Equipping University

In the first two verses of the twelfth chapter, the author of Hebrews begins to apply all the truths presented in the first ten chapters. What will a life lived in confident trust in the Superior High Priest look like? How does an enduring and obedient faith work in everyday life? There is only one exhortation in the entire passage: "Let us run." This one verb is surrounded by a series of participles and prepositions that serve to tell us how we are to run the race. Everything else in the passage supports and serves this one exhortation. This passage does not tell us to run the race and do these other things, as well. These "other things" are the ways believers are to live lives of enduring obedient faith.

It is often good to hear the bad news along with the good but it is rare that we are given the gift of hearing the rest of the story. The author of Hebrews did not want his readers to get a distorted view of life by hearing only a portion of the truth. Therefore, in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, the author purposes to tell all who read this great letter that living a life of faith does not always lead to great victory, success, and prosperity. So far in this chapter, we have read of such well-known biblical heroes as Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. These men were used by God to do incredible acts and are remembered thousands of years later for their faithful obedience. Now, as we near the end of this chapter, the author wants to continue to list even more notables with similar victories of faith in the Old Testament. However, if the author of Hebrews had simply listed more victories and then moved on to his next topic at the conclusion of this lengthy recitation of names and events, his readers would have learned only a small portion of the story. Not every day brings a victory. Some individuals are never rescued, even though they lived their lives in obedient faith. No one likes to read such accounts but to fail to hear of individuals such as these would have led to great tragedy in the lives of the original readers. Sadly, many ministers and churches today teach only half of the same story and their listeners pay the price for their neglect in preaching the whole counsel of God. As we will see in the final section of this chapter, we must hear and heed the rest of the story.

Everyone loves an underdog! The idea of a smaller and outnumbered person or group defeating a more powerful opponent fits well with our study of the next section of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. In the previous section (vv. 8-22), the author described the faithful lives of the patriarchs of the Jewish faith as they faced persistent disappointment at not possessing the promised earthly inheritance. Now, as we move into the next section, we read of the exploits of Moses and individuals of the Exodus generation. During Moses' lifetime, God was ready to deliver his people out of Egypt just as the patriarchs anticipated. Instead of dealing with disappointment, this generation dealt with perpetual conflict with unbelievers. Both examples are beneficial to the readers of this letter. Just as the patriarchs' belief in the face of unseen promises would have been helpful to the original readers also clinging to God's Word, so would reading of others standing strong in the face of great oppression and persecution.

As the author of Hebrews moves on in chapter eleven by giving examples of faithful men and women in the history of the Israelites, he comes to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To be sure, these men exhibited remarkable faith - particularly Abraham - without the benefit of ever seeing the promises of God fulfilled in their lives. In the middle of the passage we will study in this chapter, the author writes, "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised." Some might say that it is easy to live by faith when God always answers your prayers. On the other hand, there is no doubt that to live a life of consistent faith is even more difficult when that life is lived with no answers to prayer or eventual possession of things promised. The author of Hebrews writes to his readers to reinforce within them the biblical perspective needed to survive as a believer in a world that hates God and his followers (see 1 John 3:13 - "Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you"). The men mentioned in this next section of chapter eleven lived their lives with an eternal perspective. They had their eyes on a greater prize than temporal comfort and acceptance. This faith-filled perspective is possible and necessary for any believer in any age to live a life of faith.