Hebrews 11:8-22
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Appetiser
Appetiser
There are two ways we can think of faith.
Like clothes: we put them on. Maybe you like formal dressing, maybe you like casual. Well, it’s not worth falling out over it, no? You wear your preference, I wear mine. Why do you get so upset by my preference? And why do you want me to adopt yours?!
Like life: this is what I build my life upon. For the Christian, it’s this: Hebrews 6:19-20. Or, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:20-22:
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
If you are a Christian, your life is bound up with this truth. It is your life, not your opinion. It’s not a set of clothes—it is you yourself that is at stake here. And “the ancients” (Hebrews 11:1-2) knew this, and lived by faith. We’ll see that today in Abraham and his family.
Main Course
Main Course
Faith enables us to live on earth as citizens of heaven, v8-10, commentary in v13-16
Faith enables us to live on earth as citizens of heaven, v8-10, commentary in v13-16
This seen in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, v8-10
Abraham was enabled to answer God’s call by faith, v8 cf. Genesis 12:1-4. God called him, and that call resulted in faith in him. And he left his previous life behind, and became a God-follower.
Abraham was enabled to live like nomad “in the promised land” by faith, v9
“he made his home in the promised land”: he settled there, worked, lived, etc.
But he lived here “like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents”: was it his, or was it not? Already because of the promise, but not yet in experience.
Abraham believed that the promised land was not what the promise ultimately referred to, v10
“the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God”—what is this City of God?
Commentary on v8-10, v13-16
Living as strangers by the rule of (κατα) faith, v13 (commenting on v8-9)
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob all died not experiencing fully the fulfilment of God’s promise. They “were still living by faith”—according to the rule of faith. That is to say, they treated their present life as transient—not insignificant, but like living in transit! They lived in tents, not in houses. They did not seek to settle there.
They did not grumble about this, but “welcomed them from a distance”. cf. 11:1.
This enabled them to live as God allotted them to, but “admitting” it. They died content.
The hope they had: the homeland ahead, v14-16 (expanding v10)
When the going got hard, the promise looked far away, their hope was not in going back to where they came from, v14-15. Rather, they “were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.” And God commended them as His own for this (cf. 11:2), “for he has prepared a city for them.”, v16
Compare with v10
The land of Canaan points to something greater, something more profound and lasting than any location on earth. It points to the city of God. Abraham began to realize that there was something greater than Canaan awaiting him, that he would inherit the city of God.
Schreiner, T. R. (2021). Hebrews. (T. D. Alexander, T. R. Schreiner, & A. J. Köstenberger, Eds.) (p. 351). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Implication: As Christians, we live on earth as tent-dwellers, in the church experiencing a foretaste of what is to come, for which we patiently wait for by faith. This both enables us to live godly lives on earth, and not to grow weary. This life is our inheritance through Jesus Christ, bought in His own blood, 9:15.
Before we were saved, we were like Abraham before he was called. Repentance is radical action, which is only possible by faith. It makes us people not of this world. Aliens and strangers. 1 Peter 2:11
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.
The temptation to turn back, cf. v15-16. Instead of doing so, we live by the rule of faith. There is a tension here: we are to live here, but not settle here. The focus is on this latter in this context. By faith in God, knowing who we are and where we’re going, we can live content in this world. Whatever our lot.
Our inheritance is the city of God.
This is how Jerusalem was referred to in the Old Testament, e.g. Psalm 87:1-3
He has founded his city on the holy mountain. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are said of you, city of God:
But even David, settled in Jerusalem, says in 1 Chronicles 29:15
We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
This refers to the church, Hebrews 12:22. In other words, Christians are the inheritors, cf. 9:15.
The ultimate fulfilment is in the new creation, Revelation 21:2
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
This is when we will experience this:
I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
By faith we can trust and obey God, v11-12, 17-19
By faith we can trust and obey God, v11-12, 17-19
This is for when the going gets rough.
Abraham trusted God, because he considered Him faithful—Isaac’s birth, v11-12
NIV84 is better in v11:
By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.
Context: v12 is obviously referring to Abraham.
The phrase translated “to bear children” (NIV) literally is “to scatter seed”, which “is a fixed hellenistic idiom for the specifically male function in procreation” (Lane).
Why did he obey God (Isaac was fathered)?, v11b. God said it, so it must happen. That’s how the world was made, right? 11:3
And so the promise was fulfilled, v12.
Fulfilment in Isaac
But actually, the fulfilment was the birth Jesus, Galatians 3:16
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say ‘and to seeds’, meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed’, meaning one person, who is Christ.
The numerous descendants refer to all who trust in Jesus Christ as their Saviour, Galatians 3:7-9
Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son through whom you can inherit God’s eternal promise? And do you trust God to give you that promise for Jesus’s sake? This is what we must come back to when our faith is tested.
Abraham obeyed God, because He embraced the promises, v17-19
The point is as simple: Abraham believed that it is through Isaac that God will fulfil His promise. Therefore, he was ready to carry out God’s command, even though it seemed to go against God’s promise, v17a. Notice it says he “offered Isaac”—completed action! Simple, though doubtless heavy steps of obedience.
What was this faith based on? God’s Word, v18—“even though God” is not a translation, but an interpretive gloss, and I think it’s unhelpful here. ESV keeps the Greek better: “of whom it was said”)
He “embraced the promises” (v17). It was obvious from the word “go” that this was so, Genesis 22:5
He said to his servants, ‘Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.’
Are you a Christian, an heir of God through Jesus Christ? Then obey God boldly, and leave the consequences up to God. Often we think too much of the consequences, and it keeps us from obeying. Rather, we should trust God for dealing with all aspects of our life—is He not the Sovereign Creator?—and just get on with it.
How did his faith come, though? Did it just “pop into him”? I believe there’s a help here, v19. Genesis 22 tells us that Abraham arrived at the place of the sacrifice after three days—what was he doing then? Perhaps he was reasoning then; but in any case, He didn’t forget, but turned God’s Word over in his mind. So he believed. I believe there is a correlation between us meditating on God’s Word and the measure of faith we enjoy in Him.
By faith we can die, v20-22
By faith we can die, v20-22
Explanation: the promise of the blessing of Abraham was believed in by these three dying saints., cf. v9
Isaac, v20
“He was old and blind, so that he did not know which of his sons came for the first blessing, yet he could see into the future sufficiently to bless both his sons “concerning things that were going to happen.”
Spurgeon, C. (2014). Spurgeon Commentary: Hebrews. (E. Ritzema & J. Strong, Eds.) (p. 351). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.”
Jacob, v21
Joseph’s sons were born in a foreign land, from a foreign woman—but they are included in Jacob’s blessing. The promise to Abraham is being passed down here. A foreshadowing of the inclusion of the Gentiles?
Notice the reference to worship. Remember v13! How true it is of Jacob.
Joseph, v22
The word “spoke” is the same as translated “they had been thinking of” in v15. He shared the faith of his fathers—Egypt was not his home, and his instructions spoke of his faith.
Again, remember v13!
Implications
Faith of our fathers
Creeds and confessions
Family worship
Faith in the face of death, assurance for the future with Christ.