What Are the
Properties of Faith?
Part 3 of 3
Last month, we
investigated the difficult topic of
what determines whether we are living
with intellectual assent or genuine
faith in God. We discussed how our
behavior reveals who we truly are and
what we truly believe. Faith renders
obedience at all times in all
circumstances. In contrast,
intellectual assent excuses
transgression. When a person lives up
to all that he knows to be right and
true, he is living by faith.
Obedience and faith are inseparable.
God sees the motives of our hearts
and minds. He clearly sees each
transgression when there is a
separation between knowledge and
behavior. As we continue, the last
two segments will highlight different
properties of faith.
Faith That Overcomes
Fear
We could describe
faith in God as a form of heroism. An
ordinary person becomes a hero when
he willingly risks his own life to
save another life. Heroes are exalted
because their actions are an
expression of supreme love. Jesus
said, “Greater love has no one
than this, that he lay down his life
for his friends.” (John 15:13)
From God’s perspective, living
by faith is a heroic act because a
faithful person puts God’s will
above his own. A person reveals his
faith in God when he faces
threatening situations and chooses to
do right in God’s sight without
regard for the consequences. This
many sound strange, but faith is not
detected on “easy street.”
In fact, a person’s faith and
true character are not revealed until
he or she is tested which is why He
designed a testing time for everyone
during the Great Tribulation. Jesus
spoke to His faith-full believers at
Philadelphia saying, “Since you
have kept my command to endure
patiently, I will also keep you from
[during] the hour of trial that is
going to come upon the whole world to
test those who live on the
Earth.” (Revelation 3:10,
emphasis and insertion mine)
Faith and character
are often hidden from view until they
are tested. One way faith in God
grows is through personal study and
prayer. Similarly, character grows
from test to test. As we study the
Bible, the curtain is pulled back to
reveal the successes and failures of
people in the past. Even more
importantly, God reveals His
involvement and response. God sees
everything. In fact, the phrase
“the eyes of the Lord” is
mentioned 88 times in the Bible.
“For the eyes of the Lord range
throughout the earth
to strengthen those whose hearts are
fully committed to him.” (1
Chronicles 16:9, italics mine)
Jesus taught that
faith in God is not measured by size
because it can be as tiny as a
mustard seed and still move
mountains! (Matthew 17:20) Faith in
God is a choice. We demonstrate our
choices with each challenge that
comes our way. When confronted with a
test, those who live by faith grasp
the promises and providences of God,
and through His strength, they
overcome their fear. For example,
consider the actions of King
Jehoshaphat:
“After this, the
Moabites and Ammonites with some of
the Meunites came to make war on
Jehoshaphat. Some men came and told
Jehoshaphat, ‘A vast army is
coming upon you from Edom, from the
other side of the
Sea.’…Alarmed, Jehoshaphat
resolved to inquire of the Lord, and
he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.
“The people of
Judah came together to seek help from
the Lord; indeed, they came from
every town in Judah to seek him…
[The king offered prayer and he
concluded saying:] For we have no
power to face this vast army that is
attacking us. We do not know what to
do, but our eyes are upon you.’
“All the men of
Judah, with their wives and children
and little ones, stood before the
Lord. Then the Spirit of the Lord
came upon Jahaziel son of
Zechariah…. He said:
‘Listen King Jehoshaphat and all
who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This
is what the Lord says to you ‘Do
not be afraid or discouraged because
of this vast army. For the battle is
not yours, but God’s.
“’ Tomorrow
march down against them. They will be
climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and
you will find them at the end of the
gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. You
will not have to fight this battle.
Take up your positions; stand firm
and see the deliverance the Lord will
give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do
not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Go out to face them tomorrow, and the
Lord will be with you…’
“After consulting
the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men
to sing to the Lord and to praise him
for the splendor of his holiness as
they went out at the head of the
army, saying: ‘Give thanks to
the Lord, for his love endures
forever.’
As they began to sing
and praise, the Lord set ambushes
against the men of Ammon and Moab and
Mount Seir who were invading Judah,
and they were defeated.” (2
Chronicles 20: 1-22)
The faith of one man
inspired a whole nation to have faith
in God! To demonstrate his faith in
what God could do, King Jehosophat
placed an unarmed choir at the head
of his army. As the column marched
toward the enemy, they sang praises
to God who had promised victory. What
finer words could be used to end the
story, “and they [the enemy]
were defeated”? Blessed is the
person who gains victory over fear
through faith!
Total Surrender –
Even to Death
The most difficult
dimension in faith is total surrender
even to the point of death. Jesus
gave us the perfect example of this
kind of faith. A few hours before His
crucifixion, Jesus prayed:
“’Father, if you are
willing, take this cup from me; yet
not my will, but yours be done.’
An angel from heaven appeared to him
and strengthened him. And being in
anguish, he prayed more earnestly,
and his sweat was like drops of blood
falling to the ground.” (Luke
22: 42-44) The Father did not remove
the bitter cup that Jesus had to
drink, but the Father did send an
angel to strengthen Jesus.
Many people do not
realize this, but when it comes to
prayer, God may not answer prayers in
the way people anticipate due to
three reasons:
1. Divine wisdom and
foreknowledge: God sees tomorrow with
the same clarity that He sees today.
God always knows what is best. In
many situations, we may pray for the
outcome that would not be good for us
(or others), so divine wisdom and
love may prevent Him from answering
our petition in the way we think is
best. For example, what loving father
would give the keys to the car to his
ten year old son? Even human wisdom
has to say “no” from time
to time. So, when Jesus asked the
Father to remove the bitter cup, the
Father said “no” because
the redemption of sinners required
the death of a sinless sacrifice!
Therefore, the Father sent an angel
to strengthen Jesus so that He could
fulfill His mission, even if it meant
dying on the cross. Jesus lived a
life of faith and He accepted His own
death as the will of the Father. The
faith of Jesus is astonishing.
2. Justice and
fairness: God is love. His actions
and policies are based on the
principles of love, but He must be
unquestionably fair. For example, God
does not send miracles very often,
but when He does, it is usually in a
setting where He can accomplish
several objectives at the same time.
(Acts 14:3) For instance, millions of
sick people worldwide pray for
healing. It would not be fair for God
to answer some petitions and ignore
others. God does not cancel the laws
of cause and effect, and He is not
cancelling the curse of sin right
now. However, He does the next best
thing to help everyone which is to
increase knowledge and give people
the ability to help one another.
God loves everyone
(Matthew 5:45) and He gives us a
great deal of freedom which enables
us to grow in knowledge and exercise
our faith in Him. Of course, God
knows tremendous injustice is
occurring on Earth. God sees the
sufferings caused by predators, and
believe me, He keeps records and He
will deal with those who have hurt
others and prayed on the
vulnerability of the poor, sick and
elderly at the time He has chosen.
Of course, human
beings want justice executed right
away, but God has ordained that
justice will be served after the
drama with sin is over. He will deal
with all of the wicked and be sure
they receive the appropriate
punishment for the sins they have
committed. Be assured, the wicked are
heirs too – only they will
receive God’s wrath when the
time is right. No crime will go
unpunished.
3. The curse of sin:
Until the curse is lifted, God must
allow the consequences of sin to
bring about sorrow, suffering, and
death. God has ordained that the
curse of sin will last long enough to
accomplish His objectives and not one
day longer. Three reasons come to
mind for allowing the curse of sin to
exist for six millennia:
First, God foreknew
that it would take 6,000 years to
produce enough saints to
“repopulate” Heaven. Right
now, Heaven is two-thirds full. When
redemption is accomplished, Heaven
will be restored to three-thirds
– a full house!
Second, God foreknew
that it would take 6,000 years for
the curse of sin to mature. Since
God’s greatest problem is the
prevention of a third episode
with sin, He has
allowed the consequences of sin to
develop. God wants the knowledge of
good and evil to be completely
revealed. Going forward through
eternity, there will be no excuse for
sin or rebellion. No one will be able
to create lies or arguments against
God’s character or government
because the truth about God will have
been demonstrated. No question will
remain about the supremacy of
God’s government or the purity
of His character.
Finally, at the end of
sin’s drama, God will show the
universe who Jesus really is. God
will show the universe that
Lucifer’s character changed and
he became a liar and a murderer
because of sin. God will show the
universe that sin makes predators of
every sinner – given time and
opportunity. God will show the
universe the great price that was
paid for the redemption of sinners.
God will show the universe that He
has perfect foreknowledge and even
though He knows the end form the
beginning, He will not treat His
children according to His
foreknowledge, but bases on His love.
When God creates the new Heaven and
the new Earth, He will replace it
with something better than He had
when He first created Heaven and
Earth. Everyone living in His house
will understand the horrific
consequences of sin. The knowledge of
good and evil will be complete as
well as the knowledge of God’s
purity and perfect love. What a
really wonderful way to press the
reset button and begin eternity all
over again!
Knowing all this helps
to understand why God turned down
Jesus’ petition. Jesus prayed to
escape Calvary, but the Father knew
that the redemption of sinners
required the death of a perfect
sacrifice. His hands were tied by
love for us (“For God so loved
the world…”) and His hands
remain tied by the curse of sin. Do
not be discouraged. Rejoice! A day is
coming when God will righteously
annihilate the wicked and purify the
universe of sin.
Summary
In these three issues
of the Wake Up Report! We have
examined four dimensions of faith.
1. Obeying a direct
order
2. Faith versus faith
and intellectual assent versus faith
3. Faith overcoming
fear
4. Total surrender
Each dimension has its
own properties and challenges, but
they all have one thing in common
– choice. A life of faith begins
when a person chooses to surrender
his will to God’s will and live
by faith. By choosing to live by
faith, a person becomes an heir of
righteousness which is necessary for
salvation. None of us have escaped
the curse of sin yet, but we do have
the promise of salvation and that is
good enough. Tests and trials comes
with commensurate grace from God. His
grace is sufficient for any challenge
when we surrender to His will. Living
by faith – there is nothing like
it, yet nothing is more difficult and
more exciting at the same time.
Larry Wilson
