“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” -Hebrews 11:13-16
Are you ever in the middle of telling a story (or stories) and then need to make a sidebar comment so that what you’re saying makes sense? That seems like exactly what the author of Hebrews does with today’s passage. He was just telling us about the first part of Abraham’s story in verses 8-12, and he’ll resume the story of Abraham in verses 17-19. But in the middle of the story, he decides that his readers need some important information.
In verse 13, the author begins by clarifying that the people who have been mentioned so far (Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham) did not see God’s promises fulfilled in their lifetimes. They were only living by faith, which is “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (verse 1). They were still confident and assured of God’s promises, even if they did not see the fulfillment of those promises. While Abraham was still alive to see his son Isaac born, of course, he did not live to see his descendants become as many as the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore. All of these people knew that God’s promises would be fulfilled but only saw that fulfillment “from a distance.”
All of these people were “foreigners and strangers” here on earth. Yes, they did have homelands and families, but the point is that they knew that there was something greater than this earth to live for. Even many generations before Jesus would come as the promised Messiah, they knew that God had something better in store for them. They would one day all be citizens of heaven and were simply passing by so to speak on this earth while they lived their lives.
The rest of this section elaborates on the idea that this earth was not their true home. Verse 14 tells us that they were “looking for a country of their own.” If they were only focused on the things of this earth rather than God’s heavenly promises for them, they would not have been looking at the bigger picture of being foreigners and strangers on earth, preparing themselves for what God had in store after this life.
If they were only looking behind to what they had left, verse 15 tells us they could have just gone back there. But they weren’t focused on the past; they were focused on the future that God had promised them. They were completely focused on walking out the path that God had for them in faith, no matter what.
Rather than only looking at their current earthly lives or desiring to live in the past, they instead longed for the better heavenly country (verse 16). Their commitment to looking forward to their next life in heaven was a firm one, no matter what.
Because of their faith, God was not ashamed of them. They were obedient to Him through living their lives in faith, and God was proud of them for that. God is often referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which demonstrates the faith of those men that God wants to be associated with them, even though they are sinful human beings. Because of their commitment to following God by faith even though they didn’t see the fulfillment of that, God honored them by preparing a city for them. Note that it doesn’t say that God will one day prepare a city for them, but it has already been accomplished.
What does this passage mean for us today? While we have already seen the fulfillment of God’s ultimate promise in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that brings us salvation, there are still times we need to live by faith in the things that we cannot see. We do not know the details of how our lives will play out, but we need to forge on anyway by faith in God that He will work everything out according to His good purposes (Romans 8:28).
Like these men of the Old Testament, we are all foreigners and strangers here on this earth as well. We know that this is not our ultimate home; for believers in Jesus Christ, heaven is our home. We are here for a time journeying through this world so that we can live our lives in faith in God. We are here to bring God glory and share about Him and all that He has done to our fellow sojourners here on earth, especially those who are not yet living by faith.
When we live by faith, God will not be ashamed of us either! He has already honored our faithful lives by preparing a place for us in heaven (John 14:1-4). We simply need to continue walking in that faith, focused on whatever God has in store for us and confident in that hope, even when we can’t see or understand what God is doing in our lives.
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Throughout church history, for the most part it was clear in society that when trouble came, the church was where you would find the answers for hope. When 9/11/2001 hit, the nation’s response was to get to church and to cry for help. But that repentance was short lived. The organized, visible church has been made nearly completely irrelevant to the culture of our nation today. There are two main reasons for this that I can think of. 1) The American church has, as a whole, so embraced teaching that is comfortable and seeking prosperity that whether it comes in the form of Prosperity Gospel or “Christian Nationalism,” the purpose of faith is not seeking what God wants but seeking what makes life easier. 2) The apologists of our faith have become so academic and intellectual that we chase away those who need truth and light because they were consumed by the lies of the world. I’ll be up front that I am just as guilty on these issues as anyone else, especially on the 2nd problem. So, I’m pointing to myself here too.
I ended last year on a 20-post series on apologetics and how/why we should be defending the faith. We absolutely must defend the faith. It’s a command, not a suggestion. We must bring the light to a world that knows nothing but darkness. In the Bible, light is a symbol of truth. It even describes God. As physical light enables us to see around us and what is going on, it is the truth that enables us to understand the times, the circumstances, and the arguments that we face. And much to the dismay of many, truth is exclusive. In a world that hates absolute truth, you will not make many friends by proclaiming the unadulterated truth.
Jesus said that we are the light of the world. Paul said the Church’s role is to be a pillar of truth. We are to stand out, be unique, and give answers to a world lost in darkness. Yes, we have answers, and we need not be ashamed of them. Yet, the intellectual world has given us post-modernism that denies any truth and any single source from having the final say about reality. Many have so embraced post-modernism that to break free of it and rebuke it will turn many who claim to be Christians against you. It’s like in Hezekiah’s day or Jeremiah’s day when Hezekiah and Josiah cleaned out all the idols from the land. The people were so entrenched in idolatry, thinking they were worshiping God that they thought Hezekiah went apostate. They ultimately rejected Jeremiah’s advice proudly declaring they would go back to worshiping their idols because when they worshiped their idols, they thought they had success. Yet the judgment that came upon them was due to their idolatry, not due to their abandoning their idols.
In 2018, my last of six times at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference, Tim Shoemaker made the closing keynote titled “Shooting Higher.” The context was for Christian writers to shoot higher with their writing. Go for the best standards, go proclaim the truth, and don’t hold back. He made this very quotable remark: “Where do we get the idea that we can reach darkness with more darkness?” How is it possible that we, who have the light, have been duped into thinking that in order to reach the world, we have to look like the world, sound like the world, and act like the world? This is how seeker-sensitive churches operate. In order to attract those in the world, we offer what the world wants, and the world does not want to hear sin-piercing, soul-penetrating, soul-saving truth of the gospel. Instead, they want to hear what makes them feel good and makes them acceptable in their sin. As a result, churches who do this cease being a church and become nothing more than a Sunday Social Club for the heathen. And that’s putting it nicely. This argument is what I have heard MANY Old Earth Creationists use, too. One even said, “You won’t reach the scientific community with these arguments.” My response was that if you are seeking their approval, you aren’t getting God’s approval. Since when did the church ever have to cater to the opinions of the lost?
We are to be light, and darkness hates light. We have to understand this. If we are going to present the unadulterated truth, those who are of the world will hate us. They will strive to silence us, mock us, or even kill us. Why? Because our message convicts them of their sin and reminds them of the judgment that is due to them unless they repent. But how can people be saved unless they see the light? Christianity is not meant to be a place where you learn your doctrines and your catechisms and then just sit comfortably in the pews. The church is meant to arm and equip the saints for going out there and being the light to people who have no light otherwise. At my job as a public school teacher, I may be the only Christian influence the students get. I’m not “allowed” to share my faith as part of my lectures in the classroom, and while it is an extreme battle to get kids to do it, I seek to teach my kids how to think independently of what they are being fed. I am also working on getting involved with Fellowship of Christian Athletes now that we are back on campus.
The underground church understands what it means to be the light, but they also know what happens when they do so. Light is not just visible to those who want to be able to see and to get answers.; it’s also visible to those who hate the light and don’t want anyone else to receive it either. There is a cost to being a Christian and especially to being a light in this world. I’ll save that in more detail for my next post, but today’s youth raised in church seems to think that all you need is to wear a Christian T-shirt or wear a cross on a necklace and that’s all you need to showcase your faith. You can certainly use those as witnessing tools, but if you are going to be the light in this world, expect to be ostracized and singled out. You will be the “weird one.” But those who count the cost, and have paid the cost, have reaped countless benefits and rewards.
Do you want to be the light of the world? You should, but you need to know what it comes with. Jesus was up front about what it meant to be His follower. Most walked away, unwilling to pay the price to get there. There is a cost to being a Christian. We’ll see what that is next week.
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by Steve Risner
Today, we’ll look at another wonderful example of poor logic, poor theology, and a terrible misunderstanding of both the arguments Biblical creationists make for their position and against the position a person who believes in abiogenesis and universal common descent (we call them evolutionists but this description as to what they believe is more useful, I think). We’ve discussed for some weeks the statements made by a theistic evolutionist and, frankly, how crazy much of what he says is. You can find the previous installments of this series here, here, here, here, and here. We began by outlining his initial statements and then, as he described what he felt were some inaccuracies concerning some arguments a meme had made about his beliefs.
We touched on entropy in our last two posts (linked above). I’ll wrap that up quickly and move on to biogenesis, this theistic evolutionist’s next argument. He finishes his critique of the claim that the second law of thermodynamics is violated by abiogenesis and universal common descent with this statement:
You'll note that this principle is so well established and provides such a clear source of increasing order for evolutionary purposes on planet earth that even the major anti-evolutionary organizations warn against using the argument that evolution violates the law of entropy. It's just too easy to point out that the argument is a falsehood.
He's right, you know. The principle of the second law of thermodynamics is one of the most well established in science. But it has nothing to do with “increasing order for evolutionary purposes on planet earth.” Not only does it not do this, but he didn’t even try to explain how.
He goes on to say the case is so strong (although he failed to tell us how) that “major anti-evolutionary organizations” (do you see how universal common descent has become an idol for this man?) tell us not to use this argument. Again, he’s right but not in the way he thinks. There are applications of this argument that are not profitable. They don’t seem to work. However, much of the talk on these “anti-evolutionary organizations” websites is replete with arguments explaining how abiogenesis and universal common descent require massive disruptions in this fundamental law of science. He provided a link (which I didn’t post here) that doesn’t work. It was nice he tried to offer some evidence for his claim, but the evidence is apparently outdated. Let’s move on to biogenesis and get the ball rolling with it.
On this topic, this theistic evolutionist, probably joined by most if not all others who share his beliefs, says:
The theory of evolution cannot violate ‘biogenesis,’ if there were actually a law of biogenesis. Evolution requires some sort of living, reproducing organism. Evolution requires biogenesis. Christianity requires abiogenesis, as well as biogenesis. The Bible clearly states (whether read figuratively or literally) that the first living organisms were generated from non-living matter. We came ‘from the dust.’ Other organisms are described as arising from the sea or the soil. It is also simply reasonable to think that the first living organisms were made of previously non-living chemical precursors. Hence an argument that evolution violates some requirement of ‘biogenesis’ is both a falsehood and an argument against the Bible. You have provided another piece of evidence that young-earthism and other anti-evolutionary notions are anti-biblical.
Biologyonline.com tells us that the law of biogenesis is the principle stating that life arises from pre-existing life, not from nonliving material. Now this evolutionist wants to act like this law isn’t real. Biologyonline.com disagrees. Medical-dictionary also disagrees, telling us it’s “a term given by [Thomas] Huxley [known as “Darwin’s Bulldog” due to his fierce advocacy for Darwin’s theory] to the principle that life originates from preexisting life only and never from nonliving material.” There were numerous other definitions on that page that essentially stated the same thing. Some seem to think that biogenesis is certainly a concept to be understood by biologists and laypersons alike. And to be honest, I don’t know a single person who has ever witnessed this not being the case. There has never been, in the billions, or more likely trillions, of organisms we’ve witnessed on this earth, a single time a living thing—whether a single cell or as complex as you’d like to imagine—has come from something not alive. They’ll sidestep this issue by claiming this was only applicable to spontaneous generation but doesn’t apply to abiogenesis. That’s hogwash. In fact, if you look at the definitions of those two ideas—spontaneous generation and abiogenesis—they are nearly identical.
Oxford defines abiogenesis this way: “the original evolution of life or living organisms from inorganic or inanimate substances.” Notice how they accidentally slipped the word “evolution” in there. Our theistic evolutionist doesn’t think the two are related. Oxford says that spontaneous generation is “the supposed production of living organisms from nonliving matter, as inferred from the apparent appearance of life in some supposedly sterile environments.” Do you see how these two definitions are very similar? They are, really. Huxley (mentioned above) changed the term from spontaneous generation to abiogenesis for the exclusive purpose of getting away from this backward, naïve, thoroughly proven false idea. Oops. It’s still the same thing, no matter how you change the name.
I think this is a good place to rest. Next week, we’ll look at the rest of his comment on the law of biogenesis, which evolution gets a pass on. Is abiogenesis a foundational pillar of Christianity? We’ll take a look at his theology here and use some of our resources on Hebrew to discover what the deal is. Thanks for reading and may God bless you richly.
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“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.” -Hebrews 11:8-12
Abraham is considered to be the father of the nation of Israel, as many Sunday School children know from the catchy song (“Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham…”). While we could point out the technicality that Abraham’s grandson Jacob was the one whom God renamed Israel and whose sons’ descendants became the tribes, Abraham was the one to whom God gave the promise of becoming the father of a great nation.
This is why the author spends so many verses on just this one person when reciting the great heroes of the faith. The section on Abraham actually spans verses 8-19. The author of Hebrews seems especially fond of Abraham, as he’s mentioned ten times over the course of the letter. Abraham is clearly a great example of faith in God; he accepted God’s promises even though he really had no earthly reason to assume that they would be fulfilled. Yes, a few faithful men had come before him, but we know from Genesis 11:10-32 that it was multiple generations from Noah until Abraham lived.
For today’s passage, we start at the beginning of the story of Abraham that we have in the Bible – when God told him to leave his homeland and move to a new land. You can read about this part of Abraham’s story starting in Genesis 12. God told Abraham to move to a different land, and Abraham went. When we move to a new place, we typically know where we’re going – probably many details about the new place, too! But Abraham did not know the destination when he packed up everything to move. He simply trusted God that God would keep His promise to show him where to settle.
But even when Abraham God to that land, he wasn’t able to truly settle there; he lived “like a stranger in a foreign country” (verse 9). The land had been promised to Abraham and his descendants by God, but it was not theirs to possess just yet. Even Abraham’s son Isaac and his son Jacob were not permanently settled there, as they lived in tents there during their lives also. We know from later in Genesis that Jacob’s sons and their families ended up in Egypt after the famine, and it was not until the time of Moses when the people (by that time a huge nation) even began to travel back to this promised land.
Why was Abraham okay with this situation? “For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (verse 10). To the original audience of the book of Hebrews, the city was considered the highest form of civilization. The foundations mentioned likely refer to the strong spiritual foundation of the promises of God rather than the physical foundations of a city. God is both the designer and the one who constructs this perfect city. Many scholars believe this is a reference to the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21. Abraham wasn’t just looking forward to the promised land or even the future city of Jerusalem that would be built there but of our future perfect dwelling with God for eternity. That is the only place that God truly designed and built that encompasses God’s perfection.
Verse 11 may represent the author embellishing things a bit, or perhaps remembering the story of Sarah more fondly than how it actually happens. The author portrays Abraham’s wife Sarah as being fully faithful and having confidence in the promise that she would bear a child, even in her own age. But in Genesis 16, we see Sarah losing faith in God’s timing, so she uses her servant Hagar to try and give them a son. Then in Genesis 18, Sarah laughs when the visitors say that she will bear a child in her old age. Neither of those sound like having faith that God will do what He promised to do!
But we know that God was faithful to His promise. Even though Abraham was “as good as dead” (verse 12) because of his old age, God gave him and Sarah a son, from whom came countless descendants. Because God promised and Abraham believed, God’s promise was fulfilled. Abraham’s faithful obedience resulted in blessings beyond what they could count - more numerous than the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore.
I know I am thankful that God does not often call me to do things that require as much faith as Abraham packing up and moving to a land he didn’t yet know. But God still does work in our lives today, often without letting us know all of the details. Years ago, I heard this idea interpreted in light of Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” A lamp or a light on the path are not considered to be very bright. Often, they would only serve to illuminate the next step, not the whole path. God often only gives us the next step we need to take, and we need to have faith in Him that He knows the whole path that He is calling us to.
Abraham was called to take that next step in faith – move to a land that God would show him – and he did, knowing by faith that God would work it all out. Abraham was called to believe in the promise God gave him that he would have numerous descendants, even while he was getting old and still childless; by faith, Abraham believed that.
What next step is God calling you to take in your life by faith? Listen for God’s voice in your life, through prayer, through other believers speaking into your life, through reading God’s Word, or even through the voice of God speaking directly to you. And when you discern what God is telling you, have faith that God will fulfill what He promises you!
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One of the great tragedies of our modern American Christian culture is we have totally lost the sight of God in regard to worship. We no longer do things the way God wants them to be done but rather how we’d prefer to have them. In a way, we have turned our Sunday services into something little different than the pagan rituals of the Ancient Near East, where we seek to “appease a god” with our works, our singing, and our words (messages). We seek church congregations that offer what we are looking for and for what will satisfy our wishes and desires. Then if the church no longer provides that, we leave and move on.
I was raised in a home that taught loyalty. When you went to a church or a job or a ministry, you stuck with it until it was clear you were to move on. I have been part of 4 churches in my life now and don’t even know the beginning of how to go about church hunting. I’ve been at my current church for about a year now, and I love it. We are called “The Old Paths Christian Church.” This church, after seeing all the modernized attempts to be “seeker-friendly,” decided to go back to the old ways of doing things and get back to being what God wants us to do.
Now, God is not so specific that you have to do absolutely everything the exact same way in a legalistic manner no matter the time, culture, or language, but at the same time He does have guidelines on what genuine faith, genuine worship, and genuine religion are to look like. When Jesus spoke with the woman at the well, she complained that everyone had to go to Jerusalem to worship whereas she, as a Samaritan, had been raised that you could worship God on the mountains (the high places where the golden calves of Jeroboam were placed). Jesus said the day would come where both Jew and Samaritan could worship in spirit and truth. The problem today is that we have taken the first part of this teaching (worshiping in spirit) but we often ignore the truth part.
When I was on the mission field, we had a team from Houston, TX that was from a very legalistic church. Every boy wore a tie, and every girl wore a dress, regardless of the circumstance. As a staff, we debated if we would do the same just so we would not offend them. They were offended by the training videos we used because they had a guitar for background music. They wanted only organs for music. We actually thought they would not come, but they did. When they came out of that week, they learned that it was possible to worship God in a different way than they were used to and even if it wasn’t their preference, that it was okay to not do things exactly that way. It turned out, many from that team soon left that church.
Legalism is definitely not the way to go regarding living the Christian life, but neither is its equal and opposite twin: antinomianism. While legalism would say, “You have to absolutely everything exactly my way,” antinomianism would say, “You can do whatever you want to do.” Both extremes are very dangerous. When a man began doing ministry using Jesus’ name, the disciples wanted him to stop because he wasn’t “one of them.” Jesus said, “This guy is acting in faith and believes Me. Don’t stop him. He’s on our side.” The disciples were an example of legalism. We often think of the Pharisees for their legalistic approach, however Jesus rarely chided them for legalism. Rather, He chided them for hypocrisy. In their attempt to over-control things so people would not sin, they themselves frequently did not do the very things they preached.
But the Bible lists the problems with antinomianism even more than it does legalism. We have to worship God the way God wants to be worshiped, and we cannot do things our own way and think God will approve of them. The first time man sought to do his own thing was in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve made their own clothes, covering themselves with fig leaves. Not long after, after God showed them the correct way for a sinful person to worship, their sons made their first sacrifices. Abel brough the best of his flock, a blood sacrifice, and Cain brought fruit of his own labor. It wasn’t merely the heart attitude that made God reject Cain but also the type of sacrifice. It wasn’t what God wanted and how God wanted it. God wasn’t being picky; He was making a point. You can’t worship God just however you want.
Nadab and Abihu, the eldest sons of Moses’ brother Aaron, had been commissioned as priests. As the first born, Nadab was in line to take Aaron’s place as High Priest. They did not follow God’s instructions and offered strange fire before the Lord. God burned them to death and did not allow Aaron to even mourn for them.
King Saul saw the worship of God just as the pagans around him did – a means of appeasing the gods, which is why he felt he could justify offering the sacrifice when Samuel tarried. This cost him his throne. David, the man who sought after the things of God and the heart of God, knew God’s heart regarding sacrifice and refused to offer that which cost him nothing. However, when bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, in his excitement, David did not obey the Lord in how the Ark was to be carried. He put it on a cart rather than on the shoulders of Levites, and when the oxen stumbled and the cart was about to tip over, Uzzah, in his zeal to protect the Ark, touched it and God smote him on the spot.
If you think this is just for Old Testament times, read the book of Acts. Ananias and Sapphira thought they could worship God by joining in the giving to the pot by selling their own property. But they kept some of it and declared they gave everything. They lied to God and to the church, and God smote them for it. Simon the sorcerer saw what God was doing and asked for the Holy Spirit’s baptism so he could have this power, too. Peter pronounced a curse on him, too, but Simon at least somewhat repented of that.
Today, worship is often no longer worship as God defined it. The singing is more of a concert than it is actual worship. The sermon is not about proclaiming God’s word but rather about giving a motivational speech. And the church is seeking to draw people in instead of seeking the worship of God. If we believe Christ is the head of the church, then He should operate as the head of the church, meaning Jesus should dictate what our worship should look like. It’s not about appeasing what each of us wants; our opinions have no weight here whatsoever. But when was the last time that your church actually sought the will and mind of Christ in how the congregation is to worship God? Or did they rather seek what the congregation wanted or what church leaders wanted?
Church is to be done God’s way and not based on our preferences. My church does its singing differently than what I am used to and even different from my general preferences in terms of style. If I had my way, I’d prefer the modern contemporary style, but fit with better doctrine. But my former church and current church don’t do that. And guess what? That’s fine. Because they aren’t worshiping me in either case.
But where is God in our worship? What role does He play? How have we consulted Him in what He wants? Few churches are asking these questions. My current church has, and they are going after what they believe should be the best for their congregation. Is it perfect? Of course not. But at least we are pointing the right direction. Worship is to be done God’s way. He has told us how He prefers to be worshipped, and we need to be obedient to those principles.
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“By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.” -Hebrews 11:4-7
In the first section of chapter 11, we learned about what faith is – “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (verse 1). That introduction was necessary so that all of these stories that follow will make sense. In today’s passage, we look at the first few of those stories, which demonstrate the faith of those who lived before the Flood.
The first example of faith that the author of Hebrews chooses is Abel. You can read more of Abel’s story in Genesis 4. The highlight of Abel’s faith was that he brought a different offering to God than his brother Cain did. Abel, who kept the flocks, brought the best portions from some of his firstborn. Cain was a farmer, and he just brought some of his harvest as an offering to God, not necessarily the best parts as Abel did. God was pleased with Abel’s offering because he offered up the best, but God was not pleased with Cain’s offering. This made Cain jealous, so he killed his brother – the first recorded murder, and in only the second generation since the perfection of the Garden of Eden.
The author of Hebrews reports that God commended Abel as righteous (verse 4) because of his faith. Abel believed that God deserved his best, and it was that attitude that showed his faith in God. Even though Abel has long been dead, his faith is still important for us to consider today. We, too, must have the right motivation when bringing our offerings to God, whether they be offerings of our time, money, or talents.
The next example that the author of Hebrews gives in verses 5-6 is Enoch. We don’t know a lot about Enoch from the Biblical account, but what we do know about him can be found in Genesis 5:18-24. He is also mentioned in Luke 3:37 and Jude 14. The important fact about Enoch is that he was “taken away” from this life. The author of Hebrews believes this means that he did not experience physical death. Why did God not let Enoch die? We know that God was pleased with him and he walked faithfully with God, but other than that, it’s a mystery to us.
The author of Hebrews elaborates a bit on this concept of pleasing God by telling us that it’s only possible by faith. We have to have faith in God in order to believe in Him and seek Him, and when we seek God we will be rewarded by Him. That doesn’t mean that we’ll all be simply taken away from this world rather than experience physical death, as rewards from God can come in many forms. But it is impossible to please God without faith, so faith is essential!
The next example we see is that of Noah (verse 7). Noah’s story can be found in Genesis 6-9. Noah was warned about the coming flood that would bring God’s judgment to the whole world, but God also gave Noah instructions about how to save himself and his family. Noah had no way of knowing about the coming flood other than God’s warning, so he had to take it all on faith that he needed to build the ark. Noah’s faith in God led to the salvation of his family.
Noah’s building of the ark was an outward sign of his internal faith in God to keep His promises. Noah was obedient to God, and in that respect, he condemned those who were disobedient to God. Even if God didn’t give the command to others, they would have seen what Noah was doing and had the opportunity to ask him about it so Noah could have shared his faith with them. But when the wicked people of that time didn’t listen to Noah, they were condemned to die in the judgment of the flood.
Because of Noah’s faith, he was called righteous. In fact, he is the first person in the Bible to be referred to as righteous (Genesis 6:9). He believed what God said, and he acted on it, which made him right in God’s eyes.
What can we learn from the examples of Abel, Enoch, and Noah? We need to have the right motivation when giving back to God. We need to be faithful to God in all that we do, and to have faith in God even when we can’t see Him or understand what He’s doing. When God tells us to do something, we need to act on it to live out our faith. Our faith is not just an attitude, but it’s a way of life – being obedient to God in all that we do, to the best of our abilities.
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Growing up, one of my favorite songs was by Michael W. Smith titled “Cross of Gold.” I mostly enjoyed the beat then. When I heard it again now as an adult, I see the song in a totally new light, and I see how important that message is today. The gist of the song is addressing the person who wears a cross on a necklace and is asked why they are wearing it. Is it just a symbol? A piece of jewelry? A fashion thing? A charm? Or is there something much more to it?
I have asked multiple times: “Why do we call ourselves Christians?” The ones who are truly born again and regenerated with the new nature know why. Those who are fakers will not be able to answer that question correctly. Why do we wear Christian T-shirts? Why do we have a cross as a piece of jewelry? Why do we even carry that Bible around? American Christians have turned our symbolism into superstition, and we aren’t the only ones.
What do I mean by turning the very symbols of our faith into superstitious items? It’s not anything new. We see a clear example of this in the history of Israel. Israel sinned in the wilderness and God sent fiery serpents to kill people. He then had Moses forge a bronze serpent and hang it up on a pole so that anyone who looked upon it would be healed and saved. This would be a picture or an image of Jesus on the cross. Several hundred years later, king Hezekiah began to do some reforms and he sought to clean out the nation from all its idols (and they were many). One of the idols he had to destroy was this very same bronze serpent. Why? Because Israel had turned it into an idol, a superstitious symbol and image that they turned to for hope and help and healing instead of God.
When God showed Himself at Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19, He came in thunder and smoke and fire, but He did not take any physical form. Why? In Deuteronomy 4, He said He would not take any physical form because Israel would take that form and create an idol out of it, turning to the idol instead of Him. God knows the tendencies of mankind.
Israel didn’t just fail in this regard. They turned even the Law into religious superstition. They turned the sacrificial system into a superstition. The purpose of the sacrificial system was to constantly remind Israel of the severity of their sin and to look forward to the eventual Savior who would do it once for all. Yet, it did not take long for the sacrifices to be nothing more than ritualistic rites and essentially superstitious means of getting God’s favor. That was king Saul’s excuse for disobeying God twice. He offered a sacrifice, something only a priest/prophet could do, not the king. Then he used sacrifice as a cop-out for being caught in disobedience. Saul never saw the weight of the system. David, on the other hand, did. When he sinned by taking the census, he went to make his sacrifice and he made sure it cost him something. He understood the mercy of God, but he also took the wrath and high standards of God seriously.
Today, we fall into the same traps. We turn to physical images to give us hope and encouragement. We go to church as routine and as religious rite, but how often do we actually go to church to meet God with other believers? Why are we even going to church to begin with? The majority of Christians today no longer believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven, and they believe that you can get to heaven by doing good deeds (recent polls put these figures at 60+%). They think that by going to church, they will please God and He will let them in to heaven. It’s the same religious superstition of the Ancient Near East. They sought to win the gods’ favor by sacrifices, prayers, praises, and good deeds. Ultimately, their idea is to use their good deeds to strongarm the gods into granting their favor. Today, it’s no different. We have this thing called “The Law of Attraction,” which essentially is a way to attempt to make the world’s energies come give you want you want. It’s half pantheism, half demon worship. And yet our most popular preacher in this country, among others, openly teaches this. It’s superstition, religious rite, and completely devoid of their purpose.
A friend of mine, Jody Ayers, made a very interesting comment on this issue. She pointed out that all these rituals, talismans, symbols, idols, and even things like circumcision, the sinner’s prayer, or whatever are all cheap replacements for genuine repentance. We seek these things to ‘protect ourselves’ instead of seeking God with a broken heart and calling upon His grace and mercy to save us.
Christianity is NOT one of these other religions. It tells us explicitly to never place trust in an icon or a picture or image. Those are idols. It also tells us to avoid any religious rite that is done by routine. There are religious rites that we Christians have: we have the Lord’s Supper and baptism. Each of these have instructions on how they are to be taken and carried out. Sure, each local church congregation has its own methods, procedures, etc., but so many of these things are done because “we’ve always done it that way,” not because “we want to follow what God wants us to do.” That’s one thing I like about my current church. We definitely do some things that other people will find weird. We have an elder ring a bell (a triangle) to signal the start of the service and to prepare our hearts for worshiping God and hearing the sermon. We then have someone bring the Bible up down the aisle up to the pulpit for the “call to worship.” I often feel like it’s marching the U.S. flag to the stage for an event. We do things with purpose, and we have Scripture to support why we do what we do (for these two cases it is to treat the gathering of believers seriously and the Word of God with reverence). But we do not do these things as though they give us any special standing with God, nor to garner nor earn His favor. We do it as a means of setting our hearts right to do things God’s way, not our own.
Why are you a Christian? Why do you look to that cross? Why do you look at a picture of Jesus? Why do you take Communion? Why do you go to church? Is it because you actually are a Christian, because you love Christ and seek to do things God’s way? Or have you simply created your own superstitious religion in hope to “get in,” seeking God’s blessing but not seeking God’s face? I know I’ve done church too many times by rote. God will not be pleased with mere religious ritual. He wants a heart that longs for Him. Calling upon some kind of talisman will do you no good. Only the true God can save you. This sounds so basic, yet most of our churches today are not teaching this stuff. I’m going to continue exploring this as I continue this series.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
