Hebrews 11:1-6, 13-16 · Faith, Hope, Cloud of Witnesses, Trust
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"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible... These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city."
— Hebrews 11:1-3, 13-16 (ESV)
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Hebrews 11 is sometimes called the "Faith Hall of Fame" — a sweeping survey of the Old Testament's greatest figures, held together by a single thread: they all lived by faith. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets — the list rolls on like a river, story after story of men and women who trusted God when trust was the only thing they had.
But before the examples come, the author gives us a definition.
What Faith Is
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
Two words anchor this definition: assurance and conviction. Both are words of substance and certainty. Faith is not wishful thinking. It is not a leap into the dark with fingers crossed. It is a confident, grounded certainty about realities that cannot (yet) be seen.
Faith has two objects: things hoped for (future promises) and things not seen (invisible realities). These are not the same category. Things hoped for are future — the resurrection, the new creation, the fulfillment of God's promises. Things not seen are present but invisible — God himself, the spiritual realm, the grace that is working in our lives even when we can't perceive it.
Faith trusts both. It lives with one eye on the unseen present reality of God and the other on the promised future that has not yet arrived.
"By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible." Even our basic understanding of reality requires faith. We cannot verify empirically that the universe was spoken into existence by God. We believe it because God has said so, and because the world he made points toward a Maker.
The Cloud of Witnesses
Abel's offering was accepted; Cain's was not — because Abel offered it by faith, in genuine trust toward God (v. 4). Enoch walked with God so closely that God simply took him, bypassing death altogether (vv. 5-6). Noah built a massive boat for a flood that hadn't come yet, in a world that had perhaps never seen rain — and it saved his family and the animals of the earth (v. 7). Abraham left his homeland for a destination he didn't know, trusting the word of a God he had only just begun to know (vv. 8-10). Sarah, long past childbearing age, received the strength to conceive because she "considered him faithful who had promised" (v. 11).
The common thread through all of them is not that they had all the information. They didn't. They were working with promises they hadn't yet seen fulfilled, trusting a God they couldn't see with decisions that made no sense by ordinary human logic.
Strangers and Exiles
The reflection in verses 13-16 may be the most beautiful passage in the chapter. These people — Abraham and Sarah and the others — "died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar." They saw what was coming from a long way off and waved to it. They died still waiting for what God had promised, and they died trusting that it would come.
"They acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth." They knew this world was not their final home. They held it loosely. They were looking for a homeland — not the one they'd left (they could have gone back), but a better country, a heavenly one.
And then the astonishing verse: "Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city."
God is not ashamed to be called their God. This is one of the most moving statements in Scripture. The God of the universe, the Creator of all things — he identifies himself with these wanderers, these nomads, these people who spent their lives waiting for what they couldn't yet see. He is their God and they are his people, and he has prepared a city for them.
God prepares a city for those who live by faith. The destination justifies the journey. The homeland they sought, they will find — because the God who promised it is faithful.
For us, the cloud of witnesses is even larger now. Hebrews 12 tells us that surrounded by this great cloud — all those who went before us in faith — we run our race, looking to Jesus, "the founder and perfecter of our faith" (12:2), who endured the cross for the joy set before him.
We are in the same story they were in. We are waiting for the same promises, held by the same faithful God, looking toward the same city.
Run. Trust. Hold on.
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