8 months ago

TITLE: OF WHOM THE WORLD IS NOT WORTHY, part 2
TEXT: HEBREWS 11:35B-40

INTRODCUTION: Verses 35b-40 tell of those who by faith trusted in the unfilled promises of +God but did not experience physical deliverance from oppression during their lifetimes. Up until these verses, all though faith met severe obstacles, and experienced victory over them.

7. were slain with the sword: As in the case of the eighty-five priests slain by Doeg 1 Samuel 22:18-19, “And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.”

8. they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; Rather, they went about, as outcasts; compelled to live the life of wanderers and exiles. Driven away from their homes and compelled to clothe themselves in this rude and uncomfortable manner.

9. being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
Destitute means “Lacking resources or the means of subsistence; completely impoverished. Utterly lacking; devoid.”
The word afflicted means “To cause grievous physical or mental suffering to. To strike or cast down; to overthrow. To inflict some great injury or hurt upon, causing continued pain or mental distress; to trouble grievously; to torment.
The word "tormented" here means tortured. The apostle expresses here in general what in the previous verses he had specified in detail.

(Of whom the world was not worthy:) The world was so wicked that it had no claim that such holy men should live in it. These poor, despised, and persecuted people, living as outcasts and wanderers, were of a character far elevated above the world. This is a most beautiful expression. It is at once a statement of their eminent holiness, and of the wickedness of the rest of mankind.

Note God’s commendation compared to the world’s condemnation. Those the world would do away with are for God those of the highest character and virtue. What the world throws out as trash God sees as golden treasure. Sometimes the world gets so wicked that it becomes unworthy of the impact of the righteous. Everything of value is squandered or destroyed.

Matt. 7:6, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”

By allowing his beloved to be persecuted, God is demonstrating the withdrawal of His grace to that society. All that remains is their destruction.

10. they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. Palestine, from its hilly character, abounds in fissures and caves, affording shelter to the persecuted, as the fifty hid by Obadiah (1Ki 18:4, 13) and Elijah (1Ki 19:8, 13); and Mattathias and his sons (1 Maccabees 2:28, 29); and Judas Maccabeus (2 Maccabees 5:27).

39And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

They were all commended and approved on account of their confidence in God; Hebrews 11:2, “For by it (the exercise of faith) the elders received a good report.” That is, the OT saints did not receive the fulfillment of the promise or see the coming of their Savior the Lord Jesus Christ; or did not receive all that was promised. They all still looked forward to some future blessings that would come through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

40God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

The better thing for us was the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, the fulfilment of all the OT. The NT writers had the great advantage of witnessing the culmination of the OT prophecy in the person of Jesus Christ, as do we with the complete and closed canon of Scripture. The understanding of the OT writers and saints could not be complete, or perfect, of their own accord because they still anticipated the coming of Christ. The OT provided the necessary groundwork for the NT, but it was only in the NT that all the pieces of the redemptive puzzle came together in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

God did provide a better thing for us, that is the comprehensive picture of redemption through Christ.

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