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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>H E B R E W S.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XI.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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The apostle having, in the close of the foregoing chapter, recommended
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the grace of faith and a life of faith as the best preservative against
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apostasy, he how enlarges upon the nature and fruits of this excellent
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grace.
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I. The nature of it, and the honour it reflects upon all who live in
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the exercise of it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>.
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II. The great examples we have in the Old Testament of those who lived
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by faith, and died and suffered extraordinary things by the strength of
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his grace,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:4-38">ver. 4-38</A>.
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And,
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III. The advantages that we have in the gospel for the exercise of
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this grace above what those had who lived in the times of the Old
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Testament,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:39,40">ver. 39, 40</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Heb11_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Nature of Faith.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 62.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
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of things not seen.
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2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
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3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by
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the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of
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things which do appear.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here we have,
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I. A definition or description of the grace of faith in two parts.
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1. It <I>is the substance of things hoped for.</I> Faith and hope go
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together; and the same things that are the object of our hope are the
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object of our faith. It is a firm persuasion and expectation that God
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will perform all that he has promised to us in Christ; and this
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persuasion is so strong that it gives the soul a kind of possession and
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present fruition of those things, gives them a subsistence in the soul,
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by the first-fruits and foretastes of them: so that believers in the
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exercise of faith <I>are filled with joy unspeakable and full of
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glory.</I> Christ dwells in the soul by faith, and the soul is filled
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with the fullness of God, as far as his present measure will admit; he
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experiences a substantial reality in the objects of faith.
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2. It is <I>the evidence of things not seen.</I> Faith demonstrates to
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the eye of the mind the reality of those things that cannot be
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discerned by the eye of the body. Faith is the firm assent of the soul
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to the divine revelation and every part of it, and sets to its seal
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that God is true. It is a full approbation of all that God has
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revealed as holy, just, and good; it helps the soul to make application
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of all to itself with suitable affections and endeavours; and so it is
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designed to serve the believer instead of sight, and to be to the soul
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all that the senses are to the body. That faith is but opinion or fancy
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which does not realize invisible things to the soul, and excite the
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soul to act agreeably to the nature and importance of them.</P>
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<P>
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II. An account of the honour it reflects upon all those who have lived
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in the exercise of it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>By it the elders obtained a good report</I>--the ancient believers,
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who lived in the first ages of the world. Observe,
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1. True faith is an old grace, and has the best plea to antiquity: it
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is not a new invention, a modern fancy; it is a grace that has been
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planted in the soul of man ever since the covenant of grace was
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published in the world; and it has been practiced from the beginning of
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the revelation; the eldest and best men that ever were in the world
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were believers.
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2. Their faith was their honour; it reflected honour upon them. They
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were an honour to their faith, and their faith was an honour to them.
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It put them upon doing <I>the things that were of good report,</I> and
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God has taken care that a record shall be kept and report made of the
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excellent things they did in the strength of this grace. The genuine
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actings of faith will bear to be reported, deserve to be reported, and
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will, when reported, redound to the honour of true believers.</P>
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<P>
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III. We have here one of the first acts and articles of faith, which
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has a great influence on all the rest, and which is common to all
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believers in every age and part of the world, namely, the creation of
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the <I>worlds by the word of God,</I> not out of pre-existent matter,
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but out of nothing,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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The grace of faith has a retrospect as well as prospect; it looks not
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only forward to the end of the world, but back to the beginning of the
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world. By faith we understand much more of the formation of the world
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than ever could be understood by the naked eye of natural reason. Faith
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is not a force upon the understanding, but a friend and a help to it.
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Now what does faith give us to understand concerning <I>the worlds,</I>
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that is, the upper, middle, and lower regions of the universe?
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1. <I>That these worlds were</I> not eternal, nor did they produce
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themselves, but they were made by another.
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2. That the maker of the worlds is god; he is the maker of all things;
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and whoever is so must be God.
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3. That he made the world with great exactness; it was a <I>framed</I>
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work, in every thing duly adapted and disposed to answer its end, and
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to express the perfections of the Creator.
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4. That God made the world by his word, that is, by his essential
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wisdom and eternal Son, and by his active will, saying, <I>Let it be
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done, and it was done,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+33:9">Ps. xxxiii. 9</A>.
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5. That the world was thus framed out of nothing, out of no
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pre-existent matter, contrary to the received maxim, that "out of
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nothing nothing can be made," which, though true of created power, can
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have no place with God, who can call <I>things that are not as if they
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were,</I> and command them into being. These things we understand by
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faith. The Bible gives us the truest and most exact account of the
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origin of all things, and we are to believe it, and not to wrest or run
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down the scripture-account of the creation, because it does not suit
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with some fantastic hypotheses of our own, which has been in some
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learned but conceited men the first remarkable step towards infidelity,
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and has led them into many more.</P>
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<A NAME="Heb11_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_17"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_18"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_19"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_20"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_21"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_22"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_23"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_24"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_25"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_26"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_27"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_28"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_29"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_30"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_31"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Exemplars of Faith.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 62.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
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than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous,
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God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet
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speaketh.
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5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death;
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and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his
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translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
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6 But without faith <I>it is</I> impossible to please <I>him:</I> for he
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that cometh to God must believe that he is, and <I>that</I> he is a
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rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
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7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet,
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moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by
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the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the
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righteousness which is by faith.
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8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place
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which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he
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went out, not knowing whither he went.
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9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as <I>in</I> a
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strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob,
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the heirs with him of the same promise:
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10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose
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builder and maker <I>is</I> God.
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11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to
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conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past
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age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
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12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead,
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<I>so many</I> as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand
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which is by the sea shore innumerable.
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13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
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but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of <I>them,</I> and
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embraced <I>them,</I> and confessed that they were strangers and
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pilgrims on the earth.
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14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek
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a country.
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15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that <I>country</I> from
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whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have
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returned.
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16 But now they desire a better <I>country,</I> that is, an
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heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God:
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for he hath prepared for them a city.
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17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and
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he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten
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<I>son,</I>
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18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
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19 Accounting that God <I>was</I> able to raise <I>him</I> up, even from
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the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
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20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to
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come.
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21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons
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of Joseph; and worshipped, <I>leaning</I> upon the top of his staff.
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22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing
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of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his
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bones.
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23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of
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his parents, because they saw <I>he was</I> a proper child; and they
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were not afraid of the king's commandment.
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24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be
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called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
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25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God,
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than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
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26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the
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treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the
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reward.
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27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the
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king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
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28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of
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blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
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29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry <I>land:</I>
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which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
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30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were
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compassed about seven days.
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31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that
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believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The apostle, having given us a more general account of the grace of
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faith, now proceeds to set before us some illustrious examples of it in
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the Old-Testament times, and these may be divided into two classes:--
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1. Those whose names are mentioned, and the particular exercise and
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actings of whose faith are specified.
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2. Those whose names are barely mentioned, and an account given in
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general of the exploits of their faith, which it is left to the reader
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to accommodate, and apply to the particular persons from what he
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gathers up in the sacred story. We have here those whose names are not
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only mentioned, but the particular trials and actings of their faith
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are subjoined.</P>
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<P>
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I. The leading instance and example of faith here recorded is that of
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Abel. It is observable that the Spirit of God has not thought fit to
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say any thing here of the faith of our first parents; and yet the
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church of God has generally, by a pious charity, taken it for granted
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that God gave them repentance and faith in the promised seed, that he
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instructed them in the mystery of sacrificing, that they instructed
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their children in it, and that they found mercy with God, after they
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had ruined themselves and all their posterity. But God has left the
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matter still under some doubt, as a warning to all who have great
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talents given to them, and a great trust reposed in them, that they do
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not prove unfaithful, since God would not enroll our first parents
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among the number of believers in this blessed calendar. It begins with
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Abel, one of the first saints, and the first martyr for religion, of
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all the sons of Adam, one who lived by faith, and died for it, and
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therefore a fit pattern for the Hebrews to imitate. Observe,</P>
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<P>
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1. What Abel did by faith: <I>He offered up a more acceptable sacrifice
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than Cain,</I> a more full and perfect sacrifice, <B><I>pleiona
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thysian.</I></B> Hence learn,
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(1.) That, after the fall, God opened a new way for the children of men
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to return to him in religious worship. This is one of the first
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instances that is upon record of fallen men going in to worship God;
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and it was a wonder of mercy that all intercourse between God and man
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was not cut off by the fall.
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(2.) After the fall, God must be worshipped by sacrifices, a way of
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worship which carries in it a confession of sin, and of the desert of
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sin, and a profession of faith in a Redeemer, who was to be a ransom
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for the souls of men.
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(3.) That, from the beginning, there has been a remarkable difference
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between the worshippers. Here were two persons, brethren, both of whom
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went in to worship God, and yet there was a vast difference. Cain was
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the elder brother, but Abel has the preference. It is not seniority of
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birth, but grace, that makes men truly honourable. The difference is
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observable in their persons: Abel was an upright person, a righteous
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man, a true believer; Cain was a formalist, had not a principle of
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special grace. It is observable in their principles: Abel acted under
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the power of faith; Cain only from the force of education, or natural
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conscience. There was also a very observable difference in their
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offerings: Abel brought a sacrifice of atonement, <I>brought of the
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firstlings of the flock,</I> acknowledging himself to be a sinner who
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deserved to die, and only hoping for mercy through <I>the great
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sacrifice;</I> Cain brought only a sacrifice of acknowledgment, a mere
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thank-offering, <I>the fruit of the ground,</I> which might, and
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perhaps must, have been offered in innocency; here was no confession of
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sin, no regard to the ransom; this was an essential defect in Cain's
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offering. There will always be a difference between those who worship
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the true God; some will compass him about with lies, others will be
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faithful with the saints; some, like the Pharisee, will lean to their
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own righteousness; others, like the publican, will confess their sin,
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and cast themselves upon the mercy of God in Christ.</P>
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<P>
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2. What Abel gained by his faith: the original record is in
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:4">Gen. iv. 4</A>,
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<I>God had respect to Abel, and to his offering;</I> first to his
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person as gracious, then to his offering as proceeding from grace,
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especially from the grace of faith. In this place we are told that he
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obtained by his faith some special advantages; as,
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(1.) <I>Witness that he was righteous,</I> a justified, sanctified, and
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accepted person; this, very probably, was attested by fire from heaven,
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kindling and consuming his sacrifice.
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(2.) God gave witness to the righteousness of his person, by testifying
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his acceptance of his gifts. When the fire, an emblem of God's
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justice, consumed the offering, it was a sign that the mercy of God
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accepted the offerer for the sake of the great sacrifice.
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(3.) <I>By it he, being dead, yet speaketh.</I> He had the honour to
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leave behind him an instructive speaking case; and what does it speak
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to us? What should we learn from it?
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[1.] That fallen man has leave to go in to worship God, with hope of
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acceptance.
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[2.] That, if our persons and offerings be accepted, it must be through
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faith in the Messiah.
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[3.] That acceptance with God is a peculiar and distinguishing favour.
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[4.] That those who obtain this favour from God must expect the envy
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and malice of the world.
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[5.] That God will not suffer the injuries done to his people to remain
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unpunished, nor their sufferings unrewarded. These are very good and
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useful instructions, and yet <I>the blood of sprinkling speaketh better
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things than that of Abel.</I>
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[6.] That God would not suffer Abel's faith to die with him, but would
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raise up others, who should obtain like precious faith; and so he did
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in a little time; for in the next verse we read,</P>
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|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Of the faith of Enoch,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
He is the second of those elders that through faith have a good report.
|
|
Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. What is here reported of him. In this place (and in
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+5:22">Gen. v. 22</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c.) we read,
|
|
|
|
(1.) <I>That he walked with God,</I> that is, that he was really,
|
|
eminently, actively, progressively, and perseveringly religious in his
|
|
conformity to God, communion with God, and complacency in God.
|
|
|
|
(2.) <I>That he was translated, that he should not see death,</I> nor
|
|
any part of him be found upon earth; for God took him, soul and body,
|
|
into heaven, as he will do those of the saints who shall be found alive
|
|
at his second coming.
|
|
|
|
(3.) <I>That before his translation he had this testimony, that he
|
|
pleased God.</I> He had the evidence of it in his own conscience, and
|
|
the Spirit of God witnessed with his spirit. Those who by faith walk
|
|
with God in a sinful world are pleasing to him, and he will give them
|
|
marks of his favour, and put honour upon them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. What is here said of his faith,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is said that <I>without</I> this <I>faith it is impossible to please
|
|
God,</I> without such a faith as helps us to walk with God, an active
|
|
faith, and that we cannot come to God unless we <I>believe that he is,
|
|
and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him.</I>
|
|
|
|
(1.) He must believe that God is, and that he is what he is, what he
|
|
has revealed himself to be in the scripture, a Being of infinite
|
|
perfections, subsisting in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
|
|
Observe, The practical belief of the existence of God, as revealed in
|
|
the word, would be a powerful awe-band upon our souls, a bridle of
|
|
restraint to keep us from sin, and a spur of constraint to put us upon
|
|
all manner of gospel obedience.
|
|
|
|
(2.) <I>That he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him.</I>
|
|
Here observe,
|
|
|
|
[1.] By the fall we have lost God; we have lost the divine light, life,
|
|
love, likeness, and communion.
|
|
|
|
[2.] God is again to be found of us through Christ, the second Adam.
|
|
|
|
[3.] God has prescribed means and ways wherein he may be found; to
|
|
with, a strict attention to his oracles, attendance on his ordinances,
|
|
and ministers duly discharging their office and associating with his
|
|
people, observing his providential guidance, and in all things humbly
|
|
waiting his gracious presence.
|
|
|
|
[4.] Those who would find God in these ways of his must <I>seek him
|
|
diligently;</I> they must seek early, earnestly, and perseveringly.
|
|
<I>Then shall they seek him, and find him, if they seek him with all
|
|
their heart;</I> and when once they have found him, as their reconciled
|
|
God, they will never repent the pains they have spent in seeking after
|
|
him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The faith of Noah,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The ground of Noah's faith--a warning he had received from God of
|
|
things as yet not seen. He had a divine revelation, whether by voice or
|
|
vision does not appear; but it was such as carried in it its own
|
|
evidence; he was <I>forewarned of things not seen as yet,</I> that is,
|
|
of a great and severe judgment, such as the world had never yet seen,
|
|
and of which, in the course of second causes, there was not yet the
|
|
least sign. This secret warning he was to communicate to the world, who
|
|
would be sure to despise both him and his message. God usually warns
|
|
sinners before he strikes; and, where his warnings are slighted, the
|
|
blow will fall the heavier.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The actings of Noah's faith, and the influence it had both upon his
|
|
mind and practice.
|
|
|
|
(1.) Upon his mind; it impressed his soul with a fear of God's
|
|
judgment: he was <I>moved with fear.</I> Faith first influences our
|
|
affections, then our actions; and faith works upon those affections
|
|
that are suitable to the matter revealed. If it be some good thing,
|
|
faith stirs up love and desire; if some evil thing, faith stirs up
|
|
fear.
|
|
|
|
(2.) His faith influenced his practice. His fear, thus excited by
|
|
believing God's threatening, moved him to prepare an ark, in which, no
|
|
doubt, he met with the scorns and reproaches of a wicked generation.
|
|
He did not dispute with God why he should make an ark, nor how it could
|
|
be capable of containing what was to be lodged in it, nor how such a
|
|
vessel could possibly weather out so great a storm. His faith silenced
|
|
all objections, and set him to work in earnest.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The blessed fruits and rewards of Noah's faith.
|
|
|
|
(1.) Hereby himself and his house were saved, when a whole world of
|
|
sinners were perishing about them. God saved his family for his sake;
|
|
it was well for them that they were Noah's sons and daughters; it was
|
|
well for those women that they married into Noah's family; perhaps they
|
|
might have married to great estates in other families, but then they
|
|
would have been drowned. We often say, "It is good to be akin to an
|
|
estate;" but surely it is good to be akin to the covenant.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Hereby he judged and condemned the world; his holy fear condemned
|
|
their security and vain confidence; his faith condemned their unbelief;
|
|
his obedience condemned their contempt and rebellion. Good examples
|
|
will either convert sinners or condemn them. There is something very
|
|
convincing in a life of strict holiness and regard to God; it commends
|
|
itself to every man's conscience in the sight of God, and they are
|
|
judged by it. This is the best way the people of God can take to
|
|
condemn the wicked; not by harsh and censorious language, but by a holy
|
|
exemplary conversation.
|
|
|
|
(3.) Hereby <I>he became an heir of the righteousness which is by
|
|
faith.</I>
|
|
|
|
[1.] He was possessed of a true justifying righteousness; he was
|
|
<I>heir to it:</I> and,
|
|
|
|
[2.] This his right of inheritance was through faith in Christ, as <I>a
|
|
member of Christ, a child of God,</I> and, if a child, then an heir.
|
|
His righteousness was relative, resulting from his adoption, through
|
|
faith in the promised seed. As ever we expect to be justified and saved
|
|
<I>in the great and terrible day of the Lord,</I> let us now prepare an
|
|
ark, secure an interest in Christ, and in the ark of the covenant, and
|
|
do it speedily, before the door be shut, for there is not salvation in
|
|
any other.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. The faith of Abraham, the friend of God, and father of the
|
|
faithful, in whom the Hebrews boasted, and from whom they derived their
|
|
pedigree and privileges; and therefore the apostle, that he might both
|
|
please and profit them, enlarges more upon the heroic achievements of
|
|
Abraham's faith than of that of any other of the patriarchs; and in the
|
|
midst of his account of the faith of Abraham he inserts the story of
|
|
Sarah's faith, whose daughters those women are that continue to do
|
|
well. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The ground of Abraham's faith, the call and promise of God,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
(1.) This call, though it was a very trying call, was the call of God,
|
|
and therefore a sufficient ground for faith and rule of obedience. The
|
|
manner in which he was called Stephen relates in
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+7:2,3">Acts vii. 2, 3</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in
|
|
Mesopotamia--And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from
|
|
thy kindred, and come into the land which I will show thee.</I> This
|
|
was an effectual call, by which he was converted from the idolatry of
|
|
his father's house,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+12:1">Gen. xii. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
This call was renewed after his father's death in Charran. Observe,
|
|
|
|
[1.] The grace of God is absolutely free, in taking some of the worst
|
|
of men, and making them the best.
|
|
|
|
[2.] God must come to us before we come to him.
|
|
|
|
[3.] In calling and converting sinners, God appears as a God of glory,
|
|
and works a glorious work in the soul.
|
|
|
|
[4.] This calls us not only to leave sin, but sinful company, and
|
|
whatever is inconsistent with our devotedness to him.
|
|
|
|
[5.] We need to be called, not only to set out well, but to go on well.
|
|
|
|
[6.] He will not have his people take up that rest any where short of
|
|
the heavenly Canaan.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The promise of God. God promised Abraham that the place he was
|
|
called to he should afterwards receive for an inheritance, after awhile
|
|
he should have the heavenly Canaan for his inheritance, and in process
|
|
of time his posterity should inherit the earthly Canaan. Observe here,
|
|
|
|
[1.] God calls his people to an inheritance: by his effectual call he
|
|
makes them children, and so heirs.
|
|
|
|
[2.] This inheritance is not immediately possessed by them; they must
|
|
wait some time for it: but the promise is sure, and shall have its
|
|
seasonable accomplishment.
|
|
|
|
[3.] The faith of parents often procures blessings for their
|
|
posterity.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The exercise of Abraham's faith: he yielded an implicit regard to
|
|
the call of God.
|
|
|
|
(1.) <I>He went out, not knowing whither he went.</I> He put himself
|
|
into the hand of God, to send him whithersoever he pleased. He
|
|
subscribed to God's wisdom, as fittest to direct; and submitted to his
|
|
will, as fittest to determine every thing that concerned him. Implicit
|
|
faith and obedience are due to God, and to him only. All that are
|
|
effectually called resign up their own will and wisdom to the will and
|
|
wisdom of God, and it is their wisdom to do so; though they know not
|
|
always their way, yet they know their guide, and this satisfies them.
|
|
|
|
(2.) <I>He sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange
|
|
country.</I> This was an exercise of his faith. Observe,
|
|
|
|
[1.] How Canaan is called the land of promise, because yet only
|
|
promised, not possessed.
|
|
|
|
[2.] How Abraham lived in Canaan, not as heir and proprietor, but as a
|
|
sojourner only. He did not serve an ejectment, or raise a war against
|
|
the old inhabitants, to dispossess them, but contented himself to live
|
|
as a stranger, to bear their unkindnesses patiently, to receive any
|
|
favours from them thankfully, and to keep his heart fixed upon his
|
|
home, the heavenly Canaan.
|
|
|
|
[3.] He dwelt in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of
|
|
the same promise. He lived there in an ambulatory moving condition,
|
|
living in a daily readiness for his removal: and thus should we all
|
|
live in this world. He had good company with him, and they were a
|
|
great comfort to him in his sojourning state. Abraham lived till Isaac
|
|
was seventy-five years old, and Jacob fifteen. Isaac and Jacob were
|
|
heirs of the same promise; for the promise was renewed to Isaac
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+26:3">Gen. xxvi. 3</A>),
|
|
|
|
and to Jacob,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+28:13">Gen. xxviii. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
All the saints are heirs of the same promise. The promise is made to
|
|
believers and their children, and to as many as the Lord our God shall
|
|
call. And it is pleasant to see parents and children sojourning
|
|
together in this world as heirs of the heavenly inheritance.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The supports of Abraham's faith
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He looked for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker
|
|
is God.</I> Observe here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The description given of heaven: it is a city, a regular society,
|
|
well established, well defended, and well supplied: it is a city that
|
|
hath foundations, even the immutable purposes and almighty power of
|
|
God, the infinite merits and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
|
|
promises of an everlasting covenant, its own purity, and the perfection
|
|
of its inhabitants: and it is a city whose builder and maker is God. He
|
|
contrived the model; he accordingly made it, and he has laid open a new
|
|
and living way into it, and prepared it for his people; he puts them
|
|
into possession of it, prefers them in it, and is himself the substance
|
|
and felicity of it.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Observe the due regard that Abraham had to this heavenly city: he
|
|
looked for it; he believed there was such a state; he waited for it,
|
|
and in the mean time he conversed in it by faith; he had exalted and
|
|
rejoicing hopes, that in God's time and way he should be brought safely
|
|
to it.
|
|
|
|
(3.) The influence this had upon his present conversation: it was a
|
|
support to him under all the trials of his sojourning state, helped him
|
|
patiently to bear all the inconveniences of it, and actively to
|
|
discharge all the duties of it, persevering therein unto the end.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. In the midst of the story of Abraham, the apostle inserts an account
|
|
of the faith of Sarah. Here observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The difficulties of Sarah's faith, which were very great. As,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The prevalency of unbelief for a time: she laughed at the promise,
|
|
as impossible to be made good.
|
|
|
|
(2.) She had gone out of the way of her duty through unbelief, in
|
|
putting Abraham upon taking Hagar to his bed, that he might have a
|
|
posterity. Now this sin of hers would make it more difficult for her to
|
|
act by faith afterwards.
|
|
|
|
(3.) The great improbability of the thing promised, that she should be
|
|
the mother of a child, when she was of sterile constitution naturally,
|
|
and now past the prolific age.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The actings of her faith. Her unbelief is pardoned and forgotten,
|
|
but her faith prevailed and is recorded: <I>She judged him faithful,
|
|
who had promised,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
She received the promise as the promise of God; and, being convinced of
|
|
that, she truly judged he both could and would perform it, how
|
|
impossible soever it might seem to reason; for the faithfulness of God
|
|
will not suffer him to deceive his people.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The fruits and rewards of her faith.
|
|
|
|
(1.) <I>She received strength to conceive seed.</I> The strength of
|
|
nature, as well as grace, is from God: he can make the barren soul
|
|
fruitful, as well as the barren womb.
|
|
|
|
(2.) <I>She was delivered of a child,</I> a man-child, a child of the
|
|
promise, and comfort of his parents' advanced years, and the hope of
|
|
future ages.
|
|
|
|
(3.) From them, by this son, sprang a numerous progeny of illustrious
|
|
persons, <I>as the stars of the sky</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>)--
|
|
|
|
a great, powerful, and renowned nation, above all the rest in the
|
|
world; and a nation of saints, the peculiar church and people of God;
|
|
and, which was the highest honour and reward of all, <I>of these,
|
|
according to the flesh, the Messiah came, who is over all, God blessed
|
|
for evermore.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VI. The apostle proceeds to make mention of the faith of the other
|
|
patriarchs, Isaac and Jacob, and the rest of this happy family,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
Here observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The trial of their faith in the imperfection of their present state.
|
|
They had not received the promises, that is, they had not received the
|
|
things promised, they had not yet been put into possession of Canaan,
|
|
they had not yet seen their numerous issue, they had not seen Christ in
|
|
the flesh. Observe,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Many that are interested in the promises do not presently receive
|
|
the things promised.
|
|
|
|
(2.) One imperfection of the present state of the saints on earth is
|
|
that their happiness lies more in promise and reversion than in actual
|
|
enjoyment and possession. The gospel state is more perfect than the
|
|
patriarchal, because more of the promises are now fulfilled. The
|
|
heavenly state will be most perfect of all; for there all the promises
|
|
will have their full accomplishment.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The actings of their faith during this imperfect state of things.
|
|
Though they had not received the promises, yet,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) They saw them afar off. Faith has a clear and a strong eye, and
|
|
can see promised mercies at a great distance. Abraham saw Christ's day,
|
|
when it was afar off, and rejoiced,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+8:56">John viii. 56</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) They were persuaded of them, that they were true and should be
|
|
fulfilled. Faith sets to its seal that God is true, and thereby settles
|
|
and satisfies the soul.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) They embraced them. Their faith was a faith of consent. Faith has
|
|
a long arm, and can lay hold of blessings at a great distance, can make
|
|
them present, can love them, and rejoice in them; and thus antedate the
|
|
enjoyment of them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(4.) They <I>confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on
|
|
earth.</I> Observe,
|
|
|
|
[1.] Their condition: <I>Strangers and pilgrims.</I> They are strangers
|
|
as saints, whose home is heaven; they are pilgrims as they are
|
|
travelling towards their home, though often meanly and slowly.
|
|
|
|
[2.] Their acknowledgment of this their condition: they were not
|
|
ashamed to own it; both their lips and their lives confessed their
|
|
present condition. They expected little from the world. They cared not
|
|
to engage much in it. They endeavoured to lay aside every weight, to
|
|
gird up the loins of their minds to mind their way, to keep company and
|
|
pace with their fellow-travellers, looking for difficulties, and
|
|
bearing them, and longing to get home.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(5.) Hereby they declared plainly that they sought another country
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
heaven, their own country. For their spiritual birth is thence, there
|
|
are their best relations, and there is their inheritance. This country
|
|
they seek: their designs are for it; their desires are after it; their
|
|
discourse is about it; they diligently endeavour to clear up their
|
|
title to it, to have their temper suited to it, to have their
|
|
conversation in it, and to come to the enjoyment of it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(6.) They gave full proof of their sincerity in making such a
|
|
confession. For,
|
|
|
|
[1.] They were not mindful of that country whence they came,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
They did not hanker after the plenty and pleasures of it, nor regret
|
|
and repent that they had left it; they had no desire to return to it.
|
|
Note, Those that are once effectually and savingly called out of a
|
|
sinful state have no mind to return into it again; they now know better
|
|
things.
|
|
|
|
[2.] They did not take the opportunity that offered itself for their
|
|
return. They might have had such an opportunity. They had time enough
|
|
to return. They had natural strength to return. They knew the way.
|
|
Those with whom they sojourned would have been willing enough to part
|
|
with them. Their old friends would have been glad to receive them. They
|
|
had sufficient to bear the charges of their journey; and flesh and
|
|
blood, a corrupt counsellor, would be sometimes suggesting to them a
|
|
return. But they stedfastly adhered to God and duty under all
|
|
discouragements and against all temptations to revolt from him. So
|
|
should we all do. We shall not want opportunities to revolt from God;
|
|
but we must show the truth of our faith and profession by a steady
|
|
adherence to him to the end of our days. Their sincerity appeared not
|
|
only in not returning to their former country, but in desiring a better
|
|
country, that is, a heavenly. Observe, <I>First,</I> The heavenly
|
|
country is better than any upon earth; it is better situated, better
|
|
stored with every thing that is good, better secured from every thing
|
|
that is evil; the employments, the enjoyments, the society, and every
|
|
thing in it, are better than the best in this world. <I>Secondly,</I>
|
|
All true believers desire this better country. True faith draws forth
|
|
sincere and fervent desires; and the stronger faith is the more fervent
|
|
those desires will be.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(7.) They died in the faith of those promises; not only lived by the
|
|
faith of them, but died in the full persuasion that all the promises
|
|
would be fulfilled to them and theirs,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
That faith held out to the last. By faith, when they were dying, they
|
|
received the atonement; they acquiesced in the will of God; they
|
|
quenched all the fiery darts of the devil; they overcame the terrors of
|
|
death, disarmed it of its sting, and bade a cheerful farewell to this
|
|
world and to all the comforts and crosses of it. These were the actings
|
|
of their faith. Now observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The gracious and great reward of their faith: <I>God is not ashamed
|
|
to be their God, for he hath prepared for them a city,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note,
|
|
|
|
(1.) God is the God of all true believers; faith gives them an interest
|
|
in God, and in all his fullness.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He is called their God. He calls himself so: <I>I am the God of
|
|
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;</I> he gives them
|
|
leave to call him so; and he gives them the spirit of adoption, to
|
|
enable them to cry, <I>Abba, Father.</I>
|
|
|
|
(3.) Notwithstanding their meanness by nature, their vileness by sin,
|
|
and the poverty of their outward condition, God is not ashamed to be
|
|
called <I>their God:</I> such is his condescension, such is his love to
|
|
them; therefore let them never be ashamed of being called his people,
|
|
nor of any of those that are truly so, how much soever despised in the
|
|
world. Above all, let them take care that they be not a shame and
|
|
reproach to their God, and so provoke him to be ashamed of them; but
|
|
let them act so as to be to him for a name, and for a praise, and for a
|
|
glory.
|
|
|
|
(4.) As the proof of this, God has prepared for them a city, a
|
|
happiness suitable to the relation into which he has taken them. For
|
|
there is nothing in this world commensurate to the love of God in being
|
|
the God of his people; and, if God neither could nor would give his
|
|
people anything better than this world affords, he would be ashamed to
|
|
be called their God. If he takes them into such a relation to himself,
|
|
he will provide for them accordingly. If he takes them into such a
|
|
relation to himself, he will provide for them accordingly. If he takes
|
|
to himself the title of their God, he will fully answer it, and act up
|
|
to it; and he has prepared that for them in heaven which will fully
|
|
answer this character and relation, so that it shall never be said, to
|
|
the reproach and dishonour of God, that he has adopted a people to be
|
|
his own children and then taken no care to make a suitable provision
|
|
for them. The consideration of this should inflame the affections,
|
|
enlarge the desires, and excite the diligent endeavours, of the people
|
|
of God after this city that he has prepared for them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VII. Now after the apostle has given this account of the faith of
|
|
others, with Abraham, he returns to him again, and gives us an instance
|
|
of the greatest trial and act of faith that stands upon record, either
|
|
in the story of the father of the faithful or of any of his spiritual
|
|
seed; and this was his offering up Isaac: <I>By faith Abraham, when he
|
|
was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises
|
|
offered up his only-begotten son,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
In this great example observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The trial and exercise of Abraham's faith; he was tried indeed. It
|
|
is said
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+22:1">Gen. xxii. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>God in this tempted Abraham;</I> not to sin, for so God tempteth no
|
|
man, but only tried his faith and obedience to purpose. God had before
|
|
this tempted or tried the faith of Abraham, when he called him away
|
|
from his country and father's house,--when by a famine he was forced
|
|
out of Canaan into Egypt,--when he was obliged to fight with five kings
|
|
to rescue Lot,--when Sarah was taken from him by Abimelech, and in many
|
|
other instances. But this trial was greater than all; he was commanded
|
|
to offer up his son Isaac. Read the account of it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+22:2">Gen. xxii. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
There you will find every word was a trial: "<I>Take now thy son, thine
|
|
only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah,
|
|
and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains
|
|
which I will tell thee of.</I> Take thy son, not one of thy beasts or
|
|
slaves, thy only son by Sarah, Isaac thy laughter, the child of thy joy
|
|
and delight, whom thou lovest as thine own soul; take him away to a
|
|
distant place, three days' journey, the land of Moriah; do not only
|
|
leave him there, but offer him for a burnt offering." A greater trial
|
|
was never put upon any creature. The apostle here mentions some things
|
|
that very much added to the greatness of this trial.
|
|
|
|
(1.) He was put upon it after he had received the promises, that this
|
|
Isaac should build up his family, that in him his seed should be called
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
and that he should be one of the progenitors of the Messiah, and all
|
|
nations blessed in him; so that, in being called to offer up his Isaac,
|
|
he seemed to be called to destroy and cut off his own family, to cancel
|
|
the promises of God, to prevent the coming of Christ, to destroy the
|
|
whole world, to sacrifice his own soul and his hopes of salvation, and
|
|
to cut off the church of God at one blow: a most terrible trial!
|
|
|
|
(2.) That this Isaac was his only-begotten son by his wife Sarah, the
|
|
only one he was to have by her, and the only one that was to be the
|
|
child and heir of the promise. Ishmael was to be put off with earthly
|
|
greatness. The promise of a posterity, and of the Messiah, must either
|
|
be fulfilled by means of this son or not at all; so that, besides his
|
|
most tender affection to this his son, all his expectations were bound
|
|
up in him, and, if he perished, must perish with him. If Abraham had
|
|
ever so many sons, this was the only son who could convey to all
|
|
nations the promised blessing. A son for whom he waited so long, whom
|
|
he received in so extraordinary a manner, upon whom his heart was
|
|
set--to have this son offered up as a sacrifice, and that by his own
|
|
hand; it was a trial that would have overset the firmest and the
|
|
strongest mind that ever informed a human body.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The actings of Abraham's faith in so great a trial: he obeyed; he
|
|
offered up Isaac; he intentionally gave him up by his submissive soul
|
|
to God, and was ready to have done it actually, according to the
|
|
command of God; he went as far in it as to the very critical moment,
|
|
and would have gone through with it if God had not prevented him.
|
|
Nothing could be more tender and moving than those words of Isaac:
|
|
<I>My father, here is the wood, here is the fire; but where is the lamb
|
|
for the burnt-offering?</I> little thinking that he was to be the lamb;
|
|
but Abraham knew it, and yet he went on with the great design.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The supports of his faith. They must be very great, suitable to the
|
|
greatness of the trial: <I>He accounted that God was able to raise him
|
|
from the dead,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
His faith was supported by the sense he had of the mighty power of God,
|
|
who was able to raise the dead; he reasoned thus with himself, and so
|
|
he resolved all his doubts. It does not appear that he had any
|
|
expectation of being countermanded, and prevented from offering up his
|
|
son; such an expectation would have spoiled the trial, and consequently
|
|
the triumph, of his faith; but he knew that God was able to raise him
|
|
from the dead, and he believed that God would do so, since such great
|
|
things depended upon his son, which must have failed if Isaac had not a
|
|
further life. Observe,
|
|
|
|
(1.) God is able to raise the dead, to raise dead bodies, and to raise
|
|
dead souls.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The belief of this will carry us through the greatest difficulties
|
|
and trials that we can meet with.
|
|
|
|
(3.) It is our duty to be reasoning down our doubts and fears, by the
|
|
consideration of the almighty power of God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. The reward of his faith in this great trial
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>):
|
|
|
|
he received his son from the dead in a figure, in a parable.
|
|
|
|
(1.) He received his son. He had parted with him to God, and God gave
|
|
him back again. The best way to enjoy our comforts with comfort is to
|
|
resign them up to God; he will then return them, if not in kind, yet in
|
|
kindness.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He received him from the dead, for he gave him up for dead; he was
|
|
as a dead child to him, and the return was to him no less than a
|
|
resurrection.
|
|
|
|
(3.) This was a figure or parable of something further. It was a
|
|
figure of the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ, of whom Isaac was a
|
|
type. It was a figure and earnest of the glorious resurrection of all
|
|
true believers, whose life is not lost, but hid with Christ in God. We
|
|
come now to the faith of other Old-Testament saints, mentioned by name,
|
|
and by the particular trials and actings of their faith.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VIII. Of the faith of Isaac,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
Something of him we had before interwoven with the story of Abraham;
|
|
here we have something of a distinct nature--that by faith he blessed
|
|
his two sons, Jacob and Esau, <I>concerning things to come.</I> Here
|
|
observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The actings of his faith: He <I>blessed Jacob and Esau concerning
|
|
things to come.</I> He blessed them; that is, he resigned them up to
|
|
God in covenant; he recommended God and religion to them; he prayed for
|
|
them, and prophesied concerning them, what would be the condition, and
|
|
the condition of their descendants: we have the account of this in
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+27:1-46">Gen. xxvii</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Both Jacob and Esau were blessed as Isaac's children, at least as
|
|
to temporal good things. It is a great privilege to be the offspring of
|
|
good parents, and often the wicked children of good parents fare the
|
|
better in this world for their parents' sake, for things present are in
|
|
the covenant; but they are not the best things, and no man knoweth love
|
|
or hatred by having or wanting such things.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Jacob had the precedency and the principal blessing, which shows
|
|
that it is grace and the new birth that exalt persons above their
|
|
fellows and qualify them for the best blessings, and that it is owing
|
|
to the sovereign free grace of God that in the same family one is taken
|
|
and another left, one loved and the other hated, since all the race of
|
|
Adam are by nature hateful to God--that if one has his portion in this
|
|
world, and the other in the better world, it is God who makes the
|
|
difference; for even the comforts of this life are more and better than
|
|
any of the children of men deserve.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The difficulties Isaac's faith struggled with.
|
|
|
|
(1.) He seemed to have forgotten how God had determined the matter at
|
|
the birth of these his sons,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+25:23">Gen. xxv. 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
This should have been a rule to him all along, but he was rather swayed
|
|
by natural affection, and by general custom, which gives the double
|
|
portion of honour, affection, and advantage, to the first-born.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He acted in this matter with some reluctance. When he came to
|
|
pronounce the blessing, <I>he trembled very exceedingly</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+27:33">Gen. xxvii. 33</A>);
|
|
|
|
and he charged Jacob that he had subtly taken away Esau's blessing,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+27:33,35"><I>v.</I> 33, 35</A>.
|
|
|
|
But, notwithstanding all this, Isaac's faith recovered itself, and he
|
|
ratified the blessing: <I>I have blessed him yea, and he shall be
|
|
blessed.</I> Rebecca and Jacob are not to be justified in the indirect
|
|
means they used to obtain this blessing, but God will be justified in
|
|
overruling even the sins of men to serve the purposes of his glory.
|
|
Now, the faith of Isaac thus prevailing over his unbelief, it has
|
|
pleased the God of Isaac to pass by the weakness of his faith, to
|
|
commend the sincerity of it, and record him among the elders, <I>who
|
|
through faith have obtained a good report.</I> We now go on to,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IX. The faith of Jacob
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
who, <I>when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, and
|
|
worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.</I> There were a great
|
|
many instances of the faith of Jacob; his life was a life of faith, and
|
|
his faith met with great exercise. But it has pleased God to single two
|
|
instances out of many of the faith of this patriarch, besides what has
|
|
been already mentioned in the account of Abraham. Here observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The actings of his faith here mentioned, and they are two:--</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) <I>He blessed both the sons of Joseph,</I> Ephraim and Manasseh;
|
|
he adopted them into the number of his own sons, and so into the
|
|
congregation of Israel, though they were born in Egypt. It is doubtless
|
|
a great blessing to be joined to the visible church of God in
|
|
profession and privilege, but more to be so in spirit and truth.
|
|
|
|
[1.] He made them both heads of different tribes, as if they had been
|
|
his own immediate sons.
|
|
|
|
[2.] He prayed for them, that they might both be blessed of God.
|
|
|
|
[3.] He prophesied that they should be blessed; but, as Isaac did
|
|
before, so now Jacob prefers the younger, Ephraim; and though Joseph
|
|
had placed them so, that the right hand of his father should be laid on
|
|
Manasseh, the elder, Jacob wittingly laid it on Ephraim, and this by
|
|
divine direction, for he could not see, to show that the Gentile
|
|
church, the younger, should have a more abundant blessing than the
|
|
Jewish church, the elder.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) <I>He worshipped, leaning on his staff;</I> that is, he praised
|
|
God for what he had done for him, and for the prospect he had of
|
|
approaching blessedness; and he prayed for those he was leaving behind
|
|
him, that religion might live in his family when he was gone. He did
|
|
this <I>leaning on the top of his staff;</I> not as the papists dream,
|
|
that he worshipped some image of God engraven on the head of his staff,
|
|
but intimating to us his great natural weakness, that he was not able
|
|
to support himself so far as to sit up in his bed without a staff, and
|
|
yet that he would not make this an excuse for neglecting the
|
|
worshipping of God; he would do it as well as he could with his body,
|
|
as well as with his spirit, though he could not do it as well as he
|
|
would. He showed thereby his dependence upon God, and testified his
|
|
condition here as a pilgrim with his staff, and his weariness of the
|
|
world, and willingness to be at rest.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The time and season when Jacob thus acted his faith: when he was
|
|
dying. He lived by faith, and he died by faith and in faith. Observe,
|
|
Though the grace of faith is of universal use throughout our whole
|
|
lives, yet it is especially so when we come to die. Faith has its
|
|
greatest work to do at last, to help believers to finish well, to die
|
|
to the Lord, so as to honour him, by patience, hope, and joy--so as to
|
|
leave a witness behind them of the truth of God's word and the
|
|
excellency of his ways, for the conviction and establishment of all who
|
|
attend them in their dying moments. The best way in which parents can
|
|
finish their course is blessing their families and worshipping their
|
|
God. We have now come to,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
X. The faith of Joseph,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
And here also we consider,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. What he did by his faith: <I>He made mention of the departing of the
|
|
children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones.</I> The
|
|
passage is out of
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+50:24,25">Gen. l. 24, 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
Joseph was eminent for his faith, though he had not enjoyed the helps
|
|
for it which the rest of his brethren had. He was sold into Egypt. He
|
|
was tried by temptations, by sin, by persecution, for retaining his
|
|
integrity. He was tried by preferment and power in the court of
|
|
Pharaoh, and yet his faith held out and carried him through to the
|
|
last.
|
|
|
|
(1.) He made mention by faith of the departing of the children of
|
|
Israel, that the time should come when they should be delivered out of
|
|
Egypt; and he did this both that he might caution them against the
|
|
thoughts of settling in Egypt, which was now a place of plenty and ease
|
|
to them; and also that he might keep them from sinking under the
|
|
calamities and distresses which he foresaw were coming upon them there;
|
|
and he does it to comfort himself, that though he should not live to
|
|
see their deliverance, yet he could die in the faith of it.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He gave commandment concerning his bones, that they should
|
|
preserve them unburied in Egypt, till God should deliver them out of
|
|
that house of bondage, and that then they should carry his bones along
|
|
with them into Canaan and deposit them there. Though believers are
|
|
chiefly concerned for their souls, yet they cannot wholly neglect their
|
|
bodies, as being members of Christ and parts of themselves, which shall
|
|
at length be raised up, and be the happy companions of their glorified
|
|
souls to all eternity. Now Joseph gave this order, not that he thought
|
|
his being buried in Egypt would either prejudice his soul or prevent
|
|
the resurrection of his body (as some of the rabbis fancied that all
|
|
the Jews who were buried out of Canaan must be conveyed underground to
|
|
Canaan before they could rise again), but to testify,
|
|
|
|
[1.] That though he had lived and died in Egypt, yet he did not live
|
|
and die an Egyptian, but an Israelite.
|
|
|
|
[2.] That he preferred a significant burial in Canaan before a
|
|
magnificent one in Egypt.
|
|
|
|
[3.] That he would go as far with his people as he could, though he
|
|
could not go as far as he would.
|
|
|
|
[4.] That he believed the resurrection of the body, and the communion
|
|
that his soul should presently have with departed saints, as his body
|
|
had with their dead bodies.
|
|
|
|
[5.] To assure them that God would be with them in Egypt, and deliver
|
|
them out of it in his own time and way.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. When it was that the faith of Joseph acted after this manner;
|
|
namely, as in the case of Jacob, when he was dying. God often gives his
|
|
people living comforts in dying moments; and when he does it is their
|
|
duty, as they can, to communicate them to those about them, for the
|
|
glory of God, for the honour of religion, and for the good of their
|
|
brethren and friends. We go on now to,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
XI. The faith of the parents of Moses, which is cited from
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:3">Exod. ii. 3</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c. Here observe,
|
|
|
|
1. The acting of their faith: they hid this their son three months.
|
|
Though only the mother of Moses is mentioned in the history, yet, by
|
|
what is here said, it seems his father not only consented to it, but
|
|
consulted about it. It is a happy thing where yoke-fellows draw
|
|
together in the yoke of faith, as heirs of the grace of God; and when
|
|
they do this in a religious concern for the good of their children, to
|
|
preserve them not only from those who would destroy their lives, but
|
|
from those who would corrupt their minds. Observe, Moses was persecuted
|
|
betimes, and forced to be concealed; in this he was a type of Christ,
|
|
who was persecuted almost as soon as he was born, and his parents were
|
|
obliged to flee with him into Egypt for his preservation. It is a great
|
|
mercy to be free from wicked laws and edicts; but, when we are not, we
|
|
must use all lawful means for our security. In this faith of Moses's
|
|
parents there was a mixture of unbelief, but God was pleased to
|
|
overlook it.
|
|
|
|
2. The reasons of their thus acting. No doubt, natural affection could
|
|
not but move them; but there was something further. They <I>saw he was
|
|
a proper child, a goodly child</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:2">Exod. ii. 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>exceedingly fair,</I> as in
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+7:20">Acts vii. 20</A>,
|
|
|
|
<B><I>asteios to Theo</I></B>--<I>venustus Deo</I>--<I>fair to God.</I>
|
|
There appeared in him something uncommon; the beauty of the Lord sat
|
|
upon him, as a presage that he was born to great things, and that by
|
|
conversing with God his face should shine
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+34:29">Exod. xxxiv. 29</A>),
|
|
|
|
what bright and illustrious actions he should do for the deliverance of
|
|
Israel, and how his name should shine in the sacred records. Sometimes,
|
|
not always, the countenance is the index of the mind.
|
|
|
|
3. The prevalency of their faith over their fear. They were not afraid
|
|
of the king's commandment,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+1:22">Exod. i. 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
That was a wicked and a cruel edict, that all the males of the
|
|
Israelites should be destroyed in their infancy, and so the name of
|
|
Israel must be destroyed out of the earth. But they did not so fear as
|
|
presently to give up their child; they considered that, if none of the
|
|
males were preserved, there would be an end and utter ruin of the
|
|
church of God and the true religion, and that though in their present
|
|
state of servitude and oppression one would praise the dead rather than
|
|
the living, yet they believed that God would preserve his people, and
|
|
that the time was coming when it would be worth while for an Israelite
|
|
to live. Some must hazard their own lives to preserve their children,
|
|
and they were resolved to do it; they knew the king's commandment was
|
|
evil in itself, contrary to the laws of God and nature, and therefore
|
|
of no authority nor obligation. Faith is a great preservative against
|
|
the sinful slavish fear of men, as it sets God before the soul, and
|
|
shows the vanity of the creature and its subordination to the will and
|
|
power of God. The apostle next proceeds to,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
XII. The faith of Moses himself
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:24,25"><I>v.</I> 24, 25</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c.), here observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. An instance of his faith in conquering the world.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) He <I>refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,</I>
|
|
whose foundling he was, and her fondling too; she had adopted him for
|
|
his son, and he refused it. Observe,
|
|
|
|
[1.] How great a temptation Moses was under. Pharaoh's daughter is said
|
|
to have been his only child, and was herself childless; and having
|
|
found Moses, and saved him as she did, she resolved to take him and
|
|
bring him up as her son; and so he stood fair to be in time king of
|
|
Egypt, and he might thereby have been serviceable to Israel. He owed
|
|
his life to this princess; and to refuse such kindness from her would
|
|
look not only like ingratitude to her, but a neglect of Providence,
|
|
that seemed to intend his advancement and his brethren's advantage.
|
|
|
|
[2.] How glorious was the triumph of his faith in so great a trial. He
|
|
<I>refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter</I> lest he
|
|
should undervalue the truer honour of being a son of Abraham, the
|
|
father of the faithful; <I>he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
|
|
daughter</I> lest it should look like renouncing his religion as well
|
|
as his relation to Israel; and no doubt both these he must have done if
|
|
he had accepted this honour; he therefore nobly refused it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) He chose <I>rather to suffer affliction with the people of God
|
|
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
He was willing to take his lot with the people of God here, though it
|
|
was a suffering lot, that he might have his portion with them
|
|
hereafter, rather than to enjoy all the sensual sinful pleasures of
|
|
Pharaoh's court, which would be but for a season, and would then be
|
|
punished with everlasting misery. Herein he acted rationally as well as
|
|
religiously, and conquered the temptation to worldly pleasure as he had
|
|
done before to worldly preferment. Here observe,
|
|
|
|
[1.] The pleasures of sin are and will be but short; they must end in
|
|
speedy repentance or in speedy ruin.
|
|
|
|
[2.] The pleasures of this world, and especially those of a court, are
|
|
too often the pleasures of sin; and they are always so when we cannot
|
|
enjoy them without deserting God and his people. A true believer will
|
|
despise them when they are offered upon such terms.
|
|
|
|
[3.] Suffering is to be chosen rather than sin, there being more evil
|
|
in the least sin than there can be in the greatest suffering.
|
|
|
|
[4.] It greatly alleviates the evil of suffering when we suffer with
|
|
the people of God, embarked in the same interest and animated by the
|
|
same Spirit.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) He accounted <I>the reproaches of Christ greater riches than the
|
|
treasures of Egypt,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
See how Moses weighed matters: in one scale he put the worst of
|
|
religion--<I>the reproaches of Christ,</I> in the other scale the best
|
|
of the world--<I>the treasures of Egypt;</I> and in his judgment,
|
|
directed by faith, the worst of religion weighed down the best of the
|
|
world. The reproaches of the church of God are <I>the reproaches of
|
|
Christ,</I> who is, and has ever been, the head of the church. Now here
|
|
Moses conquered the riches of the world, as before he had conquered its
|
|
honours and pleasures. God's people are, and always have been, a
|
|
reproached people. Christ accounts himself reproached in their
|
|
reproaches; and, while he thus interests himself in their reproaches,
|
|
they become riches, and greater riches than the treasures of the
|
|
richest empire in the world; for Christ will reward them with a crown
|
|
of glory that fades not away. Faith discerns this, and determines and
|
|
acts accordingly.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The circumstance of time is taken notice of, when Moses by his faith
|
|
gained this victory over the world, in all its honours, pleasures, and
|
|
treasures: <I>When he had come to years</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>);
|
|
|
|
not only to years of discretion, but of experience, to the age of forty
|
|
years--when he was great, or had come to maturity. Some would take this
|
|
as detracting from his victory, that he gained it so late, that he did
|
|
not make this choice sooner; but it is rather an enhancement of the
|
|
honour of his self-denial and victory over the world that he made this
|
|
choice when he had grown ripe for judgment and enjoyment, able to know
|
|
what he did and why he did it. It was not the act of a child, that
|
|
prefers counters to gold, but it proceeded from mature deliberation. It
|
|
is an excellent thing for persons to be seriously religious when in the
|
|
midst of worldly business and enjoyments, to despise the world when
|
|
they are most capable of relishing and enjoying it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. What it was that supported and strengthened the faith of Moses to
|
|
such a degree as to enable him to gain such a victory over the world:
|
|
<I>He had respect unto the recompense of reward,</I> that is, say some,
|
|
the deliverance out of Egypt; but doubtless it means much more--the
|
|
glorious reward of faith and fidelity in the other world. Observe here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Heaven is a great reward, surpassing not only all our deservings,
|
|
but all our conceptions. It is a reward suitable to the price paid for
|
|
it--the blood of Christ; suitable to the perfections of God, and fully
|
|
answering to all his promises. It is a recompense of reward, because
|
|
given by a righteous Judge for the righteousness of Christ to righteous
|
|
persons, according to the righteous rule of the covenant of grace.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Believers may and ought to have respect to this recompense of
|
|
reward; they should acquaint themselves with it, approve of it, and
|
|
live in the daily and delightful expectation of it. Thus it will prove
|
|
a land-mark to direct their course, a load-stone to draw their hearts,
|
|
a sword to conquer their enemies, a spur to quicken them to duty, and a
|
|
cordial to refresh them under all the difficulties of doing and
|
|
suffering work.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. We have another instance of the faith of Moses, namely, in forsaking
|
|
Egypt: <I>By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the
|
|
king,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The product of his faith: <I>He forsook Egypt,</I> and all its
|
|
power and pleasures, and undertook the conduct of Israel out of it.
|
|
Twice Moses forsook Egypt:
|
|
|
|
[1.] As a supposed criminal, when the king's wrath was incensed against
|
|
him for killing the Egyptian
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+2:14,15">Exod. ii. 14, 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
where it is said he feared, not with a fear of despondency, but of
|
|
discretion, to save his life.
|
|
|
|
[2.] As a commander and ruler in Jeshurun, after God had employed him
|
|
to humble Pharaoh and make him willing to let Israel go.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The prevalency of his faith. It raised him above the fear of the
|
|
king's wrath. Though he knew that it was great, and levelled at him in
|
|
particular, and that it marched at the head of a numerous host to
|
|
pursue him, yet he was not dismayed, and he said to Israel, <I>Fear
|
|
not,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+14:13">Exod. xiv. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those who forsook Egypt must expect the wrath of men; but they need not
|
|
fear it, for they are under the conduct of that God who is able to make
|
|
the wrath of man to praise him, and restrain the remainder of it.
|
|
|
|
(3.) The principle upon which his faith acted in these his motions:
|
|
<I>He endured, as seeing him that was invisible.</I> He bore up with
|
|
invincible courage under all danger, and endured all the fatigue of his
|
|
employment, which was very great; and this by seeing the invisible God.
|
|
Observe,
|
|
|
|
[1.] The God with whom we have to do is an invisible God: he is so to
|
|
our senses, to the eye of the body; and this shows the folly of those
|
|
who pretend to make images of God, whom no man hath seen, nor can see.
|
|
|
|
[2.] By faith we may see this invisible God. We may be fully assured of
|
|
his existence, of his providence, and of his gracious and powerful
|
|
presence with us.
|
|
|
|
[3.] Such a sight of God will enable believers to endure to the end
|
|
whatever they may meet with in the way.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
5. We have yet another instance of the faith of Moses, in keeping
|
|
<I>the passover and sprinkling of blood,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
The account of this we have in
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+12:13-23">Exod. xii. 13-23</A>.
|
|
|
|
Though all Israel kept this passover, yet it was by Moses that God
|
|
delivered the institution of it; and, though it was a great mystery,
|
|
Moses by faith both delivered it to the people and kept it that night
|
|
in the house where he lodged. The passover was one of the most solemn
|
|
institutions of the Old Testament, and a very significant type of
|
|
Christ. The occasion of its first observance was extraordinary: it was
|
|
in the same night that God slew the first-born of the Egyptians; but,
|
|
though the Israelites lived among them, the destroying angel passed
|
|
over their houses, and spared them and theirs. Now, to entitle them to
|
|
this distinguishing favour, and to mark them out for it, a lamb must be
|
|
slain; the blood of it must be sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop upon
|
|
the lintel of the door, and on the two side-posts; the flesh of the
|
|
lamb must be roasted with fire; and it must be all of it eaten that
|
|
very night with bitter herbs, in a travelling posture, their loins
|
|
girt, their shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hand. This
|
|
was accordingly done, and the destroying angel passed over them, and
|
|
slew the first-born of the Egyptians. This opened a way for the return
|
|
of Abraham's posterity into the land of promise. The accommodation of
|
|
this type is not difficult.
|
|
|
|
(1.) Christ is that Lamb, he is our Passover, he was sacrificed for us.
|
|
|
|
(2.) His blood must be sprinkled; it must be applied to those who have
|
|
the saving benefit of it.
|
|
|
|
(3.) It is applied effectually only to the Israelites, the chosen
|
|
people of God.
|
|
|
|
(4.) It is not owing to our inherent righteousness or best performances
|
|
that we are saved from the wrath of God, but to the blood of Christ and
|
|
his imputed righteousness. If any of the families of Israel had
|
|
neglected the sprinkling of this blood upon their doors, though they
|
|
should have spent all the night in prayer, the destroying angel would
|
|
have broken in upon them, and slain their first-born.
|
|
|
|
(5.) Wherever this blood is applied, the soul receives a whole Christ
|
|
by faith, and lives upon him.
|
|
|
|
(6.) This true faith makes sin bitter to the soul, even while it
|
|
receives the pardon and atonement.
|
|
|
|
(7.) All our spiritual privileges on earth should quicken us to set out
|
|
early, and get forward, in our way to heaven.
|
|
|
|
(8.) Those who have been marked out must ever remember and acknowledge
|
|
free and distinguishing grace.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
XIII. The next instance of faith is that of the Israelites passing
|
|
through the Red Sea under the conduct of Moses their leader,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
The story we have in Exodus,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+14:1-31 "><I>ch.</I> xiv</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The preservation and safe passage of the Israelites through the Red
|
|
Sea, when there was no other way to escape from Pharaoh and his host,
|
|
who were closely pursuing them. Here we may observe,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Israel's danger was very great; an enraged enemy with chariots and
|
|
horsemen behind them; steep rocks and mountains on either hand, and the
|
|
Red Sea before them.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Their deliverance was very glorious. By faith they passed through
|
|
the Red Sea as on dry land; the grace of faith will help us through all
|
|
the dangers we meet with in our way to heaven.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The destruction of the Egyptians. They, presumptuously attempting to
|
|
follow Israel through the Red Sea, being thus blinded and hardened to
|
|
their ruin, were all drowned. Their rashness was great, and their ruin
|
|
was grievous. When God judges, he will overcome; and it is plain that
|
|
the destruction of sinners is of themselves.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
XIV. The next instance of faith is that of the Israelites, under Joshua
|
|
their leader, before the walls of Jericho. The story we have
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jos+6:5">Josh. vi. 5</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c. Here observe,
|
|
|
|
1. The means prescribed to God to bring down the walls of Jericho. It
|
|
was ordered that they should compass the walls about once a day for
|
|
seven days together and seven times the last day, that the priests
|
|
should carry the ark when they compassed the walls about, and should
|
|
blow with trumpets made of rams' horns, and sound a longer blast than
|
|
before, and then all the people should shout, and the walls of Jericho
|
|
should fall before them. Here was a great trial of their faith. The
|
|
method prescribed seemed very improbable to answer such an end, and
|
|
would doubtless expose them to the daily contempt of their enemies; the
|
|
ark of God would seem to be in danger. But this was the way God
|
|
commanded them to take, and he loves to do great things by small and
|
|
contemptible means, that his own arm may be made bare.
|
|
|
|
2. The powerful success of the prescribed means. The walls of Jericho
|
|
fell before them. This was a frontier town in the land of Canaan, the
|
|
first that stood out against the Israelites. God was pleased in this
|
|
extraordinary manner to slight and dismantle it, in order to magnify
|
|
himself, to terrify the Canaanites, to strengthen the faith of the
|
|
Israelites, and to exclude all boasting. God can and will in his own
|
|
time and way cause all the powerful opposition that is made to his
|
|
interest and glory to fall down, and the grace of faith is mighty
|
|
through God for the pulling down of strong-holds; he will make Babylon
|
|
fall before the faith of his people, and, when he has some great thing
|
|
to do for them, he raises up great and strong faith in them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
XV. The next instance is the faith of Rahab,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:31"><I>v.</I> 31</A>.
|
|
|
|
Among the noble army of believing worthies, bravely marshalled by the
|
|
apostle, Rahab comes in the rear, to show <I>that God is no respecter
|
|
of persons.</I> Here consider,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Who this Rahab was.
|
|
|
|
(1.) She was a Canaanite, a <I>stranger to the commonwealth of
|
|
Israel,</I> and had but little help for faith, and yet she was a
|
|
believer; the power of divine grace greatly appears when it works
|
|
without the usual means of grace.
|
|
|
|
(2.) She was a harlot, and lived in a way of sin; she was not only a
|
|
keeper of a public house, but a common woman of the town, and yet she
|
|
believed that the greatness of sin, if truly repented of, shall be no
|
|
bar to the pardoning mercy of God. Christ has saved the chief of
|
|
sinners. <I>Where sin has abounded, grace has superabounded.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. What she did by her faith: <I>She received the spies in peace,</I>
|
|
the men that Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jos+2:6,7">Josh. ii. 6, 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
She not only bade them welcome, but she concealed them from their
|
|
enemies who sought to cut them off, and she made a noble confession of
|
|
her faith,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jos+2:9-11"><I>v.</I> 9-11</A>.
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She engaged them to covenant with her to show favour to her and hers,
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when God should show kindness to them, and that they would give her a
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sign, which they did, a line of scarlet, which she was to hang forth
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out of the window; she sent them away with prudent and friendly advice.
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Learn here,
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(1.) True faith will show itself in good works, especially towards the
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people of God.
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(2.) Faith will venture all hazards in the cause of God and his people;
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a true believer will sooner expose his own person than God's interest
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and people.
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(3.) A true believer is desirous, not only to be in covenant with God,
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but in communion with the people of God, and is willing to cast in his
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lot with them, and to fare as they fare.</P>
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<A NAME="Heb11_32"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_33"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_34"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_35"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_36"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_37"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_38"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_39"> </A>
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<A NAME="Heb11_40"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Exemplars of Faith.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 62.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to
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tell of Gedeon, and <I>of</I> Barak, and <I>of</I> Samson, and <I>of</I>
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Jephthae; <I>of</I> David also, and Samuel, and <I>of</I> the prophets:
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33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,
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obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
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34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the
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sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight,
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turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
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35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others
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were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain
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a better resurrection:
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36 And others had trial of <I>cruel</I> mockings and scourgings,
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yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
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37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were
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slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and
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goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
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38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in
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deserts, and <I>in</I> mountains, and <I>in</I> dens and caves of the
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earth.
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39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith,
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received not the promise:
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40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they
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without us should not be made perfect.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The apostle having given us a classis of many eminent believers, whose
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names are mentioned and the particular trials and actings of their
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faith recorded, now concludes his narrative with a more summary account
|
|
of another set of believers, where the particular acts are not ascribed
|
|
to particular persons by name, but left to be applied by those who are
|
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well acquainted with the sacred story; and, like a divine orator, he
|
|
prefaces his part of the narrative with an elegant expostulation:
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<I>What shall I say more? Time would fail me;</I> as if he had said,
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|
"It is in vain to attempt to exhaust this subject; should I not
|
|
restrain my pen, it would soon run beyond the bounds of an epistle; and
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therefore I shall but just mention a few more, and leave you to enlarge
|
|
upon them." Observe,
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1. After all our researches into the scripture, there is still more to
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be learned from them.
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2. We must well consider in divine matters what we should say, and suit
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it as well as we can to the time.
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3. We should be pleased to think how great the number of believers was
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under the Old Testament, and how strong their faith, though the objects
|
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thereof were not then so fully revealed. And,
|
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4. We should lament it, that now, in gospel times, when the rule of
|
|
faith is more clear and perfect, the number of believers should be so
|
|
small and their faith so weak.</P>
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<P>
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I. In this summary account the apostle mentions,</P>
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<P>
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1. Gideon, whose story we have in
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+6:11">Judges vi. 11</A>,
|
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&c. He was an eminent instrument raised up of God to deliver his people
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from the oppression of the Midianites; he was a person of mean tribe
|
|
and family, called from a mean employment (threshing wheat), and
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|
saluted by an angel of God in this surprising manner, <I>The Lord is
|
|
with thee, thou mighty man of war.</I> Gideon could not at first
|
|
receive such honours, but humbly expostulates with the angel about
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their low and distressed state. The angel of the Lord delivers him his
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commission, and assures him of success, confirming the assurance by
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|
fire out of the rock. Gideon is directed to offer sacrifice, and,
|
|
instructed in his duty, goes forth against the Midianites, when his
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|
army is reduced from thirty-two thousand to three hundred; yet by
|
|
these, with their lamps and pitchers, God put the whole army of the
|
|
Midianites to confusion and ruin: and the same faith that gave Gideon
|
|
so much courage and honour enabled him to act with great meekness and
|
|
modesty towards his brethren afterwards. It is the excellency of the
|
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grace of faith that, while it helps men to do great things, it keeps
|
|
them from having high and great thoughts of themselves.</P>
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<P>
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2. Barak, another instrument raised up to deliver Israel out of the
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|
hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, Judges 4, where we read,
|
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|
(1.) Though he was a soldier, yet he received his commission and
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instructions from Deborah, a <I>prophetess of the Lord;</I> and he
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|
insisted upon having this divine oracle with him in his expedition.
|
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(2.) He obtained a great victory by his faith over all the host of
|
|
Sisera.
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(3.) His faith taught him to return all the praise and glory to God:
|
|
this is the nature of faith; it has recourse unto God in all dangers
|
|
and difficulties, and then makes grateful returns to God for all
|
|
mercies and deliverances.</P>
|
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|
<P>
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|
3. Samson, another instrument that God raised up to deliver Israel from
|
|
the Philistines: his story we have in
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+13:1-16:31">Judges xiii., xiv., xv., and xvi.</A>,
|
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and from it we learn that the grace of faith is the strength of the
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|
soul for great service. If Samson had not had a strong faith as well as
|
|
a strong arm, he had never performed such exploits. Observe,
|
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|
|
(1.) By faith the servants of God shall overcome even the roaring lion.
|
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|
|
(2.) True faith is acknowledged and accepted, even when mingled with
|
|
many failings.
|
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|
|
(3.) The believer's faith endures to the end, and, in dying, gives him
|
|
victory over death and all his deadly enemies; his greatest conquest he
|
|
gains by dying.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
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4. Jephthah, whose story we have,
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:1-40">Judg. xi.</A>,
|
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|
|
before that of Samson. He was raised up to deliver Israel from the
|
|
Ammonites. As various and new enemies rise up against the people of
|
|
God, various and new deliverers are raised up for them. In the story of
|
|
Jephthah observe,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The grace of God often finds out, and fastens upon, the most
|
|
undeserving and ill-deserving persons, to do great things for them and
|
|
by them. Jephthah was the son of a harlot.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The grace of faith, wherever it is, will put men upon
|
|
acknowledging God in all their ways
|
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|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+11:11"><I>ch.</I> xi. 11</A>):
|
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|
|
<I>Jephthah rehearsed all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh.</I>
|
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|
(3.) The grace of faith will make men bold and venturous in a good
|
|
cause.
|
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|
|
(4.) Faith will not only put men upon making their vows to God, but
|
|
paying their vows after the mercy received; yea, though they have vowed
|
|
to their own great grief, hurt, and loss, as in the case of Jephthah
|
|
and his daughter.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
5. David, that great man after God's own heart. Few ever met with
|
|
greater trials, and few ever discovered a more lively faith. His first
|
|
appearance on the stage of the world was a great evidence of his faith.
|
|
Having, when young, slain <I>the lion and the bear,</I> his faith in
|
|
God encouraged him to encounter the great Goliath, and helped him to
|
|
triumph over him. The same faith enabled him to bear patiently the
|
|
ungrateful malice of Saul and his favourites, and to wait till God
|
|
should put him into possession of the promised power and dignity. The
|
|
same faith made him a very successful and victorious prince, and, after
|
|
a long life of virtue and honour (though not without some foul stains
|
|
of sin), he died in faith, relying upon the everlasting covenant that
|
|
God had made with him and his, ordered in all things and sure; and he
|
|
has left behind him such excellent memoirs of the trials and acts of
|
|
faith in the book of Psalms as will ever be of great esteem and use,
|
|
among the people of God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
6. Samuel, raised up to be a most eminent prophet of the Lord to
|
|
Israel, as well as a ruler over them. God revealed himself to Samuel
|
|
when he was but a child, and continued to do so till his death. In his
|
|
story observe,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Those are likely to grow up to some eminency in faith who begin
|
|
betimes in the exercise of it.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Those whose business it is to reveal the mind and will of God to
|
|
others had need to be well established in the belief of it
|
|
themselves.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
7. To Samuel he adds, <I>and of the prophets,</I> who were
|
|
extraordinary ministers of the Old-Testament church, employed of God
|
|
sometimes to denounce judgment, sometimes to promise mercy, always to
|
|
reprove sin; sometimes to foretell remarkable events, known only to
|
|
God; and chiefly to give notice of the Messiah, his coming, person, and
|
|
offices; for in him the prophets as well as the law center. Now a true
|
|
and strong faith was very requisite for the right discharge of such an
|
|
office as this.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Having done naming particular persons, he proceeds to tell us what
|
|
things were done by their faith. He mentions some things that easily
|
|
apply themselves to one or other of the persons named; but he mentions
|
|
other things that are not so easy to be accommodated to any here named,
|
|
but must be left to general conjecture or accommodation.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. <I>By faith they subdued kingdoms,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:33"><I>v.</I> 33</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus did David, Joshua, and many of the judges. Learn hence,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The interests and powers of kings and kingdoms are often set up in
|
|
opposition to God and his people.
|
|
|
|
(2.) God can easily subdue all those kings and kingdoms that set
|
|
themselves to oppose him.
|
|
|
|
(3.) Faith is a suitable and excellent qualification of those who fight
|
|
in the ways of the Lord; it makes them just, bold, and wise.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. They <I>wrought righteousness,</I> both in their public and personal
|
|
capacities; they turned many from idolatry to the ways of
|
|
righteousness; they believed God, and it was imputed to them for
|
|
righteousness; they walked and acted righteously towards God and man.
|
|
It is a greater honour and happiness to work righteousness than to work
|
|
miracles; faith is an active principle of universal righteousness.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. They <I>obtained promises,</I> both general and special. It is faith
|
|
that gives us an interest in the promises; it is by faith that we have
|
|
the comfort of the promises; and it is by faith that we are prepared to
|
|
wait for the promises, and in due time to receive them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. They <I>stopped the mouths of lions;</I> so did Samson,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+14:5,6">Judg. xiv. 5, 6</A>,
|
|
|
|
and David,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+17:34,35">1 Sam. xvii. 34, 35</A>,
|
|
|
|
and Daniel,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:22">6:22</A>.
|
|
|
|
Here learn,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The power of God is above the power of the creature.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Faith engages the power of God for his people, whenever it shall
|
|
be for his glory, to overcome brute beasts and brutish men.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
5. They <I>quenched the violence of the fire,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:34"><I>v.</I> 34</A>.
|
|
|
|
So Moses, by the prayer of faith, quenched the fire of God's wrath that
|
|
was kindled against the people of Israel,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+11:1,2">Num. xi. 1, 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
So did the three children, or rather mighty champions,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+3:17-27">Dan. iii. 17-27</A>.
|
|
|
|
Their faith in God, refusing to worship the golden image, exposed them
|
|
to the fiery furnace which Nebuchadnezzar had prepared for them, and
|
|
their faith engaged for them that power and presence of God in the
|
|
furnace which quenched the violence of the fire, so that not so much as
|
|
the smell thereof passed on them. Never was the grace of faith more
|
|
severely tried, never more nobly exerted, nor ever more gloriously
|
|
rewarded, than theirs was.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
6. They <I>escaped the edge of the sword.</I> Thus David escaped the
|
|
sword of Goliath and of Saul; and Mordecai and the Jews escaped the
|
|
sword of Haman. The swords of men are held in the hand of God, and he
|
|
can blunt the edge of the sword, and turn it away from his people
|
|
against their enemies when he pleases. Faith takes hold of that hand of
|
|
God which has hold of the swords of men; and God has often suffered
|
|
himself to be prevailed upon by the faith of his people.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
7. <I>Out of weakness they were made strong.</I> From national
|
|
weakness, into which the Jews often fell by their unbelief; upon the
|
|
revival of their faith, all their interest and affairs revived and
|
|
flourished. From bodily weakness; thus Hezekiah, believing the word of
|
|
God, recovered out of a mortal distemper, and he ascribed his recovery
|
|
to the promise and power of God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:15,16">Isa. xxxviii. 15, 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>What shall I say? He hath spoken it, and he hath also done it. Lord
|
|
by these things men live, and in these is the life of my spirit.</I>
|
|
And it is the same grace of faith that from spiritual weakness helps
|
|
men to recover and renew their strength.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
8. They <I>grew valiant in fight.</I> So did Joshua, the judges, and
|
|
David. True faith gives truest courage and patience, as it discerns the
|
|
strength of God, and thereby the weakness of all his enemies. And they
|
|
were not only valiant, but successful. God, as a reward and
|
|
encouragement of their faith, <I>put to flight the armies of the
|
|
aliens,</I> of those who were aliens to their commonwealth, and enemies
|
|
to their religion; God made them flee and fall before his faithful
|
|
servants. Believing and praying commanders, at the head of believing
|
|
and praying armies, have been so owned and honoured of God that nothing
|
|
could stand before them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
9. <I>Women received their dead raised to life again,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:35"><I>v.</I> 35</A>.
|
|
|
|
So did the widow of Zarepath
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+17:23">1 Kings xvii. 23</A>),
|
|
|
|
and the Shunamite,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+4:36">2 Kings iv. 36</A>.
|
|
|
|
(1.) <I>In Christ there is neither male nor female;</I> many of the
|
|
weaker sex have been strong in faith.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Though the covenant of grace takes in the children of believers,
|
|
yet it leaves them subject to natural death.
|
|
|
|
(3.) Poor mothers are loth to resign up their interest in their
|
|
children, though death has taken them away.
|
|
|
|
(4.) God has sometimes yielded so far to the tender affections of
|
|
sorrowful women as to restore their dead children to life again. Thus
|
|
Christ had compassion on the widow of Nain,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+7:12">Luke vii. 12</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c.
|
|
|
|
(5.) This should confirm our faith in the general resurrection.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The apostle tells us what these believers endured by faith.
|
|
|
|
1. They <I>were tortured, not accepting deliverance,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:35"><I>v.</I> 35</A>.
|
|
|
|
They were put upon the rack, to make them renounce their God, their
|
|
Saviour, and their religion. They bore the torture, and would not
|
|
accept of deliverance upon such vile terms; and that which animated
|
|
them thus to suffer was the hope they had of <I>obtaining a better
|
|
resurrection,</I> and deliverance upon more honourable terms. This is
|
|
thought to refer to that memorable story,
|
|
|
|
<U>2 Macc. <I>ch.</I> vii.</U>, &c.
|
|
|
|
2. They endured <I>trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, and bonds
|
|
and imprisonment,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:36"><I>v.</I> 36</A>.
|
|
|
|
They were persecuted in their reputation by <I>mockings,</I> which are
|
|
cruel to an ingenuous mind; in their persons by <I>scourging,</I> the
|
|
punishment of slaves; in their liberty by <I>bonds and
|
|
imprisonment.</I> Observe how inveterate is the malice that wicked men
|
|
have towards the righteous, how far it will go, and what a variety of
|
|
cruelties it will invent and exercise upon those against whom they have
|
|
no cause of quarrel, except in the matters of their God.
|
|
|
|
3. They were put to death in the most cruel manner; some <I>were
|
|
stoned,</I> as Zechariah
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+24:21">2 Chron. xxiv. 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>sawn asunder,</I> as Isaiah by Manasseh. <I>They were tempted;</I>
|
|
some read it, <I>burnt,</I>
|
|
|
|
<U>2 Macc. vii. 5</U>.
|
|
|
|
<I>They were slain with the sword.</I> All sorts of deaths were
|
|
prepared for them; their enemies clothed death in all the array of
|
|
cruelty and terror, and yet they boldly met it and endured it.
|
|
|
|
4. Those who escaped death were used so ill that death might seem more
|
|
eligible than such a life. Their enemies spared them, only to prolong
|
|
their misery, and wear out all their patience; for they were forced to
|
|
<I>wander about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, being destitute,
|
|
afflicted,</I> and <I>tormented; they wandered about in deserts, and on
|
|
mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:37,38"><I>v.</I> 37, 38</A>.
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They were stripped of the conveniences of life, and turned out of house
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and harbour. They had not raiment to put on, but were forced to cover
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themselves with the skins of slain beasts. They were driven out of all
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|
human society, and forced to converse with the beasts of the field, to
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|
hide themselves in dens and caves, and make their complaint to rocks
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|
and rivers, not more obdurate than their enemies. Such sufferings as
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these they endured then for their faith; and such they endured through
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the power of the grace of faith: and which shall we most admire, the
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wickedness of human nature, that is capable of perpetrating such
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cruelties on fellow creatures, or the excellency of divine grace, that
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is able to bear up the faithful under such cruelties, and to carry them
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safely through all?</P>
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<P>
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IV. What they obtained by their faith.
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1. A most honourable character and commendation from God, the true
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Judge and fountain of honour--that <I>the world was not worthy</I> of
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|
such men; the world did not deserve such blessings; they did not know
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|
how to value them, nor how to use them. Wicked men! The righteous are
|
|
not worthy to live in the world, and God declares the world is not
|
|
worthy of them; and, though they widely differ in their judgment, they
|
|
agree in this, that it is not fit that good men should have their rest
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|
in this world; and therefore God receives them out of it, to that world
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|
that is suitable to them, and yet far beyond the merit of all their
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|
services and sufferings.
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2. They <I>obtained a good report</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:39"><I>v.</I> 39</A>)
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of all good men, and of the truth itself, and have the honour to be
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|
enrolled in this sacred calendar of the Old-Testament worthies, God's
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|
witnesses; yea, they had a witness for them in the consciences of their
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|
enemies, who, while they thus abused them, were condemned by their own
|
|
consciences, as persecuting those who were more righteous than
|
|
themselves.
|
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|
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3. They obtained an interest in the promises, though not the full
|
|
possession of them. They had a title to the promises, though they
|
|
received not the great things promised. This is not meant of the
|
|
felicity of the heavenly state, for this they did receive, when they
|
|
died, in the measure of a part, in one constituent part of their
|
|
persons, and the much better part; but it is meant of the felicity of
|
|
the gospel-state: they had types, but not the antitype; they had
|
|
shadows, but had not seen the substance; and yet, under this imperfect
|
|
dispensation, they discovered this precious faith. This the apostle
|
|
insists upon to render the faith more illustrious, and to provoke
|
|
Christians to a holy jealousy and emulation; that they should not
|
|
suffer themselves to be outdone in the exercise of faith by those who
|
|
came so short of them in all the helps and advantages for believing. He
|
|
tells the Hebrews that God had <I>provided some better things for</I>
|
|
them
|
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|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:40"><I>v.</I> 40</A>),
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|
|
|
and therefore they might be assured that he expected at least as good
|
|
things from them; and that since the gospel is the end and perfection
|
|
of the Old Testament, which had no excellency but in its reference to
|
|
Christ and the gospel, it was expected that their faith should be as
|
|
much more perfect than the faith of the Old-Testament saints; for their
|
|
state and dispensation were more perfect than the former, and were
|
|
indeed the perfection and completion of the former, for without the
|
|
gospel-church the Jewish church must have remained in an incomplete and
|
|
imperfect state. This reasoning is strong, and should be effectually
|
|
prevalent with us all.</P>
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