Hebrews 10:35-39; 11:1 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.
The righteous shall live by faith; faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Any person desiring to see God must first see him through the eyes of faith. Without faith we are basically lost in our own senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. We are confined to the world as we know it, what we can experience as finite beings. This life of the senses is fixed and terminal, the life of faith is expanding and everlasting. If we limit our experiences to our earthly existence rather than moving into the faith realm, we will always be attached to and limited by this world, this reality. The above passage says, He who is coming will come and will not delay. Jesus will come someday, and whether we meet him together in the air or individually at our death, we will see him as He is. Until we meet him face to face, the just shall live by faith (KJV) in his domain, in his presence, according to God's plan. Such a faith allows us to commune with God and to hear his voice.
If we lack faith, we will lack the assurance of our salvation. Faith is being SURE of what we hope for and CERTAIN of what we do not see. This belief, this trust in God's Word, allows the Holy Spirit to work in our lives. When we are steadfast in our faith, God is with us in reality. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, we have his presence in us to guide us and his still small voice to comfort and to encourage us. As Spirit-led beings, we begin to have the mind of Christ in us, and we want to emulate his nature, his likeness. Before faith, we were captive to our own carnality, but by faith in God through Christ's work at the cross, the Spirit abides in us and communes with God. Our hope and faith in God are fulfilled by the Spirit in us. His reality becomes our reality as He teaches us God's ways, writing them on our hearts and putting them in our minds. Christianity is not a figment of our imagination; his presence is real if we live IN HIM.
The ancients were commended for their faith. Many of them saw God perform wonderful exploits and miracles; however, others lived difficult lives, lives of destitution, persecution, and mistreatment, yet they chose to remain faithful to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In Hebrews, chapter 11, we will see the latter saints presented as the quintessential examples of living by faith. These people of whom the world was not worthy chose to believe in God and to trust in his eternal reality rather than trusting in themselves and the world they experienced through their senses. The first group knew God's direct intervention through miracles of deliverance from their problems; the second group did not. Definitely, both groups lived by faith; both groups were SURE of God's existence and were CERTAIN they would see him someday. Their faith propelled them to another world where God exists as they longed for a better place, a heavenly city. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39-40)
We who walk in the grace of the new covenant stand on the shoulders of the Old Testament believers, and we also must live by faith. I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. (John 5:24) Similarly, Romans 5:1 states, Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into his grace. If we desire to see God, if we desire to live with him, we must live by faith. To those who believe in his name, he has given the right to be children of God. (John 1:12) We might not see all the miracles we want in our lives; we might struggle with the unfairness of life; but if we stand in faith, we will see God and live forever with him in our eternal home. This kind of steadfast faith brings God to us in our innermost beings through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit tunes our ears toward God's voice, on his wave link, telling us who we are in this universe. As faith brings us into our "born again" life, the former things become a wisp of smoke. Faith assures us that Christ in us is our hope of glory, and we rejoice in knowing, worshipping, and serving him. Amen!
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