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Hebrews 11:24-25, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

Jesus’ Promises are Eternal!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 5, 2020

In Hebrews 11:23, the writer uses the faith of Moses’ parents to illustrate that even in the Old Testament the key element in any relationship with God was faith alone. Stedman observes, “Josephus, in his Antiquities, suggests that Moses’ parents received a revelation from God concerning their son’s destiny. This would explain why their action was by faith…”[1] They believed that God was going to do what He said He was going to do. Moses lived by faith himself, knowing that God had a plan for him. Verses 24-25 say, “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.”

Moses’ parents somehow recognized that he had a special calling by God. Moses recognized it also. Trusting in God’s calling and promise, Moses is a type of Christ. When Moses was born there was an official edict to kill him. When Jesus was born there was an official edict to kill him. Amram and Jochebed hid Moses in Egypt from Pharaoh’s men. Joseph and Mary hid Jesus in Egypt from Herod’s men. This passage specifically highlights Moses’ identifying with the people of God over the temptations of the world. In the wilderness, Jesus underwent the temptations of the world given directly to Him by Satan and he chose to identify with his mission of suffering for the deliverance of His people also. There were many other situations in Moses’ life typifying the coming deliverance by Christ of the people of God.  For example, Moses’ 40 years in the wilderness might be typical of Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness.  But the key element in these 2 verses is the phrase “the fleeting pleasures of sin.” One commentary observes, “More significantly, Moses’ choice foreshadows that of the perfecter of faith, who accepted suffering in place of joy. The description of the rejected sinful pleasure as ‘temporary’ evokes by contrast the eternal salvation resulting from faith.”[2]

Moses had faith in the promises of God. As he looked at Joseph’s bones, he was reminded daily of God’s promise to deliver His people from slavery and take them to their own land. Just as his parents somehow saw their son Moses as the instrument of that deliverance, so too did Moses. He was convinced that God would fulfill his promises to his people. This is what the author of Hebrews wants us, his readers, to understand. It was by faith in God’s promises that Moses did what he did. Even though he could not see the land, and never did, Moses trusted that it was there and that God would bring His people home. We don’t see the “promised land” God has in store for us either. But we believe that God will fulfill His promises we have in Christ. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” Jesus brings “eternal” life filled with “eternal” joys in heaven. His promise is far superior to any other promise!

[1] Ray C. Stedman, Hebrews, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 1992), Heb 11:23.

[2] Harold W. Attridge and Helmut Koester, The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1989), 340–341.

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Hebrews 11:23, Acts 7:20, Exodus 2:2, John 1:17

God Ordained Moses’ and Jesus’ Destiny

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 5, 2020

About 400 years after Joseph exhorted his heirs to be sure to take his bones with them when they left Egypt and entered the promised land, Moses was born. He would be the one to make sure Joseph’s request was carried out. Just as Joseph believed in the promises of God, so too did the parents of Moses, Amram and Jochebed. Hebrews 11:23 says, “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.” We get some further information about the baby Moses from Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7:20. He says, “At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight.” Biblical scholars, both ancient and modern, agree that what was seen in the baby had more to do with God’s purpose to use Moses to fulfill the promises that Joseph’s bones reminded them of daily than his physical appearance. William Lane says, “The evidence indicates a well-established tradition of interpretation that found in the word ἀστεῖος (The word translated ‘beautiful’) an indication that the infant possessed a visible sign of God’s elective favor. According to v 23, Moses’ parents found in the extraordinary appearance of their son a basis for faith in the as yet unseen purposes of God.”[1]

Jon Courson preaches that this little passage is about us and how we view our children. He says, “I suggest it was through the eyes of faith that Jochebed and Amram said of their son, Moses, “This child is going to be special” (see Exodus 2:2). So, too, Mom and Dad, if you think your child will never amount to much, that he’ll always struggle or that she’s not quite up to par—that’s simply a lack of faith because faith is the substance of things not yet seen. If you see your kid as a problem child, this will be understood within his soul, and it will greatly hinder what God can do in and through his life. Such was not the case with Amram and Jochebed. Knowing Moses was special, they went to great lengths to make sure his life was spared.”[2]

I do believe parents should build a positive self-image in their children, but this passage is not about us and what we do but about God and what He does. I’ve counselled many people who are still trying to measure up to unrealistic expectations of their parents. To live our lives in the “performance driven” mode is to live a very unsatisfactory and compulsive life. Also, to tell parents that they have the power to thwart what God wants to do in their children is to lay burdens that are too heavy for any one to carry. This verse is not about us as parents. It’s about believing that God will fulfill His promises! It’s about faith! It is about Jesus. Moses’ parents saw something in their son that was ordained by God just as those at Jesus’ birth saw the baby Jesus as something associated with the fulfillment of God’s promises. We see in Moses, the deliverer, a picture of the coming ultimate deliverer Jesus. Herod issued an edict in Jesus’ day to have him killed as an infant. But Jesus is better according to the author of Hebrews!  The Apostle John thought so too. In John 1:17 he writes, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

[1] William L. Lane, Hebrews 9–13, vol. 47B, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1991), 370.

[2] Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 1497–1498.

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Hebrews 11:22

Jesus is better than Joseph

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 5, 2020

Joseph had embraced God’s promises to his ancestors. When he was dying, he made two pronouncements: one about God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and one about taking his bones with them when they go. In Hebrews 22:11 the writer says these were done in faith. “By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.” The Exodus of course would not take place for several hundreds of years. It was a distant future. It was so far in the future that each succeeding generation would have to be schooled in their ancestor’s request that his bones be taken with them to the land that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when they go. Thus, Joseph’s request, by faith, on his death bed, kept the promise of God alive for many generations. They knew that God would not leave them as slaves in Egypt forever and that He would deliver them into the land He had promised many generations earlier. The bones of Joseph remained a constant reminder to Israel of the coming deliverance from slavery.

The writer of Hebrews teaches us to look for Jesus when we read the Old Testament. He had earlier chosen a very remote figure named Melchizedek and showed us how the Old Testament teaches us that he was a type of Christ. There are only four verses in the Old Testament about Melchizedek, yet the author of Hebrews spends more than an entire chapter explaining how Jesus was a priest according to the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Aaron and the Levites. There are 13 chapters in the book of Genesis about Joseph, yet the writer of Hebrews dedicates only this one verse to him. Joseph is one of the clearest types of Christ in the Old Testament. There are numerous pictures of Christ in Joseph but our author focuses on just one thing; his faith in a future deliverance along with the fulfillment of the promise of a land of their own.

Joseph’s bones served as a reminder to all of Israel that God wasn’t finished with them even though they were born and raised in slavery. Joseph gave his people hope for their future. But Jesus gives us a better hope and a better covenant which has been discussed thoroughly by the writer of Hebrews in earlier chapters. Jesus is “better” because he didn’t leave us his bones as a reminder. One might say that Joseph’s bones served as God’s guarantee. But Jesus left us an empty grave! Joseph served as a reminder of the earthly promises of God while Jesus serves as a reminder of the eternal, heavenly, promises of God. Joseph looked forward to the deliverance from slavery in Egypt through the covenant that Moses would bring down from Mount Sinai. Jesus’ covenant is better because He is the “guarantee” of what lies beyond the grave for all those who believe in Him. Hebrews 7:22 said speaking of Jesus’ role as our High Priest, “This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.”

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Hebrews 11:21, Genesis 48:5

Co-heirs with Jesus!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 5, 2020

The author of Hebrews fails to mention the blessing that Jacob bestowed on all the sons he bore through Leah, Rachel, and their two hand maids. He skips right to the two sons of Joseph who were half Egyptian.  Hebrews 11:21 says, “By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.” The future blessings bestowed by their father on the other eleven are recorded at the end of Genesis and were well known by the Jews of every generation. They each traced their lineage back to one of those tribes. But Joseph was the son he had received back from the dead! Like Jesus, Joseph was the “well beloved” son of his father. His two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh received Joseph’s blessing and had an equal share with the other 11 patriarchs. In Genesis 48:5, Jacob said that Joseph’s two sons would be his sons in the same way “Reuben and Simeon” are his sons.  Thus, we might say that Jacob adopted Ephraim and Manasseh.

This is interesting because Joseph’s sons were not full descendants of Abraham. They were half Egyptian. In his commentary on this verse, Homer Kent suggests that this is the reason for only mentioning them and not the other sons. He writes, “No reason is given why these alone are considered. Perhaps it was partly because they had been born in Egypt to an Egyptian mother, and now Jacob’s action fully adopted them into the family.”[1] This pictures the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham that “through you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.”  We would see God adopting other Gentiles into his elect family again. Rahab, the harlot, was a Canaanite. Ruth was a Moabite. Yet both of these women were adopted as “children of God” and were even included in the line of the Messiah.

The “blessings” that Jacob bestowed upon all his sons, including Ephraim and Manasseh, concerned the future. It contained “good things” that would come to them in the future. The Greek word for blessing is “eulogeo” and literally translates as “good words.” We have taken it literally into the English language as “eulogy.” To us it means good things said about a person after they have died. In the case of Jacob and some others in the Bible, it’s used to promise good things in the future to those still living! The Gospel, euangelion, is the proclamation of the good news of Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins and resurrection from the dead. He is right now interceding for us in heaven while preparing our future home. The Gospel includes our adoption into the family of faith in fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham to “bless” all the nations on earth through him. In Christ, we too are adopted into God’s family. In essence God says, “as Reuben and Simeon are my heirs so too are you!”

[1] Homer A. Kent Jr., The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1983), 233.

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Hebrews 11:20, Galatians 3:7-9

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Promise!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 3, 2020

I’ve mentioned previously that Isaac was a picture of Jesus. He was the one and only well loved son of his father like Jesus. He was the result of divine intervention. God brought about his conception miraculously. Jesus was the result of a miraculous conception. Isaac was a son to be sacrificed as a burnt offering for sin on Mount Moriah where Jesus was crucified. Abraham figuratively received his son back from the dead, and Jesus literally was raised from the dead. All this is way too much to be coincidence. We might see another similarity as well recorded by the author of Hebrews in 11:20. It says, “By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.”

Cockerill says, “The preacher, in his original Greek text, emphasizes the main point of this verse by placing it first: It was in regard to their future that Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau. The New American Standard Bible or New King James Version translations of this phrase clarify another point: ‘regarding things to come’ or ‘concerning things to come.’ Isaac did not merely bless them for the future, but his blessing pertained to what God was going to do in the future. Genesis 28:4 records how Isaac gave Jacob ‘the blessing of Abraham.’ Thus, Isaac looked forward to the same promised blessing that Abraham had anticipated. This blessing finds its fulfillment in Christ’s High Priestly work which makes the heavenly homeland accessible. Isaac’s faith is, indeed, a chip off the old block. ‘Things to come’ fits very well with the preacher’s other descriptions of the coming salvation (see Hebrews 2:5; 6:5; 9:11; 10:1; 13:14).”[1]

Paul explains this in Galatians 3:7-9. He writes, “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” The blessing to both Abraham and his descendants is the blessing of a High Priest who could satisfy the demands of a just God on behalf of all those who believe. It was a distant future for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but the coming of the Messiah began the fulfillment of that promise and those of faith find peace with God through Jesus. But the full completion of that promise is yet future for us all. Jesus will return and wipe away every tear, put away all sin, and bring peace to all mankind. Isaiah 11:6 speaks of the time when the lion will lay down next to the lamb and there will be no harm. War, suffering and pain will be no more. That means Iran & Iraq will lie down with Israel.

[1] Gareth L. Cockerill, Hebrews: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition (Indianapolis, IN: Wesleyan Publishing House, 1998), 245–246.

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Hebrews 11:17-18, Deuteronomy 18:10

Jesus is our assurance of heaven!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 3, 2020

When the author of Hebrews brings up the story of Abraham, he’s initially concerned with the faith he had that drew him from his home and family to live as a pilgrim on the earth. But in Chapter 11 verses 17-18, he focuses on the key event of Abraham’s life. It says, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” The law forbids such an offering. In Deuteronomy 18:10 God says, “There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering.” In light of God’s direct prohibition of such a sacrifice, I’m convinced God had no intention of Abraham carrying out the sacrifice of his son. God would never demand such a sacrifice from anyone but Himself.

Isaac is a picture of Jesus. He was the miraculous son of Abraham and Sarah. They were beyond the age of conception and yet God brought about his conception and birth. It was a miracle. Jesus too had a miraculous conception and birth. Isaac is called “the beloved son” of his father. So too was Jesus. On two occasions, his baptism and transfiguration, the skies opened, and God the Father spoke and said, “this is my beloved son.” Isaac was as good as dead in Abraham’s mind, but then God intervened, and he received his son back from the dead “figuratively speaking.” With Christ it was a reality. God the father received His beloved Son back from the dead. The ram caught in the thicket on Mount Moriah took Isaac’s place on the altar and it was said “on the mount of the Lord He will provide the sacrifice Himself.” It was on the same mountain range that Calvary’s cross held the sacrifice of God’s only son to pay the penalty for our sins. He was and remains as John the Baptist called him, “The lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”

Abraham’s faith was a faith that transcended this physical realm. He trusted in the benevolent nature of God regardless of the trials and tests in his life. He knew in his mind and in his heart that God would fulfill His promises. Wiersbe wrote, “The great theologian John Calvin defined faith as ‘a steady and certain knowledge of the Divine benevolence towards us, which, being founded on the truth of the gratuitous promise in Christ, is both revealed to our minds, and confirmed to our hearts, by the Holy Spirit.’ Note that faith is founded on divine truth (God’s promise) and is witnessed to by the Spirit in the heart. It has both objective and subjective aspects, and both are essential.”[1] I believe that God is, and that he is positively disposed towards me regardless of my life circumstances. What looks like loss today will end up gain, not necessarily in this life, but in the world to come. Jesus instructs our minds and assures our hearts.

[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, With the Word Bible Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991), Heb 11:1.

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Hebrews 11:16, John 14:2-3

Jesus is preparing a place for me!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 3, 2020

Everything is beautiful in its time, according to Ecclesiastes 3:11. But it’s the second half of that verse that concerns me. The whole verse says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart.” It’s that “eternity” in my heart that has always disrupted the here and now. All we know is that there is something more than what meets our physical eyes and there is an inbred yearning for it. I’m thinking that this is what the author of Hebrews is referring to in Hebrews 11:6.  Speaking of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the pilgrims in the Promised Land, it says, “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.” There is a longing in our hearts that transcends the physical realm in which we live.

But I agree that everything is beautiful in its time. I love my life and as I look back on it I remember all the good things of each era of my life. I loved growing up in North Omaha and fishing at Miller Park Lagoon. I even love many memories of my elementary school years at Blessed Sacrament school; report cards I was afraid to show, my paper route, washers, box hockey and tether ball at the Parks & Recreation department in the summers, the first kiss on the lips.  I even love those disruptive High School years at Holy Name where I felt unwanted and an outcast most of the time.  I love my year aboard the USS WRIGHT and the girl in Puerto Rico. I love my memories of the USS WALLER crossing the Atlantic, entering the Mediterranean Sea, transiting the Suez Canal and a thrilling port stop in Massawa, Ethiopia. I love the memories of the young blonde California girl who left her home and family to venture with me 3000 miles from home. I still love her! I love the fact that she followed me from California to South Carolina to Corpus Christi to Pearl Harbor, to Detroit, Michigan, back to Texas and finally back to Nebraska. I remember the Tonkin Gulf aboard the USS RATHBURNE and the years I spent in the Western Pacific away from her and the two beautiful boys God gave me. Even through the trials and hardships everything was beautiful in its time. Yep! I love my life! But I know there is something more. I yearn for it!

The rest of Hebrews 11:6 says, “Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” William MacDonald writes, “This spirit of pilgrimage is especially pleasing to God. Darby writes, ‘He is not ashamed to be called the God of those whose heart and portion are in heaven.’ He has prepared a city for them, and there they find rest and satisfaction and perfect peace.”[1] I now turn my thoughts to Jesus. In John 14:2-3 He says, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” Yes, everything may be beautiful in its time, but there is nothing like an eternal home where we find rest, satisfaction and perfect peace!

[1] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 2197.

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Hebrews 11:14-15, John 8:56-58

Jesus is my home!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 3, 2020

Michael Buble, Johnny Cash, John Denver, Van Morrison, Tom Jones, Bobby Bare and Mel Tillis are just some of the singers who sang songs with the line “I wanna go home! I wanna go home! Lord, how I wanna go home!” Whenever I hear a song like that, I think about my childhood days in north Omaha where I lived with my dear ole’ papa and momma, sister and brother from 1947 to 1961. After retiring from the Navy in 1991, I’ve returned to my home area and will occasionally drive through the old neighborhood. The streets are still laid out the same. Most of the same houses are still there and many of the old trees are still standing. But every time I drive through the neighborhood, I’m reminded that it’s not the same. Butch and Suzie are not playing in the yard across the street from me anymore. Only strangers’ faces is all I see. But they all know each other and the only alien there is me. I’m the stranger! Tom Wolfe and many others are right “you can never go home again.” But there remains an aching in my heart for home. But it’s not a place in time and space. It’s a situation of love, peace, joy and contentment.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived as aliens in the world with an aching in their hearts for home. But they knew it wasn’t a physical place but a place that God would build that would transcend the physical and would reside eternal. In Hebrews 11:14-15 we read, “For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.” Isn’t that what the aching for home is really all about? Bill MacDonald writes, “Faith implanted a homing instinct in them which was never satisfied by the delights of Canaan. There was always a yen for a better land which they could call home.”[1] Faith implants in us also a homing instinct. We all know that there is something missing.

In John 8:56-58, Jesus says to the religious leaders, “‘Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.’ So the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’” I believe that Abraham rejoiced to see Christ’s day in the dim distance. Jesus is the home Abraham, Isaac and Jacob longed for. Jesus is the home we all long for.  Long writes, “This sense of incompletion, the sadness of an unfinished journey, yearns for resolution. Are we simply left with a heartbreaking tale of faithful pilgrims who journeyed in faith but who never arrived at their cherished destination? No, we have a God who keeps promises, a God who sent another pilgrim, the heavenly Son, whose journey of faith led him into the valley of human suffering, into the place where Abraham and all who share his hope were perishing before coming to the end of the road. This pioneer made perfect through suffering (2:10) gathered up Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Jacob, and all who trust him, and takes them home to the distant city, saying to God, ‘Here am I and the children you gave me’ (2:13).’”[2]

[1] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 2197.

[2] Thomas G. Long, Hebrews, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1997), 119.

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