Witness #20: The Prophets
7 December 2013
Finally, all the prophets are grouped together as a foundational witness for faith. The Book of Hebrews begins by showing that Jesus came and spoke the same things the prophets had spoken filling in the details. This confirmed that all of their writings pointed to Christ, His coming, and triumphal victory.
The writer records amazing adventures, trials of faith, great victories, the cheating death, suffering persecution, and martyrdoms. All of these amazing acts of faith happened without one very important thing; they had not heard the gospel in its fullness!
“And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” - Hebrews 11:39-40
With incomplete knowledge of the will of God and His purpose in salvation, they trusted God and wrought many acts of great faith.
How then should we act?
Seeing that we have the fulfillment of all their writings and a complete record of the finished work of Christ, should we not then act with faith and knowledge together? Jesus was the Author of their faith. He is the author of ours as well. He empowered them to act without full knowledge of grace. How much more then can we live in liberty knowing the power of grace and having the same power of Christ in our faith?
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” - Hebrews 12:1-2
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