Introduction
Every Christian, however feeble his faith may
be, can take courage and inspiration from the writer’s words in Heb.
11: 32–35: “For the time would fail me telling of Gideon, and Barak,
and Samson, and Jephthah, and David and Samuel, and of the prophets:
who by faith overcame kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained
promises, stopped lions’ mouths, quenched [the] power of fire,
escaped [the] edge of the sword, became strong out of weakness,
became mighty in war, made [the] armies of strangers give way. Women
received their dead again by resurrection …”. Who could not be
inspired by these heroes of the faith, both known and unknown, whose
faith so mightily conquered through God? Yet v35 does not stop there
for it continues: “and
others were tortured, not having accepted deliverance, that
they might get a better resurrection” (my emphasis). A demarcation
is thus made between those whose faith
conquered and those
who
suffered for their
faith, and between those who
overcame in the power
of God and those who were
overcome and yet
through that same power remained faithful. Faith conquering is
something all of us would love to emulate; faith suffering is
something that most would shrink from. And yet the great “cloud of
witnesses” (Heb. 12: 1) presented to us encompasses
both, and we are
therefore to follow in the footsteps of “these
all” (Heb. 11: 39, my
emphasis), whether the road is one of conquest or one of suffering.
And
Others
The passage about these “others” needs to be
quoted in full: “and others were tortured, not having accepted
deliverance, that they might get a better resurrection; and others
underwent trial of mockings and scourgings, yea, and of bonds and
imprisonment. They were stoned, were sawn asunder, were tempted,
died by the death of the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in
goatskins, destitute, afflicted, evil treated, (of whom the world
was not worthy,) wandering in deserts and mountains, and [in] dens
and caverns of the earth” (vs 35–38). Now thousands have suffered
because of their sins and wickedness as men among men—but as Peter
asks, “what glory [is it] if sinning and being buffeted ye shall
bear [it]?” (1 Pet. 2: 20). There is no glory in such suffering,
only shame. Those described in Hebrews 11: 35–38, however, suffered
on account of their faith—for
men had no legitimate quarrel with them. The tortures and sufferings
which they endured were wholly on account of man’s deep–rooted
enmity against God and His Word. If the saints described from v32 to
the first part of v35 overcame through believing what they had heard
from God, the saints described from the latter part in v35 through
to v38 were overcome on account of their faithfulness to God.
Now the Bible tells us that such things
“written before have been written for our instruction” (Rom. 15:
4)—they are preserved to us for a purpose. Indeed, it is a dangerous
thing to read Scripture in a purely abstract way. The “word of God
[is]
living and
operative, and
sharper than any two–edged sword” (Heb. 4: 12, my emphasis). Thus,
the list of saints in Hebrews 11, both named and unnamed, are a
great “cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12: 1), and they are witnesses
to us. What they
witnessed was not so much what they said, but what they did and what
they were, as believing what God had said to them. This raises
serious questions. In comparison,
what sort of faith have we
got, and will it stand in the day of adversity? This is no
mere academic enquiry. There can be no doubt that the winds of
change are blowing through society, and the suffering to which
Christ has called us (see 1 Pet. 2: 21) may soon be a practical
reality. Many seem to imagine that the generally benevolent attitude
of the authorities will continue indefinitely, but this is a
delusion, and is essentially placing faith in man rather than God.
The testimony of Scripture is that “in [the] last days difficult
times shall be there” (2 Tim. 3: 1). Many other similar Scriptures
could be quoted. It is very apparent that in many countries the
favour with which Christianity was formerly regarded is being
rapidly replaced by outright contempt. Just as Jacob noted that the
countenance of Laban was “not toward him as previously” (Gen. 31:
2), so Christians need to be alive to the change in atmosphere, and
to ready themselves for what may be coming. We need to study the
lives of those men and women of long ago, who though they were
overcome, held fast Christ’s name, did not deny his faith, and were
“faithful unto death” (Rev. 2: 10). They are not just historical
curios but given to us as patterns—patterns that soon may have a
deeply personal and practical relevance.
A
Better Resurrection
The word tortured in Hebrews 11: 35 means
beaten or
cudgelled to death. The
Greek word is
tumpanizw
which means
to beat on a drum, and
refers to a wooden frame resembling a drum on which the victim was
stretched in order to be battered to death. The writer is not
talking about ‘rough handling’ here—this is murderous. The reason
for the torture is given: “others were tortured, not having accepted
deliverance,
that they might get a better
resurrection” (Heb. 11: 35, my emphasis). Deliverance was a
liberation offered on the condition of apostatizing—a release from
torture procured by a denial of the faith. The contrast is with “a
better resurrection”
(my emphasis) and the parallel is with “women received their dead
again by
resurrection” (v35, my emphasis). Remarkably, however, those of whom
the writer is speaking declined the opportunity of a ‘resurrection’
or restoration to life in this world in order instead that they
might “get a better resurrection”. They preferred the resurrection
to come to the promise of life proffered by their tormentors.
This is very sobering. We live in days when the
Gospel is being taken up in a light way, and where the line between
the Christian and the world has become blurred. Many take the name
of ‘saint’ who seem very anxious to ‘get on’ in this scene, to be
comfortable and successful and to ‘enjoy life to the full’. Where
will such be when the persecution comes? How, indeed, will they be
able to resist deliverance from torture when it temptingly promises
a return to the world and the manner of life which, in reality, they
have never left? It is
impossible to prefer
the better resurrection if you are set on a better life here! We
ought to feel the edge of the Lord’s words in in the parable of the
sower when He spoke of those who “because of not having [any] depth
of earth … when the sun rose they were burned up, and because of not
having [any] root were dried up … and when tribulation or
persecution” came about “on account of the word” they were
“immediately offended” (Matt. 13: 5, 6, 21). Sadly, there seem many
today who profess Christ who seem utterly lacking in fruit for God.
Where will their profession be in the day of persecution?
Real
Persecution
It is too easy to think of persecution in mild
terms, in which we are inconvenienced by the authorities, or where
opportunities in this life are closed off to us. Scripture
never talks in this
way. Thus, in the passage before us: “others underwent trial of
mockings and scourgings, yea, and of bonds and imprisonment. They
were stoned, were sawn asunder, were tempted, died by the death of
the sword” (Heb. 11: 36, 37). This is serious stuff and we should
not devalue it by lumping it in with any trivial difficulties we may
have on this earth.
The “trial of mockings” referred to is
essentially derision. Jeremiah said “I am become a derision the
whole day: every one mocketh me” (Jer. 20: 7) and “I am become a
derision to all my people; their song all the day” (Lam. 3: 14).
This was no occasional thing, but relentless, day in, day out. If
this seems alien to us then that is because we have forgotten our
calling. The apostle Paul not only endured, but took pleasure in
“insults” (2 Cor. 12: 10), and the abuse was often not merely verbal
(see Acts 16: 22, 23, 37; 1 Thess. 2: 2). In this connection, we are
also reminded of Samson and his humiliation, for although he brought
a great deal of misery on his own head, he also suffered because of
what he was as a judge in Israel: “And it came to pass when their
hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that
he may make us sport.
And they called for Samson out of the prison–house, and he
played before them”
(Judg. 16: 25, my emphasis).
The Bible leaves us in no doubt as to what “scourgings”
refers to because the process is described for us. The Lord Himself
gave his “back to smiters” (Is. 50: 6) and Paul was “stretched”
forward “with the thongs” (Acts 22: 25). It was an extreme form of
punishment in which the sufferer was immobilised and the back
shredded with a whip specifically designed to maximize damage. The
apostle no doubt alluded to this when he told the Galatians that “I
bear in my body the brands of the Lord Jesus” (Gal. 6: 17), for he
was scourged on three occasions (2 Cor. 11: 25) as well as “in
stripes to excess” (v23). He really knew what it was to “suffer evil
along with the glad tidings” (2 Tim. 1: 8).
Next, we have “bonds and imprisonment”. Here we
might mention Hanani the seer put in a prison by Asa in his rage
(see 2 Chron. 16: 10), and Jeremiah, who for his faithfulness, was
put in a dungeon where he “sank in the mire” (Jer. 38: 6). More
immediately, the Hebrew saints would have been aware of how Herod
“had seized John, and had bound him and put him in prison on account
of Herodias the wife of Philip his brother. For John said to him, It
is not lawful for thee to have her” (Matt. 14: 3, 4). All these
suffered on account of their faithfulness. Indeed, the Lord Himself
had prophesied of His own that they would be delivered up to
“synagogues and prisons” and brought “before kings and governors on
account of my name” (Luke 21: 12). Later Paul asked that his bonds
might be remembered (see Col. 4: 18), and the Hebrew saints
themselves were exhorted to “remember prisoners, as bound with
[them]” (Heb. 13: 3). Onesiphorus is a beautiful practical example
of this expression of the body of Christ in action in that he was
not ashamed of Paul’s chain (see 2 Tim. 1: 16) and sought and
found the apostle in his prison.
The
Ultimate Cost
In Heb. 12: 3, 4 we are exhorted to “consider well
him who endured so great contradiction from sinners against himself”
for they had “not yet resisted unto blood”. There is thus an
ultimate cost to discipleship, a price to faith that may take the
life of the believer. This martyrdom may take horrific form. Thus,
in the passage before us we read of those “were stoned” and “were
sawn asunder” (Heb. 11: 37). Of the latter we have no individual
case recorded for us in the Bible, but what is recorded of King
Manasseh is sufficient to cover it: “and also [because of] the
innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with
innocent blood, and Jehovah would not pardon” (2 Kings 24: 4). As
for stoning, there are only two examples in the OT of men being
stoned for their faith. Zechariah the son of Jehoiada protested
against the people in their transgression of the commandments of
Jehovah, and as a result of his witness “they conspired against him,
and stoned him with stones at the command of the king in the court
of the house of Jehovah” (2 Chron. 24: 21). He wasn’t prepared to
keep quiet for the sake of peace and he paid for his faithfulness
with his life. The other who suffered death by stoning was Naboth
the Jizreelite. Some have tried to make out that Naboth reacted
merely from personal considerations and selfish motives when he
rejected Ahab’s suggestion that he hand over his vineyard in
exchange for another. This is to do this servant of Jehovah a
disservice. He would not give away his vineyard because it was his
by inheritance and not purchase (see 1 Kings 21: 3), and to do was
forbidden under the law of God (see Lev. 25: 23). For his fidelity
to what God had commanded, he was falsely accused of blasphemy,
taken out of the city and attacked “with stones, that he died” (1
Kings 21: 13). From 2 Kings 9: 26, it seems his family suffered a
similar fate.
This next section in Hebrews 11 speaks of those
who were “were tempted, died by the death of the sword” (v37).
“Tempted” might seem to be in a strange position, coming as it does
between “sawn asunder” and “death by the sword” but this is to
underestimate the horror and mental anguish that can come through
such trials. Many a prisoner has, for example, stood firm in his
faith while his wife and children have been tortured or abused in
front of him.
When Paul recounts how he as a
persecutor of Christians “compelled them to blaspheme” (Acts 26: 11)
he does not tell us how he did it but we can be sure that he used
all means possible. The sword we have met before in this great
chapter of faith. In Heb. 11: 34 we read of those who “escaped
[the] edge of the sword” while here we read of others who “died
by the death of the sword” (v37, my emphasis). It was the same sword
and the same faith in each case but how vast the difference! In the
first of these two groups it was faith overcoming through God. In
the second it was faith suffering for God. In v34, faith overcame
through believing what God had promised. In v37, faith suffered in
consequence of believing what God had said. For practical examples
of the latter we have “the children of Israel have forsaken thy
covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets” (1 Kings
19: 10) and “in vain have I smitten your children: they received no
correction. Your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a
destroying lion” (Jer. 2: 30). Nearer to home, we are not far into
the Church’s history before we read that “Herod the king laid his
hands on some of those of the assembly to do them hurt, and slew
James, the brother of John, with the sword” (Acts 12: 1, 2).
Men thought that such were not worthy of a part
in their world, but the real truth was just the opposite for God
says, “of whom the world was not worthy” (Heb. 11: 38). There is only one
valuation that is worth having and that is the Lord’s. Thus, His
word to Smyrna: “I know thy tribulation and thy poverty; but thou
art rich” (Rev. 2: 9). Men of the world could not understand such,
then or now, and treated them as “offscouring” and “refuse” (1 Cor.
4: 13). Here were people who would go through any suffering and
endure any hardship and privation rather than give up what they had
heard from God. They preferred to go about “in sheepskins, in
goatskins, destitute, afflicted, evil treated … wandering in deserts
and mountains, and [in] dens and caverns of the earth” (Heb. 11: 37,
38). If we ask why, the answer is really very simple. It is the
answer of every true life of faith: they “had respect to the
recompense” (Heb. 11: 26).
Conclusion
In the words of the apostle Peter, the
Christian has been called to suffering (see 1 Pet. 2: 21), and the
only way to stand in the day of persecution is “sanctify [the] Lord
the Christ in your hearts” (1 Pet. 3: 15). If we view the Lord
in that way in our
affections (I am referring to the exalted titles that Peter uses of
the Saviour), then we will not be “afraid of their fear” or
“troubled” (v14). We may be overcome, but we will be overcomers (see
Rev. 2: 11). Sadly, many seem to have more faith in laws of
free–speech, democracy and in the enlightened spirit of the age,
than they do in God. Such faith is misplaced. Others take refuge
behind Rev. 3: 10 and the Lord’s promise to His own to keep them out
of the hour of trial, but what has that got to do with being
preserved from persecution? The Lord is speaking there about a
particular hour and a particular trial, but the
general pattern is
given in 2 Tim. 3: 12: “And all indeed who desire to live piously in
Christ Jesus will be persecuted”. Let us therefore consider well
those “others” (Heb. 11: 35) who did not falter in their faith, and
let us determine, with God’s help, to stand firm should we have to
“suffer [as] well–doers” if “the will of God should will it” (1 Pet.
3: 17).
