Saturday, July 22, 2006
Hebrews 11:2-3 For by it [faith] the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
THE UNDERSTANDING OF FAITH
Verse two literally reads: "For the elders obtained witness." This refers to the Old Testament patriarchs who received the promise of the Savior long before He came in the flesh. In effect the text says that Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and others were witnesses of the Savior. How could this be, since they lived thousands of years before the coming of Christ? It was possible through faith. Their believing included knowing that Christ would come and redeem the world from sin. By faith God had given those Old Testament fathers the ability to see things that others could not see.
We, likewise, are witnesses of Christ, even though He has not lived on earth for some 2,000 years, and we certainly never saw Him while He was here. But we are witnesses through the eyes of faith. We are able to see clearly what is true concerning our Savior and His free gift of salvation and what the future holds for us as we read the Word of God in faith. And it is not just a dream. It is not something we only wish could be true. We can see what the natural eye cannot see.
Further, as our text reads, faith is the understanding of what is already true. The writer of Hebrews here uses one in a series of illustrations -- the creation of the world. Notice, he does not say that we only believe, but we actually understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God. What is true, and what actually happened at the very beginning of time is comprehended by faith.
In reference to the creation of the universe we read: "So that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." The natural eye is deluded concerning the truth of creation. The world and all things in it could not have come out of nothing, some say, but came through a process of evolution, coming out of something that existed before, and that just happened to come into being. But our God tells us this is a delusion. It may appear to the natural eye that something like that had to happen, but faith understands that everything was created when God spoke. This is not speculation. It is truth, but seen only through the eye of faith.
Now, these facts do not come to us out of the blue. They come to us through the Word of God. The Holy Spirit works through the Word of the Gospel to create faith in our hearts. Then, through faith, we discern these truths. We are able to see them as truth and make them our own.
May the God of all truth keep us in the true faith forever, making us realize that what we believe is more than simple conjecture. It is absolute, divine truth, which is able to give us and the whole world salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.
