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…




 

Letter to the Hebrews Volume 121

 The Faith of those Elders in Early Human History Part 1

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. KJV

Adam and Eve upon being cast out of the Garden of Eden (after their sin) no longer had at their disposal all of the Trees within the Garden that supplied their food, therefore, as God had declared to Adam that he 'would eat bread by the sweat of his brow', Adam had to gather up food from the earth in order to feed himself, his wife and the children that she began to give birth to (Genesis 3:16). Adam knew that his sin was covered (for him) by God through the slaying of an animal, as the skin of the animal was used to cover he and his wife Eve from their physical & spiritual nakedness, as it is written, "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them." (Genesis 3:21) (KJV). From this Adam understood that it was by the shedding of blood that sin was covered by God, therefore, it is certain that Adam past down this understanding to the children that came from his seed/sperm. Two of them were Abel and Cain. The writer of Hebrews now documents for us the distinction between the two brothers by how they each regarded God and how God saw them, as it is written here, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh." (Hebrews 11:4) (KJV). The story of these two brothers and their worship of God is documented for us by Moses (the writer of the first 5 books of the Bible) with these words, "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell." (Genesis 4:1-5) (KJV). The story of Cain and Abel document for us disobedience to God verses obedience to God. Cain was taught by his Father Adam that the offering or sacrifice to God had to be a blood sacrifice, yet he chose (free will) to disregard the truth and approach God in his own way or manner. We see the continuance of this very thing from that time until right now where people 'choose' (free will) to make up their own God (not the God of the Bible) or they want to approach the God of the Bible in their own way by showing Him how 'GOOD' they are by all the great things they do down here on the earth. They resist, refuse, and reject the only true way to approach God, and that is through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His Blood Sacrifice and Atonement that He made for man/woman on the Cross at Calvary, as it is written, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." (John 14:6) KJV). The animal sacrifice of Abel pointed to Jesus Christ' death, buriel, and resurrection from the dead. The sacrifice of Cain of the fruit of the ground pointed to his own human goodness and effort to appraoch and please God. Abel was righteous before God not because he was good or that he was a better man than his brother Cain, no he was righteous because he believed God and his faith/trust testified to God of his righteouness. Simple, Abel approached God the way God required and Cain did not.

Here is what Dr. John Gill had to say of Hebrews 11:4, "The Apostle proceeds to examples of faith, and begins with Abel: it may seem strange that Adam and Eve are not mentioned; this omission is not because they were not believers; but either because of the fall and ruin of mankind by them; or because the Apostle speaks only of such who had received some eminent testimony by faith, and therefore passes by many believers, and hastens to Abraham, the father of the Jews. The superior excellency of Abel's sacrifice to Cain's, lay both in the matter, and in the manner of it; the one was offered heartily to the Lord, the other only in show; the one was offered in faith, the other not; Abel looked through his sacrifice to the sacrifice of Christ, not so Cain. Abel's sacrifice was a lamb, a type of Christ, the Lamb of God; a firstling, a figure of Him who is the firstborn of every creature; one of the fattest of his flock, expressive of the excellency of Christ; and this was offered up at the end of days, as Christ at the end of the world; and the superior excellency of the sacrifice of the one to that of the other, appears from God's regard to the one, and not to the other, Genesis 4:3 from whence it may be observed, that sacrifices were of divine institution, and were very early types of Christ; and that there always were two sorts of worshippers, spiritual and carnal ones, whom God can distinguish, for He seeth not as man seeth; that the acceptance of persons is in Christ, and is previous to their offerings; that whatsoever works do not spring from faith are unacceptable to God; that no dependence is to be had on birth privileges, or outward actions; and that electing and distinguishing grace very early took place, and appeared. By which he obtained witness that he was righteous; not righteous by his offering, nor by his faith, but by the righteousness of Christ, which his faith in His sacrifice looked unto; though it was by his faith that he obtained, or received a witness in his own conscience, from the Spirit of God, testifying that he was a justified person; and in consequence of this, he had an outward testimony bore to him in the Scriptures, that he was a righteous person hence he is called righteous Abel, Matthew 23:35. God testifying of his gifts: not of his own gifts, temporal or spiritual, but of Abel's gifts, which he offered to the Lord; that is, his sacrifices; of these he testified, when he showed respect either by an audible voice, declaring His acceptance of them; or by sending down fire from heaven, upon his sacrifice, which in later times was a symbol of acceptance. And by it, he being dead, yet speaketh; good men die, and some of them die a violent death, as did Abel, yet he speaks in the Scriptures, which have a voice in them, Luke 16:29 or by his blood, which calls for vengeance; or rather by, or because of his faith, though he is dead, 'he is yet spoken of', as the word may be rendered." Here also is what John Wesley had to say of Hebrews 11:4, "By faith - In the future Redeemer. Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice - The firstlings of his flock, implying both a confession of what his own sins deserved, and a desire of sharing in the great atonement. Than Cain - Whose offering testified no such faith, but a bare acknowledgment of God the Creator. By which faith he obtained both righteousness and a testimony of it: God testifying - Visibly that his gifts were accepted; probably by sending fire from heaven to consume his sacrifice, a token that justice seized on the sacrifice instead of the sinner who offered it. And by it - By this faith. Being dead, he yet speaketh - That a sinner is accepted only through faith in the Great Sacrifice."

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 120

 Faith is how We Believers Understand Part 2

Hebrews 11:2-3 For by it (faith) the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. KJV

The elders spoken of here next by the writer of Hebrews refers to all the Hebrew men and women detailed, declared, and documented for us in the Old Testament like Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sara just to list a few who were faithful to Jehovah-Elohim-Adonai despite never seeing the actual visible Messiah having come in the flesh to the earth and most specifically to the Hebrew Nation and people. These elders and their faith however were seen and known by God the Father, as it is written here with these words, "For by it (faith) the elders obtained a good report." (Hebrews 11:2) (KJV). The little English phrase 'obtained a good report' is translated by the Greek word martureō meaning to bear witness to; to testify or give evidence of God by faith; to be well reported of because of their faith/trust in God. In other words, these elders had unbendable, unfaultering, and unshakeable faith in Elohim despite living in and under some very trying, treacherous, and terrible circumstances that cost many of them their very earthly lives as we will be reminded by the writer of Hebrews very shortly in some of the coming verses of Scripture in this very Chapter. The devil cannot snatch faith in God from any true believer, but he can and he does work hard (through the army of demons and humans at his command) to intimidate those of us back then and now and of every era and generation of humanity who have this 'like precious faith' (2 Peter 1:1) into giving up our confidence in God and all His promises to us. Here is what Albert Barnes had to say of Hebrews 11:2, "That is, by that faith which gives reality to things hoped for, and a certain persuasion to the mind of the existence of those things which are not seen. The ancients; the Hebrew patriarchs and fathers. Literally, 'were witnessed of;' that is, an honorable testimony was borne to them in consequence of their faith. The idea is, that their acting under the influence of faith, in the circumstances in which they were, was the ground of the honorable testimony which was borne to them in the Old Testament. In the cases which the Apostle proceeds to enumerate in the subsequent part of the Chapter, he mentions those whose piety is particularly commended in the Old Testament, and who showed in trying circumstances that they had unwavering confidence in God."

The writer of Hebrews takes us back to the very beginning of Creation by bearing witness here again of the Majesty, Magnificents, and Might of our Great God Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13) when He made all things (including we human beings) that are now visible by His spoken Words, as it is written in Genesis with these words, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." (Genesis 1:1-5) (KJV). Read the rest of Genesis Chapter 1 and 2 for the full documentation for all of creation. It testifies that the Universe does not have Divine intelligence, nor did it make itself from nothing into the complex thing that it truly is and has been since God spoke it into existence. The writer of Hebrews now wants to remind those Hebrew believers back then and all believers today and of every era and generation of time of what their/our faith gives us access into or understanding of that the non-believer/human being devoid of this 'gift of faith in God' cannot understand with these words, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." (Hebrews 11:3) (KJV). Note: "This verse of Scripture and the very beginning verses of the Bible are the turmoil, threat, and terror of the non-believer who only has faith or confidence in what he or she can see and prove in a laboratory/scientific process that gives them solid and sure results, however, God is not the One to be put into a laboratory to be proven, but simple faith is the KEY to knowing Him and proving His very existence."

Here is what Adam Clarke had to say of Hebrews 11:3, "By worlds, we are to understand the material fabric of the universe; for worlds can have no reference here to age or any measurement of time, for he speaks of the things which are Seen; not being made out of the things which do Appear; this therefore must refer to the material creation: and as the word is used in the plural number, it may comprehend, not only the earth and visible heavens, but the whole planetary system; the different worlds which, in our system at least, revolve round the sun. The apostle states that these things were not made out of a pre-existent matter; for if they were, that matter, however extended or modified, must appear in that thing into which it is compounded and modified, consequently it could not be said that the things which are seen are not made of the things that appear; and he shows us also, by these words, that the present mundane fabric was not formed or reformed from one anterior, as some suppose. According to Moses and the apostle we believe that God made all things out of nothing. See the note on Genesis 1:1, etc. At present we see trees of different kinds are produced from trees; beasts, birds, and fishes, from others of the same kind; and man, from man: but we are necessarily led to believe that there was a first man, who owed not his being to man; first there were beasts, etc., which did not derive their being from others of the same kind; and so of all manner of trees, plants, etc. God, therefore, made all these out of nothing; his word tells us so, and we credit that word." Here also is what John Wesley had to say of Hebrews 11:3, "By faith we understand that the worlds - Heaven and earth and all things in them, visible and invisible. Were made - Formed, fashioned, and finished. By the Word - The sole command of God, without any instrument or preceding matter. And as creation is the foundation and specimen of the whole divine economy, so faith in the creation is the foundation and specimen of all faith. So that things which are seen - As the sun, earth, stars. Were made of things which do not appear - Out of the dark, unapparent chaos, Genesis 1:2. And this very chaos was created by the divine power; for before it was thus created it had no existence in nature."
 
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…