FAITH THAT OVERCOMES THE WORLD
Hebrews 11:29-40
Key Verse: 11:29
"By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned."
In these final verses of Hebrews 11 we will now bring to an end to our study of people commended by God for their lives of faith. Again we will see faith is intangible but it was the power by which people conquered kingdoms. In fact so valuable is this faith in Christ and the hope of glory many more unnamed people suffered just so they would not be found as one of those who had shrunk back. Let us learn from those who conquered by faith and from those who valued their faith so much they gave up a comfortable life in this life for a sure faith in the hope of glory in the next life.
First, Faith That Stands Firm
Look at verse 29. “By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.” As we know, “the people” the author speaks about here are those the Lord had sent Moses to lead out of slavery in Egypt. These people were part of the promise God had made to a childless, hopeless Abraham 430 years earlier: “I will make you into a great nation.” God was serious when he made this promise to Abraham. God wasn’t just going to make Abraham into a nation. He was going to make him into a great nation, both in quantity of greatness and quality of greatness. We find in reading the book of Numbers, leaving out the tribe of Levi there were at least 600,000 young men 20 years and older Moses was leading out of Egypt. Therefore in my own mathematical calculations there very well could be double this number if you add all the women and children under the 20 years of age along with the tribe of Levi. God indeed had kept the quantity-half of his promise. Now he was about to fulfill the quality-half of his promise. Up until now the only history they had as a nation was a slave history. For 430 years they were treated unjustly, ruthlessly and brutally as slaves. They didn’t have the faith, vision, spirit or thinking of truly great people such as kings, queens and princes. Their greatest hope or wish for in life was: “I hope my master is nice to me today.” or “I can’t wait to eat lunch.” Nevertheless this was the clay the Great Potter, God Almighty was going to use to fulfill his promise to make into a great nation. Let us think for a moment what a great nation in the sight of God is. In the sight of the God of the Bible we have learned: “And without faith it is impossible to please God”. Therefore we can be sure God was going to form this nation into a nation that pleased God by their faith. Secondly, a great nation in the sight of God makes living for the glory of God its number one national policy. This may seem un-American, but in God’s sight a good economy and personal liberty are not the top two policies in a great nation. Existing for the glory of God is the top policy in God’s truly great nation. We find this is exactly the national direction God began leading his people into when he led them out of Egypt. God would use Israel’s weakness and confusion as the catalyst to gain glory for himself and to help the Egyptians come to realize he is the Lord. It is interesting God didn’t say he wanted to gain glory for himself by wiping out the Egyptians. Rather he wanted to use his people’s weakness not only to gain glory for himself but also to help the Egyptians know God. This is why God led the people to the Red Sea. In contemporary terms Red Sea means those things that block God’s people from fulfilling God’s will for our lives. Pharaoh and his army mean those things that try to plant fear in our lives and those things that enslave our lives and cause us to shrink back from persevering in faith in Jesus Christ. Each of us has our own type of “Red Sea” or “Egyptian army” trying to enslave and destroy us. For some of us it may be an addictive weakness that keeps us enslaved in darkness and ruins our Christian testimony. For other of us it may be a vague or real fear that haunts us each morning as we wake up. Still for others it may be an impenetrable obstacle that keeps us from living a fruitful life for God. Whatever our Red Sea or charging Egyptian army may be, in verse 29 we find God’s wisdom to overcome them. “By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land, but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.” Let us see how God planted the faith in these slave people to pass through the Red Sea.
To gain an appreciation of the magnitude of this Red Sea obstacle I read it is almost 1400 miles long. At its widest point it is 220 miles and its deepest depth is 7225 ft., which is approximately 14 Washington Monuments standing end on end. The average depth of this sea is 1600 feet, which is like three Washington Monuments standing end on end. Personally I believe the Israelites were encamped along a part of the Red Sea that was much wider and deeper than the expanse Maryland’s Bay Bridge crosses to connect Western Maryland to Eastern Maryland. For this nation of people to cross the Red Sea, this act itself would be a great act of faith. Yet we know there was an even more life and death matter charging up behind them. As they looked back in the direction they had just traveled they could see a great dust storm moving quickly in their directions. Soon their plain curiosity changed into serious concern. Scanting their eyes they could see what seemed to be sun reflecting from metal objects. No longer could they deceive themselves. It was the entire Egyptian army with their chariots, swords, spears and lances charging directly into them. The people fell into total panic and terror. In Exodus 14:10-12 they cried out to Moses: “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us out in the desert to die? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert.’” These are not words of faith. They are words of panic and terror. How then did they get this faith that opened the Red Sea as we read about in Hebrews 11:29? We find they were able to turn their terror into faith when they listened and followed the word of God Moses declared to them. In fact we find Moses inspired the people with history’s most faith-inspiring, faith-building words ever to be proclaimed to any terrorized people. In Exodus14: 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” In this rarest of occasion these Hebrews actually listened and enthusiastically chose to believe Moses’ words. They repented of their fear. Instead of running away, each man, woman and child made a decision to stand firm right where they stood and by faith watched the deliverance of the Lord. We see the faith they needed to cross the Red Sea began to well up in them when they chose no longer to run from their fears but to stand firm and face them with faith that believed the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would divinely deliver them from their fear.
Once they were standing firm, God then directed Moses to raise his staff and stretched out his hand over the Red Sea. Moses obeyed. The moment he raised his staff a cloud and the angel of God came between the Egyptian army and the Israelites. The Egyptians were now thrown into darkness while God kept a great light shining on the Israelites. Now with the Egyptians blinded in darkness, God then sent a strong east wind to part the sea, providing a dry corridor for the Hebrews to walk through the Red Sea. Each Israelite that day saw a huge wall of water on their left and right side. These walls could have been larger than the Hoover Dam, but concrete was not holding the water back; it was their faith in God’s power to deliver them. Once the last Israelites were across, God removed the barrier he had placed between the Egyptians and the Hebrews. Without any faith in God these Egyptians with arrogance and anger charged between the walls of water. God patiently waited till the whole army was well in between the two walls of water; then suddenly as if dynamite blew up what was holding the water back, the walls collapsed with a terrible crash on the entire Egyptians army. Every single chariot, horseman, and Pharaoh’s entire army was drowned. Not one soldier survived. Being afraid and shrinking back never leads to anything but destruction. If the Israelites had not listened to God’s word but shrank back, they would have been destroyed. As they stood firm, they became participants in one of God’s greatest deliverances.
Like the Israelites God has called all true Christians to be a great holy nation. 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful life.” Our past is like these Israelites. We lived as slaves to Satan, sin and the fear of men. Now God by his grace is leading us to be his holy nation to declare the praises of Jesus Christ his Son. Sometimes we can only see one step in front of the other, but one thing we know for sure we must never shrink back, not even one step. No longer does it matter if an Egyptian army is attacking us from behind and a Red Sea is in front of us. We know what we must do now to cross our own Red Sea by faith. We know we must “stand firm” and choose to believe and trust in God. When we do, we will see the great and awesome deliverance of the Lord.
Second, Faith That Absolutely Obeys God’s Word
Look at verse 30: “By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.” As one examines this verse closely one of the startling points is that it testifies the walls of Jericho fell not by some kind of siege weapon that slowly crumbled the walls of Jericho. Rather the walls fell by faith after the people at a safe distance had marched around the wall for seven days. Why did the people march seven times and not 6 or 10 times? To answer this question we must go back to Joshua chapter 6. As a little background, God had now led Israel into the land they would posses as their own nation. God’s purpose in leading Israel here was not only to fulfill his promise to Abraham but also to bring his judgment on the wicked nations living in Canaan. The Israelites had no military history. They only had a long slave history. This did not matter to God. God can make anyone into a mighty warrior if they can do just one thing -obey God’s word by faith. Apostle Paul calls such obedience in Romans 1 -obedience that comes by faith. People who can deny themselves and absolutely obey God’s word by faith are shielded by God’s divine protection. General Washington was such a man. This man every day woke and prayed at 4am in order that he could find God’s help to walk by faith. He absolutely obeyed God’s word. There are recorded historical accounts of enemy commanders ordering all their warriors to fire at Washington. Even though his men were being mowed down like grass, not one bullet found its mark when aimed at Washington. As we know through his leadership God used him to lead men who had no military experience to conquer the mightiest kingdom of his day. His power came by absolutely obeying God’s word by faith.
Let us think about Jericho, which was chosen as the first city to conquer. We are told Jericho tightly shut itself up. No one went out and no one came in. Going to the camp of Israel in Joshua 6 we find them preparing to destroy the city. To our amazement they are not building siege works that allow them to bash through all climb over the walls of Jericho. Instead we find the Lord giving the entire battle plan to Joshua which if broken down comes down to priest blowing horn, priest carrying the ark of the Lord, armed men following the priest around the city for seven days, once around for the first six days and seven times around on the seventh day. During all this marching around the city no one single word was to be spoken by the armed men. Only when the seventh time around, on the seventh day was completed, Joshua would order his men to shout. With a long, loud shout they would yell. God said at that moment the walls would fall.
As we know soldiers in combat are usually the ones who must face many hardships. In studying the type of combat displayed against Jericho we find it was the priests who had to endure the most difficult hardships day in and day out for the seven-day campaign. Some priests had to carry the ark the entire time. Other priests who had the ram trumpets had to keep blowing their trumpets the entire time. I strongly feel there was a priestly purpose for their labor in the Lord. The priests were directly ministering to Israel’s soldiers to build their faith. In other words they were teaching the word of God to the soldiers. They were building their faith so by the seventh day they would have the faith to shout and bring down the walls. Moreover the priests’ blowing of the trumpet is always a signal of God’s impending judgment. I believe God actually hoped the people of Jericho would repent and send out delegations to ask, “What must we do to be saved?”
The hardship the soldiers had to endure was not to speak one word while they marched for seven days. This order too had redemptive purposes. Personally I feel God didn’t want to offend the Jericho people with fighting words. For many of us indeed it would take great self-control to deny ourselves not to speak one word for those seven days. In the end both priests and armed men denied themselves and obeyed God’s word absolutely. Finally the seventh day came. This day Joshua led his conquering army seven times around Jericho. When they had finished the seventh and final march around the city, Joshua gave the order to shout. At that moment the great walls of Jericho crumbled leaving the city entirely open on every side. Straight in Hebrew soldiers rushed in and killed every man and woman, young and old along with every animal.
Some people think this falling of the walls of Jericho by obeying God’s word by faith is only metaphor, not a literal historical fact. If you lived in or visited San Francisco in 1989 you would certainly be a believer. In October of that year the second game of the World Series was being held in Candlestick Park. It was a bright shiny California day, not a cloud in the sky. The topic of the day was not an impending earthquake but news about the World Series. 68,000 people showed up to watch this second championship game between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletes. Suddenly at around 5pm Pacific Time the entire San Francisco area for 15 long seconds experienced an earthquake that was registered to be 7.0 on the Richter scale. Parts of Candlestick Park were witnessed by people around the country, come crashing down on the fans. Even parts of the famous San Francisco Bay Bridge collapsed. Billions of dollars of utilities were destroyed in those 15 seconds. The falling of Jericho’s wall testifies there is no place on earth the wicked can safely hide from God’s judgment. There is only one safe place we can hide and this is through the act of repenting and calling on the Lord Jesus Christ to save us form our sins.
Third, Faith That Loves God’s People
Now let’s look at the life of one woman who lived in the walls of Jericho but was not destroyed. Read verse 31: “By faith the prostitute Rehab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.” As we saw in verse 30 it was because of the obedience that comes by faith the people of Israel caused the walls of Jericho to collapse. The opposite of obedience is disobedience. Disobedience is the one word the Hebrews author used to describe the every day life of those who lived in Jericho. As an example of disobedience we see this city fully legalized Rehab’s profession as a prostitute. Then one day her life was changed from a woman of disobedience to a woman of faith expressed through her deeds. The deed of welcoming the spies by faith is recorded in Joshua 2:8-12. According to Rahab everyone in the land was melting in fear because they believed the God of these Israelites was the God of heaven above and the earth below. They also believed he now was sending the Hebrews to destroy them. Here is where Rahab now separates herself from the rest of Jericho. Rahab by faith welcomed them and showed them kindness. On the other hand everyone else chose to hide, resist and fight against God. With their mouths they believed in God but their deeds continue to live against God. If we read Hebrews 11:33 carefully we find she did not welcome them because she felt some kind of physical or human attraction to these spies. She welcomed them because she truly believed in God. She believed they were God’s people. By welcoming them she in effect was welcoming God Himself. Jesus taught his disciples in John 13: “I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” We also are taught in 1John 3:40 “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” Rahab passed from death to life when she by faith welcomed the spies. In other words she loved them by faith. She and her family were staying in her wall apartment with the scarlet cord hanging from the window. God honored her faith and only the part of the wall she was in did not collapse.
From Rahab we learn we can find the power to love God’s people when we do it by faith in God’s word. At least for me loving God’s people to the end is one of my top spiritual priorities these days. Once my love for others was conditional. If they loved me I loved them. If they disrespected me I hated them. Now I don’t care if they don’t love me or respect me. I just care about what God wants me to do. The God of the Bible wants me to love his people to the end unconditionally. By the grace of God and by faith in the teachings of the Bible this is what I now every day challenge myself to do.
Lastly, Faith That Overcomes the World
Look at verses 32-35b. As the author shares I too have run out of time to share in detail all the other “By faith” episodes in many other great men and women of God. However, I would like to share just a few words about Barak. Certainly the act of faith conquering kingdoms can apply to him. When we go back to Judges 4 we find behind Barak is the prophetess Deborah. Deborah told him the Lord commanded him to go with 10,000 men from Naphtali and Zebulun and meet Sisera with his 900 iron chariots at Mount Tbor. She then promised him the Lord would give them into his hands. Barak replied: “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me I won’t go.” Deborah said “very well” but because the way he went about this, the honor of capturing and killing Sisera would not be his but a woman’s. From Barak we learn men God uses sometimes are actually very weak. They are as changeable as the weather is in the state of Maryland. One moment they are happy and full of spirit. Next moment they are fearful and full of gloom. I have heard from some sisters they are very frustrated to be around some men because of their up and down emotions. Our sisters must learn from Deborah to just keep encouraging them to repent and have faith in Jesus Christ. They should also pray God would fill the men with his Holy Spirit so they would be men of spirit, not of flesh.
Lastly, look at verses 35b-38. These people mentioned here when they lived by faith they gained nothing in this life. In fact they chose to give up all freedom and even their lives in this life because such sacrifices would gain them a better resurrection. This is the story of every one of Jesus’ apostles. James, the brother of John was beheaded, Philip, Andrew, and Simon the Zealot crucified, and Thomas thrust through with a sword. Only John himself was not physically martyred. Nevertheless all his life he was persecuted. He was finally exiled to the Island of Patmos. To these men the coming resurrection was as sure a reality as the coming presidential election. They sold out their lives for Jesus. This led to their violent deaths, but they also by faith believed it would lead to a glorious resurrection and eternal life.
Look at verses 39-40. God commended all these for their faith but still they did not receive the true hope they were trusting in Jesus for. The great hope of all Christians is that one day we will be just like the resurrected Jesus Christ. We will be perfect as he is perfect. As he lives in God’s presence so will we. As he is heir of all things so we will be co-heirs with him. This day has not come. Nevertheless it is coming. We’re given God’s sure promise; “He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” Let us pray God may help us to stand firm in faith in Jesus Christ and not shrink back.