Letter to the Hebrews Volume 129

 The Heavenly Hope of Abraham & all the Patriarchs Part 1

Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. KJV

None of the Old Testament Patriarchs that the writer of Hebrews has documented here for the Hebrew converts to Christ he was writing to back then ever saw the promise of the Messiah come to earth, yet by faith they all believed God and walked by faith with Him for the remainder of their earthly lives (Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sara, Isaac, Jacob and all the others not mentioned by name), as it is written here, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." (Hebrews 11:13) (KJV). The little English phrase 'were persuaded' is translated by the Greek word peithō a primary verb meaning (as used here) to rely (by inward certainty): -believe, have confidence, trust, yield. The English word 'embraced' is translated by the Greek word aspazomai which means (as used here) by implication to salute and (figuratively) to welcome. Abraham received within his inner man the promise of the Messiah coming to the people that would come from his loins, that is, the Hebrew people who became a people because Abraham believed God and God established an entire race of humanity (Jews) through this one man, as well as, an entire new race of humanity (Christians) through which Abraham is the father of by and through faith, as it is written here by the Apostle Paul to the Christians @ Rome, "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before Him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform." (Romans 4:16-21) (KJV). All of those Patriarchs assented to, acknowledged, and affirmed that they were foreigners or aliens upon the earth because of their faith in God and in so believing God they were pilgrims on the earth sojourning as strangers to their heavenly home, even though they were not even fully aware of what all that meant to them and for them at the time, but they believed God and walked by faith and not by sight, as it is written and testified by King David with these words, "Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding." (1 Chronicles 29:11-15) (KJV).

Here is what Alexander MacLaren had to say of Hebrews 11:13, "People say, ‘Seeing is believing.’ I should be disposed to turn the aphorism right round, and to say, ‘Believing is seeing.’ For there is a clearer insight, and a more immediate, direct contact with the thing beheld, and a deeper certitude in the vision of faith than in the poor, purblind sight of sense, all full of illusions, and which has no real possession in it of the things which it beholds. The sight that faith gives is solid, substantial, clear, certain. If I might so say, the true exercise of faith is to stereoscope the dim ghostlike realities of the future, and to make them stand out solid in relief there before us. And he who, clasping the hand, and if I might so say, looking through the eyes, of God, sees the future, in humble acceptance of His great words of promise, in some measure as God sees it - has a source of knowledge, clear, immediate, certain, which sense with its lies and imperfections, is altogether inadequate even to symbolise. The vision of Faith is far deeper, far more real, far more correspondent to the realities, and far more satisfying to the eye that gazes, than is any of the sight of sense. Do not you be deceived or seduced by talk that assumes to be profound and philosophical, into believing that when you venture your all upon God’s word, and doing so say, ‘I know, and behold mine inheritance,’ you are saying more than calm reason and common-sense teaches us. We have the thing, and we see it, if we believe Him that in His word shows it to us, Well, then, still further, there is suggested that this vision of faith, with all its blessed clearness and certitude and sufficiency, is not a direct perception of the things promised, but only a sight of them in the promise. And does that make it less blessed? Does the astronomer, who sits in his chamber, and when he would most carefully observe the heavens, looks downwards on to the mirror of the reflecting telescope that he uses, feel that he sees the starry lights less clearly and less really than when he gazes up into the abyss itself and sees them there? Is not the reflection a better and a more accurate source of knowledge for him than even the direct observation of the sky would be? And so, if we look down into the promise, we shall see, gleaming and glittering there, the starry points which are the true images adapted to our present sense and power of reception of the great invisible lights above. God be thanked that faith looks to the promises and not to the realities, else it were no more faith, and would lose some of its blessedness. And then, still further, let me remind you that this vision of faith varies in the measure of our faith. It is not always the same. Refraction brings up sometimes, above the surface of the sea, a spectral likeness of the opposite shore, and men stand now and then upon our southern coasts, and for an hour or two, in some conditions of the atmosphere, they see the low sandhills of the French or the Belgian coast, as if they were at arm’s length. So faith, refracting the rays of light that strike from the Throne of God, brings up the image, and when it is strong the image is clear, and when it flags the image ‘fades away into the light of common day’; and where there glowed the fair outlines of the far-off land, there is nothing but a weary wash of waters and a solitary stretch of sea. My brother! do you see to it that this vision of faith is cultivated by you. It is hard to do. The pressure of the present is terribly strong; the chains of sense that hold us are very adamantine and thick; but still it is possible for us to cultivate the faculty of beholding, and to train the eye to look into that telescope that pries into distant worlds, and brings eternal glories near. No pair of eyes can look the one at a thing near, and the other at a thing afar off; at least if they do the man squints. And no soul can look so as to behold the unseen glories if its eye be turned to all these vanities here. Do- you choose whether you shall, like John Bunyan’s man with the muckrake, have your eyes fixed upon the straws and filth at your feet, or whether you will look upwards and see the crown that is glittering there just above your head, and ready to drop upon it. ‘These all in faith saw the promises.’ Yes! And when they saw them they greeted them. Their hands and their hearts went out, and a glad shout came to their lips as they beheld the fair vision of all the wonder that should be. And so faith has in it, in proportion to its depth and reality, this going out of the soul towards the things discerned. They draw us when we see them, One of our seventeenth-century prose writers says: - ‘Were the happiness of the next world as closely apprehended as felicities of this, it were a martyrdom to live.’ It is true. If we see, we cannot choose but love. Our vision will break into desire, and to behold is to yearn after. Oh, Christian men and women! do we know anything of that going out of the soul, in a calm transport of deliberate preference to the things that are unseen and eternal. It is a sharp test of the reality of our Christian profession; do not shrink from applying it to yourselves."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…

Letter to the Hebrews Volume 128

 The Faith and the Faithfulness of Abraham Part 4

Hebrews 11:12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. KJV

As we were reminded in the very last verse by this writer of the letter to the Hebrews, Sara bore a son at the ripe old age of 90 years, however, we must not forget that Sara earlier on in her years did not believe that the promise of God was ever going to happen. It had been 10 years since they both left Haran listening to the Voice of the Lord God, yet, Sarah was not able to conceive children from her own womb, so instead of Sarah waiting on the Lord God (at that time) she called upon Abraham (85 at the time) to have sex with her handmaid Hagar (an Egyptian young woman). This plan of Sarah's is documented for us by Moses here, "Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee." (Genesis 16:1-5) (KJV). The child that came forth from this union was named Ishmael and from him descended the Arab people who have been in violent conflict with the Hebrews for many centuries since then all the way up to the present day. Despite this sin and rebellion by Sara & Abraham, the Lord God never wavered on His promise to Abraham that he would have a son by his wife Sara and that realty occured, so the writer of Hebrews now concludes his recount of Abraham's faith and faithfulness with what came from the birth of Isaac all those many years earlier with these words, "Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable." (Hebrews 11:12) (KJV).

These words constitute exactly what the Lord God promised Abraham not long after he left Haran to journey to a place he did not know at all, as it is written, "After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt Thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the Word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be." (Genesis 15:1-5) (KJV). Yet, despite hearing this promise to him straight from the Word of the Lord, Abraham thought that he and Sarah should help the Lord God out because after 10 years Sarah had not gotten pregnant and she was now well past 70 years old, and they feared that Sarah could never conceive naturally herself so they thought (within themselves) that the Lord God would be OK with you having sex with this young Egyptian woman to have a son by her. Abraham thought because he was past 80 years old and his libido was diminishing that the time was then for him to act if he were ever going to have children from his own loins. Abraham's panic and fear blinded him to the fact that God could restore his libido at 90 or 100 as if he were a 20 year old young man again and this is exactly what the Lord God did for Abraham well past the age of 100 years, for even after his wife Sara past away, Abraham married again and had more children, as it is written here, "Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah." (Genesis 25:1-2) (KJV).

Here is what Albert Barnes had to say of Hebrews 11:12, "Therefore sprang there even of one - From a single individual. What is observed here by the apostle as worthy of remark, is, that the whole Jewish people sprang from one man, and that, as the reward of his strong faith he was made the father and founder of a nation. And him as good as dead - So far as the subject under discussion is concerned, To human appearance there was no more probability, that he would have a son at that period of life, than that the dead would have. So many as the stars in the sky ... - An innumerable multitude. This was agreeable to the promise; Genesis 15:5; Genesis 22:17. The phrases used here are often employed to denote a vast multitude, as nothing appears more numerous than the stars of heaven, or than the sands that lie on the shores of the ocean. The strength of faith in this case was, that there was simple confidence in God in the fulfillment of a promise where all human probabilities were against it. This is, therefore, an illustration of the nature of faith. It does not depend on human reasoning; on analogy; on philosophical probabilities; on the foreseen operation of natural laws; but on the mere assurance of God - no matter what may be the difficulties to human view, or the improbabilities against it." Here also is what Adam Clarke had to say of Hebrews 11:12, "According to nature, long past the time of the procreation of children. The birth of Isaac, the circumstances of the father and mother considered, was entirely supernatural; and the people who proceeded from this birth were a supernatural people; and were and are most strikingly singular through every period of their history to the present day."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…







 

Letter to the Hebrews Volume 127

 The Faith and the Faithfulness of Abraham Part 3

Hebrews 11:11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. KJV Note: MKJV= Modern King James Version

The writer of Hebrews in the previous verse spoke of Isaac but did not speak then of his Mother Sara, however, here in this verse 11 he speaks of the faith of Abraham's wife Sara who was at the time God promised to her that she would bear a son from her own womb 90 years old. Sara was past the age of child bearing seeing that her uterus was physically dead. She did not completely believe that it was possible for her (a 90 year old woman) to conceive a child through normal sexual relations with her husband Abraham (who at the time was 100 years old), here is the documentation of the encounter with the Lord God they both had when He disclosed to them that they would indeed conceive and bear Isaac a year later, "And He said, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and lo, Sarah your wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard in the tent door which was behind Him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, far gone in days, and it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After my being old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? And Jehovah said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I, who am old, truly bear a child? Is anything too hard for Jehovah? At the time appointed I will return again, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I did not laugh; for she was afraid. And He said, No, but you did laugh." (Genesis 18:10-15) (MKJV). Despite Sara's initial reaction of unbelief at the beginning of hearing these words from the Lord, Sara realized that she could always trust the Word of God and was afraid of her earlier doubt when the Lord God knew of her inward laughter (that no other human present could possibly know). So, Sara believed God and waited and just as she was promised it happened as now the writer of Hebrews documents for us with these words, "Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised." (Hebrews 11:11) (KJV). The English word 'received' is translated by the Greek word lambanō (as used here) is a primary verb meaning to get hold of or obtain. The English word 'strength' is translated by the Greek word dunamis which means force (literally or figuratively); specifically miraculous power (usually by implication a miracle itself). In other words, the Lord God visited Sara with His very own Power granting unto her a miracle itself by resurrecting her dead womb to life (as if she were a 25 or 30 year old Sara again), as it is written and documented for us by Moses here, "And Jehovah visited Sarah as He had said. And Jehovah did to Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born to him (whom Sarah bore to him) Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, God has made me laugh, so that all who hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who could have said to Abraham, will Sarah suckle children? For I have borne a son to him in his old age." (Genesis 21:1-7) (MKJV). Note: "To all of you 'fountain of youth' seekers, no this, that God/Jesus is the Fountain of Eternal Life and He will give such to each and everyone of us who are His adopted children forever, as it written, 'My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are One.' (John 10:27-30) (KJV). We will never grow old or lose our strength again while we are with Him/Jesus in heaven."

Here is what Matthew Henry had to say of Hebrews 11:11, "The difficulties of Sarah's faith, which were very great. As, (1.) The prevalency of unbelief for a time: she laughed at the promise, as impossible to be made good. (2.) She had gone out of the way of her duty through unbelief, in putting Abraham upon taking Hagar to his bed, that he might have a posterity. Now this sin of hers would make it more difficult for her to act by faith afterwards. (3.) The great improbability of the thing promised, that she should be the mother of a child, when she was of sterile constitution naturally, and now past the prolific age. 2. The actings of her faith. Her unbelief is pardoned and forgotten, but her faith prevailed and is recorded: She judged Him faithful, who had promised, Hebrews 11:11. She received the promise as the promise of God; and, being convinced of that, she truly judged He both could and would perform it, how impossible soever it might seem to reason; for the faithfulness of God will not suffer Him to deceive His people. 3. The fruits and rewards of her faith. (1.) She received strength to conceive seed. The strength of nature, as well as grace, is from God: He can make the barren soul fruitful, as well as the barren womb. (2.) She was delivered of a child, a man-child, a child of the promise, and comfort of his parents' advanced years, and the hope of future ages." Here also is what Albert Barnes had to say of Hebrews 11:11, "The word 'herself' - implies that there was something remarkable in the fact that 'she' should manifest this faith. Perhaps there may be reference here to the incredulity (doubt about the truth of something) with which she at first received the announcement that she should have a child; Genesis 18:11 and Genesis 18:13. Even 'her' strong incredulity was overcome, and though everything seemed to render what was announced impossible, and though she was so much disposed to laugh at the very suggestion at first, yet her unbelief was overcome, and she ultimately credited the divine promise. The apostle does not state the authority for his assertion that the strength of Sarah was derived from her faith, nor when particularly it was exercised. The argument seems to be, that here was a case where all human probabilities were against what was predicted, and where, therefore, there must have been simple trust in God. Nothing else but 'faith' could have led her to believe that in her old age she would have borne a son."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…







 

Letter to the Hebrews Volume 126

 The Faith and the Faithfulness of Abraham Part 2

Hebrews 11:9-10 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. KJV

When Abram (now named Abraham) left his life in Haran, he did not know at all where he was going nor how he would arrive at the place that God promised would be his. As we learned from the last verse, he went out by faith living on the earth as a Nomad. The writer of Hebrews now documents for us breifly the history of Abraham's sojourn with these words next, "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:" (Hebrews 11:9) (KJV). We learned in the last study/commentary that Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran for the place that God would show him that would belong to him and a great Nation would come from him. Abraham's son Isaac was not born for another 25 years making him then 100 years old, then Isaac grew into manhood and bear a son Jacob when he was 60 years old. Therefore, we see that at the end of Abraham's earthly life (Genesis 25:7) that he was 175 years old and still he had not physically reached the land of promise that God made to him when he left Haran, but he trusted God by faith every single day for the remaining 100 years of earthly life he had left to him. Here is what Albert Barnes had to say of Hebrews 11:9, "The land of Canaan that had been promised to him and his posterity. He resided there as if he were a stranger and sojourner. He had no possessions there which he did not procure by honest purchase; he owned no land in fee-simple except the small piece which he bought for a burial-place; see Genesis 23:7-20. In all respects he lived there as if he had no special right in the soil; as if he never expected to own it; as if he were in a country wholly owned by others. He exercised no privileges which might not have been exercised by any foreigner, and which was not regarded as a right of common - that of feeding his cattle in any unoccupied part of the land; and he would have had no power of ejecting any other persons excepting what anyone might have enjoyed by the pre-occupancy of the pasture-grounds. To all intents and purposes he was a stranger. Yet he seems to have lived in the confident and quiet expectation that that land would at some period come into the possession of his posterity. It was a strong instance of faith that he should cherish this belief for so long a time, when he was a stranger there; when he gained no right in the soil except in the small piece that was purchased as a burial-place for his wife, and when he saw old age coming on and still the whole land in the possession of others. That is, the same thing occurred in regard to them, which had to Abraham. 'They' also lived in tents. They acquired no fixed property, and no title to the land except to the small portion purchased as a burial-place. Yet they were heirs of the same promise as Abraham, that the land would be theirs. Though it was still owned by others, and filled with its native inhabitants, yet they adhered to the belief that it would come into the possession of their families. In their moveable habitations; in their migrations from place to place, they seem never to have doubted that the fixed habitation of their posterity was to be there, and that all that had been promised would be certainly fulfilled."

The writer of Hebrews declares the end goal of Abraham's faith being his unwavering trust in God to lead him to a city that God Himself built, as it is written here, "For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." (Hebrews 11:10) (KJV). Abraham had encountered the One True God, therefore, this earth and all the things in it were no longer his only focus. Yes, he went about his sojourn carving out the best possible life for himself and his family that he could by faith knowing that he daily had the help of God with him at all times. Abraham spoke directly with God many times after his first encounter in Genesis 12:1, for example the communication between he and God when God established the Hebrew Covenant of circumcision with him and his descendants after him, (Genesis 17:1-10). Here is what Alexander MacLAren had to say of Hebrews 11:10, "‘He dwelt in tabernacles,’ that is, he lived a nomad life in his tents. He and his son and grandson - three generations of long livers - proved the depth, solidity, and practical power of their faith in the promise of the city by the remarkable persistence of their refusal to be absorbed in the settled population of the land. Recent discoveries have shown us, and discoveries still to be made, I have no doubt, will show still more, what a highly organised and developed civilisation prevailed in Canaan when these wanderers from the East came into it, with their black camels’-hair tents. They were almost as much out of place, and as noticeably unique, by such a life in Canaan then, as gypsies are in England, and the reason why they would not go into Hebron, or any other of the populous cities which were closely studded in the land, was that ‘they looked for the City.’ It was better for them to dwell in tents than in houses. The clear vision of that great future impresses on us the transiency of the present. We shall know that what we live in is but as a tent that is soon to be struck, even while some of our fellow-lodgers may fancy it to be a house that will last for ever. The illusion of the permanence of this fleeting show creeps over us all, in spite of our better knowledge, and has to be fought against. The world, though it seems to be at rest, is going faster than any of the objects in it which are known to be in motion. We are deceived by the universality of the movement of which all things partake, and to us it seems rest. If there comes friction, and now and then a collision, we find out how fast we are going. And then there come misery, and melancholy, and lamentations about the brevity of life, and the awfulness of change, and all these other commonplaces that are the stock-in-trade of poetasters, but which cut with such surprise and agony into our own hearts when we experience them. But, brethren, to be convinced of the transiency of life, by reason of the clearness of the vision of the permanence of the heavens, is blessedness and not misery, and is the only way by which a man can bear to say to himself, ‘My days are as a hand-breadth,’ and not fling down his tools and fall into sadness, from feeling that life is as futile as frail. To recognise that nothing continues in one stay, and to see nothing else that is permanent, is the greatest misery that is laid upon man But to feel, ‘Thou art from everlasting to everlasting, and Thy kingdom endureth through all generations and I belong to it,’ makes us regard with equanimity, and sometimes with solemn satisfaction, the passing away of all the transient,’that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.’ ‘He looked for a city’; so, ‘he dwelt in tents.’"

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…

Letter to the Hebrews Volume 125

The Faith and the Faithfulness of Abraham Part 1

Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. KJV Note: MKJV=Modern King James Version

The writer of Hebrews now turns his attention or focus to the man Abraham who is the Patriarch of the Hebrew people. At the beginning his name was 'Abram' and the beginning of his story was documented for us by Moses in Genesis Chapter 12. Abram was going about his daily life and then heard the Lord God speak to him and by faith, that is, he believed that it was Almighty God (the Creator of all things) he obeyed the voice of the Lord and left his life in Haran and journeyed in the direction that God commanded him, not knowing where his final destination would be, but trusting God to take him there and to take care of him along the journey, as it is written here, "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." (Hebrews 11:8) (KJV). The English phrase 'when he was called' is translated by the Greek word kaleō meaning to 'call' (properly aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise): - bid, call forth, command. The English word 'obeyed' is translated by the Greek word hupakouō which means to hear under (as a subordinate), that is, to listen attentively; by implication to heed or conform to a command or authority: - hearken, be obedient to, obey. The little English phrase 'he went out' is translated by the Greek word exerchomai meaning to issue (literally or figuratively): - come forth, depart out of, escape, get out, go forth, proceed (forth), spread abroad. The directive from the Lord God to Abraham was not a mere invite or suggestion, but a command or calling forth by an authority greater than himself. This was Abram's understanding of the 'call' and he obeyed knowing that he could trust God completely, however, he still had (because of free will) the ability to resist, refuse, and reject the 'call of God' and go about his same business and life in Haran, here is the documentation by Moses of the 'call of God' to Abram, "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran." (Genesis 12:1-4) (KJV). No one has to now or ever had to listen to the voice of God. In the past, God spoke to humanity in various ways, He spoke to Moses from a burning bush that was never consumed by the fire, He spoke through His Holy Angels He sent to earth, He spoke directly to the mind of people like Noah & Abram, He spoke to people through dreams and visions, He spoke to the Hebrew people through the Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Joel, Amos, Hosea, Ezekiel, and others, however, the Word of God (in the New Testament, in the very 1st Chapter of Hebrews) declares this for our listening to and understanding that God is speaking to the world and especially to His people by One Person, as it is written here, "God, who at many times and in many ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the Prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds, who being the shining splendor of His Glory, and the express image of His Essence, and upholding all things by the Word of His Power, through Himself cleansing of our sins, He sat down on the Right of the Majesty on High, being made so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." (Hebrews 1:1-4) (MKJV). I believe that God still speaks to us in all of the ways He has done before, but in those times past there was no Bible that He had declared through the 60 plus men He wrote His Word through, therefore, if anything spoken to anyone through a dream or vision or to the mind of someone or through some 'so-called human prophet' does not accord with, align with, or agree with the Word of God, then it is not the One True God speaking at all, but only the imposter the devil who sadly, sickly, and stupidly thinks that he will overthrow God, as it is written and documented for us by the Apostle Paul with these words, "Now we beseech you, my brothers, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you should not be soon shaken in mind or troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word or letter, as through us, as if the Day of Christ is at hand. Let not anyone deceive you by any means. For that Day shall not come unless there first comes a falling away, and the man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself forth, that he is God. Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you? And now you know what holds back, for him to be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already working, only he is now holding back until it comes out of the midst. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming, whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness in those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, so that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, so that all those who do not believe the truth, but delight in unrighteousness, might be condemned." (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12) (MKJV). Do you not understand now? There is not only the 'Holy Spirit' working throughout the earth realm bringing souls into the 'Ark of Salvation' when the Gospel of Jesus Christ is declared in truth and sincerity, but there is also the 'un-holy spirit' at work in the earth realm, that is, the spirit of Anti-Christ, i.e. the devil (2 John 1:7) who opposes God and thinks he will defeat God, but as you just read our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ will destroy him with the brightness of His coming. Therefore, again one last time, if anyone declares that God told me this or that in a dream or vision or any other way that goes against what the Word of God says, then that word in a dream or vision or any other way communicated is from the evil one and not from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary had to say of Abraham's faith of hearing God and acting on what God commanded him to do (like Noah did), "'He went out, not knowing whither he went.' He leaves his father’s house and his father’s gods. He breaks for ever with the past, even before the future has been revealed to him. The thoughts and feelings that had grown up with him from childhood are once for all put away. He has no sheltering ark to receive him. A homeless wanderer, he pitches his tent today at the well, not knowing where his invisible guide may bid him stretch the cords on the morrow. His departure from Ur of the Chaldees was a family migration. But the writer of this Epistle, like Philo, describes it as the man’s own personal obedience to a Divine call. Submitting to God’s will, possessed with the inspiration and courage of faith, obeying daily new intimations, he bends his steps this way or that, not knowing whither he goes. True, he went right into the heart of the land of promise. But, even in his own heritage, he became a sojourner, as in a land not his own. God 'gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on.'Possessor of all in promise, he purchased a sepulchre, which was the first ground he could call his own. The cave of Machpelah was the small beginning of the fulfilment of God’s promise, which the spirit of Abraham is even now receiving in a higher form. It is still the same. The bright dawn of heaven often breaks upon the soul at an open grave. But he journeyed on, and trusted. For a time he and Sarah only; afterwards Isaac with them; at last, when Sarah had been laid to rest, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the three together, held on bravely, sojourning with aching hearts, but ever believing. The Apostle brings in the names of Isaac and Jacob, not to describe their faith--this he will do subsequently,--but to show the tenacity and patience of "the friend of God.' His faith, thus sorely tried by God’s long delay, is rewarded, not with an external fulfilment of the promise, but with larger hopes, wider range of vision, greater strength to endure, more vivid realisation of the unseen. 'He looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose Architect and Maker is God.' In the promise not a word is said about a city. Apparently he was still to be a nomad chief of a large and wealthy tribe. When God deferred again and again the fulfilment of His promise to give him 'this land,' His trusting servant bethought him what the delay could mean. This was his hill of difficulty, where the two ways part. The worldly wisdom of unbelief would argue from God’s tardiness that the reality, when it comes, will fall far short of the promise. Faith, with higher wisdom, makes sure that the delay has a purpose. God intends to give more and better things than He promised, and is making room in the believer’s heart for the greater blessings. Abraham cast about to imagine the better things. He invented a blessing, and, so to speak, inserted it for himself in the promise. This new blessing has an earthly and a heavenly meaning. On its earthly side it represents the transition from a nomadic life to a fixed abode. Faith bridged the gulf that separates a wandering horde from the cultured greatness of civilization. The future grandeur of Zion was already held in the grasp of Abraham’s faith. But the invented blessing had also a heavenly side. The more correct rendering of the Apostle’s words in the Revised Version expresses this higher thought: 'He looked for the city which hath the foundations'--the city; for, after all, there is but one that hath the eternal foundations. It is the holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, seen by the faith of Abraham in the early morning of revelation, seen again in vision by the Apostle John at its close. The expression cannot mean anything that comes short of the Apostle’s description of faith as the assurance of things hoped for in the unseen world. Abraham realised heaven as an eternal city, in which after death he would be gathered to his fathers. A sublime conception!--eternity not the dwelling-place of the solitary spirit, the joy of heaven consisting in personal fellowship for ever with the good of every age and clime. There the past streams into the present, not, as here, the present into the past. All are contemporaries there, and death is no more. Whatever makes civilization powerful or beautiful on earth--laws, arts, culture--all is there etherealised and endowed with immortality. Such a city has God only for its Architect, God only for its Builder. He Who conceived the plan can alone execute the design and realise the idea. Of this sort was Abraham’s obedience. He continued to endure in the face of God’s delay to fulfil the promise. His reward consisted, not in an earthly inheritance, not in mere salvation, but in larger hopes and in the power of a spiritual imagination."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…




 

Letter to the Hebrews Volume 124

 The Faith of those Elders in Early Human History Part 4

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an Ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. KJV

Our own human understanding of 'fear' is defined for us by our human dictionaries with these words; An emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight); A feeling of profound respect for someone or something. Human beings fear many things, however, the One Person that every human being should fear (God) is not feared at all by the majority of humanity because of their (in most of them) obsessive, odiferous (morally offensive), and obstinate disregard for Him and their unwillingness to believe in Him and His Word, as it is written here by the Psalmist King David, "The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes." (Psalms 36:1) (KJV) and also as it is written here by the Apostle Paul, "There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Romans 3:18) (KJV). Instead of this being (as many of them think) a good thing to have no fear of God (whom they cannot see) it is the worst thing that any human being can do, as it is written with these words from the Proverbs in Scripture, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." (Proverbs 1:7) (KJV) and these words, "Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith." (Proverbs 15:16) (KJV). The next Elder that the writer of Hebrews documents for us is a man named Noah. Many unbelievers have heard or read of the story of Noah and haved dismissed it as a fable, a work of fiction, or a complete fabrication. However, we true believers in God/Jesus know for certain that this is no work of fiction because it comes from the Word of God. So, here is what the writer of Hebrews declares of the man Noah, "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." (Hebrews 11:7) (KJV). Noah being warned by God Almighty Himself believed Him and moved with fear to prepare the Ark exactly as the Lord God had instructed him to do, as it is written with these words, "And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an Ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the Ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the Ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the Ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the Ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the Ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee." (Genesis 6:13-18) (KJV). Let us recall that Noah was 500 years old when he had his three sons, as it is written, "And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth." (Genesis 5:32) (KJV). Let us also recall that right around 100 years went by before the Lord God sent the flood upon the earth, as it is written here, "For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth." (Genesis 7:4-6) (KJV). Can you imagine what went on during those 100 years as many people saw Noah building this giant ship on dry land thinking he had gone mad, yet surely Noah warned them of the flood to come and even offered those who would believe safe passage within the Ark, however, no one believed him and they all drowned under flood waters sent upon the earth by God. Likewise, the Ark of God is our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ and all who are 'in Him' by faith will escape the wrath and judgement of God upon sin, as it is written, "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him." (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10) (KJV). Just like in the days of Noah where safety from the flood was only found in being 'in the Ark' so is it today and in the future days that safety from the eternal wrath of God is only found in our Lord Jesus Christ, not in Hinduism, Buddhism, Occultism, Islam, or any other belief system that is outside of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through faith, as it is written, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." (Romans 4:5-8) (KJV). Here is how this same passage of Scripture reads in the Contemporary English Version, "But you cannot make God accept you because of something you do. God accepts sinners only because they have faith in Him. In the Scriptures David talks about the blessings that come to people who are acceptable to God, even though they don't do anything to deserve these blessings. David says, 'God blesses people whose sins are forgiven and whose evil deeds are forgotten. The Lord blesses people whose sins are erased from His book.'" (Romans 4:5-8) (CEV).

Here is what Alexander MacLaren had to say of Hebrews 11:7, "The creed of these Old Testament saints was a very short one, and very different from ours. Their faith was the very same. It is the great object of the writer of this Epistle, in this magnificent catalogue of the heroes of the faith, the muster roll of God’s great army, to establish the principle that from the Beginning there has only been one kind of religion, only one way to God and that, however rudimentary and brief the articles of belief in those early days, the faculty by which these far-away believers lay hold on them, and its practical issues, were identical in them and in us, And that is a principle well worth getting into our minds, that the scope of the creed has nothing to do with the essence of the faith. If we think of the incident brought before us in these words, we shall see how the confidence with which Noah laid hold of a dim future, about which he knew nothing, except Because God had spoken to him, was, at bottom, identical with that great attitude of the soul which we call faith, as it is exercised towards Jesus Christ. No doubt in this Epistle to the Hebrews, the aspect of faith by which it lays hold of the future and the unseen, is the one on which the writer’s mind is mainly fixed. But notice, that whilst the near object, so to speak, to which Noah stretched out his hands, and of which he laid hold, was that coming catastrophe, with its certainties of destruction and of deliverance; there was only one reason why he knew anything about that, and there was only one reason why he knew or believed anything about it, and that was because he believed Him who had told him. So, at bottom, God who had revealed the unseen future to him was the object of his faith. He trusted the Person, therefore he believed in that Person’s word, and therefore he had the assured realisation of things not seen as yet; and the future, so dim and uncertain to unaided eyes, became to him as certain as the past, and expectation as reliable as memory. His faith grasped the invisible things to come, only because it grasped the Invisible Person, who was, is, and is to come, and who lifted for him the curtain and showed him the things that should be. So is it with our faith; whether it lays hold upon a past sacrifice on Calvary, or upon a present Christ dwelling in our hearts, or whether it becomes telescopic, and stretches forward into the future, and brings the distant near, all its various aspects are but aspects of one thing, and that is personal trust in the personal Christ who speaks to us. What he says is a matter of secondary importance in this respect. The contents of God’s revelation vary; the act by which man accepts them is always the same. So the great question for us all is - do we trust God? Do we believe Him, and therefore accept His words, not only with the assent of the understanding, which of all idle things is the idlest, but do-we believe Him, revealing, commanding, promising, threatening, with the trust and affiance of our whole hearts? Then, and then only, can we look with quiet certainty into the dim future, which else is all full of rolling clouds, that sometimes shape themselves to our imaginations into the likeness of stable things, but alas! change and melt while we gaze. Only then can we confront the solemn future, and say: ‘I do not expect only, I know what is there.’ My brother, if our faith is worth calling faith at all, it rests so absolutely and confidingly upon God, that His bare Word becomes to us the infallible source of certitude with regard to all the shifting hours of time, and to the steadfast day of an eternity, whose change is blessed growth to an un-reached and undeclining noon. And what was the future that loomed before this man? The coming of a destruction as certain as God, and the coming of a deliverance as complete as His love could make it. Never mind although Noah’s outlook related but to a temporary catastrophe, and ours has reference to an eternal condition of things. That is a difference of no real moment. We have what Noah had, a definite, Divine Utterance, as the source of all our knowledge of what is coming. Both are alike in having two sides, one dark and menacing with a certain destruction, the other radiant and lustrous with as certain a deliverance. And now the question for each of us is, do I so believe God that that future is to me what it was to this man - far more real than these fleeing illusions that lie nearer me? When Noah walked the earth and saw his contemporaries busy with buying and selling, planting and building, marrying and giving in marriage, how fantastic and unreal their work must have seemed to him, when behind them he saw blazing a vision, which he alone of all that multitude believed. Do not let us fancy that we have faith if these near trifles are to us the great realities, and the distance is dim, and unsubstantial, and doubtful, hidden in mist and forgotten. The years that stretched between the Divine Utterance and its fulfilment were to this man as nothing, and for him the unseen was the reality, and the seen was the shadowy and phantasmal. And that is what faith worth calling the name will always do for men. Ask yourselves the question if your dim apprehension of that future, in either of its aspects, is anything so vivid as the certitude which blazed ever before the eye of this man. One of our old English writers says, ‘If the felicities of another world were as closely apprehended as the joys of this, it were martyrdom to live.’ That may be an exaggeration, but surely, surely there is something wrong in men who call themselves believers in God and His word, to whom the things seen and temporal are all or nearly all important, and the trifles an inch from their eyes are big enough to shut out heaven and all its stars. No doubt there were plenty of witty and wise things said about him. 'Prudent, far-sighted, practical men' would say, 'How fanatical! What a misuse of energies and opportunities'; and so forth. And then, one morning, the rain began, and continued, and for forty days it did not stop, and they began to think that perhaps, after all, there was some method in his madness. Noah got into his ark, and still it rained, and I wonder what the wits and' practical men,' that had treated the whole thing as moonshine and folly, thought about it all then, with the water up to their knees. How their gibes and jests would die in their throats when it reached their lips! And so, my dear friends, the faith of the poor, ignorant old woman that up in her garret lives to serve Jesus Christ, and to win an eternal crown, will get its vindication some day, and it will be found out then which was the 'practical' man and the wise man, and all the witty speeches and smart sayings will seem very foolish, even to their authors, when the light of that future shines on them. And the old word will come true once more, that the man who lives for the present, and for anything bounded by Time, will have to 'leave it in the midst of his days,' and 'at his latter end shall be a fool,' whilst the 'foolish' man who lived for the future, when the future has come to the present, and the present has dwindled away into the past, and sunk beneath the horizon, shall be proved to be wise, and shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…

Letter to the Hebrews Volume 123

The Faith of those Elders in Early Human History Part 3

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. KJV

At the very beginning of this Chapter 11 the writer of Hebrews defined for us what faith was and is and in so doing he declared that all the things that we human beings can see all around us such as the mountains, the oceans, the deserts, the forest, the canyons, and everything that makes up the earth (including our very own selves) were made by Him (God) who is unseen to our human eyes. Therefore, if any man or woman cannot believe in that which he or she cannot see then they cannot communicate with God. For example, when any unbeliever in God prays for themselves or for something they want or for someone they know to be healed from some disease or sickness, then God will not hear their request before He sees into their inner man or inner woman that they have a desire to know Him, as it is written by the Prophet Jeremiah with these words, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:11-13) (KJV). God the Father does not despise His very own creation (humanity) even after man (Adam) rebelled and disobeyed Him in the Garden of Eden because instead of destroying Adam immediately, He (God) slew an animal and covered Adam and Eve's physical nakedness before one another with the animal skin because prior to their disobedience they were not ashamed of their nakedness before one another, as it is written, "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." (Genesis 2:25) (KJV), however, immediately after they sinned against God they both were ashamed before one another and before God, as it is written, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And He said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" (Genesis 3:6-11) (KJV). This sin opened up their spiritual eyes or awareness to evil as well as good, for before their sin and disobedience to the Command of God they knew of only 'GOOD' which had now been shattered not only for themselves but for all of humanity that would come from them. Now fast forward all those many years and we find the writer of Hebrews declaring to the Hebrew converts the only way mankind/humanity can please God now is by faith, as it is written, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6) (KJV). I have not always had a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, but I have always believed in God from the very first memories that I can recall of my childhood. It has always been strange to me as I grew up and met various people throughout the world who declared to me their disbelief in God using various arguments that on the surface made some since in their justification, but lacked any tangible evidence to prove their theories for not believing. I did a lot of air travel in the 80's and early 90's on private Government planes (twin engines and single engines) as well as many commercial flights on various Airlines and I never once spoke to any person who questioned the qualifications of the Pilot who was to fly the plane to our desired destination, instead every person would just sit back, settle in, and trust that the Pilot (man or woman) would get us where we were going safely and soundly. No one ever had a problen with having faith in the human Pilot (sinful, flawed, and imperfect as they were) to fly the plane we were aboard safely without incident, however, many of these same type of people are the atheist or agnostic or just plain unbelieving people about God and His existence who will not exercise simple faith in Him. Faith or trusting in other flawed human beings is exercised every day by non-believers in God, yet the very One that created them is ignored because He is not seen by humanity. Faith is the 'KEY' to seeing God and without it God will never make Himself known to any sinner and that sinner will remain in spiritual darkness, that is, separation from God on the earth and into eternity. It is this separation from God that constitutes 'HELL' and said separation is horrible and it last forever.

Here is what Alexander MacLAren had to say of Hebrews 11:6, "The beginning of all our seeking is that God has sought us in Jesus Christ, and so we have done for ever with: ‘Oh! that I knew where I might find Him.’ We have done for ever with ‘feeling after Him, if haply we might find Him.’ That is all past. We have to seek, but let us never forget that we must have been found of Him, before we seek Him. That is to say, He must have revealed Himself to us in the fulness and reality and solid certainty of His existence and character, before there can be kindled in any heart or mind the desire to possess Him. He must have flashed His light upon the eye before the eye beholds; and He must have stimulated the desire by the revelation of Himself which comes before all desires, ere any of us will stir ourselves up to lay hold upon God. Ours, then, is not to be a doubtful search, But a certain seeking, that goes straight to the place where it knows that its treasure is, just as a migratory bird will set out from the foggy and ice-bound shores of the north, and go straight through the mists and the night, over continents and oceans, to a place where it never was before, but to which it is led - God only knows how - by some deep instinct, too deep to be an error, and too persistent not to find its resting-place. That is how we are to seek. We are to seek as the flower turns its opening petals to the sunshine, making no mistake as to the quarter of the heaven in which the radiance is lodged. We have to seek, as the rootlet goes straight to the river, knowing where the water is, from which life and sap will come. Thus we have to seek where and what we know. Our quest is no doubtful and miserable hunting about for a possible good, but an earnest desire for a certain and a solid blessing. That is the seeking." Here also is what Adam Clarke had to say of Hebrews 11:6, "The man who professes that it is his duty to worship God, must, if he act rationally, do it on the conviction that there is such a Being infinite, eternal, unoriginated, and self-existent; the cause of all other beings; on whom all beings depend; and by whose energy, bounty, and providence, all other beings exist, live, and are supplied with the means of continued existence and life. He must believe, also, that He rewards them that diligently seek Him; that He is not indifferent about His own worship; that He requires adoration and religious service from men; and that He blesses, and especially protects and saves, those who in simplicity and uprightness of heart seek and serve Him. This requires faith, such a faith as is mentioned above; a faith by which we can please God; and now that we have an abundant revelation, a faith according to that revelation; a faith in God through Christ the great sin-offering, without which a man can no more please Him, or be accepted of Him, than Cain was." Here also is what Albert Barnes had to say of Hebrews 11:6, "Must believe that He is - That God exists. This is the first thing required in worship. Evidently we cannot come to Him in an acceptable manner if we doubt His existence. We do not see Him, but we must believe that He is; we cannot form in our mind a correct image of God, but this should not prevent a conviction that there is such a Being. But the declaration here implies more than that there should be a general persuasion of the truth that there is a God. It is necessary that we have this belief in lively exercise in the act of drawing near to Him, and that we should realize that we are actually in the presence of the all-seeing Jehovah. And that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him - This is equally necessary as the belief that He exists. If we could not believe that God would hear and answer our prayers, there could be no encouragement to call upon Him. It is not meant here that the desire of the reward is to be the motive for seeking God - for the Apostle makes no affirmation on that point; but that it is impossible to make an acceptable approach to Him unless we have this belief."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…




 

Letter to the Hebrews Volume 122

The Faith of those Elders in Early Human History Part 2

Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. KJV

In the verse of Scripture here today we find the first testimony, that is, the evidence that faith alone saves any sinner from their sin eternally regardless of someone's earthly bloodlines, that is, no matter what belief system or practices of the person's Parents or Grandparents or Great Grandparents and so on back however many generations. The Gospel of Jesus Christ or the Gospel of Grace is continuing to do the same thing today and in every era and generation past and present and that is to save souls born into cults, the occult, false religious systems, satanic spirituality, and every other belief or practice of religion or spirituality that has no connection to the One True God our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ. The Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) will continue this very same work into the future as far as the future goes before Christ 2nd Coming to the earth (Luke 21:27). Not very much is documented for us in the Old Testament of the Bible concerning the man Enoch, except that he was the son of Cain (yes the same Cain we just saw in verse 4 who murdered his brother Abel). Cain was of the wicked one, that is, the devil, as it is written for us by the Apostle John with these words, "Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous." (1 John 3:12) (KJV). This testimony concerning Cain is the very testimony of God Himself, for we know that 'ALL' Scripture comes from the heart of God spoken through the men He chose to reveal His Word to humanity, as it is written for us by the Apostle Paul with these words, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:16-17) (KJV). Therefore, we understand that Enoch came from a man who belonged to the devil, however, the writer of Hebrews documents for us that this man Enoch (whose days on the earth before he was transposed were 365 years (Genesis 5:23)) came to faith in God and by his faith he pleased God, as it is written with these words, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." (Hebrews 11:5) (KJV). The English word 'translated' here speaking of Enoch is translated by the Greek word metatithēmi meaning (as used here) to transfer, that is, (literally) transport, (by implication) exchange, (reflexively) change sides. Here is what the JFB Commentary says of this, "Faith was the ground of his pleasing God; and his pleasing God was the ground of his translation. Implying a sudden removal from mortality without death to immortality: such a CHANGE as shall pass over the living at Christ's coming."

Here is what Dr. John Gill said of Hebrews 11:5, "Which is to be understood, not of a spiritual translation from the power of darkness, into the kingdom of Christ, as all converted, persons are translated, and doubtless Enoch was; nor of a rapture, or removal from one part of the earth to another, or from one part of a country to another, as Philip was caught away by the Spirit, after the baptism of the eunuch; but of a translation from earth to heaven; and not for a while only, as Paul was caught up to the third heaven; but as Elijah was, there to continue, and as the living saints will be at the last day; and this was a translation of him, soul and body, to heaven, to eternal glory and happiness, by a change from mortality to immortality, which passed upon him; and which is a pledge of the resurrection of the dead, and a proof of the Old Testament saints knowing, expecting, and enjoying eternal life. And with this agrees the sense of some of the Jewish writers concerning this affair. Jonathan ben Uzziel, in his paraphrase on Genesis 5:24 has these words: 'And Enoch worshipped in truth before the Lord; and behold he was not with the inhabitants of the earth, 'he was translated', and ascended to the firmament (or heaven), by the Word before the Lord.' And the Jerusalem Targum to the same purpose; 'And Enoch worshipped in truth before the Lord; and lo, he was not, for he was translated by the Word from before the Lord;' or by the Word of the Lord, which went out from Him; for this translation was of God, as our Apostle afterwards asserts. R. Eleazar says: 'The holy blessed God took Enoch, and caused him to ascend to the highest heavens, and delivered into his hands all the superior treasures, &c' He is said to be one of the seven which entered into paradise in their life; and some of them say, that God took him, body and soul; 'He pleased God, and was beloved of Him: so that living among sinners he was translated.' (Wisdom 4:10) 'Enoch pleased the Lord, and was translated, being an example of repentance to all generations.' (Sirach 44:16). And this translation is said to be 'by faith'; not through any virtue and efficacy in that grace to procure it; nor through faith, in that particular point; but God put an honour upon the faith of Enoch, and on him as a believer, this way."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…