Hebrews

Are You Living By Faith In Your Trials And Suffering? LIVING BY FAITH IN TRIALS AND SUFFERING study #19 (A Study in Hebrews 11) (Hebrews 11:33-40)

/ Matt Vance / Leave a comment

We come now to our closing study in this great 11th chapter of Hebrews. We finished up last study with a look at Samuel who is the last person mentioned in verse 32. The writer of Hebrews could have easily went on and on, as we could as well, with many other names as he lists others as the prophets. I was tempted to pick some of the other great prophets in the Old Testament to show how they lived by faith as well in difficult circumstances but I felt that it was best to leave it just like the writer intended. With that we will briefly look at what is said of these others in the following verses but then dive a little deeper into our last two verses that will challenge us to look at how we are doing in this area of living by faith in trials and suffering.

The point is really brought out in the last two verses to show us that not everything works out the way we think it should but rather that God always has a better plan. It was this plan that these great men and women of faith exhibited throughout their life. We have looked in great detail at these and now will look at this in a very practical look for this study. With that let’s get into our first point that really continues from verse 32.

1.God’s PLAN through persecution.
Look with me at Hebrews 11:32-38 that says And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I recount Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, as well as David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, performed righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong from weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; 36 and others experienced mockings and floggings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, mistreated 38 (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in desolate places and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

We have seen so many in this chapter that faced some very difficult situations but they still trusted in God. Their faith never wavered because they knew that God was going to fulfill the promises given to them. The question for us is would we have this same type of faith? I believe we as a Christian community in the western nations have a very weak kind of faith. We get tripped up in life and doubt God in the smallest matters so often. The truth of God’s Word from the 66 books of the Bible has been attacked even from the pulpits in North America. The fact is that we may in a sense face persecution but we have not seen what some of these great men and woman of faith have seen along with thousands throughout history and even today in other countries.

There are entire countries that have banned Christianity and persecution is rampant in those countries. Here in the United States we have a sense of freedom that has protected us for many years but I do believe that we have seen a shift in that recently. With the Covid pandemic we saw the restriction on many of our freedoms in the name of health. This was attacked in many areas other than our religious activities but it was our stance to be able to practice our religious activities that stood the test. There were many instances of gatherings, riots and protests where those people were allowed to gather but when churches started opening their doors they were fined, threatened and in Canada at least two pastors were placed in high security prisons for their stance to preach, sing and gather for worship.

I have followed many others in the past year that have been protesting at LGBTQ rallies who were abiding by the law to not interfere with the rally who were arrested for preaching on the street. The fact is this type of persecution is here in small portions but with that it will become a bigger issue most likely. My question is, are you ready and willing to have faith even in that difficult time or will you fall prey to the culture?

Look at what some of the men and women of old went through because they would not waver and ask yourself if you have that type of faith as well?

Let’s look at some of these in detail and with these we will associate some of the people that may be from traditional or historical sources outside of the Bible that went through these things. We see first in Hebrews 11:33-34 who through faith conquered kingdoms, performed righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong from weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 

The Benson commentary explains this well and I quote 1“Who through faith subdued kingdoms — As Joshua, the Judges, David, and others; wrought righteousness — Lived righteous and holy lives, and administered justice impartially, 1 Samuel 12:3-5. Obtained promises — Namely, of particular mercies, as Sarah, Hannah, Manoah, and the prophets in general, both for themselves, and to deliver to others; stopped the mouths of lions — By their faith prevailed with God to do it, as Daniel, Daniel 6:22 : quenched the violence of fire — As Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Daniel 3. He does not say they quenched fire, which may be done by natural means, but they took off, restrained the violence, the power of fire with respect to themselves. The fire continued still, and retained its burning power, for it slew the men that cast them into the furnace. But by faith they disarmed it of its power to hurt themselves, so that not one hair of their heads was singed. To these examples, whence the nature of faith clearly appears, those more ancient ones are subjoined, (by a transposition and in an inverted order,) which receive light from these. Jephthae escaped the edge of the sword; Samson out of weakness was made strong; Barak became valiant in fight; Gideon put to flight the armies of the aliens. Faith animates to the most heroic enterprises, both civil and military. Faith overcomes all impediments, effects the greatest things, attains to the very best, and inverts, by its miraculous power, the very course of nature.” END QUOTE

The next 2 verses in Hebrews 11:35-36 says Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; 36 and others experienced mockings and floggings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. 

Here to start off with, we see the obvious connection of the widow’s son in Zarephath that Elijah raised and the Shunamite woman that was raised by Elisha. We could have easily went into great detail about both of these men and the faith they had during their life. Then the text takes a turn and says and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection.

The reason why any of these men or women had the faith they had was because of the promise of future blessings. They did not seek to be blessed here, even though they were happy to know at times that God blessed them during their life. They looked for something far beyond what they faced. We talked about this back in our 7th study in this series from Hebrews 11:13-16 called 2Faith In The Eternal Promises.

Look with me at Hebrews 11:15-16 that says And indeed if they had been remembering that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But now, they aspire to a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He prepared a city for them.

The fact is none of these people lived in such a way that tied them to live for self and to preserve their life as the priority of their life. They all looked for something better. That is the reason why Hebrews 11:36 says and others experienced mockings and floggings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.

The flow of this thought continues as we move into the next 2 verses which are Hebrews 11:37-38 that says They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, mistreated 38 (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in desolate places and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

Clearly we could speak of Zechariah who was stoned to death, Stephen the Christian martyr was stoned to death and many more. Death by stoning was very common in those days and it is tradition that Jeremiah was stoned to death as well. These men could have easily been mentioned and looked at as men of faith who lived for God in spite of the trials and sufferings.

The mention of people being sawn in two has been referenced to the tradition that Isaiah was put to death by order of Manasseh in this way. There were others that have met this fate as well in the whole of history because of following God’s way of living.

This led many to be tempted the Scripture says. This probably refers to the temptation to give in to these horrific persecutions. The writer of Hebrews includes this in the middle of these violet deaths. He continues by saying they were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, mistreated 38 (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in desolate places and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

The conclusion to all of this points to the fact that this world is not their home. They live for God but the world full of sinful people hate God and His people. If you say you are a Christian and you just fit into the world, you just blend into the world like the rest of everyone else then you might want to check and see if you are indeed a child of God. Jesus says in John 15:18-19 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

Then John says in 1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God abides forever.

We know we will not be perfect but we must be striving to please God and not self. This is the very thing that these men and women we have looked at did in their lifetime. This leads us to look at our last 2 verses for this study series. This leads us to look at whether or not we are living by faith in trials and suffering. Look with me now at this last point for this study.

2.God’s PROVISION in salvation.
Look with me at Hebrews 11:39-40 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

*The summation of this entire chapter is seen clearly here. These men and women lived by faith in trials and suffering, these men and women lived by faith not perfectly but in the primary direction of their life. It is this way of living that has given approval that they were indeed living their life for God. This word for approval here is the Greek word martureó (mar-too-reh’-o) which means to bear witness, give evidence or to testify. The proof of the fact that they did not back down even in the face of severe persecution and death shows that they were people of faith in God. The way they lived their life exhibited a way of life that we too should follow.*

But notice again as we have mentioned several times already that the writer of Hebrews points out that these men and women of faith did not receive what was promised. This means that they never saw the complete fulfillment of what they were promised. They may have seen some victories, they may have seen God move in miraculous ways, they may have seen firsthand the work of God to do the most unbelievable things but they did not receive what was promised. The promise was a dwelling place with God. This place could not be earned by their own faith or by their own will but would be received only after the coming of the Messiah who was promised to turn their hearts to God alone.

Hebrews 11:39b- 40 says that they did not receive what was promised, 40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

It isn’t that they would never receive the promises but that they never were able to see these promises fulfilled in their lifetime. The thing is that even though we live on the other side of the life, death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus, we too still await the final fulfillment of these promises. But the coming in of the New Covenant has begun the process of the end times that will consummate in our final glorification to live forever with our Lord and God. This is what we have been promised and it was this that these men and women of faith looked for and will receive with us as we enter into His Kingdom forever.

*So the question to end this study makes us to look away from what we have learned about these great men and women of faith and ask ourselves if we are living in this way? What trials, what suffering, what difficulty is in your path today? Are you living as a man or woman of faith? These men and women we read about had a place in history so that we can read and learn from them but they too were human just like we are with the temptations, the fears, the worries of life and yet they did not let those things hinder the way they lived. So one last time, are you living by faith in your trials and sufferings?*

  1. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/hebrews/11-33.htm ↩︎
  2. https://disciplesdirection.wordpress.com/2023/10/26/faith-in-the-eternal-promises-living-by-faith-in-trials-and-suffering-study-7-a-study-in-hebrews-11hebrews-1113-16/

    https://disciplesdirection.wordpress.com/2023/10/27/youtube-and-podcast-teaching-for-faith-in-the-eternal-promises-living-by-faith-in-trials-and-suffering-study-7-a-study-in-hebrews-11hebrews-1113-16/ ↩︎