Chapter 32 - The Courage of Faith (11:30-40)

32 The Courage of Faith (11:30-40)

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.

And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect. (11:30-40)

Faith is trusting completely in God’s Word. It is unconditional confidence in what He says, strictly on the basis that He has said it. The fact is that we either trust what God says or we are left to trust our own intellect, instincts, and attitudes. These are our only two options. Our own way is the way of unbelief; God’s way is the way of faith.

The faith illustrated in Hebrews 11 is that which takes the bare word of God and acts on it, risking all. It is faith that does not question or ask for signs or miraculous direction. Looking for signs and wonders and explanations that we can understand or glory in is not faith. It is doubt looking around for proofs. Anything that demands more than God’s Word is doubt, not faith. God sometimes gives explanations and reasons for His Word, but He is not obligated to give them, and faith does not require them. As Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:29). Faith is therefore opposite from human nature, opposite from the world system. It often requires accepting from God that for which we can see no logic or reason.

For a Jew to become a Christian in the first century was nearly always costly. It often cost him his friends, family, synagogue privileges, job, social status, and community respect. It also cost the ceremonies, rituals, and traditions which Jews held so dear—including some that had been instituted by God for a certain time. The Jews receiving this epistle were tempted to try to keep a foot in both worlds, to accept Christianity while holding onto as much of Judaism as possible. Some were trying to take the voyage of the New Covenant while keeping their boats securely tied to the dock of the Old.

Such reluctant Jews are being shown in this chapter that God’s faithful followers in the Old Testament were not like them. When those Old Testament faithful decided for God, it was everything for Him, because they had the right view of who God is. Right faith is based on right theology. Faith believes and obeys God because faith knows that God cannot lie, cannot make a mistake, cannot do wrong, cannot be defeated, cannot be surpassed. A God like this can be trusted. In fact, with a God like this, it does not make sense to do anything else but trust and obey Him. Unbelief, of course, is blind to this sort of God and therefore sees trust and obedience as foolish. It walks by sight.

Faith, then, is based on a person’s attitude toward God. As J.B. Phillips observes in his book, Your God is Too Small, if we have a tiny god, we should not trust him. Only the true God, the great sovereign, loving, faithful, omniscient, omnipotent, and holy God of Scripture, deserves trust. It is because the heroes of Hebrews 11 knew this God that they trusted Him so completely.

Perhaps the supreme mark of true faith is courage. It is not so hard to believe and follow God when things are going well, when most of the people around us are believers, and when our faith costs little. Faith is proved when it faces disaster, trial, persecution, and ridicule—and still stands unwavering. Faith is the source of courage. We do not have great faith by having great courage, we have great courage when we have great faith. Certainly Moses demonstrated this courage in facing Pharaoh. But the writer chooses other models of the courage of faith.

Hebrews 11:30-40 shows us three ways in which courage demonstrates faith: it conquers in struggle, continues in suffering, and counts on salvation.

CONQUERING IN STRUGGLE

Life is always a struggle for the believer. God’s way is not the world’s way, and as long as the believer is in the world he will have to struggle in that conflict. The only effective weapon he has in this struggle is faith. It is because of faith that many of our struggles come, and it is only by faith that our struggles can be faced and conquered.

JOSHUA AND THE ISRAELITES AT JERICHO

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days. (11:30)

The walls of Jericho were massive structures. Some city walls of this period were wide enough at the top to drive two chariots on side-by-side. Jericho was a frontier fortress city, located strategically near the mouth of the Jordan River, and its walls were designed to protect it from the strongest enemy attack. By the standards of that day, it was virtually impregnable.

Forty years had passed since Israel had crossed the Red Sea by faith (v. 29), and that was the last faithful act of any consequence that they had collectively exhibited. The trip through the wilderness of Sinai that should have required much less than forty weeks took forty years, because God judged the sin of the older generation by forcing them to die out. Their gross unbelief, manifested in their grumbling discontent and idolatry, made them unworthy of entering the Promised Land. Nothing in that forty years was worth mentioning in a chapter on faith. Only as Israel came to Jericho did she show faith again.

Jericho was the first obstacle in Canaan, and from the human perspective seemed an impossible obstacle to the ragtag multitude of ex-slaves who had been wandering in circles in the wilderness for so many years. Its location was strategic, its walls were high and thick, and its soldiers were well-trained and well-armed.

The negative report of the ten spies who had helped scout out the land was not inaccurate. It was somewhat exaggerated, but was basically correct: “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven” (Deut. 1:28). Moses rebuked them not because the report was erroneous but because of the unbelieving and fearful way in which it was given and received. “Do not be shocked, nor fear them. The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes” (vv. 29-30). The real obstacle was not Canaan but unbelief. The only difficulty for God was getting His own people to go with Him.

God would later use the army of Israel to conquer the land, but His plan for Jericho was for the people to do nothing more than a few symbolic acts—to show them, as well as the Canaanites, how powerful He is. All the Israelites had to do was march around the city once a day for six days, with seven priests in front carrying rams’ horns before the ark. The seventh day they were to march around seven times, with the priests blowing their horns. When the priests finally made one loud blast, all the people were to shout, and then “the wall of the city will fall down flat” (Josh. 6:3-5). The people obeyed in faith, and the walls fell as predicted.

Militarily, the seven days of marching demanded nothing. But psychologically they demanded a great amount of courage. The scheme must have been embarrassing to Israel. This is not the way cities are conquered. The entire effort appeared utterly preposterous to the inhabitants of Jericho, and probably even to many of the Israelites. It is often easier to fight than to have faith. If we fight, we will at least have a certain respect from the world, even if we lose. But faith always looks foolish in the eyes of the world.

One of the most amazing things about Joshua 6 is that not a single word of doubt or complaint is recorded. The Israelites believed Joshua’s report from the Lord, and they immediately began to prepare for the marching (v. 8). For a full week they carefully and faithfully marched. It was a milestone of faith in the life of Israel.

God delights in slaying men’s pride. He slew the pride of the city of Jericho by making its city walls collapse in the most foolish possible way, just as some years later He would send a little boy to kill the giant Goliath and send the Philistines running. In the defeat of Jericho, He also demolished any pride the Israelites might have had. It was obvious that their part was purely symbolic. They could take absolutely no credit for themselves. All God wanted from them was faith, and this they gave, for by faith the walls of Jericho fell down.

Someone has said there are four types of faith. There is faith that receives, as when we come empty-handed to Christ for salvation. There is faith that reckons, that counts on God to undertake for us. There is faith that risks, that moves out in God’s power, daring to do the impossible. And there is faith that rests—the kind that, in the middle of pain and suffering and rejection, sits back in confidence that God will deliver.

In the fall of Jericho we see the faith that risks. The people of Israel were willing to do everything and to risk everything, because they believed God. In exact compliance with God’s instruction, they marched, blew the horns, and shouted. They did not add anything or leave anything out. They simply obeyed.

The great missionary Robert Moffatt worked for years in Bechuanaland in South Africa without seeing a single convert. When some friends in England wrote asking what they might send him as a present, he requested a communion set. Since there were no other believers there, they were surprised, but complied with his wishes. When the set arrived several months later, more than a dozen natives had been won to Christ and were served their first Lord’s Supper. Such is the beauty and courage of faith.

Whether the obstacle is direct opposition, apathy, ridicule, or whatever, every Christian runs into his Jerichos and his Bechuanalands. If we trust the Lord, and demonstrate our trust by courageously continuing to do what the Lord has called us to do, in God’s time the obstacle will fall.

RAHAB

By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace. (11:31)

Rahab was an unlikely candidate for the faithfuls’ hall of fame. For one thing, she was a prostitute. For another, she was a Gentile, and a Canaanite at that. She was, in fact, an Amorite, a race that God had long before marked for destruction (Gen, 15:16). Yet that is how God’s grace works. His mercy is open to all who will receive it, and His grace has always been wider than Israel, even in Old Testament times.

Rahab had no more light than any other inhabitant of Jericho; yet she believed, while the others disbelieved. They were more than simply unbelieving, they were disobedient. The implication is that they not only knew that the true God was with Israel but that He had also called them (that is, the Jerichoites) in some way. Yet they rejected God’s word. They had wanted to kill the Israelite spies, but Rahab had welcomed the spies in peace. They were prepared to fight Israel when she attacked the city, but Rahab again welcomed God’s people. For her faith, she and her family were spared. For their disbelief, all the others in the city were destroyed.

The destruction of the Canaanites was as great a social as it was a spiritual gain to the welfare of humanity. They were a debauched, idolatrous, and wicked people. They were noted for their grossly immoral and perverted sexual practices as well as for their general cruelty. Among other things, they frequently put live babies in jars and built them into their city walls as foundation sacrifices. They were begging for judgment.

In the midst of this pagan unbelief, Rahab believed, and confessed, “The LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath” (Josh. 2:11). And in the midst of barbaric cruelty, she was kind and welcomed the spies in peace. She staked her life on the fact that God had said He would save and protect His people, Israel, and she wanted to be on His side. She had faith’s courage.

For her faithful courage Rahab not only was spared but was honored. She became the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth, the great-great-grandmother of David, and she thereby came to be an ancestor of Jesus (Matt. 1:5).

MANY OTHERS

The six men named, who are not listed in chronological order, were all rulers of one kind or another. Several are outstanding Bible characters, while the others are less known. Samuel was both a judge and a prophet, and David was a king and a prophet. But none of the men is praised for his office. All are praised for what they accomplished by faith.

Gideon, a judge and military leader, had assembled 32,000 men to fight the Midianites and the Amalekites. To keep Israel from thinking the coming victory was by her own power, God cut her forces down to 10,000 and then to a mere 300. These 300 were separated out solely on the basis of how they drank water from a spring. The enemy, by contrast, were “as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore” (Judg. 7:12). Yet Gideon’s men were outfitted only with trumpets and with pitchers with torches inside. With even fewer men and less effort than used to defeat Jericho, the entire heathen enemy army was routed (7:16-22). Only a fool would have attempted such a courageous approach to battle apart from God’s direction and power. From the perspective of faith, only a fool would not attempt such a thing when he has God’s direction and power.

Barak is unknown in Scripture outside the brief account in Judges 4-5 and the mention of his name in Hebrews 12:32. We are told nothing of his background or training. Through Deborah, the judge, God promised that Israel would be delivered from Jabin, the Canaanite king, whose great commander, Sisera, had a large, powerful army that boasted 900 iron chariots. According to the Lord’s instruction, Deborah asked Barak to assemble an Israelite force of only 10,000 men, taken from two tribes, Naphtali and Zebulun. The rest of the tribes were not asked to participate, apparently to show Israel, and the Canaanites, that God could be victorious with only a token army from a small part of Israel. Barak assembled his men on Mt. Tabor and charged Sisera as he had been commanded by God. “And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak” (Judg. 4:15). Barak and his men were involved, and probably fought valiantly, but the success of the campaign was the Lord’s. Without His help, Israel would easily have been slaughtered. Barak was told in advance that the glory of victory would not be his. Not only did the Lord fight the battle for His people, but he allowed a woman to kill Sisera, so that Barak would have even less cause for claiming credit for himself (4:9).

Barak believed God’s promise of victory and was not the least concerned that a woman would get credit for slaying Sisera. In fact he insisted that Deborah, a woman judge, go to battle with him (v. 8). He wanted her spiritual, not her military, help. She was the Lord’s special representative in those days, and Barak wanted the Lord’s person with him. The fact that he wanted her along was another indication of his trust in the Lord. As God’s prophetess, she was of greater value to him than his 10,000 men. Barak was not concerned about Sisera’s power, because he had God’s power. By such courageous faith he conquered kingdoms.

Samson is not most remembered for his faith, but for his physical strength and personal gullibility. In many ways he was immature and self-centered, unable to cope with the miraculous power God had given him. Yet he was a man of faith. He never doubted that God was the source of his power, of which his hair was only a symbol.

Samson was a judge of Israel and was given the special task of opposing the Philistines, who then ruled over Israel. Samson’s own motives for fighting the Philistines were often mixed, but he knew he was doing the Lord’s will in the Lord’s power. From his early manhood the Spirit of the Lord had been with him, and we are told specifically that it was the Spirit that strengthened him in his amazing one-man battles (Judg. 13:25; 14:19; 15:14; 16:28).

Samson knew that God had called him and that God had empowered him to “begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines,” just as He had told Samson’s mother before her son was even conceived (13:5). God had promised him power and Samson trusted God for that power. He faced the Philistines not in the courage of physical prowess but in the courage of faith.

We are inclined to judge Samson by his weaknesses. But God commends him for his faith.

Jephthah preceded Samson as judge of Israel, and his responsibility was to subdue the Ammonites, one of Israel’s many enemies. Despite his foolish vow (Judg. 11:30-31), Jephthah’s trust was in the Lord, and his power was from the Lord (vv. 29, 32). Even people of faith make mistakes, and God honored Jephthah for his faith.

David stands out as one of the obviously great men of the Old Testament. His trust in the Lord began when he was a boy, tending sheep, killing lions and bears, and taking on Goliath with a slingshot. David faced Goliath in utter confidence that the Lord would give him power to defeat this giant. While the rest of Israel, including the king and David’s own brothers, were cowering in fear, David calmly walked up to Goliath and announced, “This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you” (1 Sam. 17:46). It seems never to have occurred to David not to trust the Lord.

Like the other heroes of faith, David was not perfect, but God called him “a man after My heart, who will do all My will” (Acts 13:22). He pleased God because of the courage of his faith to trust Him and do His will.

Samuel is added to this list of warriors, though he was not a warrior. But he fought a battle equal to any that soldiers face. His great foes were idolatry and immorality. He had to stand up in the middle of a polluted society and fearlessly speak God’s truth. His severest opponents frequently were not the Philistines, the Amorites, or Ammonites—but his own people. It often takes more courage to stand up against our friends than against our enemies. Social pressure can be more frightening than military power. This prophet of God, who was also Israel’s last judge, began “ministering before the LORD, as a boy wearing a linen ephod” (1 Sam. 2:18) and continued faithful to God throughout his life. In the courage of faith, he ruled and prophesied.

The prophets are unnamed except for Samuel. As the writer mentions in the opening of verse 32, he does not have time to go into detail about the many other faithful people of the Old Covenant, or even to mention them all by name. These prophets, just as Gideon, Barak, and the others, risked everything for the Lord. They cheerfully, courageously, and confidently accepted God’s commands and faced whatever opposition came along. They did not fight on battlefields, but they had many victories in the Lord because they believed Him. They, too, conquered through the courage of faith.

The exploits of 11:33-34 are general and refer collectively to the persons in verse 32. The mouths of lions may refer to Daniel, and quenched the power of fire to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. The point of mentioning these works is to show that, whether the need was for political victory, helping those in need, receiving promises, overcoming natural enemies, protection from war or weakness, or winning in war—the power to accomplish these things was from God and the power was received by faith in Him.

CONTINUING IN SUFFERING

Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. (11:35-38)

Elijah brought back to life the child of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8-23), and his successor, Elisha, did the same for a Shunammite woman’s son (2 Kings 4:18-37). These mothers and these prophets believed God for resurrection, and He performed it.

The women suffered for a while, but the pain was alleviated when their children were restored to life. God does not always work in this way, however. Many of the afflictions mentioned in Hebrews 11:35-38 were long-term, even lifetime. God gave power through faith to see some of His people through these problems, not to escape them. Just as it is sometimes God’s will for His people to conquer in a struggle, it is also sometimes His will for His people to continue in their suffering. He will give them victory, too, but it may only be spiritual—the only kind of victory He guarantees. It often takes more courage to hold on than to fight on, and where there is need for more courage there is need for more faith.

Sometimes affliction is inescapable; sometimes it is not. To the person of faith, no affliction is escapable that requires denial or compromise of God’s Word. What is easily escaped for the worldly person is not for the faithful. When it is suffered because of God’s Word and standing for Him, God’s people will take torture, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection. Here is the pinnacle of faith, willingness to accept the worst the world has to offer-death—because of trust in the best God has to offer—resurrection.

Tortured is from the Greek tumpaniz, from the same root as the English tympani, a kettledrum. The particular torture referred to involved stretching the victim over a large drum-like instrument and beating him with clubs, often until dead. God’s faithful are willing to be beaten to death rather than compromise their faith in Him. They would not sacrifice the future on the altar of the immediate. They preferred being put to death, because by faith they knew that one day they would be resurrected.

They endured both mental and physical anguish, mockings as well as scourgings. Jeremiah was as emotionally abused as he was physically abused, and it is not strange that he was called the weeping prophet. He did not weep so much for himself as for the people, who rejected God by rejecting him. He endured, and continued to endure, all sorts of pain for the sake of God’s Word.

Tradition holds that Isaiah was sawn in two. The people became so irritated at his powerful preaching that they cut him in half. Like Abel, however (11:4), he continues to speak even after death.

The many kinds of suffering mentioned in these verses, just as the conquests mentioned in the preceding verses, apply generally to the faithful saints. They are a summary of the many and varied kinds of affliction God’s people face and are often called to endure for Him. Whether they were killed or made outcasts, the point is the same—they courageously and uncompromisingly suffered for the Lord because of their faith. Whether for conquering in a struggle or continuing in suffering, they trusted the Lord.

The world is not worthy of having such people in its midst, just as these people did not deserve the sufferings they received. For its inflicting the suffering, the world will be judged and punished; for their enduring the suffering the faithful saints will be resurrected and rewarded. They knew with Paul that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18), and they looked forward with Peter to “an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven” (1 Pet. 1:4).

God does not promise His saints deliverance from all suffering. To the contrary, Jesus told us to take up our crosses and to follow Him (Mark 8:34), and that “if they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). Both Paul (Phil. 3:10) and Peter (1 Pet. 4:13) advise us to rejoice in our sufferings for Christ’s sake. Paul told the Corinthian believers, “I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction” (2 Cor. 7:4).

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were perfectly confident that God would save them from the blazing furnace. “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king” (Dan. 3:17). But their greatest faith was not shown in their certainty of deliverance. They went on to say, “But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (v. 18). Their primary concern was not for the safety of their lives but for the safety of their faith. Physical deliverance or not, they would not forsake their trust in God.

COUNTING ON SALVATION

And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect. (11:39-40)

True faith has the courage to count on salvation. These faithful saints had to live in hope. They knew very little about the nature or the time or the means of God’s salvation. But they knew it was coming, and this was the basis of their trust. They had abiding confidence that one day God would do the necessary thing to redeem them and reward them. What happened to them before that time was not consequential. They did not receive what was promised but they had gained approval through their faith. Their faith was not in some immediate fulfillment, but in the ultimate fulfillment of the promises. Here is where faith is most tested and where it most matters.

The ultimate promise was of a redeemer, the Messiah, and of His covenant that would bring righteousness before God. “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow” (1 Pet. 1:10-11). All these, from Enoch through the prophets, had that courageous faith which counts, without reservation, on final salvation.

Many of them never received the land. Sometimes they had earthly victory; sometimes they did not. Sometimes their faith saved them from death; sometimes it brought them death. No matter. They knew that God had provided something better.

God has provided this “something better” for us, that is for those under the New Covenant, which is why apart from us they should not be made perfect. That is, not until our time, the time of Christianity, could their salvation be completed, made perfect. Until Jesus’ atoning work on the cross was accomplished, no salvation was complete, no matter how great the faith a believer may have had. Their salvation was based on what Christ would do; ours is based on what Christ has done. Their faith looked forward to promise; ours looks back to historical fact.

Yet, though their salvation was not completed in their lifetimes, these were not second-rate believers. They were believers of the highest order. They courageously struggled, suffered, and counted on salvation. They believed all of God’s Word that they had, which is what counts with Him. How much less faith do we often have, in spite of our much greater light. “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:29).