A Summary of Faithful Witnesses
AN OVERVIEW SUMMARY OF FAITHFUL WITNESSES
Heb. 11:30-40
Introduction: To this point in Heb. 11 we have studied, in some detail, the faith of some outstanding characters of the Old Testament. Enoch - walked with God - pleased God. Abraham -obeyed by faith (v. 8); Isaac, Jacob, Joseph - blessed their children “by faith” in God’s promises; Moses - a man whose parents’ faith spared his life, and whose own faith led to the deliverance of Israel.
There are so many other great examples, but the writer is conscious of the need to make his point and pass on to the application.
Let us notice briefly the following instances:
I. The Fall of Jericho
A. Joshua 6
1. A great, well—fortified city.
2. It was an important city, and it is interesting that Israel’s first victory came over one of the more important cities of the land of Canaan.
B. The walls fell “by faith.”
1. They were not broken down by natural means.
2. Man’s wisdom is not evident in the defeat of Jericho!
3. Isa. 55:8-11 - “My ways are not your ways...”
4. When they did what God commanded, God did what he promised!
II. Rahab
A. Also from Jericho (Josh. 2)
1. She received the spies into her home, and hid them.
2. She expressed her confidence that the Lord had given Israel the land (Josh. 2:9).
3. She wanted to be on the winning side!
B. She was told certain conditions to meet.
1. Stay in the house.
2. Keep her family in the house.
3. Put a scarlet cord in her window.
4. When she met those conditions, she was spared!
C. Her name appears in the genealogy of Jesus (Mt. 1:5).
1. Though she was a Gentile, she played a part in bringing forth the Messiah.
2. Ruth, also a Gentile (a Moabitess), is in the genealogy (Mt. 1:5).
III. Comparison of Verse 32 with Verses 33-38.
A. Gideon (Judges 6, 7)
1. Was given the signs of the dew on the fleece (Judges 6:36-40).
a. First night, dew on fleece only, ground dry.
b. Next night, dew on ground, fleece dry.
2. Took an army of only 300 men (who lapped water as a dog, Judges 7:5-7), he delivered Israel from the Midianites (subdued kingdoms, v. 33).
B. Barak (Judges 4:4-5:31).
1. Deborah was the Judge of that time; Barak was the leader of the army.
2. He destroyed the army of Sisera, the general for Jabin, King of Canaan, who had oppressed Israel twenty years (Judges 4:3).
C. Jephthah (Judges 11:1-12:7).
1. Delivered Israel from the Ammonites (Judges 11).
2. Made a rash, foolish vow which cost the life of his daughter (Judges 11:29-40).
D. Samson (Judges 13—16).
1. The “strong man”.
2. Promised by the Lord, before his birth, that he would deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines. (Judges 13:5).
3. His weakness was pretty women!
4. Judges 16:30 - “So the dead which he slew at his death were more than he slew in his life.”
E. David
1. A man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22).
2. Brought Israel to its “Golden Age;” expanded the borders of Israel.
3. Defeated Philistines, Edom, Moab, etc.
4. He obtained promises (v. 33); see 2 Sam. 7:14.
F. Samuel
1. The King-maker.
2. He bridged the gap between the judges and the Kings, and was a judge and a prophet (see Acts 3:24).
3. He anointed the first two Kings of Israel (Saul, then David).
4. He indeed wrought righteousness in Israel (1 Sam. 12:1ff).
G. The prophets.
1. Elijah raised the son of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings17:17-24).
2. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego quenched the violence of fire (Dan. 3).
3. Daniel stopped the mouths of lions (Dan. 6:20).
4. Jeremiah escaped the edge of the sword (Jer. 36:26).
5. A Jewish scribe, named Eliazar, about 90 years of age, is said to have been “tortured” (stretched on the rack), in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes (period between the Old & New Testaments.)
6. Zechariah, son Jehoiada, was stoned (2 Chron. 24:20-22).
7. Isaiah, according to Jewish history, was sawn asunder by the wicked King Manasseh, son of the good King Hezekiah.
8. Urijah the prophet was slain with the sword (Jer.26:33).
9. Elijah wandered about in a sheepskin (his “mantle” is described by a word which was used for “a garment made of sheepskin or any rough wooly skin”).
H. “Of whom the world was not worthy...”
1. These great men of faith were never appreciated by their contemporaries!
2. Rather than listening to them, imitating their faith, and giving them the honor they deserved, the world proved itself unworthy by persecuting, killing, and mocking them!
IV. Where Do We Come In? (vv. 39, 40)
A. These all received a good report.
1. They endured!
2. When the results were in, the grades handed out, or the votes counted, these were victorious.
B. However, they did not attain unto the substance, the reality! (Heb. 10:1)
1. He who knows the end from the beginning (Isa. 46:9, 10), had it in his plan to allow us to be partakers of these things that these men saw only in promise!
2. Mt. l3:17- “For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”
C. As one man has so well said it: “They and we together now enjoy unrestricted access to God through Christ, as fellow— citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. The ‘better plan’ which God had made embraces the better hope, the better promises, the better covenant, the better sacrifice, the better and a abiding possession, and the better resurrection which is their heritage, and ours.” (F.F. Bruce, Commentary on Hebrews, p. 344).
Conclusion: Just as Jesus could say that “he that is least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than” John the Baptist (Mt.11:11), so it can be said of each of those men mentioned in this chapter. What great blessings are ours! What great responsibility as well!