Verse 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
This chapter starts with the Apostle Paul stating “now faith”. The reading of these two words can be two different ways. It is usually read to mean, “But faith is…” or “Moreover faith Is. . .”. However, since the translators of the KJB did not put a comma after “now” so that it would read, “Now, faith is the. . .”, this writer believes that the word “now” is an adjective describing the kind of faith being written about. The faith is for right now. So to paraphrase the sentence, “Faith that is now is the substance”. The kind of faith that is a substance that the Apostle Paul is writing about is faith that is now and is being exercised by believers.
The Greek word translated as “substance” is “hupostasis” and it means that which has foundation, is firm, that which has actual existence, real being, a substructure, or a foundation. So faith, which is a conviction of the truth of anything, is not a feeling or a mental idea or thought. It is a real thing that has substance and that is the foundation of the Christian believer’s hope. Without faith, it is impossible to accept that there is a God who exists and is the creator and ruler of all things in this world. Faith is also the evidence of those things that are not seen with the eyes or which are invisible. How does that work? God gives Christian believers the faith to believe the Gospel and to then give their hearts and lives to Him. The very fact that Christians are followers of Jesus Christ is proof that faith is real and substantive. Why would anyone believe in a being that claims to be both man and God and who cannot be seen or touched if there was not some sort of power convincing people that Jesus is real and is alive and is going to provide eternal life in Heaven. No one has faith on their own. It comes from God. The Apostle Paul shows the reality and power of faith in this chapter of his epistle to the Hebrew Christians by writing about various Old Testament people they would have been familiar with who had faith in God and who succeeded where others not trusting in the LORD would not have succeeded.
Application: How does one get faith? It is not attainable by just working at believing in something that is not seen or felt. It is a gift from God. “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Verse 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
The elders referred to here could have been the leaders of the Old Testament Church or those men who were used by God to further His kingdom down through the centuries. Most likely it is referring to those who the Apostle Paul wrote about in the following verses. But to have a good report is to be pleasing to the LORD. Elders in Scripture is not referring to a position or title of a position in a church, but to men who are older and wiser and more experienced.
Verse 3 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.
Since no man or woman was alive when God created the worlds (plural) and so no man or woman can claim to know how everything above, on, in, and under the Earth came to be, those to whom the LORD has given faith understand that God created it all. This belief is not fleeting but is strong and permanent. For the Christian believer, there is no doubt that God spoke everything into existence from nothing because He called forth all the elements that make up all that can be experienced by the physical senses and all that cannot be experienced by the physical senses.
Application: The Apostle Paul uses the plural of the word “world”. The Greek word translated as “worlds” is “aion” and it is used 38 times in Scripture as “world” and 71 times as “ever”. It can mean for ever, an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity, the universe, a period of time, or age. In the context of the verse about, it means the heavens and the Earth as it involves things that were made and which can be seen. “…for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, and he hath set the world upon them.” 1 Samuel 2:8 “And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.” Psalm 9:8 “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” Psalm 90:2 This writer believes that the Apostle Paul was referring to the world before the flood and the world after the flood because the Apostle Peter also writes in 2 Peter 2:5, “And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.” and then writes “Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water perished:” as recorded in 2 Peter 3:6. So the world after the flood was not the same as the world before the flood and would thereby explain why both the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter referred to more than one world.
Verse 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
The story of Cain and Abel can be found in Genesis chapter four. Cain’s offering of agricultural products was not accepted whereas Abel’s offering of an animal from his flock was accepted by God. It was not the offering that was the issue, but the condition of the heart. Abel had faith in God and because of his faith his offering pleased God and was accepted. Abel was a righteous man because of his faith in God and his heart was right towards God. Cain apparently did not have faith in God and was not a righteous man, his heart not being right towards God. Therefore his offering was not accepted.
Application: The historical story of the conflict between Cain and Abel, the first children born to the first people to live on the Earth, is also the story of the conflict between the servants of Satan and the servants of Jesus Christ that has been going on since the beginning of time and especially since the earthly ministry of Jesus and the establishment of His Church. Today the conflict is still between the unrighteous and the righteous, between the unsaved and the saved, between the pagans and the Christians. This conflict will only cease when time is no more and the King of kings comes to judge the world in righteousness.
Application: Does blood have a voice? The Apostle Paul says it does as he wrote that Abel, who has been physically dead for thousands of years because his blood was shed by his brother Cain, still speaks. “And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? and he said, I know not: am I my brother’s keeper? And he said, what hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.” Genesis 4:9-10 God also said, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” Leviticus 17:11 So blood has a voice that the LORD God can hear. Every animal and every man or woman who has had their blood shed down through the centuries has cried out to the LORD through their shed blood. No wonder then that the LORD will burn up the Earth and all the soil saturated with the blood of the innocent. And Abel still speaks from the grave as he is a type and shadow of Jesus Christ who was righteous and yet had His blood shed by the unrighteous. Like Abel, He had done no wrong and was pleasing to the LORD. Like Abel, unrighteous men slew Him, and like the innocent animals killed by the hundred of thousands under the religious sacrificial rituals of the Jews, His blood was shed for the souls of mankind.
Verses 5-6 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
The historical story of Enoch is found in Genesis chapter five. The Greek word translated as “translated” is “metatithemi” and it means to transpose two things, one of which is put in place of the other, to transfer, to change, or to go or pass over. So the man Enoch did not die but was taken by God from the Earth and changed from mortality to immortality. He just disappeared one day. Why? Because he had faith and he pleased God because of that faith. Enoch had enough faith to see past his present time and into the future and prophesy as recorded in the book of Jude. “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him” Jude verses 14 and 15
Application: In order to find God, one has to have faith, and that faith comes from God and is a gift to those who are called and chosen. But one has to exercise that faith in order to believe that Jesus Christ is God very God and that He died to save people from sin, death, and Hell. If one rejects the calling of God and chooses to ignore the prompting of the Holy Ghost, then conversion will not happen. God has given everyone free will, so He chooses people, but they have to respond with enough faith to believe in Him and to be willing to forsake sin and repent and follow after Him. He is faithful and will reward those who sincerely want to know Him and love Him. The key word in verse six above is “diligently”. A half hearted effort is not enough. Daily conversation with the LORD, daily Bible study, and daily prayer is the only way to be diligent in having a relationship with the Creator of this world. It is no different to the relationships one has with a spouse and/or children. It takes daily communication to maintain and nurture a marriage and to train up children in the way they should go. It takes diligence which means careful and persistent work or effort. Think about it.
Verse 7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
The story of Noah can be found in Genesis chapters five through nine. Noah and all the people living on the Earth had never seen rain. The Earth was watered by a system of evaporation and condensation as there was a canopy of water covering the Earth and so it was like an enclosed greenhouse or a terrarium. This canopy was opened and all the water stored in the Heavens was released in the form of rain and flooded the Earth. But Noah was told by God that there would be a flood and he was given instructions to build an ark and prepare for this unseen event, a task that took him approximately 120 years to complete. He worked every day by faith in a coming event that he could not understand and had never seen. Why? Because he believed God. Because of his faith and the resultant obedience to the commandments of the LORD, he and his family and all the critters were saved from drowning. He inherited the promise of salvation from the coming flood, and the promise of eternal life in Heaven because he obeyed God and was righteous and in right standing with God. In contrast, the world and everyone in it was condemned and perished both physically and spiritually.
Application: Noah, because of his faith and his obedience to the LORD regardless of whether what God told him to do made sense to him, survived the world wide flood and saved his entire family. His faith condemned the entire world. Other people could have gone into the ark with him if they had only believed what he told them about the building of the ark and the coming flood. But they had no faith. They could not believe in that which they could not see or which they had never experienced. So the world was condemned and destroyed because of Noah’s righteousness and faith. Christian believers, because of their faith in a God that is not seen, also condemn those who do not believe and who have no faith. That is the reason that Christian believers are often not liked, accepted, or included in the activities of the unsaved. Jesus Christ was rejected by the majority of people He interacted with during His earthly ministry and so Christians who are being like Christ should not be surprised if they are rejected by the unsaved. When a Christian walks into a room of unsaved people with the presence of the Holy Ghost/Spirit, the unsaved are being condemned for their unrighteousness and their faithless lives.
Verse 8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
The story of the patriarch, Abraham, is found in the book of Genesis. He was a Syrian by birth and was told to leave his family and the only home he had known to travel through a land that was foreign to him. He had no idea where he was going. God basically told him that he and his descendants would inherit the geographical land upon which he trod, but he did not know the destination and simply headed out to be obedient to the LORD. He acquired wealth along the way and became a very large farmer/rancher and had servants to help with the day to day work. Everything he did was through faith in the word of God.
Application: The descendants of Abraham were initially Syrian, but ended up a mixed race as various other nationalities married into the family as it grew over the years. They were known as Hebrews, not as Jews. The title, Jew, came into existence after the nation Israel split into two kingdoms, Israel to the north and Judah to the south. The people of Judah became known as Jews. The descendants of Esau, Edomites or Idumaeans, became numerous among the descendants of Judah as their land was in the southern part of Palestine and they eventually dominated this race of people. The true Israelites from the ten norther tribes, particularly the descendants of Abraham’s son Joseph, went into captivity in Assyria and dispersed throughout the world. The descendants of Esau included the Herods. Prophecy was fulfilled in that Esau eventually had victory over his brother, Jacob, who had stolen his blessing from their father, Isaac. The Jews today primarily herald from Idumaeans and from Khazarians and not from the genetic line of Abraham. They are the Ashkenazi Jews of today.
Application: Christian believers are spiritually much like Abraham as they are called out from the world and by faith they travel through this life waiting to get to a place of inheritance that they have neither seen nor experienced. Heaven is promised but it is through faith that it will be realized.
Verses 9-10 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Abraham never had a house, but lived in tents which could be easily moved to new grazing land when necessary. He and his family were nomadic. The word, “tabernacle”, literally means the dwelling place of God. The original place of worship as established by Moses in the wilderness was a tent or tabernacle. Much later King Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem and the original tabernacle was abandoned. So Abraham wondered with his family, servants, and flocks and never found a permanent dwelling place in or near a physical city. He found one when he physically died and went to be with the LORD. How do we know that? Because Jesus stated while speaking to the Sadducees, “But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Matthew 22:31-32 So they all were heirs of the promise of a physical land which was realized by their descendants, and the promise of a spiritual land in Heaven where the city was not made by man but by the very hand of God.
Application: All Christian believers have only sojourned on this Earth because their real land or home is in Heaven. We are all just passing through and today it truly is a strange country in which we live. Nothing makes sense and the people who are running the governments of this world are doing so at the behest of their father, the Devil, who is the god of this world. Our tabernacle or physical body is the dwelling place of the Holy Ghost/Spirit who is God, and our city or place of citizenship is Heavenly Jerusalem. As such, we must never become too attached to the things of this world as we are joint heirs with Christ and our reward is waiting for us in Heaven. Instead we should be looking for the return of Christ Jesus to this Earth and looking forward to taking our place with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Heaven where we will forever be with the LORD.
Verses 11-12 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
When Sara was told by the angel that she would have a pregnancy at the age of ninety, her initial response was to laugh. She was not doubting the Word of the LORD, but she was simply finding the idea funny, as would any elderly woman who had gone through menopause and was way past childbearing age. But she did not doubt. How do we know this? Because Scripture does not say she doubted and because she was a woman of faith. The Apostle Paul would not have included her in this chapter of faith if she had doubted. She had been asking for a son all her married life and the angel came and promised her a son. Her prayers were to be answered, not according to her timetable, but according to God’s. She was instructed to call her son, Isaac, which means “laughter”. See Genesis chapter 17 for the historical account of Sara.
Application: As a result of Sara’s faith and God’s faithfulness, Sara bore Isaac and it was his descendants that are described in verse 12 above as being like the stars of the sky in multitude and like the sand on the sea shore. Why were they innumerable? Because only God knows who are truly His children and who are pretenders. No Christian can really know the heart of another man or woman. Only God knows who are His and so only He knows how many people down through the centuries converted and followed after Him in righteousness. Furthermore, the analogy to stars and sand is metaphor in nature as the sand represents believers living in the physical world and the stars represent believers that have shed their physical bodies and are now living in the spiritual world in the Kingdom of God.
Verse 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Verses 14-16 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
Verses 17-19 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Verse 20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
Verses 21-22 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.
Verse 23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
Verses 24-26 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
Verses 27-28 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
Verse 29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
Verse 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.
The walls of Jericho were so wide that chariots could be driven around the city on the walls. Archeologist have reported that the walls (plural) were double, the lower wall built on an embankment on top of a retaining wall that was twelve to fifteen feet high. Then the embankment continued upwards to the second wall that was over twenty feet high. So the combined height of the walls was somewhere around thirty two to forty feet high when standing at the bottom of the earthen embankment. When the walls fell down, they fell outwards so the Hebrew military could simply walk into the city and conquer it. This in itself was a miracle as usually when a wall was breached by an army, the stones would be broken inwards and not outwards towards the attacking army. The number seven in Scripture is the number of perfection. The Hebrews were commanded to march around the city that final day seven times. Why? Because the perfect God was going to perform a perfect miracle and bring victory to the children of Israel that day. And for that miracle to happen, the Hebrews had to obey perfectly the commandment of the LORD. See Joshua chapters five and six for the complete story.
31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.
32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11)