“How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection.”Hebrews 11:32-35 NLT
Chapter 11 is filled with the famous faithful, and here the author just summarizes the more known stories that we still tell today. All of this was because of faith, their faith. Faith is extraordinarily critical in the life of Christ followers. It was then, before details of the plan was revealed, and it is now. Notice how small this list is when compared to the thousands of years it represents – it is just a few.
When Hebrews mentions “and all the prophets,” he was writing about the many unnamed major and minor prophets, spokespersons for God. And, because most of those prophets were warning Israel, begging them to turn from sin, as God was already setting the stage for their discipline, those folks were the ones mentioned towards the end. These were tortured, not just for their faith, but their words delivered to the leaders, and the people of God. No one wanted to listen to those words, so they killed them. Hebrews goes on to mention a few of those we know about. “Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated.” Isaiah was the one stuffed in a hollowed log and cut in half!
Faith, as glorious as it may seem in the results and endings of these stories, was very costly and frightening to trust and obey God. Faith always includes huge risks. There is just no other way to do it. All of it, for the folks who believed long before the plans of God became reality in the son of man, son of God, was “credited to them as righteousness.” The phrase, shows up often in the Bible; in Genesis 15:36, Psalms 106:31 and Romans 4:22-23. Faith is still required and still effective to “credit” any of us with righteousness. It wasn’t just for them “pre-messiah,” the Apostle Paul says, “for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” The new spin on this faith is revealed as not just credit towards our salvation but also the best way to please God – 11:6. Our names may not go down in history, but in and with faith they will be recorded in God’s book of life!
Prayer
Dad,
This faith that pleases you has always seemed to come with great risk. Oddly enough, it always looked so glamorous when reading and reflecting on the stories of old. Yet, in the moments when I face faith and the decisions to trust and obey you – well it has never felt all that appealing. It felt like hard work, like swimming in mud, like groping forward in the dark. Faith does not come natural to me at all. When faith is talked about it always sounds so fun and exciting. But in reality it’s pushing against all the senses telling me not to do it. It’s odd that it’s so hard to believe. Maybe that’s just me?