Hebrews 11:29-40 New International Version

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.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

 

First Impression?

• Being a Christian has many challenges.

29 – What choice did the Israelites have?

• Defy God and face the Egyptians. I figured it took no faith to continue running from the Egyptians and away from the violent display God was putting on and move to safety on the other side of the sea. Apparently, I was wrong. They were not in fear of death from the Egyptians, but felt they were going to be returned to the “safety” of life as a slave.

30 – Is obedience different than faith?

• I wondered if the idea that they were just being obedient to follow their leader was different from having faith. The goal is that our obedience follows from our faith and the two are different ideals, but the motive is key.

31 – Are the actions of God still pushing people to become Jews or are people only moved to become Christians?

• Rahab saw the outcome for the Jews and believed in God. Does this still happen that people see the actions of God and become Jewish? I had never really thought this. I assumed all Godly action pointed to Christ, but see how not everyone might think so.

32 – On a worldly stage, the Jews wrote down their history. On a spiritual stage, they wrote down the characteristics of God. Are you prepared to use history to describe God to others?

• I knew to use the history in the Bible to do so, but I had never really focused on using other aspects of history to point out the actions of God. I knew to use my own personal history, but not everyone else’s.

33-34 – Do you have a long list of bad good outcomes to use in your history?

• I do and sometimes I remember.

36-37 – Does this list make you want to fight against these outcomes?

• I did not use this one in the lesson, but one of the messages is that Christians will face great suffering to follow Christ. My question is whether we should be encouraged to prevent or delay these types of suffering or if we should sit back and let the end come? I know we are to witness to encourage the end to come, but not sure how defending the faithful sits within this.
• We did talk around this topic on how we need to prepare our children, wives, and others to go forward without us. Big topic. Shield or prepare to fight. What is the duty of the husband?

38-40 – We discussed the salvation that was being prepared and how great it was, but I was curious about how the desire for a savior impacted the faith of those before Moses and those after Moses but before Christ. I looked back at the line from Adam to Noah and decide this was much too large of a topic for now.

• But I did note that Adam walked with God in the garden; after his son Seth had a child, people began to call on the name of the Lord; how a few generations later while Adam was still alive, Enoch walked with God; and how everyone other than Noah and his immediate family were wiped out right after Enoch’s son finally died and only Noah was left in right relationship to God. Note Adam died before Enoch was taken by God and before Noah was born. As I chased this down, I found that Noah was alive when Abraham was born as was each generation in between.

I think there are five sets of people.

• Before Noah,
• After Noah before Abraham,
• After Abraham before Moses,
• After Moses before Jesus, and
• After Jesus.

More than enough for one day.