Ck – Now Faith is the Assurance of Things Hoped For 11: 1-3

Now Faith is the Assurance of Things Hoped For
11: 1-3

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for DIG: What were the connections between 10:35-39 and the themes of Chapter 11? In the definition of faith, what two verbs describe it? What is the object of both of these verbs? Is our faith directed toward the future, toward the past, or both? Why do you conclude this? What is the difference between spiritual faith and natural faith? Why must all views on the origin of the universe be based on faith? Write your own definition of faith as you try to capture the meaning of this verse. How is faith a certainty of what we do not see?

REFLECT: What are the invisible things you have faith in? Habakkuk 2:4 says: The just shall live by faith/trust/belief. What does “living by faith,” mean to you? What are some examples of not “living by faith?” Describe a time when you have seen someone’s faith change their circumstances. Give some examples of circumstances you may face this week that will require faith on your part?

Between the statement of the faith principle, and the long list of the righteous of the TaNaKh who illustrated it, is a brief definition of this faith.

In the form of old Hebrew poets often used, the writer expresses his definition of faith in two parallel and almost identical phrases as seen below. It is not a full theological definition, but it emphasizes certain basic characteristics of faith that are important in understanding the message that the writer is trying to get across.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1a NASB quoting Habakkuk 2:4). The righteous of the TaNaKh had to rest on the promises of Ha’Shem. God had told them of a coming Messiah, a Deliverer who would take away their sin (see the commentary on Isaiah, to see link click Iy – The Death of the Suffering Servant). He told them that one day all Isra’el would be made clean and be ruled by this righteous Messiah (see the commentary on Isaiah Db – The Nine Missing Articles in Messiah’s Coming Temple). ADONAI’s faithful believed in His promises, as incomplete and vague as many of those promises were. They didn’t have a great deal of light, by New Covenant standards, but they knew it was God’s light, and they put their full trust and hope in it. That’s what faith is . . . living in a hope that is so real that is gives absolute assurance.²⁸⁶

Faith is not a wistful longing that something may come to pass in an uncertain future. True faith is an absolute certainty, often of things that the world considers imaginary and impossible. The faith of the believer is a hope in YHVH against the world – not belief in the improbable against chance. If we follow God whose audible voice we have never heard and believe in Yeshua whose face we have never seen, we do so because our faith has a reality, a substance, an assurance that is unshakable. In doing so, Jesus said we would be blessed: Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (Yochanan 20:29).²⁸⁷

Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who had their Hebrew names changed to the Babylonian names Shadrach, Meshack and Abed-nego, were confronted with the choice of obeying Nebuchadnezzar, whom they could see very well, or YHVH, whom they had never seen. Without hesitation, they chose to obey ADONAI. Our human response is to trust in our physical senses, to put our faith in the things that we can hear, see, taste and touch. But as the children of God we put our trust in something more durable and more dependable than anything we will ever experience with the senses. Senses may lie; God cannot lie (Titus 1:2).

The word assurance deserves our attention. It is hupostasis, made up of stasis, meaning to stand, and hupo, meaning under, thus, that which stands under, or a foundation. It speaks of the ground on which we build our hope. Faith, then, provides the firm foundation on which we stand, waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promise. Assurance is not a mere wish, or dream, or fantasy. Our faith is the present essence of a future reality. And this reality must have a firm foundation, and that foundation is the Word of God.

The things hoped for (Greek: elpizomenon) can also be seen in Romans 8:24-25 where we read: For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not have, we wait for it patiently. If you believe that the future ADONAI has promised is assured, then you will wait patiently. You won’t get upset, rattled or worry – you’ll just wait. That’s faith.

Believers are not masochists. Quite the contrary, we live for ultimate and permanent pleasure. We live in the certainty that whatever discomfort or pain we may have to endure for Christ’s sake on this earth, will more than be compensated for by an eternity of unending bliss, of pleasure we cannot now imagine.

The righteous of the TaNaKh were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance (11:13). They saw the fulfillment of God’s promise with the eye of faith. They held on to the promise as their ultimate reality, as the most certain thing in their existence.²⁸⁸

And the conviction (Greek: elegchos, meaning proof, evidence, or that by which a thing is proved or tested) of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1b NASB quoting Habakkuk 2:4). This conviction carries the same truth a bit further, because it implies a response, an outward display of the inward assurance. The children of God live out their belief. Their lives are committed to what their mind and their spirit are convinced is true.

Noah, for example, truly believed YHVH. He could not have started the humanly ridiculous task God gave him without having faith. When the LORD predicted rain, Noah had no concept of what rain was because it had never rained before the Flood. But Noah believed Ha’Shem and acted on His instructions. He had both assurance and conviction – true faith. His outward display of building the Ark reflected his inward belief that the rain was coming and that God’s blueprint was sound and the boat would float. His faith was based on the word of ADONAI, not on what he could see or what he had experienced. For 120 years he preached in faith, hoped in faith, and built in faith.

The natural man or woman, however, cannot comprehend that kind of spiritual faith. We see Him who is invisible (Hebrews 11:27), but unbelievers do not see because they are spiritually blind. The natural man or woman does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned (First Corinthians 2:14 ESV; also see John 1:5). Because they have no spiritual senses, they do not believe in God or the realities of God’s Kingdom. They are like someone who is blind and refuses to believe light because they have never seen light.

Yet even the natural man or woman operates in the realm of faith. Our society is based on a foundation of faith. We drink out of a public water fountain, with the confidence that it will be safe. We eat food in a restaurant, confident that the food isn’t contaminated. We willingly receive our pay in the form of a check or paper money – neither of which has any real value at all. We accept them because of our faith in the person or the company or the government that issues them. We put our faith in a surgeon, and in medical science in general, though we may not have the least training, competence of experience in medicine ourselves. We submit to the surgeon’s knife entirely on faith. The capacity for faith is created within us.

Spiritual faith operates in the same way. It willingly accepts and acts on many things it does not understand. Spiritual faith, however, is radically different from natural faith in one important way. It is not natural , as is our trust in water, money, food, or the doctor. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). Just as natural faith comes by a natural birth, so a spiritual faith comes from a spiritual birth. It comes from God.²⁸⁹

Now this faith is what the righteous of the TaNaKh (to be listed shortly) were commended for (Hebrews 11:2 quoting Habakkuk 2:4). In Greek, this statement is passive. This does not mean that the righteous of the TaNaKh bore witness of the life of faith, but that the life of faith of the righteous of the TaNaKh was observed by others, and there was a witness to the fact that their faith was genuine. They received a promise from God; they claimed that promise, and, they patiently endured until the promise was fulfilled. ADONAI also bore witness that their faith was genuine.²⁹⁰

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible (11:3). The writer finishes his argument with one devastating example of faith. Creation is something that must be accepted by faith because no one was around to observe it. Moshe was not present to record it. Not only is faith to be exercised in a future event like the Second Coming, which cannot be seen; not only is faith to be exercised in a present event, which is not seen; but faith must also be exercised in a past event which was not seen. Creation shows that something did come out of nothing, but the physical universe, is something that only God controls.²⁹¹

The writer is saying to the Jews who had not yet trusted in Messiah, “You already have a certain faith in ADONAI. You believe that He created the universe and everything in it” (Genesis 1:1). They believed this unquestionably, even though they were not there when God created it. They could not see His act of creating, but they could see His creation and they believed in the Creator. Their own Scriptures taught it and they believed it.

The child of God insists that all truth is God’s truth. Some of it – the natural world – we can discover with our eyes, ears, smell, touch and intellect. Much more, however, can only acquire by faith, for which the believer should make no apology. The very attempt to explain the universe, or our own being and nature, apart from Ha’Shem is foolish. These things we can only understand by faith in the revealed Word of God. Faith comprehends that which the human mind, no matter how brilliant, cannot understand. What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived – the things of God has prepared for those who love Him (First Corinthians 2:9-10).²⁹²

As believers, our faith has context. It is not a blind leap of faith, but is based on specific facts, grounded in evidence. How well do you know the facts upon which your faith rests? Are you familiar with the evidence showing that Yeshua was an actual historical person who rose from the dead? Could you explain to an unbeliever why you accept the reliability of the Scriptures? How would you answer someone who claimed evolution was a proven scientific fact that makes faith in God irrelevant?

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1 NASB).

Faith is trusting in what the eye can’t see.

Eyes see the prowling lion . . . but faith sees Dani’el’s angel.

Eyes see storms . . . but faith sees Noah’s rainbow.

Eyes see giants . . . but faith sees Canaan.

Your eyes see your faults . . . but your faith sees your Savior.

Your eyes see your guilt . . . but you faith sees His blood.

Your eyes look in the mirror and see a sinner, a failure, and a promise-breaker. But by faith you look in the mirror and see a robed prodigal bearing the ring of grace on your finger and the kiss of your Father on your face.²⁹³