Hebrews Chapter 11

Roll Call of the Faithful

            ¹ Faith is confidence about what we hope for, certainty about what we can’t see. ² By faith people of old received testimony.

            ³ By faith we understand that God spoke the universe into existence, so what we see didn’t come from something previous.

⁴ By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. Through it he received testimony that he was good. (God testified in response to his gifts.) Through it he’s still speaking though he’s dead.                                                 

Heb 11:1-4

            ⁵ By faith Enoch didn’t die. “God took him up, and he simply wasn’t there” [Gen 5:24]. Before God took him up, the ancient writings say “he pleased God” [Gen 5:22-24; Sir 44:16; Enoch 70:1-4; Wis 4:10].  ⁶ Without faith a person can’t please God. Whoever comes to him has to believe he exists and rewards people who look for him.

⁷ By faith Noah built an ark that saved his family. God had warned him about things he couldn’t see yet, and he paid attention to the warning. By faith he condemned his world and inherited the results of the goodness that comes from faith.              

Heb 11:5-7

            ⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when God called him, and went out to a place he’d inherit later. He went without knowing where he was going. ⁹ By faith he lived as a foreigner in a land God had promised him. He lived there as a nomad in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise. ¹⁰ He did it because he was looking for a city that had foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

¹¹ By faith Sarah, too, though she couldn’t have children, God enabled to conceive even after child-bearing years. She did so because she had faith in the One that promised. ¹² So, from one man that was as good as dead, there descended as many as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore.                                                                                                                

Heb 11:8-12

¹³ These all died in faith without receiving the promises. They saw them a long way off and greeted them from afar. They regarded themselves as foreigners and temporary residents on earth. ¹⁴ People that say things like that show they’re looking for a homeland. ¹⁵ If they were looking to where they’d come from, they could’ve gone back. ¹⁶ But they longed for a better, heavenly homeland. So God’s not ashamed of being their God, as he showed by preparing a city for them.                                                                         

Heb 11:13-16

            ¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when God put him to the test, went ahead and offered up Isaac. The man that was so happy to receive the promises offered up the only son he had. ¹⁸ He was the one God told, “Your lineage will descend through Isaac” [Gen 21:12]. ¹⁹ He figured that God could even raise Isaac from the dead; in a way, that’s what happened.

            ²⁰ By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau even about future things.

²¹ By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and “worshiped, leaning on his staff” [Gen 48:15-16; 47:31 LXX].           

Heb 11:17-21

            ²² By faith Joseph, when he was about to die, remembered the future exodus of Israel’s descendants and gave instructions about his bones.

            ²³ By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months. They saw he was a handsome little boy and weren’t afraid of Pharaoh’s decree.

²⁴ By faith Moses, when he grew up, refused to be considered the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. ²⁵ He chose to suffer mistreatment with God’s people rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a while. ²⁶ He considered the disgrace of Christ more valuable than the wealth of Egypt because he was looking on ahead to the later reward. ²⁷ By faith he left Egypt, not afraid of Pharaoh’s anger, and endured as if he saw the One that’s invisible. ²⁸ By faith he kept the Passover and the smearing of blood on the doorposts so the one that destroyed the firstborn wouldn’t touch them. ²⁹ By faith he crossed the Red Sea as on dry ground. When the Egyptians tried it, they drowned.  

Heb 11:22-29

            ³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after the Israelites circled them for seven days.

³¹ By faith Rahab the harlot didn’t perish with the disobedient because she welcomed the spies in peace.

Heb 11:30-31

Extreme Faithfulness

³² What more can I say? There’s not enough time to talk about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David and Samuel, and the prophets. ³³ By faith they conquered kingdoms, did good things, received promises, shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ extinguished the power of fire, escaped the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, drove out armies of foreigners. ³⁵ Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some^mas were beaten to death, rather than accept deliverance so they could gain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Others received public torture and scourging, were put in chains and imprisoned. ³⁷ They were stoned, sawn in two, murdered with swords. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, abused; ³⁸ wandering in deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. The world didn’t deserve them. ³⁹ They all received testimony through their faith, but they didn’t receive the promise. ⁴⁰ God provided something better for us so that what they anticipated wasn’t completed till we received it.

Heb 11:32-40