Faith As: Hebrews 11:9-10, 17-23, 32-40, especially vss. 39, 40: "And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us." The icon, "The Harrowing of Hades," reveals Christ, the Life-Giver, standing triumphantly astride the gates of Hades. Death is bound beneath His feet. He is lifting Adam and Eve from their tombs. The Saints named in today's Epistle reverence Him. Observe closely, for the icon discloses the first face-to-face encounter between these worthies of old and the God Whom they served. Of old these Saints had only known God intuitively. They had lived by the kind of faith described by Bishop Kallistos Ware: "Faith is not the supposition that something might be true, but the assurance that someone is there." Let us be instructed in faith by these Saints of old, in faith as confident living, as risk-taking because of promises, and as acquiescence before the will of God.
Faith is revealed as living confidently in circumstances devoid of tangible proofs. The materialist culture around us insinuates that such living is foolhardy by being unwilling to seek out hard, measurable facts. To the contrary, the servants and handmaidens of God in the icon and in the reading lived confidently because in their spirits they knew that God "is there."
Abraham migrated to a land where settlers already were present, with well-established cities, fields, wells, and a defined way of life. With some open tracts available to his flocks and herds, he was able to live and even to thrive, but always as a nomad, existing as an alien (vs. 9) among people with fixed boundaries and with the titles to all that he could see from the hill tops (Gen. 13:14-15). Nevertheless, he was able to abide comfortably in the land because he knew God, Who had promised to deliver the land to his descendants for their own, was at work. Thus "he waited for the city...Whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. 11:10).
How admirable it is when people calmly take great risks contrary to apparent evidence and are justified by the outcomes. Age had closed all hope that Abraham would receive a son of his own flesh, yet Abraham held Isaac, his own infant son, in his arms. Later, how could he possibly have thought to immolate that very son upon an altar, to remove from life him in whom his "seed shall be called" (vs. 18; Gen. 21:12)? He took a great risk, contrary to the evidence, without tangible proofs to assure him that he would be justified by such a sacrifice.
However, as the Apostle points out, Abraham concluded "that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead" (vs. 19). He chose to obey the explicit instructions of Him Who is present, to trust the God he did not see physically but Who spoke to him. Thus Abraham reveals faith as acting at personal risk when God has revealed a certain course to the heart.
When God does disclose a course of life to be followed, blessing comes only when we prepare for, work at, and do what we can to complete the course He indicates. Joseph made his heirs promise to remove his bones from Egypt (vs. 22), binding their consciousness to the promises of God. He reveals faith as preparing for what is promised by God. Let us be clear about the Source Who promises before applying this kind of faith in life. "The Lord is well pleased in them that fear Him, and in them that hope in His mercy" (Ps. 146:12 LXX).
The Saints of Old were able to subdue kingdoms, obtain promises and stop the mouths of lions (vs. 33) because they accepted death by the sword, destitution, affliction, torment or whatever came to them in life as from God's hand. May we be worthy of such a faith from God, that we may live confidently, take holy risks, and fulfill the will of God.
O Lord, grant us unwavering faith in Thy presence amidst all that befalls us in this life.