Day 69 : Hebrews 11:35-38

Read Hebrews 11:35-38

Helpful Background Information: 

• The author of Hebrews is unknown, written sometime in the 60s-80s AD. 

• The primary purpose of the author of Hebrews is to: 1) Show the superiority of Jesus over the prophets of the OT, and 2) To show that the New Covenant in Jesus is “better” than the Old Covenant of the OT. 

• The word “better” (or greater) is used 13 times in the book (see 1:4, 6:9, 7:7, 7:19, 7:22, 8:6 (twice), 9:23, 10:34, 11:16, 11:35, 11:40, 12:24). 

• Hebrews 11 is what some call the “Hall of Faith” passage, where the author of Hebrews recounts how so many of our ancient brothers and sisters accomplished everything they did by faith. 

Reflection Questions: 

• Read Matthew 11:2-6 where John seems to struggle with doubt. How do you relate to John in this? What does Jesus encourage John (and us) with?

• Though John displays an internal struggle with doubt, Jesus still calls John the greatest of all the prophets (Matt. 11:11). How is this an encouragement to you in your own daily struggles? 

• The faith we stand united in today has rode off of the sacrifice of so many of our ancient brothers and sisters in Christ. Difficult as it may be to ponder on, how would you respond to the type of pressures and persecution described in Heb. 11:35-38? Would you be willing to stand firm in your faith, even if it came to death? 

• What are ways we can pray for—and help in more practical ways—the hundreds of millions of brothers and sisters in Christ who are today, actively experiencing this type of persecution and being killed for their faith? Pray through this for a few minutes.