Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mischpachah - may the grace of our Master and Deliverer, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) be with you all as we assemble here for this forth part in our series on The Way of Faithfulness. On the previous sabbath we looked at what faith isn't and last Rosh Chodesh we looked at salvation as being infused with new chayim (life).

Today I want us to look at what emunah (faith) is and we are going to make Hebrews 11:1 the subject of a two-week in-depth study as this passage is probably the most important definition of faith that we have in any language:

"Now emunah (faith) is the assurance ('substance' - KJV, NKJV) of things hoped for, the conviction ('evidence' - KJV, NKJV) of things not seen" (Heb.11:1, RSV, NRSV, ESV, NASB).

"Faith is the confidence that the things which as yet we only hope for really do exist. It is the conviction of the reality of the things which as yet are out of sight" (Heb.11:1, Wm.Barclay).

Emunah - faith - begins with what? Tiqveh - HOPE, which means in this context a confident expectation. But what is this a hope for? Things not yet attained, things not yet in our possession. But what sort of things are we hoping for that we have not yet obtained? Pause for a moment and ask yourself this very pointed and personal question: what is the greatest longing in my life? What is my greatest hope? Consider your answer carefully - for by it you will stand revealed. If you say that your greatest longing is for a bigger house, a new car, a better job, or greater financial security, then sadly, I have to tell you, that you are a million miles off the mark. You are thinking on the level of mere dust, where, as Gilbert & Sullivan put it:

"The earth of a dusty today,
Is the dust of an earthy tomorrow." [1]

You see, emunah (faith) begins not with the hope of your self-centred interests, but with the highest interests of the universe - with the realisation of Christian/Messianic ideals, the compensation for the things which have to be endured and the ultimate victory of good over evil. And this is the thing: if you don't start there, then you don't start at all! You see,our emunah (faith) doesn't thrive - can't thrive - if it is too narrow in outlook or scope. The emunah (faith) that matters, that we need so desperately, has to take the 'long look' and see the 'bigger picture'. Here is where we must start - by asking Yahweh to show us the secret of His bigger plan for our life and mission. Always begin there or you'll get bogged down in dust, then earth, and then mud.

So, to recap:

"What then is faith? It is what gives assurance to our hopes; it is what gives us conviction about things we cannot see" (Heb.11:1, KNT)

For instance, my greatest interest right now, a week away from a serious operation, is not physical healing. Now I am not saying that it doesn't have anything to do with that, anymore than your interest isn't also in your education, career, financial improvement, marriage relationships, and such things. But emunah (faith) doesn't begin with these things. Emunah (faith) begins with the hope that there will be a time in human affairs when an even balance well be struck or, as the poet Tennyson put it:

"The far-off divine event
To which the whole creation moves." [2]

In fact, the whole thrust of Hebrews 11 is that when we live by emunah (faith), we have the solid hope that, through it may be through scourgings and mockings, perils and dangers, we shall arrive safe and secure in our Father's presence. What a hope!

So why is it necessary to focus on this ingredient of hope as being so vital to emunah (faith)? Because it is only as we understand emunah (faith) on its highest level that we can implement it on the lower levels. Emunah (faith) has to be cultivated in the certain knowledge that Yahweh's long-range purpose is to right wrongs and usher in His triumphant Kingdom. The more that hope prevails in our hearts - that passion for justice in the universe - the more certain will be our hope in Yahweh's ability to meet our personal and individual needs. If we are not assured of the highest, then how can we be assured of the lowest?

We all of us struggle to understand what Elohim (God) is asking of us but the moment we come to see that our emunah (faith) has an eternal focus, then that emunah (faith) will not fade away when it meets the problems of time. Our prayer to Heavenly Father is that He teach us more about this need to properly focus because then we will get everything into proper perspective. We are a part of something so much bigger than ourselves, our families, our careers, our economies, our countries and the state of the world. This is all the unfolding of a Cosmic Plan and we are centre-stage at this moment of time.

As we meditate on the first phrase of the Scripture, "Now faith means that we have full confidence in the things we hope for, it means being certain of things we cannot see" (Heb.11:1, JBP), we understand that emunah (faith) does not begin with the hope that our physical and material needs will be met, but with the tiqveh (hope) that, one day, Yahweh will bring all things to a good and triumphant conclusion.

As you read through the 11th chapter of Hebrews, which is full of examples from the past about emunah (faith) in action, you realise that the one single emet (truth) that nerved and nourished the heroes of faith was this:

"These all died in emunah (faith), not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar..." (Heb.11:13, RSV).

"Having seen it from afar..." or "having seen them (the promises) in the distance..." (JPB) or "welcomed them from a distance" (NKJV) - what an extraodinary phrase! You see, these greats from the past took the 'long look' and saw that no matter what happened in the present, that the future was fixed and certain. It all works out right in the end because Yahweh has prepared the outcome in advance.

As believers, we are people of the 'long view' - we have to be, otherwise our emunah (faith) will be deficient and we will not be able to stand. The problem for so many Christians and Messianics is that they suffer from spiritual shortsightedness - they can see no further than today with all its pressing personal needs and claims. Many people walk away from the Besorah (Gospel) and from Yah'shua (Jesus) precisely because of this short-sightedness.

Am I making sense? If we don't cultivate the 'long look', and absorb the thrilling emet (truth) that Elohim (God) will one day bring all things to a good and glorious conclusion, then what basis of emunah (faith) do we have for dealing with the day-to-day demands that press upon us? We simply become the prisoners of today, rather than the pioneers of tomorrow.

When we practice emunah (faith) on the highest level, and are assured of the fact that we shall see the realisation of our ideals - the ultimate victory of good and compensation for every wrong - we have a focus for our emunah (faith) that will equip us for handling anything that comes our way. When we continually - and I mean by that daily - practice the 'long look', the things to hand will present little difficulty and our emunah (faith) in the present for the day-to-day things will be strong.

As you read the Scriptures, you will see that Yahweh always has the 'long view' of history in mind. He knows what's coming, He has planned it in depth and in detail, He knows how to manipulate and control events and people without denying their free agency, so the outcome is guaranteed. You and I have parts in that history for our short span-of-time on earth. It's up to us to talk with Him to find out what our long-range purposes are so that we can make preparations accordingly. Our prayer must therefore be to catch the sweep of our Heavenly Father's mind and thereby acquire the confidence and hope that belong to those trusting in Messiah, as one translation puts our text:

"'Trusting' is being confident of what we hope for, convinced about things we do not see" (Heb.11:1, JNT)

So I hope that by now the thought is quietly shaping in your minds that if we are to have emunah (faith) we need a grasp of the bigger, long-range picture. Without this solid assurance in relation to the future, we will never be able to practice the principles of emunah (faith) in the here-and-now. Why is it that so many Christians and Messianics seem unable to deal with the mountains of difficulties in their lives - mountains, according to Yah'shua (Jesus), their emunah (faith) ought to be able to remove:

"Assuredly, I say to you, if you have emunah (faith) as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you" (Matt.17:20, NKJV).

The reason more often than not is that they have little understanding or conviction about the certainty with which Yahweh will wind up the affairs of His universe.

There was once an artist who said of his nature paintings: "I can get the picture right if I can get the sky right." Well, it's the same in this matter of emunah (faith) - you have to get the Sky...the Heavenly dimension...right. Once you catch the sweep of Elohim's (God's) mind and the glory of His eternal purposes, and become a part of them, then your emunah (faith) finds a powerful focus. If your Sky is right - and the rest of the picture will be right. If you have ever watched artists like Bob Ross, he always started his paintings with the sky.

Many believers, sadly, get it the wrong way round. They start with the temporal and lose sight of the eternal. If we lose our perspective on heaven, on the millennium and on eternity, we shall most certainly lose it in time. But when we are sure of what is to come and what awaits us, we shall be sure of earth. It's as simple as that. Recognise this: once you have won the battle in the eternal realm, you will not lose it in the earthly realm.

Next week may well be my last sermon - and indeed writing and broadcast - for some time as the following day I have an appointment with some heart surgeons and recovery from such operations is slow. I will then conclude this segment of sermons on The Way of Faithfulness and take this important theme to its conclusion. Yahweh willing, a couple of months later, I will occupy the pulpit again. In the meantime, I covet your prayers.

I would like, in the meantime, to invite every one of you to read through the 11th chapter of Hebrews and then, while I am away, the 12th and 13th chapters too, at least one time. I find these chapters very inspirational. Remember, "...faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Heb.11:1, NIV) [2]. Look up to the Sky - get the Heavenly Perspective of Life and the divine Plan in history, and then your emunah (faith) for daily living, no matter the hardships - which have been, and will be, many - will be strong. Be blessed in Yah'shua (Jesus). Amen.

Endnotes