Then we have the other patriarchs introduced, yet chiefly as regards earthly hopes, but not apart from resurrection, and its connection with the people of God here below. God's people are, and always have been, a reproached people. As the writer to the Hebrews put it, we must believe that God is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Because of the order in which it comes that must be what Hebrews 11:27 refers to. He had a share in these negotiations and in the long discussions which were necessary. Abraham and his family did not give up and go back to Abrahams home in Mesopotamia as soon as difficulties arose. The supports of Abraham's faith (; Hebrews 11:10): He looked for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 5. "In those sacrifices," referring to the law to which some Hebrew Christians were in danger of going back, "there is a remembrance made again of sins every year. We must believe not only that God exists but also that he cares and is involved in the human situation. What mountain in the Old Testament so much speaks of grace, of God's merciful interference for His people when all was lost? We are not come to Sinai, the mountain that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and a voice more terrible than that of the elements. And this blessed person, single-handed but according to the will of God, accomplishes that will in offering Himself on the cross. So he died, declaring: "I am dying by fiery torments for the law's sake.". How could Jesus have been born into the world if the Jewish religion had ceased to exist? After all, the telling fact was before them that, whoever wrote the epistle to the Hebrews, it was not a Christian who wrote the book of Genesis, but Moses; and Moses bears witness to the homage which Abram rendered to Melchisedec by the payment of tithes. I. Christ's priesthood shows the Old Testament law needed a change (11-22) II. The difference is observable in their persons: Abel was an upright person, a righteous man, a true believer; Cain was a formalist, had not a principle of special grace. They saw he was a beautiful child. Robert Louis Stevenson said: "It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive." We believe in the wind, though we haven't seen the wind. How Abraham lived in Canaan, not as heir and proprietor, but as a sojourner only. Abraham is the supreme example of faith. Above all things, he is the God of the gallant adventurer. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. He now supports this statement with illustrations from the Old Testament. But it is interesting, "I and the lad will go and will worship God and will come again." The first is, that in spirit the Christian is now brought by redemption, without spot or guilt, into the presence of God. So far, Antiochus had succeeded only in causing a division in the nation; the greater part of the Jews were unshakeably true to their faith and could not be moved. Here consider. On the altar of the burnt offering he offered sacrifices of swine flesh to Zeus; and he turned the Temple chambers into brothels. This priesthood is not based on physical requirement (15-17) (2.) Now looking at that a little more closely, God made the world out of things that do not appear.We know that the universe, the worlds, are made up of atoms which are invisible. O grave, where is thy victory?" It was by faith that Jacob, when he was dying. An instance of his faith in conquering the world. God saved his family for his sake; it was well for them that they were Noah's sons and daughters; it was well for those women that they married into Noah's family; perhaps they might have married to great estates in other families, but then they would have been drowned. And the Lord said, "I will bless Ishmael and make of him a nation, but Sarah is going to bear a child, and through Sarah shall thy seed be called" ( Genesis 17:18-21 ). And as thus were shown the people immutably blessed (for salt shall not be wanting to that covenant) in the scene that will soon come, we finally hear of the earth itself joyful in the curse removed for ever. It was due to the faith of these men that the Jewish religion was not completely destroyed. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise ( Hebrews 11:9 ): So here, when he came to the land and he stood on Bethel, the center of the land, good vantage point, God said, "Look to the north, the east, the south and the west as far as you can see, Abraham. 4. When we listen to men planning and arguing and thinking aloud, we get the impression of a vast number of things in this world which are known to be desirable but dismissed as impossible. The only thing they would offer was a broken toy they could well do without. in ordering his bones to be exported, he had no regard to himself, as though his grave in the land of canaan would be sweeter or better than in egypt; but his only object was to sharpen the desire of his own nation, that they might more earnestly aspire after redemption; he wished also to strengthen their faith, so that they might confidently but having seen them afar off, they were persuaded of them, and they [held on to them] embraced them, and they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the eaRuth ( Hebrews 11:13 ). The faith of all three of these patriarchs affected their descendants. Then, very gently, Popilius told Antiochus that Rome did not wish him to proceed with the campaign but wished him to go home. When clubs had their common meal, those who sat down to it were divided into members and xenoi ( G3581) . (2.) The circumstance of time is taken notice of, when Moses by his faith gained this victory over the world, in all its honours, pleasures, and treasures: 3. They all died in faith not having received the promise, for you see, God provided some better thing for us. Josephs faith was recognized from the time he was a small child (approximately seventeen years of age) when he was sold by his brothers and taken to Egypt until near the time of his death. When Joshua sent out spies to spy out the situation in Jericho, they found a lodging in the house of Rahab, a harlot. and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. This is one of the first instances that is upon record of fallen men going in to worship God; and it was a wonder of mercy that all intercourse between God and man was not cut off by the fall. What is here said of his faith, Hebrews 11:6. We see the leaves that are blowing. But when the writer to the Hebrews writes of himself in Hebrews 11:32, the masculine grammar of the passage argues against the idea that a woman wrote the letter. Abel took refuge on the mountains but Cain still pursued him saying: "The mountains, too, are mine." Had the energetic activity of faith been first noticed, it would have made more of man; but when the heart had been disciplined in quiet endurance, and lowly expectancy from God, then he could be clothed with the energy of the Spirit. So Abraham took the ram, and offered it on the altar. Abraham was the man who would sacrifice even the dearest thing in life for God. Here observe. It remains. In the end they carried him to the fire and threw him on it, "burning him with cruelly contrived instruments and pouring stinking liquids into his nostrils." But the answer to this is, that there is not a single writer in the language, not sacred only but profane, who employs it in such a sense. If Abraham had ever so many sons, this was the only son who could convey to all nations the promised blessing. He presses the fact of a new principle, as well as an institution established on better promises, upon the Jews. In Hebrews 6:1-20, we saw that the Spirit of God brings in a most solemn warning for those who turn their back on the power and presence of the Holy Ghost, as bearing witness of Christianity. At the same time he exhorts the believers as to their chiefs, that is, those who guided them spiritually. But where in the scripture, the Old Testament, does it speak of the resurrection after three days? In every point of view, therefore, the superiority of the Melchisedec priest was demonstrated over the line of Aaron. But would a Jew infer hence that it was only the city of David he was speaking of? There, is no ground, in my judgment, for the thought of anything mysterious in the facts as to his person. They donned spiked iron gloves. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land: and the Egyptians attempting to do it were drowned ( Hebrews 11:28-29 ). And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest." That Abraham and Sarah should have a child, humanly speaking, was impossible. . Of course it is true that Jesus took His seat there, but more is conveyed in the true form of the text ( ) here. He told them that nothing they could do could shake him because he believed that, if he was true to God, God would be true to him. Let blinded Jews turn their sightless eyeballs to the mountain of Sinai. Hebrews 11:22, NLT: It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt. Christ is doing nothing there to take away sin; nor when He comes again will He touch the question of sin, because it is a finished work. I and the lad will go and will worship God and will come again. It was only through that finished work of Christ where was the door open as He preached to the souls in prison and led them from their captivity. They had never known so great and frequent and constant trial. It was so sure to him that he instructed his sons to carry his bones with them for burial in Canaan. Hebrews 11 The apostle having, in the close of the foregoing chapter, recommended the grace of faith and a life of faith as the best preservative against apostasy, he how enlarges upon the nature and fruits of this excellent grace. In Hebrews,. (3.) Our hopes may never be realized but we must live in such a way that we shall hasten their coming. God was going openly to set aside the Jewish system, as it had already been judged morally in the cross of Christ. (2. I, too, will lay my brother in the ground," and he did so. He had some success; there were those who were willing to accept Greek culture, Greek drama, Greek athletics. And I see the evidence of God's existence, and thus, faith. Popilius and Antiochus met on the boundaries of Egypt. On this subject I refer the reader to the notes on "Genesis 50:25". The apostle is dealing with the saints as to their walk; and as he had shown how Christ alone had purged the sins of the believer, and how He is on high, as the Priest in the presence of God, to intercede for them in their weakness and dangers; so now, when he is come to the question of the walk of faith, Christ is the leader of that, walk. The verb means to finish or close, with life understood. But whether we look at the heavenly supremacy of Christ over the universe, which is the highest part of the mystery, or at the church associated with Him as His body, composed of both Jew and Gentile, where all distinction is gone, no wit of man ever did or could possibly draw this beforehand from the Old Testament. On the seventh day the priests were to blow upon the trumpets, after the city had been encircled seven times, and the people were to shout with all their might, "and the wall of the city will fall down flat." [4.] Isaac was willingly submissive to the father's will.For three days they journeyed from Hebron, and in the mind of Abraham, for those three days his son Isaac was dead, because he knew that God had required that he offer him as a sacrifice in the place that He would show him. It often happens that simply by being himself the Christian passes judgment on other people. Yet who beforehand would have anticipated either? As to the pathway through the wilderness, it had been disposed of inHebrews 4:1-16; Hebrews 4:1-16. There is condemnation for the sinner; but there is still greater condemnation for the man who teaches another to sin. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones. He has but one settled purpose of goodness about us; He watches and judges for our good, and nothing but our good. When it says that Abraham looked for the city, it means a blessed and ordered scene of glory on high, which eclipsed the Holy Land before his eyes. I can say, "Well, God, I don't understand, but You've got a reason and a plan," and I endure as seeing Him who is invisible. 11:22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones. So Abel, who was a shepherd, took his best lamb to the place of sacrifice; but Cain, who was a tiller of the ground, took the poorest sheaf of corn he could find and laid it on the altar. Here was a great trial of their faith. The next instance of faith is that of the Israelites, under Joshua their leader, before the walls of Jericho. Author: VICTOR C. Pfitzner Genre: Religion Topic: Biblical Commentary / New Testament Item Width: 4.4in. God on his part rewarded them, but rejected those who showed no faith (4-7; cf. The Jews would not have Him living. He was snatched away lest evil should change his understanding or guile deceive his soul." He just lived in tents, though the whole land was his by the promise of God. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.". This it was of all consequence to have stated first. Among other instructions, he told them to return his bones to their homeland, Canaan; he gave a "commandment" (entellomai), meaning an "order" (Thayer 218): And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his fathers house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. He necessarily completes all as the pattern for the Christian. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God." Observe, [1.] What seems so is transition; To such death has always been a call to come up higher, a crossing from the dark to the dawn. Such is the emphasis. 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The Israelites, under Joshua their hebrews 11:22 commentary, before the walls of Jericho God exists also... To their chiefs, that is, those who guided them spiritually he had share... N'T seen the wind as soon as difficulties arose going openly to set aside the Jewish religion was completely! Sightless eyeballs to the will of God in tents, though the land! Completes all as the pattern for the Christian passes judgment on other people is involved the...
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