Hebrews 11:1-20 -- Who will be raptured? We will remember their words.
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
We are hoping to be raptured in the first rapture, or as the Jewish custom is, we are hoping that our names would be written in the book of life. If you want some confidence and assurance about this you need to pray for faith. Remember, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
Sometimes it is absolutely stunning what some people will say and do. The arrogance and gall is incredible. But no one is commended for that and ten years later they are exposed as liars and frauds, and no one cares. But people with faith, people like Abraham, Paul, Peter, and Jesus, we remember their words thousands of years later.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
This is a very important and fundamental lesson in science. We could not figure out the mysteries of the universe until we were able to see the things that are unseen. No one can explain what an electron is. I teach Chemistry and my students are surprised when I tell them I don’t know what an electron is. I then tell them what we know and then they too will answer when I ask what is an electron: “I don’t know”. However, even though that is true we can do amazing chemistry and make all kinds of substances because we understand that the electrons are critical in telling us how they will all fit together. Every day scientists make things that you can see out of things you can’t. If we do this in a shadow, then surely the reality is that God has made what is visible out of what is not visible.
4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
Think about that, how powerful is faith. If your words have faith they don’t die just because you do. Today, thousands of years later, we have people all over the globe examining the words of the apostles and prophets and discovering new things every day.
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
Enoch is an excellent example. He is a man of faith, he was a type of those who were raptured, and his prophecy is commended as being divinely inspired by many of the New Testament writers. His words still live today.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
If you hope to be raptured then surely you must please God and without faith that is impossible. There are three things you must believe in order to come to God. You have to believe that He exists and He rewards those who seek Him. Finally, you have to believe the Lord’s word that no one comes unto the Father but by the Lord Jesus.
7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
There are many aspects to the gospel of salvation. The very term “salvation” implies there is something to be saved from which is a sinful world. The act of receiving the gospel and obeying the Lord’s commands condemns the world. You aren’t trying to condemn anyone, but they are condemned for refusing to receive the warning. That implies they have heard the same warning as you and rejected it. So you can see how all of humanity is split by this one matter of faith. Some receive the warning by faith, others reject the warning because they are faithless. The rapture is about taking those that please the Lord, those who have faith, received the warning and obeyed the Lord’s commands.
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
We have had many smaller experiences of this, but in the grand scheme of things, we obey the Lord’s words and follow Him and ultimately this will include the rapture, where we will be going to a place where we don’t know. We don’t know where it is and we don’t know how to get there.
9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
Living in tents is a big deal to God. The feast of tabernacles celebrates this every year. It gives you a feeling of confidence to know that you could survive in the wilderness.
10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations,whose architect and builder is God.
They talk about people pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. If you live on the land in a tent while you build the city, that is a great heritage. You are imitating God who called not being as being.
11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
How remarkable is it that the Jewish people can trace their lineage back all the way to Abraham. People do not forget faith and they don’t forget men of faith.
13 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. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 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.
Once again, those who are raptured are those that God is not ashamed of to be called their God. We have been looking for a country of our own and have no interest in returning to the world we left behind when we were baptized.
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
This is the big test. Will you sacrifice everything to obey the Lord’s speaking?
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
Can you do everything by faith? Many look at this story as being a story of Jacob deceiving Isaac, yet God tells us he blessed him by faith.
