Some people embrace a particular religion because they think that it will raise their social or economic status. Still others think that joining a particular religion will make God happy with them and their troubles will go away. Those who decide to follow Christ for these kinds of reasons are sure to be disappointed. Though there are many blessings and benefits in following Christ, it can also bring trouble, suffering, insult and persecution. When this happens, those who thought to gain financially or socially from taking Christ’s name, will quickly abandon Him. The same is true for those who accept Christ because it is convenient, but have no real conviction. Jesus likened such people to rocky soil which does not produce a crop. “What was sown on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.” (Matthew 13:20-21 NIV)
The inspired book of Hebrews, in the Bible, was written to people who were suffering as a result of their faith. Some of them were beginning to question whether following Christ was worth it.
Hebrews points out that the righteous live by faith and God is not pleased with those who shrink back (Hebrews 10:38). To encourage and strengthen the readers, the book gives examples of many people of old who were able to accomplish amazing things because of their faith. But there is also another aspect of faith. It brings trouble and persecution. At the same time, faith enables us to overcome trouble and persecution. What is it about faith that makes it possible to overcome? Chapter 11, verses 32 through 40 provide the answer: “What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets; who, through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to flee. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth. These all, having had testimony given to them through their faith, didn’t receive the promise, God having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.”
The first part of this passage reminds us of the things faith enabled people to accomplish. They did not have the ability in themselves to do these things. Rather, it was only when they trusted God to do what He promised that they were enabled to accomplish the things they did. It was not them, but God working through them. In this sense it is entirely accurate to say that it was through faith that these people conquered kingdoms and administered justice. If they had not had faith, they would not have been capable of doing what they did. Another way to express this truth is that faith enables miracles. It makes the impossible, possible.
But there is another side to faith. It makes the unbearable, bearable. God does not guarantee that He will always work a miracle on our behalf when we encounter trouble or injustice. He does not guarantee that He will always destroy our enemies or rout foreign armies. He does not guarantee that we will always have our dead restored to us. No, there are many times when the people of faith are not spared. They are mistreated, they are abused, they suffer poverty, they are driven from their homes, they are tortured and they are killed.
In spite of their suffering, the text says that God commended them. The world was not worthy of them.
Something which we can learn from this is that if we experience trouble and suffering because of our faith, it does not mean that God is angry with us or has abandoned us. The Apostle Paul writes, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39 NIV)
If nothing can separate us from God’s love; if God commends those who have faith, then why does He allow them to suffer terribly? The next chapter explains that one reason God allows it is to teach discipline that we might reap a harvest of righteousness and peace. The important thing to remember is that God does love us even though it may not always appear so.
It is this ability to look beyond present circumstances which enabled both those who were called to accomplished miraculous things and those who were called to endure torture and persecution. As our text says they refused to be released, “that they might obtain a better resurrection” The things which God has promised those who serve Him are far greater than anything we might attain in this life.
Verse 33 says that the people of faith “obtained promises .” Yet verse 39 says that they “didn’t receive the promise.” Is this a contradiction? No, they did attain the earthly victories and blessings which God promised them. Yet, they did not receive the larger and more important promises of a heavenly country and an enduring city. These promises have yet to be fulfilled. It is only along with those who follow Christ that they will be made perfect. They were able to endure because they saw the ultimate fulfillment of the promises through eyes of faith.
We have the opportunity to participate in the promises God made to the people of faith of long ago. Do we have the same kind of faith they did?