When we consider the men and women of faith in Hebrews 11–Abel and his excellent sacrifice, Enoch who walked with God, Noah who built the ark, Abraham who left for the unknown, elderly Sarah who received strength to bear a child, Moses who passed through the Red Sea–we find it hard to see ourselves walking in their shoes, having a faith like theirs.
Yet this is exactly what God intended with the offering of His Son. The communion they spent with God is ours with Christ. The faith stirred in hearing His voice is the same faith of the word that burns in our hearts today. The direction and calling they received is offered to us by the same Spirit in us who call Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yet the point of the chapter is not only their faith, but their faith enduring to the end, even to expect much more in the life to come. This is the great cloud of witnesses, those who witnessed of God’s faithfulness and grace to sustain their faith to their deaths. This witness, too, the Spirit plans for God’s children today.
How does this kind of faith develop in us? The same way it occurred to them–God revealed Himself to them, and they were never the same again. At the end, they were strangers to this world. They did not count their lives dear to them. They lived for the eternal kingdom to come.
Jesus revealed this same path for our own journey in one single verse in John 14:21: “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
God longs to reveal Himself to us, to make Himself known. When we open His word with a humble seeking spirit, we position ourselves in place to hear His voice, receive His command, and and respond in faith like the ordinary people of Hebrews 11.
And along the way Jesus will reveal Himself to us. His sheep will hear His voice and follow Him. They will do His will. They will accomplish the task He called them to. Along the way, they will know Him as the God of grace and mercy, of power and gentleness, the Lion and the Lamb.
The treasure in the Book is Jesus Himself. We look for promises, for instructions, for guidance. We search the word for life, for wisdom, for meaning. When Jesus reveals Himself, we get them all.
Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33). (That is a commandment we follow, remember?) When seeking the kingdom, seek its King and His rule over all you are and have. Seek His righteousness, too, and acknowledge how far you are from that life.
See how totally dependent you are on the King to live your life under His reign. Seek how the King would bring you in line with His will so your character lines up with His righteousness. This we do as we follow the word patiently day by day. Step by step, we’ll shed the baggage that hinders.
Keep praying with Moses, “Show me Your glory.” Keep asking with young Samuel, “Speak, Lord, Your servant is listening.” Plead with the Psalmist, “Open my eyes, that I may see wonderful things in Your law.”
We hear and obey, one step at a time. Then Jesus will show You His own dependence on the Father. He will show you His own love in obeying the Father. He will show you His own joy in answered prayer.
Jesus will reveal Himself in you, for you will have been living His life. “At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20). Then the treasure in the word will be the treasure in this clay pot finding glory in the face of Jesus Christ. “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23).
The faith of the saints in Hebrews 11 consisted of hearing His voice, then putting one foot in front of the other in obedience. Abel gathered one stick after another for his pyre. Noah cut one board then another. Abraham made one footprint ahead of the other. Moses made one speech and then the next. Through their humble work God worked.
“Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your heart” (Heb. 3:7). A softened heart is a willing heart, a yielding spirit, a soul hungering and thirsting for righteousness, patiently waiting on the One who loves them.
Jesus received Peter back, who had denied Him thrice. Jesus commissioned Paul, who had persecuted the church. Jesus sent Isaiah as a prophet, who had confessed an unclean mouth. You can turn your ear to Him again. You can return to the path you departed from. You can take up your call with gratefulness. You can offer your gift for His use and continue your training of faith.
Their faith is within reach of all of us, for “it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8) given to those who hear. Let’s be as Mary and choose a better place to hear Him.
Today, the Spirit trains men and women of faith the same way as in Old Testament times. By speaking to them. “Faith comes by hearing.” And what are we listening for? Hearing “the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). Our response of faith matters. We open the word. We position our hearts to listen humbly. We read, receive, and act. Then, like Moses in Hebrews 11:27, we are rewarded by “seeing Him who is invisible.”
