Thursday after Sexagesima Sunday
Posted on February 16, 2023 by under
Scripture: Hebrews 11:32-40 (NKJV)
11:32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again.
Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
Devotion
“And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise.”
The letter to the Hebrews holds forth the examples of many faithful people in the Old Testament, some of whom the Lord used to do great and mighty things. Others were sent to call sinners to repent and return to God in faith, and as a consequence were abused, tortured, and sometimes even killed. And they did it all on faith. They were trusting, but never seeing the promised King, the Prophet like Moses and the one who would crush the serpent’s head. They simply trusted God’s promises. And we are told that we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses.
We, on the other hand, have had the joy of seeing those promises fulfilled. Christ has come; He defeated sin, death, and the devil; He ascended into heaven; He lives and reigns forever. We await only the fulfillment of His final promise to come again in glory, raise our bodies from the dead, and give us the fullness of everlasting life. God grant us grace that we take encouragement from the examples of the faithful who have gone before us, lead faithful lives that trust God’s promises, and confess His Gospel mercies to those with whom He brings us into contact.
Prayer: O Lord God, Who seest that we put not our trust in anything that we do: Mercifully grant that by Thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
