34— quenched the violence of fire, es caped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35— Women re ceived their dead raised to life again. “Out of w e ak n e s s were m ade strong,” for instance. We all have times of weakness. Most of us accept our “weak points” as casually as we accept the color of our eyes, and give little thought to the possibility of changing either. We stumble over the same weakness again and again, or we learn to compensate, or to detour temptation. But how about letting our faith in the living God go to work on that weakness? Hebrews 11:35b— Others were tor tured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrec tion. There is something for everyone in this chapter. This passage should provide a rectifier for those who be lieve that faith is “the power of posi tive thinking,” and that to exercise faith is to insure smooth sailing. A little farther on in the letter, the writer says, “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (12:4). In chapter 11, he cites many who did that very thing. Some of the events he refers to may have occurred during the period of Israel’s history that is unrecorded by either Old or New Testaments. Martyrs of all ages bear the same witness, and they all “obtained a good report” (Heb. 11:2, 39). Who could say that the five young men who were murdered by the Auca Indians in Ecuador two years ago were less worthy to be called martyrs than Stephen-? Hebrews 11:39— And these all, hav ing obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40— God having provided some better thing for ust that they without us should not be made perfect. Having given a most varied and in spiring recital of the way others lived by faith, the author ties the lives of his heroes to those of his readers in preparation for the exhortation to perseverance (21:1 ff.). He had said, 34
to hold a crowd together for disci plined action under dangerous cir cumstances for sev en days. That Joshua was able to keep the army of Israel under the walls of Jericho, per forming what must have seemed a rather inane ritual, for seven days (Josh. 6) is tribute to their disci plined faith in God and in Joshua. Here we see faith sustaining men under tension and holding them stead fast until the moment of triumph. The Christians who first read He brews needed to yield to such sustain ing faith, but no more so than we do today, for we live in a time when there are many cross-currents of ten sion. We are marching daily under the walls of the enemy, within sight and range of his weapons, and we must continue marching, sustained only by faith that the signal for victory will come in God’s appointed time. Ten sion mounts from day to day. We may be tempted to break and run, but the echoes of the trumpets of God’s call sound in our ears, and our hearts re spond in faith. We see quite a different aspect of faith in the story of Rahab (Josh. 2). We do not know exactly how she came to believe in the God of Israel, but we do know that rumors of Israel’s triumphs and the story of their mi raculous crossing of the Jordan had reached Jericho (2:9-11). Though all the inhabitants of Jericho heard these reports and were afraid, faith was found only in Rahab’s house. Perhaps the personal testimonies of the two Israelite men who had come to her house earlier as spies had borne fruit. Whatever may have been the cause of her faith, we are certain as to its result. God cares for the honor of His Name, and because Rahab had trusted Jehovah He made provision for her safety and for that of her family, when all theother residents of Jericho were destroyed (6:21-25). Hebrews 11:32— And what shall I more say ? For the time woidd fail me to tell of . . . (those). 33 — Who through faith subdued, kingdoms, wrought r ig h te o u s n e s s , obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
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