Hebrews 11:34 Commentary and Bible Study

‘Quenched the violence of fire’, that is Shadrach Meshach and Abednego, in Daniel chapter 3, and they were ready to die rather than engage in idolatry. That was the problem for them: they must become idolaters, or they must die, and they didn't know that God would deliver them through the fire. They said, ‘God could do it’, but the point is they were ready to die for him. Such was their faith that they would not abandon him, and God showed that, if it is his will, when you are in very difficult circumstances, he can deliver you. There have been martyrs also – that is the most honourable death of all – but he can deliver you from all the pressures. So when you go to your business and you will not commit idolatry, you will not cheat, you will not lie, you will not do or say anything that is unclean, you will not play the hypocrite; you will remain faithful to the Lord, then God will preserve us and see us through even if we meet with contempt. ‘Escaped the edge of the sword’ – Moses escaped slaughter, so did David. Particularly you read how David escaped Saul twice, not with the sword, but with a spear from close range; that powerful man attempted to spear the unarmed David and failed because God preserved him. Elijah too was subject to slaughter and to death almost certainly on several occasions and was delivered by God. They were ready to die these men. They would never evade their duty. They knew that if they died, they go to be with the Lord. But God had the power to preserve them if he chose and they would not cave in to whatever hostility or temptation came to them.‘Out of weakness were made strong’. Who has the inspired writer got in mind? Is it hezekiah, who was at the point of death? You read about that in Isaiah 38. Was it David? On several occasions he was afflicted with a wasting illness that virtually took his life and everyone thought he would die. But God delivered him. Or was it about people being given extraordinary strength like David and Jonathan, who sometimes were enabled to do such mighty things against their enemies who attacked them? On one occasion Jonathan with his armour bearer was able to defeat an entire military unit, almost single-handed. We see it in revival. In the autumn of 1739 John and Charles Wesley, and particularly George Whitfield, began to preach. They were Anglican clergy, and they were shut out of the pulpits. The Bishops ganged up against them, took away their preaching licenses; they were not admitted to the churches. Famously, John Wesley, when he was excluded from a church, went and stood on a gravestone in the graveyard outside, and so many people gathered to hear him. They came seemingly from nowhere, a far greater company than could ever been accommodated in the church. It was virtually the first sermon of the open-air awakening, and those excluded ministers, far from being silenced reached even more people. George Whitfield came on a foggy October morning and preached to nearly 40,000 people it is thought on the Kennington Common – out of weakness were made strong. ‘Turned to flight the armies of the aliens.’ God was particularly pleased on occasions to cause his people to repel and overcome the armies of other nations that came upon them with a much smaller force. He did this as with Gideon and the Midianites, ‘lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me’ (Judges 7:2). Our victories by faith must never be allowed to take away from the glory of the Lord. Paul was careful so say, ‘I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase’ (1 Corinthians 3:6).