In Hebrews 11:20, it was “By faith that Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.” And he blessed them knowing what his two boys were like too, because neither of them deserved any sort of blessing. They were fighting each other before they were born (Genesis 25:22), and swiping at each other after that, causing much upset along the way.  

But by faith Isaac blessed them, because it was his turn now, just like his father, to “live by faith in the things promised” in Hebrews 11:13. And what God had personally promised Isaac was continuing in him the exact same blessing he’d given to Abram, that “all nations on earth will be blessed” through their family line (Genesis 26:3-4). On that point alone, therefore, Isaac had total confidence in the future.  

He had further reason to be confident too, because if it wasn’t for God enabling his mother Sarah to bear children when naturally she couldn’t (Genesis 16:1), Isaac wouldn’t have been born. And topping that off, if it wasn’t for God miraculously enabling his wife Rebekah to bear children when she couldn’t naturally either (Genesis 25:21), Jacob and Esau wouldn’t have been born. So, with two “resurrections” from the dead already – in life being given to two dead wombs – God was making it abundantly clear that the future of his promise through Isaac and his family was utterly secure.

And according to Hebrews 11:19, Isaac himself was “figuratively” a resurrection from the dead too, because his father Abraham had been ordered by God to sacrifice him, but at the last minute God intervened and saved his life. So with three “resurrections” from the dead under his belt, no wonder Isaac had total confidence in the future for his two kids too, since they were next in line for God to fulfill his promise through. 

And isn’t it amazing that Isaac willingly submitted to being sacrificed? – taking into account that he was old enough to carry all the wood required for the sacrifice (Genesis 22:6), and strong enough too, therefore, to resist Abraham who was well over a hundred years old. But living by faith in God’s promise being continued through him, as well as the evidence that God could resurrect from the dead, would have given Isaac the confidence to submit to being killed. Through Isaac too, then, God was revealing his salvation process, that we can all have total confidence in the future too, because of God’s power to resurrect.

So how was God revealing his salvation process through Isaac’s son Jacob next? It’s in Jacob realizing “In God we have a Shepherd”….(next blog)

In Hebrews 11:17, it was “By faith that Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.” Which in itself makes one wonder about God – but what thoughts were going through Abraham’s head? God had miraculously enabled Isaac to be born to him and Sarah in their old age, so that God’s promises could be passed on down through their son (18). Why on earth, then, would God want the boy killed?

Abraham was already familiar with God working in mysterious ways, but this time it looked like God was going against his promises. He’d never done that before. And how could he too? God was God, and he’d made a personal covenant with Abram back in Genesis 15, getting the point across in dramatic fashion (9-12, 17), that Canaan would belong to Abram’s descendants (18); no ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ – it was totally guaranteed. 

And Abram got the point. He believed that God would stick to his promises. So, if God wanted Isaac killed, there was only one solution to God continuing both his promise and his covenant through Isaac, and that would be “raising the dead boy back to life again,” Hebrews 11:19. 

It wasn’t an unreasonable thought either, because hadn’t Isaac already been brought miraculously to life from the dead, when born to two people whose bodies could no longer conceive a child? Abram already knew, then, that God could produce life from death.

When it came to Abram’s turn, then, to “live by faith in the things promised” in Hebrews 11:13, the thing Abraham saw promised was God’s ability to raise a human being from death to life. Which also ties in with the salvation theme running through Hebrews 11. In Abel, Enoch and Noah we see the process of salvation unfolding (redemption through sacrifice, walking with God, and resisting evil); in Abraham we see the end goal of salvation, raising humans to a deathless life. 

And that’s what Abraham was commended for in Romans 4:17 too – for believing in “the God who gives life to the dead.” Because that’s the ultimate thing God promises, which we pick up from Abraham in our belief now in “God raising Jesus our Lord from the dead” (24) as his means of raising us from death to life too (Romans 6:4-5). 

But what of Isaac? He went through all this too, so what effect did it have on him? According to Hebrews, it gave him “Total confidence in the future”….(next blog)

In Hebrews 11:13, the author of Hebrews slips in a summary of what he’s covered so far in the lives of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah. His summary being: “All these people were still living by faith when they died” – or in Enoch’s case, when “God took him away” (7).

But what were they “living by faith” in? According to verse 13, it was faith in “the things promised.” So they knew that something had been promised, which they could “see” and “welcome from a distance,” giving them a “longing for a better country – a heavenly one” (16). And even though they couldn’t see it in their lifetimes, they were “sure of what they hoped for and certain of what they hadn’t yet seen in reality” (1) – of something much better than the world they were living in.

But how did they come to that realization? Well, they were all alive for a start. Which meant something was up, because they knew what had happened in the Garden of Eden, and God’s promise of death for eating off the wrong tree. But here they all were experiencing life instead, which had to mean that God still had some purpose in mind for humans.

A purpose that God first made clear in Genesis 4:3-5 too, in the giving of offerings to him, and Abel grasping why, as seen in his offering being the best portions from some of his firstborn sheep, picturing the sacrifice needed for the redemption of humanity from the death caused by Adam and Eve. Redemption, the first step in our salvation, therefore, was “the thing promised” that Abel saw. 

Enoch saw the next step in the salvation God was offering humans, that having accepted sacrifice as the first step, “walking with God” was now possible again, restoring the open, guilt-free relationship with God that Adam and Eve had lost. This was “the thing promised” that Enoch saw. 

Noah pictured the third step. Not only did he “walk with God,” he was also “blameless among the people of his time” (9). He did what Adam and Eve didn’t do: resist evil’s alternative world. This, then, was “the thing promised” that Noah saw, a better world where evil would not rule.

But it was Abraham who saw the ultimate thing promised that would make all these other promises possible, the clear proof that “God raises the dead”….(next blog)

According to Hebrews 11:11, “It was by faith that Sarah, who couldn’t bear children, was able to conceive a child, and way beyond her child-bearing age too. Because, like her husband, she believed that God had promised; enough said.” So from two old folks, both incapable of having children, “were born so many descendants they were like the stars in multitude, and beyond count like sand on a seashore” (12). 

That’s the short version of what happened. In the longer version in Genesis 18, however, Sarah’s faith wasn’t quite that brilliant or instant when she first overheard the news she was going to have a son. She reacted as any woman at the ripe old age of ninety would likely react to hearing that she and her “worn out” centenarian husband could have a child of their own. She “laughed to herself” at the very thought of it (12).

She wasn’t alone either, because her husband had reacted in exactly the same way (17:17). So when reading about faith in Hebrews 11, we get the rosy short version of these giants of faith who – apparently – always stood firm against all odds, who never doubted for a second in God’s promises or directions, who kept their emotions and reactions totally under control, no matter what pressures they were under from the world around them. But the longer version back in Genesis isn’t so rosy. 

In Genesis 12:1, for instance, God told Abram to “leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” But against God’s orders, Abram took “his people and members of his family” with him, including Lot his nephew (5), who turned out to be nothing but a problem. And rather than trust God to provide him with “offspring” as promised (15:4-5), Abram conceived a child with his wife’s maidservant instead (16:1-4). And he lied about Sarai being his sister to protect his own skin too, rather than trust God to protect them. 

And yet in Romans 4:19-21, in response to God telling him that he and Sarai were going to have a child in their long gone child-bearing age, Abram’s response was, “God promised, enough said.” So what changed in Abram’s life that enabled him to trust God with a totally impossible sounding promise? According to verse 20, “God strengthened his faith” so that Abram was “fully persuaded God had the power to do what he’d promised” (21). 

In other words, through testing God had grown Abram’s faith. Because what God was bringing all these people in Hebrews 11 to, was “Living by faith”….(next blog)

God had really tested Abram’s trust in him, having made huge promises to Abram in Genesis 12, but by the end of Genesis 14 and all sorts of setbacks, still no evidence of God fulfilling his promises. 

Abram hadn’t buckled, but after receiving a vision in Genesis 15:1, in which God told him, “No need to fear Abram, I’m your shield and your very great reward,” Abram felt the need to ask God in return, “But what reward can you give me when you haven’t given me any children to pass it on to?”

Abram had a point, because God had told him back in Genesis 13:15, that “All the land you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.” An amazing promise, but a problem too, because Abram didn’t have any offspring, and his wife couldn’t have children either (11:30). So it seems that God had deliberately brought Abram to this dead end, with no apparent or even possible solution.

Was Abram’s servant Eliezer, therefore, supposed to inherit the promises instead (Genesis 15:2-3)? But what else was Abram to conclude? Limited as we are to the laws of the human realm in which we operate, children don’t appear out of nowhere.   

But all God did to solve this impossible problem was say to Abram, “No, Eliezer isn’t your heir; a son from your own body will be your heir” (4). At which point, God takes Abram outside and says, “Look up and count the stars – if indeed you can count them all – because that’s how many children you’re going to have” (5).

And as Abram stared up at that glittering night sky, his first response wasn’t, “But how is that possible when me and Sarai haven’t got any kids, and we can’t have kids now at our age?” It was instead, “I believe you,” Genesis 15:6. No explanation needed, as to how on earth God was going to pull this one off; just trust God, no matter what. 

And on that basis alone, “God credited Abram with righteousness” (6), so that he now, in the footsteps of Abel, Enoch and Noah, inherited the title, “heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Hebrews 11:7). 

But imagine what Abram’s wife thought on hearing what God had said to her husband. Was it, “Are you pulling my leg?” Or was it, “God promised; enough said”?….(next blog) 

Abram soon discovered that God works in mysterious ways, because soon after arriving in this new land God had led him to – with the promise of huge blessings and an exciting future too – Abram was hit with nothing but problems.

First of all, a “famine so severe” in Genesis 12:10 left Abram with no choice but to leave this new land of his and head off with his family and belongings to “live in Egypt for a while.” But then it struck him, just before entering Egypt, that the Egyptians might take a fancy to his wife – still a major beauty in her mid-60’s – and get rid of him (11-12). 

Abram’s solution got him into more trouble too, because to save his own skin he lied that Sarah was his sister, deeply upsetting the Pharaoh (who did take a fancy to her), so much so that he banished Abram from Egypt.

And, then, on their return to Canaan, a split between Abram and his nephew Lot had them heading off in separate directions (13:5-12), which led to Lot finding himself in the middle of a major war, and being carted off into captivity by the victors (14:12). Another disaster. So instead of being able to settle down in his new land, Abram was dragged into a major battle of his own to rescue Lot. Would the problems never end? 

Not yet, because on his return from recovering all the people and their possessions taken by the invaders, Abram was approached by the very appreciative king of Sodom who told him in Genesis 14:21, “Give me my people, but you keep all our possessions for yourself.” A hugely tempting proposition, because it would give Abram both the riches and the local respect to build up his own empire and get God’s promise on the way.

But Abram didn’t take the bait. He told the king of Sodom that he’d made an oath “to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,” to “accept nothing belonging to the king,” so that the king could never say, “I made Abram rich” (22-23). Abram wasn’t allowing anyone but God to be the source of his blessings. He wasn’t depending on human shortcuts, that would obligate him to a human source like the king, whose main goal in life was to promote himself and build up his own empire. The king had seen God bless Abram too, so what a powerful ally Abram would make. 

Well, Abram was having none of it. Yes, God had been working in mysterious ways in his life, but that did not deflect him from “Trusting God, no matter what”….(next blog) 

So why would a man “live in tents” when God had promised him he’d become “a great nation,” his “name would be great,” and “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you,” Genesis 12:2-3?

And then on arrival at the place God had directed him to, God also told Abram to look around as far as his eyes could see, because “All the land you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.” So, “Go walk the length and breadth of this land, because it’s all yours” (13:14-17).

But what was Abram’s response to “all this land being mine,” and his own name becoming great because of the mighty nation God would build through him? His response was to be “a stranger” in the land, “living in tents” like a nomad, along with his son’s and grandson’s families too, “who were heirs with him of the same promise,” Hebrews 11:9.

So why didn’t Abram get to work, build his own city-state like all the other city-states in Canaan, set himself up as its king like all the other kings in Canaan, strengthen his army to defend his city if attacked, and expand his influence until Canaan became the great nation and himself a great leader as God had promised?  

Because instead, verse 10, “he was looking forward to the city founded, designed and built by God”. Which is understandable, because of where Abram had come from. He was born in Ur, a major Sumerian city-state so splendid that it even called itself “The City.” And in the true spirit of the Tower of Babel, built a few generations earlier – and only a few hundred miles away – Ur had also “made a name for itself” for its own babel-like ziggurats dedicated to various pagan gods, that were so impressive they’d even snared Abram’s own father into believing these gods were divine (Joshua 24:2). So Abram had firsthand knowledge of what cities built by the arrogance of men – who have no interest in the real God – were like.

In direct contrast to Ur, then, the first thing Abram did on pitching his tent in Canaan was to “build an altar to the Lord and call on the name of the Lord,” Genesis 12:8. The “altar” would be made up of a few rocks, not a gigantic ziggurat to a pagan god, as in Ur. And rather than seek to “make a name for himself,” Abram called on God’s name, openly stating his total trust in him. 

Which was a good start to his new life in Canaan – because he was about to find out that “God works in mysterious ways”….(next blog)

“By faith,” Hebrews 11:9, “Abram made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country.” But it was only “LIKE a stranger.” Abram wasn’t a stranger, because God had promised this land to him as his inheritance (8) – and to the generations that came from Abram too (Genesis 12:7). Imagine being Abram arriving in Canaan, then, knowing God’s promise, but no idea how and when God would fulfill it.

It took faith to “make his home” there too, because at this point in time his “promised land” was overrun with Canaanites (Genesis 12:6), who were well entrenched in various tribal city-states ruled by kings. And when Abram finally settled “near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron” (13:18), along came a dangerous threat by the mighty Mesopotamian empire of Elam to the east and its allies, in retaliation against the Canaanite cities’ refusal to pay tribute (14:1-4), resulting in a major battle that had Abram’s nephew Lot taken captive, and all the city folk of that region and their possessions being dragged off (14:8-12).  

This was not going well for Abram’s inheritance. The equivalent of a World War One had been fought on his doorstep, involving empires and coalitions of powerful kings consuming people and territory alike, with many cities in Canaan already being throughly defeated (14:5-7). Was God’s promise to Abram really true, then?

But faith in God’s promise did something extraordinary to Abram. “When he heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out his 318 trained men and went in pursuit of the invaders as far as Dan (the northernmost part of Canaan),” Genesis 14:14. Abram didn’t hesitate. Despite the heavy disadvantage in his numbers of fighting men, and the head start the enemy already had, he caught up with them and in a bold night attack “he routed them” (15), drove them out of the region, and recovered everything they’d stolen, including his nephew (16). 

So, could this amazing victory – done with God’s help too (20) – be the how and when God was fulfilling his promise to Abram to “give the land to him and his offspring forever” (13:15)? If so, Abram could settle down and build a wealthy, powerful empire of his own. But instead, Hebrews 11:9, he and his family “lived in tents” as strangers still in a foreign country. 

And why was that? Because this was God’s project, not his own, so Abram was looking forward to what happens “When God is the architect and builder” ….(next blog) 

In Hebrews 11:8, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” He was totally stepping into the unknown. 

Unlike Noah, Abraham had no idea what the future held – and nothing he could do to prepare for it either. Noah could get to work building a boat, with a clear goal from God at the end of it, the saving of his family, but all God told Abraham was, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you” (Genesis 12:1).

Somehow, then, God got it through to Abraham (or Abram at the time), that he was real, and real enough for Abram to enact a swift exit. But not without God revealing himself as personal too, because – just as he did with Noah – God made a personal promise to Abram. With Noah God had said, “I will establish my covenant with you,” personally promising safety for Noah and his family from the flood (Genesis 6:18). With Abram, he promised in Genesis 12:2-3 to make him “into a great nation,” but also, staggeringly, that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

So Abram had this ringing in his ears – as he hurriedly made preparations to leave his homeland – that God was both real and personal, which enabled him to step fearlessly into the unknown doing exactly “as the Lord had told him” (4). He too, then – just like Abel, Enoch and Noah before him – “became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Hebrews 11:7). Their actions were all totally the result of faith.

The day came, then, when Abram – now 75 years old – along with “his wife Sarai and nephew Lot, and all the possessions they’d accumulated and people they’d acquired in Haran, set out for the land of Canaan” (Genesis 12:5) – 400 miles (640 kilometres) to the south. Which also happened to be in the opposite direction to the one Abram’s father had taken in Genesis 11:31, when he’d moved his family 600 miles (950 kms) northwest from the moon-god worshipping Mesopotamian city of Ur (in modern day southern Iraq) to settle them all in Haran (in south eastern Turkey). 

Abram was in Haran, then, when God got through to him, by which time Haran was very much Abram’s home, and the source of his wealth too. So why leave to become “A stranger in a foreign country”?….(next blog)  

Hebrews 11:7 describes Noah as an “heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” As an “heir” Noah was continuing what Abel and Enoch had done before him. All three men, therefore, illustrate what “the righteousness that comes by faith” means. 

It began with them having faith in two things about God: that he was real, and he was personal (6). And it was purely what faith in those two things did in the lives of all three men that had Abel being “commended as a righteous man” (4), Enoch “being commended as one who pleased God” (5), and “Noah finding favour in the eyes of the Lord” for being “a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time” (Genesis 6:8-9).

So, what righteousness did Noah’s faith create? According to Hebrews 11:7, when Noah was “warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear he built an ark to save his family.” It was an extraordinary act by Noah, because it meant building a huge tub of a boat based on one premise alone, that God said he was going to drown people in a massive flood for filling the earth with violence (Genesis 6:13, 17). And with no visible evidence that such a staggering future was in store, Noah got to work and “did everything just as God commanded him” (22). Such was the righteousness that came by faith for him. 

And it was faith as defined by Hebrews 11:1 too, because Noah was so “certain of what we do not see” that “in holy fear he built an ark to save his family” (7). God clearly meant business, massive destruction was coming, so “holy fear” on Noah’s part was totally appropriate, but right after God spoke of wiping out all the evil people, he then told Noah in Genesis 6:18, “I will establish my covenant with you, and you (and your family) will be on the ark.” That’s because the other great gift of faith in Hebrews 11:1 “is being sure of what we hope for,” which in Noah’s case was knowing God would keep him and his family safe.

But what about the other bit in Hebrews 11:7, that “By faith Noah condemned the world”? Well, faith enabled Noah to remain “blameless” (Genesis 6:9) among people who were “only evil all the time” (5). Their ridicule bounced off him. He simply carried on, exposing their stupidity and arrogant disdain, not by arguing or calling them names, but by his steady day by day, year by year showing what faith in God being real and personal does in a human life. And then there’s Abraham who showed that “Stepping fearlessly into the unknown” comes by that same faith too….(next blog)