Our Topsy-Turvy World

Our Topsy-Turvy World The author of Hebrews continues, citing one example of faith after another: By faith [Moses] left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. (Heb. 11:27–38) 

      We live in a topsy-turvy world where beggars ride on horses and princes walk in rags. The people named in Hebrews 11 were those of whom the world was not worthy—the ones who were sawn in two, stoned, afflicted, and tormented, and lived in deserts, mountains, and caves. On top of all that, they did not experience the fulfillment of God’s promise in their lives: “And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (Heb. 11:39–40). The author is saying that these saints had to wait for us. Just imagine if God had finished the consummation of His work of redemption fifty years ago, thirty years ago, or ten years ago. How many of us would have missed the kingdom? But for our sake our fathers endured these indescribable horrors—and that’s something that we need to revisit regularly. We have cut ourselves off from the history of the church, from biblical history, and we take very lightly the things that the fathers of our faith paid for with their lives, property, and health. When I think of the price that was paid for the recovery of the gospel from darkness in the sixteenth century, and then think of the cavalier way with which these same issues are regarded at the beginning of the twenty-first century, I simply do not understand it. Either we do not grasp the sweetness of the gospel or we know nothing about the history of God’s people. There’s a real sense in which the blood of our fathers screams at us from the ground today because we are not willing to make the same sacrifices that they made for us, and God will not honor a church composed of cowards. If the church is ever to be the church triumphant, she must first be the church militant. She must be willing to enter into a spiritual war, one that could cost us our very lives. However, if we look at church history, we can see that the gospel radiated with its greatest clarity and brightness in those eras when the proponents of the faith spent most of their time in prison. But we enjoy the comforts of this world so much that we would rather have them than to live like those who were pilgrims and sojourners on the earth. There’s a conclusion to this roll call of faith in Hebrews 11, but it comes at the beginning of chapter 12. I always wonder how a chapter can start with the word therefore, because this word indicates the conclusion of what has come before it, but that is what happens in Hebrews 12. Here is the conclusion for our benefit: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:1–2a). Isn’t it interesting that after looking at all of these earthly heroes and heroines, the author of Hebrews says at the end, “Let’s really look to the one who is the founder and perfecter of our faith, ‘who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God’ (Heb. 12:2b)”? In the next chapter, we’ll consider what it means for Jesus to be the founder and perfecter of our faith. 

R. C. Sproul, What Is Faith?, vol. 8, The Crucial Questions Series (Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2010). 

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 5:14 AM September 18, 2023.

I think you will like Logos! Get $100 off a Logos 10 base package (first-time base package purchasers only) from my link: https://logos.refr.cc/ricklivermore?t=em Furnished by Rick Livermore Webmaster220 San Juan Capistrano California –  https://rick-livermore-on-blogger.blogspot.com/