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Hebrews 11:5, Genesis 5:24

Jesus is Master Over Death!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 25, 2020

In Hebrews 11:4, it’s Abel that pleased God with his faith. Then in Hebrews 11:5 the writer moves on to another ancient biblical figure, Enoch! There’s not a lot known about Abel except that he was the first human to die and he died as a picture of the Christ’s future death. He was a martyr for his faith or trust in God. Just as his brother, Cain, bludgeoned him to death out of spite, jealousy and anger, so too was Christ crucified by his brothers who were motivated by the same sins. We know that Abel offered a better sacrifice than his brother Cain. The author of Hebrews has been pointing out how much better the sacrifice Jesus offered is than all the blood shed on the altar in the past centuries. Jesus is the “better” sacrifice. Also, just as Abel’s blood cries out for justice, Jesus’ blood brings us a better “word.” It cries out for mercy and forgiveness (Hebrews 12:24).

It’s often preached that Abel pleased God by offering the right kind of sacrifice while Cain offered a blood-less sacrifice which displeased God. I don’t see the sacrifice being the issue. It’s the motive behind the sacrifice that matters. Abel saw a God who loved him and wanted only the best for him and could be trusted in all the details of his life. He trusted God; i.e., he had faith! The offering of the sacrifice was incidental and unnecessary just as Abraham’s offering of his son on Mount Mariah. It was his faith that is commended and God didn’t take the sacrifice but provided one of his own. Abel offered a sacrifice out of full confidence in God. Cain offered his sacrifice out of guilt, manipulation or for reward. Many people offer gifts to God in order to get something for themselves; relieved conscience, acceptance from others or rewards for good behavior. The point is faith! In Genesis 5:24 the Hebrew text says “Enoch walked with God.” The Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew text says “Enoch pleased God.” But neither texts recount anything of a sacrifice or a good work of any kind. It was only by faith. You can give without trusting God and you can trust God without giving! God knows the difference.

This seems to be the point of Enoch. Hebrews 11:5 says, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.” Enoch is the one who didn’t do a thing! We know even less about Enoch than we do about Abel. The most important thing to know is that it was “faith” that brought God’s commendation to Enoch. Pfeiffer says it this way: “Whether or not he accomplished great things is beside the point. Jude tells us that he was a prophet (Jude 14–15), yet no mention of that is made by the author of Hebrews. The most important thing that can be said of him is that he pleased God.”[1] Abel speaks to us about Jesus through his death! Enoch speaks to us about Jesus because he didn’t die. He was “taken” much as Jesus was taken or “received” into heaven at his ascension. Enoch’s faith brought God’s commendation. The author says, quoting directly from the Septuagint that Enoch “was pleasing to God.” At Jesus’ baptism the skies opened and God spoke, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  The subject of “pleasing God” through faith is what brought God’s commendation of both Abel and Enoch. In Abel we see that Jesus is master and speaks a better word even in his death. In Enoch we see that Jesus is master over death!

[1] Charles F. Pfeiffer, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Everyman’s Bible Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1962), 93.

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Hebrews 11:4, 12:18-19, Luke 11:50-51

Jesus Cries Out for Forgiveness!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 25, 2020

What follows in the book of Hebrews chapter 11 after discussing the meaning of faith is how all the Old Testament characters who “pleased” God did so by faith, not by works. Hebrews 11:4 says, “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.” The phrase that is repeated over and over again in Chapter 11 regarding the testimony of all the Old Testament characters mentioned is that whatever they suffered, whatever they endured, they did it “by faith.” Every one of them “pleased” God not by works but by their faith. They trusted God through it all. But the Messiah would be the one to fulfill the ultimate role of suffering on behalf of all mankind and to do so in complete and perfect “trust” in God the Father. Thus Abel is really about Jesus!

Abel was hated by his brother because he was accepted by God and Cain was not. Cain was filled with hatred spawned from jealousy regarding his younger brother’s acceptance. It’s obvious that Abel “pleased” God and Cain did not. Cain then rose up and bludgeoned his brother to death. In Luke 11:50-51 Jesus speaks to the Religious leaders. They were jealous and angry because God had accepted Jesus and His sacrifice. Jesus told them that, “…the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah…” The religious leaders rose up and slew Jesus from their jealousy and anger. Jesus said that the characteristics of Cain were passed down to the generation of Jews who would reject him and brutalize him and murder him on the cross. The brutal death of an innocent man at the hands of sinful men foretell the Messianic story of Jesus. This story would be repeated often in the Old Testament. Isaac was loved over Ishmael. Jacob was loved over Esau.  Joseph was loved over his brothers. The one favored son, hated and abused by his brothers, picture for us Christ’s lot in life and death upon the cross. Abel’s death foretells Christ’s death and in their brutal deaths they speak to us.

The difference however between Abel and Jesus is found in the message of the “Blood.” The difference is that Abel’s blood cries out to God for vengeance! The author tells us in Hebrews 12:24 that we do not heed the call of Abel’s blood, but we listen to the blood of Jesus, “…the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Abel’s blood cries out from the ground for vengeance! Jesus’ blood cries out to God for forgiveness of all those who believe! No, the writer explains in chapter 12, our lot is not with those under the Old Covenant of “an eye for an eye.” We do not come to God on a mountain with “…blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them” (Hebrews 12:18-19). No, we have come to Mount Zion, the mountain of the living God “…and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Like Cain, and like the religious leaders in Jesus’ day, we are all sinners! Our guilt cries out to God for vengeance but Jesus’ blood cries out on our behalf for forgiveness. It is by grace we are saved from the bloodlust of sin. It is by grace “through faith.”

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Hebrews 11:3, Romans 10:10

Jesus is a “heart” matter!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 25, 2020

The “origins” of the world is a subject that’s in constant debate in the educated circles. There are so many scientific theories as to how we came to be as we are today that it’s very difficult to keep up. There always seems to be a new one all the time. One headline I read earlier this year was on an asteroid that crashed into the earth billions of years ago and brought with it moisture and some biologic. From that we evolved into what we are today. I couldn’t help but wonder where the asteroid came from? None of that makes sense to me and it didn’t make sense to the writer of Hebrews either. In his discussion on faith in Hebrews 11, he argues that the subject of origins is always a matter of “faith” not of “science.” Hebrews 11:3 says, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”

Pfeiffer comments on this verse and says, “The material universe is understandable only on the basis of faith. How did it come into being? By the creative word of God. He said, ‘Let there be light: and there was light’ (Gen. 1:3). Faith sees God as the prime Source and responsible Agent in creation. He brought into being that which previously did not exist: ‘things which are seen were not made of things which do appear’ (11:3). Faith may not understand all of the processes by which the world was brought to its present condition, but it sees God behind them all. Faith may not know how long it took God to create the present world, but it rests in God as Creator.”[1] Long observes in his commentary on this verse, “To the eye of faith, the universe is not simply an aimless swirl of energy and matter but a creation, an expression of the love of God sustained by God’s hidden providence.”[2]

Your existence along with the existence of everything in the universe, including the universe itself, is an expression of God’s love for man. His love found its ultimate expression on Calvary in His only Son.  But as Long goes on to say, “What the naked eye can see, of course, is a world of suffering and setback, violence and hardship. Given the harsh realities of the world, faith is the ability to see with the inner eye, to see what cannot be seen with the natural eye. In Saint-Exupéry’s classic story The Little Prince, a mysterious fox promises to tell a little boy the greatest of life’s secrets. When at long last the secret is told, it is this: ‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye’” [3] Love is the subject of the heart. Paul tells us in Romans 10:10, that it’s “with the heart that one believes…” Faith in Jesus is a matter of the heart!

[1] Charles F. Pfeiffer, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Everyman’s Bible Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1962), 92.

[2] Thomas G. Long, Hebrews, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1997), 114.

[3] Thomas G. Long, Hebrews, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1997), 114.

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Hebrews 11:2

Getting in Jesus’ Wheelbarrow

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 25, 2020

Salvation has always been by faith alone. God spoke to Israel in various ways in the past. Those who trusted God and His revelation, His Word, were proclaimed “righteous.” Not by keeping the laws or by sacrifices or by rituals but by believing God and His promises.  In chapter 11 of Hebrews many of the Old Testament heroes were commended for their faith, not for their works. After explaining that “Faith” is trusting God to be in control and to have our best interest foremost in mind regardless of our life circumstances, the author of Hebrews says in 11:2, “For by it the people of old received their commendation.”  When talking about all the Old Testament characters that are listed in Hebrews chapter 11, one commentary says, “The heroes of faith have one thing in common: they put their undivided confidence in God. In spite of all their trials and difficult circumstances, they triumphed because of their trust in God. For the author, faith is adhering to the promises of God, depending on the Word of God, and remaining faithful to the Son of God.”[1]

Notice that this commentator uses the phrase “undivided confidence.” The Prophets, the Angels, Moses, the Law, the Priesthood, the Tabernacle were all means God used to speak to man in times past as the writer says in Chapter 1. But now, all those things were shown to be just shadows of the redemption that Jesus would bring to earth on God’s behalf.  God speaks to us in these days through His Son! Jesus speaks to us now and deserves, no demands, our undivided attention. The writer has already told his readers to focus their attention on Jesus. He told them to keep looking to Jesus. He told them that “abiding” in Jesus was to give their full confidence to His finished work on their behalf. His many warnings concerned slip-sliding away into a religion of self-effort. Faith is not, and it never has been, part trusting in Jesus and part trusting in one’s own efforts, rituals and sacrifices.  Faith, saving faith, is going all in on Jesus! It’s putting all our eggs in his basket. It’s trusting completely and solely on Christ’s work and having no confidence in the flesh.

Saving faith is often illustrated as the Focus on the Family website does by getting in the wheel barrel. It tells of a man named Calvery who in 1892, “…pushed a wheelbarrow over a tightrope stretched across Niagara Falls. After performing this feat, he turned to his audience and asked, ‘Now that you’ve seen what I can do, do you believe I can do it again?’ ‘Yes!’ replied the crowd. ‘Do you think I can do it with another person in the wheelbarrow?’ said Calverly. ‘Yes!’ was the enthusiastic response. ‘Well, then,’ said Calverly, ‘who wants to climb in?’ Genuine New Testament faith means getting in the wheelbarrow. It’s not just a question of standing on the sidelines and saying, ‘I believe.’” (See https://www.focusonthefamily.com/family-qa/faith-works-and-salvation/.  Faith is getting into Jesus’ wheelbarrow!)

[1] Simon J. Kistemaker and William Hendriksen, Exposition of Hebrews, vol. 15, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 310.

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Hebrews 11:1, 1:1

Jesus is the object of our faith!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 25, 2020

The theme of Hebrews chapter 10 seemed to be faith and waiting. Believers can “rest” in God’s finished work while they wait for deliverance from the trials and struggles of this life.  It’s often referred to as “patient endurance.” It might be seen as resting or abiding in the promises of God trusting that they will come true even when things in life don’t seem to support that idea. I’ve often argued that faith isn’t just believing that God exists but it’s believing that He is positively disposed towards you and that he has your best interest foremost in mind regardless of the circumstances in which you find yourself.  It’s about accepting God’s unconditional love for us as he demonstrated on the cross of Calvary. Hebrews 11:6 will say that clearly. But the writer opens up Hebrews 11 with a description of faith in general terms. He writes, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

The Handbook for translators says, “A suggested translation would be ‘Those who trust God are sure that he will give them what they hope for; they are certain that things they do not yet see are real.’”[1] Guzik says, “Just as our physical eyesight is the sense that gives us evidence of the material world, faith is the ‘sense’ that gives us evidence of the invisible, spiritual world.” He then goes on to argue that the “sense” of faith can be trusted even more than our sense of sight. He quotes Morris and Bruce to conclude his comments. “Faith has its reasons. The Bible doesn’t recommend a ‘blind leap’ of faith. But the reasons can’t be measured in a laboratory; they have to be understood spiritually. ‘Faith extends beyond what we learn from our senses, and the author is saying that it has its reasons. Its tests are not those of the senses, which yield uncertainty.’” (Morris) ‘Physical eyesight produces a conviction or evidence of visible things; faith is the organ which enables people to see the invisible order.’” (Bruce)[2]

Pfeiffer explains, “The guiding principle of the Christian life is faith. This is not simply a psychological factor, however. To some people faith means believing that you can do a job better than you have done it in the past, or believing that a loved one will rise from his bed of sickness. There may be real value in such ‘positive thinking,’ but this is not the meaning of faith. True Biblical faith has God as its object. We believe God and trust His Word. That Word does not tell us that we have any reason to expect to be the richest merchant on Main Street. It tells us, on the contrary, that we will have tribulations and that as Jesus’ disciples we will have crosses to bear. It assures us, however, of grace to bear them. Faith has a backward look. It declares that God has done mighty acts in days gone by. Faith also has a forward look. It declares that He can be trusted for the future.”[3] We believe that God speaks to us now through his Son as the author asserted in the first verse of the first chapter of Hebrews. God speaks through Jesus and tells us that he loves us and has our best interest foremost in mind regardless of our circumstances. Faith trusts that to be true! Jesus, as God’s revelation to mankind, is the object of our faith.

[1] Paul Ellingworth and Eugene Albert Nida, A Handbook on the Letter to the Hebrews, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1994), 251.

[2] David Guzik, Hebrews, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), Heb 11:1.

[3] Charles F. Pfeiffer, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Everyman’s Bible Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1962), 90–91.

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Hebrews 10:34, 39, Matthew 8:36-37, Luke 9:25

No Shrinking Back From Jesus!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 19, 2020

Hebrews 10:34 closes by explaining why believers can endure hardships. The reason you endured past trials he says, was because “…you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.” In his commentary on this phrase, Homer Kent argues that the possession you have is “yourselves.” He says, “The reading preferred by most textual experts has ‘yourselves’ as the direct object of the verb ‘have’ (echein heautous). The sense is that by becoming Christians, though they may lose the whole world, they have gained their souls.”[1]  In Luke 9:25 Jesus asks a most profound question. He asks, “What does it profit a person to gain the whole world and yet lose himself?”  In Matthew 8:36-37 he asks a similar question but refers to the “self” as the soul. It says, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?” Hebrews 10:39 supports this idea when it says, “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”

This verse begins with the clear statements that those who trust in Jesus’ full sufficiency are not among those who “shrink back.” Looking back to Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 we’re reminded of the writer’s referring to the Israelites who “shrunk back” at Kadesh Barnea and were not allowed to enter into the promised land, “God’s Rest.” They did not trust God’s promises to give them the land. Instead they looked at themselves, the giants that inhabited the land and compared the two. “We are like grasshoppers to them” they said. Their current circumstances led them to doubt the goodness of God and His promises. Their destiny therefore was to wander in a wasteland till death.  When trials and struggles and hardships come my way, I find myself drifting into the wasteland of doubt also.  I don’t need to be encouraged that I’m big enough to whip the giants in the land or than I’m much bigger than a grasshopper. I need to be reminded that my champion has already defeated my enemies for me. Jesus’ grace has always been sufficient in the past and is sufficient now and will be sufficient in the future. There’s rest!

“Shrinking back” is not in the experience for those who hold to the full sufficiency of Jesus. That’s why the author finishes chapter ten with verse 39 saying, “we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” This last verse of Chapter 10, according to Guzik “…is a confident conclusion. We will be those who endure on and gain the promise of God. We will not draw back into old traditions or into an Old Covenant relationship with God—or any other replacement for Jesus.”[2]

[1] Homer A. Kent Jr., The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1983), 211.

[2] David Guzik, Hebrews, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), Heb 10:35–39.

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Hebrews 10:37-38, Habakkuk 2:3-4, Isaiah 26:20

Jesus is the “Faith-filled” one!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 19, 2020

In his commentary on Hebrews, Long writes, “Every athlete needs to hear shouts of encouragement from the stands, and the Preacher summons cheer leading from no less than the prophets Isaiah and Habakkuk. Blending a loose translation of Habakkuk 2:3–4 with a few words from Isaiah 26:20, the Preacher allows these voices from the Old Testament to spur on the runners on the track. As presented by the Preacher these prophets of old say, in effect, ‘Do not hold back. The time left is very short, so push on, harder, harder.’”[1] He’s commenting on Hebrews 10:37-38 which says, “For, Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

In a way, Long presents cheerleaders pushing us on to try harder and harder because his analogy sees us as running the race of our salvation. I don’t see it that way. I see Jesus as the “runner” who finished first on our behalf!  The focus on “My righteous one” sounds messianic to me. The only perfectly “faithful” and “faith-filled” one is Jesus. The perseverance is not so much trying harder but resting in God’s promises and waiting it out through dismal times. Just trust God. He’s settled the issue. Don’t revert to self-effort and religious ritual. That’s what shrinking back is all about!  But relax in the hands of the God who loves you and sent His son to die for you. You believe! Kistemaker writes, “The righteous person who perseveres does not receive God’s promise on the basis of keeping the law and doing the will of God. He receives the promise by faith. The object of faith, of course, is understood. The believer places his faith in Jesus Christ. Out of a relationship of trust and confidence, the believer lives.”[2]

Studying Hebrews 10:37-38 opens up a plethora of controversies. It seems there are numerous textual variants from ancient manuscripts. The quotes from Habakkuk and Isaiah come from the Septuagint and not the Hebrew Bible and the words have added pronouns and a reversed order. It would take a doctoral dissertation to sort it all out but one thing we know and which is going to be clearly stated by the author in Hebrews 11:6 is “without faith it is impossible to please God.” Reconciling the various arguments with clearer statements give us the reality that Jesus is the righteous one. He is the “faithful” one in whom we have faith. It’s faith in him and his sacrifice on our behalf that pleases God. Shrinking back is to return to a system of religious observations and ritual instead of confidence in the one who fulfilled them all. This is what the writer will conclude in Hebrews 12:1-2 when he tell us what it means to “run the race.” It’s not trying harder, exerting more effort, being more dedicated. It’s focusing on Jesus. He says, “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.”

[1] Thomas G. Long, Hebrews, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1997), 112.

[2] Simon J. Kistemaker and William Hendriksen, Exposition of Hebrews, vol. 15, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 303.

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Hebrews 10:36, isaiah 40:31, John 6:29, Philippians 3:20-21

Just Wait for Jesus!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 19, 2020

One of my all-time favorite verses in Isaiah 40:31. It says, “But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Several times I’ve dreamed about being able to fly! It was like “mounting up on wings like eagles” rather than lifting off of a runway from an airport. It was effortless and majestic! I always like to think about this promise being fulfilled literally. There are several statements that make me think this. When Jesus ascended in Matthew 1:9 it says he “was lifted up” as if it was effortless. We will be like him. Paul tells us in Philippians 3:20-21, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” But we have to wait for it. That’s what the author of the book of Hebrews tells his readers. Hebrews 10:36 says, “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.”

I hate waiting! Doing God’s will has been explained to us by Jesus himself when disciples said that they wanted to do the works of God. Jesus said in John 6:29, “This is the work of God that you believe in the one that He sent.” So we must believe and then wait. It’s something we have not fully received yet. Kent says, “The author looks ahead to the consummation of salvation at the coming of Christ and urges that their patience be increased through their trials so that nothing may hinder the full experiencing of the promise of salvation, a promise described earlier as entering into God’s rest.”[1]

But remember, believing is “assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Through faith in Christ, our high priest, who sits at the right hand of God at this moment making intercession for us, we have a certain future. We long for it! We look ahead to it and we wait patiently for it. But it’s our faith, our certainty, our assurance in the faithfulness of God to do what He has promised that gives us rest now amidst the trials and storms of life. One commentator writes, “The expression promise is a key word in the Epistle to the Hebrews. It stands for forgiveness of sins, in terms of the new covenant, but especially for complete salvation in Jesus Christ. God’s promise to man is unbreakable. What God has promised, the believer will receive.”[2] Perseverance in the conviction of the full sufficiency of Christ guarantees our future inheritance in the coming kingdom. But perseverance in the full sufficiency of Christ brings peace to us even today amidst our trials and hardships. Just wait for Jesus!

[1] Homer A. Kent Jr., The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1983), 212–213.

[2] Simon J. Kistemaker and William Hendriksen, Exposition of Hebrews, vol. 15, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 302.

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