As we begin our exposition of Hebrews 11, we need to see whyit's here and what it has to do with your life. Go back with mefive weeks and six verses to Hebrews 10:34. You may remember thatsome Christians were imprisoned and the others made the harddecision to identify with them and risk their property and theirlives. Verse 34 tells what happened. "You showed sympathy to theprisoners, and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property,knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and anabiding one."
This is the kind of life the whole book of Hebrews is aiming toproduce - a life that looks at the high price of love (the seizureof our property, perhaps, or the some other kind of abuse orcalamity, Hebrews 13:3-6,13), and then accepts that possibilityjoyfully and does what love demands, no matter what. That's thelife Hebrews is aiming at. All the glorious truth we have seenabout Christ -
- giving himself once for all as a final sacrifice for our sins(9:14),
- perfecting us for all time by a single offering (10:14),
- giving us a clean conscience by his own blood (9:14;10:22),
- being our sympathetic high priest before God (4:14-16),
- interceding for us day after day in heaven (7:25),
- putting his laws in our minds and writing them on ourhearts,
- being our God (8:10),
- remembering our sins no more (8:12),
- promising never to leave us or forsake us (13:5-6)
- all this great truth that we have been reveling in for over ayear is aimed practically at making us into this kind of people.People who risk property and life in order to bring the love of Godto others. People who do not look for comforts and ease andsecurity as a necessary thing in life. People who are free from theAmerican assumptions of style and safety and wealth and leisure.People who know there is one life to live and only what's done inthe name of Christ and for the eternal good of others will count inthe end.
The Foundation of Risk-taking Love
And what verse 34 makes clear is that the way such a life comesabout is by an unshakable hope in God beyond this life. "Youaccepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that youhave for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one." Thepower to be joyfully sacrificial in the path of love is "knowingthat you have a better possession beyond the grave." If you don'tlive by this great confidence, you will be continually thinkingabout how much you are losing out every time you make a sacrificefor others. But if this life is a brief preparation for eternal joy- a "better possession and abiding one" - then you are free to riskyour life and your property in this world because, as Paul said inRomans 8:18, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy tobe compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us."
So the whole book of Hebrews is written to give foundation tothe hope that is the foundation of a life of radical, risk-taking,sacrificial love.
What more can he say than he has already said to help us havethis hope so that we live out this radical love? Chapter 11 is theanswer: he can give us examples of people who have laid hold on thefuture reward of joy with God in such a way that it makes a greatdifference in their lives here and now. That's what chapter 11 is.It is meant to deepen your confidence in God's promises so that youturn from the fleeting pleasures of sin and live out the radicalkind of love that comes from having your hope in God (compareColossians 1:4-5).
The Power to Sacrifice and Love Joyfully
So chapter 11 begins with a definition of faith that links itwith hope and then goes on to show how this hope gave power for allkinds of radical obedience. Let's read the text (Hebrews11:1-3):
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the convictionof things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. 3By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word ofGod, so that what is seen was not made out of things which arevisible.
So the first important thing to see here is that the power tosacrifice and love and joyfully accept the seizure of yourproperty, which we saw in 10:34, is called "faith." Faith is theassurance of things hoped for - that is, faith is the confidencethat "you have a better possession and an abiding one." There's thelink between the life of sacrificial love in 10:34 and the hall offame in chapter 11. Chapter 11 is a catalogue of people whoillustrate that this kind of faith - the assurance of things hopedfor - really makes a difference in life.
Assurance and Conviction
So the first task we have in this new chapter is to understandmore exactly what faith is. That's what verse 1 gives us - atwofold definition of faith. Let's look at both parts, one at atime: "Now faith is (1) the assurance of things hoped for, (2) theconviction of things not seen."
There is more here than meets the eye at first. The word for"assurance" in the first definition ("the assurance of things hopedfor") and the word for "conviction" in the second definition ("theconviction of things not seen"), are unusual words and verydifficult to translate into English. You may remember the old KingJames Version: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, theevidence of things not seen." These words "substance" and"evidence" are, in fact, very serious and important translations.What is the reality behind these two words and these twodefinitions of faith?
This is not merely academic. Just ask yourself this question: doyou have faith? How do you know you have faith? What is faith, sothat you can know you have it? What hangs on whether you have faithor not? You can see that this question is immensely practical andrelevant to your life. "Conviction" or "Evidence"?
Let's start with the second definition first: "Faith is theconviction or (the evidence) of things not seen." The word for"conviction" or "evidence" is not used anywhere else in the NewTestament. Outside the New Testament, its normal use is "proof" or"argument" or "evidence" - something objective - about the worldrather than subjective about how we feel about the world.
But what about the meaning here in verse 1? Most translatorsdon't use the old word, "proof" or "evidence," because it doesn'tseem to make sense. How can faith be evidence or proof? Faith needsevidence, doesn't it? But let's look at the illustration of thisdefinition of faith in verse 3. Verse 3 is directly related to thisdefinition of faith as "the evidence of things not seen." It says,"By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the wordof God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which arevisible."
Do you see the connection? Verse 1 says "faith is the evidenceof things not seen," and verse 3 says that faith understands thatthe world - what is seen - was made out of what is not seen - theword of God. So verse 3 is a specific illustration of thedefinition of faith in verse 1b.
Here's the question: How do we know that God made the world outof nothing that is seen? Not only were we not there when ithappened, but, even if we had been there, we would not have beenable to see the act of creation, because you can't see the word ofGod. So how can we know or "understand" that the worlds were madeby the word of God? How can we know that "what is seen was made outof things invisible" - namely the word of God?
Verse 3 answers, "by faith." "By faith we understand that theworlds were prepared by the word of God." Now this starts to sounda little more like the old King James translation of verse 1 mightmake sense after all. If "faith is the evidence of things notseen," then it might make sense to say, "By faith (by evidence) weunderstand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God." Butif we take the newer translation ("faith is the conviction ofthings unseen") and say, "By conviction we understand that theworlds were prepared by the word of God," then it just sounds likewe are reasoning in a circle: I have the conviction that Godcreated the world, therefore I understand that he did create theworld. And I understand that he created the world, therefore I havethe conviction that he created the world.
How is Faith "Evidence"?
So the crucial question is: How is faith "evidence" of thingsunseen, namely, that God created the world by his word? I take myclue from the one other place in the New Testament where God'sinvisible attributes are said to be "clearly seen" by man, namely,Romans 1:20. "Since the creation of the world [God's] invisibleattributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearlyseen, being understood by what has been made." The word"understood" here in Romans 1:20 is the same word as inHebrews 11:3, "By faith we understand that the worlds were preparedby the word of God."
So there in Romans 1:20 it says, "we understand the invisibleattributes of God by what has been made." And here in Hebrews 11:3it says, we understand the invisible word of God behind creation byfaith. Romans 1:20 seems to say that the evidence that God made theworld is the things made - they clearly point to a Maker. Hebrews11:3 seems to say that the evidence that God made the world isfaith. Now think about this for a moment. What shall we make of it?Here's what I make of it. Faith - at least in part - is thespiritual seeing or perceiving of the fingerprints of God on thethings he has made. Now the fingerprints of God on the things hehas made - the order, the beauty, the greatness, the "irreduciblecomplexity" (as Michael Behe says, in Darwin's Black Box) - are theevidence that God made the world. But so is the seeing of thesefingerprints a kind of evidence. It's just the other side of thecoin. If you ask me, "How do you know Focus on the Family has aheadquarters in Colorado Springs," I will say, "I saw it onTuesday." My seeing is evidence that it is there.
I think that is the way faith is the evidence of things unseen.We all look at the same fingerprints, but some see and some don't.Those who see have the evidence - the testimony - in themselves.How can that be?
Color and Chaos or a Deeper View?
Here is an analogy at the physical level. A few years ago one ofthe rages was hidden 3-D images. These are pieces of art that, onone level, are one thing, but at another level are something quitedifferent. At first glance all you see is the surface presentation.But if you let your eyes focus more deeply, or more distantly, youmay see a train or a boxing kangaroo or a globe not only appearing,but actually standing up off the page. Now some people stare atthese pages for several minutes and see nothing but color andchaos. But others almost immediately see the head of Beethoven or alamb. If someone says, "How do you know a lamb is there?" theanswer is, "I see it." Your seeing is the evidence. They may notsee it, but that won't change your mind.
Now this is what it is like for some to look at God's creation.Some see color and chaos. Others have a deeper view and suddenlyGod's fingerprints come into focus. What evidence can they offer?They see it. It is as undoubted as a lamb in a 3-D image. No onecan talk you out of it.
You may ask, "Should that be called faith?" Didn't Paul say (in2 Corinthians 5:7), "We walk by faith and not by sight"? How canfaith be "sight"? Paul meant that Christ is not present physicallyon earth to see with physical eyes, but is in heaven. He did notmean that there is no spiritual perception of God's reality.Hebrews 11:1 says, "Faith is the conviction - or better, theevidence - of things not seen." And then the writer illustratesthis in verse 3 when he says that "we understand by faith" that Godcreated the world. In other words, faith is not just a respondingact of the soul; it is also a grasping or perceiving orunderstanding act. It is a spiritual act that sees the fingerprintsof God. This does not mean that you believe them into being. Thatwould be wishful thinking - the power of positive thinking. That isnot authentic faith. Real faith is based on real Truth. It looksdeeply at the world God has made - looks through it, so to speak -and by the grace of God, it sees the glory of God (as Psalm 19:1says) standing forth off the creation like a 3-D image.
The Substance of Things Hoped For
Now that leaves us just a few minutes to focus on the other partof the definition of faith in verse 1: "Now faith is the assurance- or the substance - of things hoped for." It may be that all thismeans is that faith is a deep confidence that the promises of Godwill come true so that we bank on them. That would be enough tofree us from the fears and greed and worldliness that block theflow of radical, risk-taking, sacrificial love. If we have a strongconviction that God will care for us and bring us to glory andfulfill all his promises to us forever, then we will be free fromself-indulgence and free for serving others.
But I think it means more - or maybe this is just a way offilling up this meaning with all that's really here. The word"assurance" here can mean "nature" or "substance" or "reality" or"essence" in other places, for example, Hebrews 1:3 ("exactrepresentation of God's nature"). If that is what is meant here,then we should think like this.
What could the "substance" or "nature" of things hoped for mean?I think it could mean that faith apprehends the goodness and thesweetness of what God promises so clearly that this goodness andsweetness are substantially present in faith. In other words, faithgrasps - lays hold of - God's preciousness so firmly that in thefaith itself there is the substance of the goodness and thesweetness promised. Faith doesn't create what we hope for - thatwould be a mere mind game. Faith is a spiritual apprehending orperceiving or tasting or sensing of the beauty and sweetness andpreciousness and goodness of what God promises - especially his ownfellowship, and the enjoyment of his own presence.
Faith does not just feel confident that this is coming some day.Faith has spiritually laid hold of and perceived and tasted that itis real. And this means that faith has the substance or the natureof what is hoped for in it. Faith's enjoyment of the promise is akind of substantial downpayment of the reality coming.
Taste and See
This is what happens when the Gospel is preached. It is what ishappening right now for many of you. The word of God is spoken -broken like sweet bread and poured out like refreshing water - andthe spiritual taste of your heart is awakened, and you know thatthere is more here than the mere opinion of a man. Just like itsays in Hebrews 10:34, you "know that you have a better possessionand an abiding one."
In summary then faith is a kind of spiritual tasting of what Godhas promised so that we feel a deep, substantial assurance ofthings hoped for; and faith is a kind of spiritual seeing of theinvisible fingerprints of God in the things he has made. By the onewe know God's power and wisdom to make us, and by the other we knowhis goodness and grace to save us.
So I say with Psalm 34:8, O taste and see that the LORD is good;How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
