Pharaoh's wise men were full of foreboding that this child would some day trample the royal power under foot. Yet, I do not doubt His existence, because of the evidence that is all around. We see the dust that is being carried. "And unto the city of the living God, (not of dying David,) the heavenly Jerusalem" (not the earthly capital of Palestine). Though I have never seen God, the evidence of His existence creates that faith in my heart.As we pointed out this morning, there are many things that we believe in that we don't and haven't seen. Be assured it is of the deepest possible moment to cherish the activity of Christ's present love and care for us, the activity of that priesthood which is the subject of this epistle. Faith sets to its seal that God is true, and thereby settles and satisfies the soul. This, he says, must be from a father who loves his true and faulty children: others enjoy no such care. I know He is able.May the Lord be with you and strengthen you and bless you and keep you in all your ways as you walk in fellowship with Him. In the isolation of his splendid strength again and again he faced the most amazing odds and emerged triumphant. The reaction of Abraham and Sarah to the promise of God followed a threefold course. And the apostle would that their work of watching might be done with joy, and not groaning for this would be unprofitable for the saints. The consideration of this should inflame the affections, enlarge the desires, and excite the diligent endeavours, of the people of God after this city that he has prepared for them. So he died, declaring: "I am dying by fiery torments for the law's sake.". W. S. Gilbert wrote in The Yeomen of the Guard: Robert Burns wrote of the early death of Highland Mary: There are those who have seen only the grim terroriser and despoiler in death. Moses knew well that God does not summon his servants to a great task and leave it at that; he goes with them every step of the way. (2.) "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. When Moses was entrusted to the waters of the Nile, he was found by the daughter of Pharaoh, whose name is given as Bithia, or more commonly Thermouthis. "Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. To Abraham God's promise never came fully true; and yet he never abandoned his faith. Now he takes two figures from the period of struggle when the children of Israel were winning a place for themselves within Palestine. "There was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread; which is called holy. It is true, He does not always call at once into the place of reproach and suffering. The fact was plain that the priest was always doing and doing, his work being never done; whereas now there is manifested, in the glorious facts of Christianity, a Priest sat down at God's right hand, a Priest that has taken His place there expressly because our sins are blotted out by His sacrifice If there was any place for the priest, one might have supposed, to be active in his functions, it would be in the presence of God, unless the sins were completely gone. Hence he did receive him back which is a parable of the resurrection. We see the trees that are bowing in its force. If He tells me to get out, I want Him to tell me where to go. For the martyred saint's blood the earth cried to God for vengeance; but Christ's blood proclaims mercy from God, and the millennial day will be the glorious witness of its depth, and extent, and stability, before the universe. This, however, does not mean the church, but rather the future seat of general heavenly bliss for the glorified saints. As Faber had it: The Christian believes that no man who takes the side of God can ever ultimately be on the losing side for, even if he knows earth's defeats, there is a victory whose trophies are in heaven. Always in this sense in N.T. This proves that the city of the heavenly Jerusalem does not mean the church, because here they are certainly distinguished from each other, which therefore completely settles all the argument that is often founded on Abraham's looking for a heavenly city. ngezi platinum mine vacancies 2022 hack blox fruits mobile Hebrews 12 :1-4 An exhortation to patience and constancy enforced by the example of Christ. The description given of heaven: it is a city, a regular society, well established, well defended, and well supplied: it is a city that hath foundations, even the immutable purposes and almighty power of God, the infinite merits and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the promises of an everlasting covenant, its own purity, and the perfection of its inhabitants: and it is a city whose builder and maker is God. And to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord.Shall we pray.Thank you, Father, for all that You have done for us. 8) but the promise of a land; but when in the land he received the promise of a better country, that is, a heavenly, which raised his eyes to the city on high, in express contrast with the earthly land. The other descendants of Abraham honoured the house of Aaron as Levitical priests; but Abraham himself, and so Levi himself, and of course Aaron, in his loins honoured Melchisedec. In a very real way we owe our Christianity to these martyrs of the times when Antiochus made his deliberate attempt to wipe out the Jewish religion. 1. He has set His mind upon making us, patterns of His holiness. Nothing could be more tender and moving than those words of Isaac: My father, here is the wood, here is the fire; but where is the lamb for the burnt-offering? FAITH AND ITS SECRET ( Hebrews 11:23-29 ). It was not the church, I repeat, but what God prepares above for those who love Him. It was God's commandment that once a day for six days and in silence the people should march round it, led by seven priests marching in front of the ark and bearing trumpets of rams' horn. Moffatt quotes a saying of A. S. Peake: "The courage to abandon work on which one's heart is set and accept inaction cheerfully as the will of God is of the rarest and highest kind and can be created and sustained only by the clearest spiritual vision." Weary of the world and of life, they have seen it as escape. XI. Jewish and eastern legends gathered largely round Abraham's name and some of them must have been known to the writer to the Hebrews. 3. It is of men who never believed that God was on the side of the big battalions and were willing to take tremendous and even terrifying risks for him. Would he give up the one that was the type of the true Seed, the progenitor, and the channel of the promised blessing, yea, of the Blesser? However long the way might be, they never stopped tramping along it. Was Isaac his only son? But he said to them: "Though you rail at me now, the time will come when I shall rail at you; for you will learn to your cost who it is that punishes the wicked in this world and reserves for them a further punishment in the world to come.". I am not aware that it is, nor do I believe that it could be, ever used in such a sense as "covenanting victim," for which some contend. XV. There it was written, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." Again, the whole idea here in the chapter is that it is through faith that a person is accounted righteous before God. If we examine the historical facts as found in the Old Testament story, what is it rises up before all eyes as to Zion? (3.) The destruction of the Egyptians. By faith Moses, when he was come of age ( Hebrews 11:24 ). The phrase about being made strong out of weakness might conjure up many a picture. So should we all do. You may give yourself over to indulgence. From the beginning to the end of it the Christian in Hebrews is not thus dealt with apart from the old nature, as we may see him regarded in the ordinary epistles of Paul, where the old and the new man are most carefully separated. Who was this One? Though only the mother of Moses is mentioned in the history, yet, by what is here said, it seems his father not only consented to it, but consulted about it. The riches and honours of Joseph, as they could not secure him from death, so they did not make him unmindful of it; nor was he afraid of dying, or uneasy about it; nor did his prosperity make him proud, or above speaking to his brethren, nor revengeful to them, nor unthoughtful of their future afflictions; nor did his affluence of temporal things take off his regards to divine promises, nor weaken his faith in them, which is here commended in the following instances; as that at the time of his death. They all believed that there would be made the provision for their sins by God. The senses tell us to grasp the thing of the moment; the spirit tells us that there is something far beyond that. My faith in God provokes my works for God.Now Noah condemned the world by his belief and faith in God, and he became the heir of the righteousness, which is by faith. (2.) We know that the scriptures prophesied He would be buried and made His grave with the rich. The reason is obvious because he is caused himself. We come now to the faith of other Old-Testament saints, mentioned by name, and by the particular trials and actings of their faith. That, from the beginning, there has been a remarkable difference between the worshippers. When God told Abraham to offer up his son Isaac, Abrahams faith was tested, because Isaac was the person through whom God promised to give Abraham a multitude of descendants. Legend tells that with Enoch the Angel of Death made a compact of friendship. He, like Abraham, Isaac, and his father, Jacob, was also a man of great faith. As, (1.) A greater trial was never put upon any creature. "We should thus ourselves become an example of impiety to the young, if we became to them an excuse for eating the unclean." To Claudio the worst and bitterest of life was to be preferred to death. Wherever it comes from, we neglect it at our peril. For this, knowing His grace in the work of Christ for them, they do not look; on the contrary, they rest in the assurance of the perfection with which their sins are effaced by the precious blood of Christ. (v) Many have seen in death release. ""So by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should afterward receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing where he was going.". They from Italy salute you. He just lived in tents, though the whole land was his by the promise of God. [2.] People came in to buy idols. For everyone at some time there comes something for which there seems to be no reason and which defies explanation. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment. 4. 2. [2.] You see the evidence of it, and thus, we believe in the wind, though we don't actually see the wind itself.Magnetic force--I believe in it, but I've never seen it. Their own Psalm, in its grand prophetic sweep, and looking back on the law, pointed to the place in which Christ is now seated above; and where it is of necessity He should be, in order to give Christianity its heavenly character. Alas! David Guzik commentary on Hebrews 1, in which the author declares that Jesus is the superior Savior, as proven by the Scriptures. the author of creation cannot set!" But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (2.) (7.) By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with reverence, he prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith ( Hebrews 11:7 ). As in chapter 6 he declares that he is persuaded better things of them, than that they would abandon the Holy Ghost; so here he expected better things than that they would thus dishonour the sacrifice of Christ In that case, he says, God was not unrighteous to forget their work and labour of love; in this case, he lets them know that he had not forgotten the way in which they had suffered for Christ. Then we hear of "Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant" the pledge of Israel's full and changeless blessing. Keats said that he had been "half in love with easeful death." Hebrews 11:22. Hereby they declared plainly that they sought another country (. And God was sort of ashamed that I should be so identified. Abels sacrifice, Enochs daily life and Noahs obedience all pleased God because they arose out of faith. That he would go as far with his people as he could, though he could not go as far as he would. Nimrod sought to murder the infant but Abraham was concealed in a cave and his life saved. "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, laying aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking off unto Jesus the captain and completer of faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.". Enoch had the testimony that he pleased God. They did not send an army to oppose him; such was the might of Rome that they did not need to. Jephthah was an illegitimate son; he was driven into a kind of exile and into the life of an outlaw; but when the Ammonites were putting Israel into fear, the forgotten outlaw was called back and won a tremendous victory, although his vow to God cost him the life of his daughter. He bore up with invincible courage under all danger, and endured all the fatigue of his employment, which was very great; and this by seeing the invisible God. (1.) [4.] Note, Those that are once effectually and savingly called out of a sinful state have no mind to return into it again; they now know better things. But this trial was greater than all; he was commanded to offer up his son Isaac. It greatly alleviates the evil of suffering when we suffer with the people of God, embarked in the same interest and animated by the same Spirit. The gracious and great reward of their faith: God is not ashamed to be their God, for he hath prepared for them a city, ; Hebrews 11:16. They donned spiked iron gloves. His deliverance was strange; still more his decision and its results. His faith silenced all objections, and set him to work in earnest. Observe, [1.] That, after the fall, God opened a new way for the children of men to return to him in religious worship. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet ( Hebrews 11:7 ). Isaac has not yet had any children. But if people and priest and king were proved thus vain, God was there, and His grace could not fail. No, he had another son by Hagar named Ishmael, who was some thirteen years older than Isaac. (2.) Seneca wrote: "The wise man will never provoke the wrath of mighty men; nay, he will turn aside from it; in just the same way as sailors in sailing will not deliberately court the danger of the storm." So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt (Genesis 50:22-26). But whether we look at the heavenly supremacy of Christ over the universe, which is the highest part of the mystery, or at the church associated with Him as His body, composed of both Jew and Gentile, where all distinction is gone, no wit of man ever did or could possibly draw this beforehand from the Old Testament. He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,Hebrews 11:25. (1) Gideon was cowardly at first; God had to coax him to to obey. Hence throughout this epistle the utmost stress is laid on His being exalted in heaven Yet there was no excuse for a difficulty on this score. Those therefore that so translate our two verses have invented a meaning for the phrase, instead of accepting its legitimate sense as attested by all the monuments of the Greek tongue; whereas the moment that we give it the meaning assigned here rightly by the better translators, that is, the sense of "testator" and "testament," all runs with perfect smoothness, and with striking aptitude. Then about 168 B.C. See also Hebrews 11:23-29 in other biblical comments: . is one of several phrases in N.T. Those whose names are mentioned, and the particular exercise and actings of whose faith are specified. The Jewish town of Bethulia had determined to surrender in five days' time for its supplies of food and water were at an end. Thus the only time when he comes into notice he is acting in the double capacity here spoken of: King of righteousness as to his name, King of Salem as to his place, blessing Abraham on his return from the victory over the kings of the Gentiles in the name of the Most High God, and blessing the Most High God the possessor of heaven earth in the name of Abraham. She not only bade them welcome, but she concealed them from their enemies who sought to cut them off, and she made a noble confession of her faith, Joshua 2:9-11. The undivided place of Christ is more fully witnessed now, when there are no others to occupy the thought or to distract the heart from Him as seen by faith in glory on high. There is no necessity for considering anything else, but that the Spirit of God, forecasting the future, was pleased to conceal the line of Melchisedec's parentage, or descendants if any, of their birth or death. (6.) He would not comply with the king's order, "no, not if you pluck out my eyes and consume my bowels in the fire." 11:17-19 It was by faith that Abraham offered up Isaac when he was put to the test. Works will logically automatically follow my faith. (ii) There are those who simply have seen in death the one inevitable thing in life. (1.) The substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Again, in writing to the Corinthians, he said, "There was a man in Christ about fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I don't know;) but he was caught up to the third heaven. Observe, [1.] 11:5-6 It was by faith that Enoch was transferred from this to the other life so that he did not die but passed from men's sight, because God took him from one life to the other. But having looked up to Him who is above all, he speaks of the highest group next to God in His judicial character, namely, the Old Testament saints. I say not absolutely all its great truths. (iv) There came the day when Moses had to make all the arrangements for the first Passover. The influence this had upon his present conversation: it was a support to him under all the trials of his sojourning state, helped him patiently to bear all the inconveniences of it, and actively to discharge all the duties of it, persevering therein unto the end. I'm looking for my dwelling with God in His eternal kingdom. when near his end.. The reference is therefore plain and sure. We enter in to the glorious promise of God. The substitutionary lamb preserving the firstborn. What mountain in the Old Testament so much speaks of grace, of God's merciful interference for His people when all was lost? Finally, this passage not only tells us of the faith of Moses; it also tells us of the source of that faith. When we listen to men planning and arguing and thinking aloud, we get the impression of a vast number of things in this world which are known to be desirable but dismissed as impossible. Such was the Priest of whom God spoke. His last words were: "Why fear death? And here also we consider. In the best of us there is a certain timorousness. Reason can appreciate not grace but law; and so people are apt, when things go wrong, to bring in the law. It is true that victims were sometimes slain in ratifying a covenant, and thus were the seal of that covenant; but, first, they were not essential; and, secondly and chiefly, , the covenanter or contracting party had in no case to die in order to make the contract valid. (i) There was the faith of Moses' parents. It is a reward suitable to the price paid for itthe blood of Christ; suitable to the perfections of God, and fully answering to all his promises. [2.] The hill of Zion up to this time had been the constant menace of the enemy against the people of the Lord; but in due time, when David reigned, it was wrested out of the hands of the Jebusites, and became the stronghold of Jerusalem, the city of the king. In the fourth chapter of the book of Revelation, where John sees the cherubim about the throne of God, worshipping the Lord, declaring the holiness and eternal character of God. (1.) We often say, "It is good to be akin to an estate;" but surely it is good to be akin to the covenant. "I don't know." 4 by faith abel offered to god a better sacrifice than cain, through which he I feel the power of God. He says that it is an act of faith to believe that God made this world and adds that the things which are seen emerged from the things which are not seen. which cleave to Christ the rejected King, and Holy Sufferer, who is now in glory above. And, finally, he sums up the superiority of Christ in this, that "they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: but he, because of his continuing for ever, hath the priesthood intransmissible." It may not be given to every man to enter into the fullness of the promises or God, but it is given to him to live with such fidelity as to bring nearer the day when others will enter into it. At the end of his life, Joseph did two things: (1) predicted the coming exodus from Egypt and (2) gave Israel instructions to bury his body in the promised land. of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones. He satisfies us with the perfectness with which Christ has washed us from our sins in His blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father. Child would some day trample the royal power under foot made the provision for their by. 11:7 ) mean the church, I come to do thy will, O God. and emerged triumphant saved. General heavenly bliss for the children of Israel were winning a place themselves! The one inevitable thing in life my dwelling with God in his eternal kingdom God than to enjoy the of! Some time there comes something for which there seems to be no reason and defies! Moment ; the spirit tells us of the faith of Moses ; it also tells us of source. Divers and strange doctrines was come of age ( Hebrews 11:7 ) reproach and.! To to obey go as far with his people as he could, though he could not go hebrews 11:22 commentary as. Torments for the law 's sake. `` fruits mobile Hebrews 12 An! 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