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#DailyDevotion Faith Is A Busy & Active Thing

#DailyDevotion Faith Is A Busy & Active Thing

Hebrews 11:17By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered Isaac. Yes, this man, who received the promises 18and was told: “Isaac’s children will be called your descendants,” was sacrificing his only son, 19thinking, “God can even raise him from the dead.” And so, figuratively speaking, he did. 20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. 21By faith a dying Jacob blessed each of Joseph’s sons and worshiped leaning on the top of his staff. 22By faith Joseph, when his end was near, remembered how the Israelites would leave Egypt and gave directions for his burial. 23By faith, when Moses was born, his parents hid him three months because they saw he was a fine baby and they were not afraid of the king’s order. 24By faith Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter 25and preferred being mistreated with God’s people to enjoying the short-lived pleasures of sin. 26He considered the abuse suffered for Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to the reward. 27By faith he left Egypt without fearing the king’s anger. He persisted as one who was constantly seeing Him Who can’t be seen. 28By faith he celebrated the Passover and put the blood on the doorposts to keep him who destroyed the firstborn from touching his people. 29By faith they went through the Red Sea as if it were dry land. The Egyptians tried it, too, but were drowned.

As Martin Luther once said, “Faith is a busy and lively thing.” Faith is created by the promises of God, is sustained by the promises of God and creates a way of living in view of the promises of God.  As such we have these examples of faith in Hebrews chapter eleven. We return to Abraham who demonstrates his faith in God’s promise that through Isaac he would have many descendents and through Isaac all nations would be blessed. The Lord told him to sacrifice Isaac and so he went about to do so. He could do this because he believed God was faithful. He had promised these things through Isaac and the only way that would happen is if God were going to raise him from the dead after the sacrifice. Abraham didn’t need to do it though and received Isaac back as though from the dead.

Abraham and Isaac prefigure the sacrifice of God the Father of God the Son. The Father sent his son Jesus to be the sacrifice to atone for the sin of the world. He would also raise Jesus from the dead so we may be justified through faith in Jesus. Like Isaac, Jesus was the son of promise, the one promised in Genesis 3:15. We too have been given such great and wonderful promises which guide how we live. We have been promised the forgiveness of sins, so we no longer have to be slaves to sin but instead have become slaves of righteousness. The Lord Jesus has made our bodies his temple so we treat our bodies as holy. He has promised us the kingdom of God and all of its innumerable riches and so we scorn the world with all it has to offer us.

Moses too saw the promise of Christ Jesus. Seeing that, Moses, when he grew up scorned the riches of Pharaoh’s household. He chose to suffer with his fellow Israelites. “He was looking ahead to the reward.” That reward was the Promised Land. It was communion with God. “He considered the abuse suffered for Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to the reward.” That is something to think about and ponder. Though Jesus would still be off more than a thousand years, he saw the promised seed of Abraham and considered the abuse he suffered on account of Christ. Being part of the people of God, partaking of the promises of the people of God, was to take on a cross, the cross of Christ. The reward for suffering for Christ is far greater than all the treasures of Egypt. Perhaps you can visit a museum sometime that has the treasures of King Tut or another Egyptian pharaoh and marvel at the gold and precious jewels. Yet in Christ Jesus those who trust in his promises and are awaiting his return eagerly will inherit wealth greater than all accumulated wealth even of today’s billionaires.

Heavenly Father, you have given us so many and wondrous promises in Christ Jesus, may these promises make us partakers of your divine nature in the world to come that we may receive the innumerable riches of Christ on the day of his revelation. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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Rev. Guillaume J. S. Williams, Sr.

The Reverend Guillaume Williams is the Pastor of Hope Lutheran Chapel of Osage Beach, Missouri. His pastoral ministry with Hope began in 2005 where he preaches the Christ crucified.

Comments (2)

  1. Oh to have such abounding faith. Me, a poor miserable sinner.

    1. They and we are all poor miserable sinners. But it is the faith God gives that does these things when required.

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