A Bible Study in EasyEnglish (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Hebrews
Keith Simons
EasyEnglish is a system of simple English designed by Wycliffe Associates (UK).
Last part: What faith achieves (Hebrews 11:33)
Faith is not something weak like a wish, a thought or an idea. Faith is powerful because God is powerful. Faith means that a person is trusting God. And God wants people to trust him. That is why he has given promises to help his people. When a person trusts God, that person declares himself to be one of God’s people. That gives honour to God, and God is pleased to act on that person’s behalf.
In Hebrews 11:34, the author continues to give examples, in order to show how powerful faith is. These examples continue to be from the list in Hebrews 11:32, but in a different order.
Daniel the prophet (holy man) records how God saved his three friends from fire (Daniel chapter 3). The king tried to kill them – but they were trusting God (Daniel 3:17-18).
God saved Jephthah from swords when angry men attacked him (Judges 12:1-3).
Samson lost his strength when he broke his promise to God (Judges 16:17-21). But God gave him strength again for his final battle (Judges 16:28-30).
Barak was afraid to lead God’s people in a battle (Judges 4:6-8). But God gave him the strength to fight (Judges 4:14-16).
Gideon forced a foreign army to run away (Judges 7:22-25).
This list is very impressive. But the events in Hebrews 11:33-34 did not just happen on one occasion. Many of these things happened frequently in Israel’s history. Whenever people have acted in faith, God has acted powerfully on their behalf.
© 2012, Keith Simons.