Hebrews 11:4 - Meaning and Application

The apostle has already given a general description of faith. Now he turns to clear examples from Old Testament times. These examples fall into two groups, those whose names are given along with specific acts of faith, and those whose names are mentioned more briefly with a general account of their faith’s power. Here he begins with people whose names and actions are both described.

The first great example is Abel. It is striking that the Spirit of God does not say anything here about the faith of our first parents, Adam and Eve. The church has often, in charitable hope, believed that God gave them repentance and faith in the promised offspring, taught them the meaning of sacrifice, and showed them mercy after their fall. Still, God has left that matter somewhat uncertain, as a warning to all who receive great gifts and great responsibility not to prove unfaithful. For that reason, Abel, not Adam, is placed first in this list of believers.

Abel is one of the earliest saints and the first martyr for religion among Adam’s sons. He lived by faith and died for it, so he is a fitting example for the Hebrews to imitate. His faith showed itself in his offering. He offered a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, that is, a fuller and more complete sacrifice.

From this we learn that after the fall, God opened a new way for sinners to come back to him in worship. This is one of the first recorded acts of fallen people approaching God, and it was a great mercy that the relationship between God and man was not cut off completely. We also learn that after the fall, God must be worshiped through sacrifices. Sacrifice showed that sin deserved death and pointed to faith in a Redeemer, someone who would ransom human souls.

We also see that from the beginning there has been a clear difference among worshipers. Cain and Abel were brothers, and both came to worship God, yet there was a great difference between them. Cain was the older brother, but Abel had the higher place. Birth order does not make a person truly honorable, grace does. Abel was a righteous man and a true believer. Cain was only a formal worshiper, without the special grace of God. Abel acted from faith. Cain acted only from what he had been taught, or from natural conscience.

Their offerings were also very different. Abel brought a sacrifice of atonement, offering the firstborn of his flock. By doing this, he admitted that he was a sinner who deserved death and could only hope for mercy through the great sacrifice to come. Cain brought only a thank-offering, the fruit of the ground. That sort of gift might have been suitable in innocence, but here there was no confession of sin and no regard for the ransom. That was the main flaw in Cain’s offering. There will always be a difference among those who worship the true God. Some cling to falsehood, while others are faithful with God’s people. Some trust their own righteousness, like the Pharisee, while others admit their sin, like the tax collector, and throw themselves on God’s mercy in Christ.

Abel also gained much through his faith. In Genesis 4:4 we read that God had regard for Abel and for his offering, first for his person as one made gracious by God, and then for his offering as coming from that grace, especially from faith. Here we are told that by faith he received special witness. First, he received testimony that he was righteous, a person justified, set apart, and accepted by God. Very likely this was shown by fire from heaven that consumed his sacrifice. Second, God gave witness to the righteousness of Abel’s person by accepting his gift. When the fire, a sign of God’s justice, consumed the offering, it showed that God’s mercy accepted the worshiper for the sake of the great sacrifice.

Third, though he is dead, Abel still speaks. He left behind a living lesson. What does his example teach us? It teaches that fallen human beings are allowed to come to God in worship and can hope to be accepted. It teaches that if our persons and gifts are accepted, it must be through faith in the Messiah. It teaches that acceptance with God is a special and distinguishing mercy. It teaches that those who receive this mercy should expect the world’s envy and hatred. It teaches that God will not leave injuries done to his people unpunished, or their sufferings unrewarded. These are all good and useful lessons. Yet the blood of sprinkling speaks better things than Abel’s blood.

It also teaches that God did not let Abel’s faith die with him. Soon God raised up others who would receive the same precious faith. The next example is Enoch, in Hebrews 11:5. He is the second of these elders who received a good report through faith.

About Enoch, Scripture says that he walked with God, that he was translated so that he did not see death, and that God took him. To walk with God means that he truly, clearly, actively, and steadily lived in obedience to God, fellowship with God, and joy in God. To be translated means that he was taken to heaven, soul and body, without dying, just as the saints alive at Christ’s second coming will be taken. Before that translation, he had this testimony, that he pleased God. He knew it in his own conscience, and God’s Spirit confirmed it to him. Those who walk with God by faith, even in a sinful world, please him, and he will give them signs of his favor and honor them.

This leads to the truth stated in Hebrews 11:6, that without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith of this kind is active faith, the kind that helps us walk with God. We cannot come to God unless we believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him diligently. That means we must believe that God is real, and that he is all that he has revealed himself to be in Scripture, a being of perfect holiness and power, existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

A practical belief in God’s existence, as revealed in his word, would be a strong guard for our souls. It would restrain us from sin and also drive us toward all kinds of gospel obedience. It would hold us back like a bridle, and it would press us forward like a spur.

God is also a rewarder of those who earnestly seek him. By the fall, we have lost God. We have lost divine light, life, love, his likeness, and fellowship with him. But through Christ, the second Adam, God can be found again.

God has set down the way in which he may be found. That means careful attention to his word, faithful attendance on his ordinances, the right work of his ministers, fellowship with his people, notice of his providential leading, and humble waiting for his gracious presence. Anyone who wants to find God in these ways must seek him diligently, early, earnestly, and steadily. Then they will seek him and find him, if they seek him with all their heart. And once they find him as their reconciled God, they will never regret the effort spent in seeking him.

Now consider Noah’s faith (Hebrews 11:7). The basis of Noah’s faith was a warning he received from God about things not yet seen. He had a divine revelation, whether by voice or vision we are not told. It carried its own proof. He was warned of a great and severe judgment, one the world had never seen, and for which there was not yet any sign in the natural order. He was to pass this warning on to the world, which would surely despise both him and his message. God usually warns sinners before he strikes, and when warnings are ignored, the blow comes all the heavier.

Noah’s faith worked in his mind and in his behavior. In his mind, it filled him with fear of God’s judgment, so he was moved with fear. Faith first affects our feelings, and then our actions. It stirs love and desire when the message is good, and fear when the message is threatening. In Noah’s case, that fear led him to prepare an ark, no doubt while facing the mockery and insults of a wicked generation. He did not argue with God about why he should build it, how it could hold what was to go into it, or how it could survive such a storm. His faith silenced every objection and sent him to work at once.

Noah’s faith brought blessed results. Through it, he and his family were saved while a whole world of sinners was destroyed around them. God spared his household for his sake. It was good for them that they belonged to Noah’s family. It was better to be tied to the covenant than to be tied to wealth. People often say it is good to be related to an estate, but it is surely better to be related to God’s covenant.

By his life, Noah also judged and condemned the world. His holy fear condemned their careless security and empty confidence. His faith condemned their unbelief, and his obedience condemned their contempt and rebellion. Good examples will either turn sinners or leave them condemned. A life of strict holiness and reverence for God carries strong force. It speaks to every conscience before God. This is the best way God’s people can condemn the wicked, not by harsh and critical speech, but by a holy example.

Noah also became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. He possessed a true justifying righteousness, that is, a right standing with God. He was heir to it, and his claim to it came through faith in Christ, as a member of Christ and a child of God. If a child, then an heir. His righteousness was relative, meaning it came from his adoption through faith in the promised seed. As we expect to be justified and saved in the great and terrible day of the Lord, let us now prepare an ark, secure our interest in Christ and in the ark of the covenant, and do it quickly before the door is shut. There is no salvation in anyone else.

Now consider Abraham, the friend of God and father of the faithful. The Hebrews took great pride in him, since they traced their family line and privileges back to him. So the apostle expands more on Abraham’s faith than on the faith of any other patriarch. In the middle of this account, he also includes Sarah’s faith, because women who keep doing good may be counted among her daughters.

Abraham’s faith rested on God’s call and promise (Hebrews 11:8). The call was very hard, but it was still God’s call, and that made it a full ground for faith and obedience. Stephen describes how Abraham was called in Acts 7:2-3: the God of glory appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia and told him to leave his country, his relatives, and go to the land God would show him. This was an effectual call, a call that truly turned him from the idolatry of his father’s house (Genesis 12:1). The call was repeated after his father’s death in Haran.

Here we learn that God’s grace is completely free. He takes some of the worst people and makes them the best. God must come to us before we come to him. In calling and converting sinners, he appears as the God of glory and works a glorious change in the soul. This call does not only ask us to leave sin, but also sinful company and anything that does not fit a life devoted to him. We need to be called not only to start well, but also to continue well. And he will not let his people settle anywhere short of the heavenly Canaan.

God also gave Abraham a promise. He promised that the land to which Abraham was called would later be given to him as an inheritance. In time, he would receive the heavenly Canaan as his inheritance, and later his descendants would inherit the earthly Canaan. From this we see that God calls his people to an inheritance. By his effectual call, he makes them children, and so heirs. This inheritance is not received at once. They must wait for it, but the promise is sure and will be fulfilled at the right time. The faith of parents often brings blessings to their children and descendants.

Abraham’s faith showed itself in ready obedience to God’s call. He went out without knowing where he was going. He put himself into God’s hand to be led wherever God pleased. He trusted God’s wisdom as the best guide and submitted to God’s will as the best rule for everything that concerned him. Such simple trust and obedience are due to God, and to him alone.

All who are truly called by God give up their own will and wisdom to his will and wisdom, and this is their true wisdom. They do not always know their path, but they know their guide, and that is enough for them.

Abraham lived in the land of promise as if it were a foreign country. This was a real test of his faith. Canaan was called the land of promise because it had been promised, but not yet owned. Abraham lived there not as the rightful owner, but as a temporary resident. He did not try to force the old inhabitants out by war or legal claim. Instead, he accepted being a stranger, bore their unkind treatment patiently, received any kindness from them with thanks, and kept his heart set on his true home, the heavenly Canaan.

He lived in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. He lived in a moving, unsettled way, ready at any time to leave. That is how we should think of our life in this world. He also had good company with him, and that was a comfort in his time of waiting. Abraham lived until Isaac was seventy-five years old, and Jacob fifteen. Isaac and Jacob were heirs of the same promise because God renewed the promise to Isaac (Gen 26:3) and to Jacob (Gen 28:13). All believers are heirs of the same promise. The promise belongs to believers and their children, and to all whom the Lord our God calls. It is a beautiful thing to see parents and children sojourning together in this world as heirs of the heavenly inheritance.

The writer then explains what supported Abraham’s faith: he was looking for a city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Heb 11:10). Heaven is described here as a city, a settled and well-ordered community, well defended and well supplied. It is a city with foundations, meaning it rests on God’s unchanging purpose, his almighty power, the full merit and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the promises of an everlasting covenant, and the holiness and perfected life of its people. It is a city whose builder and maker is God. He planned it, made it, opened the new and living way into it, and prepared it for his people. He brings them into it, gives them honor there, and is himself the great joy of it.

Abraham gave this heavenly city serious attention. He believed such a place really existed. He waited for it, and meanwhile he lived in it by faith. His hope was lifted up and full of joy, because he trusted that in God’s time and way he would be brought safely there. This hope helped him through every trial in his life as a stranger. It gave him patience in trouble and strength to keep doing his duty until the end.

In the middle of Abraham’s story, the apostle also speaks about Sarah’s faith. Her faith faced very great difficulties. For a time unbelief had the upper hand, and she laughed at the promise because it seemed impossible. She had also fallen out of the path of duty through unbelief when she urged Abraham to take Hagar as his wife, so that he might have a child. That sin would make it harder for her to act in faith later. The promise itself also seemed very unlikely, because she was naturally unable to bear children and was already past childbearing age.

Yet her unbelief is forgiven and set aside, while her faith is remembered. She judged him faithful who had promised (Heb 11:11). She received the promise as God’s promise, and once she was convinced of that, she truly believed that he both could and would do what he said, no matter how impossible it seemed to human reason. God’s faithfulness does not allow him to deceive his people.

Her faith brought fruit and reward. She received strength to conceive. The strength of nature, like the strength of grace, comes from God. He can make a barren soul fruitful, just as he can make a barren womb fruitful. She gave birth to a son, a child of promise, a comfort to his parents in old age, and a hope for future generations. From them, through this son, came a great family, as many as the stars in the sky (Heb 11:12). They became a large, strong, and famous nation, greater than the others in the world. They were also a nation of saints, God’s special people and church. Best of all, from this line, according to the flesh, came the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forevermore.

The apostle then speaks of the faith of Isaac, Jacob, and the rest of this blessed family (Heb 11:13). Their faith was tested by the weakness of their present condition. They had not received the promises, meaning they had not yet received the promised things. They had not yet taken possession of Canaan, had not yet seen their many descendants, and had not seen Christ in the flesh. Many people who belong to the promises do not receive the promised things right away. One weakness of this life for believers is that much of their happiness is still in promise and hope, not in full enjoyment. The gospel age is more complete than the patriarchal age, because more of the promises have already been fulfilled. The heavenly state will be the most complete of all, because there every promise will be fully kept.

Even in that unfinished state, their faith was active. Though they had not received the promises, they saw them from far away. Faith has a clear and strong eye, and it can see promised mercy at a great distance. Abraham saw Christ’s day far off and was glad (Joh 8:56). They were persuaded that the promises were true and would be fulfilled. Faith puts its seal on God’s truth and brings peace to the soul. They embraced the promises. Faith agrees with God, reaches out to blessings far away, makes them present to the heart, loves them, and rejoices in them. In this way it tastes them ahead of time.

They also confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. They were strangers because, as saints, their home is in heaven. They were pilgrims because they were traveling toward that home, even if their pace was slow and their path often hard. They were not ashamed to admit this. Their lips and their lives both said it. They expected little from the world and did not want to settle too deeply into it. They tried to lay aside every burden, keep their minds ready for the road, stay in step with their fellow travelers, expect trouble, bear it, and long to get home.

In this way, they made it plain that they were looking for another country, heaven, their true homeland (Hebrews 11:14). Their spiritual life came from there, their closest relationships are there, and their inheritance is there. They aimed their plans at that country. Their desires ran toward it, their talk was about it, and they worked to make sure they had a right to it, that their character fit it, and that their lives matched it.

This also proved their sincerity in making that confession. They were not attached to the country they had left behind, Hebrews 11:15. They did not long for its comforts and pleasures, and they did not regret leaving it. They had no wish to go back. Those whom God has truly and savingly called out of a sinful life do not want to return to it, because they now know something better.

They also did not take the chance they had to go back. They had time, strength, and knowledge of the way. The people they stayed with would have let them leave, and their old friends would have welcomed them. They had enough resources for the journey, and their fleshly nature, that false inner counselor, would have kept urging them to return. Still, they held firmly to God and duty through all discouragements and against every temptation to turn away. We should do the same. We will always have chances to turn back from God, but we must show the truth of our faith by staying with him to the end.

Their sincerity also showed in their desire for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. The heavenly country is better than any on earth. It is in a better place, filled with better things, and guarded from every evil. Its work, its joys, its people, and everything in it are better than the best this world can offer. And all true believers desire this better country. True faith gives rise to real, earnest desires, and the stronger the faith, the stronger those desires will be.

They died in faith, trusting those promises to the end. They did not only live by faith, they died fully persuaded that every promise would come true for them and their descendants, Hebrews 11:13. Their faith stood firm to the last. By faith, as they were dying, they received the atonement, that is, God’s covering for sin. They yielded to God’s will, put out the fiery darts of the devil, overcame death’s fear, took away its sting, and said a peaceful goodbye to this world, with all its comforts and troubles. These were the actions of their faith.

Now see the gracious and great reward of their faith: God is not ashamed to be called their God, because he has prepared a city for them, Hebrews 11:16. God is the God of all true believers. Faith gives them a share in God and in all his fullness. He calls himself their God, and he allows them to call him their God too. He also gives them the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit that helps them cry, “Abba, Father.”

Though they were lowly by nature, stained by sin, and poor in outward life, God is not ashamed to be called their God. That shows his humility and his love. So they should never be ashamed to be called his people, or to be linked with any who truly belong to him, however much the world despises them. Above all, they must be careful not to bring shame and reproach on their God, so that he is not ashamed of them. They should live in a way that brings him honor, praise, and glory.

As proof of this, God has prepared a city for them, a happiness that fits the relationship he has taken them into. Nothing in this world can match the love shown in God’s being the God of his people. If God could not, or would not, give his people anything better than what this world offers, then he would be ashamed to be called their God. If he brings them into such a relationship with himself, he will care for them in a way that matches it. If he calls himself their God, he will fully live up to that name. He has prepared for them in heaven what answers to this title and relationship, so no one will be able to say, to God’s shame, that he adopted people as his children and then failed to provide for them properly. Thinking about this should stir up the hearts of God’s people, widen their desires, and push them to work eagerly for this city he has prepared for them.

After the apostle has spoken about the faith of others, along with Abraham, he returns to Abraham again. He now gives an example of the greatest test and act of faith on record, either in Abraham’s story or in the story of any of his spiritual children. This was Abraham’s offering up of Isaac: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only son” (Hebrews 11:17).

In this great example, notice the test and exercise of Abraham’s faith. He was truly tested. It is said in Genesis 22:1 that God tested Abraham, not to lead him into sin, for God never tempts anyone in that way, but to prove his faith and obedience. God had tested Abraham before this, when he called him away from his country and father’s house, when a famine drove him from Canaan into Egypt, when he had to fight five kings to rescue Lot, when Abimelech took Sarah from him, and in many other ways. But this test was greater than all the others. He was commanded to offer up his son Isaac. Read the account in Genesis 22:2. There you will see that every word was a test: “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will tell you about.” Take your son, not one of your animals or servants, your only son by Sarah, Isaac, your laughter, the child of your joy and delight, whom you love as your own life. Take him to a far-off place, a journey of three days, to the land of Moriah. Do not just leave him there, but offer him as a burnt offering. No greater test was ever placed on any creature. The apostle here mentions some things that made this trial even greater.

He was tested only after he had received the promises, that this Isaac would build his family, that his line would be named through him (Hebrews 11:18), and that he would be one of the ancestors of the Messiah, through whom all nations would be blessed. So when Abraham was called to offer up Isaac, it seemed as though he was being asked to destroy his own family, cancel God’s promises, block the coming of Christ, ruin the world, sacrifice his own soul and hopes of salvation, and cut off God’s church in one blow. It was a most terrible test.

This Isaac was his only son by his wife Sarah, the only son he would have through her, and the only child who would carry the promise and inheritance. Ishmael was set aside for earthly honor, but the promise of a family and of the Messiah had to come through this son, or not come at all. So beyond Abraham’s deep love for Isaac, all his hopes were tied up in him. If Isaac died, those hopes seemed to die with him.

Even if Abraham had many sons, this was the only one who could pass the promised blessing to all nations. He had waited so long for this son, received him in such an amazing way, and set his heart on him. To have this son offered as a sacrifice, and by his own hand, was a trial that would have shaken the strongest mind ever joined to a human body.

Abraham’s faith showed itself in this great trial in his obedience. He offered up Isaac. In his willing soul, he truly gave Isaac to God, and he was ready to carry it out exactly as God had commanded. He went as far as the critical moment, and would have gone through with it if God had not stopped him. Nothing could be more tender than Isaac’s words, “My father, here is the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Isaac did not realize that he himself was to be the lamb, but Abraham knew it, and still pressed on with the whole plan.

The support for Abraham’s faith must have been as great as the trial itself. He thought that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead, Hebrews 11:19. His faith rested on God’s mighty power, the power that can raise the dead. He reasoned this through in his mind and settled all his doubts that way. It does not seem that he expected God to stop him before the sacrifice. If he had expected that, the trial would have lost its force, and so would the victory of his faith. But he knew God could raise Isaac from the dead, and he believed God would do it, since such great promises depended on Isaac’s life.

We should notice three things here. God is able to raise the dead, both dead bodies and dead souls. Belief in that truth can carry us through the hardest troubles we face. And we should learn to push back our doubts and fears by thinking on God’s almighty power.

The reward of Abraham’s faith in this trial was that he received his son back as though from the dead, Hebrews 11:19. He had given him up to God, and God gave him back. The best way to enjoy our blessings with peace is to surrender them to God. If he returns them, it will be in kindness, if not always in the same form.

He received Isaac back from the dead, because he had counted him as dead. To him, Isaac was as good as dead, and getting him back was like receiving him in a resurrection. This also pointed forward to something greater. It was a picture of Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection, since Isaac was a type of Christ. It was also a pledge of the glorious resurrection of all true believers, whose life is not lost, but hidden with Christ in God.

We now come to the faith of other Old Testament saints named one by one, along with the particular trials and actions of their faith. We next see the faith of Isaac, Hebrews 11:20. We have already seen something of him in the story of Abraham, but here we meet something more distinct, that by faith he blessed Jacob and Esau about things still to come. He blessed them by giving them over to God in covenant, recommending God and religion to them, praying for them, and speaking by prophecy about their future condition and that of their descendants, as recorded in Genesis 27.