FAITH in the face of DEATH - (vs. 20-22)
Who do you know, respect, and possibly admire whose life exemplified endurance and perseverance in their faith and walk with Christ up until the end? For me, it was a grandmother who walked with Christ up until her last day. When I reflect on my remembrance of her I see a woman who put Christ first.
Faith endures and perseveres in obedience to the end. This is how we mark the life of a true believer. Endurance and perseverance in obedience is the common thread that connects all of the examples the author is showing us in chapter 11. This chapter is sandwiched between several verses where we see the author emphasizing the need for endurance to continue strong to the end. Not giving up! Two examples below:
"For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise." (10:36)
"...let us run with endurance the race that is set before us..." (12:1)
I mentioned three character traits that are enemies to endurance and perseverance (can be seen in any endeavor in life):
1. The Dabbler (gives up): Someone who begins with great zeal and desire but soon loses interest and quits, moving on to something new to "dabble" in.
2. The Obsessive (burns out): Someone who loses balance and pours every ounce of their lives into it for a period of time and soon burns out and quits.
3. The Hacker (gets by): Someone who reaches a certain level in their journey and stops learning and growing. Their decision to just "get by" and not keep pushing forward is a decision to fall away. We are either moving forward or falling back. In time, the hacker will lose what he has gained.
The people of faith that the author references in chapter 11 were not dabblers, obsessive, or hackers. They were persistent people who ran with endurance to the end of their lives. We see in these three verses (vs. 20-22) that their faith was strong, even in the face of death.
These three, short verses mention 3 of the 4 great patriarchs: Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Why did the author only allocate three verses for these men when the story of their lives consumed 38 chapters in Genesis (12-50)? The reason he only had to mention them briefly, beginning with "By faith...", is because his audience of Hebrews were intimately familiar with these men. The mere mention of their names was all that was needed to make the connection of their lives with the concept of faith.
In verse 13, the author connects the fact that even at the point of death, having not seen the fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham, they still had faith to believe. All these died in faith without receiving the promise.
Next week we will complete this great chapter on FAITH!
No comments:
Post a Comment