30 Days - an Overview of the Bible in Just Thirty Daysનમૂનો

Seeing the Invisible

Who is the greatest person who has ever lived? Any Christian would reply, ‘Jesus Christ’. If you had asked a Jew that question, they would have replied without doubt, ‘Moses’. To the Jews, Moses was the supreme figure of history. He had rescued them from slavery and given them the law.

In this letter, the writer found it necessary to prove to these Jewish Christians that Jesus was greater than Moses (Hebrews 3). Here he shows that Moses was and is pre-eminently a man of faith, high up on God’s honours list, raised up by God at a time when God’s people were in great need.

Faith describes our relationship with God, which at heart is one of trust. Relationships depend on trust. In this passage in Hebrews, the writer lights on three aspects of Moses’ faith. Moses chose the imperishable, saw the invisible and achieved the seemingly impossible.

Hebrews 11:23–29

You may be facing a seemingly impossible situation in your life: your health, relationships, marriage, family, at work, school or university. What can we learn from the faith of Moses?

1. Choose the imperishable (vv.23–26)

Moses had great advantages in life. He was physically good-looking (Exodus 2:2). He was brought up in the Egyptian royal household and received a first-class education and training. He had the prospect of inheriting the great wealth of Egypt and experiencing all the pleasures of a royal prince, including as many wives and mistresses as he chose. Jewish tradition suggests that he had the prospect of gaining the throne itself, probably the most powerful throne of the time.

Moses had yet another great advantage – the faith of his parents (v.23) – but Moses himself needed to make a choice. On the one hand, there was all that the world offered: money, sex and power. On the other, he could identify with God’s people, a slave nation despised by well-educated Egyptians. Identifying with them meant danger, scorn and suffering. As he looked at this second alternative, he saw something of ‘greater value than the treasures of Egypt’ (v.26): the reward that God offers. He saw that whereas the pleasures of this world are ‘fleeting’ (v.25), God offers a lasting reward.

There is a ‘future reward – kept in heaven for you’ (1 Peter 1:4). But you will also receive a reward now in your relationship with Jesus that will satisfy you in a way that the fleeting pleasures of sin will never satisfy. When you choose to go to church instead of watching a box set or going shopping, when you set up a standing order to support the people of God or volunteer your time at the homeless shelter, or give up an evening to go to Alpha, your connect group, or get up early to pray or read the Bible, you are choosing the imperishable. As you pray, God will reward you with his presence, his love, that will satisfy your soul.

Weighing the issues of time in the balance of eternity, Moses did what was absurd without God but wise with him. Like Moses, trust the Lord enough to say, ‘Forsaking All I Take Him’ (this is one mnemonic for FAITH). Like Moses, follow the Lord; say ‘No’ to the ‘fleeting pleasures of sin’ (v.25) and ‘fix your eyes on Jesus’ (12:2).

2. See the invisible (v.27)

Everything you see is only a tiny fraction of what exists. Think of the night sky – the stars that are visible are only a tiny fraction of the billions of stars that exist – some of which no one has seen. Even with the most powerful microscope or telescope, there are still things that would be invisible. Most of life is invisible: thoughts are invisible, but they exist; love is invisible, but it exists; God is invisible, but he exists.

The writer of Hebrews says, ‘Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see’ (11:1). There is such a vast amount of evidence for the existence God – so much that you can be certain of what you cannot see. We live by faith, not by sight. And your faith pleases God (11:6).

Twice Moses left Egypt. He left first as a criminal in flight after killing an Egyptian. The second time, he left as leader of the people of God. In between, he persevered showing courage, determination and endurance. Between the moment of choice and the moment of triumph there were many battles but he trusted God throughout.

Another mnemonic for faith is, ‘Feeling Afraid, I Trust Him’ (FAITH). Moses trusted the invisible God before the very visible Pharaoh. Moses sustained the anger of the king he could seein order to please the King he could not see.

You exercise faith by persevering and trusting in ‘him who is invisible’ (v.27), even when your visible circumstances seem overwhelming. Christian faith is trust in a person – Jesus. Your faith pleases him, and he will reward you.

3. Accomplish the ‘impossible’ (vv.28–29)

Perhaps you are facing a seemingly impossible situation in your life.

Only faith is both a fruit of the Spirit and a gift of the Spirit – and Moses had both.

Moses did what God told him to do. He had a conviction of God’s power and a belief that he would do what he had said. He believed that God could perform signs and wonders, the greatest of which was crossing the Red Sea (v.29). Again, faith involves trust. This aspect of faith is spelt R I S K – faith as expectancy. It was only when Moses took that step of faith that the sea parted.

Perhaps this is the ‘gift of faith’ that Paul speaks about (1 Corinthians 12:9), described by Professor Dunn as ‘that mysterious “surge of confidence” which sometimes arises within a person in a particular situation’.

Your own faith began with a choice, and often that choice involves giving things up. Then you need to stick at it, believing in God’s power to work in your life. There will be times when God will give you a special ‘gift of faith’ – a mysterious surge of confidence. Remember, it’s not the degree of faith that you have that’s important; it’s the object of your faith: ‘Fix your eyes on Jesus…’

Thank God today for the example of Moses and pray that by the help of God’s Holy Spirit you will be enabled to make the right choices, that you will persevere in your faith and that God will give you the ‘gift of faith’. As you choose the imperishable, see the invisible you too can accomplish the seemingly impossible. You might like to pray the prayer which Mother Theresa used to pray.

Prayer

‘Lord, increase my faith, bless my efforts and work, now and for evermore, Amen.’

References

© Nicky Gumbel, 2024

This reading plan is adapted from the book 30 Days by Nicky Gumbel. It is published by Hodder and Stoughton in the UK, and by HarperCollins Christian Publishing in the USA.