26/02/2024
*Meditation*
*FAITH IN THE PROMISE*
*HEBREWS 11:1-2*
*Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. (KJV)*
The use of the phrase Old and New Testaments are more than books or the divisions of the bible by academic theologians. We have Old and New Testaments under the context of the relationship between God and man. The relationship based on faith in the promise of God is called the New Testament and the relationship based on the works of man is the Old Testament. We also taught that the promise of God is not just any promise. It was a specific promise God made before the world began. This promise is the promise of eternal life in Christ or the giving of his eternal Spirit to dwell in man. It was a promise yet to be fulfilled, this promise has now been fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Christ. Adam was the first man to be offered this promise but he didn’t believe it. He did not have eternal life. The sin of Adam was the rejection of life in Christ which was figuratively communicated by Moses using trees, fruits, eating and serpent.
Our opening text is the expression of faith by the elders of the Old Testament. The promise was yet to be fulfilled. Therefore, their faith was the hope of the promise to be fulfilled. It is therefore an error to use the opening text to teach faith for things or our needs. It is also an error to use the opening text to teach faith of the man in Christ. This is because the promise has been fulfilled and the believer has received what God promised. The Old Testament folks or elders didn’t receive the promise, though they have faith. Therefore, the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen was about faith in the promise of God. Verse 13 says that “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgr