If the passage only talked about victories . . . But, it doesn't stop there. In the middle of verse 35, the writer slams on the brakes, shifts gears, and throws it into reverse. There are times when you get to experience the thrill of victory and other times when you have to be ready to suffer the agony of defeat. The second outcome of faith is that: Faith has also enabled God's people to endure bitter defeats (11:35b-40).

There are times when faith protects us from danger and other times when faith takes us through danger. Look at what these heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 had to endure. They were tortured, mistreated, and put to death. The end of verse 35 may recall an event in the Book of Maccabbees where seven Jewish brothers and their mother are tortured for not renouncing their faith. They encourage each other in their torture to remember the resurrection and the promise of something better on the other side.

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In this gallery of suffering, verse 37 appears to recall the Jewish traditions that Jeremiah was stoned to death and Isaiah was placed inside a hollow log and sawed in half because they dared to deliver a message that a sinful nation refused to hear. There was no escape; there was no angelic intervention; there was no Daniel-like deliverance where God rescued from death. The original audience of Hebrews needed to hear their stories because they had already suffered hardships for their faith (cf. 10:32-34; 12:4-7), and it was likely that their suffering was only going to become more severe.

There are two reasons why we have to be willing to accept the defeats along with the victories. Keeping our faith in the defeats is what makes our faith deep and strong. Someone has said, "American Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep." Our faith has shallow roots when we want the good things that God does for us but we walk away at the first sign of adversity. We need to steer clear of a rabbit's foot theology that treats God as a good-luck charm to keep us safe and warm.

Keeping our faith in our defeats is also how we experience our ultimate victories. That's the point in verses 39-40. These "old covenant" heroes held on in their suffering because they were waiting for the "new covenant' blessings that we enjoy today. The curtain falls on Hebrews 11 with all of God's people still waiting for the ultimate victory.

If Christians never went through the defeat of death, they would never experience the ultimate victory of resurrection. When James Boice stood in front of his congregation at the Tenth Presbyterian Church to announce that he was suffering with incurable cancer, he told the church that he appreciated those who were praying for his healing but he wanted even more for the church to pray that he would face his illness with the courage and faith that would bring honor to his Savior.

Real faith is able to celebrate our ultimate victory even in our worst defeats!

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Gary E. Yates is Assistant Professor of Bible at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio.

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1 John Goldingay, Men Behaving Badly (Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster Press, 2000), 292.