PART II

APPENDIX: to Hebrews 11

GOD'S LOVE - GOD'S TESTING OF US.

" But without faith it is impossible to please him:
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."     Hebrews 11:6.

LOOK CAREFULLY
at this key verse in Hebrews chapter eleven.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to please God
if we do not WALK BY FAITH in HIM.

Faith about what?
Faith about getting millions of dollars for yourself by simply "naming it and claiming it" or having "faith in your faith" so that you can be another Benny Hinn! NO!

We must BELIEVE that God really exists, and live in that belief.

Do you?
Do you live every day aware of the fact that the highest reality is GOD always there, knowing everything about you, leading you through a life time of transformation in Christ - IF you are willing?

 We must BELIEVE and have FAITH that God will REWARD those "who diligently seek him."
HIM, to live closely with HIM.

Do you have this kind of faith?

 Not by sight, but by faith, do we walk.

Will you be rewarded because you look to the Lord in all the experiences of life,
seeking His face and living in His Presence, day by day, hour by hour?

 "Only to be what He wants me to be every moment of every day"  says the old chorus.

 Do you really believe He will reward those who are diligent, or persistent, in their faith in Him?

The opposite applies as well - no faith, no seeking, no diligence - NO reward, only shame and loss.
NOTICE: all this is about FAITH, not legalism and WORKS of the SELF, which is PRIDE.
 

The word "LOVE" or "lovest" first appears in Scripture in Genesis 22:2. READ.
This "first mention" as with all first mentions is highly significant. It is about a father offering "thine only and beloved son" (Hebrew) for a burnt offering, a sacrifice!
Now compare this with Hebrews 11: 17,19.

Abraham was willing to obey God and trust Him with the outcome! What an horrendous test this was.  Abraham did not know that he was being used by God to show a type of the greatest event that would ever happen in the universe, in all history, indeed throughout the aeons of eternity. Abraham was just a man, a human being as we are. That strange and unimaginable test he was going through was A FIGURE of a far greater sacrifice - the sacrifice of God's only begotten Son. Abraham's test involved giving a foundation for all LOVE, marriage love, parent love, godly love, all love. Abraham was showing GOD'S divine love in a "figure" - that love has existing throughout eternity past. Look what Jesus said about God's love in John 17:24.
 
THE LOVE WORD.

This amazing "first mention" continues in the same kind of pattern in the New Testament.
In three of the four Gospels the first time the word "love" appears is always this:

"This is my be-loved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
                                                                Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22.

Then in John's Gospel, the "first mention" reaches a climax, it is this:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
" (John 3:16).
ALL these "first mentions"
are about the Son Who came to be the Divine Sacrifice for the sin of the whole world!

It was two thousand years after Abraham before anyone would understand the significance of his offering of Isaac! Yes, Abraham lived and died unaware of the thrilling meaning of his obedience, and of God's provision of THE LAMB.

 This comment by Gail Riplinger is of interest here:
"Genesis 22:8 is one of the saddest renderings in the New King James [Bible]
It is a prophetic comment. Abraham said,
“…God will provide himself a lamb...”  KJV
The New King James says, "God will provide for Himself the lamb."
We know this was prophetic because a ram was provided for Abraham, not a lamb;
GOD himself is going to be a lamb."
("Which Bible is God's Word?" p.p.42, 43).
 
 

 All of the examples of faith in Hebrews 11 are about saints of God who TRUSTED the Lord through their tests. They had little understanding of the deeper meaning of their trials, maybe, but they were willing to have FAITH in the loving Lord in the midst of terrible sufferings. If you see Christianity as a life of having every greedy prayer answered, all your troubles being removed, and a grand time of ecstatic "experiences" always around the next corner, to give you a "fix" or a "high" then you are awfully mistaken and deluded.

Read Hebrews 11 often, and get your perspective clear.
          Then read chapter 12 and relate the whole to your own life.

How do you react when you have trials of various kinds?

They are TESTS; will you have faith in the One Who is REAL and Who WILL reward those
Who seek Him in every area and situation of their pilgrimage on this planet?

" But without faith it is impossible to please him:
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
Hebrews 11:6.