Pondering His Holy Word

Numbers 21:8-9 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Over my time as a Christian, I’ve read the account of the bronze serpent many times, but recently something occurred to me. Even though God gives direct instructions for anyone who were bitten by the serpents to look at the bronze serpent to live, it still is possible that some people didn’t look at the serpent. It is possible for some of the many people who died, had the instructions to look at the serpent but chose not to. I acknowledge that this thought is purely conjecture based on how humanity has demonstrated to behave over the course of history.

Unfortunately, humanity, due to the nature of the fall in, seeks a grand miracle or some intense wisdom for us to believe or accept the divine. This is to our detriment. We seek to be like God, but we don’t submit to God. In our desire to seek the grand, we either overlook or outright reject the simple cure. 

When Naaman, the commander of the Syrian’s army, came to Elisha to be cured of leprosy, he became angry at Elisha’s instructions to wash in the river Jordan.

He said, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” (2 Kings 5:11-12). Naaman expected Elisha to demonstrate a sign from God to cure his leprosy, but when it didn’t happen, he believed that Elisha could have at least had him wash in a better river than the Jordan. Thankfully, he listened to his servant and followed Elisha’s instructions. 

This way of thinking is not uncommon in humanity. Paul writes, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:22-24).

Even today, the world seeks a sign of the salvation of God or some wisdom to accompany it because the world stumbles over the crucified Christ or we cannot follow the wisdom of a God who inserted Himself into human history as God incarnate born of a woman and dying for the sins of the world. For unbelievers, this is silly. Yet for those who believe, God’s power and wisdom are manifest in His gospel. 

In today’s world, nothing much has changed. We seek either a super religious experience or some deep wisdom. Still, the world seeks some visible sign or new knowledge, but shutter at the idea of a crucified Christ. In fact, a crucified Christ who died for the sins of the world is a deeply offensive concept for a world who trusts in the inherent goodness of man. In this blog, I want to dive into faith. 

Faith 

What is faith? Is it some type of force that believers use to get what they want? Is faith something that you can capture like the ingredients to a recipe, then create, or manifest, the objects of your desire? Can I be made well by the power of my faith? Is faith something that I feel or experience? Let’s look at what the bible says. The writer of Hebrews describes faith “The assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (11:1). 

Assurance of things hope for 

The KJV translates word hypostasis as substance; the NIV translates it as confidence, NASB 2020 translates it as certainty; the ESV translates the word as assurance. Merriam Webster defines confidence as a quality or state of being certain. It also defines assurance as being certain in mind. The same dictionary defines certain as known or proven to be true. So, faith is to be certain in mind of the things hope for, and these things hope for are proven to be true. 

So, when we are assured of a person’s or a source’s trustworthiness, we are certain that what this person says or what this source indicates is accurate and believable. As Christian, we believe that the Father is God Almighty, the first person of the Trinity, we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, and we believe that God, the Holy Spirit, is the third person of the Trinity. Each person is distinct in their personhood, but One in essence and God. 

Why do we believe this? Well, the bible describes God as three Persons and yet ultimately One in essence. Can any Christian explain it perfectly? Probably not, but we believe what the bible tells us, because we believe that the bible is a trustworthy source because the Author of the bible is the Holy Spirit, Himself. Yes, the bible has many human authors, but the Holy Spirit inspired all the writers to write God’s revelation to man. 

So, what does the Holy Spirit reveal in scripture? First let’s find out the role of the Holy Spirit by what He reveals about Himself in scripture.

In the Gospel According to John, Jesus says, “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about me.” In those plain words, the role of the Holy Spirit is made clear. He will bear Witness about Jesus. 

What does the Holy Spirit say about Jesus through the Old and New Testament? He says that God will send a seed of the woman to crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). This seed of the woman will come from the tribe of Judah more specifically from the line of David (Genesis 49:8-11 and 2 Samuel 7). He will be born of a virgin woman (Isaiah 7:14). He shall bear the griefs, sorrow, and iniquities of the world. He will rise from the dead and sit at the right hand of God (Psalms 110:1). Jesus will be a mediator, a High Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek (Psalms 110:4). 

All of these prophecies have come to pass. Jesus, the Son of David in the flesh, the Son of God by the Spirit was born of the virgin Mary. He was completely sinless and obedient from His birth to to His death on the cross, the death which was agonizing and prolonged. He died for the sins of the world so that those who would believe will have everlasting life. He rose on the third day, taught for an additional 40 days, and ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God. He is our great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek who mediates between Man and God. He pleads on our behalf (Hebrew 5:7-9). 

We, as followers of Christ, believe that all these things are true and have happened. We don’t just hope for it, but despite the fear of being redundant, we are assured and certain of it. We believe the Holy Spirit when He testifies to who Jesus Christ is and what He has done on our behalf. 

The conviction of things not seen. 

Yet, that is not the complete picture of faith. Faith also involves convictions. Christians have convictions of things not yet seen. What does conviction mean in relation to faith? In this context, convictions simply mean evidence or proof.

Christians have convictions that God is the Creator of the universe, and He created the universe by divine fiat or a divine command. “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3). In all of creation, God gave the command “Let there be,” and it was created by the words of His mouth. God created the universe from nothing, or ex nihilo (Hebrew 11:3). God gives us evidence of His existence and His invisible attributes have been clearly perceived in all, I repeat, in all of creation (Romans 1:20) so that on the judgment day, no one can claim ignorance.

Jesus has made some very specific promises to us in the Gospels. 

He said that those who believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). He promised us that He will be with us until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). He promised that He will return and gather His church; we will be His bride and will reign with Him in His kingdom (Revelation 22:6-21). 

However, two millennia have passed and we are still waiting (closer to 1,991 years), and He hasn’t yet returned. The original 10 of the 11 Apostles were killed as a witness, only the Apostle John died at an old age. The Apostle Paul was beheaded. Many of the early church fathers were killed. The early church did not live peaceful lives, but they faced death at all fronts from the Roman government, yet they remained faithful. Why is that? 

Let’s look at the account of Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna around AD 160. Polycarp was 86 years old when was brought into an arena before the Proconsul and the crowd. According to Christian history, the Proconsul implored him to recant. Here is a summary of the account: 

The Proconsul asked him whether he was Polycarp. On hearing that he was, he tried to persuade him to apostatize, saying, “Have respect for your age, swear by the fortune of Caesar. Repent, and say, ‘Down with the Atheists!’” 

Polycarp looked grimly at the wicked heathen multitude in the stadium, and gesturing towards them, he said, “Down with the Atheist!”

“Swear,” urge the Proconsul, “reproach Christ, and I will set you free/” 

“86 years have I served him,” Polycarp declared, “and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and Savior?” 

The proconsul threatened him with wild animals, and he responded, 

“Call them,” Polycarp replied, “It is unthinkable for me to repent from what is good to turn to what is evil. I will be glad though to be changed from evil to righteousness.” 

They threatened him with fire. This was his response: 

“You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour, and is then extinguished, but you know nothing of the fire of the coming judgment and eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. Why are you waiting? Bring on whatever you want.”

They killed him that day and he was faithful even as he died (Polycarp’s martyrdom). There is an entire article about the events leading up to his death and the events after on Christian History Institute. I will leave the link at the bottom of this blog. This being said, many of the early churches were martyred in the same fashion. All they had to do was recant and renounce Jesus as Lord, but they refused knowing that it would certainly lead to death. They had evidence that Jesus is who He says He is, and they remained strong. 

I’m reminded of the account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faithfulness when they were about to be thrown into the furnace. “If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18). Much of the early church had this same sentiment. Our God can and will save us, but if it is his will to suffer and die for His sake, let it be known that we will not serve the god of this world. Our convictions stand! 

Jesus tells us not to store treasures that are on earth that are perishable but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven that is eternal. (Matthew 6:19-21). He tells us not to be anxious about things that He knows that we need and that He will provide for us. He tells us to “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:22-33). As followers of Jesus, we forsake the things of this world, even our very life, pick up our cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23). 

To be faithful in Jesus Christ, we are to look to Jesus Christ and believe that Jesus is who He says He is and follow Him. Our path to the Kingdom of God takes us through the narrow gate and we are purged of the things of this world that perishes, and we put on our new self which is being formed into the likeness of God (Colossians 3:10). 

Yet for now we know that we are in the Church age, and God is growing His assembly. Until Jesus returns to consummate His kingdom, creation will groan, and we, as the church, will do the work that the Lord entrusted us to do. 

Faith Produces Works

Even though we are not saved by the works that we do, the works that we do are evidence of our salvations. In his epistle James, the brother of the Lord, writes “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). Our faith in Jesus Christ will produce fruit, “some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:8). Faith is not merely to intellectually assenting that Jesus is the Messiah. Faith is given to us a gift from God. He has effectively opened our eyes, by way of the Holy Spirit, to the Person and work of Jesus Christ.

God gave us our faith as a gift, and just like any gift, the recipient is expected to use it. I can have a job, but if I don’t go to work, I may as well not have a job because there is no benefit to having it except intellectually assenting to having a job. I am not benefiting the company (not saying that my actions will benefit God, for what can I give Him that He didn’t already have.) and I’m not gaining for having this job. It is just a job in name.

Again, I can say that I am a teacher, and that may very well be intellectually true, but if I do not practice my teaching, then my role as a teacher is essentially useless. When God opened our eyes to Jesus Christ, He expects us to act on the new sight that He gave us. If we do not, there would be no difference between us or an unbeliever. 

When the Holy Spirit regenerate us, we are made a new person under a new headship. We are now children of the light, and the Lord reflects His light in us. We were once children of darkness under the headship of Adam, but now we are under the headship of Christ. When we were in the world, our fruits were based on the seed of the world, but now that we are in Christ, our seed will produce godly fruits. We were once hostile to the things of God, but He reconciled us to Him so that we are saved. There are two types of people that are identified: People who produce godly fruits and people who produce worldly fruit. There is no middle ground. Our walk in Jesus will reflect His light.

As believers, we are to look to Christ in the same manner that God instructed the Israelites to look at the bronze serpent to be healed.  Our faith is the assurance of of the things Hoped for and the conviction of things that we have not yet seen.

References 

“Polycarp’s Martyrdom.” Christian History Institute, christianhistoryinstitute.org/study/module/polycarp/. Accessed 16 May 2024.