#DailyDevotion The World Is Not Worthy Of Them
Heb. 11 36Others suffered mocking and scourging and were even put in chains and in prison. 37They were stoned, tempted, sawed in half, murdered with a sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, needy, oppressed, mistreated. 38The world wasn’t worthy of them as they wandered around in deserts and in the hills, in caves and holes in the ground. 39By faith all these won approval but didn’t receive what was promised. 40God provided something better for us in order to have them reach their goal with us.
In contrast to the preceding verses where victory abounds, here we see a more stark reality when being faithful to God. We are still dealing with the Old Testament saints in these verses. The author is likely thinking of Naboth, Zechariah, Isaiah, the prophets killed by Ahab, Elijah and Elisha. Perhaps he was even thinking of John the Baptist, the last prophet of the Old Testament. We read what they experienced with only the promises of the Old Covenant. They endured and died under these circumstances because they believed God was faithful and just.
Those who read this, you and I, should pay attention. These things may also happen to us. They most certainly did to the original audience of this letter. They were sold as slaves, mistreated, and thrown in prisons for their faith in Jesus. They were crucified, burned alive on crosses, and faced wild animals in areas for the people’s sport. Even today throughout the world this still happens to Christians. We should always be prepared for it. The world was not worthy of the Old Testament saints nor is it worthy of the New Testament saints although the world thinks they, the saints, are deserving of their worth and praise. The world does not realize the world continues to go and function for the sake of the saints. The world and its economy is sustained by the prayers of the saints praying, “Give us this day our daily bread.” While the world does not give its approval of them, they all won the approval of God by their faith in God’s promises although they died without having received what was promised, a city, a world, to call their own, and the Messiah.
God has provided something better for us in order to have them reach their goal with us. We have Jesus who is better. Jesus has given us a better covenant with better promises. In Jesus we have eternal life, the forgiveness of sins and the promise of the resurrection. In Jesus we have the adoption of sons by the Father through baptism. Through Jesus we have the assurance of the forgiveness of sins, a renewal of the heart, mind and soul and union with God in Christ through the LORD’s Supper. The saints of old only had the promise of a coming Messiah. We have the fulfillment of that promise in Jesus. Jesus is better than all the sacrifices, all the worship services, all the festivals of the Old Covenant. They were only a shadow of what was to come. Jesus is the reality of all those things. The Father has given us His Son, Jesus of Nazareth. Those who believed in the past of the promises of God now with us in Christ have the fulfillment of them.
Having something better than the Old Testament saints during their lives, we then, with Jesus may live even bolder, sanctified lives, giving witness to the world of the reality which is Jesus. We can hate, show disdain for the things the world values as a witness of our faith in the world to come with all of its riches which certainly surpass the riches of this world which are destroyed by fire on the day of judgment. We only have possession of worldly things as long as we live in this world. The riches of the age to come are eternal.
Heavenly Father, with the reality of Jesus and eternal fixture of the riches of age to come, help us to hate the things of this world and be faithful to Jesus always. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.