Courageous Faith
October 30, 2024
-Dr. J. Vernon McGee, from our Hebrews Bible Companion
Hebrews 11 has come down through the ages as the “Hall of Faith” chapter in the Bible. It chronicles the lives of people—many well-known, others obscure—who changed the world by believing God.
These are stories of people who not only walked a road less traveled but who traveled an altogether different route. They walked by faith—the way God wants all of us to walk each day.
Hebrews 11 offers several examples of real people who lived their lives by believing in the truth of God, even though it couldn’t be seen.
These faithful people laid the foundation for trusting God, and ultimately paved the way for Messiah, God’s promised Deliverer. They believed God, and for them it was not a leap in the dark nor a false sense of hope. Their faith rested upon evidence. Noah built an ark, and he did it by faith. What kind of faith? Was it just some dream he had? No. God gave him an abundance of evidence because Noah had trusted God’s message for many years.
Abraham shines as another credible example. Though he had never known or seen God, once he encountered God’s voice and call, he believed Him. He put his faith in God. When Abraham believed, God granted him righteousness. He made him new (Genesis 15:6). Abraham received true righteousness, not because of his stellar life, but because he believed God.
Faith helps us grasp the origins of the universe, too. God commanded the world and the entire universe into existence. That’s what is revealed in the Bible. It is faith that allows us to accept that truth.
In the case of Abel, Adam’s and Eve’s son, God made clear that people must approach Him on only one basis: by faith. In other words, Abel and all individuals after him could find favor with God when they trusted Him—demonstrated faith in His Word.
Abel had apparently received a revelation from God. So did Cain. They were both in the same family. But Cain ignored God’s command and did his own thing, bringing the fruit of the ground, or crops, that he had produced. In other words, here is the first man who brought his works to God. A lot of people today try to make themselves right with God the same way—by presenting their own good needs or by relying on their own resourcefulness.
Abel, on the other hand, brought a sacrifice of a lamb, as God had commanded. He shed the blood of the lamb, signifying the shed blood of Jesus, and trusted God’s Word. His offering pointed to Jesus, and he responded to God’s command by faith. Abel illustrates to us the way of faith—it is the blood–sprinkled way, the way that is Christ.
Another example was Enoch, an Old Testament individual who also lived by faith in God’s Word. But most unusually, Enoch apparently did not die. He was simply translated into God’s presence. But prior to that, he believed God after his son Methuselah was born. We don’t know what God said to Enoch, but he trusted Him regardless. And it became for him eternal life.
Genesis 5 records Enoch’s mysterious story. And it’s a relatively sad story to be sure. Many people’s stories are sad, representing a life filled with heartache, disappointment, loneliness, and loss. Maybe you feel your life is made of endless sad chapters with no end in sight. If so, Enoch’s story is for you. Because despite all that sadness, God revealed Himself to this man and Enoch believed Him.
Genesis 5 also records the generations of Adam. Line after line reveals that one of Adam’s sons had his own son and those sons had sons and on and on it went.
Eventually, every one of them died. That’s what happens in the human experience. No one lives forever. Eventually, people die. Some die prematurely, others at the end of a long adventurous, or at times, tortured life. It’s the story of humanity.
Faith makes all the difference in our relating to God. You simply cannot live a good enough life to please God and find His favor. What pleases God is when you believe Him. When you put your faith in what He has revealed.
If you want to come to God and be found acceptable by Him, you must believe that He exists and that He is who He claims to be in His Word.
Do you believe God? This might be a good time for you to reflect on what it is that you are trusting for your life’s purpose and direction. You may believe in yourself. In your dream. In your own resourcefulness, perhaps your intellect or charm. None of that adds up to eternal life or to a life of meaning and genuine fulfillment. That only leads to emptiness and ultimately death, and an eternity apart from God.
God always rewards anyone who responds to Him or seeks Him with faith in their heart. Faith is what prompts God to offer life.
My Turn
- Why do you think the writer of Hebrews included so many stories of the faith of Old Testament saints? What was the point the writer was trying to make?
- What did someone like Noah have in common with the first readers of Hebrews?
- Imagine you got a chance to write a follow up to Hebrews 11, which is another chapter about the examples of faithful Christians. Who, from history or your on life, would you include and why?