A year ago, I started preaching a series through the book of Hebrews.
It has been an exciting journey of discovery. The epistle of Hebrews was written to believers who knew the old covenant and Old Testament scriptures well. The writer quotes repeatedly from the Old Testament to make his points. As you read the book of Hebrews, you begin to realize that the writers intention was to help these believers who were steeped in old covenant history and practices, to begin to see Jesus in those historical events and practices.
The writer starts the book by introducing the main subject of his letter, that is, Jesus, the Son of God. He says: In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son… (Hebrews 1:1, 2 NIV)
He then goes on to show that all that they esteemed highly in their history and religious practices pointed to Jesus, who is the substance and reality behind them. He argues that Jesus is superior or greater than Moses, he is superior to the angels, he is superior to the tabernacle, he is superior to the high priests, he is superior to all sacrifices that have been offered throughout their history, and he is the Sabbath Rest. The thrust of his argument is that Jesus is the embodiment of those things. Jesus himself equated himself to the temple/tabernacle when he said destroy the temple and I will raise it in three days.
Greater than Moses
In Hebrews chapter 3, the writer shows that Moses, who the Hebrews considered the greatest of all the prophets, was faithful as a servant of God, but Jesus has been found worthy of greater honour than Moses…(Hebrews 3:3 NIV). Jesus is not just a servant, he is the Son of God. Christ is faithful as the Son over Gods house. (Hebrews 3: 6 NIV)
In chapter 10, the writer then gives a summation of the point he has been trying to make from chapter 1 to Chapter 9. What is that point? The point is this: The law is only a shadow of the good things that are comingnot the realities themselves. (Hebrews 10:1 NIV). Paul makes the same point in the epistle to the Colossians. Speaking about food and drink, religious festivals, new moon observations and Sabbath observations, he says these are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. (Colossians 2:17 NIV). When Jesus spoke to the disciples that he met on the road to Emmaus, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:27 NIV)
After showing them that Jesus is the reality behind those things, he starts to encourage them to hold on to the assurance that Jesus gives. He shows them that the old covenant rituals and sacrifices are of no help, and that Jesus is the perfect sacrifice. It is him we must believe in. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He then quotes the prophet Habakkuk, who they will have been familiar with. But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back. (Hebrews 10:38). He encourages them not to be those who shrink back into Judaism, but those who have faith and are saved (Hebrews 10:39).
In chapter 11, he starts by describing what this faith is that saves. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV) Remember what he has been trying to tell his readers throughout this book. He has been telling them to fix their eyes on Jesus, who is the confession or profession of their faith (Hebrews 3:1).
Ask the who question
Hebrews 11:1 is one of the most famous verses of the whole Bible. I think it is also one of the most misunderstood. If faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, we need to know what is the substance of things hoped for, and what is the evidence of things not seen. The problem begins when we ask the what question, instead of the who question.
The word translated substance in Hebrews 11:1 in the New King James Version comes from the Greek hupostasis, hypostasis in English. Various translations use different words depending on what they think is meant by the writer. Words like substance, confidence, reality, being, and person are used in various Bible translations. It has been used only five times in the Greek New Testament. Three of those uses are in the book of Hebrews. It is my view that the writer of Hebrews uses this word three times in the same sense.
The first use is at the very beginning of Hebrews. The Son is the radiance of Gods glory and the exact representation of his being… (Hebrews 1:3 NIV).The word translated being is hypostasis. Here, the writer says the Son is the exact representation of Gods being, or nature, or substance. In other words, the Son is not a shadow of God, he is the very substance of who God is.
The second time the word hypostasis is used in Hebrews is in 3:14. The Holman Christian Standard Bible puts it this way: For we have become companions of the Messiah if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start. (Hebrews 3:14 HCSB). The word translated reality is hypostasis. He is telling them that they share in Christ when they hold on to his reality which they had when they first believed. To them Jesus was not an idea.He was a reality. He was a real person that many saw and talked to. He does not want that reality to fade away, such that they go back to the shadows of the old covenant practices. Many of his readers were still offering sacrifices at the temple, which the writer is saying have been superseded by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus.(Hebrews 9:14)
The third usage of the word hypostasis in Hebrews is in Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV). In the context of the book, and the way the writer has used this word in the first two instances, I think the writer is not telling us what faith is. He is telling us Who faith is! He says Faith=the substance of things hoped for. Faith=the evidence of things not seen. I believe the writer has spent all his time from chapter 1-10 of Hebrews telling us that Jesus is the substance of that which we hope for. He is the evidence(substance) of the invisible God. I believe the writer is being diplomatic to his readers. He does not tell them to stop making sacrifice, or to stop going to the temple building, or to stop listening to their high priests. He is hoping that by convincing them that Jesus is the substance and reality behind all those things, that will make them stop those practices, and fix their eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 3:1).
Proof of what we cannot see
Hebrews 11 is therefore not about what faith is, but about who faith is. Jesus is the substance of our faith. He is the substance of what we confess in our faith (Hebrews 3:1). He is the substance of the things we hope for. We hope for the resurrection and eternal life. He is the resurrection and the life. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life (I John 5:11, 12 NKJV).
Jesus is the evidence or proof of what we still cannot see. He is God come from heaven. He was resurrected from the dead in a glorious body. He is proof that what we hope for, what we believe, what we have faith in, is true. He is the Truth itself. The writer is saying to us that our faith is not a fairy tale. Faith is not what we have no proof of. He is saying that Jesus is the substance and evidence of what we believe. We believe in the unseen God because we have seen the one who is the substance of his reality, his being, or his person.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him (Colossians 1:15, 16 NIV).
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at Gods command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead (Hebrews 11:3, 4 NIV).
It is through Jesus that we believe that the universe was created by God. It is for him and through him that it was created ( John 1:3). It is through the grace of Jesus that Abel offered an acceptable sacrifice, which was a shadow of the sacrifice of Jesus himself. The sacrifice of Jesus is the only sacrifice that God finds acceptable. Therefore, Abels sacrifice finds its acceptance in the reality or substance of Jesus sacrifice, because it was only a shadow of Jesus sacrifice.
I know you have heard that faith is believing in something as if it is true, as if you can see it. If you can see it, you can have it. I believe that is a misunderstanding of Who faith is. Our faith is not a figment of our imagination. It is a reality. We have the evidence of our faith. Jesus is that evidence! Therefore when you read the faith stories of Hebrews 11, please realize that Jesus is the substance and reality behind those stories. When the writer says By faith, he wants to force the reader to cast his or her eyes on Jesus. It was by Jesus, through Jesus, and in Jesus, that all those faith heroes did what they did. You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me. (John 5:39 NIV).