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…