See the Bible Through Jewish Eyes BIBLE STUDY WITH DR. RICH FREEMAN
Hebrews 11: 8-16
Examples of Faith (Part 2/Abraham and Sarah)
The next part of our study, beginning with
Hebrews 11:8, starts with a very important
statement: “By faith Abraham, when he was called,
obeyed....” The calling of Abraham goes back to
Genesis 12:1-3, which is commonly called “The
Abrahamic Covenant.” It was in this passage that
seventy-five-year-old Abram, whose wife Sarai
was sixty-five years old and barren, was told by
God to leave his home and family and go to a
place (Canaan) that God would
eventually reveal. Once there, God
would make a great nation out
of them. The implication being
that, since they were well beyond
childbearing years, this would be
a supernatural event orchestrated
by God. The response is recorded
in Genesis 12:4, “So Abram went
forth as the Lord had spoken to
him.”
The writer of Hebrews
describes the place as the one
“which he was to receive for
an inheritance.” This was the
Promised Land, and by faith, he
lived in that Promised Land like
a stranger “dwelling in tents”
(Hebrews 11:9) as eventually Isaac
and Jacob would. The reason he
was willing to live like a stranger
in the land God had promised
him as an inheritance is described
in Hebrews 11:10, “For he was
looking for the city which has foundations, whose
architect and builder is God.” The interesting thing
about this statement is that the city itself is never
described for us until we come to the end of the
book of Revelation, where it is called the heavenly
Jerusalem. Ultimately, Abraham’s awareness of a
deeper meaning of the Promised Land, not just an
earthly city but also a heavenly one, gave him the
faith to be able to live like a stranger in that land.
Transitioning to Sarah, the writer of Hebrews
states in verse 11, “By faith even Sarah herself received
ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of
life....” Though she laughed when she heard God
say that she would be the one to give birth to the
promised seed at the ripe old age of ninety (hence
the name of the child was Isaac, meaning laughter),
nevertheless, “she considered Him faithful who had
promised.” Although never quite understanding
how God would bring this promise to fruition,
Sarah never doubted that God would cause His
promise to come to pass. Because of that faith, the
writer concludes by saying in verse 12, “Therefore
SEPTEMBER 2018 / THE CHOSEN PEOPLE - 6
there was born even of one man, and
him as good as dead at that, as many
descendants as the stars of heaven
in number, and innumerable as
the sand which is by the seashore.”
God used the faith of a ninetyyear
old woman to help bring to
fulfillment an eternally significant
promise, the creation of the
Hebrew people.
Beginning in 11:13 and
summarizing his discussion thus
far, the writer of Hebrews points
out that people can still be living
by faith when they die, even if they
don’t receive the things promised
by the time of their passing. The
reason is that, by faith, these
Old Testament believers saw and
welcomed the promises “from a
distance, and having confessed that
they were strangers and exiles on the
earth. For those who say such things
make it clear that they are seeking
a country of their own.” These believers persisted in
living as strangers and sojourners in the Promised
Land. Looking for a country of their own, they
refused to return to the land they left. There is never
any thought of returning to Ur of the Chaldeans.
The connection to the Jewish believers addressed in
the book of Hebrews is that they ought to renounce
any opportunity to go back to their old lives and
should absolutely persist in longing for a better
country, a heavenly one, the New Jerusalem. By
doing so, they, like the patriarchs, would be people
of whom “God would not be ashamed to be called
their God.”
Dr. Rich Freeman, D. Min.
serves as the Vice President
for Church Ministries
and Conferences with
Chosen People Ministries
and lives in South Florida
with his wife, Julia.
Hebrews 11:8 -11
8 By faith Abraham, when he
was called, obeyed by going
out to a place which he was
to receive for an inheritance;
and he went out, not knowing
where he was going. 9 By faith
he lived as an alien in the land
of promise, as in a foreign
land, dwelling in tents with
Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of
the same promise; 10 for he was
looking for the city which has
foundations, whose architect
and builder is God. 11 By faith
even Sarah herself received
ability to conceive, even
beyond the proper time of
life, since she considered Him
faithful who had promised.