“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
This is a verse that can be baffling upon first glance. But I am going to break it down part by part so that you will understand what faith actually is.
Let us start with the phrases.
Faith is the evidence. Even in a fallen, evil, corrupted world, that appears godless, a billion people believe in a good God. Faith is the evidence that the argument from evil is a weak one, holding no power at all. The faith of a billion, who have suffered, who have lost much, who have been persecuted unto death–is the evidence of things hoped for.
Make no mistake about it, but faith itself is an evidence of God’s goodness, especially when you consider the fallen and godless state of the world.
Faith is the substance. When we think of faith, we usually think of an airy kind of presence, or a misty cloud of metaphysical stuff, but we don’t often think of a substance. But faith really is substance, and evidence. It can be seen, felt and heard. It can be touched and handled. Hope is the airy stuff, but faith is the fulfillment or the completion of hope. Think of faith as hope made flesh.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, we are told. The substance of things. It is the substance, as in the sticky wet substance on your hands, which you have a hard time cleaning yourself of once you have it. Faith is like that, sticky and adhesive. Once you have it, it leads to more faith, because as the Bible says, we move “from faith to faith.”
We hope for heaven. Faith is the substance of heaven. Therefore it is saying that faith is the substance of heaven here on earth!
It is the evidence of heaven here on earth!
Faith is so much more than a mere confidence, or even a sense of assurance. It is the substance of that confidence.
It is actually the completion of that confidence. Faith is the thing you hoped for, in your hand. Faith is the evidence, the actual object transferred to you, visible to you. It is the reality of the thing, or the substance of it.
I suppose even prayer is a kind of faith. Prayer is the evidence of things not seen, that they exist. Prayer is the acting out of confidence that those things exist, the proof of confidence, or the proof of faith. Prayer is the evidence of faith!
And therefore faith is the evidence of things not seen.
So our confidence is the evidence to the world. This is important: our confidence in God is the evidence to the world of things unseen, of heaven and goodness and love and Christ. Our confidence is the evidence that we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
Think about it: If we are not full of faith, and we are fretful and fearful, we are not proving God to be loyal, to be a good God to us. When the bible states that faith is the evidence, it is telling us that it is the evidence to the unsaved, to the world. It is the evidence of our hope, to your community, to your friends and family. Faith is an outer display of confidence in God that others see, and then want for themselves. It is the best witness that you can have toward anyone.
Think about it again: You cannot have faith without the evidence of your hope. You cannot truly have a hope without the evidence of faith. To others, you are as hopeless as they are if you don’t have an outward demonstration of faith. If you don’t have the confidence that comes from faith, they will not see God in you, or that God is with you.
In a way, faith is the evidence of our victory over the devil, over hell, over death. We walk in faith by walking in victory, by walking victoriously.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, it says. That makes a kind of sense to me, because it is by faith in Christ that God created the universe and us, as an act of faith in our ultimate redemption. So faith really is the substance of the universe. It really is the ground of all that exists, for without it, we would not exist.
But let us talk about things not seen. I believe Paul refers to the promises of God here. He is saying that faith is the evidence of the promises, which sounds strange, at first glance. But the promises mean nothing if there is no one who believes in them, because if you believe in a promise, you are going to act accordingly. If you believe that you are going to receive something, you are going to act in an anticipatory manner. Therefore, the evidence is a way of going about your affairs, expecting good things. One again, we find that faith is not some mystery force or a supernatural law, but directly exhibited by behavior.
We don’t see the things now, but faith is evidence of their coming. Therefore faith is anticipatory behavior, or actions taken in anticipation of the promises. It means to be brave instead of fearful. It means to be confident instead of doubting. Our confidence inspires others to have confidence in God also.
This is important, that you realize that your outward display of faith is the greatest apologetic asset that you have. If you want to get family members saved, be confident in God. Act out of faith, and always with bravery and full assurance that he will deliver on his promises.
Always remember that cowardice is a sin.
And that faith is the opposite of fear.
And that the Bible says, that without faith, we cannot please God.
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