We
have already seen in this epistle that the Hebrews, instead of walking
by faith, were in danger of turning back to the things they could see -
things suited to them as men in the flesh, such as ordinances and
objects of outward importance, of which the Jewish system was full. But
Christians were called out of these; God was leading away from them.
The constant tendency of all our hearts is to go back. It is a shame
for Gentiles to take up with those shadows; in a measure it was natural
for the Jews, because they had had the beggarly elements appointed for
them to observe. Now there was something better. They were waiting for
Christ to come again, and it is said to them, "He that shall come, will
come, and will not tarry." In this epistle we do not have the place of
the church, the body of Christ, brought out at all; in that connection
the Lord comes and takes her to Himself. "I go to prepare a place for
you," etc. Here, as pilgrims, there is responsibility before us, and we
look for His appearing. In church character the hope is to be with Him.
Here it is the heavenly calling and priesthood between us and God.
The apostle goes on in our chapter to shew the power of faith. It is
not a definition, but a description of its effects. It is "the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Perfect certainty of realisation is the effect of faith. The definition
of faith is that it "sets to its seal that God is true." It remains
that, what we hope for, we with patience wait for. The promise is just
as certain as if we had the fulfilment of it. We do not see it. If we
saw it we should not hope for it, but we realise things not seen. This
is the power of faith in the soul.
In
this chapter we have faith in its active character - the working of
faith when it is there. The thing that produces faith is the Spirit of
God bringing home the word with power; and when the soul sees anything
of Christ, it cannot rest satisfied without more. "Of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth," is the reception of truth in the
soul. Then there follows the practical effect in the walk of the
believer. There is a great deal of method in this chapter, more than
appears at first sight; for it is not man's method, but God's. The
divine mind is always at work according to the measure of divine love.
Directly you get the clue to the divine mind, you get beauty and order.
Thus, in Exodus, we have the account of the things for the tabernacle,
and then the priests, and then again the utensils. The human mind sees
nothing but disorder in all this; but when the object of the shadow is
known, the most perfect order comes out.
Faith
here is spoken of in connection with creation. That nothing could come
out of nothing is man's wisdom! The philosopher could never of himself
have found out how "the worlds were framed," etc. Creation is
absolutely unknown by reason. "By faith we understand," but man's way
of accounting for it led to pantheism, atheism, etc. Now men have got
some knowledge of it from the Bible; but without Scripture it never
could be known simply or certainly.
In the next exemplar of faith we see the ground on which man could be
in relationship with God: in Abel, the faith that brought a sacrifice;
in Enoch, that which led to walking with God, and the power of life in
his translation. In verse 7, it is faith connected with God in
government, and the consequent judgment of the world; in the next
example we have that kind of faith that reckons on promise. It takes
the promise of God, is satisfied with it, gives up everything, and gets
nothing. All that flesh clings to is to be given up. These Jews had to
do that. If I have nothing to do with earth I am a heavenly man. If I
have nothing on earth, I am not an earthly man. God is not ashamed to
be called the God of one whose heart and portion are in heaven; but He
would be of one whose heart is on earth. This is the faith that gives
character, heavenly character, v. 8-22.
Then
you have the faith that counts on God, the active energy of life - not
merely character, but energy; not so much the giving up as the active
energy of the new principle in the soul. This is from verses 23-31. But
the getting into the land is passed over, the rest promised is in
heaven. They have possession of the land. It is different from passing
the Red Sea and the wilderness.
From
verse 32 come out all the various difficulties and traits of faith in
which individuals had to stand against the professing people of God.
This is a more difficult thing than any. If you want to live a life of
faith, you must often live without Christians. People have to go alone
with God and no one else, and if not, they must bring in unbelief to
hinder them. Communion of saints is a happy thing, but there are times
when you must act alone. Jonathan acted in faith, but Saul's folly
spoiled the whole thing. We need the faith that reckons on God, let the
people do what they like. This is not so brilliant an action of faith,
but it is very valuable. A person who goes to preach in a heathen place
knows what he has to do. His difficulty is not nearly so great as that
of a Christian with the world, which professes to be Christian. If not
very near to Christ, a man cannot discern what is the world and what is
of Christ.
Verses 37, 38. They had to take what portion they could get here, and
they died without receiving the promises, "God having provided some
better thing for us," etc. The beginning of chapter 12 is founded on
this. The chastening there is connected with the trials of faith; the
chastening is against the flesh; v. 2. Our attention is taken off all
the other examples of faith in chapter 11, and the eye is to be fixed
on Him who has gone through all. "Looking unto Jesus." "Looking away"
is the force of the expression. "He is set down on the right hand,"
etc. Of the Abrahams, Isaacs, Josephs, Moses, etc., we read, they
"received not the promises," but of Christ it is not said, He has not,
for He has. He "is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." He
has the reward; and another thing, He has gone all the way, bearing
mockery, scourging, etc. He has trodden every bit of the path of faith.
The others had each their trial in a particular way, but the
encouragement for faith now is that He has sat down, having run it all.
David has not his reward yet. All these are not made perfect yet, but
Christ is. Christianity was not brought in then. They were not brought
into resurrection glory. There were others to be brought into a better
thing. Jesus was the beginner and finisher of faith, and He has the
reward.
It
is well that we should see what the character of the reward is. Reward
is never the motive for conduct; there would be no room for love in
that; but it acts as an encouragement, when we are in the path which
love has brought into, and encompassed with difficulties and trials.
These
Hebrews were going back to the expectation of a Messiah they could see.
They are reminded that none of those in whom they boasted did see what
they waited for. "These all died in faith, not having received," etc.
You want a visible Messiah; but none of these you glory in got what
they waited for. With a Jew this was an unanswerable argument. The
elders got nothing but by faith. So with us. What have we but what we
have by faith?
Without
going into the details of chapter 11, we have, first, the creation;
then, respecting sacrifice, "Abel offered unto God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain." One thing to remark here is, how faith meets all
cases since sin came in. It has nothing to do with innocence. Innocence
does not need faith. When there was enjoyment all around, there was no
need of faith. It was when sin came in that faith is known - a most
blessed ordering of God; for it brings to us all that is required -
righteousness, life, shelter in the judgment of the world. It can
wander in a strange country, and bring in a living energy to overcome.
It brings in God for enjoyment - communion - want of communion giving
the sense of sin, and bringing back. It is the positive bringing in of
God when sin had turned out of His presence. It takes out of flesh to
God. It brings God in; or, rather, God brings Himself in His word and
Spirit. There is no condition in which you cannot have it. The first
thing we want it for is for righteousness.
Abel was a sinner; faith brings into a better place than innocency. I
can enjoy nothing rightly according to flesh; but the moment I get hold
of God, I am out of those things, and am connected with Him. When they
were in the land, the occasion for faith dropped through, except where
special need brought it out.
When
sin had shut us out from God, righteousness is possessed by faith. "He
obtained witness that he was righteous." Cain, before his heart was
laid bare, was a very decent man; he was labouring in the sweat of his
brow, and then went to worship God. What would you have better? It was
this very thing that shewed he had not a single right thought about
God. He thought he could worship God as comfortably as ever. Cain
really carried to God the proof of the curse - just what the natural
man does. What we find in Abel was entirely different: he brings in
death; he takes a firstling of the flock, a slain beast, by which he
acknowledges he is under the effect of sin, not merely outwardly. He
brings blood to God - a sacrifice - a slain sacrifice - the only way.
He acknowledges by it, he is a sinner, and lost unless the death of
another comes in. He comes to God with a sacrifice, and this declares,
I am lost without. This passage is so clear as to righteousness - "he
obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts."
This is not only that righteousness is in Christ; He is my
righteousness - I am "made the righteousness of God in him." Abel
obtained a witness that he was righteous, not that God was righteous.
Not merely that God had given the sacrifice, but there are the actings
of God in the man. God provided the sacrifice, but faith acts in
bringing it to God. "God testifying of his gifts." It is full of
blessing. I have the witness that I am righteous. This is not
experience.
I do not want a testimony for what I experience. I want a testimony
that delivers me from the things I am occupied about in myself, when I
am suffering from them. I get it from God's gift that is perfect. I am
"accepted in the beloved." You say, There is something about myself I
cannot get over. Remember, the testimony of the Holy Ghost in us is the
contrary of the testimony of the Holy Ghost to us. In me He takes
notice of every fault that is not righteousness; but the testimony to
us is, "their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." If a person
brings a note to me, he does not ask what I am. In bringing Christ to
God, I bring perfection. This is a peculiar figure of Christ, the
sacrifice of Abel. Christ made Himself our neighbour: Israel slew Him.
They have the mark on them, having cast off Christ. But He is the
sacrifice through which they will be restored. Faith says, I go to God
by the sacrifice.
In
Enoch, life has come in, as well as righteousness. Christ is "declared
to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead." Enoch, before his translation, had
this testimony that he pleased God. In the Old Testament it is said he
walked with God. If we are reconciled to God, we can walk with Him.
Then the life is manifested in walk, and the power of that life is that
he does not die at all. Christ said, "He that liveth and believeth in
me shall never die." So those who are alive when He comes will not die.
We may not die. We shall not all sleep. The "wages of sin" for faith
are entirely done away. Enoch is not found, for God took him - he is
not touched by death at all. That which is the power of death is done
away. Another thing accompanying this is, that "before his translation,
he had this testimony that he pleased God. Here I get life before
death. That we have as a present thing, and if the Lord comes, we shall
not die. His long-suffering is the reason of His not coming. Walking
with God, we have the testimony that we please God. It is peace,
comfort - joy of the favour in which we stand. The Spirit of God,
instead of reproving us, brings the light of God's favour streaming in
upon our souls. Glory we now see, through a glass darkly; but it is a
real truth that the Holy Ghost is in us, and if we are walking with
God, He makes us happy in His favour. Not merely I have done right in
this or that; I do not think of myself at all, but of God.
If I care only for what natural conscience says, I do not get God's
mind at all. That does not touch what God is at all, but what man is;
it is saying that man may exalt himself - has responsibility to
himself; but believing God is a great deal more, for it acknowledges
responsibility to God. "He that cometh to God must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder," etc. It is coming to Another that is spoken
of. Do I come to a person I am with? In coming, I think of what He is -
what God thinks of a thing. We have to do with Him in a living way by
faith. He is one who takes notice of everything. If you apply this
practically at any moment, what a difference it will make! We are
called to judge everything in the light. What do I mind about
difficulties, if I know I am pleasing God? Such an one does not despise
any; because, thinking about God, he goes from strength to strength.
Intercourse with God shews him more of God's mind - he sees what God is
doing. "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light."
If he fail, there will be distress, thus walking with Him, because he
has lost the thing he delights in. If accustomed to walk carelessly, he
does not notice it. "Without faith it is impossible to please God." If
there is diligence in seeking Him, there is the reward.
Verse
7. If Enoch's case is that of exceptional translation, like the church,
Noah, like the Jewish remnant of the last days, is found in the place
on which judgment was coming, and warned of things not seen as yet
(besides being a preacher of righteousness, as we hear elsewhere), is
moved with fear, and prepares an ark. His is the prophetic spirit; the
world is condemned, and himself becomes heir of the righteousness which
is by faith. He accepted God's testimony with the provided means of
escape, and thus inherited that righteousness on which the new world is
founded. Thus we have had faith in creation, faith in sacrifice,
walking with God and testimony.
From
verse 8 to 16 we have, not the great principles of human relationship
with God from first to last, as in the preceding verses, but the faith
which goes and keeps out as a pilgrim, with all the strength given for
fulfilling the promises. And as these realised strangership on earth
through faith, lived and died in faith, not in the possession of what
was promised, so God regarded them with special favour, is not ashamed
to be called their God, and will exceed their hopes of heavenly things.
Further, we come (v. 17-22) to the faith that sacrifices the thing
which apparently accomplishes the promise, to receive it from God
alone, or confides, spite of all that tends to destroy confidence.
The preceding is rather faith's patience, as what follows is its
energy. Thus faith in the history of Moses (v. 23-27) abides firm in
the face of the utmost difficulties. Moreover, not providence, but
faith, should regulate the believer. Again, we may observe in the next
verses (28-31), that faith uses the means God appoints; which nature
either refuses, or can only meddle with to its own ruin. But if the
Egyptians were swallowed up - the type of those who, of themselves,
think to pass through death and judgment, the harlot Rahab identifies
herself by faith with the spies and the people of God, before a blow
was struck on this side Jordan, and thus escaped the destruction which
fell on self-confident Jericho.
Then
follow statements of the actings and sufferings of faith all through
the history of Israel after the conquest of Canaan, not detailed as
before, but general; but all, like the patriarchs, without receiving
the fulfilment of the promise. This was one grand lesson for the Hebrew
Christians.
Besides,
they were to bear in mind (v. 40) that God has provided some better
thing for us. They are to be perfected, as well as we, in resurrection
glory; but there are special privileges for the saints who are now
being called - "for us."