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1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for. ~ Hebrews 11:1-2
In Hebrews 1-10, the writer has labored to prove that the New Covenant ratified in the blood of God is in every way superior to the Old Covenant. Four times to this point in the book of Hebrews, the writer has warned these young Hebrew believers not to go back to the religion that had been twisted by man into a works system. The problem with Judaism developed over time because the Jews had added all kinds of human rules to it resulting in a legalistic religion. It had lost the purity and vulnerability of faith in the God of the Bible, and, it became a system of ethics which taught salvation by works.
In v.1-2 of today's passage we read, "1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for."
Faith is "confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." This sentence includes two aspects of faith that are indivisible. The word "faith" means belief, trust, or confidence. It is the substance of "what we hope for." That which we believe in is what we hope for and our faith gives it a present substance. And, when we live by faith, we will be looked upon by others as different because of God's definition of things. Henry David Thoreau, once said, "If I seem to walk out of step with others, it is because I am listening to another drum beat."
In Old Testament days there were many who had nothing but the promises of God to rest upon. God had told them there was coming a Messiah. They knew there was coming One who would finally take away sin. Many of those Old Testament believers believed this promise but they never saw it come to pass here on earth. Yet, they hoped for it. And, that is what faith is, it is living in a hope that is so real it gives substance to the hope in the present. Faith is not positive thinking nor is it a hunch to be followed. Faith is not hoping for the best, hoping that everything will turn out all right in the end. Faith is not even a feeling of optimism.
Faith commences with "what we hope for." It starts with a sense of discontent. We can never have much faith unless we are dissatisfied with the way we are now, and are longing for something better. If we do not feel dissatisfied with the way we are, it will be impossible for us to exercise much faith in God. This is why, all through the Bible, the great enemy of faith is complacency.
The promises that came to the Old Testament people were so real that even though they never saw them, they based their lives on them, sight unseen. Our faith is only as good as its object. All of the Old Testament promises related to the future, but the people acted as if they were in the present. They simply took God at His word and lived on the basis of His promises. They had reason to due to His track record. They had seen His promises come to fruition. They were people of faith, and faith gave substance to what was yet in their future.
So, faith in the God of the Bible is not sort of a wishful, longing, that something’s going to come to fruition. Faith is an absolute, utter certainty, and, it defies everything that is normal. Biblical hope is the belief and trust in the God of the Bible whose ways are contrary to this world's normal way of thinking. I must admit it is different to follow the culture of this God I’ve never seen with my eyes or heard with my ears. But, this is the nature of faith, to believe before we see.
Faith is rejecting our senses for the sake of our hope, it is our souls being informed by His Spirit through our spirits. This is hard to understand until we have had the experience of Nicodemus. This world says believe in that which we can taste and touch and smell, and experience empirically. God says the opposite. He says don’t believe your senses, believe in the One whom you primarily see with your heart.
Now, the word "confidence" only appears two other times in Hebrews. It is a satisfying conviction. This word is used in Hebrews 1:3, to speak of Christ as the very essence of the Father. It is also used in Hebrews 3:14 where it speaks of a guarantee of assurance. Faith, then, provides the firm ground on which we stand, waiting for the assurance of the fulfillment of God’s promises. Our faith is best bolstered by the many promises that God has given and has already fulfilled. Some say faith is believing without evidence. This is wrong due to the many promises God has given throughout history to His people. And, He, the God of the Bible, has quite an inspiring track record. If you doubt this postulate, let me encourage you to read the Bible from beginning to end. As you read it, you will discover some 7,147 promises given by God. And, most of them have been realized.
Faith believes God and banks on Him. This promised assurance has essence and reality. In Romans 8:24 we read, "For we are saved by hope." Our salvation is real right now because we believe God's promises to be true in the future. We continue to read in Romans 8:24, "But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?" And since, we really believe that the future that God has promised is for real, then we wait patiently for it. This is faith in a future reality, and it gives to its reality a present substance.
Faith is "assurance in what we do not see." The word "assurance" means the conviction that the unseen exists. Assurance is banking our lives on our hope in the promises of the God of the Bible. When Thomas saw the Lord Jesus, the Lord said, "Thomas, you have seen, and you have believed; blessed is he that has not seen and yet believes." Biblical faith in the God of the Bible actualizes the truth for the future and commits to that actualization. Again, the value of faith is measured best by the object of that faith.
Everybody operates on the principle of faith. The difference is the object of our faith. Thomas Aquinas once said, "To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible."
The ability to perceive God is a spiritual kind of faith. Biblical faith is a supernatural gift from God. In fact, biblical faith, according to Romans 10:17, comes by hearing by the spoken word of Jesus Christ. If a person hears with a willing heart prepared by the Holy Spirit, God grants him the faith to respond. I close with a pertinent quote from Augustine who once said, "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe."
