Wait

Hebrews 11 is called the Cloud of Witnesses and Hall of Heroes. It lists the heroes of the faith, beginning with Abel (interestingly, not Adam) and continuing with Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the Israelites who walked around Jericho and Rahab, the Judges (Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, and Samuel), King David, and the Prophets. It mentions stories of widows receiving their dead back to life and prophets who were tortured and killed (like being sawed in half).

But what is the point of Hebrews 11? Is it just to have a list of heroes, stories to tell children of being good?

Waiting for Things Promised

In the middle of the chapter, after the author of Hebrews mentions Abel through Sarah, the author includes:

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Hebrews 11:13-16

In Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve sinned and God drives them out of Eden, He tells them – through the cursing of the snake – that He will take care of everything, that He has a plan to restore them to the Garden: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15)

From the beginning of human history, humans have been waiting. Waiting for things promised. God tells Abraham that he will be the one who all things will be restored, through whom all nations will be blessed (Genesis 12:2-3). But Abraham didn’t get to see all things restored or all nations blessed. In fact, not only did Abraham die waiting for the promise, he had to wait most of his life to see the promise even get started!

In Genesis 18 the three visitors come to Abraham to tell him that he and Sarah, by that time next year, would have a son (Genesis 18:10). And what happens in the story? Sarah laughs because she is old, because Abraham is old. Who had ever heard of someone Sarah’s age and Abraham’s age becoming parents? It seems like they had not.

But about a year later Sarah gave birth to Isaac. Abraham was one hundred years old (Genesis 21:5) making Sarah ninety. Abraham and Sarah waited a very long time to see the fruits of God’s promise. But that was the only fruit they saw.

Moses was told similar promises, given covenants and commandments in order to prepare the people to live holy lives before God. But the people sinned, and Moses sinned, so they were not allowed to partake in the fruits of the promise (entering the Promised Land).

And then there was King David. A man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22) who raped, murdered, and failed to discipline his children appropriately. In spite of his sins and crimes, he was told that his descendant would reign forever (2 Samuel 7:11-16). But David did not get to see this promise, for he rested with his ancestors (1 Kings 2:10).

And then there Elijah and Elisha, who proclaimed God’s greatness to the righteous and unrighteous kings. And the major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel) and minor prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi) who were all told of the one who would come to restore God’s people to the Garden.

But none saw the promise.

All waited. All longed for a country not their own.

What Were They Promised?

Hebrews 11 continues, after listing the heroes of the faith, and says:

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

Hebrews 11:39-40

None received what had been promised.

What was promised?

Jesus.

The restoration of humanity and the rest of creation to the design of the Garden. A place in the Kingdom of God. God’s people, from the beginning, were told about a blessed promise, a coming King who would rule forever. But they did not get to see it. Some did not get to see it because of their sins. Others did not get to see the promised saviour not because of any wrongdoing on their part, but because it was not time.

God, in His infinite wisdom and sovereignty, knew when the right time was for Jesus to come, incarnate to the world. Because of this, those who died before “only saw and welcomed [the promises] from a distance” (Hebrews 11:13).

There were some who did get to welcome the promise, but not from a distance, close up and personal. However, they still did not see the restoration. They saw the promise through packaging. They held it in their hands but rested with their ancestors before it was fully unveiled.

I’m thinking of Simeon, who welcomed the infant promise in his old age (Luke 3:26). Simeon was told by the Holy Spirit that He would see the promise, the Messiah. He held the promise in his arms (Luke 3:28). The story doesn’t tell us, but I presume Simeon died not too long after.

I am also thinking of Anna, from the same story, who was a prophet. She had married but became a widow after seven years. For the rest of her life she devoted herself to the temple: worshipping, praying, and fasting. At the age of eighty-four, the infant promised entered the Temple and she got to see, with her own eyes, and feel with her own hands, that the promise was real (Luke 3:36-38). Again, the story doesn’t tell us, but we can presume Anna died not too long after this story.

There was also Joseph, the earthly father of the incarnated promise. The one whom was asked by God through an angel to raise the promise (Matthew 1:20-21). We are not actually told when Joseph dies, but it has been assumed through out Church History that he died long before Jesus’ ministry began. This is assumed because of passages where see Jesus’ mother, Mary, and siblings are mentioned, but not Joseph (John 2:1:-12; John 19:25-27; Matthew 12:47). Whenever Joseph died, we can believe it was before Jesus entered ministry, before He was baptized. Joseph not only saw and touched the promise, he raised the promise, teaching Him to walk and talk, how to be a Jewish man, and the trade of carpentry. He saw the promise but still rested with his ancestors.

Then there is John the Baptist, who, like Joseph, was given a special task by God in the preparation of the promise. He came as “the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord'” (John 1:23). He came to baptize the promise (Matthew 3:13-15). John saw and witnessed for the promise, but still he rested with ancestors (John 14:10).

The Wait is Over

We are no longer waiting for the promise. The wait is over.

Hebrews 12 begins with THEREFORE. Whenever we see therefore in Scripture, we need to know what it is there for. It tells us to look back and pull the previous idea into the next.

Therefore because the wait is over…

Therefore because you have seen the promise…

Therefore because the Kingdom has come…

let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 12:1-3

What is hindering you from partaking in the promise? What sin or temptation easily entangles you?

What truth keeps you running with perseverance?

Of course, now we wait for the next promise. Jesus, the promised Messiah, has come. We are living in His already-not-yet Kingdom. Jesus has been appointed as King, but His inauguration has not happened. We are now in wait of this inauguration, when Jesus will return and usher in the New Heavens and New Earth.

Join me in persevering through the promise we have. And join me in perceiving the things promised, which we only see and welcome from a distance. Join me in admitting that we, like Abraham and Moses, are foreigners and strangers on earth.

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Today’s post was written with fiveminutefriday.com. Word prompt is WAIT.

All Scripture used on Oregon Christian Girl comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®  Unless otherwise noted.