Living Up to Faith Heroes, Part 1

By Bernie Bostwick, Executive Vice President

I must confess, I never really was much into superheroes. Today, they are much the rave! The superhero that sticks in my mind as a boy is Superman. The beginning of his television show started with the announcer saying, “He is faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. He fights for truth, justice, and the American way.” This was all good stuff that “little me” wanted to imitate! I remember wrapping a bath towel around my neck to make a cape and bouncing off the living room sofa until my mother told me to stop jumping on the furniture. She just didn’t get that I was in the process of saving the world!

Thinking back on the episodes of Superman, I realize that even though he was able to save the day, in many regards that’s all he was able to save: that day. What happened to the innocent bystanders ten years, thirty years, or fifty years after he saved them? The truth is, none of these superheroes can conquer death. Even when Superman would catch the falling building, he only staved off death temporarily.

As we know, death is caused by sin. Whether you root for Marvel or DC, none of their superheroes can conquer sin and provide eternal life. The only person who can do that is Jesus Christ. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15: 55-57)

 
There is a list of heroes found in Hebrews 11:32-40. These biblical superheroes were humans just like us and had “superhero powers” given to them, not because they were bitten by a spider or exposed to radiation, but through faith.

“Through faith [they] conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection.”

Continued Next Time: Wow—now that is the stuff comics and movies are made of, right? But biblical superheroes did even more!

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