4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Preamble
Having laid the ground work for defining our faith, the Word of God now looks back into history and recalls some of those key individuals who by living by faith pleased God.
Commentary
Vs. 4 "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks."
By faith then Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain when he offered the blood sacrifice of a sacrificial animal whose shed blood was accepted as an atonement for him. While Cain his brother only brought an offering of the fruits of the field (see Gen. 4:3-5). Thus Cain in bringing an offering of his own means defied God's everlasting principal that without the shedding of blood there is no remission (Heb 9:22). For no one can have reconciliation with God apart from sacrificial blood shed on their behalf, and specifically now the Lord Jesus Christ's sacrificial shed blood for us all by which one and all may have remission of their sins and everlasting life the moment they believe, and thus it is only through the precious blood of Christ that we can now freely approach God and know that we will be fully accepted by Him when we do so (Heb 4:14-16). And that is the lesson that Abel teaches us all by his offering. For no one approaches God by either their own merits or by their own means. For all who try to do so, as Cain tried to do, will only find their offerings and their persons being rejected by God when they try to do so. For we do not get to define for ourselves what we will do to approach God, or to have His approval. For the Sovereign God has already defined it for us all. And thus Abel living by faith choose to follow that which he knew would please God, while Cain choose to do as he pleased. Therefore through his offering "Abel obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks." Abel then in obeying the Will of God obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of this when He accepted Abel and his offering. And through his offering Abel still speaks to us all to seek approval with God by what God has defined for us all as justifying us, and thus making us accepted in His sight, and that is faith In the Lord Jesus Christ Crucified and Risen from the dead, and not seek His acceptance by devising and doing our own works and ways. For again all who try to do so will only find themselves being rejected by God when they do, just as Cain was. Now when Cain's offering was rejected by God, Cain went on to murder his brother Abel, a heinous crime which was born out of his own evil pride for being rejected by God when he tried to do so. And sadly that evil has played itself out down through the ages. For wherever people are accepted and justified by their faith, there are always those who wanting to be justified by their own works and ways becoming hostile towards us. Just as the Pharisees grew increasingly hostile towards the Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples when they rejected their man-made decrees, so with everyone who likewise lives by their own righteousness (and or what they decree for themselves as making themselves righteous in the sight of God) they too often become hostile towards anyone who finds peace with God through faith in Christ alone. For law and grace cannot peaceful cohabit, for those living under law will always be hostile towards the justification of anyone by the grace of God given to us all by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone (consider Gal. 4:21-31, vs. 29). And so Abel still speaks to us all who want too please God to seek God by what God has done to justify us, and not by what we think should justify us.
Vs. 5 "By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God."
Enoch is the next example of an individual who lived by faith. Enoch was such a Godly man in a generation of ungodly men and women that Enoch did not see death, for before his death Enoch was taken up to heaven by God because he pleased God (Gen. 5:21-24; Jude 14-15). Only Elijah was likewise taken by God in his generation, a generation in which apostasy from the true God was rampant. And such will be the last generation before the rapture of the church when the Lord Jesus Christ returns for those who believe in Him and who remained faithful to Him (2 Thess 2:1-12). Faith then is an encompassing disposition that affects the way one lives and thinks.
Vs. 6 "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
Two things then that God requires of us all. First is believing that God is, for when one believes in God one opens the door to not only to ones own salvation (Isaiah 45:22), but also to His working all of the endless possibilities that He works on behalf of those who believe in Him (consider Luke 1:26-38, and Gabriel the angels Word to Marry, specifically vs. 37, which has a universal application for us all). Second then is too diligently seek God, which is foundational to not only finding God (consider Deut 4:29; 2 Chron. 15:4), but also to being rewarded by Him. Jesus once told a parable that emphasized our need to diligently seek God and not become discouraged in waiting for Him (see Luke 18:1-8). For it is a Scriptural fact that God is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, from David to Daniel to Nehemiah, to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, diligently seeking God is the only way to be rewarded by Him (consider Lev. 26:39-45; Daniel 9:1-27; Nehemiah 1; Mark 1:35 etc.).
Vs. 7 "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith."
When Noah was warned by God of the upcoming flood, Noah being moved by Godly fear acted. And so he built an Ark according to commandment the Lord spoken to him by which he saved both himself and his whole household. Now if Noah did nothing then he would have been condemned with the godless and unbelieving world he was then living in. The same holds true for us all today who when we hear the Gospel preached to us, if we do nothing then we seal our own fates just as the unbelieving world did in the days of Noah (consider Luke 6:46-49). However if we like Noah act and move in faith, believing God's Word spoken to us through the Gospel, and we repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ we will not only be saved from the wrath to come (2 Peter 2:5), but we will become vessels through whom God will seek to save many others as well. For faith is never stagnate, it always produces good and Godly fruit, just as Noah did in obeying God in his generation, and thus Noah by doing so condemned the world and became the heir of righteousness which is according to faith.
Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
Vs. 6 "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
Two things then that God requires of us all. First is believing that God is, for when one believes in God one opens the door to not only to ones own salvation (Isaiah 45:22), but also to His working all of the endless possibilities that He works on behalf of those who believe in Him (consider Luke 1:26-38, and Gabriel the angels Word to Marry, specifically vs. 37, which has a universal application for us all). Second then is too diligently seek God, which is foundational to not only finding God (consider Deut 4:29; 2 Chron. 15:4), but also to being rewarded by Him. Jesus once told a parable that emphasized our need to diligently seek God and not become discouraged in waiting for Him (see Luke 18:1-8). For it is a Scriptural fact that God is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, from David to Daniel to Nehemiah, to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, diligently seeking God is the only way to be rewarded by Him (consider Lev. 26:39-45; Daniel 9:1-27; Nehemiah 1; Mark 1:35 etc.).
Vs. 7 "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith."
When Noah was warned by God of the upcoming flood, Noah being moved by Godly fear acted. And so he built an Ark according to commandment the Lord spoken to him by which he saved both himself and his whole household. Now if Noah did nothing then he would have been condemned with the godless and unbelieving world he was then living in. The same holds true for us all today who when we hear the Gospel preached to us, if we do nothing then we seal our own fates just as the unbelieving world did in the days of Noah (consider Luke 6:46-49). However if we like Noah act and move in faith, believing God's Word spoken to us through the Gospel, and we repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ we will not only be saved from the wrath to come (2 Peter 2:5), but we will become vessels through whom God will seek to save many others as well. For faith is never stagnate, it always produces good and Godly fruit, just as Noah did in obeying God in his generation, and thus Noah by doing so condemned the world and became the heir of righteousness which is according to faith.
Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
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