Hebrews 11:11Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1). The introductory verses present the great principles of faith. The first verse is hardly a definition of faith, but rather a statement of the effect of faith. It tells us what faith does, rather than what faith is. Faith substantiates things hoped for. It makes very real to our souls the things to which we look forward. It gives us the conviction of things not seen. The unseen things become as real to the believer as though present to sight, “yea, much more so because there is deception in things seen” (JND).
Hebrews 11:22For by it the elders obtained a good report. (Hebrews 11:2). By faith the elders obtained a good report. It was not by their works or by their lives but by their faith that they obtained a good report. They were men and women of like passions with us, and their lives were often marred with many a failure, and their works were on occasion to be condemned. Nevertheless, in spite of all failure, they were marked by faith in God; and after hearing their report, we are again reminded at the end of the chapter that it was by faith they obtained a good report.
Hebrews 11:33Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Hebrews 11:3). Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God. The natural man, with enmity to God in his heart, seeks by reason to account for the formation of the universe without God. He would feign find the origin of the world in matter and forces of nature. The result is that he gropes in the dark and finds no certainty in his speculations. The theories that are hailed with delight as the last word in wisdom by one generation are rejected as untenable nonsense by the following generation. Man is only occupied with the things that appear. God definitely states that what is seen does not take its origin from things which appear. By reason men lead themselves into a sea of conflicting speculations: by faith the believer understands how the worlds were framed. We know that the origin of matter is not from matter, for things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Faith knows that all the worlds came into being “by the Word of God.”
Thus the introductory verses present three great principles of faith: first, faith makes real to us things unseen; second, faith obtains for its possessors a good report; third, faith leads us to understand things that lie outside the comprehension of the natural mind.