- Faith is the substance of things which we hope for,
The evidence of things which we can’t see, but grope for. - The elders who on this faith were firmly stood
Obtained a report that was honest and good. - Through faith’s eyes we know, it isn’t absurd,
That the worlds and all in them were framed by God’s Word.
So all things we see now that do exist here
Were certainly not made of things which appear. - By faith Abel offered his choicest sheep,
The best from the flock which he did keep.
Of his gifts God the Lord had testified
And witnessed this righteous man, now justified.
His sacrifice was better than that of Cain,
The earth drank the blood up of Abel, the slain.
And though the blood of this first martyr was shed,
By faith he yet speaks to us all from the dead. - By faith Enoch was taken away
And God didn’t give him a dying day,
But translated him up to heaven above
Because he had walked with and pleased God in love. - But without faith one cannot truly please God,
For one that comes unto Him with praise and laud
Must believe that He is, and that He will reward
Those that truthfully, diligently seek for the Lord. - By faith Noah God’s warning did hear,
Preparing an ark and moving with fear.
The world was condemned by the Flood so great,
But the Church had been saved in the ark – just the eight –
For of faith’s righteousness Noah was heir,
He and his family were all in God’s care. - By faith Abraham the call did obey
And in his homeland he did not stay,
Knowing not where he went, in God he believed,
The inheritance land he thus received. - By faith he sojourned in the promised land,
And in this strange land did heed God’s command.
Both Isaac and Jacob blessed God’s holy name
To be heirs with their fathers, their promise the same. - He looked for a city which hath firm foundations,
The builder of which is the King of all nations. - By faith also Sara gained strength to conceive
And did in her old age a child receive.
She judged him who promised a faithful one
Who was able to give her, the barren, a son. - There sprung from just one old and almost dead man
More sons than the stars in the heavenly span,
Innumerable, like the sand of the shore,
For God His promises cannot ignore. - Having not received the promise themselves yet,
They died and with the Lord were met,
Persuaded of promises seen afar off,
They embraced them amid every sneer, every scoff.
As strangers and pilgrims on earth they confessed
That through their rejection by earth, they were blessed. - They declared plainly for what they had sought,
Their seeking a country had not been for naught. - And if they were mindful of whence they came out
They could have returned to it, without a doubt. - But now they desire a heavenly place
Where God is called their God with unashamed face
And shows to His people His mercy and pity,
Preparing a place for them each in His city. - By faith through the trial Abraham didn’t falter,
Offering his only begotten on the altar. - Because in Isaac his seed would be called,
In this same act he was not appalled, - For God would be able to raise from the grave
From whence unto Abraham a figure God gave. - By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau;
Though blind, the things yet to come Isaac saw. - By faith Jacob blessed when he was near death
Manasseh and Ephraim with his last breath.
The only True God He worshipped and praised
While the staff which he leaned upon kept him raised. - By faith Joseph told Israel they’d one day leave Egypt
And with his own people his bones must be shipped. - By faith Moses was a proper child,
Hidden three months by his parents mild,
Who were not afraid of the king’s command,
Entrusting all things into God’s sovereign hand. - Though found in the Nile River’s water,
He wouldn’t be called son of Pharaoh’s daughter. - Affliction and trouble did Moses endure,
Choosing rather to suffer with God’s people pure
Than taking the pleasures of sin for a season,
But in choosing thus, Moses had reason: - For treasures in Egypt were far lower priced
Than that which is found in the reproach of Christ. - By faith Moses made Egypt’s people forsaken,
Feared not the wrath of Pharaoh, was not shaken,
For Moses endured and he persevered,
As seeking the Invisible One whom he feared. - Through faith Moses had the great Passover kept,
So only Egyptians the next morning wept
In rooms of their firstborns, now empty and void–
Where there was no lamb’s blood, the angel destroyed. - By faith had the Israelites from Egypt fled,
They passed through the sea that is still now called Red.
Israel crossed where God made it dry ground,
God caused all the chasing Egyptians to be drowned. - By faith did the city of Jericho fall
After Israel marched around the great wall,
Doing it God’s own specific way,
The Canaanite town fell the seventh day. - By faith Rahab died not as a wicked harlot,
For Israel saw her cord hanging scarlet.
She was spared alive as one who believed
Because she had peacefully spies received. - And what else can I tell about?
For time would surely soon run out
Before I told of Gideon
Or told of Barak, or of Samson,
Jephthae, David, Samuel too,
And all the other prophets who - Through faith subdued the mighty kingdom,
Made righteousness to Israel come,
Who all the promises obtained,
Stopped the mouths of the lions maned, - Quenched the violence of fire,
Escaped the sword’s edge in times dire,
Out of weakness were made strong,
And amid the alien throng
Turned the enemy to flight
And waxed valiant in the fight. - I could tell of faithful women,
Their dead were raised to life again.
Tortured prophets wouldn’t take
Deliverance – they’d rather wake
In a glorious perfection
Through death and the resurrection. - Others were cruelly scourged and mocked,
In bonds and prisons they were locked, - Stoned and tempted, sawn asunder,
Slain by sword, or else they’d wander
Clad in skins of goat or sheep
They’d sow a lot, but little reap.
Chosen by God as subjects sent
To bear destitution, affliction, torment. - The world wasn’t worthy of these men of God,
It saw them as vagabonds wandering abroad,
Through deserts they traveled, bearing the heat,
In mountains they tried to find a retreat.
They went to the dens and the caves of the earth,
Yet none of them starved in the times of great dearth. - These all had obtained through their faith good reports
But entered into the Lord’s heavenly courts
Not having received the Promise yet,
Their Savior on whom their eyes were set. - God having provided for us something better –
We read of it in His own Word, His love letter –
They should not be made to be perfect without us,
‘Til all of the Church has been gathered about us.