Abraham and the Patriarchs (Hebrews 11: 8–22)

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. 15 And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. 20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. 21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.

I. The Faith of Abraham and Sarah (11:8–19)

A. God promised Abraham a land, a posterity, a great name and universal influence (Gen 12:1–3)

1 Now the LORD had said to Abram:“Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house,To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Abraham believed God and left his kinfolk, his present comforts and prospects, and, at the age of seventy-five, set out for Canaan, a land he had never visited and knew nothing about.

When he got there he lived as a resident alien, residing in tents and owning nothing except the cave of Machpelah in Hebron, where he buried his wife, Sarah. The motive for this remarkable behavior was his anticipation that God would fulfill his promise and produce on earth, a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

B. It is amazing how far Abraham saw by faith.

He lived two thousand years before Christ, and we live two thousand years after him. Yet Abraham, believing that what God had said would take place, looked across forty centuries of time and beyond to the day when God would bring to earth a city with eternal foundations.

That is what Abraham longed for; an earth run after God’s order, where people would dwell together in peace, harmony, blessing, beauty and liberty. Because of that hope he was content to dwell his whole life in tents, looking for God’s fulfillment. Abraham shows us that faith seizes upon a revealed event and lives in anticipation of it.

Faith gives purpose and destination to life. The hope of achieving a utopian city of peace and universal blessing is what we hold out for even today;

C. The second highlight of Abraham’s faith centered on God’s promise of a posterity.

This involved Sarah as well, for though Abraham was now a hundred years old, and Sarah ninety, God had expressly told Abraham that he would have a son who would produce a long line of descendants.

We must not exclude Sarah from this reckoning of those who triumphed by faith. Even though she laughed when she overheard God’s promise to Abraham that she would bear a son, nevertheless, God countered her disbelief with the question, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” Those challenging words would surely have been the source of her meditation in the days that followed.

D. The patriarchs had acknowledged their true status as strangers and exiles. Abraham used the same description of himself.

They all died, without receiving the things promised, though they still expected God to fulfill his word to them. The fact that they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance indicates their understanding that the promises were in the future and would have spiritual as well as physical fulfillment.

Because their faith grew to encompass eternal realities as well as earthly prospects, the writer declares that God is not ashamed to be called their God. Once again we see the deliberate link between the visible and the invisible.

E. The severest test of Abraham’s faith, and its most glorious triumph.

Emphasis is laid on the fact that Abraham was asked to slay his son Isaac, even though he had received promises that Isaac would establish the guaranteed posterity. Ishmael was also a son of Abraham, but only Isaac was the son of promise.

Some have criticized God for subjecting Abraham to such unbearable anguish, but it must be remembered that Abraham’s faith in the loving character of God enabled him to solve this crisis. He reasoned that God was in full control of both death and life; he could restore as well as take. On that basis Abraham was able to carry through what was seen as a grisly task.

So Abraham’s faith reached the highest pinnacle of faith: belief in a resurrection that would fulfill all the promises of God.

II. The Faith of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph (11:20–22)

A. The thought of a faith still trusting in the very face of death leads to the focus on Abraham’s descendants—Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

They see their own deaths and yet look beyond in unwavering faith. The point about all three is that they clearly saw aspects of the future because they exercised faith in what was invisible at the present.

Isaac, though not given to dramatic demonstrations of faith, could still foretell the subsequent character of his twin sons’ lives, Jacob and Esau, because he understood, by faith, how each would relate to the plan of God.

B. We have to admire the faith of the patriarchs.

These men were not dreamers or merely wishful thinkers; they “saw” invisible realities, and adapted their own lives and that of their descendants accordingly. They didn’t have complete bibles, but their faith was strong.

They handed God’s promises down from one generation to another. In spite of their failures and testings, they believed God and He bore witness to their faith. How much more faith you and I should have.