Transcription
What if I told you that we've been totally interpreting chapter 11 wrong when it says faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen? We've been reading it completely wrong.
When we go back to the original Hebrew and the Jewish perspective, it changes everything. Ladies and gentlemen, this is my favorite broadcast out of the entire book of Hebrews. Don't miss it right after this.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Passion for Truth Ministries. I'm Jim Staley, and Shabbat Shalom to you if you're watching this on a Saturday on the Sabbath. If not, man, may God bless you on any day of the week at any time you're watching this, wherever you might be found around the world. I am so grateful that you spend time with us each and every week. And if this is your first time joining us, we are grateful that you're here with us as well.
We are a ministry that is dedicated to bringing you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth from the original Hebraic Jewish perspective that it was written in. We go past Protestantism here, past the Gentile church fathers, past Roman Catholicism, all the way back into the first century. And that's where we dive into the language, the culture, the idiomatic expressions, and what we discover in the process is extraordinary. There is a major gap between what is and what is today, what was the truth back in the first century and the times that it was written in, and then what it actually has become over the centuries.
Now you can tell I'm probably a little bit under the weather, so you have to forgive my voice today. I'm going to do the best I can to get through this. But we are walking through the book of Hebrews verse by verse, phrase by phrase sometimes, and even word by word because sometimes words matter, and today is no different.
So what do we have so far in Hebrews? We have the priesthood, of course, being changed. The whole book is not about the law of God being changed. It's about the priesthood itself being elevated. It's about the covenantal administration that's been shifted from the Levitical side to the Melchizedek side in heaven. Some other things that we have noticed so far in the book of Hebrews is the access to God has moved locations from the earthly tabernacle to a heavenly tabernacle. The sacrifices have been elevated from shadow to substance, and the worshiper must now draw near through a better and living way. We find that in chapter 10, verses 19 through 22. And lastly, those who are justified must live by faithfulness.
And so for the first 10 chapters of the book of Hebrews, what we discover is this beautiful layout, an exposé of what the change has been, why the change was necessary because there was a human high priest that was fallible in every way, and the only way to God was to put the faith in that high priest. And so Yeshua coming, paying the price, equal value, human for human, divine blood for divine blood, gives his life for us. He becomes the high priest, and now our faith is in him. This is why no one can come to the Father except through him. It's not because God is just being mean and saying, "Hey, you can't come through any other religion. This is the way." No, it's my Son is the way. There's only one way to me where you won't die, and that's through the blood of my Son. You're justified then through faithfulness in what he did, but after that, there is a faithfulness by what you do. Because there is a priesthood that's being inaugurated here. Not a Levitical priesthood. This is the Melchizedek priesthood. And he is the high priest in that order.
So where chapter 11 almost in a way feels out of place because it's the chapter of faith, it's the hall of fame of all the great people, men and women of faith in God. No, the author is about to give us the evidence of what real priesthood looks like. I'll be honest with you right up front. This has probably been the most challenging chapter in all of this study on the book of Hebrews for me personally, piercing behind the veil here and opening the chest of Jim Staley. At first, I looked at this chapter as this is the chapter on faith. This is the faith chapter. Everybody knows this chapter. How am I even going to explain this? And as I begin to really dive in this, the Holy Spirit convicted me on levels I can't even begin to tell you. The enemy began to move and attack me in ways that I can't even begin to tell you, as the Father began to define priestly faith. And so that's what I'm going to do here for you today. We're going to uncover what this first verse actually means. So let's walk over to it right now as we've kind of set all this up. I hope you stick with me to the very end because I believe it's really going to bless you. Bless you, challenge you. I believe it could even bring you to tears in a way, maybe be the real rock that you've been looking for to build your house of faith on. So let's do that together, okay?
So Hebrews chapter 11, one of the most famous phrases and verses on faith in the Bible says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Ladies and gentlemen, all of us have heard this verse. All of us have probably heard it explained. I hope to explain it a little bit differently, or at least in a way that maybe will move you, like it moved me. This is not coming from me, but it's coming from the Holy Spirit. And I believe that when God is involved with what we do, I believe powerful things happen.
So where Hebrews chapter 10 ends with a warning, this is important. It says, "My righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul will have no pleasure in him." And I believe right now there is a powerful force that is pushing in on God's people, and the greater anointing that you have, the greater the pressure. And God says, "Don't shrink back. My soul will have no pleasure in the one that shrinks back. Do not shrink back. Don't cave under the pressure, ladies and gentlemen. It's here. It's going to get thicker." God's designing that pressure for a purpose because we're about to cross into the Promised Land. That final line of that verse is the hinge. The author must now explain what does it actually mean to live by faith? Because he can't just tell us, "Live by faith, the righteous live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul will have no pleasure in him." Okay, well, what does that mean? How do I live by faith? What is faith? How do I live by it?
Where Hebrews 11 is not a digression, it is the legal evidence, it is the courtroom proof, my friends, that God's people have always operated under covenant faithfulness, and that living by faith is not new at all. It's ancient, and it's the original pattern. And that's what I want to show you today is I want to show you this word that in the Hebrew, in the English we call it faith, but in the Hebrew it's much deeper and it's connected to a very popular word. I'll just disclose it here in just a moment, but this Hebrew word is called emunah. Some people pronounce it emunah, but I pronounce it emunah. It comes from the root word aman, which literally means to support, to hold up, to make firm. It's where we get the word "amen" from. Every time you say "amen" in English, you're literally talking about faith. You're talking about supporting something. I hold up, I make firm, I agree, yes and amen. But it's connected to faith because that's what the word emunah means. Emunah by its very nature is the final say. It's the final evidence. It's like a long court case with all the evidence brought in about this and that and this, the last evidence. It is the final evidence. It's the smoking gun. It's the one that convicts or releases. If you have faith, you have amen. It's the final firm, reliable, trustworthy, and established truth.
So first of all, I hope the mic drop moment for you in the very beginning here is that faith is connected to the word amen. You cannot have amen and not have faith. And you cannot have faith without having an amen. This gets much deeper.
All right, so let me give you an example that will give you a visual of what emunah really is all about. Now, if you go to the latter part of Exodus 17, what you see is what happens when Aaron and Hur come alongside of him and hold up his arms. The scripture says, and his hands were steady, is what the English says, or supported or held up. But the Hebrew word is explicitly emunah. His hands were emunah until the going down of the sun. They're firm, they're steady, they're reliable, they're faithful. This is the foundational Hebrew concept behind faith, my friends. It's not belief. It's not some intellectual exercise that we do in English that says, "Oh, I believe that chair will hold me," but you never sit in the chair to prove it. Belief is not some intellectual exercise that we do. This is why James says, "You believe that there are demons. If you believe that Jesus is Lord, that's great. You believe that God is God, great. But the demons believe as well, and they shudder." Belief is not an intellectual exercise. Belief is a steadfast covenant loyalty that holds firm under pressure. And I want to really underline those last two words: steadfast covenant loyalty that holds firm under pressure. It's really easy to have faith when things are going great. It's real easy to have faith when your marriage is perfect, when your kids are perfect, when your job is perfect, when the money's flowing, when everything is going great. It's unbelievably easy to stay in covenant with God. But when everything falls apart, like Job's life, when things don't go your way and the pressure is on because your promotion is at hand and you must be tried and you must be tested, what then says the Lord? Because faith without that work under pressure means nothing. That's why it says, "Show me your faith without works, and I'll show you my faith by what I do." And I'll add under pressure because that's what it's meant. That's what it means. It means when nobody's looking and you're at the computer and that you feel that feeling and you want to move and watch something that's unholy, it's under pressure. When the lustful feelings come on, it's under pressure. When someone flirts with you in the break room at work, it's under pressure. When all these different things happen in life and you can't pay your bills and you're tempted to cheat, it's under pressure. Those are the times and the moments, and you can think of a thousand more. Whatever is happening in your life, you can think of it. I'm telling you, your faith is not exercised and defined by God's faith until it's under pressure.
This is why it's going to make so much more sense. When we reanalyze verse 1, Emunah is behavioral. It's not cognitive. It's faithfulness expressed through obedience inside covenant relationship. So when Hebrews 11 opens up with "faith is the substance," in the Greek hypostasis, "of things hoped for," it's not describing some mystical feeling. "Oh, faith is the substance of things hoped for," like we can't understand it. Only in English has it become a bit hard to grasp. But in Hebrew, it's basic 101. It's not a mystical feeling. It's describing a covenant loyalty so concrete that it creates evidential substance through what we do under pressure.
This is why it says, if we go back to the scriptures, in verse 1, we may not even get anywhere past verse 1, and I'm okay with that because I believe Holy Spirit is really, really going to speak to some of you today. It says, "Now faith is the substance." Now, I'll be honest with you, the word emunah is dealing with the firm faithfulness. It's what happens under pressure. When the 12 tribes were told to go and send 12 spies into the land and go across the river, that was the pressure was the giant. That was the litmus test to determine whether or not they were going to qualify to go in. God had said it's yours, but you weren't qualified. Your faith didn't match the giants. It has to beat the test, not even equal it. So he created the test. He created the pressure, and only two were successful: Joshua and Caleb. The other 10 failed. This is why it says your faithfulness, it is the substance. It's not some mystical thing of, "Oh, by faith I believe in God." No, you believe in God by what you do in the dark. You believe in God by what you do under pressure. It's the pressure that defines your substance. However much you think that you love God, your substance is the faithfulness that you demonstrate under pressure. You see how that changes everything, ladies and gentlemen. Faith is the substance. Your faithfulness under pressure is the substance of things hoped for. It's the things that God hopes for. Your faithfulness is the substance of what God hopes for. It's the evidence of the things not seen.
What does that mean? The evidence of things not seen. It's not seen in public. There's two perspectives to this verse. And I believe God has shown me something that is extraordinary, that has radically changed the way that I view this verse. One is from our perspective and one is from God's. And I believe the best way and the first way to read this is from God's perspective. He says, guys, whatever your name is, Jim, faith, your faithfulness under pressure is the substance of things that I hope for. It's the evidence of the things not seen in public. Your faithfulness, your rewards are going to be based on what you do under pressure in the dark, in the closet when no one is seen, no one is watching, no one is looking into your thoughts and your heart. That is the evidence of things not seen. That's what I'm looking for, says God. And that will change the way you live, ladies and gentlemen, because God is, you see, God is not just grading you on what you do. God is grading you on what you think. When he says that if you look upon a woman and you lust after in your mind, you've already committed adultery, ladies and gentlemen, he's not joking around like, "Oh, well, like physical adultery is worse than like doing it in your mind." That's from our perspective. From God's perspective, it's the same thing because if you had the opportunity in that moment, you would have taken it, which means you would have done it in the physical flesh, and that changes everything. God is reading our thoughts. He knows our minds. He knows every single dirty, nasty rogue thought that you've entertained longer from the enemy that put it in your head to begin with. He knows your thoughts, and every one of them are going to be counted against you. Where the police and the federal government, I'd say everything that you say can and will be used against you, God goes further: everything that you think will be used against you. That's why you have to take every single thought captive. Because it says right here, your evidence of your judgment is going off of the things not seen by other people. That's the first way to look at it, is from God's perspective.
Now let me show you a different way to look at it. The more traditional way is from our perspective. I'm going to reread this whole verse. Faith, our faithfulness is the substance of things hoped for. It's God's faithfulness to his contract, to his covenant. It is by the blood of Christ. It is our faith in his faithfulness that creates the substance that what we hope for. Our hope is not of this world. Our hope is holding on to the tzitzit of the Rabbi, Yeshua, Jesus, that we love so dearly because of what he did for us. Our hope is in the substance of what he did. That same faithfulness that he did, that we're having faith in, we're believing by faith in, we're holding on to. It's the evidence of what we can't see. In other words, your faith is the connecting bridge to the land we can't see, the land flowing with milk and honey. It's the real Promised Land. It's heaven itself. It's the New Jerusalem that's going to come down someday. It is our faith that is the umbilical cord that connects his reality to what you were originally created to be before man's sin. The two realities were supposed to be connected. That umbilical cord, that silver string, is your faith.
Do you see how the two are totally separate? One is from God's perspective saying, "Hey, your faithfulness is the substance that I hope for. It's the evidence that I'm going to use on judgment day of the things that other people don't see." And then from our perspective, it is faith. Our faith in what he did is the substance of things hoped for. It's the evidence of things unseen in heaven. Our faith is that evidence. And ladies and gentlemen, I want to connect the two. The third component is it all leads to this: our faithfulness in his blood is demonstrated by what we do. And this is what the author of Hebrews is trying to say is that for all of these years, 1,400 years up to this point in the first century, this is the point of everything. For that first 1,400 years, they had demonstrated their faith through one high priest on Yom Kippur and the daily sacrifice. They were trusting that he would go in once a year and he would offer sacrifices for his own sin and then for the sin of Israel. But all that changed. From that on, they didn't take their priesthood and they couldn't even be a priest. It was only the Levites that had jobs. Everybody else, they just needed to serve one God and keep the Shabbat and don't eat unclean things and so on and so forth and keep the feast days and the rest of the Torah. And they didn't do a very good job at it. But after Christ, there was an inauguration of a new priesthood. And the priesthood does things. And the does things is connected to the behavior, which is what emunah is all about. Remember, it's not cognitive, it's behavioral. Emunah, your faithfulness, your faith is demonstrated by what you do.
So this whole entire chapter that he's about to say is, guys, the whole priesthood has changed from the Levitical to the Melchizedek priesthood, but that doesn't mean that you're just only having faith from the perspective towards God in what Christ did. But no, your faith is directly connected to what you do as a priest now. I'm gonna give you a few examples of what covenant, priesthood, faithfulness, emunah looks like.
He says, "For by it the elders, in verse two, obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible." Talking about, look guys, by faith we understand. In other words, we weren't there, but we believe by faith. By faith what? Based on what we do, it proves the intellectual part that we believe by faith. And he says, "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained a witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And through it, he being dead, still even speaks." So Abel offered what God required. That's obedience. That is not an intellectual act. He literally walked it out in his behavior.
"By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and was not found because God had taken him. For before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith, it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." So Enoch, he walked with God, it says. That's called covenant loyalty. Are you loyal to the covenant? Under pressure.
It says, "Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith." He believed God at what he said. God said, "Noah, build an ark." Noah built an ark having no idea what rain was. He's going to flood the earth. He's building an ark, ladies and gentlemen. People are mocking him under pressure. For 120 years, he remained faithful amongst his generation. He was perfect, mature, the Bible says, amongst all his peers. Why? He was solid in his belief because he continued to build the boat. What are you building today, says the Lord? What part of the kingdom of God are you building? Maybe you have a gift. Maybe you have a talent. Maybe God's given you a talent just to fund others that do. But what is your talent? What are you growing? What are you doing? What are you building? Because the Bible says faith is demonstrated by that hammer that you have in your hand. Noah built an ark. That is action, ladies and gentlemen.
"By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called out to go to a place which he would receive as an inheritance. He went out not knowing where he was going." "By faith he dwelt in a land." Do you see that? By faith he dwelt. Faith is a decision, and someone out there needs to hear that. Put that in the comments right now. Faith is a decision followed up by action under pressure. That's the part we fail in. When Noah is putting those nails, he's not just putting nails into the woods, taking those slats. You have to find the stud or the nail won't stay under pressure. You have to find the backbone. That backbone is the Word of God. You've gotta be rooted in it deeply, because the pressure is coming. And if the pressure comes and you're not rooted in the Word of God, and you will fail, your faith will fail. Your faithfulness will fail. What are you rooted into?
"By faith he dwelt in the land of promises in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise, for he waited for the city which his foundations whose builder and maker is God." Abraham left home. He wandered. He had no idea where he was going. He even had the question, "God, where are we going?" God says, "Go where I show you." Ladies and gentlemen, today God may not be speaking to you. He may not give you all the answers. Go anyway where he's showing you. Offer a sacrifice, your only son. Get rid of the idolatry in your life. Obedience under pressure is the only thing that matters. It's what caused Abraham to be listed at the very top to be the father of Israel. He was willing to leave everything. He was willing to wander. He literally did the pattern of all the Israelites. He left Egypt, left home. He wandered in the desert. He wandered in the desert. He offered his only begotten son. Israel offered themselves finally at the end when they were willing to go and beat the giants. They said, "We have to offer ourselves. Everything that's most important to us. We can't do this without God. God will provide a way." That's what Joshua and Caleb said. "We can't beat these giants." That's Isaac moment. God will provide a way. Do you believe that God will provide a way? Because that's faith under pressure. Some of you need to repent, as I did, for your faith almost buckling under great pressure. If you have great pressure, you are great in the kingdom. You are a great threat to the kingdom of Satan. Obedience under that pressure always leads to covenant promises being fulfilled in your life. Obedience under pressure always leads to covenant promises being fulfilled. It literally is the key that unlocks your destiny. It's the key that unlocks what God wants to do in your life. It's the key that unlocks everything you've been praying for, but it's at that last moment when the fire is the hottest. That's when the silver literally shines the greatest. That's when the silversmith knows to pull the silver out of the fire because it's at that moment that the dross falls off, the silver becomes its highest shine, and he can see his face, his image in the silver. It's the pressure that makes a diamond in the rough. It's the pressure that causes all of the rubies, emeralds, and all of these precious stones. Everything that we hold dear in the world that is of the most value happens under pressure.
"By faith in verse 20, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of his sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel and gave instructions concerning his bones." Do you realize that every single time one of these men are mentioned as having faith, "by faith," there's an action it's backing it up? Nobody just says, "By faith I believe." No, "by faith I'm doing." That's exactly biblical faith.
"Verse 23, by faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months." Hidden, an action. "By faith they were believing in God, they hid him because he saw he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king's command." "By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasure of sin." Do you see this, ladies and gentlemen? "Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." How in the world could Moses be even introduced or know anything about Christ? But the author of Hebrews is literally bringing in Christ into this moment because he's saying he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Some of you had been offered things of prestige and pleasure and position that you ought not to have or be in. And Moses refused it because he knew who he was. He chose affliction with the people of God than position and power without the people of God. Real power is found with the people of God that are remaining faithful to the covenant promises. Rather than enjoying the passing pleasures of sin, under pressure. Do you know how much easier that would have been? He had everything that he ever wanted at his disposal. He's literally a prince of Egypt. He gave it up in all the passing pleasures for what? He esteemed the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. He didn't even know it. But by faith, because Christ is coming afterwards, because he chose to put aside the pleasures of Egypt, he was taking on the righteousness of Christ. He was walking in the footsteps of Jesus, and because he's walking in the footsteps of Yeshua, he enters into the righteous garment of Yeshua. The righteous garment of Yeshua holds the anointing of Yeshua. The anointing of Yeshua holds the authority of Yeshua, and the authority of Yeshua gives you the right to enter into your promised land to obtain what you've been looking for at the end of the race.
"By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood." I mean, no clue what it meant. "Lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians attempted to do so were drowned." Because they were not, why? The Egyptians had faith too, but their faith was in what they could do. The Israelites understood that they couldn't do anything. They were just following God, trusting that God was going to save them. So Moses, he rejected Egypt. Then he kept the Passover, creating the covenant with blood. And then he had to choose in his mind to leave Egypt because it's one thing to leave with your feet, but it's to let Egypt get out of your thinking system. And then he kept the law of God, which is faithfulness. That is the definition of faithfulness, is doing what God said.
"What more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon." Wow, what an incredible story that is. "Barak and Samson, Jephthah, David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises and stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword." Don't tell me, ladies and gentlemen, that you're going through something and you don't know how to get out of it, that the pressure is too great. Don't look at your God in the face and insult him because these people went through mouths of lions, they escaped fires, the edge of sword. When did someone put the sword to your throat? "They became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of aliens and foreigners. The women received their dead to life again. Others listen were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they may obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, of chains and imprisonment." I've been there. I know what that feels like. "They were stoned, sawn in two, tempted, slain with the sword, wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, whom the world was not worthy, wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth, all of these having obtained a good testimony through Emunah, through their faithfulness under pressure." When they're being put on the table and the saw is on their chest, they remained faithful and let them saw them in half alive. And we complain about not being able to pay our bills or being frustrated with the pressure that we have. The world wasn't even worthy of them.
I'm sorry, guys. I'm not normally like this, but this chapter changed my life because I go through a lot of pressure with what I do. Being on the tip of the spear and what God is doing to us in this ministry, there's a lot of attack and a lot of pressure. And there's a lot of temptation and there's a lot of things that the enemy tries to do in me and my entire team and family. And God showed up in my life this week and showed me a priest is faithful. Are you a priest? Because a priest demonstrates faithfulness under pressure. So I will ask you this week in this broadcast, you may be watching this years from now or live. Do you consider yourself a priest of God? A priestess? Are you demonstrating the power he's given you that can only be inaugurated through your faithfulness under pressure? Power doesn't come from the good times. Power comes from pressure.
The author of Hebrews spends 10 chapters telling us there's a greater power than the high priest under the order of Levi. It's the high priest under the order of Melchizedek, the righteous king. He's redoing the golden calf moment as if it never happened. And he's going to ordain every one of us as priests and kings. The only thing he asks is, are you willing to be faithful to the covenant when it matters? So if you're going through something right now, or you will have, it matters. That's the moment. That's the moment.
End where we began. Faith. Your faithfulness under pressure is the substance of things God hopes for you. It's the evidence that nobody else needs to see. The evidence that people see is worth this much. But the evidence that people don't get to see is worth this much. Let's perform under pressure. Let's be priests. Don't just praise with our lips, but we perform.
Ladies and gentlemen, at the risk of breaking down here on my own broadcast, I pray the power of God over you this week. I pray that he would keep you like never before, that His countenance would be lifted up over you, that you would be faithful under pressure. My friends, thank you so much for being a part of this ministry, this broadcast. Thank you for your prayers more than anything. Thank you to those of you who partner with us. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. God bless you. Keep you. May his face shine upon you. May his countenance be lifted up over you. And may he give you shalom. I'm Jim Staley with Passion for Truth Ministries. And I'll see you in the next video.