Why are people strange? What makes them different? When we think of these folks other words might come to mind: weird, one-off, odd, alien. If you look in the dictionary there are a variety of definitions of aliens—“foreigners; people coming to or inhabiting a land that does not belong to them or from which they originated.”
There are six different Hebrew words for alien and they mean a whole variety of things from pilgrims to lodgers, from strangers to wayward people, from foreigner to guests. In the New Testament there are two distinct uses of the word for alien. One means settled as foreigners and another means stranger.
We do find in the Bible that there are other-worldly figures in angels and demons . . . and then there is Jesus. Was he real? Is he human or divine? Is he both and, if so, how does he do it? If being both human and divine makes him alien to us—unknown to us, then who are we in relation to him?
Looking into Hebrews 11 and 12 can help us to get properly grounded in reality—the reality of who we are as believers and what happens to us when we believe. And this defines us as strangers in a fallen world. We have seen how the writer was trying desperately to convince persecuted Christians to hang on to the truth of Jesus Christ, the truth of who God is and that he has a plan for the future. We understand that they were living in desperate times of death and destruction for Christians. The government was against them and they doubted their faith in Jesus Christ. They needed a reason to hope for the future. After extensive theological argument, the writer makes a distinctive shift in the approach to his readers. Hebrews 11:1-3 reads, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” A definition of faith is set out before us. We cannot see Jesus now, but we know he is real. We have confidence in the invisible. And yes, many, many more that came before us also had this same confidence.
The reality of God is that although we cannot see him, we can know him in Spirit and in Truth. And although we cannot see the face of Jesus Christ, we can know the he did in fact exist in human history and that he does live today. This is substantial spiritual fact. And we believe this by faith. What is faith? Two common dictionary definitions might help us here: "Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence." Would any who believe in Jesus Christ refute the reality that he exists and is believable? We know by our experience with God that he is real.
Read Hebrews 11:4-6.
The writer begins with two examples of people of faith—Abel and Enoch. Their stories are found in the Old Testament, along with the many other listed in this chapter. All of these people believed in God by faith. Then in verse 6 the writer makes this absolute statement: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
If people find out that you believe in Jesus Christ they may look at you funny. They might scowl at you and mock you and tell you that you are very strange or stupid to believe that stuff. You, who believe in Jesus, are an unusual person, a stranger to this old, fallen world.
All around us people will tell us that it is normal to live selfish lives. It is normal to explore and experiment with drugs and sex. They will tell us it is normal to stomp on the little guy, that correcting injustice is impossible, that humans are born bad and can never be reformed. Some others will tell you that humans are the pinnacle of the universe and that it is our will and our way that keep the world afloat, that the human spirit is the most important thing of all. There are all kinds of alternate lifestyles and alternate belief systems out there, but when you believe in God through Jesus Christ—you will step into a whole different dimension—a dimension filled with hope and a future.
Read Hebrews 11:7-16.
The writer to the Hebrews describes the lives of other people—Noah, Abraham and Sarah and all their descendants—as people of faith. For the first readers of this letter, these stories were a profound part of the spiritual vocabulary and belief system. For centuries they had depended on these stories to bind them all together in their faith-based community. The writer artfully draws connecting points from their past to the very present future. These fathers and mothers of our faith opened their arms to a bright future by faith. And so can we. This world isn’t all there is, folks! If this sad life and sinful world is all there is then we might as well just walk away from our faith in God. It is so good that he promises to help us now, but think about the glorious future!
Read Hebrews 11:17-31.
The writer keeps tracing the strong line of faith through human history. What the ancients—all our forefathers and foremothers of faith—believed was that there was far more beyond the horizon of this short human life. The writer to the Hebrews points out a very powerful example from the life of Moses. Look at verses 24-26 again . . . chose to be mistreated . . . regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt . . . looking ahead to his reward. By describing Moses’ faith in the Messiah Jesus Christ, whom he had never seen or known, the writer affirms the revelation of God to the world through Jesus Christ. This Jesus is the very same God Moses worshipped, followed and had extraordinary faith in. And it was his faith in God that gave him the hope of a world beyond his present suffering and failures.
When you cross that line of faith, you step into a future world that is beyond description and compare. It is a world that holds the promise of a brighter tomorrow and freedom from fear. It is a world that is enveloped with light and joy and peace. This is not a peace that comes when the United Nations gets its act together and hurricane victims get resettled. This is not the temporary peace of when we finally get out of debt and the kids are all grown and we get to retire. This is a real other-world peace that is coming when God makes all things new, when sin is no more and sorrow and sighing are just gone. It is a world when we will be living with God in the eternal sunshine of his promised heaven, surrounded by his love and approval because we have believed in him until the end of this old life. Do you want that?
How do we receive this kind of a future? We remain faithful to the God of all the worlds. We keep our eyes on him in the middle of the turmoil. We lock our radar onto him and hang on with all the faith we can muster because we know that there is something better ahead—no matter what happens in this life.
Read Hebrews 11:32-40.
The writer reminded his readers of all the people of faith they had grown up learning about, the great legends of the Israelite tribes, the people who would not give up, who would not give in, who held on for dear life—for a better and more noble future despite the fact that things did not work out so well in their lifetime. And then if the examples of the ancients were not enough, the writer takes them to the mountain top.
Read Hebrews 12:1-3.
The normal thing would be to give in to despair. The regular thing would be to think that nothing ever changes. The normal thing would be to forget it all and do what we want because there is really nothing more than this life. The usual thing would be to run the other way because things get so rough—hiding in addictions, violence, abusive relationships, or amassing material goods because that’s all that we can know. But that’s the normal thing.
Believers everywhere are not of this world, nor do they respond in normal ways. Because of Jesus Christ, who is greater than even the great cloud of witnesses, we can step into another reality, a better world, a world different by far than another other ever imagined by a human being. This is a world created by Jesus’ suffering for all mankind. This is a world formed for the future, full of the joy of resurrection and future restoration. This is a world, so alien to this life, that we can hardly even imagine Jesus sitting in all of his glory and goodness praying for us, pulling for us, encouraging us to keep making those steps of faith into a life that is totally alien to those who do not believe.
God calls forth an influx of the faithful. This alien dispersion has been happening for centuries as people of all walks of life, from all nations of the earth, from all economic and social worlds, take the steps of faith toward Jesus Christ, the One who initiated and sustains our journeys toward a bright future because of what he did on the cross and now does at the right hand of God in heaven.
Will you receive the promise of a bright future with God? Will you keep the faith—so alien to the watching world? Will you share the story of your faith with people who have no hope?
© M.R.Hyde 2022
This is a chapter from A Courageous Life and the Book of Hebrews by M.R. Hyde.
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