Hebrews 11:1-7 - Faith’s Substance as Evidence

Hebrews 11:1-7

By Faith We Understand

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Faith at the Dawn of History (Genesis 4:1–16; 5:18–24; 6:5—8:22)

4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.

5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

The substance of faith that trusts God by hearing and acts by taking Him at His word is the tangible evidence of what we hope and look for past our eyesight into the realm of the spiritual place of God’s proven existence.  Faith is described as the substance of what we hope for as we read His word, the firm foundation and assurance of reality we are able to grasp through the understanding He reveals to us by His Spirit (John 14:26).  The evidentiary proof of the scriptures comes through this revelation of God Himself to us as we read the scriptures and are given this certainty to comprehend in the inner man that then answers the doubts and questions of the natural mind and faculties which are incapable on their own without the divine interpretation.  This is why unbelievers cannot grasp the truths of the Bible until the Lord opens spiritually blind eyes and deaf ears, for we are all born dead in sin (Ephesians 2:4-5, 7, Colossians 2:12-13) and utterly incapable of complete understanding until we take God at His word by faith to accept and receive His words.  This trust in the unseen is the faith spoken of here by the faithful of old as recorded in the Old Testament for our understanding and encouragement to trust the Lord in like manner.  We read and accept that God has spoken the universe and this world into existence along with us all.  We accept that this was all created out of nothing at all but His word and will, negating an impersonal big bang and seeing that moment of the inception of the universe coming from the first and only cause of God working by speaking it all into existence.  We then see the faith of Abel, Enoch, and Noah as ones who trusted all God told them and acted on it with their lives in His hands as they offered to God what He asked for and not their own desired gifts.  They pleased God and were rewarded for their undying faith in taking God at His word without reasoning it away or deciding they knew better what food and evil (Genesis 2:17, 3:5, Hebrews 5:14) was.  They understood that the reward from the Lord is taking Him at His word for who He is and what He said He has done.  This faith alone pleases God and drives us to seek to know Him more through the revelation of His word as we uncover the mystery of who He is and what He has done to bring us into existence and to please Him in trusting His Son through the gospel of His goodness and grace of goodwill to us.  Even Noah trusted while being mocked for building an ark to save a remnant of those who believed God and acted on that in faith in the midst of fear of judgment and the consequences of sin to earn the righteousness of the Lord by inheritance of divine trust.  We also inherit the righteousness of Christ as we trust the work on the cross to rescue and deliver us from destruction by His word of grace in the gospel of faith leading to repentance as we turn from our disbelief and disobedience of sin to trust in Him and all His words given us (John 6:47, 63, 17:2, Acts 5:20, 1 John 5:11, 20) for eternal life.  The substance of our faith that trust and pleases God is all the evidence that is required.  This is Faith’s Substance as Evidence of God and His gospel to give us a certain hope.