“ALL THESE DIED IN FAITH”

T. E. Druckenmiller

Hebrews 11: 13; 10: 38, 39; 1 John 5: 4, 5

Our brother’s reference to faith encourages one, beloved friends and brethren, to draw attention to this thought of faith. What has impressed one is this word, “All these died in faith”. Our beloved sister, now with Christ, has died in faith. That is a very wonderful matter, and one is impressed that not only has she died in faith,

but she died in faith because she lived by faith. I believe the Lord would speak to our hearts in this occasion. He would speak to us who remain. It is a great matter to remain, and a challenge as to how I remain in my pathway here. Will I remain in accord with the will of God? Will I remain in the pathway of faith? Will I be sustained in my pathway here in accord with the holy mind of God? These scriptures, I believe, draw our attention to a holy line of things that has come down from the beginning of God’s ways with men, right from Abel onward. In this section the beloved apostle is drawing attention to a great cloud of witnesses that surround us, persons who have gone before whose pathways have been lived in faith. But then it says in this verse we read, “All these died in faith”. I believe the Lord would draw attention to that thought. It relates to the close of the pathway of our beloved sister and it speaks to our hearts as to the close of any one of our pathways. Will I die in faith?

Hence one feels the need to draw attention to this word in chapter 10, “the just shall live by faith”, a verse that is repeated in the pages of Scripture, firstly in Habakkuk, the Old Testament prophet, and then quoted in Romans 1: 17, again in Galatians 3: 11 and again here,

“the just shall live by faith”. Do you and I live by faith in our pathways here? Are you a believer in Jesus? Have you faith in Jesus the Son of God, the One who, as we sang and as was remarked in prayer, has gone the way of death, has gone the way of the grave, and went the way of suffering in His pathway here? I believe the Lord today would in this occasion attract our hearts freshly to Himself, draw out our feelings in love and affection to Himself and then to all who are His. Oh it is wonderful to think of those that are His, first Christ, and

“then those that are the Christ’s at his

coming” (1 Corinthians 15: 23), the soon-coming day which faith looks on to.

In Hebrews 10: 13 it says, “all these died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar off and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth”. This was a feature which our beloved sister in her closing days set out; she was one who confessed that she was but a stranger and a sojourner on the earth awaiting the Lord to come and take her to Himself. I believe we share in the triumph of what the Lord has done and what our sister entered into in the faith of her own soul. But I believe, dear brethren—I say that to all because we are brethren—the Lord would speak to our hearts.

Sorrows have come in, there has been a drawing back in our lives with many of us. In fact I suppose there is with us all the tendency to draw back; I believe the Lord would speak to us today. Are we prepared in the remaining days of our lives to go forward in faith, supporting and maintaining the divine standard of the testimony that our sister set out, and which her beloved father set out in his own life and in the truth and in the ministry which the Lord in His love has given? May we be concerned to go on as those who are living by faith. Let us not be drawers back, of whom God says, “my soul does not take pleasure in him”.

Oh may the Lord encourage every heart here today to go forward in our pathways in faith, trusting in Jesus the Son of God. He went the way of suffering, the way of death; He traversed that path to accomplish God’s holy will, to provide the way of redemption, to provide the way of salvation, and (while we could have no part in His atoning work) it is well, beloved, if we follow in His steps. Peter speaks of that, He left us a model

that we should follow in His steps (1 Peter 2: 21). The beloved apostle Paul could also say,

“In that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”, Galatians 2: 20. Our beloved sister treasured that. We were away for a time in the summer and when we departed she said, ‘I will see you again’, and I believe her thought was that she would see us again above. But in the mercy of God the Lord sustained her life so that we saw her again here. What a treasure it is to see those who in their pathway have their trust in Jesus the Son of God and are prepared just to be here for His will, for His delight, for His pleasure.

Just another thought as to the verse in John. I refer to it as drawing attention to this great thought of the need for victory. We need victory to overcome, to be preserved in the pathway of faith, so that we are not drawing back. Oh the danger of going back, the danger of being overcome by the world! John in writing this epistle is appealing to fathers, he is appealing to young men, and he would appeal to the children. Whatever age group we are in there is an appeal of love from Jesus to you and to me. Will we have faith and get the victory? “For all that has been begotten of God gets the victory over the world; and this is the victory which has gotten the victory over the world, our faith”. I believe our beloved departed sister has known the joy of victory amid the sorrows of the testimony and proved what it is to get the victory over the world as a believer in Jesus the Son of God.

May we be drawn afresh to Jesus today, Jesus the Son of God. Think of that beloved departing saint Stephen; as about to leave this scene his eyes were attracted heavenward. I believe the Lord today would attract our eyes, our hearts, our

affections heavenward so that we move in our pathways here in more simple faith and dependence upon the Lord of glory and prove how near He is. He does come near, especially in times of pressure and testing. Stephen proved it, “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit”.

May we allow the Lord to guide and direct our pathways so that our walk and ways may be filled out in accord with the will of God, that we may not draw back but go forward in this great pathway of faith, for His name’s sake.