The Evidence of Things Not Seen
In the young adult class where I worship, we’ve been studying faith. I’d like to share some of our conversations with you as we’ve focused this past month on Hebrews 11.
In Hebrews 11:1, the writer gives us the only definition of faith that we have in the Bible. We have multiple examples of faith, which is, of course, where the writer is headed, but as far as a verbal definition, this is it.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
The word substance is the one that seems somewhat out of place to me. Substance is usually something concrete, and the entire idea of faith rests in things that are not physical, after all. And yet, the writer indicates that faith is concrete…it does have substance…and our faith is what gives substance to the things for which we can only hope for at the moment. And it gives evidence to the things that we haven’t seen…yet. The things we look toward are only without substance right now in that, for us, they belong to the future and to the end of our days. When we see them, they will have substance when we join that spiritual realm. I don’t think there’s any question that in the spiritual realm things will seem to have substance - heaven will be real joy and hell will be real devastation.
And so the writer encourages us to live grounded in faith so that we will not face the misery of separation from the Father. After all, the things we hope for are not figments of imagination - we don’t have faith in fables or fairy tales. Peter writes about this very thing in 2 Peter 1 when he tells those Christians who are being persecuted that their faith is not based on fables but, rather, is the eyewitness testimony of those who witnessed “His majesty.” Our faith is substantiated - made into substance - by these same testimonies in the inspired word of God.
While the most common definition of substance has to do with the physical matter that is the make up of something, when we break the word apart, we get a different idea. Sub is a prefix that means under, and stance is a position or a stand. So the word substance, in its most literal form, means to stand under or beneath. That is why we don’t shrink away from the trials of life or sink under the heaviness of the world and its sad state. Our faith stands firmly beneath us and supports the pressures placed upon us. We can have confidence in our faith and rely upon it in times of trouble.
Still in Hebrews 11, verses 2 and 3 read, “For by [faith] the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”
Although we have never seen heaven, or angels, or Jesus in the flesh, our faith proves to our minds the things that our eyes haven’t seen. We don’t have to be eyewitnesses of Christ’s majesty to have faith in it. And our faith should cause us to leap into action.
Faith does things! In the rest of Hebrews 11, the “Roll Call of Faith”, the writer points out that faith has always been the mark of God’s people. Faith is not merely belief. We know that many will believe - Jesus says that not everyone who believes in Him will be saved. Only those who do the will of the Father will enter into heaven (Matt 7:21).
The people that are highlighted in the rest of chapter 11 are some I’d like to look into over the coming weeks. Their lives testify to what faith can do in one’s life. God, Himself, testifies to the faithfulness of these men and women. They aren’t held in high regard through some tradition of man. They aren’t idealized characters in a novel. They were people - just like us. It wasn’t easier for them to have faith than it is for us. They didn’t have an easier time getting their priorities in order than we do. They have faith - faith that stands underneath them and causes them to consider the evidence they have that gives substance to things they can only hope for.
These men and women are given to us by God’s own inspiration as examples to follow. We can see ourselves in them and imitate them because the character of the believer - the heart of the believer - is what distinguishes one who simply believes from one who acts on faith.
Finally, at the end of verse 3, the writer says that faith also gives us understanding. It is through faith that we understand who God is - that the universe and everything in it was spoken into existence by the word of God.
I am always perplexed when Christians want to try to explain the things of God with the wisdom of man. Some years ago, these same teenagers and I studied the evidence for God’s creation as recounted in Genesis, and we talked about the fact that although science often corroborates the Bible, we can’t fall into the trap of trying to use science to explain how the Biblical account of creation might fit into man’s ideas. If we are substantiated by faith in a God who redeemed us through the blood of His own son, then why is it difficult to believe that He could create everything we see in six days? Or that He could divide a sea and lead His nation out of bondage? Or that He could override the laws of nature…HIS laws of nature and cause the sun to stand still in the sky? Or that He could keep men alive in a furnace or cause the dead to be brought back to life?
How can earthly wisdom explain any of those things? It can’t. And because they can’t explain these events, most academics will tell you these events are simply mythology.
But my faith? Well, my faith tells me that these things are true - that they have substance. I believe in a God who can do all that and more.