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THE POWER OF FAITH – Part 2 (Hebrews 11.8-19 January 29, 2006)

A few weeks ago, I ran into a friend of mine from medicine who I had not seen for awhile. We got talking and he told me about his latest building projects. He owns several large properties on the river. On one of them he is building his dream home. Three levels, unbelievable pool, a cellar, C-Bus lighting system, automated blinds. The house has taken him years to design and build. And then for weekends and holidays – as well as the beachfront apartment he already owns on the coast, he has bought and fitted out the multi, multi million dollar penthouse of an exclusive beachside development on the Sunshine Coast. And for a few minutes – I was envious. I love the river, I love the beach – those would be my dream homes too. Then when he told me how much the penthouse rents out for a night – I thought – I could never even rent it let alone dream of owning one. And as the green monster was feeding my envy – a voice echoed around my head:

Don’t be a fool! The glory of your inheritance makes earthly penthouses pale away. Why would you envy the fading glory of this world when you have the unchangeable glory of the world to come?

But then I found myself arguing back.

Look – a beachside penthouse is about as good as it gets. I can drive to Mooloolaba and see this earthly glory. I know I would enjoy it. But I haven’t seen heaven. In fact I have trouble even visualising what it will be like. Can’t I put a few eggs in the earthly basket too?

And this is the problem of being a people of faith. We serve God who we have not seen. We believe we will be raised from death – though we have never known anyone who is resurrected. We live for heaven even though we have not walked its streets. We walk by faith and not by sight – and yet – because we see and hear and touch and taste the realities of this world – it is not easy to live by faith.

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It is easier to long for the riverside dream home than to long for heaven. And let me be very honest here – left to myself – I would long for the things of this world. But thank goodness we are not left to ourselves. Here is the glory of faith. God – the One who created the heavens and earth from nothing – He creates a faith in us that makes the promises of God more real than beachside penthouses and this faith can withstand the sternest tests of this life. God shows us the glory of heaven and makes it so real we choose to live for eternity not for this world. The author of Hebrews knows this – and to make his point he rolls out a chronicle of ordinary men and women – who were enabled by God to withstand incredible tests by the power of faith. This faith had as its object – the Messiah to come – and as its foundation – God Himself. This faith was a gift from Jesus – the author and perfector of faith. This list is amazing. Ordinary men and women. Some who failed. Some who struggled. And then God enables them to overcome incredible tests by the power of faith. Faith is a great gift. It encourages us, sustains us, drives us and allows us to overcome any obstacle. Last week we looked at:

Those who by faith saw past the wickedness of this world to the glory of Christ – Abel, Enoch and Noah.

This morning we come to Abraham. Of all the examples of men of faith – Abraham is perhaps the prime example. In Romans 4 – Paul calls him the father of all who have faith. Abraham exemplifies men and women of faith in two ways. First, he exemplifies:

Those who by faith turned from the pleasures of this world to the glory of Christ.

Look with me at Hebrews 11:8-10:

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

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Abraham lived in the city of Ur. He was seventy-five years old when the Lord spoke to him and said:

Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

When we hear that Abraham was asked to leave his home in Ur – what do you think he was leaving and what was he going to? Many of us think Abraham lived in a tent in a desert and just moved his tent somewhere else – or we think of Ur as a fairly primitive city. Far from it! Ur was once one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. In the days of Abraham it was one of the wonders of the world. After the flood when men began to spread across the face of the earth, men settled in the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. This area became known as Mesopotamia and the main city was called Ur. The land was incredibly fertile – it was the perfect place to raise crops and animals. The first settlers of this land were known as Ubaidians, however, the credit for establishing Ur as a major city belongs to the Sumerians who came along later. With them they brought art and literature and architecture and agriculture. Other cities were settled in the area – Ukak, Eridu, and Kish, but Ur was the largest and grandest.

Ur was on the Euphrates, it was on the trade roots, it was fertile – it had it all. If you had to choose to live somewhere – you would choose Ur.

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After a period of prominence – Ur then entered a stage comparable to the Dark Ages. It remained that way until a new king came to power. His name was Ur-Nammu. Under his rule a government was established which enforced its laws and rules strictly. In fact his code became the basis for the famous code of Hammurabi. He introduced advanced irrigation and Ur became grander than it had ever been. Why this is important is that we need to understand that Abraham lived in Ur when it was at its zenith. Abraham was born most likely in 2166 BC. King Ur-Nammu – the great ziggurat builder – the king who raised Ur to the peak of its splendour – reigned from 2112 to 2094 BC. In other words Abraham was living in Ur at that time – Ur at the peak of its glory. Citizens of Ur during the time of Abraham were able to enjoy a high standard of living in a prosperous city. Ur was a great city and its citizens felt superior to the nomads who lived in the semi-desert beyond the areas watered by the Euphrates. Ur was civilisation – beyond the Euphrates was primitive and uncivilised. Let me give you an idea of the glory of Ur. One of the lasting legacies of Ur-Nammu was the building of a ziggurat – a great Temple to the city’s patron deity – Nannar, the Moon-god.

In the early 20th century – the British archaeologist Sir Charles Woolley excavated much of ancient Ur. The Euphrates has moved its course and the land has lost its fertility – but you can go there today and it takes little to imagine the splendour that once belonged to Ur.

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At its height Ur was described as a city surrounded by incredible gardens with groves of figs and dates and tall palms surrounding intricate irrigation canals. It was a city of temples and warehouses, workshops and schools, spacious villas and ziggurats, all within a great wall overlooking the waters of the Euphrates. Ur was the wealthiest city in Mesopotamia with a sophisticated system of government and a well-developed system of commerce. Trade routes joined Ur with other great towns to the north and the south. Writing was in common use and laws and contracts were recorded. Schools trained people for religious, commercial, and governmental work. The curriculum included mathematics, language, geography, botany, and drawing. The city had streets, a drainage system, two-story houses, and other evidences of a highly developed civilization. The Royal Tombs of Ur reflect the immense wealth of the city. So far 16 of these royal tombs have been excavated.

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Although the tombs that have been excavated so far date from several hundred years before Abraham – the wealth in them gives you an idea of what Ur must have been like by the time it reached the height of its splendour in the days of Abraham. Kings and queens drank from gold and silver beakers. For show, the kings wore daggers with golden blades. The queens wore exquisite jewellery of gold and coloured stones. Artefacts excavated from Ur show how advanced the city was and show its degree of sophistication and wealth. Ur was a fabulous city and from the way they are described in the book of Genesis, it is quite clear that Terah and Abraham were great, powerful and wealthy men. They were leaders in Ur. They had large flocks of sheep and goats and herds of camels. Abraham had large numbers of servants. In Genesis we read that he had three hundred and eighteen trained men, born in his house, who Abraham used to rescue Lot, his nephew. And Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who seized Sarah, would hardly have listened to Abraham’s objections unless he knew that Abraham had a following strong enough to make his restitution of Sarah a necessity. Abraham was a man of some substance. Then we need to add into the equation the religious situation. Ur in the days of Abraham was given over to idolatry, in particular the worship of Nannar, the Moon-god. The city’s devotion to Nannar can be seen by their custom of offering up their firstborn to this god. I hope you have the picture. Abraham is a man of wealth and prestige. He lives in perhaps the greatest city of its day. All his life he has been told that if he was faithful to Nannar – every earthly pleasure would be his. But, Abraham was a descendant of Noah through Shem. And the promise of God – that he would send a Saviour was passed down in that line from father to son. Yet, Abraham is the great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandson of Noah. The flood had happened well over four hundred years earlier. God had not appeared during this time. The Saviour had not come. Wickedness had once again begun to flourish on the face of the earth. And then suddenly when Abraham is seventy-five years old – God speaks to him and says – pack up everything – leave everything you have known – and travel beyond the Euphrates to the land of Canaan.

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Leave the wealth and splendour and ease of Ur – travel with all your flocks and possessions and servants 700-800 miles across the Euphrates to the place where the uncivilised barbarians live. Go to a place Abraham had never seen – and had never thought of seeing. But what Abraham had the promise of God. The Lord told Abraham – go to the land I will show you and:

I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

God had not forgotten His promise – and now Abraham finds that it is through Him the promise would come. And what is so remarkable about this whole event is that Abraham just obeys. There’s no questioning, no bargaining, no objections – he up and leaves. This God who has not appeared for generations – this God who has allowed the world to grow in wickedness – He suddenly appears and asks Abraham to leave everything and go to the land of the barbarians. And Abraham obeys. That is faith. That is faith that only God can give. The account in Genesis tells us that he followed the trade routes – he first went to Haran.

There he faced a further test. His father, Terah, died in Haran. But Abraham then left Haran to journey into the unknown of Canaan. The land the Lord had promised to him

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as an inheritance – the place he would form a nation – the place in which the Messiah would come. Abraham did this by faith. Every fibre of our being would say this is the wrong move. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Who leaves the luxury and civilisation of Ur for the wilds of Canaan? Who leaves the buildings and irrigation and plumbing of Ur for the tents of Canaan? The answer is a man of faith. He lived in tents as a stranger in a foreign land. His son and grandson were strangers there. When Sarah died years later – he still had to purchase a piece of land from the inhabitants in order to bury her. Why? Why did Abraham do this? Look again at verse 10:

For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Abraham was wise enough to realise that the ultimate reward of God is not found in this life. He knew that the promise of God was for a heavenly city – not some earthly city. By obeying the voice of God – he was not trading the glory of Ur for the squalor of tents. He was trading the earthly glory of Ur – for the far greater heavenly glory of the new Jerusalem. By faith he saw Christ. Jesus said – Abraham saw My day and rejoiced. He saw the glory of Christ and was willing to give up anything in this world.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. He believed that God would bless him – and the ultimate blessing is Christ – and he obeyed – even when every fibre of his being said don’t do it. He went to a place he had never seen because God said go. That is the essence of faith. Martin Luther summed up this God-given faith in these words:

This is the glory of faith, simply not to know; not to know where you are going, not to know what you are doing, not to know what you must suffer and with sense and intellect, virtue and will, all alike made captive, to follow the naked voice of God. … Abraham with this obedience of faith shows the highest

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example of the evangelical life, because he left all and followed the Lord, preferring the word of God to everything else and loving it above all things.

Isn’t that great?

He left all and followed the Lord, preferring the word of God to everything else and loving it above all things.

That is faith. To prefer the word of God to everything else. We live in our own Ur. A beautiful city – with every luxury and pleasure. We don’t have a temple to Nannar at the centre of the city – but we have our own idols – sex, beachfront houses, sport, Ferraris. And God has called us to forsake our Ur and set our hearts on His heavenly city whose architect and builder is the Lord. He has called us to take up our cross and follow Him. He has commanded us to go and make disciples of the nations. He says we must prefer the word of God to everything else. We must long for the glory of Christ and never settled for less. I don’t know what the call means for you. Maybe you will join Thomas in Tajikistan. Perhaps you will plant a church as a pastor. More likely the call is to live here as men and women of faith – to invite men to Introducing God, give to the work of the church, disciple your children, live as strangers in this land, show that your hope is in heaven. You have the call of God – to take up your cross and follow Him – wherever that leads. So pray and ask Him how it fleshes out in your life. There will be sacrifices. There will be costs. But faith will fix your eyes on Jesus and His new earth – and faith will turn every sacrifice into gain. Draw near to Him and He will guide you. But Abraham also exemplified men and women of faith in another way. He exemplifies:

Those who by faith trusted the word of God to the glory of Christ. Verses 11-12:

By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

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I do have to make a comment. This verse is difficult to translate and there is much debate about who the subject is. Is this talking about Sarah’s faith or Abraham’s faith. The NAS, the King James, New King James, RSV – read as if it is talking about the faith or Sarah. The NIV and New RSV – read as if it is talking about the faith of Abraham. For a variety of reasons – especially the context – I believe that it is talking about the faith of Abraham. I like F.F. Bruce’s translation of verse 11:

By faith he [Abraham] also, together with Sarah, received power to beget a child even after the natural season of life, because he reckoned the One who gave the promise trustworthy.

Either way – the point is about faith. And here Abraham and Sarah confront the problem of being barren. Abraham faced many tests of his faith – but this one was a doozy. Abraham had been faithful to obey the call of God. He had left Ur and brought his wife and servants and possessions to the Promised Land. But Abraham remembered what God had said in Genesis 12:2:

I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; God had promised to make from him a great nation. But to be the father of a nation you have to have at least one child. In the quarter of a century since he left Ur, Abraham saw the power of the Lord. God enabled him to rescue Lot from the four kings. Abraham saw God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. But there was no son. The years had passed and Abraham was now very old – ninety-nine. Sarah was well past childbearing years. And it was at this time that the Lord came again to Abraham and said:

I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.

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Back then they didn’t understand the medical intricacies of conception – but they sure knew that a man of ninety-nine married to a woman long past the age of childbearing are not going to have children. In fact Sarah overheard the message of God and laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” But Abraham was a man of faith. If God said he would have a son – then he would have a son. God created the heavens and the earth – God can certainly create a son in the womb of an old woman. And Abraham believed and God reckoned it to him as righteousness. Abraham’s faith never wavered. Listen to the words of Romans 4:18-22:

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Notice what Paul says. Abraham was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God. Such faith is not natural. It is a gift. We know God can do anything. We know that by definition – God is able to work any miracle at will. Whether it is the miracle of creation, or parting the Red Sea, or raising the dead, or allowing an elderly woman to conceive – nothing is too difficult for God. But to base our lives on faith in this God – requires the miracle of faith. God strengthens our faith until it can stand any test. And we become men and women of faith like the Prophet Jeremiah who declared in chapter 32:17:

Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.

We know that if He so wishes – He can save that brother who has resisted the gospel. He can open the door to that closed country. He can provide the funds for that church plant. He can heal that sick child. He can make us long for eternity and turn from this world. If He wants – He can raise the dead, end the world, create a new world. If struggle with faith – then ask God to strengthen your faith. To show His might in you. He delights to answer such prayers.

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Abraham had that faith – and because of it – from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. Verses 13-16:

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

All these people – namely the ones mentioned here – Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob – died without seeing the final fulfilment of the promise. Abraham was the recipient of many promises. In his life he saw some begin to be fulfilled. He saw a son born through whom would come a great nation. He saw the Promised Land – even though he died a stranger and pilgrim – not a possessor of the land. But the great promise made to Abraham was that:

All peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Abraham knew that one day a Saviour would come who would crush the serpent’s head and undo the effects of the fall and create the new heavens and the new earth. Abraham and the patriarchs never saw Israel possess the land, the grace of the Law or the glory of David. They did not see the coming of the Saviour. They did not live to see the day of the coming of the new Jerusalem. But their faith, their actions showed that they believed these things would come. They chose to live by faith. Abraham could have turned around and gone back to the wonders of Ur. He chose to die in the Promised Land. In fact Abraham would not even let Isaac go back to the edges of Mesopotamia to find a bride in case he stayed there. He sent his servant to find a bride instead. Abraham lived for heaven and not for earth. He lived by faith. His life showed he was looking for a better country – a heavenly one. Our lives show where our heart is. Do we long for a Mooloolaba penthouse or to see the Lamb in glory?

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Do we long for the idols of our age or for the fellowship of Christ? When you live in a place as blessed as Brisbane – great weather, wealth, stable government – it is easy to be satisfied with what we have. To live for now. If you live in war torn Sudan with its persecution – it is easier to long of heaven. If you are young and healthy – you naturally desire to live for now – you give little thought to heaven. If you are older and wracked with pain and your body is failing – you find it easy to long for the resurrection. To see past the satisfaction of now – Brisbane, health, wealth, career, family – requires divine faith. To say – nothing in this life compares with Christ and the life to come requires the faith of God Himself. To make kingdom sacrifices is a divine gift. But true faith does not look back but fixes its eyes on heaven and presses on – no matter what. Our lives show where our heart lies. If you want to know – ask your kids – they haven’t learned enough tact – so they will be honest – they will tell you if your life shows you love for now or heaven. I pray for God to strengthen my faith – so I will not look back – but turn my eyes to the glory of Christ and live for Him. Verses 17-19:

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

This event comes quite late in the life of Abraham. It had been many years since Abraham had heard the voice of God. Isaac had grown into a young man. And God tested Abraham. God tested the character of Abraham’s faith with a test of incredible proportions – and it stood the test. God told Abraham, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” God asked Abraham to kill the son of the promise. Abraham and Sarah had cried out to God until for a child until was ninety-nine, she was well past childbearing. Then the son of the promise through whom all the nations would be blessed was born.

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So much love, hope and expectation was wrapped up in Isaac. He was Abraham’s pride and joy. And God says – sacrifice him. Thus Isaac becomes the test of obedience. Imagine the conflict – to raise your own hand to kill your beloved son – the one you love, the one you waited for, the one who encompasses your hopes and dreams. And Abraham obeys. No questioning. No hesitation. Just obedience. Hebrews tells us that Abraham Had faith. God had promised to build a great nation through Isaac. If God wants Isaac dead – then God must plan on raising him from the dead. We see this from what Abraham said to his servants in Genesis 22:5:

Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

We will come back. After the offering of Isaac – God will raise him and we will return. This is amazing faith. There had never been a resurrection before. No one had ever been raised from the dead. Consider the faith that says, even after I chop my son to pieces and burn those pieces to char, God can restore him to life. It has never happened before – but God can do it. That is some faith. That faith is not normal human faith. It is God given faith. In Romans 4 – Paul says that is the same faith we have. God gives us the same faith he gave Abraham. Faith to trust Him in any trial. Abraham trusted God and bound his son. Laid him on the wood and took out the knife. He would have slain his son. God said do it – he would trust God. And God showed that He was faithful. He stopped Abraham from killing his son and he provided the sacrifice, not in the way that Abraham expected, but in the form of a ram caught in the thicket. Abraham was determined to obey God and sacrifice his son – Isaac was as good as dead – so figuratively speaking – Abraham received his son back from death. And Abraham received the blessing of God for his faith. Genesis 22:15-18 says:

The angel of the LORD … said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in

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the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

What a trial! Sacrifice your son! Why would God ever ask such a trial? Because to face such a trial and to pass it strengthens our faith in the goodness of God and the surety of His promises. Abraham trusted God when every sense said – don’t listen – and he was blessed. When you go through a trial like that and see the faithful hand of God – there is no trial this life can provide that Abraham could not face. Trials are there to strengthen us not break us. Abraham trusted God and was blessed. If he had stayed in Ur – his firstborn would have been sacrificed to the moon god. Abraham’s line would have died with him. But he listened to the voice of God and his son was not lost. He received Isaac back as if from the dead. He did not hold back his son. In this sense – Isaac becomes a type of Christ. But the difference is while God spared Isaac, God did not spare His own Son. Jesus died – to fulfil the Promise made to Abraham. The Messiah did come. And in His death we live. In receiving Isaac back from the dead – Abraham saw the glory of Christ – who would save us from death. Abraham looked for the coming of Christ. It is what strengthened his faith. Brothers and sisters – we are men and women of faith. The faith of Abraham is in our hearts – for God put it there. We know the glories of heaven. We know the reality of Jesus. We can see the resurrection. We can taste eternal life. God shows us. And the hope of heaven can enable us to stand any trial. In the history of the church – men and women have faced great trials and small. Today – we face trials great and small. And the same God enables us to overcome by faith. Consider the faith of Lady Jane Grey. She became Queen of England at the age of 15. She ruled for only nine days and was killed months later. Jane was an exceptional young woman. Both beautiful and brilliant. Before she reached her teenage years, she had mastered music, the sciences and was fluent in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldaic, Arabic, French, Italian and Spanish. She was raised in incredible luxury and given the finest education money could buy.

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As a young girl, was sent away to live with Katherine Parr, the final wife of Henry VIII. Katherine led Jane to the Lord. But when Katherine died, Jane was sent back to her parents. They were shocked at the change in her. She now detested their lifestyle of pleasure and frivolity. For this, they treated her poorly. She began to correspond in Latin with the Reformers on the continent who were amazed at her theological understanding. When Edward VI suddenly became ill, John Dudley, the King’s Protector rapidly organised the marriage of his son Guilford to Lady Jane against Jane’s wishes. He then managed to have the dying Edward change the succession of the throne from the Catholic Mary to the Christian Jane. Jane knew nothing of this. On the 9th of July, 1553, following the death of Edward, she was led to the royal canopy and told she was now Queen. Horrified, she burst into tears and fainted. On composing herself she spoke clearly, ‘The crown is not my right, and pleaseth me not. The Lady Mary is the rightful heir.’ But Dudley, her parents and her new husband forced her to accept the crown. But her reign was doomed from the start. Mary soon rallied an army and all the Council members gathered to declare her Queen. Jane’s own father feared for his life. He tore down the royal canopy, locked her in the Tower of London, declared his loyalty to Mary and told her to remove the royal robes. Jane told him, ‘I much more willingly put them off than I put them on. Out of obedience to you and mother I have grievously sinned.’ She was sentenced to death. But the trial was so unjust that the judge who pronounced the sentence was haunted all his days by what he was forced to do. He went insane and died crying out, ‘Take the Lady Jane from me!’ Mary was engaged to be married to the Catholic Philip of Spain. He agreed to the marriage only on the condition that Jane’s death occurred first. Mary sought a way out and offered Jane a full reprieve if only she would convert to Catholicism. Many other leaders in the reformation had accepted this offer and saved themselves by turning their back on the Lord. Jane merely prayed to God – ‘Arm me, I beseech Thee, with Thy armour, that I may stand fast.’ In a final attempt to convert her to Catholicism, a public debate was organised between Jane and the well-known Dr Feckenham. We have the record of this debate. This young 16 year old girl awaiting her death, stood firm and demolished this doctor of the church. Finally, the time of her execution had arrived. Here is a young girl, who was used as a political pawn. Her only fault had been to be forced into accepting the crown by her parents, her husband and his father. Now she would die.

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Her last hours were spent writing letters to her family. Her father, the one who had treated her so poorly, had forced her into marriage and the throne and then had left her imprisoned, now found himself also imprisoned. She wrote a letter forgiving him. It said in part:

The Lord comfort Your Grace, and that in His Word wherein all creatures only are to be comforted, and though it hath pleased God to take away two of your children, yet think not … that you have lost them, but trust that we, by losing this mortal life, have won an immortal life … Although to you my death ... might seem right woeful, to me there is nothing that can be more welcome, than from this vale of misery to aspire to that Heavenly throne of all joy and pleasure with Christ my Saviour.’

On the evening before her execution, she wrote a letter to her 14 year old sister Katherine on the back of her Greek New Testament. In part it said this:

I have sent you, good sister Catherine, a book, which although it be not outwardly trimmed with gold, yet inwardly it is more worthy than precious stones. … follow it, it shall bring you to an immortal and everlasting life. It will teach you to live and learn you to die.... It shall win you more than you should have gained by the possession of your woeful father’s lands, for as if God prospered him, you shall inherit his lands.... [it holds] such riches as neither the covetous shall withdraw from you, neither the thief shall steal, neither let the moth corrupt.... And as touching my death, rejoice as I do and consider that I shall be delivered of this corruption and put on incorruption, for as I am assured that I shall for losing of a mortal life, find an immortal felicity.

In her farewell speech from the place of execution, she cried:

I pray you all… to bear me witness that I die a true Christian woman, and that I look to be saved by none other means but only by the mercy of God, in the blood of His only Son, Jesus Christ, casting far behind me all the merits of my own actions, as things so short of my true duty.

She then recited the 51st Psalm and was beheaded – on the 11th of February 1554 – at the age of 16.1 At 16 – where does such faith come from? She had but to recant and turn again to Catholicism and she could enjoy the luxuries of her rank and privilege. Instead she faced death – looking for the better city to come. Where does such faith come from? It comes from God as a blessing for each and every child of His.

1 Derived from “The Royal Household of Henry VIII – Part Four: Tenacity of Faith – Lady Jane Grey,” Sword and Trowel, 1998 no. 1, pp. 4-9.

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And what a great gift! It enables us to see the return of Christ, the resurrection of our bodies, the coming of the new earth and our eternity with Jesus. It bears us through every earthly trial. It sustains us to the end. It overcomes any obstacle. It enables us to cling to the vision of Christ through every storm. How gracious is our God who gives us such a precious gift. How awesome is our God who can give this wonderful gift. How blessed we are to have this indescribable gift.