There are 3 key themes in the book of Hebrews:
- Christ our Apostle – Comes from God to us
- Christ our Great High Priest – Goes from us to God
- Christ the Author and Finisher of our Faith – Brings us with Him to God
I spent some time thinking about #3 the other day and that most famous and favorite verse:
Heb 12:2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
I noted something that A. B. Simpson said about Jesus being the author and finisher of our faith and in thinking about the fact that He brings us with Him to God: “Faith is the point of contact, the organ of the spiritual life, the sixth sense by which we come into connection with the unseen realm all around us.”
Yes, Jesus takes us with Him to the father and He has authored and finished the method by which He accomplishes that… our faith. In reading through Chapters 10 to 13 I found 4 important facts regarding our faith that come out of this verse:
Faith is a Reality – The word assurance in the KJV is “substance” and it carries with it the idea of reality. Every time we act in faith there are two realities: a confidence in us and an actual blessing corresponding to our confidence. We can count on Jesus meeting our expectations and prove our confidence in Him. Heb 11:1 Now faith is the assurance [substance] of things hoped for…
Faith is a Fact – Faith is not some future hope, it is a present fact, things that are re now no longer hoped for but believed. Hope is “expecting” but faith is “accepting:” Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Faith Lives in the Unseen – Paul put that before us in his letter to the Corinthians: 2 Cor 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. It’s like Abraham, who in hope believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told (Rom 8:14).
Faith is a Certainty – Faith is the conviction of things not seen, the assurance of or proving of things that we cannot yet see. The Greek word used for faith here (pistis) uses a stronger term, denoting not just faith but the boldness of faith. It is the same word used in 10:35… do not throw away your confidence. A perfect example is Peter responding the the Lord’s call and stepping out on the water… he was either going to walk or sink and he believed on walking. Again, look at Abraham: he did not wave through unbelief regarding the promise (Rom 4:20). In the Greek it reads, he faltered not. He pressed on because being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He had promised (4:21).
There is power and boldness in faith. All we have to do is ask for it, believe we receive it, use it, and exercise it. It is the link that connects us to Jesus as He takes us with Him to the Father.