Category Archives: Faith

2. Abel: A Better Offering

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Hebrews 11:4–By faith, a better offering Abel offered to God than Cain, through which he gained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

Two sons were born to our first parents: Cain the firstborn, and Abel the second. We are told that they gave offerings to the Lord of which the Lord liked Abel’s better than Cain, but we are not told why God liked Abel’s offering better than Cain’s. I do believe the limited detail of Genesis 4 does offer a clue as to why God regarded Abel’s offering.

Genesis 4:3 It happened at the end of days, that Cain brought to God from the fruit of the ground his offering, but Abel brought to God from the first born of his flocks and their fat portions.

Some principles from this text is that Abel’s offering was better because he gave God the best of the best, because he believed God was the best of the best. Cain offered from the fruit of the ground, a common gift, an earthy gift. But Abel sought to give the best of what he had, and the best part of that thing.

This particular offering communicated something about God. What did Abel communicate about God through his offering that Cain did NOT communicate in his? Simply this: God is the best of the best, and deserves the best of the best.

A gift that a man gives God is a visible description of the invisible God. And when a man gives a gift that worthy of God, then God is able to attest to all witnesses that his gift is a right gift. If he had regarded Cain’s offering, he would have accepted a low rank of a common soldier from the gift of a man who did not master the corruption that was within him, but He regarded Abel’s offering and thereby he attested to all witnesses that Abel was righteous.

What does this look like today? Many treat God as a common household trophy: a glorious symbol of somebody to depend on when you need to reference the supernatural, but never more important than yourself, or your family, or everything in your own life. Such a view of God, such a treatment of God like drivel is like unto Cain’s offering.

However, there are others who see that the very best of their lives is the only thing that is close to worthy of God. To give it to themselves or to another would be simply ludicrous, because God is the One who deserves it. And while God has given us all things to enjoy, it is not the truest good for us to enjoy the best, because we are merely images of God, rather than the one who is truly good.

This offering of what is truly Good to God, is the better offering: and it is only possible by faith. Faith recognizes:

God alone is worthy of our greatest gifts, and the life of faith is lived
 where God truly is the most important person in the relationship.

This is what the blood of Abel still speaks, and also what moves Cain to jealousy today. Those who live spiritually mediocre lives envy the favor of God upon the ones who are regarded by Him as righteous. And all the while the answer is found in what God says to Cain, “If you do what is good, will not your face be lifted up, but if not, sin seeks to have you, but you must master it.

O the glory of having God Himself attest to your righteousness– that you actually serve Him rightly. Such a testimony is only the acquisition of faith which sees God for who he really is before it actually lays eyes on Him.

Application:

  1. Today, take stock of the most important things in your life: requirements, and enjoyments, and find a way to give God the best of each simply because He is worthy of it. Example: If TV is your greatest enjoyment, converse with God about a way you can use your TV time to please him: whether by spending time doing something else, or by watching a particular TV show He lead you to, or by moving something else up in the value chain.
  2. Repent of the areas where you have given God the crumbs instead of the main course. Areas where your love of God grows cold in comparison to what it once was. Example: You go to church, and while you’re there, you are thinking about what else you could be doing right now.
  3. Spend time earnestly trying to figure out what is actually pleasing to him: Is He pleased when you sing? Is he pleased when you work with your hands? Is he pleased when you are still and silent? Is he pleased when you read the Bible? What do you do that makes you feel his pleasure?

1. Us: The World and the Word

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Hebrews 11:3~ “By faith we understand that the ages of time were created by the proclamation of God, so that, from what was not visible, things that are seen came to be.” (Translation mine)

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Faith accounts for the unseen reality which is the basis for the seen reality. Faith does not just think there is something to the Unseen, it simply understands that the Unseen is real. We have already discussed this, and now let us look at the nature of faith.

Principle: It sees the Visible in terms of the Invisible. How are we supposed to make sense of the world of time in which we live purely by observation of the visible world? Even if those who claimed to have done so actually could, they would negate so many concepts that are unseen yet obviously real: such as meaning, love, happiness, even words. There is an invisible dimension behind everything, and faith sees it.

The Bible teaches us how to see the Seen world in terms of the Unseen.

Faith recognizes the designer in the design, the creator in the creation, and his word behind the thing. It is easy to think of Words giving us access to understanding things: a bridge between us and the world around us. This is not untrue, but words can also give access to the Person behind the Words behind the thing referred to with the word that is formed in your mind and heart. As words give access to the Seen reality, so words also give us access to the Unseen reality. Just as Paul wrote in Romans 10:13 “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the proclamation of Christ.”

This is also why faith can be trained by learning the Words of God, which we have in the Bible. The Gospel of Christ is the power of God bringing us to Salvation, because the very Gospel of Christ is woven into the fabric of the way God made the world. Paul wrote also to the Romans 1:20 that, “since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

Faith gives a person the ability to see the world through God’s eyes.

Application:

  1. Read the Scriptures, listen to them on audio, and let the word of God, the SAME word that created the whole world, be your access to seeing the Unseen realm, and also the world around you.
  2. Learn to see the world from the Word of God’s point of view. It’s like how Neo saw the Matrix. God’s Word in the Bible is the same Word for understanding all of the Seen world. By this I do not mean the “Bible Code” or DaVinci anything. I simply mean that a person’s words are a result of who they are, and God has revealed who He is in the words that He used to create the visible world.
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0. Lessons on Faith: Intro to Hebrews 11

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I do believe many Bible-studiers have written devotionals on faith already. What’s one more?

The purpose of Hebrews chapter 11 is not to celebrate heroes of the Bible, but to inform and encourage believers concerning faith. Since I have heard so much malformation on the subject of faith, I thought it best to share the joyous and sobering results of my Bible Study in this space. These lessons can serve as a daily devotional to any seeking to fully grasp, grapple with, and be gripped by the greater unseen world unto which faith is the door. May you see Him Who is Unseen, here in the words that follow:

The Unseen Reality (a rather philosophical part of the intro)

Anyone familiar with the Bible when asked the question “What is faith?” will probably quote or cite Hebrews 11:1, here in New King James.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
–Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)

For me, these words have gotten crusted over with interpretations and explanations. What does this really mean? With eagerness I return to the original languages and bring forth another translation, which I believe helps get to the fire behind the words.

Faith is the reality hoped for, and the proof of unseen things.–Hebrews 11:1 (translation mine)

This helps me see some important things about faith right away: that there is a reality that is hoped for, and there are unseen things being proven.

First, a reality that is hoped for. it’s not like a hoped for reality like “I hope that it will be a reality that it will rain later.” It is the reality which is the basis for our hope! It is already real and going to happen. This part of the definition itself affirms a reality in which the believer sets his hope.

Second, unseen things are being proven. Faith is the proof that there is an unseen dimension to all of life. Some scientist friends of mine may take issue to this, but history has recorded many things about unseen forces at work in the world. This part of the definition is affirming the tangible reality that corresponds things which cannot be seen.

These two halves of the definition of faith make faith a tangible and mysterious thing. It may be foolhardy to think I could offer a simplified definition of faith that is adequate but not simplistic. Here it goes:

Faith is the proof of the unseen reality in which we hope.

I want to vouch to all of those reading this that there is indeed an Unseen Reality. There are unseen beings and places and things in this reality. It is governed by rules and people just like the Seen reality in which we all live. It is as real as the physical world, and as we will learn in the verses to come, it also governs the Seen reality in which we live.

Faith is the two-way door from one reality into the other. It is where both realities meet: Because of this, Faith is not just the notion of an unseen reality, nor is it a practice in the Physical world with the acknowledgement that there is a spiritual reality. Neither of these sides of the roof classify as faith. Faith is where the two realities meet and bleed into one another.

Because of this, a person’s whole being must be engaged in the exploration of faith: Any ways of dividing up a person you can try: Body, Mind, Soul, spirit, heart, will, emotions, etc. All of these must be as you the one person presently engaged in this exercise of being. Faith is as deeply personal as the foundation of a person’s being: the reality in which a person exists.

The Way of Approval (The more straightforward part of the intro)

In Hebrews 11:2 we read:

“By this [faith] the elders were testified as approved.” Hebrews 11:2 (translation and parentheses mine).

This means that faith is how we can look back on those who came before as to whether or not they have been approved by God, (as we will talk about later). In the court case of whether not a man is approved by God, Faith is the deciding proof in the following cases which we will be examining. The nature of faith, then, will be our aim to uncover so that we too may be judged as approved as they were. Because:

Faith is the proof that God has approved a person.

These will be the lessons as divided up by number, character, themes, and verses.

  1. Us–The World and the Word (vs 3)
  2. Abel– A Better Offering (vs 4)
  3. Enoch–A Pleasing Walk with God (vs 5-6)
  4. Noah–Obedience is a Two-Edged Sword (7)
  5. Abraham I–The Way of Exile (8-16)
  6. Abraham II–The Death of the Promise (17-19)
  7. Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph– Keeping Our Eyes on the Promise (20-22)
  8. Moses–Identifying with God (vs. 24-27)
  9. Israel–Obedience under Judgement (28-31)
  10. The Servants of God–The Visible Reality (32-40)

Each section will deal with the Biblical theme, what it shows about faith, and how it involves us.