I tried for as long as possible to remain in a shiny, happy Chariots-of-Fire mindset while writing my previous post on how the ancients lived by faith. With the soaring theme song playing in my head, I envisioned them like Eric Liddell.
Remember his story? For the 1924 Paris Olympics, Eric chose not to compete in his best event, the 100-meter race, because the heats fell on a Sunday. Instead, he trained for the 200 and 400 meters weekday races. And lo and behold, he won both a bronze and gold medal!
His story lends credibility to the prelude of Hebrews 11: “Don’t throw away your trust in the Lord. It will be richly rewarded.”1 So if we exhibit faith, then rewards follow. Cue the picturesque beach scene and I’m ready to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”2
But the author of Hebrews didn’t let me merrily go about my way.
After telling us about Enoch, Noah, Moses, Rahab and others with good reputations on account of their acts of faith, the author writes: “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised…”3
That abrupt “yet” does not fuel my feet for running. It’s not even a tiny bit triumphant. “Yet” breaks any if-x-then-y expectation. And expectation management must have been important to the author because the same phrasing is repeated: “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised…”4
All these noteworthy people lived by faith and then died without the promised gift. Ugh. We want great acts of faith to be followed by great rewards. No-race Sundays regularly followed by Gold-medal Fridays. This empty-handed “yet” feels scandalous and I want to argue with the author of Hebrews about it.
Me: Hey you! Don’t mess with me and my faith. Tell me straight up which sentence is actually correct. Either the one about our trust in the Lord being richly rewarded5 or living by faith, dying, yet no promises6. Which is it?
Author: Both can be accurate.
Me: I don’t think so. “None of them received” is not what you say if you want to encourage people to keep the faith. Listen, you have to give them hope. Tell ’em rewards are possible. After all, some of the people got their promise, right? Look at Noah. He survived the flood. Abraham and Sarah cuddled baby Issac. The Israelites got their freedom.
Author: What part of “none of them” is confusing to you? Noah still dies. Abraham never counts his grandchildren by the thousands. Jacob doesn’t possess or even die in the land of his grandfather. Moses’ parents likely don’t live to hear the words “Let my people go.” And by the way, Eric Liddell dies in a Japanese internment camp at the age of 43.
Me: Really?! You had to go throw a cold, wet blanket over everything. I imagine these people of faith were as completely bummed out by this arrangement as I am.
Author: Well, consider Jacob. Here’s a guy who was wildly driven to get the things he wanted, and he was willing to act quite weaselly to get them. So when he realizes he’s not going to get the promised thing, what does he do? Throw a fit? Scream at the heavens? Nope, “when he was dying…he worshipped [God] as he leaned on the top of his staff.” 7 No one worships God with their dying breath if they think He has done them wrong.
Me: So you’re saying no one huffed and puffed and blew their entire house of faith down over this scandal?
Author: Since you’re not listening to me, I’ll quote another author: “Not one of them ever expressed regret that he had given up the world; or that he had obeyed the Lord too early, too faithfully, or too long.”8
Me: No regret, huh? I don’t get it. Were these Old Testament people simply less reward-centered than we are now? No promise is no big deal to them?
Author: Ha, hardly! Human nature hasn’t changed in that regard. Besides, I also wrote that “Anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”9 Ah, correction. What I wrote was actually in Greek: “to those earnestly seeking him, μισθαποδότης (misthapodotés) γίνομαι (ginomai)” which can be translated “to those earnestly seeking him, a rewarder he becomes.” You see, God is indeed a rewarder.
Me: Are you telling me that these fathers and mothers of our faith understood that and expected rewards from God?
Author: Of course. I said exactly that: Moses “was looking ahead to his reward.”10
Me: And he was certain he was going to get it?
Author: Yes! Moses was so absolutely certain that he was willing to forfeit all the treasures of Egypt—all the status and wealth afforded him as the son of Pharaoh—and identify with the suffering Hebrew slaves because Christ was of greater value.
Me: Hold up, did you say Christ?
Author: Yeah. You know Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One.
Me: (Silence)
Author: Wait, you didn’t think we were talking about rewards for faith that need to be polished, protected, parented, or plotted on a map did you?
Me: Who me? Ummm, no. Don’t be silly.
Author: Because we’re talking about the promised Promise as the reward.
And that’s when it hit me. There’s a riddle at play here.
When is it not a scandal
that something is promised
but not received?
When the thing promised is bigger
than improved circumstances or
individualized benefits.
When the thing promised is outside
of time and space and
fleeting dimensions.
When the thing promised is
not temporarily real,
but really real.
When the thing promised is
buried in a gut-wrenching curse,
and I too easily forget it.
When the promise isn’t a thing at all;
it’s a being.
“He will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”11
The offspring of the serpent
who brings sin, pain, and death
will undoubtedly strike and bruise,
yet
the offspring of the woman
who brings healing, joy, and life
will decisively crush it.
The promise is Jesus—a serpent crusher who will come to set us free from sin and its curses so that we may receive the “promised eternal inheritance.”12 All the rainbows, land, babies, and medallions don’t matter one iota without Jesus.
Were my dear dad to be raised like Lazarus this very afternoon, it would be extraordinary. I would wail tears of joy. But then tomorrow morning would dawn and with it all the familiar realities: a world wailing and suffering because its people are still intoxicated with greed, power, lust, and selfish ambition. This world has way more trouble and brokenness than any resuscitated father can fix.
If Jesus doesn’t come as the inheritance, as The Way the world gets set right, then family reunions are mere pageantry. I want no part of fleeting pretenses. At the end of this road, give me Jesus. Everything else is a footnote.
Until then we hold on, live by faith, fixing our eyes and hearts on the promise. “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.”13 (More on that next.)
We wait for the promised Promise,
knowing that faith indeed is followed by rewards
too wonderful to explain.
God is the rewarder.
Jesus is our “very great reward.”14
Lord, come quickly. This afternoon would be lovely.
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