Heb 11 - 22 - Christ - Glorified in the Faith He Gives Us

Heb 11 - 22 - Christ - Glorified in the Faith He Gives Us


Heb 11:22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.


Again, we see that it is in connection with the promise of God that Joseph is seen to exercise faith. Faith must have an object. It is not a numinous experience or a substance that we posses, that emanates in a sort of semi-conscious glow. Faith seizes hold of the God of the promise, by means of believing in His ability and His faithfulness to do all He has said - and then refuses to let go, come hell or high water.

Why did Joseph prophesy concerning the exodus? Because he believed the God of the promise - that Abraham’s descendants would possess a land of promise and become a great nation. He believed that the land in question was Canaan and not Egypt because God had shown the land to his fathers. And he believed that the children of Abraham would be a sovereign nation under the rulership of God Almighty - the God of the promise.

It was by faith that Joseph and all these others did these things. But it was not that sort of faith that the world thinks of - a screwing together of the eyes and teeth-gritted, determined effort to make something happen by sheer dint of believing. That is making faith into a work. It is un-faith. It is humanism in disguise. It is the world and the devil’s imitation of faith. It is counterfeit. "If I just believe it enough then the power of my faith will make it happen."

No! Jesus said that if we had faith as a mustard seed it would grow into the largest of shrubs, and that this smallest of seeds was enough to move mountains. That is because it is not the faith itself, but the God of the promise, upon Whom the faith is trusting that has the power to effect things. We do not have faith in our faith, but in God. Faith is entirely un-self conscious in this sense - that it looks completely away from self and from circumstance, and lays hold of the unseen God with a certainty - a Biblical hope - that perseveres. This not only pleases, but also glorifies God.