21 “Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you.’ ” So they conspired against him, and at the command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord.”

Sawn in two????

The Bible doesn’t specifically say who was sawn in two but Jewish tradition says that how Isaiah was killed for his faith.

Sheep and Goatskin????

There may be no mention of that in the Old Testament but it is possible

Elijah 2 Kings 1:8 “So they answered him, “A hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.””

Hairy man is thought not to be that he was hairy like I am hairy or Samson was hairy but that he wore animal hair this may be verified with the Jewish tradition by John the Baptist

John the Baptist Matthew 3:4 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

By the way John the Baptist was an old testament saint. WHY????

Destitute Elijah and Elisha again

1 Kings 17.5-16

Elisha 2 Kings 6.24-31

I have always said that I believe that this last part of Hebrews 11 is reserved for the unsung prophets

First the patriarchs named

Moses and Joshua Named

Even the Judges Named

Kings (David and Samuel) named

Prophets - NO NAME

Mark 6:4 “But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.””

The World is not worthy

Hebrews 11:38 “of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.”

This is one of my favorite verses

First of all the world is not worthy of Jesus

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Put all those together and you find that the world was not worthy of Jesus

He is worthy of more than the world Revelation 5.8-14

The world doesn’t deserve to have saints in it either

Revelation 7:9-17 I know that this talking about those who come out of the great tribulation but I think this applies to all who stand up for Christ in the face of persecution Matthew 5.9-12

Hebrews 11:39–40 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.

It is going to be worth it all in eternity for the prophets.

I still think that the martyrs of Revelation are an example of the death of the martyrs

Revelation 6:9-11 and Revelation 14.1-5

It will be worth it all for them when they get to heaven.