Hebrews 11

Hebrews 11:1-3

The apostle having, in the class of the foregoing chapter, recommended the grace of faith and a life of faith as the best preservative against apology; he now enlarges upon the nature and fruits of this excellent grace. 1. The nature of it, and the honour it reflects upon all that love in the exercise of it, ver. 1, 2, 3. 2. The great examples are here in the Old Testament of those that lived by faith, and did and suffered extraordinary things by the strength of this grace, ver. 4-39. And, 3. The advantages that we have in the gospel for the exercise of this grace above what they had that lived in the times of the Old Testament, ver. 39, 40.

1. NOW faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2. For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3. 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.

VOL. II. We have here,

1. An account of the nature and effects of divine faith. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, giving such a realising view of the promises, and such a subsistence of them to the mind, as if they were actually in our profession; and the evidence of things not seen, demonstrating as assuredly the certainty of the invisible things revealed in the divine word, as a mathematical proposition, when solved, carries the clearest conviction along with it.

2. All the saints from the beginning have lived under its blessed influence: For by it the elders obtained a good report, and were enabled so to walk as to obtain God’s approbation of their conduct. This from the first being the divine principle on which alone any work acceptable to God could ever be performed.

3. One of the first articles of faith is this, that the worlds were framed by the word of God, who from nothing (quite them into being) is that the things which are seen, even all the visible objects of creation, were not made of things which do appear, from any pre-existent matter, but from that chaotic mass, which was produced at the word of the Almighty.

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 (peakeath). 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. 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. 7. By faith ’ Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, ’ prepared an act to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of ’ the righteousness which is by faith.

Hebrews 11:4-7

The apostle here begins to influence the power of divine faith in many of the eminent servants of God, and he begins with the antediluvian worthiers.

1. Abel. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, who only brought of the fruit of the ground, but offered no atoning sacrifice in acknowledgment of his sin; whilst Abel to his misery or meat-offering added the blood of the firstlings of his flock, the type of the great atonement whereon his faith reflect; by which he obtained witness of God that he was righteous, either by some visible token, as free from heaven on his sacrifice, or by the witness of the Spirit in his heart; God testifying of his works, that they were accepted through the righteousness of faith; and by it he, being dead, yet (peakeath), the record of it in the scripture instructs us, that, since the fall of man, the only way of access to God is through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus; and also that vengeance awaits the murderer and persecutor, against whom the blood of innocence and the cries of oppression cry for judgment. Note, (1.) The only access to God for sinners from the beginning was through the blood of Jesus. (2.) There is a great difference between those who worship God in formality, and faith. It is not the act, but the way in which we present our prayers, which makes the acceptable offering. (3.) They who are righteous by faith, and have obtained witness from God, may expect the world’s enmity. The first most eminent saint recorded in scripture was a martyr for religion.

2. Enoch. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, caught up to the paradise of God in body and soul, and instantly undergoing the change that fitted him for an eternal manion in glory; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation to the realms of hills, he had this testimony, that he pleased God, in a course of humble and holy walking, under the influence of divine faith in the expected God of the woman; see Jude 14, 15. But without faith in him it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God, in any act of religious worship, must believe that he is such as he hath revealed himself to the sons of men, who never could have known either his being or attributes but by revelation; and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, in the use of all the ordinances which he hath appointed. Note, (1.) No service can please God, but what springs from faith as its origin. (2.) God is the portion and exceeding great reward of all his people. (3.) There are appointed means, in which, God hath told us, they who wait upon him shall assuredly obtain his blessing; and in the use of them we cannot be too diligent.

3. Noah. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, which reason could never have beggars, nor mortal know but by divine revelation, moved with fear and religious awe at the apprehension of the approaching judgments, prepared an act according to God’s direction, in defiance of the scouts of the men of that generation, to the fleeing of his house from the approaching deluge; by the which he condemned the world; his preaching and labours in building the ark witnessed against that

fawn afunder, were tempted, * were flain with the sword; * they wandered about in sheep-skins, and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented: 38. (Of whom the world was not worthy) * they wandered in deters, and in mountains, and * in dens and caves of the earth. 39. And these all * having obtained a good report through faith, * received not the promise: 40. * God having provided * some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Hebrews 11:32-40

Unable to enter particularly into the case of every eminent believer recorded in the Old Testament, the apostle recites a cluster of distinguished names, and of the mighty effects which their faith produced.

2. He recites some of their distinguished names. And what shall I more say? When the field is so vast, for the time would fail me, if I enlarged on every individual, to tell of Gideon and his noble exploits recorded (Judges vi, vii, viii), and of Daniel, who before him was alike eminent for his faith and victory, (Judges iv.) and of Sampson, in life and death so signally remarkable, (Judges xiv. 19. xvi. 27—30) and of Sephiah, before whose faith the routed Ammonites fell, (Judges xv. 23—33) and of Daniel also, the man after God’s own heart, so famous in sacred history for dependence on God, (1 Sam. xxii. 1—5.) and Samuel and of the prophets, who did and suffered so easily in the cause of God and truth, under the mighty influence of divine faith.

3. He mentions many of the glorious acts of faith, which these and other worthies like them shewed; and any one conversant in the book of God may apply them to several of the faints there recorded: Who (1.) through faith, forfeited kingdoms, as Joshua, David, &c. (2.) Wrought righteousness in their private and public capacities, governing with equity, and in their conversation were examples of every thing good and gracious; (3.) Gleaned promises, God remarkably appearing for them, as he had affixed them he would in the hour of trial; (4.) Stopped the mouths of Sion, as David, Sampson, Daniel; and still the same faith will produce the same effects, in stopping the mouth of the old lion that he cannot devour; (5.) Squeezed the violence of fire, so as to remain unhurt in the midst of the flames, (Dan. iii. 13—27.) (6.) Escaped the edge of the sword, when in the most imminent danger of their lives; (7.) Out of wielding were made strong, their national affairs restored from the nearest prospect of ruin; their bodily health recovered, when their disease seemed desperate, (2 Kings xx. 1r.) and though, in comparison with their foes, weak as infancy, yet, in divine strength, became more than conquerors; (8.) Waved valiants in light, and trusting in the Lord, marvellously overcome in the day of battle; (9.) Turned it right the armies of the aliens, though more, and, to human view, incomparably mightier than they. (10.) Whence received their dead rapted to life again, as in the cases of the widow of Zarradach and the Shumamite: And, with respect to the power of faith, as evident in the most acute sufferings, we read that, (11.) Others were tortured, willingly fathinizing to the most dreadful torments, not accepting deliverance, when only to be obtained at the price of their conscience, and some safe compliances, rather welcoming death itself than deny the faith, that they might obtain a better reformation, the prospect of eternal glory raising them superior to all the pangs of nature, and all the terrors of death. (12.) And others had tried of cruel mackay, ridiculed, treated as despicable, and loaded with every opprobrious name, and withal fmarred under severe forgerings, yet moreover, endured the pain and shame of bonds and imprisonment: Such hath been the faints’ portion, more or less, in every age. (13.) They were murdered in a variety of ways: They were, some of them found, they were fawn afunder, as the Jewish tradition affirms Isaiah was, as the command of the cruel Maundish; they were tempted to deny their profession and save their lives, by complying with the commands of their persecutors; they were flain with the sword of tyrants and blood-thrifty men, and where some escaped the fury of their foes by flight, their life was imbittered and scarce preferable to death itself: for, (14.) They wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, having no better covering to protect them from the inclemency of the fakes, being destitute of any abode, of closets and necessary food, afflicted with various miseries, and tortured with endless infests and abuses, (of whom indeed the world was not merely) not deserved so great a blessing as their examples, prayers, and admonitions; and by the wicked they were treated as unfit for human society, and driven out from among men to dreary tabulation; they murdered in deters, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth, feasting refuge among wild beasts, more hospitable than their savage persecutors; and, in the midst of all their sufferings, faith enabled them to persevere, and brought them at last to their eternal rest. For.

4. Their faith was at last crowned with the enjoyment of that Redeemer in whom they trusted. Their all having obtained a good report through faith, enrolled in the sacred records as names held up for imitation to the latest ages, received not the promise, saw not that Messiah incarnate in whom their faith centered. God

having provided some better thing for us, the manifestation of his Son in the flesh, to whom they had constantly respect, that they without us should not be made perfect. Since not by any legal factures, but by the offering of the body of Jesus, hath their Son and ours were captured, and that by the same grace revealed in him we might be saved even as they. According therefore to the peculiar advantages which we enjoy under the gospel dispensation, a peculiar obligation is laid upon us, that our faith should be suitably operative, engaging as to all cheerful obedience, and willing sufferers for our Redeemer’s sake.