For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at
the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for
the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which
are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
God gave us 5 physical senses to contact our physical world. They are: touch, taste smell, hear and see. If anyone of those senses are damaged, we call that person handicapped. As a person ages, all of these senses begin to diminish. Yet, God gave us another sense that we can use - not to contact our physical world, but to contact the spiritual world. That is the sense of FAITH. As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to use this sense to not only our spiritual life, but also our physical. The Apostle Paul encouraged the believers in Corinth, "For we walk by faith, and not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7. Anything that can be felt, tasted, smelt, heard or seen will decay; it will not last. But what is experienced by faith is eternal. We often think of faith as something that we just wish for, or believe intellectually with our minds, and may even be convinced of but it can be proven. But the writer to the Hebrews gave a much more concrete definition to faith: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1. Because this was written in Greek, we look back to see what the word "Substance" means. In the Strong's lexicon it is # 5287: Hupostatsis (from a compound word #5259 = Hupo: under / #2476 = Histemi: to Stand, support. This word gives me the picture of a round table being held up by a strong pedestal underneath or of a tall house supported underneath by a firm foundation.
Anyone who has believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and been born into the kingdom of God is grafted into the family of Abraham. Abraham was the father of the FAITH. Paul gave a wonderful account of Abraham's faith to the Romans.
Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Romans 4:16-25
Abraham FELT old. He could look at Sarah's body and SEE that she was old and well past childbearing years. But he wasn't looking at the natural evidence. His faith was firmly fixed on the promise and he knew that the One Who gave the promise could give life to the dead and call those things that are not as though they were.
Paul was referring to a single line in Genesis that records: And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness. Genesis 15:6
This word, "believed" in Hebrew is "Amen". For thousands of years, when a Jewish man prays in the presence of others, when he concludes the prayer or blessing, the hearers respond, "Amen." In many Christian churches, when a man is preaching and says something that the congregation identifies with, they respond with, "Amen". They are thereby joining themselves to this truth as if they said it themselves.
This word, "Amen" is found in another passage of Scripture. Isaiah prophesied, "And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house" Isaiah 22:23 This word, "Sure place" is Amen (Strong's Hebrew #539: to build up or support, to be firm/faithful). My home was built in 1910 and the insides are overlaid with plaster, rather than sheetrock. If I want to hang a picture on the wall, I have to be very careful that I am driving the nail into a wooden stud. Otherwise, the plaster simply crumbles around the nail and the nail falls out with a very light amount of pressure. But God is promise to fasten "him" as a nail in a sure place "AMEN".
When Abraham AMEN'ed or believed in the Lord, he was in a sure place in the Lord. It didn't matter what his physical eyes could see or how he felt, he knew God was going to bring His Word to pass. And as spiritual sons of Abraham, if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, regardless of circumstance, regardless of what we see, hear, feel, taste, smell, then it is also counted to us for righteousness.
