Heb 11:17-19 | KingComments | STEP | . After the parenthesis of the writer is now going to say something about the individual patriarchs and how they believed God. The first is again Abraham. You have already paid attention to several proofs of his faith. Those are impressive proofs. But now the writer quotes an example of his faith that is unprecedented. This proof of his faith is again connected to the son he and Sarah received. When he and Sarah were too old to beget children he persisted in believing that God was still able to give him a son. God after all promised that, didn’t He? And because God is faithful to what He promises, it is a matter of waiting for His time to give what He has promised. For Abraham, it is truly true that what is impossible with men is possible with God ( ). But now God is asking him to offer up his son. That is a test of unprecedented gravity. The first time he was promised a son, which he received by faith. Now God is asking him to offer up this son, though this son was the heir through whom God was going to realize His promises. This couldn’t be true, could it?! This test of his faith was much heavier than the previous one. Still Abraham offered up his son as a burnt offering when God asked him to ( ). With this offering up Abraham put all promises he had accepted on the altar. He was promised to have descendants and also a land, but he gave this all back to God in Isaac when He asked for it. He offered up “his only begotten son” ( ). . He did not do that impulsively. He pondered on the question God asked him. He must have struggled with the question how God could ask him that. It did not match with the former commitments, did it? God was going to realize His promises through Isaac and not through another son, for example Ishmael, right? No, God explicitly mentioned the name of Isaac when He said: “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.” . Therefore he had considered, that is: he had formed a conviction by consideration and calculation. Then there could only be one answer and that is that God would raise Isaac from the dead. Therefore he says in Genesis 22: “And I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you” ( ). That means that he believed in the power of God, a power that great by which He can “even” raise dead people. Abraham’s faith is therefore that great because it is not likely that Abraham had an example of someone being raised from death. Through his consideration of what God had said about His might to carry out His word he came to this conclusion. true faith is not ‘wishful thinking’ or a visualizing things through which you ‘claim’ what you want, as long as your imagination is strong and persistent enough. True faith always clings to some statement of God in His Word. God is honored by such a faith. When Abraham tied up his son Isaac on the wood and took the knife to slay his son he did not know that God was going to say him that he did not need to offer up Isaac ( ). To God the proof was delivered of the faith of Abraham in Him as the God of the resurrection. In a certain way Abraham received Isaac back from death. It is true that God spared Abraham a pain that He did not spare Himself. God gave His Son in death. To the Hebrews this example of Abraham’s faith is of great encouragement. After all they also lived that long in faith that their wonderful national inheritance was a gift from God. Now they are to abandon that. They moved away out of it, but what they had abandoned was still alluring them. To really separate from it and to abandon it, it is necessary to believe in a God Who had better promises for them than everything they had abandoned. . Also Isaac has done things that were only possible through faith. He has blessed his sons concerning future matters. From the blessings with which he blessed each of his sons, his faith in God’s promises becomes apparent. It appears from the blessing with which he blessed Jacob that Jacob is in the line of the promises. He transfers the blessing of Abraham to Jacob: the promise to posterity and to the land. He also blesses Esau, but with another blessing. From the blessing for Esau it appears that Isaac kept him out of the line of the promise consciously. That too testified to his faith. Although in his weakness he preferred Esau to Jacob, regarding the blessing he associated to God’s thoughts. It is important not to be guided by human weakness in your judgment on God’s promises, but by God’s thoughts. Then you will always end up well. . With Jacob his faith also appears from the blessing he blesses with. Jacob too blesses two sons. They were not his own sons, but they were two of his grandchildren, the sons of Joseph. And like Isaac he blesses the younger with a greater blessing than the elder. Those are the sons of Joseph, the one distinguished among his brothers ( ; ) and who was given the birthright ( ). In the blessing of both his sons Jacob gave Joseph the double blessing of the firstborn ( ). Joseph is a wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus, the Firstborn Whom God will bring into the world soon ( ). In connection with Joseph Jacob becomes a worshiper. In faith he sees how the counsel of God and His ways lead to the fulfillment of His counsel coincide in the true Joseph. It is God’s purpose that the Hebrews and we honor and worship Him for the fulfillment of His counsel and the ways He goes for that. The staff of Jacob is the symbol of his long history. He leant on it as a pilgrim and as a cripple. At the end of his life he still leans on it, not to walk anymore though, but to worship. Our life path ends with the Lord. Then we shall worship Him for all the grace with which He surrounded us to bring us into the land He promised us. . Jacob’s faith was connected to the person of the true Joseph, Joseph’s faith was connected to God’s people and God’s land. In faith he saw the redemption of the people from Egypt and the entrance into the land of Canaan. All the glory he had in Egypt became nothing compared to the coming glory of Israel under the government of the Messiah Whom he saw forward in faith. He wanted to be there and with that in view he commanded that his bones were to be taken from Egypt to the promised land. What a proof of his faith in the resurrection! The Hebrews also had to learn to forsake the world (of which Egypt is a picture) and to look forward to everything they gained through their connection with the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And that applies to you too. His death is your death and His resurrection is your resurrection. In His resurrection all will be made alive who are connected to Him to share in His kingdom ( ). . The section we have had, has shown faith in action with the view to the future, which means faith as the “assurance of [things] hoped for” ( ). In the next section in , the writer presents a number of examples of faith that clarify how faith operates as “conviction of things not seen” ( ). In other words: after faith that looks forward , we now have faith that looks upward . Faith that looks upward trusts that God is present in hardships and that He gives strength to endure. Here you see the energy of faith that rests in God in the midst of circumstances. This faith overcomes the power of the devil and the attractions and difficulties of the world. The first example is Moses. A comparison between the faith of Moses and that of Abraham makes the difference between ‘forward faith’ and ‘upward faith’ wonderfully clear. You may say that the faith of Abraham was connected to the future world and that of Moses to the present world. The faith of Abraham looked forward to the future world and the faith of Moses overcame the present world. The similarity is that neither has experienced the fulfillment of God’s promises in his life. Before he goes into details regarding the faith of Moses, the writer refers to the faith of Moses’ parents. By their faith they defied the command of the mighty Pharaoh. Ordinarily people are to obey legal law, but this is a situation that God is to be obeyed rather than men ( ). The faith of the parents discovered in this child something exceptional to God. “They saw he was a beautiful child”, not beautiful just like that, but beautiful in the sight of God ( ). Therefore they did not deliver him into the hands of murderers, but they hid him at home. That was not an easy thing to do, especially because their home was, as it seems, close to the palace of the king. Nevertheless, they counted on it that God was going to take care of him. This is a beautiful example for all young parents who are aware of the bloodthirstiness of the world in which they live and in which their children also have to learn to find their way. Faith counts on God for protection and makes effort to protect and guide the child on its life path. Now read Hebrews 11:17-23 again. Reflection: Which aspects of faith confidence in God, regarding the future, are presented here? What do you learn from that for the practice of your faith life?

‏ Hebrews 11:17-19

Living by Faith (IV)

Heb 11:17. After the parenthesis of Heb 11:13-16 the writer is now going to say something about the individual patriarchs and how they believed God. The first is again Abraham. You have already paid attention to several proofs of his faith. Those are impressive proofs. But now the writer quotes an example of his faith that is unprecedented. This proof of his faith is again connected to the son he and Sarah received.

When he and Sarah were too old to beget children he persisted in believing that God was still able to give him a son. God after all promised that, didn’t He? And because God is faithful to what He promises, it is a matter of waiting for His time to give what He has promised. For Abraham, it is truly true that what is impossible with men is possible with God (Mk 10:27). But now God is asking him to offer up his son. That is a test of unprecedented gravity.

The first time he was promised a son, which he received by faith. Now God is asking him to offer up this son, though this son was the heir through whom God was going to realize His promises. This couldn’t be true, could it?! This test of his faith was much heavier than the previous one. Still Abraham offered up his son as a burnt offering when God asked him to (Gen 22:1-10). With this offering up Abraham put all promises he had accepted on the altar. He was promised to have descendants and also a land, but he gave this all back to God in Isaac when He asked for it. He offered up “his only begotten son” (Gen 22:2).

Heb 11:18. He did not do that impulsively. He pondered on the question God asked him. He must have struggled with the question how God could ask him that. It did not match with the former commitments, did it? God was going to realize His promises through Isaac and not through another son, for example Ishmael, right? No, God explicitly mentioned the name of Isaac when He said: “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.”

Heb 11:19. Therefore he had considered, that is: he had formed a conviction by consideration and calculation. Then there could only be one answer and that is that God would raise Isaac from the dead. Therefore he says in Genesis 22: “And I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you” (Gen 22:5). That means that he believed in the power of God, a power that great by which He can “even” raise dead people.

Abraham’s faith is therefore that great because it is not likely that Abraham had an example of someone being raised from death. Through his consideration of what God had said about His might to carry out His word he came to this conclusion. true faith is not ‘wishful thinking’ or a visualizing things through which you ‘claim’ what you want, as long as your imagination is strong and persistent enough. True faith always clings to some statement of God in His Word. God is honored by such a faith.

When Abraham tied up his son Isaac on the wood and took the knife to slay his son he did not know that God was going to say him that he did not need to offer up Isaac (Gen 22:11-12). To God the proof was delivered of the faith of Abraham in Him as the God of the resurrection. In a certain way Abraham received Isaac back from death. It is true that God spared Abraham a pain that He did not spare Himself. God gave His Son in death.

To the Hebrews this example of Abraham’s faith is of great encouragement. After all they also lived that long in faith that their wonderful national inheritance was a gift from God. Now they are to abandon that. They moved away out of it, but what they had abandoned was still alluring them. To really separate from it and to abandon it, it is necessary to believe in a God Who had better promises for them than everything they had abandoned.

Heb 11:20. Also Isaac has done things that were only possible through faith. He has blessed his sons concerning future matters. From the blessings with which he blessed each of his sons, his faith in God’s promises becomes apparent. It appears from the blessing with which he blessed Jacob that Jacob is in the line of the promises. He transfers the blessing of Abraham to Jacob: the promise to posterity and to the land.

He also blesses Esau, but with another blessing. From the blessing for Esau it appears that Isaac kept him out of the line of the promise consciously. That too testified to his faith. Although in his weakness he preferred Esau to Jacob, regarding the blessing he associated to God’s thoughts. It is important not to be guided by human weakness in your judgment on God’s promises, but by God’s thoughts. Then you will always end up well.

Heb 11:21. With Jacob his faith also appears from the blessing he blesses with. Jacob too blesses two sons. They were not his own sons, but they were two of his grandchildren, the sons of Joseph. And like Isaac he blesses the younger with a greater blessing than the elder. Those are the sons of Joseph, the one distinguished among his brothers (Gen 49:26; Deu 33:16) and who was given the birthright (1Chr 5:1-2). In the blessing of both his sons Jacob gave Joseph the double blessing of the firstborn (Deu 33:17). Joseph is a wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus, the Firstborn Whom God will bring into the world soon (Heb 1:6).

In connection with Joseph Jacob becomes a worshiper. In faith he sees how the counsel of God and His ways lead to the fulfillment of His counsel coincide in the true Joseph. It is God’s purpose that the Hebrews and we honor and worship Him for the fulfillment of His counsel and the ways He goes for that. The staff of Jacob is the symbol of his long history. He leant on it as a pilgrim and as a cripple. At the end of his life he still leans on it, not to walk anymore though, but to worship. Our life path ends with the Lord. Then we shall worship Him for all the grace with which He surrounded us to bring us into the land He promised us.

Heb 11:22. Jacob’s faith was connected to the person of the true Joseph, Joseph’s faith was connected to God’s people and God’s land. In faith he saw the redemption of the people from Egypt and the entrance into the land of Canaan. All the glory he had in Egypt became nothing compared to the coming glory of Israel under the government of the Messiah Whom he saw forward in faith. He wanted to be there and with that in view he commanded that his bones were to be taken from Egypt to the promised land. What a proof of his faith in the resurrection!

The Hebrews also had to learn to forsake the world (of which Egypt is a picture) and to look forward to everything they gained through their connection with the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And that applies to you too. His death is your death and His resurrection is your resurrection. In His resurrection all will be made alive who are connected to Him to share in His kingdom (1Cor 15:20-28).

Heb 11:23. The section we have had, has shown faith in action with the view to the future, which means faith as the “assurance of [things] hoped for” (Heb 11:1a). In the next section in Heb 11:23-38, the writer presents a number of examples of faith that clarify how faith operates as “conviction of things not seen” (Heb 11:1b). In other words: after faith that looks forward, we now have faith that looks upward.

Faith that looks upward trusts that God is present in hardships and that He gives strength to endure. Here you see the energy of faith that rests in God in the midst of circumstances. This faith overcomes the power of the devil and the attractions and difficulties of the world.

The first example is Moses. A comparison between the faith of Moses and that of Abraham makes the difference between ‘forward faith’ and ‘upward faith’ wonderfully clear. You may say that the faith of Abraham was connected to the future world and that of Moses to the present world. The faith of Abraham looked forward to the future world and the faith of Moses overcame the present world. The similarity is that neither has experienced the fulfillment of God’s promises in his life.

Before he goes into details regarding the faith of Moses, the writer refers to the faith of Moses’ parents. By their faith they defied the command of the mighty Pharaoh. Ordinarily people are to obey legal law, but this is a situation that God is to be obeyed rather than men (Acts 4:19 ; Acts 5:29). The faith of the parents discovered in this child something exceptional to God. “They saw he was a beautiful child”, not beautiful just like that, but beautiful in the sight of God (Acts 7:20). Therefore they did not deliver him into the hands of murderers, but they hid him at home.

That was not an easy thing to do, especially because their home was, as it seems, close to the palace of the king. Nevertheless, they counted on it that God was going to take care of him.

This is a beautiful example for all young parents who are aware of the bloodthirstiness of the world in which they live and in which their children also have to learn to find their way. Faith counts on God for protection and makes effort to protect and guide the child on its life path.

Now read Hebrews 11:17-23 again.

Reflection: Which aspects of faith confidence in God, regarding the future, are presented here? What do you learn from that for the practice of your faith life?