Jumping On Point For Our Hebrews Study!

Hebrews Recap and Chapter 11 Summary

We've reached a significant shifting point in our look at the book of Hebrews and we've been zoomed in pretty tight on chapter 11 for awhile. So before moving forward I'd like to zoom out and get an updated overview of the book so far and then recap what we learned about faith in chapter 11.

A significant theme of Hebrews has been "holding on to hope and confidence in Yahweh so that we can be engaged in his plans and experience his blessing and rest".

Some quick chapter overviews:

(Chapter 1) Jesus is superior to all messengers of God that came before him and the "heir" of all things in creation. (Believers are also referred to in verse 14 as those who "inherit salvation".)

(Chapter 2) Jesus is the source of our rescue from the power and penalty of sin. We are warned not to neglect the ongoing rescue Jesus offers.

(Chapters 3-5) There is a rest still available for God's people that the Israelites neglected. A rest found in our pursuit of God and participation in his plans. A rest found by fully relying on Jesus to be our "Great High Priest", trusting him, not our own efforts, to secure and maintain our good standing with God.

(Chapter 6) Believers who fail to increasingly pursue and place their trust in Jesus burn out or drift from faith as a result, and may even reject Jesus in contempt. Those who go down this road don't lose the gift of eternal life (John 5:24, Romans 6:23, Romans 11:29, 2 Timothy 2:13), but they do miss out on rest and inheriting the full promises of God given to Abraham (6:12, 17-20). (This idea of retaining eternal life but missing out on reward is taught more explicitly in 1 Corinthians 3:14-15. "If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.")
The author doesn't want his readers to end up in that situation, and so continues to build the case for trusting in Jesus as the ultimate priest/go-between for our relationship with God.

(Chapter 7) Jesus' credentials as both our king and advocate are established by comparing him to the King-Priest of the Old Testament, Melchizedek. Jesus is a category of "priest" that is all his own, superior to and unlike any priest before him, without beginning or end.

(Chapter 8) The Old Covenant of temple sacrifices to repair and maintain relationship between God and humanity was lacking and was never meant to last forever.

(Chapter 9) The Old Covenant sacrificial system only dealt with sin superficially. Jesus' sacrifice is complete and perfect payment for our sin that we are powerless to add anything to.

(Chapter 10) Believers in Jesus are so intensely purified by Christ's sacrifice that we can boldly enter into the most holy, sacred habitations of God. Because of this, we should recognize our ability to engage in the work of God and therefore not neglect involvement in what he is doing. We should also endure, trusting in God as we serve him, so that we don't miss out on the reward God promises those who invest in serving him during this life.

In chapter 11 the author describes what it means to trust (or have "faith" in) Yahweh, and gives examples of what that has looked like in history.

From the examples in chapter 11 I made the following observations about faith:

Faith facilitates understanding. (v.3)
Faith trusts that God will provide for us. Faith makes sense of self-sacrifice as we recognize the worth of Yahweh. (v.4)
Faith has absolute sureness regarding the justice of God and his unstoppable plan to make right all the wrongs of the world, dealing with ALL sin, once and for all, and silencing all the voices that pridefully speak against God. (v.5)
Faith is the astounding way by which we can give pleasure to the infinite God of all reality. (v.5-6)
Faith searches for God, investigates God, scrutinizes God, begs for God and craves God (v.6).
Faith is, most of the time, not an intellectual struggle, but a struggle of the will. A struggle to go against the natural flow of the world and our own tendencies (v.7).
Faith is not lead by our own insecurities (v.8-10). God uses faith as a catalyst for miraculous intervention (v.11-12).
Faith looks beyond the here and now to what God has promised for the future. Faith concludes that life lived with God is the greatest thing to pursue now and that God is the greatest hope we have for the future. (v.13-16)
Faith gives up worry and the need for control and trusts God with the future (v.17-22).
Faith believes that being hated, because of identification with Christ and his people, is something of tremendous value. (v.23-26)
Faith clings to this life, not to hold onto life's pleasures but to be available for God's plans. (v.27-28)
Faith is something that God can use in powerful ways even if it comes in small measure. (v.29)
Faith enters conflict, not when conflict will gratify us, but only when conflict will serve Yahweh. (v.30)
Faith acknowledges Yahweh's agenda as worth dying horribly for. (v.31)
Faith takes risks and trusts God's evaluation of us more than our own.
Faith is highly honored by God, even when mixed with doubt and disobedience.
Faith trusts God's judgment even while experiencing injustice.
Faith recognizes Yahweh's identity as rightful ruler over all.
Faith recognizes God's holiness and infinite value, and that we therefore sin more against him than anyone else.
Faith is not compartmentalized, but informs the way we view every area of life.
Faith results in humility and a lack of desire for authority or respect among those around us.(v.32)
Faith empowers us to uphold justice in difficult situations. Faith gains us promised rewards from God in the future. Faith can result in supernatural protection from physical harm, though this is not guaranteed. Faith can bring the dead back to life or help us endure torture and death in service to Christ(v.32-35).
Faith is a trust in God that outweighs even horrible circumstances. It treats the promises of God as more concrete and tangible than the suffering we experience in life. Faith doesn't wait to have all the answers before trusting in God. Faith isn't mindless or blind, but it also doesn't require every question to be answered before committing to obedience. (v.36-40)


SO WHAT'S IN THIS FOR GEEKS?

Take your pick!

Although in a nutshell it all comes back to the author's initial definition of faith: The assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

As Geeks we deal in what is seen. Sure, we engage our imaginations and in that sense deal with the unseen all the time. But what I mean is that Geeks immerse themselves in "stuff". Books, movies, podcasts, games, comics and tons of other physical things. There's no harm in getting an immense amount of pleasure from the things we enjoy, but we also tend to live for those things, grinding through our routines with our evening geekery as our light at the end of the tunnel.

The Holy Spirit, through the author of Hebrews, is calling us to put Yahweh at the end of that tunnel each day, placing our hope for release and rescue in the love and promises of Jesus. God wants us to see what is visible through the filter of what is invisible, which will result in being on board with the plans God has for us and investing in things of eternal significance that will result in lasting, unfading reward.