“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
Lots of things can cause someone to feel despondent, to feel miserable, dejected, ‘down in the dumps’. For some it may be because of a great personal challenge at home or work; for others, a feeling of inadequacy. For one it may be a sense of isolation, of being ostracised; for another, persecution, prison, an incurable disease, a serious accident, etc.
Elijah became despondent when Jezebel told him he would soon be killed. There were times when David was depressed while hunted by King Saul. Judas Iscariot, after betraying the Lord Jesus, became so miserable that he hanged himself.
Christians, too, can become depressed. Certainly the early Christian church of converted Jews, addressed in the letter to the Hebrews, also faced despondency, notwithstanding the fact that they had received brilliant promises. They knew about the Lord Jesus Christ and His high-priestly work, about Good Friday and Easter; about His work on earth and now in heaven. They’d heard of the promise: “See, I am coming quickly”. They knew that He would gain the complete victory over sin and Satan, hardships and sickness, calamity and death. They’d understood the glorious gospel message and had embraced it.
But the fulfilment of the promises had not come. Quite the contrary. The new heaven and new earth? Nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was hardship and wickedness. The Lord Jesus coming in glory? Nothing to be seen of it yet! Instead, the glory and power and hatred of the Roman empire. The Son being made heir of all things, as they’d been taught? Nothing to be seen of it! The enemy was living off God’s creation and off the stolen goods of God’s persecuted children. Deaths continued instead of the promised life.
They were beginning to despair. They could not see themselves persevering with God’s promises. To be sure, the promises were beautiful; but the reality, the daily hardships they had to contend with, undercut the promises. They were in danger of becoming like other Christians who had given up, pulled back, compromised with the Judaists who in various places had curried the favour of the Romans. Recoiling from the oppression, the Christians were becoming afraid of the consequences of their faith, of the persecution and opposition, and they missed the fruits, the fulfilment of the promises. The life they lived when they first believed, the joy of the faith and the earlier fruits of faith, were disappearing. No, things were not going well. And so they became despondent, disheartened, depressed.
It’s no secret that today’s Christians are not immune to such feelings of despondency. Troubles and hardships don’t bypass us. Yet the writer of the letter to the Hebrew Christians says, also to us today: “But we are not of those who draw back to perdition but of those who believe to the saving of the soul” (Hebrews 10:39). Notice: draw back and you’re on the road to perdition; yet continuing to believe leads to the saving of the soul. The contrast couldn’t be starker. Persevering in the faith instead of drawing back. Clinging to the promises instead of deserting and drawing back to destruction.
Drawing back reflects unbelief, it’s deserting the faith, the living hope in the Christ, but steadfastness in faith reflects a firm and living hope that what God has promised will sooner or later come true. Faith is “the evidence of things not seen”. We don’t live by what we experience here, by what we feel and encounter, but we live by what our God has promised (and also by what He has threatened).
The “things we hope for” don’t refer to all the things we’d like to see happen, our ideals. Fortunately not. Hope, in the Bible, is always a matter of God’s promises, of things we expect. The fulfilment of those promises can take ages. So much still needs to happen and God governs everything in His way. However, what He promises will certainly be fulfilled!
As for “things we don’t see”—that doesn’t refer to things that are invisible, such as the existence of God, or angels, or devils, etc. Of course we believe in the living God. And certaily we believe that there are angels and devils and satanic powers. No, this refers to things that can be seen and that one day will be seen but that we don’t see now.
A few examples from Hebrews 11:
Abraham believed God’s promise that he would inherit the land of Canaan. Yet when he died he had only a small grave site that he’d bought for an exhorbitant price. He had the promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. But for years he saw nothing of it, and when he finally saw a son, he was told to offer him, which to all appearances implied that he would end up with nothing. And still he believed. Hadn’t God said so? He knew that God could even raise the dead. He was confident that he would later see what he now could not see.
Long before Abraham, there was Noah. The LORD had said: there’ll be a big flood over all the earth. All the people will be swept away because I can’t stand their wickedness any longer. But for 120 years what did Noah see? The opposite: the seasons came and went as usual; the people continued to work and play and do what they wanted, and they seemed to be doing well. Yet Noah believed what he couldn’t see: the coming great flood. He believed that he would see it because God had told him so. And in that faith he built, despite the mockery of the people around him who refused to believe his warnings.
And as for what awaits us: we believe death will be conquered, the graves will be opened, believers will rise in glory and inherit a new heaven and earth. But we don’t see it yet. Meanwhile we can be facing hardships, and like our forebears in the faith, even persecutions. Guido de Bres, that coheir of Christ, was murdered! The faithful believers after the Secession of 1834, though coheirs of Christ, had their goods forfeited and often lived in poverty! Many believers today, if they remain faithful to the confession of their hope in God’s promises in Christ, don’t need to count on much in this life either. There are Christians currently languishing in Islamic and communist prisons, or persecuted in a myriad of other cruel, unloving ways. However, they need not despair. They are exhorted to cling to the faith, to the certainty of receiving what is promised, the evidence of things not seen.
Indeed, there can be persecutions even in the church by well-meaning but deluded members. The Apostle Paul was, before his conversion, one of them. Church history is replete with examples. Yet we are admonished not to give up, not to draw back, not to desert Christ and our position. For we have a bright certainty for the future. And to encourage us the Bible says: just look at the past. Just look at the believers of the Old Testament. Don’t think you’re the only ones who have to struggle, who have to cling to the faith. Because there’s a centuries-old, history-long, world war. Over against the deserters, the ones who drew back, who left the faithful paths of the Lord, stand—by the grace of God—those who battle on in the strength of the Lord. They remain on the battlefront against our sworn enemies as a continuing part of the age-old church-army of those who persevere in the faith with those who have gone before us and engaged valiantly in that battle.
The battle is prophesied to get fiercer but keep in mind those who have faced the enemy in the past. Hebrews 11 mentions sixteen but says there were many more. After pointing to sixteen examples the writer says: “And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of …” and then he names some more fighters in the faith. In other words: don’t think you’re the only ones facing hardships and struggling to keep the faith. Those who went before us could have avoided the hardships and sacrificed part of their confession in order to remain on good terms with others, but they didn’t! They trusted in God and remained firm in the faith.
Wasn’t it hard for Abel to be a fellow soldier in the struggle? Wasn’t it difficult for Enoch? Wasn’t it challenging for Noah with no one but his own immediate family to support him and face the constant ridicule and gossip for well over a century! Yet he was a soldier on the same battlefront as Abel and Enoch and all those who remain steadfast in the faith despite the enmity from the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). For the promises are sure and certain, and abundant blessings await those who continue to place their trust in Christ alone.
The critical issue is whether we persevere in the faith or not. Drawing back is not necessarily outright rejection of God. It can start by watering down God’s words. Do we believe because that is what God says in His Word, or do we say, yes, He does say that, but you can’t expect that to apply today. He does say that, but He must mean something else.
We might not necessarily see things panning out and being resolved as we would like; perhaps no happy results of our efforts and actions. But our Lord enjoins us simply to trust and obey, even if you are gossiped about or ridiculed for it. How didn’t the people ridicule the true believers in the past – Enoch, Noah, Moses, Joshua and Caleb and others. Remember how God rewarded them, if not in this life, then in the next. Everything, all the periods of time, the different ages and what happens therein—it is all in the hand of God. So is all that happens to us. And the great comfort is that, since we belong to Christ our Saviour, He will turn it to our benefit (LD 1, 9, 10).
So we are urged not to lose heart but simply to believe, to hold rock-solidly to the promises, to maintain the faith. Remember how our forefathers in the faith trusted in God and were not dismayed. Remain steadfast. Be encouraged. No weak hands. No weak knees. Don’t let go of the confession. Don’t be stubborn. Don’t be despondent if the attacks continue, or if you see no results on mission work, or in politics—provided the poor results are not because we failed to do our bit. Or because of our unbelief. Or because we are relaxing God’s commandments. Or because we are watering down parts of the confessions.
But for those who believe, they may, indeed must, trust in God’s Fatherly hand that never disappoints. Hold fast to the Scriptures—the Sword of the Spirit—and the confessions of the church.
I believe. Lord; help me believe.
Much of this article is based on a Dutch sermon by Rev. J.J. Arnold on Hebrews 11:1-3 in Dingen die wij niet zien (Things we don’t see), Oosterbaan en LeCointre, Goes, 1983.