1. This supposes the people of God not actually settled in the land, but still pilgrims and strangers on the earth; and the epistle to the Hebrews, we have already seen, looks emphatically and exclusively at the people of God as not yet passed out of the wilderness; never as brought into the land, though it might be on the verge; just entering, but not actually entered. Twice Moses forsook Egypt: [1.] It was a testimony of his righteousness. Now oftentimes as God is leading us, He leads us just one step at a time, and that is our problem. The reason I take to be, that the apostle meets the Jewish believer where he is, as much as possible giving credit for what was really true in the Old Testament saints, and so in the Jewish mind. It was due to the faith of these men that the Jewish religion was not completely destroyed. Moffatt quotes a saying of A. S. Peake: "The courage to abandon work on which one's heart is set and accept inaction cheerfully as the will of God is of the rarest and highest kind and can be created and sustained only by the clearest spiritual vision." When he reached the promised land, he was never allowed to possess it. As Faber had it: The Christian believes that no man who takes the side of God can ever ultimately be on the losing side for, even if he knows earth's defeats, there is a victory whose trophies are in heaven. "Hey where you headed, fella?" The trial and exercise of Abraham's faith; he was tried indeed. Antiochus thought for a moment and realized that to defy Rome was impossible. If they were Abraham's children, and not his seed only, surely they would honour Him. Seneca wrote: "The wise man will never provoke the wrath of mighty men; nay, he will turn aside from it; in just the same way as sailors in sailing will not deliberately court the danger of the storm." 14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. Here we may observe, (1.) The pleasures of this world, and especially those of a court, are too often the pleasures of sin; and they are always so when we cannot enjoy them without deserting God and his people. It was by faith that Joseph, as he came to the end, had his mind the days when the children of Israel would leave Egypt, and gave instructions concerning his bones. when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones: As Joseph was dying, he showed his faith like his father, Jacob, by calling his sons to him and telling them about the future when they would leave Egypt and return to Canaan. It looks on death as a reward. The prudent, comfort-loving man is the very opposite of God. THE FAITH OF THE ACCEPTABLE OFFERING ( Hebrews 11:4 ). _Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. One imperfection of the present state of the saints on earth is that their happiness lies more in promise and reversion than in actual enjoyment and possession. But when evening came, the sun sank in the west and Abraham said: "No! Centuries after this Judas Maccabaeus and his men were facing the city of Caspis, so secure in its strength that its defenders laughed in their safety. And we go to the story of Abraham, where God said unto Abraham, "Abraham," and he said, "Here am I." And the Lord said unto him, "Why are you angry that your offering was rejected? It was at that moment that the faith of Moses communicated itself to the people and drove them on when they might well have turned back. Now, they all died in faith not having received the promise. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. Apart from faith it is impossible to please God, for he who approaches God must believe that God is, and that he is the rewarder of those who spend their lives seeking him. Joseph had attained to greatness but it was the greatness of a stranger in a strange land; and yet they never doubted that the promise would come true. He prophesied that they should be blessed; but, as Isaac did before, so now Jacob prefers the younger, Ephraim; and though Joseph had placed them so, that the right hand of his father should be laid on Manasseh, the elder, Jacob wittingly laid it on Ephraim, and this by divine direction, for he could not see, to show that the Gentile church, the younger, should have a more abundant blessing than the Jewish church, the elder. Some would take this as detracting from his victory, that he gained it so late, that he did not make this choice sooner; but it is rather an enhancement of the honour of his self-denial and victory over the world that he made this choice when he had grown ripe for judgment and enjoyment, able to know what he did and why he did it. At the moment when she was speaking, there seemed not one chance in a million that the children of Israel could capture Jericho. God said to first deal with the sin. Reason can appreciate not grace but law; and so people are apt, when things go wrong, to bring in the law. Cain took the earth and everything stationary; Abel took everything moveable. (2.) He did this leaning on the top of his staff; not as the papists dream, that he worshipped some image of God engraven on the head of his staff, but intimating to us his great natural weakness, that he was not able to support himself so far as to sit up in his bed without a staff, and yet that he would not make this an excuse for neglecting the worshipping of God; he would do it as well as he could with his body, as well as with his spirit, though he could not do it as well as he would. (1.) 4. It was therefore necessary that the representations of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. The idea being of God asking Abraham to give the most cherished possession that he had to Him. What is the end of the story? There is no sanction here, of course, of the vulgar and outrageous error that pastors give an account of the souls of their flock. ""So by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should afterward receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing where he was going.". That he walked with God, that is, that he was really, eminently, actively, progressively, and perseveringly religious in his conformity to God, communion with God, and complacency in God. That may have a higher character, these a lower; but even the highest is never to supersede or make us forgetful of the lowest. Keats said that he had been "half in love with easeful death." The Holy Spirit said to Philip in Samaria, "Go down to Gaza, that desert area." Many times a person is trying to shortcut himself into fellowship with God. According, to the Jews it was quite impossible, if God had once established a covenant, He could ever change; but the apostle replies that their own prophet is against their theory. There was Samuel, born to his mother so late in life ( 1 Samuel 1:1-28), again and again moving alone as the only strong and faithful man of God amongst an easily frightened, discontented and rebellious people. My faith in God provokes my works for God.Now Noah condemned the world by his belief and faith in God, and he became the heir of the righteousness, which is by faith. One story tells how Noah was in doubt as to the shape he was to give the ark. (3.) and so we believe that God spoke the seen world into existence so that the things which we do see were made out of things which do not appear.An example, really, of faith or an evidence of faith, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Here the apostle warns those that turn their back on Christ's one sacrifice. Cavour said that the first essential of a statesman is "the sense of the possible." Here's a man that declares he pleased God. "I do not think," said the man, "I know." The latter is not referred to, because it represents the millennial glory; the former is, because it finds its proper fulfilment in that which is made good in the Christian scheme now. The blessing of Jacob is given in Genesis 48:9-22. It seemed as if everything went against them. "There is employed in that particular text what is known grammatically in the Hebrew as a polysyndeton. He is evidently gone into the holiest of all in His own person. It simply says that in God's good time he passed serenely from this earth. Witness that he was righteous, a justified, sanctified, and accepted person; this, very probably, was attested by fire from heaven, kindling and consuming his sacrifice. JFB, Comp. That, from the beginning, there has been a remarkable difference between the worshippers. Hence in Hebrews we never find the body of Christ as such referred to. They had known God in His providence and dealings on the earth, though looking for a Messiah and His day. Christianity is stamped by this, that, in virtue of the blood of Christ, once for all for every believer the way is made manifest into the holiest of all. The difficulties of Sarah's faith, which were very great. Such a man, even as Cain was, is banished from the face of God. It is that which infinitely exceeds the deliverance out of Egypt, or any ceremonial atonement ever wrought by a high priest for Israel. Thenceforward how it figures in the Psalms and prophets! It is easy to see how this passage can be read against the terrible happenings of these days. He was the scourge of the Philistines. As those who would follow the faithful steps of Abraham would die and would come into this compartment of hell, Abraham would say, "Don't worry, God's faithful. How can such a consciousness as this be the portion of the Christian? Jephthah was an illegitimate son; he was driven into a kind of exile and into the life of an outlaw; but when the Ammonites were putting Israel into fear, the forgotten outlaw was called back and won a tremendous victory, although his vow to God cost him the life of his daughter. This was an effectual call, by which he was converted from the idolatry of his father's house, ; Genesis 12:1. The writer to the Hebrews goes further. Man was tried by all sorts of tests from time to time God knew perfectly well, and even declared here and there, the end from the beginning; but He would make it manifest to every conscience, that all He got from man in these His varied dealings was sin. (2. Interesting statement, especially from a scientific standpoint. We know that there was predicted in the Old Testament the death of Christ. [2.] Because of the order in which it comes that must be what Hebrews 11:27 refers to. Barnes, the departing--"the exodus" (Genesis 50:24-25). He gave his spirit so that we might have power to say "no" to sin. The faith of Moses himself (; Hebrews 11:24-25, &c.), here observe. (4.) XIV. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. They only saw them from far away and greeted them from afar, and they admitted that they were strangers and sojourners upon the earth. (2.) There it was in the Psalms. (i) The first is the story of the fall of Jericho. There is something of permanent greatness here. See how this word, this thought, always predominates in the epistle. (Exodus 4:22), so also will I make king . Christ brings a new priesthood, not mentioned by Moses (12-14) IV. What mountain in the Old Testament so much speaks of grace, of God's merciful interference for His people when all was lost? That he preferred a significant burial in Canaan before a magnificent one in Egypt. 11:13-16 All these died without obtaining possession of the promises. 1. i Apud Hottinger. He collapsed and one of the soldiers kicked him violently in the stomach to make him rise. The promise is made to believers and their children, and to as many as the Lord our God shall call. This epistle insists on the blood of Christ, making all to turn on that efficacious work for us. The sheer serenity of the Old Testament statement, so simple and yet so moving, points forward to the Christian attitude. "And who is the lord of Terah?" The Lord said, "I'll pass through the land this night and the firstborn in every house will be slain. Someone asked him if he never got tired of it all. William Morris wrote: "Death have we hated, knowing not what it meant. In the book of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego are confronted with the choice of obeying Nebuchadnezzar and worshipping the king's image or obeying God and entering the fiery furnace. The actings of Noah's faith, and the influence it had both upon his mind and practice. Be assured it is of the deepest possible moment to cherish the activity of Christ's present love and care for us, the activity of that priesthood which is the subject of this epistle. Joseph, when he died , When he was dying, gave commandment concerning his bones. We know they exist, but yet, they are invisible. Take thy son, not one of thy beasts or slaves, thy only son by Sarah, Isaac thy laughter, the child of thy joy and delight, whom thou lovest as thine own soul; take him away to a distant place, three days' journey, the land of Moriah; do not only leave him there, but offer him for a burnt offering." If I have an indisputable present title of access into the holiest of all, I must not shrink from the place of ashes outside the camp. God's warning comes to us in many ways. The writer to the Hebrews is saving: "See! He did not dispute with God why he should make an ark, nor how it could be capable of containing what was to be lodged in it, nor how such a vessel could possibly weather out so great a storm. This inheritance is not immediately possessed by them; they must wait some time for it: but the promise is sure, and shall have its seasonable accomplishment. As a Christian I am now free, by God's will, to go in peace and assurance of His love into the holiest of all yes, now. (ii) The Christian hope is belief in the spirit against the senses. Above all things, he is the God of the gallant adventurer. The writer to the Hebrews uses three vivid Greek words about them. The earliest legend tells how every time Eve bore children she bore twins, a boy and a girl, and that they were given to each other as man and wife. From the beginning to the end of it the Christian in Hebrews is not thus dealt with apart from the old nature, as we may see him regarded in the ordinary epistles of Paul, where the old and the new man are most carefully separated. Hebrews 11:22. little thinking that he was to be the lamb; but Abraham knew it, and yet he went on with the great design. There it was more particularly the activity of faith; here it is the suffering of faith. They're sort of super saints. "They wandered in the mountains and in the dens like beasts" ( 2Ma_10:6 ). The powerful success of the prescribed means. In this faith of Moses's parents there was a mixture of unbelief, but God was pleased to overlook it. They all died in faith not having received the promise, for you see, God provided some better thing for us. If you have and prize one alone, you have only got the half of Christianity yea, of its foundations. I know that you will not withhold anything from Me. The apostle here mentions some things that very much added to the greatness of this trial. That God would not suffer Abel's faith to die with him, but would raise up others, who should obtain like precious faith; and so he did in a little time; for in the next verse we read. Bible-NT Paul Apple August 25, 2020 Hebrews. And it is pleasant to see parents and children sojourning together in this world as heirs of the heavenly inheritance. Their faith defeated death. We often say, "It is good to be akin to an estate;" but surely it is good to be akin to the covenant. So glorious were the things they defy description. The apostle does not dwell on the detailed application of His Melchisedec priesthood, as to the object and character of its exercise. Hebrews 11:22 New International Version 22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones. He could have just gone on as the son of Pharaoh's daughter and enjoyed through his lifetime the pleasures of sin, but that would have been a very short time, though he lived to be one hundred twenty, still short in comparison to the fact that he has been gone for 3,700 years now. "In the volume of the book it is written of me" a book which none ever saw but God and His Son. Observe, [1.] he made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; that is, out of the land of Egypt: he remembered it himself, and put his brethren in mind of it, by speaking of it to their comfort, with great assurance; he knew they were well situated in the land of Egypt, and yet speaks of their departure out of it; he foresaw, and firmly believed they would be greatly afflicted in it, and that God would look upon them, and visit them, and bring them out of it, into the land of Canaan; all which shows the strength of his faith, and that it was about things not seen. 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