Teach Me The Bible
Hebrews: The Triumphs Of Faith (Chapter 11)
The writer of Hebrews exhorted the readers to take their place alongside all of the faithful saints throughout Israel’s history who endured until death but never received the ultimate rest that was promised through Christ.
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The writer of Hebrews exhorted the readers to take their place alongside all of the faithful saints throughout Israel’s history who endured until death but never received the ultimate rest that was promised through Christ.
Stay engaged with new and up-to-date content, including newsletters, articles, podcasts, etc. Download the Teach Me the Bible App from any app store or Apple TV/Roku device.
You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast, where we unpack the meaning of books, passages and themes from Scripture. Join us each week as Dr David Klingler walks us through God's Word and teaches the Bible. Each episode has a study guide available in the show notes. This is Teach Me the Bible podcast.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, welcome back to Teach Me the Bible podcast. We are into the book of Hebrews a little ways. We are going to pick up in chapter 11 today, and so if you're new with us and this is the first time you've joined us, I'm going to point you back a number of weeks to the beginning of Hebrews. But for those of you who have been along with the ride, a little recap.
Speaker 2:This author is making the argument to a audience who has placed their faith in Christ, a Jewish audience and yet they're tempted, because of persecution, to go back to the old system, the old sacrificial system, and so he's encouraging, or he's explaining to them, that Jesus is better than all those things, and not just better. He renders those things obsolete. And so there is no going back. And so he's encouraging them to endure. Right, jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father until he makes an enemy. His enemies is footstool, and so there is need to endure. And so he's now in chapter 11, and I'll let you kind of take this but he's going to be pointing towards those who did endure in the past, and so we're going to kind of look at that, what we call Hall of Faith.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, yeah, I think that that's a part of it. So they want to go back because they, you know, they're as we're going to learn in chapter 12, he's going to say that they're, they have not yet resisted to the point of the shedding of blood and they're striving against sin. Of course. Then what follows there? And so we're going to be in chapter 11 today, chapter 12 next week, but we're coming out of chapter 10. And so it's more than just don't go back, it's the consequences of going back that you know, and this is not like the loss of salvation. You know, that's not what they, what they lost. What they lost was their life. They were, they were laid low in the wilderness, these Old Testament saints. And so the whole argument is, if you know, yes, the Lord is greater than all of these Old Testament types and shadows, or or partials and shadows, but when they rejected, when the Old Testament saints rejected the partials they were, they were disciplined by the Lord.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3:And so you know, the line of thinking goes like this if you, if, if they were judged by rejecting the partial and the shadow, do you think it'll go better for you If you re judge the, if you reject the one that this whole, this whole thing's looking for? And so we're going to run right into this word that it's in chapter 11, verse one. It's shown up in 314. It's all the way back in one three and it's really interesting, it's a hoopostasis, it's. It's this word that that's used five times in the in the New Testament. Four of the five is confidence or assurance. Only in one three is it translated differently. And so my sense is that that they're trying to tie the, the, the, the word back in one three to the previous word, characters. So it says he, that is Christ, back in one three, is the radiance of his glory, he is the, christ is the radiance of the father's glory and the exact representation I'm reading, new American standard, that's character. He is the, he is his glory, his character and his and they're translating this as nature. If we're consistent, he is his, his assurance, his confidence. And so then in chapter three, verse 14, now we have become partakers, we have become partakers of Christ If we hold fast the beginning of our assurance for him to the end. Remember, christ is the beginning excuse me, the beginning and the end, the author and the completer, and he is the assurance of the Father. I think that's what's going on here Now.
Speaker 3:The faith is the assurance. There's our word of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. So, in other words, all of these Old Testament saints had looked forward to, had participated in the partial, which was an assurance of things to come, even though they didn't see it right. And so for, by it, men of old obtained approval, they obtained or gained approval from God. And so, by faith, we understand that the worlds were prepared, and by the word of God. So what is seen is not made out of things which are visible. So there's something behind this creation. So, by faith, abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, god testifying about his gifts. And through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. And so we're gonna start to look at all of these saints who, and what's the point? Well, the point is that all of them gained assurance, gained approval by God. They shared in the hope, assurance, conviction of things coming, even though they didn't see them. They were looking for Christ, right, they were looking forward to this one, and so it was with Abel. So it was with Enoch, so it was with Noah, so it was with Abraham.
Speaker 3:By faith, abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out of the place which he was to receive an inheritance. He went out not knowing where he was going. In other words, he was called, he leaves to a place that he didn't know where he was going and he goes for this inheritance, and God all the while was his assurance, looking forward to this, that he would bless him. And so he lived in the Aelian land by faith, sarah conceived, and verse 13,.
Speaker 3:All these died in faith without receiving the promises. They had assurance, but they never saw it right, and so I think that that's how it ties back to chapter one, verse three, that Christ is the thing hoped for, he is the glory of God, he's the character of God, he is the assurance of God, and this is what all these saints were looking for, all of these saints up to this point. So we're talking about Abel and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham and Sarah. All these died without receiving the promises but having seen them and welcomed them from a distance right. And I'm reminded of Jesus saying Abraham saw my day and rejoiced, he looked forward to this day, they understood the shadow in the fulfillment.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles in the land. And then it continues by faith Isaac, by faith Jacob, by faith Joseph, by faith Moses' parents and Moses and Joshua and all of these others who are walking by faith. He continues in verse 32. And what more shall I say, for time will fail me if I tell of Gideon and Barak and Sampson and Jephthah and David and Samuel and the prophets who, by faith, conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises. Shut the mouths of lions, quench the power of fire. You know that. Shut the mouths of lions, quench the power. You know we're talking about Daniel here. Escaped the edge of the sword from weakness where made strong, became mighty in war, put armies to flight, women received back their dead by resurrection and others were tortured, not accepting their release in order that they might obtain a better resurrection.
Speaker 3:This resurrection actually has already been mentioned back in the Abraham story where he you know it says that he knew that God was able to resurrect. And so this is the theme, right. This is the thing hoped for, the greater rest, the thing that this promised one's going to come. You know, joshua brought rest in the land, but the story is looking for a greater rest. It's looking for a greater high priest, a greater covenant, a greater Moses. All of this is looking for. The greater and the greater blessing is resurrection.
Speaker 3:And so none of these. They were operating by faith in order they might obtain a better resurrection. And others experienced mockings and scourgings and chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawed in two. They were tempted or they were tested, they were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheep's skin and goat's skin and being destitute, ill treated, afflicted men of whom the world is not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground, and all of these having a gained approval by their faith. So he's right back to this thing that he started with, back in chapter 11, verse two, for by it, men of old gained approval. So he begins the chapter with this. He didn't begin the chapter. He begins this section with this. We're calling it a chapter. We divided it into a chapter, but all of this section is to make the point that he's introduced in chapter 11, verses one and two, that he returns back to. All of these, having gained approval from God through their faith, did not receive what was promised. They never obtained the greater resurrection, they never attained the rest, because God had providing something better for us, so that, apart from us, they should not be made perfect. In other words, tell us as the word were there Christ is the RK, the beginning and the end. They never received the end. They never saw that which was promised.
Speaker 3:Back in chapter eight, where the author talks about these things being, they serve as a copy, as a shadow of heavenly things. All of these things were partials, they were placeholders. They looked forward to the greater message bringer, greater than the angel. So of no angel did God ever say this is my son, he's the. Moses was the servant of the house. Christ is the house. Christ brings a better covenant, a new covenant. He's a high priest that doesn't need to offer sacrifice. Everything was looking towards this one, and the one has finally appeared.
Speaker 3:And the problem, of course, this one has finally appeared and these folks wanna go back to the partials and that sounds like, hey, we just wanna get out of some persecution here. But the author is really making this a very difficult thing to do, for two reasons, right, so? And we talked about both them. One, if you go back to the Old Testament, if you go back to the partials, if you go back to the message of angels, if you go back to the word of Moses, if you go back to the Levitical priesthood, the Mosaic covenant, if you go back to those Old Testament partials, symbols, they lead you to Christ, and you rejected him. And so, if you rejected Christ, go back to the Old Testament. It leads you to Christ again. What are you gonna do? Crucify, as I'm all over again. So that's a loser. You're in need of endurance. You're in need of running, continuing, persevering, enduring.
Speaker 3:Second, those Old Testament saints had placed their trust that they were operating by the assurance of the things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. So they were looking forward to the Telos, to the one who would come, who was the one, who was the perfecter, the completer, the one who brought the. He was the true messiahs, he was the Word of God, he was the greater Moses. He brought a better covenant, a new covenant. He was a priest according to the Order of Melchizedek, and so all of these things are greater. He's the only one who can complete it. He's the completer. And so faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. They saw it from afar, they looked forward to it, but they never received it.
Speaker 2:So, in other words, this audience has a better assurance. Would you say it that way?
Speaker 3:Well, they have the one who the Old Testament looked for has come has ascended.
Speaker 3:That's the Psalm 110. That's in this book. You know he's now, we're in the. Until time sit in my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. So at no time up to this point in the story had the end, the rest, the hope, been closer than it was. Then the promised one had appeared, was raised, ascended to the right hand of the Father, operating in a as a high priest, not in the tabernacle made by human hands, but in the true one, and so the last thing to happen is the return of Christ, so that, apart from us, they should not be made perfect. That's the, you know, that's where this, this thing's headed, here at the end of the, at the end of the chapter. And so all of the saints, through all of the ages, we're looking for this same one, this same deliver. And so that's the second thing.
Speaker 3:The third thing and we're gonna head into this more specifically next time in chapter 12, is the argument that he's made that if in the Old Testament this is his Psalm 95, maraba Masa discussion if, when in the Old Testament they rejected Moses, they rejected the words of angels, when they rejected the Old Covenant, they were laid low, the Lord discipline them. Why? And we're gonna get to this next time because the Lord disciplines those Elans, disciplines sons. You are sons, and so the discipline. So the Lord disciplines you as sons, and so you're in need of endurance. And if you don't endure, here comes the discipline right. And so it's a pretty strong, you know, argument all the way around. And so, really, it leaves the reader with no choice. But what choice do you have? Do you wanna endure the suffering of evil men or do you wanna endure the discipline of the Lord? I think that's why he brings up Abel right there at the beginning of chapter 11.
Speaker 3:By faith, abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, god testifying about his gifts. And through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. Why is he dead? Because of his faith. He operated by faith. Cain rejected, there was enmity between them, and Cain kills Abel, and so he was suffered because of his faith. And so all of this, these men, whether they were, things went well or things didn't go well.
Speaker 3:And by the end of chapter 11, or towards the end of chapter 11, you're thinking oh, this is all great. They conquer kingdoms, they obtain promises, they shut the mouths of lions, they quench the power of fun, and then all of a sudden it's. They experience mockings and scourgings and chains and imprisonment, and they were stoned and saw, all of a sudden, this isn't such a good deal. Well, here's the choice Do you want to endure the hatred of men or the discipline of the Lord? Do you want to gain approval of men or do you want to gain the approval of the Lord? And so that's the choice, wow. And so I think that men might kill you, but the Lord will, mm-hmm, he will lay you low in the wilderness, he will. He's already demonstrated he will do this.
Speaker 3:And, as we've said before this first Corinthians chapter 11 passage, the discipline of the Lord's a real thing, and so this is why some of you sick and some of you sleep. They're treating the Lord. Sufferers is common, and so chapter 11 is leading into chapter 12. And chapter 12, verse one, he's going to say this therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses, the greater cloud of witnesses are all those witnesses he just listed in chapter 11, surrounding us. Let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles.
Speaker 3:The sin that he's talking about here is the sin of going back.
Speaker 3:Right, and let us run with endurance the race set before us. Right, cause Christ has already run the race, and so let's follow his example, let's follow in his footsteps, since he is the beginner and perfecter, and so that's where we'll pick it up next time. But, as we're we say this every week, we want to just continue to emphasize this that these letters are not written with chapter and verse. They're written as a unified argument, and so if you're reading it in such a way that these parts aren't fitting together or you're stopping at the chapter breaks and I know that's what we tend to do in our podcasts, and maybe we should try to find a way to not do that, but it does make it easier to follow as well but just recognize that this is a unified argument. And so chapters one through 12 are going to explain why there's no going back, and so then chapter 13 is going to explain what does it look like to go ahead, to move forward in faith, and so that's where we'll go.
Speaker 2:And so if you've been with us for 11 weeks, you might notice that we're saying a lot of the same stuff.
Speaker 3:Over and over and over again, because the author is still referring to the same argument.
Speaker 2:Exactly so he's making the same argument through the whole letter. It's one letter and he's just adding layer and layer and layer of evidence against it, and so hopefully by now you're starting to understand the simplicity of the argument. And man, these jokers just saying the same thing over and over again.
Speaker 2:Well, that's a good thing, and then if you could repeat it, that's even better. And so, yeah, stick with us next week for chapter 12, where we will probably review again and then pick up with and continue to move this ball forward till the end of the book. So we'll see you next week.
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