Day 2271 – Hebrews-19 – Faithful Walks Worth Following – Daily Wisdom

Welcome to Day 2271 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Hebrews-19 Faithful Walks Worth Following – Daily Wisdom
Putnam Church Message – 09/10/2023

Faithful Walks Worth Following - Hebrews 11:8-22

We continue our extended series through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. Last week, we studied the ‘Application of Faith’ by Common People with Uncommon Faith. This week, we will extend these thoughts as we observe Faithful Walks Worth Following. Our focus today will be on the patriarchs of the nation of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

 

Let’s read Hebrews 11:8- 22 on page 1875 of your Pew Bible.

Faith in Action

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13 All these people 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, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[c] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

22 By faith...

Welcome to Day 2271 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Hebrews-19 Faithful Walks Worth Following – Daily Wisdom
Putnam Church Message – 09/10/2023

Faithful Walks Worth Following - Hebrews 11:8-22

We continue our extended series through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. Last week, we studied the ‘Application of Faith’ by Common People with Uncommon Faith. This week, we will extend these thoughts as we observe Faithful Walks Worth Following. Our focus today will be on the patriarchs of the nation of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

 

Let’s read Hebrews 11:8- 22 on page 1875 of your Pew Bible.

Faith in Action

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13 All these people 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, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[c] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.

 

I remember reading a story in the 1970s about two preachers in a backwoods mountain community who died in a self-inflicted test of faith. Based on Mark 16:18, it seems they were determined to prove the strength of their faith to their congregation by handling snakes and drinking poison. If I recall correctly, they had survived bites from both copperheads and rattlesnakes in the past. This time, they increased the stakes by drinking strychnine—a common ingredient in rat poison! Needless to say, those men failed that test of faith. A few hours after drinking the poison, both of them were dead.

 

Besides basing their beliefs and practices on a flawed interpretation of a biblical text that may not even be original to the Gospel of Mark, these men crossed the line between faith and presumption. On the surface, they may have appeared daring, courageous, and impressive. But God is not pleased with voluntary snake handling and self-inflicted poisoning. He never commanded these actions, nor did He ever promise to miraculously heal those who put Him to the test like this (see Matt. 4:5–7).

 

Clearly, sensational and superstitious displays don’t please God. But what does it take to please Him? Last week, we studied Hebrews 11:6, which answers that all-important question: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Pleasing God takes faith—not blind, wishful thinking that presumes He’ll do what we want, when we want, and how we want. Faith is a humble and obedient response to God’s word—whether a statement of historical fact, a promise of provision and protection, a prophecy of the future, or a command to be obeyed. Faith is simple trust, which is always manifested in faithfulness.

(Pull out Board)

Last week in Hebrews 11:1–7, the author has already begun filling in the white backdrop of a montage of faithfulness, the “Procession of Faith.” He has already painted the background scenes: the faith of Abel, Enoch, and Noah (11:3–7). In the next phase of this glorious production, the author moves to the center of the canvas and fills in the story of Abraham and Sarah as well as the stories of their descendants, the patriarchs Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph (11:8–22). Each of these, in their own way, exhibited the kind of faith that pleases God by walking faithfully along a path worth following.

11:8–12

Unlike the two preachers who foolishly and fatally handled snakes and drank strychnine, the faith of Abraham and Sarah was neither sensational nor superstitious. However, from the world’s perspective, it was undoubtedly considered risky and ridiculous. However, note that Abraham’s faith walk began “when called to go” (11:8). His faith wasn’t founded on a subjective feeling about God’s will, a billowy cloud formation pointing like an arrow, or a vague message from a fortune-teller staring into a crystal ball. The Bible says, “So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed” (Gen. 12:4), and “Then the Lord appeared to Abram” (Gen. 12:7). This is where true faith rests—on the clear revelation of God (Rom. 10:17). So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.

 

God’s calling to Abram was audible, objective, and specific. He responded with faithful obedience. In Hebrews 11:8, the depths of his faith are revealed he: “obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” Can you imagine that? He packed up his things and led his wife, Sarah, from the comfort and security of his homeland to head to God-knows-where! This faith walk is even more remarkable when we remember that Abraham and Sarah weren’t a newlywed couple with an adventurous spirit and a world of possibilities ahead of them. He was seventy-five years old and had accumulated half a century’s worth of personal possessions (Gen. 12:5). I can’t begin to imagine how he explained all this to his family, friends, and neighbors!

 

Paula and I spent 10 years in North Carolina for work, although we maintained our home here.  Traveling back and forth every month for a few days was certainly not easy, especially with Paula’s mom with us, and visiting my Dad on most weekends that we were here. Not so with Abraham. Hebrews 11:9 says it took faith to live “a stranger in a foreign country” in the Promised Land. He lived in tents like an unwanted foreigner so he could move from place to place. In this always-on-the-move environment,/ with insecurities in the present /and uncertainties about the future,/ Abraham and Sarah raised their child, Isaac, as Isaac did with his family (11:9). In the midst of this, Abraham walked by faith, not by sight. He depended on God and yearned for a permanent, heavenly city designed and built by God (11:10). His focus wasn’t on the hardships of his journey through life, but on the reward at the eternal destination. So it should be with our journey through life. We dwell in tents, which someday will be changed to immortal bodies, our permanent dwellings. We are here to build God’s kingdom, our forever home.

 

But what about Sarah? I could imagine his poor wife being dragged around on his wild-eyed faith walk—irritated by her husband’s spontaneity, frustrated by his stubbornness, fed up by his dream-chasing. Not so! The apostle Peter commended Sarah as an example to all women of faith because of her submissive spirit and faithful support of God’s call on her husband’s life (1 Pet. 3:6). The author of Hebrews also points to her faith walk as worthy to be followed. “By faith,” Sarah considered God faithful—the God “who had promised” that one day they would have a child of their own (Heb. 11:11). Remember, in her old age, Sarah still hadn’t conceived and borne a son, even though that was part of the package of promises God had given to Abraham when they believed and left their homeland in obedience to God’s word (Gen. 12:1–3, 7; 13:16).

 

And it was not easygoing. For twenty-five years after God’s initial call, Abraham and Sarah had no empirical evidence that she would—or even could—have a child of her own. In fact, toward the end of their decades of waiting, when God announced that Sarah would be pregnant within a year, she laughed at the idea that she would be a mom (Gen. 18:9–15). Sure enough, when Abraham turned one hundred, and Sarah was ninety (Heb. 11:11; Gen. 21:1–2). And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise. Though initially she laughed at the notion, she came to embrace with simple faith the clear words of God to Abraham (Heb. 11:12).

11:13–16

At this point, the writer of Hebrews sets aside the palette of paints he had been using to fill his canvas with examples of faith. He steps back, as it were, gestures at the procession of personalities he’s been painting, and makes a sweeping statement: “All these people were still living by faith when they died. ” (11:13).

Wait … didn’t Abraham make it to the Promised Land? Didn’t Sarah have her promised child, Isaac? Yes, but what they experienced in this life was merely a foretaste, a shadow of things to come. Abraham didn’t receive the full promise, just a down payment. Abraham and Sarah had only one child—the promise was for “descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.” (11:12). The land in which he sojourned was indeed the Promised Land, but he, Sarah, Isaac, and all their household lived there as “foreigners and strangers on earth” (11:13; cf. 1 Pet. 2:11).

 

Nevertheless, all of these examples—including the figures he is about to add to the collage in the following verses—“died in faith.” In this world that constantly tests faith, “they all passed with flying colors, living by faith right up to the last breath.”

 

The author of Hebrews highlights this vital aspect of their faith walk: They were seeking an ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises beyond the horizon of this world (11:14–15). Abraham called himself “a stranger and a foreigner among you” (Gen. 23:4), even in the Land of Promise. This indicated that he regarded himself as still on a journey to a land that was indeed his (Heb. 11:14). Nor did he consider Ur of the Chaldeans to be “a country of their own”; it never crossed his mind to return there, even when he had to bury his dead (11:15; see Gen. 23:4). Therefore, the author of Hebrews concludes, the people who lived and died in faith “they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one” (Heb. 11:16). This faith—“confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”—is what gained them approval from God (11:1–2). This faith reserved their place in that heavenly city (11:16).

11:17–19

Snatching up his brush again, our author returns to his portrayal of Abraham’s life of faith, this time choosing somber tones applied thick—popping from the canvas like 3D images in sharp relief. With the following twelve words (six in Greek), the original Jewish readers of Hebrews were jolted to attention: “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.” (11:17). To Jews, the passage recounting Abraham’s binding and offering of Isaac in Genesis 22 had a central place in the story of their religious heritage. To this day, this passage has a unique Hebrew name in Judaism: the Akedah (from āqad), or “the binding of Isaac.” It was one of the most famous passages in Scripture, illustrating Abraham's mature faith and obedience.

 

After all that Abraham and Sarah had been through over the decades, God tested Abraham’s faith by instructing him to do the most challenging thing he could be asked to do. In one act of trust and obedience, Abraham was to surrender the fulfillment of God’s promise, the center of his dreams—his one and only son (Gen. 22:1–2). Abraham's immediate obedience was perhaps more shocking than God’s incomprehensible command to sacrifice Isaac! /No arguing. /No hesitation. /No bargaining./ No reminding God how long he and Sarah had waited. /Instead, Abraham got up early, saddled his donkey, and headed out to obey (Gen. 22:3; Heb. 11:17). Remember, by this time, Abraham was 112!

 

Sometimes, just one tiny letter in a word can make all the difference. In Genesis 22:5, “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back (NLT). Abraham used the plural form of the Hebrew verb—nashuvah (“we will come right back”)—rather than the singular form—ashuvah  (“I will come right back”). This one-letter change (a to na) shows Abraham’s complete trust in God’s promise to make Isaac’s offspring into a mighty nation (Heb. 11:18). This faith freed Abraham to obey a command he didn’t fully understand. How could Abraham reconcile the command to offer Isaac as a burnt offering with his confidence that he and Isaac would both come down from the mountain? The author of Hebrews gives us the answer: Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. (11:19).

 

Let’s be honest: To an outsider, Abraham’s actions would have looked like the deranged deeds of a maniac, not the faithful obedience of a man of God. And indeed, wicked people today commit vile acts, falsely claiming direction from God. What’s the difference between those criminals and our great patriarch of the faith? (Bulletin Insert) Abraham’s steadfast trust and unhesitating obedience rested on a foundation of solid theology.

Abraham knew that God is completely good and never commands evil.
Abraham knew that God is completely wise and must have had a plan.
Abraham knew that God is completely just and would not treat Isaac unfairly.
Abraham knew that God is completely powerful and would keep His promises.


Even amid an apparent contradiction, Abraham could trust and obey—not because he knew exactly what was happening, but because he knew the One who did. And, when Abraham demonstrated his faith through this radical test, God provided a ram for Abraham to offer in place of Isaac (Gen. 22:11–13). The author of Hebrews notes that this event was a “type,” literally “a parable” (Heb. 11:19). A parable of what? Brown notes, “Isaac was received back from the verge of death, a sign of God’s unfailing provision in the moment of man’s desperate need.” So, it is a parable of what Jesus Christ did for us. We are God’s promised children or Image Bearers, and Jesus Christ is our substitute, sacrificial lamb. As John the Baptizer proclaimed in John 1:29, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

11:20–22

With a few more brushstrokes, the author of Hebrews completes his portrait of Abraham’s faith walk by tracing the family legacy of faith through the remainder of the patriarchal period that launched with the promises God made to him.

In 11:8–19, we saw Abraham and Sarah persevere in their faith walk through rough terrain, overwhelming obstacles, and extreme challenges. Now we see that same faith passed on to their son, Isaac, who, in turn, passed it on to the next generation (11:20). Isaac no doubt recalled the stories told to him by his father. He inherited Abraham’s longing “For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (11:10). These stories instilled the same yearning for “in regard to their future”...