How do you encourage people to hold fast to a faith that holds great unseen promises for the future, but in the present often involves suffering and trials and relentless battle? This is the challenge of the author of Hebrews. In chapter 11 he turns to examples of heroes of Scripture who endured in the faith to the end. In verses 8-31 he uses the examples of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph and Moses to emphasize that faith trusts God to fulfill His promises for the future even for what seems impossible. Writing about these exemplars who walked by faith amidst circumstances even more trying than those experienced by the readers of the epistle, was meant to encourage these disheartened new Jewish believers in the First Century church to persevere.
In the last section of chapter 11, the author realizes that this list of Old Testament examples could go on for some time, so he quickly lists other familiar heroes from the Scripture who exercised faith while accomplishing great exploit (vs. 32-35a), as well as amid great persecution, suffering, weakness, and apparent loss (vs. 35b-38). In the chapters last two verses (39-40), he brings the entire teaching on faith to a fitting conclusion by linking his audience to these past witnesses, once again emphasizing that with what they possess in Christ, they have something even greater than anything their past heroes had. Ultimately these verses provide a transition to Hebrews chapter 12 where we learn of the greatest exemplar of faith – Jesus Christ. It is to Him, who ultimately all these previous heroes point; and it is to Him who the victorious Christian must look if he is to run and finish his or her race of faith into eternity.
