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…