Great men of faith.

Hebrews 11:1,2

To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.
It was by their faith that people of ancient times won God's approval.


Every man and woman of God mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11 put their faith / trust / hope in a promise made by God.

In Genesis 4:3-7, Abel offered the "fat from the firstlings" of his livestock because he trusted in God's providence. In contrast, his brother Cain brought only "some of the fruits" that he had cultivated. Cain had not done what was right in the sight of God. In Gen. 4:6, God told Cain that if he had done what was right he would have been accepted.

In Genesis 5: 21-24, we read that Enoch walked faithfully with God for 300 years after his first son Methuselah was born. He lived a whole life of trust in God. As a result, he did not die, for God took him away.

In Genesis chapters 6 - 9, Noah put his faith in what God had told him: that there would be a terrible flood to destroy all the earth. Some people believe that Noah took more than a hundred years to build the huge vessel. His faith lasted that long. Heb 11:7 tells us that Noah received righteousness from God because of his great faith in God's "promise" of the flood.

Abraham's faith in God's promises for him was so well-known that it is mentioned not only here in Hebrews chapter11, but also in Romans chapters 3 and 4 and again in James chapter2.

Abraham put his faith in God's promise of a good land and many descendants by leaving his homeland and by waiting many years for his promised son Isaac to be born miraculously in his old age. (Genesis chapters 15 through 21).

So great was his faith in God that he was willing to sacrifice his son on Mount Moriah when God tested him in Genesis 22. Heb.11:11 tells us in a few simple words, "He trusted God to keep his promise."

When Isaac blessed Jacob in Genesis 27 and then Esau in Genesis 28, he did it in faith, believing that God would keep His promises to his children.

Genesis 47:31 tells us that when Jacob asked his son Joseph to swear that he would be buried in the land of his fathers, he, being old and weak, leaned on his staff and worshipped God. Only after that did he proceed to bless his children in Genesis 48 and 49.

Jacob believed in God's promised land for his descendants. In Gen 48:21, he told Joseph, "“I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers"

Then there is the most well known of God's prophets, - Moses, the man who gave Israel the entire Torah of God. From the Book of Exodus through Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, we read how this great man of God lived his whole life trusting in everything that God has promised to his people.

Beginning with the liberation from slavery in Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, to the miraculous receiving of the Torah at Mount Horeb, to the meticulous building of the Tabernacle, through the 40 years of receiving manna from heaven in the wilderness, Moses had only one thing to trust in - the promises of God.

Likewise, all the other people mention in Hebrews 11, people like Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets - each of them put their trust in something that God has promised them.

Now, our God is YHWH, he does not change. Malachi 3:6

Our question today is, "What has YHWH, our Father in Heaven, promised his people today?" Perhaps the answer lies in the words of Peter's message to the household of Cornelius in Acts 10:42,

"He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he (Yeshua of Nazareth) is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead."

Like Noah and Abraham and Moses, we also live by faith in God's promise. For us, it is the promise that God has chosen his holy servant Yeshua the Anointed One, to be our Judge - who will return one day to judge the living and the dead.

Let us be like the believers in Thessalonica, who
- turned to God from idols
- to serve the living and true God,
- to wait for his son from heaven
- whom God raised from the dead,
- the son Yeshua, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
( 1 Thessalonians 1: 9,10)