The Nature of Faith (Heb. 11:1-3)

The Nature of Faith (Heb. 11:1-3)

Michelangelo(1475-1564), a famous Italian painter and sculptor, was looking at a big stone for several days. Then, he started to cut the stone with a hammer and a chisel.
Seeing him, his friend asked him: "What are you doing?"
He replied: "An angel is confined in this rock. I must liberate him."
His friend could not understand what he said.
But, Michelangelo could see an angel as he was sculpturing him out of the big stone.

If you only see a chrysalis you cannot believe that it becomes a butterfly.
You need to expect a butterfly seeing a chrysalis.
If you hope for or look to a healthy body in your sickness, your sick body will be turned to a healthy and strong body.

Jesus told his disciples in Mark 11:24: "Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
If you pray for your sickness, believe that you already have been healed. Then, you will be healed.
If you pray for a child, believe that you already have received a child. Then, a child will be given to you.
Believing that things you hope for will be realized or given is faith.
Believing that things you do not see now will be seen to you later is faith.

"Believe" includes several meanings:
First, "believe" means "accept."
To believe God is to accept His existence, promises, word, and faithfulness without any doubt.
Hebrews 11:6 says: "Without faith it is impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him."

Second, "believe" means "obey."
"Obedience" is called "faith before faith."
Although you cannot believe God's promise yet, you can still obey Him. Once you obey Him now, you can believe or receive His promise later.
Hebrews 11:8 says: "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go."

Third, "believe" means "trust."
Jairus, a ruler of a synagogue, came to Jesus to heal his daughter who was very sick. On his way to Jairus' house, Jesus and Jairus heard that Jairus' daughter was dead. Then, Jesus said to Jairus: "Do not fear, only believe."
Here, "believe" means "trust."
"Trust me that I can raise your daughter even though your daughter is dead now."
When Jairus trusted Jesus, Jesus raised his daughter by saying "Talitha Cum (Little girl, I say to you, arise)."
If Jairus had not trusted Jesus, he would not have let Jesus perform his miracle.

Fourth, "believe" means "hope."
When God appeared and told Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son one year later, they hoped for it although they were not quite sure.
Paul in Romans 4:18 says: "In hope he(=Abraham) believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, "So shall your descendants be."
Paul in Romans 8:24-25 says: "For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."

Fifth, "believe" means "look to."
To believe Jesus is to look to Jesus who is our rock, way, truth, resurrection, life, power, hope, love and healer, Lord, Messiah, and everything.
Hebrews 12:1-2 says: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.“
Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:18 says: "We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

In Hebrews 11:1, the nature of faith is characterized in two ways: 1) the assurance or substance or reality of things hoped for, and 2) the proof or conviction of things not seen.
Faith gives believers the spiritual eyes to apprehend the unseen. When a person has faith in God, the things that are hoped for become reality or realized through "obedience" with steadfastness, and thus this faith is the proof of things that are not seen.

The Greek word "ὑπόστασις (hypostasis)" includes the two different time concepts. That is, the present status of mind and the future realization.
So, you can translate it as "assurance or substance" if you focus on current status of mind, or as "reality" if you emphasize "realization in the future."
"Salvation" is a future event for believers, but you can say that "I was saved or I am saved" if you believe that "your salvation will be realized in the future with certainty."

Faith is the conviction or good proof of things not seen.
The Greek word "ἔλεχος(elenkos)" includes certainty and persuasion. Our physical eyes give us certainty and persuasion concerning those things that we see. So, people say that seeing is believing. But our faith gives us spiritual eyes which can see "invisible order of the spiritual world." So, we believers say that believing is seeing.

In summary, faith is the assurance and the conviction of things hoped for, yet not seen.
Then, what are the things hoped for, yet not seen?
They are God's promises which believers will receive in the future -- for example, Jesus's second coming, believer's future glory, salvation, eternal life, and the crown of righteousness, of glory, and of life.

In verse 2, the author says: "For by it(=faith) the ancestors received divine approval."
Who are the ancestors?
They are Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Jospeph, Moses, the Israelites who crossed the Red Sea, Rahab, and other Israelite judges and prophets.
They received the divine approval by their faith.

Verse 3 is an addition to explain the second nature of faith in verse 1, "proof or conviction of things not seen."
By faith believers understand that the worlds were created by the word of God. God created or framed the worlds from things that are not seen.
By faith Christians understand that God created the worlds, "the visible from the invisible" by the word.

In this material world, our faith is easily secularized. We only try to believe things that we see and prove. We easily give up our prayers for the diseases that are said to be incurable by medical doctors. Many believers regard God's healing ability is equal or inferior to that of a medical doctor.

However, we must keep in mind that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen."
When we have this faith, the things that we hope for (yet do not see) become reality through Christ in the future and thus we will receive God's promises.
In our daily lives, we must be steadfast in our faith with patience.