They didn't have Matthew through Revelation.
They knew nothing of the Bema seat and that they would be rewarded for their exhibit. They knew nothing of the words of Jesus from the cross who would say, It is finished. They knew little or nothing of the Holy Spirit on whom we depend every single day.
That's the point. If they could trust God with so little, what will we do having it so much better? Does faith guarantee success? Does trusting God always lead to an easy life?
I'm sure you've lived long enough to realize that it doesn't. Some of the greatest believers in history never saw victory on earth. They endured suffering, rejection, and even death, but they held on to their faith. Today's message explores the lives of those who lived in the shadows, proving that faith is not always about winning, but about always trusting. If you've ever felt like faith isn't working the way you expected, this message will encourage you to keep running the race.
Here's Stephen. If Hebrews 11 had stopped at verse 35, which is where we ended in our last session, we might have the misconception that faith is all high fives and wonderful stories of victory. That the faithful always end up with the testimonies of the walls falling down and the seas parting and everything working out wonderfully. You know, glory and achievement, success. Frankly, the Christian community is filled with misconceptions about faith and the messages are mixed.
In fact, some of the wrong messages are best sellers today. Misconceptions like faith will always produce justice. That is right will always prevail if you're faithful.
That life won't be hard. I mean, the really strong in faith get a double duty angelic host on their bumper on the way to work, right? Or that faith will engender fearlessness. I mean, the faithful never bat an eye.
They never run and hide. Another misconception, that faithfulness leads to victory. Or here's another that I thought of, that faith will increase trust which guarantees the diminishing of trouble. And to the extent of your trust, you'll see in proportion the diminishing of trouble. Trouble increases because your trust decreases.
Not true. One more, that faith will make suffering an exception to the Christian experience. Maybe that's why it's such a shock to our system. It affects all of us to wake up one day and realize that bad things can happen to forgiven people. And so I'm glad that Hebrews 11 doesn't end with verse 35.
It goes on to include this rather surprising paragraph. The testimonies of people who lived under the shadows of persecution. Look at verse 36. The Bible says, and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes also chains and imprisonments. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted.
They were put to death with a sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill treated, of whom the world was not worthy. These are people of faith?
Absolutely. See faith is being willing to run the race even when it doesn't look like you're on the winning side. Now what the writer of Hebrews does here is give us three categories of people who are living under what we'll call the shadow of persecution. The first group speaks of those who are being abused. Go back to verse 36. Others experienced, literally they received the trial of mockings. This would take the Hebrew, the Christian Jew, back to the days of Nehemiah who was mocked and scorned and accused by those who didn't want the city of Jerusalem rebuilt.
That's why chapters 4 and 6. Or Elisha being mocked by young men in 2 Kings 2. This is verbal scorn.
This is verbal abuse for running the race. Imagine running the race and no one is there cheering you on. Instead everybody along the path is jeering and mocking and saying you won't make it, ridiculing your faith. Which by the way happens to be the culture of Christianity around the world. And we are living in that era of time in which Christians can be so disturbed because the crowds cheering is turning into jeering.
As if we deserve cheering. Can't help but think of Athanasius the early church leader who defended the deity of Jesus Christ against a corrupting church and false teachers and he battled it most of his life and would win and lose. He would be exiled 5 different times spending a total of 17 years in exile for simply defending the truth that Jesus wasn't a God. He was the very God, the embodiment physically of deity. We are told in Colossians. He battled the heresy that Jesus was simply one of many or a deified human having lived a good or perfect life.
This is the 4th century beginning of what would be repackaged many times over and in our lifetimes in the false teachings of the Jehovah's witnesses and Mormons. But at one point his biography includes the fact that he was so alone. In fact he had been exiled for defending the equality of Christ's deity with the father. That he was once told Athanasius the whole world is against you.
To which he responded then Athanasius is against the whole world. He kept the true gospel even when it meant he stood alone and it didn't really seem like he was winning. Little wonder he was nicknamed the saint of stubbornness. You're thinking that's my spiritual gift. I can qualify to be a saint now.
That's mine. Saints of stubbornness. The writer of Hebrews goes on to add here the trial of scourging. Of course this goes beyond verbal abuse.
This is now physical abuse. Scourging is a word referring to the whip. The ancient whip with long leather strands. Each strand having a piece of bone or a rock or some metal fragment bound, sewn into each tip. It literally tore into the flesh and blood.
Scourging was called the half death because when it was over you were barely alive. I can't help but read the beginning of this list by the way and think of whom. Jesus our Lord. The author and finisher of our what?
Our faith. Such mocking and jeering and scourging until he was unrecognizable. Who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed. Purifying for himself a people for his own possession. The writer of Hebrews adds one more descriptive phrase of abusive treatment upon the innocent.
He adds at the end of verse 36. And yes, oh don't forget, also chains and imprisonment. Now the Hebrew believers would think immediately back of Joseph unfairly imprisoned. Or Jeremiah the prophet imprisoned because he simply told the king the truth and his people. Keep in mind these people that the writer is thinking of now are suffering abuse not because they are faithless but because they are faithful. Not because they lack faith but because they demonstrate faith. Their obedience to God made their lives painful not pleasant.
Now the second category of those who live under the shadows of persecution are those who experience not just being abused but being martyred. He writes in verse 37 that they were stoned. That is rocks were thrown at them at a close range in order to kill them. You don't need any weapons. This is perhaps one of the most primitive forms of public execution. You don't need any swords. You don't need a hangman's noose and some convenient tree.
You just need rocks. Like Naboth in 1 Kings 9 who was falsely accused by Jezebel and stoned to death. Or Jeremiah the prophet Jewish tradition is held who was eventually executed by stoning. Or Stephen think of the New Testament after his first and only sermon stoned to death in Acts chapter 7. The writer also adds they were sawn in two.
I know this is fairly gruesome but there are those who died in this manner. In fact Jewish tradition has held for centuries that Isaiah the great prophet was eventually hunted down. He had run for his life. He had delivered the truth of God's word to King Manasseh and the king and the people were infuriated. He had first escaped and hid in a hollow tree.
He was discovered not allowed to leave. The king ordered the tree to literally be sawed in half with Isaiah inside. They would have immediately thought of Isaiah when they read that. There are other testimonies from church history of believers who are dismembered and tortured for their faith. The writer goes on to add you notice they were tempted. He adds that little phrase.
More than likely this is a reference to being tempted to recant your faith in order to save your life. What happened when they didn't? They were put to death by the sword. History is filled with such cases. In fact I have a newer volume of Fox's book of martyrs that take you right up until the 1990s. I pulled it out and said in my study and read story after story.
You go back to the time of the Apostle Paul. In the days of Rome we know from history now and from excavations there are at least 60 catacombs near Rome in and around. Covering more than 600 miles of tunnels underground.
Those tunnels would be about 8 feet high narrow 3 to 5 feet wide with rows of recessed areas on either side. The deceased were placed in these recessed areas and the openings covered over with a slab of marble or some large tiles. When Christians graves would be opened later in modern times their skeletons told the terrible tale. Heads severed from bodies ribs and shoulder blades broken bones blackened by fire. I came across this a couple of weeks ago and I tucked it away.
I thought of it in this study. The St. Petersburg Times covered the story of a Ukrainian man who was mauled by a lioness at the Kiev Zoo just a couple of years ago. He encountered the animal on purpose believing that God would protect him. In fact he lowered himself by rope into that concrete enclosure which held four lions. And he then walked toward them shouting God will save me if he exists.
One lioness came toward him knocking him to the ground and severing his carotid artery as a huge crowd above watched helplessly. Was his faith not big enough? I mean you think of course of course that's not the issue. Well to him it was maybe he was a bit addled I don't know I certainly wouldn't go down to an enclosure and test my faith. But listen there are people in our country in our state handling snakes. Believing that the test of their faith is that they will not be bitten and if they are they will not receive medication because that would be an insult to their faith. There are even more people in our country who will refuse any kind of medication believing that to do so is an insult to their faith in God. There are millions of Christians even still further who are confronted with a crisis of unbelief in God. Because he did not rescue them from some kind of danger or disability or difficulty or perhaps death the death of a loved one. They might not say it out loud but their hearts are crying out the same if God exists he would have delivered me from this right?
Did it ever occur to you that you're not alone in that kind of crisis in fact the truth is the human heart tends to that. Like Job who effectively says where is God I want an audience with God. Where is he gone?
He hasn't gone anywhere. See that's why he's pulling back a curtain here a little further in Hebrews 11 because we read the first part and we go oh yeah God's there yeah. We believe that walls are tumbling, seas are parting, the dead are rising.
Well he's here in the last part of the chapter as well he's just in the shadows keeping watch above his own. Faithful believers throughout the ages of experience of suffering and being abused of being martyred. Now thirdly the writer includes those who are abandoned or ignored notice the middle part of verse 37. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins. Well that's a reference to the fact they had no other material for clothing.
No linen, no cotton, no silk. This is the poorest of the poor these are dried rough leather skins from goats and sheep. He goes on to describe them as destitute, afflicted and ill treated.
It's interesting to discover that the original language uses the present tense for these participles. In other words they are constantly destitute which means they don't know where their next meal is coming from. Their next drink of water that's how destitute they are. They are constantly afflicted.
That word is pressed hard under pressure stress from trying to survive. They are constantly ill treated which can be rendered tormented. They are literally driven from their homes away from their people. They are not only abandoned they are disowned.
If anybody to anybody it looks like our side is not winning it's these people. Verse 38 they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. In other words they are reduced to the most basic form of living. Finding refuge in some cave, digging out some dwelling out of the ground. David hiding away in the wilderness would be a story of this 1 Samuel 22. Obadiah feeding prophets in a cave who were hiding from Jezebel's assassins 1 Kings 18.
Elijah running for his own life and hiding out in a cave for a while 1 Kings 19. And of course from history Christians hiding in these underground catacombs. Are they losers or winners?
Verse 38 says this is God's impression of whom the world was not worthy. I love that disowned by their own people adopted by their heavenly father. Ignored by their world, loved by their savior. No home for them on earth but can you imagine the sight of their new home in heaven. Are they losers or winners?
It all depends on where you stop the story. Some are called to win by living. These are called to win by dying. Some are called to win through triumph. Others are called to win through tragedy. Paul would say to live is Christ and to die is what? Gain, that's winning.
Philippians 1 21. Think about it for a moment. Were those martyred missionaries Jim Elliot and Nate Saint losers or winners? Did the cause of Christ lose on that sandy beach or win? Is the cause of Christ today losing or winning in China, in Vietnam, in Pakistan, in Sudan?
Is it winning or losing? It depends on where you stop the story. Was God winning or losing when Christ stood before Pilate? Or when Christ hung on the cross, was his cause losing or winning? It depends on where you stop the story. Hebrews 11 in this last paragraph tells you the story is not quite over. Think about it.
Go back 19 centuries. Who was winning? The apostle Paul or the emperor Nero?
Who lost? It depends on where you stop the story. In fact, we live long enough so that in our world to this day parents name their sons Paul and their dogs Nero. You don't name your dog Paul and your son Nero. At least I hope not.
Did anybody do that just in case? Who was winning? Hitler or Corrie ten Boom? Would she walk through that gate if you've read her biography at Ravensbrück? Incarcerated along with the Jews, she and her family tried to help escape the Nazi death camps.
Corrie is now among them. She's able to smuggle a small Bible into that camp. She would tell her story one day that that Bible, and I'm quoting her words, became an ever widening circle of hope like beggars clustered around a blazing fire. We gathered about it, holding out our hearts to its warmth and light. On December 31, 1944, by a clerical error and the will of God, I was released.
Corrie, 52 years old, if you know her story, she would spend the rest of her single life traveling and testifying. This is one of her favorite statements. There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still.
Who won? Verse 39 talks about the shadows, not of persecution, but of promise. Look there. 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 would not be made perfect. Now what's he saying? Very quickly, first he's saying they weren't losers, they were overcomers. Secondly, he's saying that the story isn't completed without us.
Us. In other words, they looked forward to promises yet fulfilled. The promised Messiah, whose death on the cross would perfect, would complete the gospel redemption. We look back to the finished work of Christ, they looked forward to it. The promise was there but they didn't see it and never did during their lifetime. And the writer here says we have it better.
Why? Well because we know so much more than they did. We have a completed revelation. We've been given the historical facts that Christ did come, those prophecies were fulfilled, he did die, he did rise from the dead, we have both Old Testament and New Testament.
We live in the full disclosure of the sunlight of God's word. They lived in the shadows of promises yet to be fulfilled at this point. But it was enough for them. Think about it, it was enough.
It wasn't what we had and what we have is better, but it was enough. They didn't have Matthew through revelation. They had no written description of the Father's house, they didn't know what the tree of life and the glorious new earth and heaven. They knew nothing of the bima seat and that they would be rewarded for their labor of love, their acts of faith. They knew nothing of the sound, the words of Jesus from the cross who would say it is finished. They knew little or nothing of the Holy Spirit on whom we depend every single day.
That's the point. If they could trust God with so little, what will we do having it so much better? And so they encouraged us by their faith in that they persevered with so little.
How can we with so much not continue the race even when it looks like we're not winning? One author wrote, These ancient saints form our spiritual family tree. Without them we have no roots.
Without us they have no branches. They are made perfect, that is they are completed as the life-giving sap of their lives flows through our spiritual leaves and blossoms. We together fill the earth with the fragrance of faith. Faith is running the race even when it looks like you're losing, but you're not.
It just depends on where you stop the story. If looking at the lives of these Old Testament heroes has been a blessing to you, you'll enjoy Stephen's book entitled Hebrews 11. It would make a great addition to your library or a great gift for a friend or loved one. You'll find the book Hebrews 11 in the Wisdom Commentary section of our bookstore. Our website is wisdomonline.org. We can also give you information and take your order over the phone if you call us today at 866-48-BIBLE. That's 866-48-BIBLE or 866-482-4253. Call today and ask how you can get a copy of Stephen's book Hebrews 11. Thanks for listening, and join us next time for more Wisdom for the Heart. Copyright © 2020, New Thinking Allowed Foundation
