The world defines faith as blind, and hope is a wish upon a star. But the author of Hebrews teaches that “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (11:1).
We Christians place our faith in something substantive, almost tangible. Elsewhere in Hebrews, we are told our faith is unshakable (12:28) and that our hope is an anchor for our soul (6:18-19).
Faith’s true definition is fundamental to the Christian life. If faith were blind, God’s promises of reconciliation and eternal rest (Heb. 7:25, 3:18-4:3) would be groundless. If God were a liar, we’d be fools to place our trust in him.
Looking to the Future
I was struck by a conversation with my church small group about God’s goodness in the midst of tragedy. My wife and I had recently suffered a miscarriage, and we were having trouble seeing beyond our present situation. I told the group, “I don’t believe in silver linings. You might be able to see one or two good things that come after a tragedy, but God could have brought that about some other way. Sometimes, the bad outweighs the good.” But even as I spoke, I realized I was using a crooked scale to weigh the good against the bad.
From a human lens, the bad we see might be greater than the good we can see—now. Our vision is clouded in the middle of suffering because healing and perspective take time. But when these come about, we notice spiritual growth in ourselves and a greater dependence on God.
Greater than this individual good is the future redemption of our present grief. The good to come is always better than any of our present sufferings are bad. This is the assured hope we put our faith in. It is for these unseen promises, rest and reconciliation, that our ancestors in the faith lived, as described in the rest of Hebrews 11.
Looking to the Past
“The Hall of Faith” refers to Hebrews 11:2-40, where the author gives short biographies of Old Testament figures from Abel down to David using the refrain, “By faith.” Each character made radical decisions in their life because they had faith in the living God.
Take verse 7 for example. Keep in mind the tangible evidence of the invisible and proven assurance of hope:
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
Others in chapter 11 lived by faith but are not remembered for what we might assume. For instance, in verse 22, Joseph’s “by faith” is not for having patience while falsely imprisoned. Rather, he demonstrated faith when, at the end of his life, he “spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.” Joseph was not credited for faithfulness through personal trials, but because he looked toward a future he would never see.
The Hall of Faith reminds readers of the cloud of witnesses surrounding us (Heb. 12:1), encouraging us to live our lives by faith.
Looking at the Present
In a sermon series on Hebrews, Tim Keller taught that the question this epistle answers is, “If God is so committed to our joy and our glory, if he loves us so much, why is our life so hard?” This must have been a persistent thought for its audience who faced persecution (10:32-34) and watched fellow congregants fall to apostasy (3:12). It is likewise a question for us today.
Our life is hard, Keller said, paraphrasing George MacDonald, because “our theory of life [doesn’t] embrace reality.” We are looking at our circumstances with a human lens. We have not struggled against sin to the point of shedding blood (Heb. 12:4). Thus, God handed down the stories of the ancient faithful for our encouragement today. He promises us a future hope we can put our faith in, because we know he is not a liar (Heb. 6:18).
Hebrews 12 and 13 get practical. We should fix our eyes on Jesus (12:2), accept the Father’s discipline as sons and daughters (12:5-10), live peaceably and with radical generosity (12:14, 13:1-3), reject carnal comforts (13:4-6), and submit to earthly leaders (13:17). In each of these situations, we do not know the outcome of our choice to live by faith—we may suffer for this heavenward gaze—but our confident hope causes us to think nothing of temporal losses (11:25-26).
It is holding on to unwavering hope because God has proven himself faithful (10:23). Let us, therefore, stir one another up to love and good works, continually encouraging one another, as we anticipate the final rest and reconciliation drawing near (10:24-25).
