Hebrews

Joyce Webb 2018

Chapter 11

Vs. 8-22

Vs. 8 By faith Abraham when God called him went out of his place, home and followed God to a new place.

After he obeyed, he would receive the “inheritance, or promise” that God gave him.

(This promise was a son that would become a very, very large family of people to fill a nation, and God would give him many, many miles of land for his people to live in.)

When Abraham started out following God he did not know where God was leading him. He just followed step by step until God said , “ Stop. This is the place.”

Vs. 9 By faith Abraham lived in this land of promise. It was a strange land to him. He and his wife and all his servants lived in tents. His son Isaac lived in tents. His grandson Jacob lived in tents.

Vs. 10 Abraham lived in tents and moved from place to place, but he looked to the future. He believed there was a city whose builder and maker was God.. In other words, Abraham believed that one day he would be in a city made by God—heaven.

Vs. 11 By faith Sarah was able to conceive and give birth to a son—-even though she was very old (90) and past the time of having children. She believed God to be faithful to his promise.

Vs. 12 Abraham being very old (100) his body being as “dead” for being able to produce a child, was able to be a father to many they would be many like the stars of the sky—-as many as sand on the seashore.

Vs. 13 These people were faithful and kept the faith. They never saw the complete promise of God. Abraham had 1 son by his wife Sarah. He did not have a large family of sons with her.

(Later Abraham married again Genesis 25:1-2 and had 6 sons. Abraham had 1 son by Hagar.)

But Sarah and Abraham had only one son. That one son, Isaac, had only 2 sons.

That is not a big family. Isaac’s son Jacob had 12 sons—–finally we are seeing a big family.

God tested Abraham’s faith—-Sarah could not have children, yet God promised Abraham that he would be a family of many. He had one son after many, many years of waiting.

God tested Isaac’s faith. His wife could not have children. Genesis 25:21

For a long time they waited and believed that God would keep his promise and finally God allowed her to have twins. That was a testing of Isaac’s faith.

Isaac’s son. Jacob, had 2 wives. That was not what he had planned to do. His father in law tricked him. The wife that Jacob wanted, Rachel, was not able toe have children.

So again, Jacob’s faith was tested. Finally, after a long time, Rachel was able to have a son. Then she had a second son, but she died shortly after giving birth to him.

We see that the Promise of God though it was a sure thing did not come easily and without faith that held on. The people had to continually look to God in faith waiting for the promise to happen.

We would think that if God promised something it would just happen automatically and we would not have to do anything. We would just receive it.

But we see how each one was tested. Each one had a wife who could not have children—–when that was the very promise God had given them.

They never saw their families be large and yet the promise was that they would be as the stars of the sky. That did not happen for a long time after they were dead.

And when each one of them married, it looked like it would not happen at all because their wives could not have children.

But they held on to their faith, and God made their wives able to have children.

Also, these people thought of themselves as pilgrims and nomads (people who move from place to place).

People who call themselves pilgrims or nomads, do not have a “home” place to stay and settle down.

They are always looking for another place to put their tents next.

The writer of Hebrews said it was like they were looking for the “home” that God would make for them.

Vs. 16 They called God their God. And God was pleased with their faith. He prepared a heavenly home for them.

Vs. 17 By faith Abraham obey God when God told him to take Isaac up to the mountain and offer him as a sacrifice to God.

Abraham believed so much that Isaac was the one God promised him that he believed that if he offered him as a sacrifice that God would bring Isaac back to life again.

Vs. 20 By faith, Isaac said blessings over Jacob and Esau about things God promised would come for them.

Vs. 21 By faith Jacob when he was dying blessed his sons and said the promises of God over them.

Vs. 22 By faith Joseph, Jacob’s son, when he was dying told of how God would free the people of Jacob/Israel and take them out of the land of Egypt and back to the land God promised to give to Abraham.

Joseph made them promise to take his bones with them when they went and bury them in the promised land.