nifest that they
are seeking after a country of their own. And if indeed they had
been mindful of that country from which they went out, they would
have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better
country, that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed of them,
to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city. By
faith Abraham, being tried, offered up Isaac: yea, he that had
gladly received the promises was offering up his only-begotten son;
even he to whom it was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called:
accounting that God is able to raise up, even from the dead; from
whence he did also in a parable receive him back."--HEB. xi. 8-19
(R.V.).

We have learned that faith is the proof of the unseen. We must not
exclude even from this clause the other thought that faith is an
assurance of things hoped for. It is not stated, but it is implied. The
conception of a personal God requires only to be unfolded in order to
yield a rich harvest of hope. The author proceeds to show that by faith
the elders had witness borne to them in God's confession of them and
great rewards. He recounts the achievements of a long line of believers,
who as they went handed the light from one to another. In them is the
true unity of religion and revelation from the beginning. For the poor
order of high-priests the writer substitutes the glorious succession of
faith.

We choose for the subject of this chapter the faith of Abraham. But we
shall not dismiss in silence the faith of Abel, Enoch, and Noah. The
paragraph in which Abraham's deeds are recorded will most naturally
divide itself into three comparisons between their faith and his. We
venture to think that this was in the writer's mind and determined the
form of the passage. From the eighth to the tenth verse the Apostle
compares Abraham's faith with that of Noah; after a short episode
concerning Sarah, he compares Abraham's faith with Enoch's, from the
thirteenth verse to the sixteenth; then, down to the nineteenth verse,
he compares Abraham's faith with that of Abel. Noah's faith appeared in
an act of obedience, Enoch's in a life of fellowship with God, Abel's in
his more excellent sacrifice. Abraham's faith manifested itself in all
these ways. When he was called, he obeyed; when a sojourner, he desired
a better country, that is, a heavenly, and God was not ashamed to be
called his God; being tried, he offered up Isaac.