Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Hebrews 11:1
An Assurance
When someone asks me why I believe, it’s more than just what I read in the Bible. It’s an assurance that I know that I know. It’s hard to put into words, but the Apostle Paul did a very good job in writing that “the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). So it’s the Spirit of God witnessing to us with the written Word of God, which ultimately points us to the Living Word of God, Who is Jesus Christ.
A Hope
Hope may be the only thing that sustains the Christian in a prison somewhere. Hope may be the only thing that keeps them from losing it. Even though hope may be the only thing, it is the best of things. Hope lets us see with the eyes of faith those things which we can’t yet see. That also is difficult to explain to a non-believer. However, when the Spirit of God opens their hearts, they’ll know, just as we know today.
A Certainty
We can be certain the sun will rise again tomorrow. It doesn’t matter if it’s cloudy or not–the sun will come up. Whether we can see it or not doesn’t matter. We’re certain it will. That’s the certainty of our faith in Jesus Christ. What God promises, God delivers. There is no wavering or doubt in Him. He does what He says He will do and has the power to bring it to pass. Our certainty is only as strong as the object in Whom we are certain, and that is God.
The Unseen
There are many things we can’t see but still exist. What’s not seen by the naked eye doesn’t mean it does not exist. We used to think the world was flat, and sailors refused to go too far, fearing going off the edge of the earth. But what they believed didn’t change what is true, which is that the world is spherical. It’s not flat, even though it looks that way to us; we know that today. So too can we know that God, Who is invisible, exists in real time and space in a place called heaven. However, someday the unseen will be seen; and we shall see God, face to face, for the very first time (Revelation 21:3, 22:4).
Conclusion
In encouraging the Christians of Jewish heritage, the author of Hebrews, likely Jewish himself (if not Paul), wrote, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,” as what they were seeing was not good, so they should hope in that which is not seen, at least not yet. Today those whom the author was writing to have seen God, at least in Jesus Christ. We can’t imagine that, can we? It doesn’t matter because we are “sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
