EZEKIEL 40:
In chapter 38-39 we heard of the kingdoms of Gog and Magog, which point to future kingdoms in the north. Like Ezekiel’s prophecies against the kings of Tyre and Babylon, Gog and Magog also refer to spiritual entities beyond this world, and we will hear of them again in Revelation chapter 20. And today we begin hearing of something else that appears in Revelation.
ISAIAH 16:
Today’s chapter is the continuation of the prophecy against Moab.
HEBREWS 10:35—11a:
As I have told you again and again this year, because of a quirk in English, the tight connection between the noun ‘faith’ and the verb ‘believe’ has been broken. These two words have the same root in Greek. It would have been better had English preserved the connection such as between ‘confidence’ and ‘confident’. The reason I mention that again here is because this is the famous ‘faith chapter’ of Hebrews. Note that this chapter is actually expounding on a quote from the end of chapter 10, so that’s where we begin today.
GNT Translation notes:
Heb 10:39 We are not people who turn back and are lost. Instead, we [are those people who keep or believing//have faith] and are saved.
11:1 To [believe means//have faith is] to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.
2 It was by their [believing//faith] that people of ancient times won God's approval.
3 [By means of our believing//It is by faith] that we understand that the universe was created by God's word, so that what can be seen was made out of what cannot be seen.
4 It was [Abel’s believing//faith] that [moved him to//made Abel] offer to God a better sacrifice than Cain's. [It was by means of his believing that//Through his faith] he won God's approval as a righteous man, because God himself approved of his gifts. By means of his [believing//faith] Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
[and etc.]
13 [All these people kept on fully believing until they died.//It was in faith that all these persons died.] They did not receive the things God had promised, but from a long way off they saw them and welcomed them, and admitted openly that they were foreigners and refugees on earth.
17 It was [Abraham’s believing God’s promise//faith] that [moved him to//made Abraham] offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice when God put Abraham to the test. Abraham was the one to whom God had made the promise, yet he was ready to offer his only son as a sacrifice.
NLT Translation notes:
Heb. 11:1 [‘Fully believing’ means that we are confident//Faith is the confidence] that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. 2 Through their [fully believing//faith], the people in days of old earned a good reputation.
5 It was by [fully believing//faith] that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. 6 And it is impossible to please God without [ believing//faith]. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
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