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“The Heroes of Faith Are Watching”
Categories: Bulletin Articles, M. W. Bassford
Hebrews was my father’s favorite book of the Bible. I have his old Bible in my office, and inside it, the pages of Hebrews look like somebody used them to scrub the kitchen floor at Long John Silver’s. I spent countless hours discussing Hebrews with him before I ever moved out, and yet, to this day, every time I study the book, I find some new proof of the writer’s extraordinary vision and power.
During this particular reading, I was struck by the connection between the argument of Hebrews 11 and its conclusion at the end of the chapter and the beginning of the next. I see the theme of the argument really begin to emerge in the writer’s discussion of Abraham in 11:8-10. He notes that by faith, Abraham left his homeland, even though he didn’t know where he was going.
This is true in two senses. First, Abraham had never laid eyes on the promised land of Canaan. Second, though, the writer notes that Abraham wasn’t really seeking Canaan. Instead, he was looking for the city whose builder and architect was God. By faith, he was seeking an eternal dwelling place—even though he had no idea that such a dwelling place existed! He listened when God said “Go out to the place that I will show you,” without the foggiest idea of what his reward would be.
In Hebrews 11:39-40, notes that what was true of Abraham was true of all the Old Testament heroes of faith. They gained God’s approval, but they never received the promise. They never experienced the fulfillment of God’s purpose in Jesus, and they could not be perfected until that purpose was fulfilled.
Neither of those things is true for us. In Christ, we already have been perfected. As per Hebrews 12:2, in Him we see the fullness of the revelation of God’s mystery. The progress of the faithful, from suffering and shame to eternal glory, is spelled out for us in His life, death, and resurrection as a matter of historical certainty.
In the face of these facts, the writer urges us to do two things. First, we must keep our gaze fixed on Jesus. If we do not grow weary and lose heart, what happened to Him surely will happen to us. His glory will be our glory too, and if He is always before us, we constantly will be reminded of that truth.
Second, even as we fix our eyes on Jesus, we must remember that others have their eyes fixed on us. In Hebrews 12:1, the cloud of witnesses that surrounds us is none other than the faithful people of Hebrews 11. They ran the race without the advantages that we have, and they want to see how we will run it with those advantages. Abraham didn’t know where he was going, but he arrived there anyway. How sad it would be if we, with our knowledge of what awaits us, fall short of his example of faith!
