The Book of Hebrews 11:30-40 Walls & Wandering
Hebrews 11:30-40 · Vern Peterman · May 11, 2014
Hebrews, No. 51
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926427482957

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We're going to study Hebrews. This is the last passage that we're going through in Hebrews chapter 11. This is Hebrews 11, 30 through 40. We've been going through, in chapter 11, the great hall of faith, it's sometimes called. And we take it from Hebrews 11, 2, for by it the men of old gained approval.

And one of the things we've been pointing out, everybody has faith, okay? You will sometimes have it told to you that, you know, okay, these are people of faith and these are people who are skeptical or don't have faith. Truth is, everybody has faith. It is only a question of where a person puts it. Everybody has faith. And so we pointed out last time here, James Randi, who is one who claims to be an atheist and skeptic, says, no amount of belief makes something a fact.

And so then he turns around and says, and this is his website, okay, evolution is a fact. All right. Well, we're going to look at that. We've been pointing out that, you know, bats supposedly evolved from a rodent. Some would also say a primate. There's no evidence for either one in the fossil record. And so if you believe that that took place, that's not fact, but faith, okay. It's also claimed that an Okapi-like creature evolved into a giraffe. There's no transitional fossils to prove that either. So, if a person believes that that evolution took place, that is faith, not fact.

We point out also the turtles, same thing, no transitional fossils available. That's published just a year ago in Current Biology. Disagreement from a lack of clear transitional fossils. There it is, right in the secular record. So if you believe that turtles evolved, that's faith, not fact.

We pointed out the 338 species of hummingbirds which are thought to have evolved from pterosaurs, a flying dinosaur. That's a wide spectrum of flying reptiles from 10 inches in wingspan to 30 feet, the pterosaurs. But the pterosaurs were all carnivores.

Hummingbirds have about three quarters of their diet based on nectar, like you see here. And about a quarter of their diet is insects. Now, hummingbirds have some unique characteristics. They not only hover and fly forwards, they can fly backwards, they can fly upside down, and even do a barrel roll. And they get lift, unlike other birds, from both directions of stroke. They get lift from both directions of stroke, which is why they can be hovering and all of a sudden just move quickly in another direction. What? Amazing, huh? Amazing. So some astounding behaviors in this.

And nonetheless, the teaching is that birds are just living feathery dinosaurs. This is a quote out of last year's National Geographic. And so that's the teaching. That's the thought. One of the things we pointed out last week is the very smallest hummingbird, and it's also the smallest bird, is the bee hummingbird.

You see it here on the end of a pencil. It weighs 1.6 to 1.9 grams at its adult size. To give you an idea what that's like, a penny weighs 2.5 grams. So it weighs substantially less than a penny. It is a very tiny creature. If you believe that those pterosaurs evolved into this hummingbird, there aren't transitional fossils to support that, so that is fate. This bee hummingbird can flap its wings 80 to 100 times a second, its heart beats 20 times a second, As it's operating through the day, at nighttime, its heart rate slows down to about one beat every two seconds. It is an amazing creature, but there is no evidence from science to support the idea that that pterosaur evolved into the bee hummingbird. Now there's something else.

What they're finding in a lot of these supposedly millions of years old tissues is soft tissue. Here's an example, a mosasaur, and you see the picture of what it looks like. You also see the fossil with a man standing next to it, so you get an idea of scale. What they did, and this was a Swedish study published a few years back, and they took the mineral content out of the way and left only the non-mineral, proteinous kinds of tissues, the soft tissue, and supposedly the 70 million year old mosasaur was carbon 14 dated to 24,600 years old. That seems to be a little bit of a conflict. The soft tissue would have degraded long before 24,600 years had passed. If you want to believe that the mosasaur is that old, that's based not on science, but based on faith.

Now, Here's a T. rex fossil gotten from Montana, studied by Dr. Mary Schweitzer of North Carolina University. And so a supposedly 68 million year old Tyrannosaurus rex fossil has blood vessels, you see that in the upper left, and red blood cells still remaining after 68 million years. Hmm. She first published it in September 1993 and she's continued to publish on it with additional studies and discoveries since that time.

You find in there bone building cells intact, red blood cells intact, blood vessels intact. after 68 million years. The reality is, if you believe it's 68 million years old, that's not based on anything in science, that's based on faith. Now, just, and this was just published this year, there is a small creature called a beard worm. And when the beard worm is retracted, you have these little tubes which you see up top, and when the creature, the little worm sticks out, it has these little beard-looking things. Very odd-looking creature, right? Well, it was just reported in the Journal of Paleontology that a 551-million-year-old beardworm collection of sheaths is still soft after over half a billion years.

I don't think so, right? I don't think it's soft and pliable. That's just unbelievable. Well, if you want to believe it, however, that that's that old, then that's based on faith, not science. So if evolution is a fact, it's based on faith. All right, now let's shift gears here.

Here's Hebrews 11, 30 through 31. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith, Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace." Now you have here, and it's also on this first slide in your handout, after 40 years in the desert east of Canaan, east of the Jordan River, Israel invaded Canaan under the leadership of Joshua.

And so we have, just as we sang about in a little bit here, a little bit ago, we have the time. And if you want to write this, it's not on your handout. 1406 was the year. And here you have Galilee, Sea of Galilee, and the Dead Sea, and the Jordan River flowing between them. And by the way, both Galilee and the Dead Sea are all below sea level. And here is the location of Jericho. And here's Canaan, the promised land that they're entering into. So they cross the Jordan River and come into Jericho.

So did Joshua gain the upper hand through the use and study of military strategy? Is that what Joshua did? Did he study military strategy? Well, no. Did Joshua learn how to predict or even cause an earthquake? Is that what he did? No. Let's see, did Joshua plan to take them out with superior physical strength and firepower? Is that what he did? Is that what Joshua was going to use? No. Here's what God had them do. God had them do this.

The people of Israel walked all around Jericho just once for six days, and my guess is they stayed out of bowshot range. Just walk, because you just stay out of bow shot range, and you can puzzle the people and frustrate the people like crazy who are up on the wall. Once, just one time for six days, with seven priests, and just seven, blowing the ram's horn trumpet, and others carrying the Ark of the Covenant. And so they would have these ram's horn, and they're just blowing that as they circled the city. and the Ark of the Covenant looking like this. So carrying, blowing the horns, seven horns, and this Ark of the Covenant. Those people up on the wall must have been really baffled as to what was going on. Oh no, not this again! These people are crazy! Right?

On the seventh day, they walked all around Jericho the same way, seven times, and they shouted. And at that, the walls fell. On the seventh day they walked all around Jericho the same way seven times and shouted and those mud brick walls which were around the perimeter fell out. And guess what? If you go to Jericho today, and you can, if you go to Jericho today, the mud brick walls are falling out.

And that gave the soldiers a ramp to go straight up into the city unopposed. The soldiers were to destroy everything and everyone in the city, keeping only the gold, silver, bronze, and iron articles for the temple treasury. That's it. You don't take anything else. Even if it looks good. Even if it looks good to eat. You don't take it. They were to burn the city even with its freshly harvested grain and other crops inside the city. Rahab's household, however, the one exception, kept alive because she had helped Israel's spies. So why was Rahab so special? Here's the site of the old city, and Rahab's house was somewhere along the perimeter wall.

Here is the lower retaining wall, and this is on the upper right there. is Dr. Bryant G. Wood. He spoke in this room here just a little over a decade ago. Dr. Bryant G. Wood is explaining how the mud brick walls fell out. Here's a place where they cleaned up the mud brick walls so you could see the retaining wall that was there.

And the archaeologists, when they did the excavation, found a bunch of fresh grain that had been burned. Just as the Bible describes, It had been overflowing its banks during the time of the harvest. And so they had gotten all the grain in from their harvest and kept it in jars inside the city. And the Jews were told to burn that too. And that's what the archaeologists found. Here's another burned layer. White ash and then the darker layer. Here's more burned grain. What they found was what the Bible describes.

So Rahab the harlot had sheltered and protected the two Israelite spies who had come to check out the city of Jericho. So reminiscent of Paul being let down in a basket, Rahab let down the two Israelite spies down the city wall, let them out that way. Rahab and her father's household were then spared that day. Now, this leaves knots in Jesus' family tree. Knots in Jesus' family tree, and here's why. Rahab is in the line of King David, from whom Christ was descended.

That's from Matthew 1.5. And that top name there, that's not Salmon. This isn't like what some of you would eat it. That's Salmon.

Salmon married Rahab. And Boaz married Ruth. Rahab was a Canaanite woman. Ruth was a Moabite woman, and David also married Bathsheba, whose husband Uriah was a Hittite, so assuming that she also was, that would be Rahab and Ruth and Bathsheba would be non-Jews in the lineage of David and ultimately of Christ.

So those are the knots in Jesus' family tree. What Joshua and the Israelites and Rahab and those with her did wasn't perfect. They weren't perfect people. They didn't earn or deserve anything. But what they did was right because it was by faith in God and what He promised. God honored their faith in Him and in what He had promised to them. So by their faith, In God at Jericho we have our Savior from among the Jews. Because of Joshua and the Israelites and Rahab exercising faith, Rahab is now in the lineage of Christ, descended from Rahab. So here's Hebrews 11, 32-34.

What more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel, and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, conquered the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, and put armies to flight.

Here you have at the table on the top of page two of the various judges throughout the period of Judges, and the last one listed being Samson. Actually Samuel is the last judge, but he's in a subsequent book. So here we have from those judges in this passage we have Balak who was with Deborah and you got Gideon and you got Jephthah and Samson. So here, now you have the account of Gideon being the first one mentioned, okay?

And it goes kind of like this. It was Friday afternoon, and out in the heat, and Gideon was in a wine press, beating out wheat, and he didn't like hiding in that old wine press. But it seems that Israel was under duress. Well, all of a sudden, under a big oak, an angel of the Lord came, and here's what he spoke. He said, Gideon the Lord seen you doing pretty well, and I want you to take back Israel. Well, Gideon wheezed, and he looked up and said, Are you sure the Lord don't just want me dead?

Because I'm awful small, and war is awful rough. Well, the whole family's small. We wouldn't be enough. But the Lord wasn't going to listen to that. So what happened? The Lord said, No, you're going to do this. And it won't be because you're adequacy. It won't be because you're enough. It'll be because I'm adequate, period.

So Gideon gathered up the armies and he had 32,000 soldiers. He says, yeah, we can do it with this. The Lord says, that's too many. Huh? Too many, yeah. You've got to send a bunch home. Tell everyone who's afraid that they can go home. Well, he got a lot of takers on that one. So he had 22,000 of them and went, I'm out of here. And he goes, wow, I still got at least 10,000. And the Lord says, that's still way too many.

What? No. So the Lord worked up a little drinking test, and 300 passed, and Gideon sent home the rest. Each one was issued a torch, pitcher, and trumpet. Not one got a sword, whether they liked it or lumped it. with a torch pitcher and trumpet they went out there and they smashed the pitchers held up the torches and blew their trumpets all 300 of them and the Midianites there at En-Hirad in that valley the Midianites panicked and they started killing each other and running Here is the spring where the drinking test took place.

That's it. That's the place. So that's how the Lord showed his power. By faith, Gideon. Now, this was the same Gideon who didn't have enough faith. So he put the Lord to a, you know, here's the fleece that's wet and dry and here's the ground that's wet and dry and that little reversal thing, you know, just to make sure. But just enough faith, just enough faith that the Lord could use him. We also have the example of Samson there. Samson was not likely muscular.

Remember, the Philistines didn't know why he was so strong. Can you imagine the Philistines being puzzled? Here's this guy, maybe even kind of wiry. going around doing great feats of strength. All the dramatic demonstrations and the artistic work presents this guy, Samson, as some muscley dude, right? And he looks like he's been weightlifting his whole life.

The reality is he may not have been, because the Philistines were just baffled as to why this guy was so strong. And so Samson was one who's given as an example of faith. He was strong physically, but boy did he have a weakness for women. That was his weakness. But by faith, by faith, Samson was strong and did things to deliver the Israelites. Here he was out on the Philistine plain. Gaza was the place where Samson pushed the pillars apart at the temple. And Gaza is, of course, a place that's built over with pavement and things like that.

So we can't get to the temple. It's underneath all the modern city. But a nearby temple looks like this. And the pillars that hold up the middle of the temple were here and here. So Samson pushed the center pillars apart. And that's how he brought down the whole temple. It all collapsed in on itself.

Barak accompanied by Deborah and Jephthah, both military leaders freeing the Israelites from domination by Gentile armies. The Ammonites with Jephthah and the Canaanites with Barak and Deborah. All right, and then we have listed there David and Samuel. Samuel was actually the last of the judges. He anointed and started then the two kings, King Saul and King David. He slew Agag, king of the Amalekites, when King Saul failed to do so. So you have that.

David went from shepherd boy to killer of Goliath, to hiding from Saul, to king of Judah, and then all Israel. and then wrote various psalms. Now, David obtained the promise that his house, throne, and kingdom would be forever. Second Samuel 7, 16 and 17, your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever. Your throne shall be established forever in accordance with all these words and all this vision. So Nathan, who was the court prophet, spoke to David. So by faith, By faith, Joshua and David both conquered kingdoms. Daniel shut the lion's mouth, as did Samson, as did David, and Benaiah, one of those lesser knowns. So shut the mouths of lions, all those instances.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that was their Babylonian names, all escaped fiery deaths. The fiery furnace was where Nebuchadnezzar had them committed, but they did not burn in the fire, which stunned King Nebuchadnezzar. David, Elijah, Elisha, and Jeremiah were among those who avoided execution by hiding or running. So by faith avoiding execution, yet others were executed by faith.

Both judges and kings defeated foreign armies. some of the judges who we just looked at and are on your list. The others, here we have kings, and of course David defeated foreign armies as did Solomon. You also had other miraculous instances like that of King Hezekiah where the Lord wiped out 185,000 of the Assyrian army overnight. Now I have Hebrews 11, 35, and 36.

Women received back their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting the release so that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. Now it says women received back their dead. We have the example of 1st Kings 17, 17-24.

Elijah raised the son of the widow of Zarephath. Zarephath is a coastal city between Tyre and Sidon on the north coast of Israel. And so you have that resurrection under Elijah. And then Elisha At Shunem, which is a village right near where Nazareth later was located, Elisha also brought back a widow's son to life.

These were both resurrections back to this present life, though, weren't they? Back to this present life. And so it talks about a better resurrection. A better resurrection is the resurrection to the new life, right? That's a better resurrection. Faith is not always, however, rewarded with good earthly outcome. in this lifetime. Sometimes faith can mean that things get tougher instead of easier.

I have heard it said that someone will tell a person the gospel and then say, boy, if you become a Christian, everything will just be so smooth and the Lord's just going to make one smooth highway until you get to heaven. And guess what? That's a lie. It's not going to be that way. You may even, in fact, as a Christian, go through tougher times. As a believer you may go through tougher times because you're a believer in some places.

It's absolutely certain that you will Now it says there that they were tortured literally that means beaten to death, okay Literally just you could translate it beaten to death. That's what it means many of the prophets were rewarded for speaking for God by torture, mocking, scourging, even chains and imprisonment.

Here is a picture of, it's an artist's rendering of Jeremiah being lowered into a pit. Archaeologists excavating at the City of David, which is the area just south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, believe they have found that pit that Jeremiah was lowered into. And so anyway, in Matthew 5, 11, 12, Jesus himself said, blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. They persecuted the prophets. Here a prophet comes and he says, I've got a word from God.

Oh yeah? We've got some rocks for you, right? That would be their return. So here's Hebrews 11, 37 and 38. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. Sounds like me growing up on the farm. Anyway, okay. Anyway, here we go. In 2 Chronicles 24, 20-22, we read that Zechariah, now there's a number of Zechariah's in Scripture, Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, the priest, spoke for the Lord and in return he was stoned to death. So here would be an example by faith.

In Jewish writings outside the Bible, what's called the Mishnah, It said the prophet Isaiah had prophesied in advance of the destruction of Jerusalem and in fact you have it up in the corner Isaiah 39 5-7 is one of those places where he prophesies of the destruction of Jerusalem and being carried off by the Babylonians. That would not happen until over a century later. In that writing it was said that King Manasseh sent men after Isaiah who hid in a tree. The men sawed the tree in two with Isaiah inside.

That's how the account goes. They were badly abused because they refused. Getting poetic again here. The prophets were often badly abused because they chose to refuse to recant their unwanted message. People would say, look, reverse that, recant. And they'd say, no, this is what God told me, I'm sticking with it. they would give them messages about the consequences of the moral and spiritual sin that was rampant in Israel and the people didn't like to hear it. Here you have an artist's depiction of Jeremiah speaking to his scribe Baruch and what's very interesting is two copies, and this is one of them you see a picture of, two copies of Baruch's seal impression have been found. And it is him. Baruch, son of Neriah.

The abuse not only resulted in death at times, but also in exile, hiding out and being tempted to recant their unwanted message from God himself. They would hide out. They'd have a tough time even getting clothing on their back and keeping it there. Faith doesn't always mean nice results. Faith doesn't always mean nice results. Faith may be costly in this life. And here are the last two verses, Hebrews 11, 39, and 40. For all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

What's that talking about? Well, let's talk about that. Almost nobody else approved the message of the prophets that was received and given by faith in God. Almost nobody. But God approved of their faith even though his reward was for after this life. God says there's a reward in this for enduring what you've endured, but it'll come later. Everybody has faith and everyone puts their faith somewhere. Everyone puts their faith somewhere. Those who don't put their faith in God will often make it very hard on those who do. And that is happening now, increasingly.

The perspective that he's talking about here, that comes out in verses 39 and 40, is these people that he wrote about were looking forward to Christ coming. They were looking forward to Christ's coming. That's what the Passover was about, looking back at the time of the Lord redeemed Israel from Egypt and looking forward to Christ's coming. We in the church, as we're about to do here momentarily, we in the church look back on when Christ came.

We have insight and understanding. We have seen what many of the prophets promised. Isaiah 53 talks about Christ's death, burial, and resurrection seven centuries in advance. Isaiah never saw it himself except prophetically. We get to look back on it and have the details and we get to even remember what Christ did for us here this morning.

And notice we also look back and look forward until He comes. Until He comes. So we're looking for what we don't see and we're looking for who we don't see. Many of these Old Testament saints were looking for fulfillment of the promises made to them beyond their own lifetimes and way beyond the lifetimes even of their grandchildren. Though God dealt differently with these Old Testament saints than with us who are now in the body of Christ, we too are to be looking for what and whom we don't now see on this planet.

Now we have biblical crowns and rewards promised to us, and one of the things you'll notice, one of the crowns is a trial crown. A trial crown. And this is the trials and difficulties that the author of Hebrews is talking about here at this end of Hebrews chapter 11. And that crown is not a diadem royalty crown. That crown is a Stephanos, a victor's crown in athletic competition. That's the crown that we're looking for. We've been joined to Christ in his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding, those five, where we are seated with him, and that's where our faith and hope are placed now. It's there where we are blessed with every spiritual blessing.

Ephesians 1.3, and we in the body of Christ have our heavenly citizenship. Our crowns and rewards will be given there, not here. Some of which have been costly here. Some of which have been costly. So we are to behold Him until we behold Him. Okay? We are called to behold Christ through His Word.

While we're here on this planet, 2 Corinthians 3.18 and Hebrews 12.1 and 2, and that is by faith.

A day is coming when our faith and our hope will be fulfilled. As important as faith and hope are, there'll be a time when those will go away. Why? Because the reality will be present. We will see Jesus face to face and forever we will be with the Lord. We're to live this day for that day. and behold him by faith until the day that we behold him face to face.

By faith, let's pray. Lord, we thank you as we look at this chapter, marvelous examples of faith, and we see that sometimes faith did quiet things, sometimes faith did great things. We see that faith sometimes came with good outcomes, And sometimes it came out with really bad outcomes, at least so far as this planet and well-being is concerned. But we see that faith is necessary. Without faith, it is impossible to please you. And it is a walk of faith that you're looking for. Your very life lived through us by faith. We thank you for all that you have done, are doing, and will do in our lives on into eternity. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.