The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

1 Samuel 26:23a, “…the LORD will repay each man for his righteousness and his faithfulness.”

”Just show me once how to do it, and I can do it by myself.” Did you ever say that? Well, with some people that will work; with some others, things need to be shown to them again and again. Take righteousness, for example.

Righteousness embraces honesty, justice, and righteous acts that prove to be wholly true in the lives of those who follow the LORD. Furthermore, Solomon said, “And the desire of the righteous will be granted” (Proverbs 10:24).

Hebrews 11, in the New Testament, offers us a close look at several, Old Testament personalities whose lives exemplify the righteousness that is required by the LORD for us all. A careful examination of these lives reveals the righteousness that characterize life and enabled prayer to become effective.

1. Abel (Hebrews 11:4)

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

While the etymology of his name is uncertain, obedience in faith is the key to Abel’s characterization as “righteous.” Obviously, the LORD had carefully and properly instructed both Abel and his brother, Cain, regarding what and how they were to approach Him through sacrifice. Proof of Divine preparation lies in the fact that faith is man’s willful response to God’s revelation. In other words, God reveals to man what He is going to do, and man responds in accordance with what God reveals. The LORD’s consistency in this pattern throughout the Scriptures is additional support to the proposition that faith is obedience to His revealed will.

Solomon said, “A good name is to be more desired than great riches…” (Proverbs 22:1a). Abel gained that “good name” from the LORD Himself. Who else could have declared Abel “righteous” except the LORD? And that righteous declaration was the result of having lived the life of faith.

2. Enoch (Hebrews 11:5)

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

Genesis 5:21-24 gives us all the Old Testament has to say about Enoch. Because he lived a life of faith toward God, the LORD raptured him into Heaven without his going through the veil of death.

“Pleasing” is the designation given to Enoch. It is significant that the word may also be translated as “acceptable.” One must be righteous to be acceptable to God. When we are deemed righteous by Him, we become effective for Him in many ways. This again explains the fortitude of prayer.

The concept of “walking” with God carries the idea of fellowship. Enoch fellowshipped with God! Think of that! The Master Designer of the Universe –a universe man has yet to fathom– allowed a mere mortal, Enoch, to fellowship with Him. In my brief lifetime, I have had the opportunity to be in the presence of and fellowship with some notable personalities. But, the fellowship of Enoch with the LORD excels us all!

Can anyone dare to believe that Enoch and God did not agree –this Pure and Holy God and this sinful, mortal man? And that agreement is the element of faith.

3. Noah (Hebrews 11:7)

By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

Although each of these personalities offers us a lesson in faithful living, none is clearer for our understanding of faith than that of Noah. The warning the LORD gave him was His revelation. No one knows what God has in mind until He reveals it. We are not told all that God revealed to Noah; we only know that it was “about things not yet seen.”

Yet, Noah responded to what he had heard from the LORD: “In reverence (he) prepared an ark.” Out of his respect for God, Noah certified his belief in what God had told him was coming upon the Earth. A lot of us talk about our faith. Noah demonstrated his!

4. Abraham (Hebrews 11:8-10)

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

It is not possible to include here even a small portion of all that is known about Abraham. To attempt it would be to dwarf our thesis in this small letter. It is sufficient for us to know that Abraham was previously known as Abram; that his earliest life was lived in Ur, where worship of the sun goddess occurred; and that he is known to Jews and Gentiles alike as the father of the faithful.

It was Abraham, who by faith was granted a son when both he and his wife, Sarah, were past the reproductive stage of life. It was Abraham, who faithfully brought his only son, Isaac, to the point of human sacrifice. Above all, it was Abraham, whose faith in the LORD led him to believe that were he to obey the LORD in the taking of Isaac’s life, the LORD Himself would raise Isaac from the dead. After all, were he himself and Sarah not “dead” reproductively when Isaac was physically born to them? That being so, the LORD would certainly raise Isaac from the dead, for Isaac had been divinely selected as Abraham’s son of promise and as Abraham’s progeny for all successive generations. What a colossal personality Abraham was! How greatly he challenges us to believe God!

5. Sarah (Hebrews 11:11-12)

By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised; therefore, also, there was born of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

Sarah’s inclusion in the early personalities of Hebrews 11 serves as a clear signal of how the LORD’s view of human life differs considerably from our own.

The Genesis reading of Sarah’s attitude doesn’t leave us with the thought that she was at all faithful. Having lived in the disgrace of childlessness almost her whole life, she laughed when she heard she was to bear a son! She was too old! This was just impossible. Fearful of the consequences of her sin of disbelief, she lied when she was confronted about having laughed. In fact, it had been Sarah’s idea for Abraham to take Hagar as “a second womb” in the hope of aiding the LORD in the fulfillment of His own promise. Talk about a lack of faith! Her insistence of this unprescribed union flew directly in the Face of Almighty God! Did she not believe He could fulfill His own promises? Indeed, she did not. Therein lies her gravest sin.

Yet, the LORD views Sarah as faithful and inspires the Apostle Paul to include her as such in his Letter to the Hebrews.

As strangely as this resonates in our current culture, the LORD led the Apostle Peter to commend Abraham’s obstreperous nephew as “righteous Lot” in his Second Letter to the Jewish believers of New Testament times. Thus, whatever elements of unseen faith Sarah possessed earlier, God saw them and rewarded her accordingly. She had come to regard faithfully His promise.

Are there not times when we find it hard to believe that the LORD will act in a difficult situation? In those instances we can understand Sarah. Are there not times when we believe the LORD will act, despite the cries to the contrary from others around us? In those instances we can understand a small part of God.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD (Isaiah 55:8)

Beyond these initial Old Testament personalities, listed in Hebrews 11, Paul lists others, such as Jacob, Joseph, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel. Then his lists events without naming those coupled with the events. We can, however, in many instances, make a credible guess at their names.

Apostles Paul and Peter were both believed to have been executed during the horrifying reign of Nero (A.D. 67-68). Paul was beheaded; Peter crucified, but upside down, saying himself that he was not worthy to be crucified in the same manner as his LORD.

James, the son of Zebedee, was executed by Herod Agrippa I around A.D. 44. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, is reported to have been crucified in Patrae in Achaia. Philip is believed to have died in Hierapolis. Matthew is said to have died as a martyr in Ethiopia. Thomas, whose ministry extended as Far East as India, was slain with a lance. James, the son of Alpheus (also known as Thaddeus), was thrown from the temple heights, stoned and beaten to death with a club. Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus, died by his own hand. Of Bartholomew and Simon the Canaanite, there is no recorded information regarding their deaths.

How do you feel after reading all of this? Do you still have pride in yourself? Are you still

on that self-made pedestal you built for yourself? I doubt it! We’re more likely ready than not to fall at His feet and cry, “LORD, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Love and prayers for you as you faithfully follow Him.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”