The Hall of Faith | Faith and Hope – Hebrews 11:1-2
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation.”
Hebrews 11 is commonly referred to as the Hall of Faith in the bibelot. For the readers of Hebrews, they would have immediately understood the names and the stories they had grown up with. Yet, the author of Hebrews sought to do more than merely tell the story of the people but to connect their life as one dedicated to faith in the Messiah. Too many people feel that those in the Old Testament lived solely on the basis of their works without any understanding of faith. Then, we attempt to apply that to our own understanding of God and eternity. We believe that we can be good enough to earn the salvation of God for all eternity. To do any of these things would be a gross misunderstanding of the scriptures and of faith. The author of Hebrews looks to work through the most memorable of stories of the heroes and forefathers of the faith to show how they relied on the faith that comes from God to sustain their life. Faith, working in conjunction with hope, sets our eyes on the things of God and the things above for our security and, more importantly, for our source of everlasting life with God.
A Faith of Old
The forefathers of the faith received their commendation from faith. The Old Covenant provided a system of salvation based on the obedience of the people. God handed down the rules and requirements of righteousness to the people so that they could approach God. Yet, God understood the hearts of man and their complete inability to be innocent and righteousness apart from divine intervention. Thus, God, who sought to dwell with His people, provided the temple sacrificial system for the shedding of blood on behalf of the people so that the people could be with God. Yet, even this system could not fully account for the sins of the people as this horrific shedding of blood would need to be done annually. Still, though, the people of old persisted in their attempts to follow God. They routinely offered the sacrifices at the temple and sought the favor of God through obedience, often times at personal expense to their safety.
The people of the Old Testament obeyed God out of the abundance of their faith in the Messiah who would come one day. They held an understanding that one would come who would rescue the people and save them. Although they misunderstood the scope of many aspects, the faith remained the same. Furthermore, the faith originated with God. It was not the people’s faith, but the faith of God instilled in them. God intervened first in the lives of the people, giving them the faith of a better future and salvation. Furthermore, the people would have needed to fully rely on God and His grace given to them in order to provide for their eternal needs. By looking towards obedience in the sacrificial system and the obedience to the law, they demonstrated their faith. They sought obedience to solidify their faith where now, we know that it is only by faith in Jesus Christ that our works can be sustained. Nonetheless, our faith from God placed in us is the faith of the forefathers in the faith. When we submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we join those who came before us in faith in the coming Messiah, putting our trust in the returning King!
The Connection of Faith and Hope
Thus, as Hebrews 11 starts, faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” There is an interplay between faith and hope that work in conjunction with one another to affect our every day life and our eternal destiny. Faith goes beyond merely thinking a certain type of thought or belief, though these are definitely components. Faith involves a type of belief that then spurs a person on to action. It extends beyond an intrinsic thought life to a lived out worldview that impacts every aspect of our daily life. It stands firm in the face of difficulty, rooted in the hope of eternity. This hope looks beyond the struggles of the day to day and to the eternal promises of God. When viewed through the lens of eternity, the persecution and challenges that a person faces will seem small and inconsequential. For us to have faith in God and hope in eternity finds its foundation that we serve an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God who is sovereign over all things.
For us, when we struggle with a lack of faith, we have been given an access to God that even the forefathers craved through their yearly and constant sacrifices. When we seek faith, we do not do so through obedience but obey God out of the overflow of our faith that comes from God above. It is the hope that this life, for all the struggles with our flesh, our desire for the full presence of God clashing with the desires of our heart to sin and rebel, that we will one day stand before our heavenly Father and rush into His living arms. Jesus Christ, through His work on the cross, died the death we could not take for the sake of our sins so that we might not face eternal death but that He would be with us, for all eternity. This is the foundation of the faith and hope we have. Faith and hope go hand in hand and uplift one another during times of need always continuing to point us to the cross of Christ for the sake of God’s glory. Following God will not always be easy. We will face temptations, trials, and tribulations. Yet, in all these, we can rest on faith from above, the same faith as the fore fathers, that puts the fullness of our trust in the arms of God who will never, ever fail us.
About The Author
Daniel Burton is the founder of The Gospel Outpost. He is passionate about discipleship and seeing people grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. To find out more about him, check out his Author Page.
