Devotionary

Today’s episode is based on another one-verse story of faith, that of Jacob. And it involves another set of twin sons and their blessing by their grandfather. This time, it deals with Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph. Jacob and his family are living in Egypt, on land provided to them by the Pharaoh. At this point, Jacob has no idea when they will return to the land of Canaan. But being old and knowing his days are numbered, he chooses to pronounce a blessing on his two grandsons. And he does so – by faith – trusting God for the eventual outcome and fulfillment of his blessing.     

In today’s episode, we’ll be unpacking a single verse, verse 20 in Hebrews chapter 11. It’s a short verse, but is jam-packed with significance. It involves Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah, and speaks of the blessings he gave his two twin sons, Esau and Jacob. What makes this particular verse so interesting is that it claims that Isaac pronounced these future blessings on his sons … by faith. And yet, the story of the event, as recorded in Genesis, seems to paint a slightly different picture. Or does it?

Today, we’re going to stay in Hebrews 11, verses 17-19 – the story of Abraham’s faith displayed as he prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac. We’re revisiting this passage because there is a crucial lesson for us to learn from the test that God gives Abraham. What exactly was God testing? Was there something about Abraham He didn’t know and needed to find out? If God is all-knowing, then it would seem that He knew what the outcome would be before anything even happened. So, was the test for God’s benefit or Abraham’s? The way you answer this question will make a huge difference in how you understand God’s declaration of Abraham as righteous because of his faith.

Today’s episode covers Hebrews 11, verses 17-19 and deals with one of the most controversial and difficult stories in the entire Bible: God’s command for Abraham to take the life of Isaac, his son. The author of Hebrews uses this real-life event to further illustrate the true nature of faith. Abraham was being commanded by God to do the unthinkable. To us, what God told Abraham to do wasn’t even logical. Was God really asking Abraham to take the life of very son He had miraculously given him? While much of this story may not make sense to us, God’s reasoning and motives can’t be questioned. He is holy, just and righteous in all He does. And He had a perfectly good purpose behind His seemingly unjust command.  .

In today’s episode based on Hebrews 11, verses 13-16, we’ll see that each of the Old Testaments saints to which the author has introduced us so far, all died in their faith. They died without having received what God had promised them. That sounds rather anticlimactic, doesn’t it? Kind of a let-down, a disappointment, until you consider what the author is trying to teach us about faith. He mentions a better country, a heavenly one, that contains a city that God has prepared for them. It was that future promise on which they placed their hope. Not the immediate, temporal blessings of this life.     

Today’s episode introduces us to Abraham’s wife, Sarah, and lets us know that Abraham was not the only one who had faith in God. But what is interesting is that Sarah seemed to struggle a bit believing that God was going to actually pull off what He had promised. It wasn’t so much that she didn’t trust His promise. It was that He seemed to have missed the fact that she was old and barren. So she just assumed God was going to fulfill His promise some other way. And she was not above giving suggestions. But in the end, she believed God. She was learning that faith is not a commodity, but a way of life.     

In today’s episode, we get to visit with Abraham. His faith story is told in Hebrews 11, verses 8-10. In these three short verses, the author provides us with a succinct synopsis of Abraham’s long life. It was characterized by faith. Abraham obeyed God. But he did so because he trusted God. Now, he didn’t always trust God fully and completely. Sometimes he had his doubts, not so much in God’s promises, but in how He was going to bring them about. Occasionally, he and his wife. Sarah, tried to help God out. But Abraham was going to learn that God’s will is best done God’s way. And Abraham would believe God, right up to the end.     

Today’s episode is called “Flood Assurance” because it deals with the faith of Noah, the famous ark-builder, who is described in verse 7 of Hebrews 11. Noah’s story is a powerful example of faith because it involved a salvation from death that would require some pretty significant steps of obedience in the face of overwhelmingly difficult and seemingly illogical demands by God. Noah’s salvation required faith. But it wasn’t his faith that saved him – it was God. Faith is the subject is the subject of this chapter, but God is the object. It was Noah’s faith in God, not the ark, that saved him. In the face of God’s looming judgment, Noah found mercy, grace, and refuge in the salvation provided by God.

In today’s episode, based on Hebrews 11, verses 5-6, we get introduced to a little-known Old Testament character named Enoch. While the record of Enoch’s life and accomplishments is short, he does hold the somewhat unique distinction of being one of just a few men in the Bible who never died. That’s right. The book of Genesis says, he walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. And while that’s a fairly significant claim to fame, the real thing that sets Enoch apart is his faith. He was taken to be with God because he believed and trusted in God – all without having to experience death.    

Today, we’ll be looking at a single verse, verse 4, from Hebrews chapter 11. The author has provided us with a description of faith, now he’s going to demonstrate what that faith looks like in real life, using Abel, one of the sons of Adam and Eve. Long-dead, murdered by his own brother, Abel still provides us with a powerful example of the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. The story of Cain and Abel has puzzled Bible readers for millenniums. Why was Cain’s sacrifice rejected by God? Why was Abel’s accepted. How was Abel showing assurance in things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen? And how, even today, is his short-lived life a demonstration of faith?     

With today’s episode, we move into chapter 11, the great hall of faith. We’ll be concentrating our attention on verses 1-3 in a lesson I’ve entitled, “Faith Described and Demonstrated.” In verse 1, we have what is less a definition of faith than a description. And the author will spend the rest of the chapter demonstrating what true faith looks like in real life. Faith is based on hope. And our hope is based on those things we have been promised by God, but have not yet fully received. Faith is less a commodity than it is a way of life, a means by which we understand the world around us and all that happens to us as we wait for what has in store for us.     

In today’s episode we’ll be in Hebrews chapter ten verses 26-39. I’ve entitled this lesson, “No Shrinking Back” because it deals with the believer’s need for endurance in the face of all the pressures and problems of this life. The temptation will be to lose hope or to think that what Christ did on the cross was somehow insufficient. The presence of difficulties can lead to doubt, which can result in disbelief. But the author reminds us that we are not those who shrink back. We press forward in faith, trusting the promises of God based on the finished work of Jesus.     

This episode covers Hebrews chapter ten verses 19-25 and is called, “Hold Fast.” In these verses, the author of Hebrews is trying to encourage us to consider the incredible nature of Christ’s gift to us. It should create in us a confidence and assurance that shows up in the way we live our lives. He is faithful and true. What He has promised to provide for us: eternal life, He will deliver to us. But in the meantime, we must hold fast and have confidence that His death has provided us with unbridled access to God the Father – even now.     

Today, we’re in Hebrews chapter ten verses 11-18. This episode is entitled, “Fully Forgiven” and deals with the remarkable reality that, for those who have placed their trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior, their sins have been fully and completely forgiven – once for all. And not as a result of anything they have done, but because of what Christ has done for them. As a result, the author of Hebrews says, God will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.              

Today we move into chapter ten of Hebrews verses 1-10. This episode is entitled, “The Good Things To Come” and will reveal how the old covenant of the law was intended to be a shadow of something better to come: The new covenant made available by Jesus’ death on the cross. His selfless, sinless sacrifice was what the Mosaic law and sacrificial system pointed towards, but temporarily and imperfectly. He had to die, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that men might be made right with God.              

In today’s episode, we’ll be in Hebrews chapter nine, verses 16-28. It’s called “He Died. We Live” and continues the author’s treatment of the superiority of Christ’s sacrifice. He died so that might live. He gave His life in order that we might be imputed His righteousness and enjoy a right standing with God the Father based on His merit and not our own. And the best part of Christ’s sacrifice is that it not only included His resurrection and ascension back into heaven, it guarantees His return. He is coming back. Not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.           

Today, we’ll be in Hebrews chapter nine, verses 11-15. In this episode, entitled “Blood Bought,” we’ll see that Jesus’ death was effective because His innocent blood was shed. He paid the penalty for our sin with His own blood. Which is exactly what He foreshadowed to His disciples that night in the upper room when they celebrated the Passover meal together. He said, “this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). With His death, Jesus bought us, redeemed us, out of slavery to sin and death so that we might be made righteous and enjoy a right relationship with God.           

Today’s episode brings us to chapter nine of Hebrews, verses 1-10. It’s called “The Time of Reformation.” With the coming of the new covenant, made possible by Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, things underwent tremendous change, especially those things related to the old covenant. Whether you look at the tabernacle in the wilderness or the temple in Jerusalem, you see two structures that were filled with deep meaning and important symbolism. Dividing curtains that separated the Holy of Holies from the Most Holy Place. The mercy seat. The ark of the covenant containing Aaron’s rod and the jar filled with of manna. And then there was golden the altar itself. But Jesus did away with all these things. Along with redemption, He brought reform.         

Today’s episode, titled, “Better Promises” takes us into Hebrews chapter 8, verses 8-13. In them, the author of Hebrews relies on the Old Testament Scriptures to drive home his point that Jesus is the better high priest offering a better sacrifice as part of a better covenant based on better promises. He will elaborate, in detail, just what those promises entail, specifically for the people of Israel. The old covenant, with its rules, rituals and regulations had been done away with. With Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, it had been replaced with the new covenant. And now, our obedience to the will and law of God is not based on outward motivation, but the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.       

This episode is called “Better In Every Way” and in it we’ll look at the overall superiority of Jesus based on the new covenant He established with His blood. As we have already seen, Jesus is the great high priest and with the sacrifice of His own life, He paid the price for the sins of mankind and satisfied God’s holy requirement that justice be done. The new covenant is better because it did what the old covenant could never do: Provide complete forgiveness for sin and a restored relationship with God based on a righteousness we could have never achieved – that of Jesus.