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37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. ~ Hebrews 11:37-40
Today, we complete our study of Hebrews 11 where we have been given a robust look at faith. The full gamut of faith has been covered. We have gone from weak faith to very strong faith. Today's passage reveals a very strong faith.
The greatest struggle of faith is to be preoccupied with our faith rather than our Savior. This is probably why God waits to bring His promises about, to demonstrate it was He that brought it about. As we have seen in this list of Old Testament believers, they didn't have it all together, but their difficulties led them to the God of the Bible who does have it all together. This is why the key to it all is the object of our faith.
In v.37 of today's passage we read, "They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated."
The Bible contains more information about Jeremiah's life and times than any other prophet. But with regards to how he died, the Scriptures leave no record. Church tradition suggests that Jeremiah was stoned to death in Egypt by Jews. Another example of someone who was stoned to death is Zechariah. According to 2 Chronicles 24, the officials of Judah did not like hearing the convicting words of Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, so they stoned him to death in the Temple.
And, then some "were sawed in two." The Old Testament prophet Isaiah prophesied to the people of Judah during the reigns of the kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. This great prophet was martyred by King Manasseh, son of Hezekiah. According to tradition, Isaiah was tied inside a sack, placed within the hollow of a tree trunk, and then sawed in two. This story traces back to a first-century, non-canonical book called the Ascension of Isaiah, which claims to tell the story of Isaiah’s death.
"Some were killed by the sword." Ken Wuest once wrote, "The Greek has it that they 'died by sword-slaughter,' indicating mass-slaughters. Examples of this abound in the Maccabean period." The most striking quality of faith is it dares. When God has spoken, faith ignores the contrary evidence even though it seems to be absolutely impossible. These endured on the basis of the future which was contrary to their present.
"They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated." All of these things would be somewhat familiar to the Jewish people who were hearing this being read to them. They knew the stories of these people that we don’t know because they’re not necessarily contained in the pages of Scripture, but likely much of it was passed down. These people of God were wanderers, vagabonds, just existing because they had been rejected by society. That was the price they paid for their faith in the faithfulness of God.
In v.38 of today's passage we read, "the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground."
The world thought these to be unworthy to live, but, the truth is the world was not worthy of them. All of these men and women of faith in the God of the Bible endured all of this because their hearts had been apprehended by the God of heaven. They, to varying degrees, saw the Lord with their hearts. These were convinced of God and heaven and they were convinced of His promise which included a better resurrection.
In v.39 of today's passage we read, "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised."
All that these believers had was their faith in the Lord. These gained approval through their faith, though they didn’t receive what was promised. The promise referred to here is the resurrection the Lord Jesus made available to all of His followers.
In v.40 of today's passage we read, "...since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."
The writer of Hebrews has sought to encourage these young Hebrew believers to keep on believing. He has exhorted them to faith by these Old Testament examples of faith. Just as they did not "cast away their confidence" in the face of difficulties, so neither should the readers. In these closing verses the writer tells them that the reason that God did not bring to pass all that He had promised in the Messiah was because to do so would have been to leave these contemporary believers out. And, I might add, it would have left you and me out, as well.
The word "perfect" at the end of this verse means "saved." It means access that is opened and granted to God. Full access to God which the old covenant couldn’t give. Access into the very presence of God both in time and eternity. These Old Testament believers lived by a faith in someone they couldn’t see. And, their faith was courageous because they counted on a salvation that would be provided in a way they could not see.
