Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Hebrews 11:1-3 ESV

Albert Einstein once wrote:

I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the type of which we are conscious in ourselves. An individual who should survive his physical death is also beyond my comprehension, nor do I wish it otherwise; such notions are for the fears or absurd egoism of feeble souls. In their struggle for the ethical good, teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the doctrine of a personal God, that is, give up that source of fear and hope which in the past places such vast power in the hands of priests… The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.[1]

Although Einstein conceded the probable existence of an impersonal, transcendent deity, his emphasis upon striving only toward rational knowledge rather than “blind faith” is the materialistic philosophy that has governed modern thinking since the Enlightenment. Interestingly, Einstein did admit that not everything could be rationalized; indeed, he “considered the comprehensibility of the world to be a miracle, an eternal mystery, which atheist have no hope of explaining.”[2] Of course, if the world did come into existence purely by chance, then we have no reason whatsoever to expect it to be comprehensible and to adhere to laws of reason. Yet here it is. Somehow. Making every discovery, as Einstein says, a miracle.

Recognizing many of the inconsistencies of the materialistic worldview, it is increasingly popular to openly profess faith in the kind of impersonal deity that Einstein somewhat believed in. Taking a cue from Hinduism and Buddhism, that deity is often simply called the universe or perhaps Mother Earth, as environmentalism increasingly reveals its own religiosity. And its popularity can be seen in current trends such as the resurgence of manifesting on TikTok, which was an idea that became popular in the 2000s through The Secret. Sadly, the word of faith movement baptized manifesting and called it Christian.

Despite what some claim, there is no lack of faith today; rather, there is a great deal of it. of course, the real question is what kind of faith, and, more importantly, faith in what?

As we begin Hebrew’s magisterial chapter on faith, let us pray for the Spirit’s enlightenment to behold true faith, that by it we may behold our God.

WHAT IS FAITH? // VERSE 1

So far in the sermon-letter called Hebrews, we have concluded the very great explanation at the heart of the epistle on the superior priesthood of Jesus. From that extended and essential teaching, the author gave us three commands: draw near to God, hold fast our confession, and stir up one another to love and good works. He then proceeded to stir us up first with a stern and sober warning followed by a rousing word of comfort and encouragement. In that word, the author sought to strengthen his readers for endurance in the faith by setting their eyes backward onto their previous faithfulness under affliction and forward onto the blessed hope of Christ’s return to “save those who eagerly wait for him” (9:28). Our previous text concluded with a citation from Habakkuk 2:3-4, which spoke of God’s righteous ones who live by faith and also those who shrink back in fear and are destroyed. The final verse rings like a coach’s speech before a big game: “But we are not those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” (10:39).

That great rallying cry flows directly into chapter 11, which is one of the most beloved passages of Scripture. Often called the Hall of Faith, the author will take us through several examples of Old Testament saints who did not shrink back from the task that God set before them; rather, they had faith and preserved their souls. They each held fast to God’s great promise, even they did not receive those promises in their lifetimes. They drew near to God by faith and walked in obedience to Him, despite the unbelief of the world around them. Yet these great examples of persevering faith properly begin in verse 4. Here in these first three verses, the author establishes for us what faith is (v. 1), why it is vital (v. 2), and where it must begin (v. 3).

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

This first verse is often set forth as the biblical definition of faith, and it certainly is. However, we should take care to note that this is not an exhaustive definition of faith. The author is not giving us a dictionary definition; he is giving us a definition in motion with the flow of his argument. A more exhaustive definition of faith might be what we read in Question 21 of the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q. What is true faith?

A. It is not only a certain knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in His Word; but also an hearty trust, which the Holy Spirit works in me by the gospel, that not only to others, but to me also, forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness, and salvation, are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ’s merits.

The verse before certainly matches that definition, yet notice that the author of Hebrews clearly desires to emphasize that faith is what is not yet present or visible. Indeed, there are two clauses in this verse that both flow from the opening words ‘Now faith is…” Thus, we are meant to understand this verse as saying to us: “now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and faith is the conviction of things not seen.” The first is temporal faith, and the second is spatial faith.

Things hoped for are future realities that are not yet present. Things not seen are present realities that are invisible to us. Both require faith since they cannot be touched or seen, and the author has revealed to us that the promises of God fit into both categories.

The author has repeatedly emphasized the unseen reality of Christ’s present rule over all creation at the right hand of the Father until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet. Although Stephen and John were privileged to be given a supernatural vision of the reigning Christ, they are as exceptional as Enoch was with death, and none of us should expect to receive such a sight. Instead, it is a present reality that is as invisible to us as the angels that are undoubtedly worshiping alongside us this morning.

As the Heidelberg noted, the forgiveness of our sins must also be received by faith. Although there are outward fruits of having such a faith and baptism is a visible symbol of our forgiveness in Christ, our salvation fundamentally comes through hearing the word of the gospel and trusting truly in Christ’s once for all sacrifice to pay the debt of our sins. The gospel must be heard, not seen.

As we noted last week, the return of Christ is the most essential thing for which we hope. Faith is required to place our assurance in that glorious Day that will arrive at a time known only to God. Yet upon that Day, we also have a multitude of hopes attached. We have hope in the resurrection of our physical bodies yet in a glorified state that will be incapable of sinning any longer. We have hope in God’s judgment of the wicked, of His execution of vengeance upon all who continued in their rebellion against Him. We have hope in the creation of a new heavens and a new earth, in which God Himself will dwell forevermore in visible midst of His people. Indeed, we have hope in the beatific vision, that we will see our Lord face to face, and, in that sight, all sad things will come untrue.

Both future promises and present invisibilities require faith since they lie beyond the material realm. However, notice that the author’s point is most certainly not that faith is a blind leap into the dark. As Hughes writes, “True faith is neither brainless nor a sentimental feeling. It is a solid conviction resting on God’s words that makes the future present and the invisible seen.”[3] Indeed, faith is the instrument by which we latch ourselves onto truths that are larger than our own empirical experience. As Dennis Johnson notes:

Most translations present this verse as describing the subjective experience of faith as “assurance” and “conviction.” The Greek terms chosen by our author focus instead on the objective reality of faith and could perhaps be translated, “Faith is the reality [substance] of things hoped for, the evidence that proves things unseen” (cff. KJV, NKJV)… Here he has chosen “reality/substance” and paired it with a term that refers to a legal argument substantiated by evidence (elenchos; Job 13:6; 16:21; 23:7 LXX). Faith goes beyond our internal attitudes to put us in touch with realities that are “not seen” (because they are still future; 11:7; cf. Rom. 8:24).[4]

Anselm famously wrote: “For I do not seek to understand so that I may believe; but I believe so that I may understand. For I believe this also, that ‘unless I believe, I shall not understand’ [Isa. 7:9].[5] The ESV translates Isaiah 7:9 as “If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.” This is necessarily true. “Seeing is believe” (which roughly correlates into the philosophy of logical positivism) is an untenable philosophy, for our sight is very narrow. Although I have never been to Africa, Australia, or Antarctica, I do not doubt the existence of those three continents. I also have no recollection of my birth, yet I believe my parents claim that I am their child. Both are examples of a kind of faith, trusting in things that I cannot personally attest to but must rely upon the testimony of others. Indeed, I would call the growing movement of flat-earthers a subset of this worldview. In some ways, they are taking skepticism to its own conclusion.

A certain degree of skepticism is necessary for navigating through life, but the perpetual sceptic saws off his own leg in order to fix the pain of his stubbed toe. A life of total skepticism is far more blind than a life of faith. Lewis explains why in the closing words of The Abolition of Man:

But you cannot go on ‘explaining away’ for ever: you will find that you have explained the explanation itself away. You cannot go on ‘seeing through things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is good that the window should be transparent, because the street or garden beyond is opaque. How if you saw through the garden too? It is no use trying to ‘see through’ first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To ‘see through’ all things is the same as not to see.[6]

Indeed, the futility of the “seeing is believe” worldview is increasingly becoming apparent, and thus, as I said earlier, more and more people are reembracing a paganistic faith. That swinging of the pendulum was inevitable since faith of some sort is a necessary part of being human.

THE COMMENDATION OF GOD // VERSE 2

Verse 2 tells us why a faith in the true and living God of the Scriptures is vital:

For by it the people of old received their commendation.

As we will see in verse 5, this commendation is the glorious honor of having pleased God. “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, for God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.” It was Enoch’s faith that secured that commendation. He lived by faith and did not shrink back; therefore, the Lord said of Enoch, “my soul has pleasure in him.”

Indeed, this is the point that the author wants to hammer over and over again in this chapter. We do not please God by our good works, by our giftings, by our abilities, or even by our devotion. We please God by our faith in Him. Of course, a living faith will inevitably result in us doing good works and using our giftings and abilities for Him; however, those are fruits rather than roots. Faith alone is the root, for faith in God gives glory to God. If we are truly saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, then our salvation is not of our own doing but entirely the work of God; therefore, God alone is worthy of the glory of our redemption.

Thus, faith in God gives glory to God. Each week I have been asking my Classical Conversations class the first three questions of the Catechism for Boys and Girls. The third question rightly asks: “Why did God create you and all things?” The answer: “For His own glory!” I have then been following up with asking what does “for His own glory” mean. It means that God created us and all things to display how great and good He is. Or we could say, we created us to know Him, to discover who He is.

If that sounds narcissistic, we should first consider whether God’s claims about Himself are true or not. In John 17:3, Jesus said that knowing God is eternal life. We also read that God is the Author of life, that in Him we live and move and have our being, that all things were made through, for, and by Christ, and that Christ upholds all things by the word of His power. If all of that is true, to be disconnected from God is to be disconnected from Him who gives life. So, to ask why God can’t just let us be happy apart from Him is like asking why we can’t live with oxygen. If God is all He says He is, there is no joy and happiness outside of Him. Thus, the chief end of man truly is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.

As we enjoy God by knowing Him more and more, we also glorify Him more and more by exalting Him as the supreme Treasure and the greatest and highest Good. Thus, our enjoyment of God is pleasing to Him, and since our knowledge and enjoyment of God can only come through faith, it is only those who live by faith that are commended by God as having pleased Him, hearing on the last day, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Interestingly, while it is our glorifying God by faith that receives a commendation from God, that very commendation, which is our highest reward, is a kind of being praised by God Himself. C. S. Lewis writes about how so many Christian writers of old speak frankly of heavenly glory as being a commendation, a fame or good report.

But not fame conferred by our fellow creatures–fame with God, approval or (I might say) “appreciation” by God. And then, when I thought it over, I saw that this view was scriptural; nothing can eliminate from the parable the divine accolade, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” With that, a good deal of what I had been thinking all my life fell down like a house of cards. I suddenly remembered that no one can enter heaven except as a child; and nothing is so obvious in a child–not in a conceited child, but in a good child–as its great and undisguised pleasure in being praised. Not only in a child, either, but even in a dog or a horse. Apparently what I had mistaken for humility had, all these years, prevented me from understanding what is in fact the humblest, the most childlike, the most creaturely of pleasures–nay, the specific pleasure of the inferior: the pleasure of a beast before men, a child before its father, a pupil before his teacher, a creature before its Creator.[7]

WE UNDERSTAND THAT THE UNIVERSE WAS CREATED // VERSE 3

Of course, we cannot receive the joy of being a creature praised by its Creator without actually believing in that very Creator. Therefore, the author of Hebrews rightly places the starting point of our faith at creation: By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

The author begins with our faith God’s creation of the world, which is a fitting starting point. It is the very good desire of every child to know where we and the world all around us came from. Indeed, asking why everything exists is one of the most fundamental questions that can be asked. And again, we find three broad answers today. Materialists believe that the universe came into existence through chance. Pagans believe in the eternality of matter itself, that the universe is essentially divine. We believe that “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

Of course, while I say that there are three views, the materialist and the pagan are traveling down the same broad road, though it is broad enough to at first appear to be two distinct paths. We know this because of Paul’s words in Romans 1:25: “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” The denial of the Creator means the worship of creation in some form or fashion. All rejection of the Creator is, at its heart, a rejection of God’s authority over us as His creatures. Therefore, all idolatry is fundamentally folly. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1). That verse is not merely speaking of atheists, as we understand atheism today, but all idolatry, for all idolatry is the denial of the only true God and the worship of something that is not God as God. Such a rejection flows from foolishness, for “fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). Again, deep down, all rejection of God as Creator is most fundamentally a rejection of God’s authority over creation. Indeed, the great stumbling block of faith is rarely the intellectual and reasonable viability of Christianity; rather, it is our own prideful refusal to submit to our Maker.

Thus, the doctrine of creation is not a secondary matter; rather, it is a hill to gladly die upon if so required. Of course, there are specific points of creation that we can be disagreed upon, yet to abandon the belief in God as the everlasting Creator of all things is to abandon the Christian faith entirely.

The Christian and the non-Christian are not divided merely by nuances regarding our view of science or subtle differences in the doctrine of sin, salvation, or Scripture. We are in fact divided by a wide and fundamental conflict that begins and is decided as Genesis 1:1. Will we stand in humble awe before the divine Creator? Will we confess transgression not merely against human moral codes but against the law of God? Will we look to heaven for salvation by a supernatural grace that can be provided only by the God-man, Jesus Christ? If we answer these questions with the “Yes” and “Amen” of a supernatural faith, then we must be prepared to contend for the entirety of the supernatural claim.[8]

Indeed, we must be prepared to contend for God as our Creator and all that it entails. We are not cosmic accidents that must build our own meaning in life; we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are wonderfully made because of the special attention that the Creator placed in making humanity. We are fearfully made because of the responsibility and accountability that He has also placed upon us. Neither are we the products of an impersonal god. Our greatest hope is not to align ourselves more fully with the universe but to know our Creator and be known by Him. Such a task is rightly both wonderful and fearful.

Of this verse, Johnson writes:

By faith we understand from Genesis that “the ages” (the temporally tinged term tous aionas, from 1:2) were created by the word of God. In Genesis 1 the repeated refrain “And God said” brings creatures into existence and arranges them in order (vv. 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26). This spoken word of God is not visible, yet its product—the material universe—can be seen. So God’s unseen reality and power transcend all that our eyes behold (cf. Heb. 8:5). Faith, as the evidence that demonstrates the existence of “things not seen” (11:1), puts us in touch with eternal reality that precedes, gives rise to, sustains, and will outlast the heavens and earth that present themselves to our eyes (1:10-12; 12:26-28).[9]

Jesus, of course, said that explicitly: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mark 13:31). The words that formed the universe must necessarily outlast the universe as well. Furthermore, just as God spoke the universe into existence, He is also speaking the new creation into existence, for He is even now bringing His kingdom and building His church across the globe. And He is doing so through the proclamation of His Word. O’ how small our thoughts of God and His Word are! His Word is truth; all of reality is built upon what the Creator decrees. And now His Word of the new creation has been given to earthen vessels like us.

Again, in the wonder of wonders, our commendation on the Day of our Lord will be His spoken word of pleasure upon us, whereas those who shrink away will hear, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23). Though they bring their full resume of good works to His court, they will be cast into utter darkness forevermore. But to those who cast their faith solely upon the work of Christ, an almost unspeakable glory awaits, which Lewis points us toward, saying:

It is written that we shall “stand before” Him, shall appear, shall be inspected. The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God…to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delight in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is. (38-39)

Indeed, it is, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Consider the commendation that Jesus received from the Father at the beginning of His ministry: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Since we have been adopted by the Father through Christ our Lord by grace through faith, we now have the same pronouncement of the Father declared over us. Of course, the Father was pleased with Christ because He was perfectly and entirely obedient. He is only pleased with us because the perfect obedience of Christ has been fully imputed onto us. Thus, since nothing in our hands do we bring but simply to the cross we cling, all of the glory for working such a great salvation over us is given to God alone.

Therefore, as we prepare our hearts to come to the visual sermon of the Lord’s Table, let us look by faith upon Christ our great high priest and the guarantor of the new covenant in His blood. Let us lay our sins and guilt-ridden consciences at His feet, knowing that He has already made atonement for our transgressions once for all. Let us also cast all our good works at His feet, knowing that they do not contribute one drop towards our redemption. Indeed, let us not be those who merely taste the goodness of God’s heavenly gifts, but let us be those who by faith taste and see the goodness of Christ.

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[1] Cited in John Byl, The Divine Challenge: On Matter, Mind, Math, and Meaning, 1.

[2] Byl, The Divine Challenge, 54.

[3] R. Kent Hughes, Hebrews, 288.

[4] ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12, 162.

[5] Anselm of Canterbury, The Major Works, 87.

[6] C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man, 81.

[7] C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, 36-37.

[8] Richard Phillips, Genesis Vol 1, 35.

[9] ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12, 162.