The Faith of the Ancients: Faithful living in the shadow of death

The ancients lived by faith in the shadow of the new horrible forces of sin and death.

One of the emphases of Trinitytide is the life of the church, or living in Christ during the waiting. So, it is fitting that we will be in Chapter 11 of the Epistle to the Hebrews for a while. This chapter, as I mentioned last week, remembers the faith of many Old Testament believers.

The author's main goal is to show how they believed without seeing the fulfillment of the promise made to them. This week, we looked at the faith of the ancients. One of the features of this section is how the ancients lived out their faith in the shadow of death. We have to remember that death was a relatively new thing in the world, a direct consequence of sin.

Their faith gives us an example of holding onto the hope-filled promises of God and reveals his saving grace in hardship and even death. So, even when we don't see what God is doing we can still walk with God in faith.

Reflection questions:

1. What does Abel reveal about trusting God, even when the outcomes are uncertain?

2. What does Enoch show about walking with God, even in desperate times?

3. What does Noah teach about obeying God, even when everyone mocks you?