Gideon’s hope did lie in the God who rules. That is hard for us to see, isn’t it? We are not too impressed with where his heart was at the end, are we? Well, Gideon’s name is mentioned in the New Testament, in Hebrews 11, a chapter dedicated to Old Testament saints who had saving faith. Gideon is mentioned beside Samuel and David and the Prophets. So, whatever Gideon’s sins were in the latter years of his life, he still had saving faith. How can Gideon be counted a believer?
Well could we not ask the same about ourselves? To be sure, some of us may be spared from public kinds of sins. But what about the sins we have each committed that no one sees? What if every thought you have ever had was put on display for others to see? Would you want others to see the idolatry of your heart?
What saved Gideon, and what saves us, is not the strength of our faith, but the object of our faith. God the true King came in the flesh. This king saved Gideon, Israel, and us from sin.
18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?” They answered, “As you are, so were they. Every one of them resembled the son of a king.”