#DailyDevotion Faith Is?
Heb. 11 Faith is being sure of the things we hope for, being convinced of the things we can’t see. 2The men of long ago were approved of in this faith. 3By faith we know God made the world by His Word so that what we see wasn’t made of what can be seen. 4By faith Abel brought to God a better sacrifice than Cain and was declared to be righteous, when God approved his offerings. He died, but by his faith he is still speaking to us.
This is often used as the definition of faith. It’s not a bad one. How does the author describe it? It is being sure. What does that mean? The Greek word here is hypostasis. It is made up of two other words and literally would mean setting under support. It can mean the essence of a thing or the assurance of a thing. Weirdly enough, it can also mean person, and is used as such when talking about the persons of the Trinity. It is combined with the Greek word elegchos which here is interpreted convinced. Other ways of translating it would be proof or evidence. We have these words in parallel to one another building each other up.
Our faith can be sure and certain of the things we hope for. It is being convinced of things we cannot see, but the One who promised them is faithful. It is not just wishful thinking.We have good reason to believe, to hope for the things we cannot see. Jesus is the guarantee of God’s promises. They are all yes in Christ. Jesus shed His blood and gave up His life to seal to us God’s promises. He rose from the dead and we know this from multiple eyewitnesses.
What is it we hope for? What have we been promised? We have been promised the forgiveness of sins. We have been promised the glory of God. Jesus has promised us the resurrection of our bodies to immortality and the glory of God. We have been promised a New Heavens and a New Earth. We have been promised joy everlasting. How can we be sure? How can we be certain? The One who promised is faithful. He fulfilled what was written about Him by the prophets. If these promises about Him have come to pass, then His future promises will come to pass as well.
“The men of long ago were approved of in this faith.” Paul writes in Romans 14, “Anything that is not an act of faith is sin.” In a few more verses the author tells us, “6But it is impossible to please God without faith.” So the opposite is also true. With faith, we are approved of by God. We are acceptable to God because of our faith in Him through Jesus. All the works we do that proceed from faith are accepted by God. The rest of the chapter will go through the faithfulness of the fathers of old as an example to us.
It is a wonder that the first act of faith is believing God made the world by the Word. Isn’t this one of the biggest contentions with Christianity today? So many people just can’t believe God made everything. Yet, by the Word, that is our LORD Jesus Christ, God made everything we see by what is unseen. First He brings into existence matter. Then He organizes this matter. Until a hundred or so years ago we only hypothesized about atoms and molecules (which we can’t see with the naked eye). Now with technology we can see even smaller things at a subatomic, a quantum level. Eventually, who knows how small down God will let us see. But it seems to me, eventually we end up with the Word alone who calls all things into existence. We are being pointed back to the beginning of Genesis (which means beginning). Having faith God brought all this into existence, we can have hope for a new and better creation when Christ returns.
Faithful God and Father, You have made so many great and marvelous promises which are all yes in Christ Jesus. Give us Your Holy Spirit so we may have faith in the sure and certain hope of their fulfillment. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.