Chapter XI

Verse 1 “Now faith is the full assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

What a blessed faith! This is the victory that has overcome the world. Unbelief is chaos. The thoughts of an unbeliever swing restlessly, uncontrollably enmeshed in all sorts of problems, but faith brings everything into order. The full assurance of hope aligns a person’s whole life with the blessed eternal values, just as the needle of a compass aligns itself with the magnetic poles. There is only one faith and one hope, and they are both in one and the same Spirit, the Spirit of truth. There is nothing false in this faith, this hope and this Spirit, where our anchor is firmly secured within the veil in the most Holy Place. This anchor never moves, for the cherubim of the Lord watch over it night and day. And no sin, nor any sinful person nor any evil spirit has access to God’s sanctuary. That is why faith is the full assurance of those things that are hoped for. Blessed hope, which is anchored in a kingdom and upon a foundation that cannot be shaken!

Unbelief is a transgression of the law just as sin is. That is why it is so painful to talk to unbelieving people. Folly and lawlessness sit in high places; that is to say, people speak with authority and power as if what they were saying were reality, when in actual fact, all they speak are lies because they do not have faith.

Verse 2 “For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.” Why did the elders obtain a good testimony through their faith? Because they walked in faith and it went extremely well with them. By faith they walked in the laws of righteousness and were blameless; their lives were blessed. This gave them a good testimony. They held fast to the invisible, to Him who cannot be seen. They found Him by seeking Him according to the law of a good conscience.

Verse 3 “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”

By faith we understand!!! However, with unbelief we understand nothing. Faith brings a person into contact with God. Faith affects the entire person, for with the heart he believes, and life issues from his heart. When the eyes of our heart are enlightened, we are able to see things that otherwise are invisible, and the ears which God has opened are able to hear things that a natural ear cannot hear. That is why a heart that is opened to hear is the seat of righteous judgment. Jesus did not judge according to what His eyes saw or what His ears heard, but He judged with a righteous judgment. He judged according to things that are invisible, just as God will do on the day of judgment. He will judge according to the hidden things of men, according to the motives for their deeds. All this we understand by faith.

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. How can that be? Because we understand that things which are seen are made of things which are invisible. Everything visible on this earth has its roots in the invisible, because everything has been created by Christ and for Christ. That is why Jesus spoke to the people in parables (using illustrations from everyday life) in order to lead their thoughts, if possible, to the underlying unseen powers. He did this to awaken faith in them. Yet most of them did not even understand the natural things, so how could they understand spiritual things? Despite the fact that people have within themselves the intrinsic capability to become gods, many of them become like devils because they let themselves be led by evil spirits and their own sinful lusts.

There is a veil between faith and unbelief. This must be torn from top to bottom, and then a person can behold wonderful things in God’s laws and in God Himself. Nature can only explain nature to a certain extent. This is science. But Christ, by whom all things were created, is the wisdom of God. That is why a scientist with his natural understanding, which he has obtained by reading or experimenting, cannot comprehend God and His wisdom, the invisible, from which all natural things must necessarily proceed. This is the veil that all the scientists of this world have been unable to tear apart. Brorson1 said, “Were all the kings set in a row, with all their might and mettle, the smallest leaf, they know not how to place upon a nettle.” God has reserved for Himself the ability to create and to give growth. He has not entrusted that to any man. Why is that so? This we understand by faith!!!

Verse 6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

It is impossible to pray to God without believing that He is; then we can pray and expect Him to hear us.

You can be certain that God is. In Him we live and move. He sustains all things; otherwise, they would pass away. God holds the stars in the heavens on their courses. He makes laws for men, animals, birds, and insects. He sets the laws of migration for birds and the fish of the sea, and He rules over the insects and over everything that has life on the earth.

God binds a man in the chains of his sin, and He frees him if he prays for forgiveness. He hardens a Pharaoh and humbles a Nebuchadnezzar. He chastises the nations with war, and He gives peace in its time, because war is of the Lord. Everything that is evil has come into the world through sin. God says to the Son, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” By this we understand that all politics and all wars will be shown in the end to be the means by which all the ungodly will be put under Christ’s feet. This we understand by faith. How then can we do anything but believe that He is, and that He richly rewards those who take their refuge in Him?

We also know God through our conscience and through the promptings of His Spirit in our hearts to do what is right. When we do good, it makes us happy; but if we do what is evil, our countenance falls, and we have a bad conscience.

God’s good Spirit is sent out over the entire world, convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. We believe that God is and that He is over all, through all, and in all.

What is your relationship to God?

Verse 8 “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” When God calls us, we must go out from wherever we are. The fact is that the calling from God leads us out of darkness into light, from the power of Satan to God. That is why we must say farewell to relatives and friends who are in darkness. Like Abraham we do not know where we are going, but by faith in God and in confidence toward Him who is love, we go out. We can see that it went well with Abraham, Enoch, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah and others when they believed God and were obedient to Him. This tells us that it will also go well with us when we obey Him because God’s will is our sanctification. Thus we can confidently go out when God calls us, because God’s ways lead to light and glory. It is not only that God is, but also that He guides the details of our life through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

Verses 17-18 “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called . . .’ .” Faith and sacrifice go together. Faith assails our self-will; this tells us that faith is divine, whereas my self-will belongs to my corrupt flesh. Abraham loved his son Isaac, and he had to fight intense battles in order to obey God who insisted that Isaac be sacrificed. Abraham was obedient to God. The promises to Abraham were through Isaac, but now when he was to be sacrificed, Abraham had to believe that Isaac would be raised from the dead. Amazing faith and confidence in God! Abraham received Isaac back again, just as though he had been resurrected from the dead. This is a picture of God who sacrificed His Son and raised Him up from the dead.

Verse 29 “By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.”

Everything is possible by faith. By faith, Jesus walked on the sea. By faith, Peter followed Him, but when unbelief overcame him, he sank. By faith, Joseph kept an entire nation alive. By faith, Jesus could bear Judas having the moneybox even though He knew that he was a thief. By faith, He understood that Judas would betray Him because of the sin which he had inherited—miserliness. By faith, Jesus told His disciples nothing about Judas until His time had come.

Verse 30. “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.” By faith the people shouted and blew the trumpets. When the people heard the trumpets, they let out a war cry, and by faith all the walls fell down. The people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and took it. Josh. 6:20. The war cry, the sound of the trumpet, and the promises of God made faith come alive so that the walls had to fall. They would have fallen even if they had been made of steel.

By faith, David placed the stone in the sling, and in the name of the Lord of Sabaoth, he went against Goliath who had defied the armies of the Lord. Even if Goliath’s forehead had been ten meters thick, David’s smooth stone would have pierced it. By faith Samson was strong.

Verses 33-34 “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens,” etc.

Verses 37-38 “They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.”

They did all these things through faith, which gave them power, divine power. What is there then that we cannot conquer and endure with this same faith? Nothing! We can do all things through faith, the faith that draws God’s Spirit and power down to us.

So let us exercise ourselves in faith and patience, and thus we shall be more than conquerors through Him who loves us.