01.07. Chapter 6: Unquenchable Flame-2
CHAPTER SIX Continued….
GLORIOUS VISION The writer of Hebrews says about Abraham that "by faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Hebrews 11:9-10).
One very important teaching of the Scripture is that we are all pilgrims and strangers in this world, implying that this world is not the final end of God’s creation of man. While this perspective of Abraham and the patriarchs is not stated in the Old Testament, the writer of Hebrews tells us that their humble dwelling in tents in the land promised to them signified that they looked for the promise of not an earthly city but the city of God. Abraham did reach the Promised Land but never possessed it. In fact, when Sara died, Abraham requested of the inhabitants to sell him a place for her burial, which signified that he didn’t even have a place of his own to bury his wife. He lived as an alien in that land as he himself confessed "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you" (Genesis 23:4). That is the reason he lived in tents like a nomad. Our father of faith never had a building of his own on this earth though he was definitely rich in other possessions. He neither built a house or a city for himself and the Bible never says that he sought one for his own. He and the patriarchs lived as strangers and pilgrims in this world (Hebrews 11:13), which meant that their journey, though begun in this world was not to end here.
Eternal Dimension of Faith
Faith assuredly has an eternal dimension to it. Eternality is a necessary characteristic of faith. This is so because faith is infinitely unsatiated in itself, by itself, and for itself. Therefore, it finds ultimate satisfaction in a categorical plunge into the infinite depths of God Himself. Obviously, faith in temporal objects has only temporal significance. However, the faith of God has eternal significance. All faith related to this world is nullified by death. Beyond the grave faith in temporal objects has no value. In fact, temporality gains its distinctive meaning from death itself. Temporality is both timeness and towards-deathness. In other words, to be conditioned by time is to be temporal. At the same time, one experiences death by only being in time; therefore, mortality (deathness) is only characteristic of temporal beings. But faith being trans-temporal is undaunted at death. Faith is joy and peace of eternal quality since it nullifies the carelessness of youth and the anxiety of ageing. The believing youth, therefore, is careful in his walk while the old look forward with anticipation. This also means that true faith is unattached to the world of temporal possessions, positions, and pleasures.
1. Faith Transcends Temporality. As long as one is constricted by space-time desires and purposes, faith can’t progress. The vision of faith is transcendent. It looks beyond this world to the eternal realities of God. This is what characterizes a walk by faith that is not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). By sight is meant "with reference to appearances"; i.e. to the objects and events of this temporal world. By faith is meant "with reference to God’s Word"; i.e. to eternal facts secured by the promises of God. Faith obstructs temporal finalizations since it attaches itself to God’s ultimate purposes. The final vision of faith determines the believer’s lifestyle. The three kinds of vision, one must notice, are final, personal, and temporal. One sees all such vision with the eyes of faith alone. Final vision refers to the vision that God has regarding creation. Abraham saw the city of God as God’s final architecture for believers; and he saw it with the eyes of faith. Personal vision is the personal calling of each believer in relation to this final vision of God. It is the high and heavenly calling for which God calls His people. For instance, Paul’s calling was to be a witness of Christ’s mysteries to the gentiles which included suffering for His name’s sake. His satisfactory fulfillment of that calling enabled him to declare that he had fought a good fight of faith (Galatians 1:16 ; Zephaniah 3:6-8 ; Acts 9:15-16; 2 Timothy 4:7 ). All such visions have eternal consequences. Temporal vision, on the other hand, is simply setting up worldly goals and objectives that may not relate necessarily to God’s calling and Kingdom. These may be goals defined by companies or institutions or a person’s desire to get something like a house or a bicycle. Though through faith in God such temporal objects can be obtained, their validity or invalidity is determined by their connection to God’s final will and His calling over our lives. In human eyes, success is defined in terms of human praise. And natural men naturally praise physically appealing things or things that cater to their wishful thinking of spirituality or hedonism. But God’s praise is of truth; truth established by His Word. And it is by faith that one connects to this divine truth and vision despite of the direction of the waves of human thinking.
2. Faith Anticipates Immortality. The apprehension and vicarious experience of death stagnates any faith and hope that is temporally grounded. Those who trust on material things and the things of this world are, therefore, soon distraught. But the faith of God looks beyond death. It is by this faith that Job declared: "after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another" (Job 19:26-27, NIV). Similarly, David says "my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay" (Psalms 16:9-10 ). The text obviously, has three meanings. Firstly, it means that God will protect David from all danger of death and will not abandon him to destruction: this has a temporal dimension since David had to ultimately die. The second meaning is as expounded by Peter in Acts 2:31 that David prophesied about the resurrection of Jesus Christ: this has a Christo-prophetical dimension as Christ is the basis of resurrection to life. The final meaning relates to David’s resurrection himself. The word for "decay" is shachath which means pit, grave, destruction or extermination. David prophesies about himself that God will not let temporality consume him forever; for though we live in space-time we are not made to terminate with it. The divine assurance of resurrection and eternal life is the antidote to the fear of death. Faith frees the believer from the chains of this-worldly ambitions, from the anxiety of failure, of ageing, of weakness, and the dread of death.
3. Faith Instills Responsibility. A man of faith lives with eternity in mind. His life is, therefore, characterized by accountability and soberness. An unbeliever who doesn’t take the future into consideration dallies away time in careless indulgences. He is unmindful of the danger lying ahead. He cannot see ahead because his eyes are set on the ground. The Epicurean slogan "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die" is true of them, for they truly do die in their sins. For as they live in their pleasures, they also die in their pleasures. Therefore, the careless souls will not be justified on the Day of Judgment. The unbeliever doesn’t have the light of God and lives in perpetual darkness until the day when death sucks him into the pit of everlasting darkness. But we are not of the darkness but of the light. And "since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet" (1 Thessalonians 5:8-9, NIV). The combination of faith and love as a breastplate talks of the knowledge of faith as reflective and active in the accountability and care of love. Life is care only for faith that works through love. A carnal man cares for neither his soul nor for the souls of others. He looks at lust or passion as an end in itself and wallows in sin despite knowing of its evil. But faith and care (love) together with hope (knowledge with anticipation) helps in spiritual warfare. While the hope of salvation protects the mind from the false and destructive ideas of the world, faith and love protect the heart from deadly desires and fatal feelings. It is not enough to know with the mind. A drunkard knows that alcohol is destructive and still submerges himself in it because in him mental knowledge is not combined with active faith and care. If he truly loved himself, the drunkard would do anything to save himself. He would become sober and responsible. He cannot hope since he cannot act in faith and love. Therefore, as the mind and the heart must agree for agreeable action, hope and caring faith must agree towards the salvation of the soul.
One who lives with an eternal perspective will never allow the world to bind him either to the past or the present. One can’t look forward by looking backward. The past may have been wrong, but it is just the past. To be chained to the past memories, failures, or pains is to lose sight of the great eternal. Similarly, to be chained to the present worries and worldly demands is to lose sight of God’s eternal plan and purposes. While the past can disparage a man and the present debilitate him, faith lifts one above his feelings and circumstances to act, without hesitation, in accordance with the eternal purposes of God. Only a man of faith and eternal vision is, therefore, truly responsible.
Divine Architect
Hebrews tells us that Abraham looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10). The same testimony is also given of the patriarchs that they lived as pilgrims and strangers looking for a city prepared for them by God, a heavenly one (Hebrews 11:13-16). The three active descriptors of God are important for our understanding of the vision of faith.
1. God is Builder of the City. The word for "builder" is technites (τεχνίτης) which means "artificer", "builder", "craftsman", and "architect". God is the one who drew the layout and built this City. This is not a garden like that of Eden but is a city that has a plan and structure unrivalled by and infinitely superior to all earthly cities built by men. One may wonder if God had intended this to be the vision of the patriarchs then why He should have led them into the land of Canaan after all to dwell in tents. The answer is that God did purpose to give Canaan to them as He did but that was just an intermediate plan related to the coming of the Messiah. The final vision is, of course, of this great city. To live in tents meant to have no permanent dwelling place on this earth; no permanent city, no permanent home. The city that God has built for His royal people is their only final abode. The city is built after God’s own heart, desire, and design. It is false of believers to imagine wishfully about this city. One who submits to God by faith also submits to His plan and design since he trusts in God’s wisdom and purposes. Commitment along the way in trust on God is also commitment towards the end of faith, the reward that God gives to the faithful.
2. God is Maker of the City. The city has foundations, meaning it is permanent and not like the tents they lived in. The word for "maker" is demiourgos (δημιουργός) which was used by the philosophers Xenophanes and Plato for the Creator-God. The term is only used once, that is here, in the New Testament. Since Demiourgos is someone who works (ergon) for the people (demos), He is also seen as not just the maker of the physical city but also as the God who structured the city as a permanent dwelling place for His people. He is the governor of the City and the people for whom He has built the City. As Demiourgos or Demiurge, He is the sovereign Owner and Master of the City. However, the Bible makes it clear that by faith in Christ one becomes heir of God’s Kingdom and citizen of this City of God. But the unbelievers will find no entrance into it (Revelation 22:15). Since God has built this City for His people, He is not ashamed to be called their God (Hebrews 11:16).
3. God has prepared this City for the Believers. The word hetoimazo (ἑτοιμάζω) in verse 16 denotes making full preparations or making ready. It signifies the completeness and perfection of God’s work. Anyone who clearly realizes this will not lack anything in faith since he is assured of the fact that God’s plan doesn’t lack anything. Further, there is a futurist dimension to it. That is the reason why it is apprehended by faith and not by sight. It is yet to appear but when it appears it will overshadow all things. Finally, this speaks of God’s total concern and love for His people. He prepares for them a dwelling place since He cares for them.
It is this vision of an eternal City that defines the lifestyle of the believer. The believer is not threatened by worldly forces nor confused by worldly wisdom because he has had a vision of God’s established City in heaven.
UNQUESTIONING OBEDIENCE When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only begotten son, Isaac, he did that without argument or doubts. Isaac embodied and symbolized God’s promise to Abraham to make him a nation. By asking for Isaac, God was asking Abraham to lay at God’s altar his whole sense of leaving his own nation and following God’s vision to this point. In fact, many would consider this to be senseless. But Abraham was differently minded; for him sense and sensibility were related to the character of God and not the insufficient reasoning of man. Would anyone be willing to give away the ministry and labor he has invested so much of time and energy into? But Abraham didn’t think of his life or the gifts as belonging to himself. Therefore, he was so beloved of God. He knew God and His promises as never failing and reasoned that though God had asked for Isaac’s sacrifice He "was able to raise him up, even from the dead" (Hebrews 11:19, NKJV), which God did, figuratively speaking, as the Scripture says. The difficulty with the divine demand of Isaac’s sacrifice is that it seems heathenish and barbaric. God’s demand of the promised son, however, has deeper implications. In fact, one must understand that God is vehemently against human sacrifice, since it constitutes murder (cp. 2 Kings 16:3 ; 2 Kings 17:31); but, at the end it was through the sacrifice of the Man Jesus that salvation was procured for mankind. This was so because Jesus was not sacrificed by men but He was appointed as a sacrifice for our sins by God and, He being the image and expression of God, gave Himself as an eternal sacrifice for our sins. While animal sacrifice possessed symbolic significance of Jesus’ death, the heathen practice of human sacrifice was totally error-driven for it considered the sacrifice of other humans as possessing propitiatory or meritorious virtue, which it didn’t. Secondly, animals could be rightly purchased and owned but freedom is a human’s birthright and, therefore, even a father has no right to sacrifice his son. But since God is Sovereign owner of all things, He can do as He wills. And so He appointed His own Son as the sacrifice for the sins of the world. Similarly, now He asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac; obviously, not because Abraham was owner of Isaac – he wasn’t – but because God was the one who gave Isaac to Abraham and He had the right to demand him back. Job too had the same conception when he confessed in response to the death of his children saying "The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21, NKJV). However, we are dealing with very delicate issues here. Any false step can bring disaster. We know of false cults that authorized child and human sacrifice in the name of religious authority. It is heinous to even think of God ever requiring such rituals and we consider such cults as inhumane and demonic. Obviously, God’s demand of Isaac’s sacrifice constitutes a far greater problematic of faith to the Christian than to someone from a superstitious heathen background.
We understand that Abraham was experienced enough to recognize God’s voice when it came to him. We also understand that Abraham lived in an age when the Bible didn’t exist in the final form as we have it now. Therefore, any experience could not be measured by the final standard of the written Word. Consequently, Abraham’s faith rested in God’s self-revelation of Himself through visions or personal appearances. But Abraham knew God’s voice and didn’t hesitate to obey it. I believe an understanding of Abraham’s response in faith to God’s demand helps us understand how to deal with the problematic of paradoxical faith. In fact, we observe that Abraham sacrificed Isaac by faith, which means that He believed God and His promises and the fact that Isaac could not die since God could not be falsified.
1. Abraham’s Obedience Was Historically Grounded. The divine command was not without a precursor. The same God who was true to His promise in granting Him a son had now asked for that son. Abraham’s obedience was clothed with a rich experience of God’s faithfulness throughout his life. It was God who called him, God who blessed him, God who led him, and God who gave him Isaac. He and his wife Sarah knew God’s faithfulness in a very realistic and personal way. It is testified about Sarah that she considered God as true to His word and that she by faith received strength to conceive and bear the child Isaac (Hebrews 11:11). God kept His promise without failure. Therefore, God could not be false to Abraham nor to Himself. Abraham knew that Isaac could not die because God’s promise of making of him a nation could not be false and was not false. If God had asked for Isaac’s sacrifice, there must have been some reason behind it. Evidently, that reason was not Isaac’s annihilation or sacrificial consumption in death but something that related to God’s good purposes.
2. Abraham’s Obedience Was Personal. Abraham’s obedience was to a personal command. God’s personal commands must be distinguished from His general commands. For instance, Jesus asked the rich young man to sell his possessions and follow Him. This doesn’t mean that every rich man should sell his possessions though all are called to follow Jesus. God has often told several men and women to do certain things that were specifically for them to do and not for others. Such commands are situational. For instance, Jesus commanded Peter to walk on water. This doesn’t mean that Peter was given the gift to always walk on water and every believer should be a water-walker as if not walking on water demonstrated a lack of faith. In some situations God’s specific or situational workings may appear contradictory to His will but it is not so. For instance, God signified to the wise men of Christ’s birth through a star. Obviously, God doesn’t endorse astrology here but in that situation, He chose to reveal to them this event through a way that appealed to their rationality. Does this mean that God’s acts are arbitrary, capricious, and indeterminate? Of course, not; the fact is that God speaks to each individual in a way that is so personal between God and that person that it might sometimes be not understandable to others. God judges man in accordance to his response to this personal work of God in his life. The principle behind the personal command must be, however, clearly understood. For instance, in the wise men’s case, the principle was that God evidential communication comes in contextually true ways. The star that they saw was a truly divine sign and not something imagined by men. God gave it. It was not based on human studies of already existent stars. Similarly, the principle behind the command to sell all possessions is that God’s command to love cannot be subsistent with a love for mammon. In Abraham’s case, God was testing him (it was a test as the Scriptures testify) to see if he really revered God after his son was already born, after a significant part of the vision was completed, and after Abraham’s line of descendancy was assured through Isaac. Did Abraham consider God more important than his progeny or a whole nation that was contained in Isaac in seed form? Abraham’s obedience revealed the answer to the end that God testified saying "now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me" (Genesis 22:12, NKJV). It was a personal test that Abraham passed.
3. Abraham’s Obedience Was Optimistic. Abraham anticipated an optimistic result of obedience. He knew that the God who produced Isaac from the weakness of Abraham’s loins was able to also raise him from the dead (Hebrews 11:19). It was with this assurance that he told his two servants "Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you" (Genesis 22:5, NKJV). He knew that he would not return without the lad. That was the confidence of his faith. Accordingly, he told his son on the way that "God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering" (Genesis 22:8) when his son observed that they had everything except the sacrificial animal. His faith was optimistic. He saw beyond this sacrificial event, the historical future of a nation sprung up from Isaac. Therefore, Abraham was not grieved to obey God. I feel he actually was enthusiastic to see what God had in all this asking him to do this thing.
4. Abraham’s Obedience Was Rational. The writer of Hebrews says that Abraham accounted (logizomai) or reasoned within himself that God was able to raise Isaac up from the dead. His obedience was not based on superstitious belief but on the logical calculation of what God had done and what He was able to do. He was assured of both the faithfulness and power of God. It is like a motor-bike stunt man who calculates speed, time, and other factors before performing the final stunt. The stunt man’s faith in these things may go wrong, but faith in God’s righteousness and power cannot be deficient. If one chooses to believe in God one must believe Him fully or not at all. There is nothing like a partial belief in God. All partial belief is equivalent to unbelief or not knowing God as He is. Thus, Abraham’s obedience was a calculated and well reasoned obedience.
5. The Demand Was Unique and Unrepeatable. God’s demand for Isaac’s sacrifice was both unprecedented and final in the history of man. God never before demanded such sacrifice and has never ever demanded it again. It was uniquely Abrahamic because of the nature of the promise, the symbolic figure of Isaac, the nature of Abrahamic faith, and the confirmation of a future history that was unique in itself through the promise of God as God said after this "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son – blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice" (Genesis 22:16-18, NKJV). The sacrifice of Isaac, consequentially, possessed a symbolic meaning of the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Christ. Isaac’s return as if from the dead was the sowing of the seed for a greater harvest of many nations being blessed in him. Similarly, Jesus who was born in this genealogical line died as wheat falling to the ground to bring about a new race of God’s sons from different nations of the earth. In Isaac was the Messianic line sanctified through this Abrahamic act of consecration through faith. God never wanted Isaac’s sacrifice. He only wanted Abraham’s consecration. Since the Messianic line was consecrated in Isaac, his sacrifice was also final with regard to its nature, i.e. as confirmation or finalization of the promised Messianic line in him. Years later, Christ would be sacrificed as a propitiation for the sins of the world by a voluntary and substitutory sacrifice. While Isaac’s sacrifice was final in the sense of the consecration of the Messianic line; Christ’s sacrifice was final with regard to the propitiation of sins and the consecration of a new race of believers for God. Therefore, we are sanctified by faith in Christ (Acts 26:18).
Thus, we understand that Abraham’s obedience was governed by several factors. First of all, he had a historical experience of God and therefore understood this divine demand from such historical perspective. Secondly, we saw that the demand was personal and specially related to him and his situation. Thirdly, Abraham’s faith was optimistically assured by His understanding of the nature and character of God and so he was bold in obedience. Fourthly, we saw that Abraham’s obedience was rational as he calculated the possibilities of God and the factuality of God’s faithfulness and righteousness regarding Isaac on the basis of faith. Finally, we saw that this particular demand of God was uniquely Abrahamic only. It is both unprecedented and never demanded again. Therefore, this sacrifice is sealed with Abraham. That means that it is impossible for God to demand anything like that again from anyone. But Abraham’s act of obedience sets an example of unquestioning obedience before us. Indubitably, today we live in the age of the Bible. God’s written Word is in our midst, and the truths of which it is witness are the objects of our belief. If anyone claims that he has had a special revelation of God to which he is being obedient while being openly disobedient to the already revealed and written Word of God, then we know that such person’s claims are all false. For there can be no personal and particular demands on anyone who has not yet learnt to conform to the general and universal demands of God’s Word. All liars, hypocrites, seducers, and cheats who falsely claim divine authority while themselves being twisters of Scriptures are faithless and unbelieving in spirit. One must beware of them. But if someone is obedient to God’s Word then he will also know in a rationally significant manner what God wills him to do in particular times. To summarize the chapter, Abraham’s faith teaches us to be confident, instant, optimistic, rational, and unquestioning in our obedience to God. The enemies of faith are doubt, evil desire, and division. Faith is established verbally by confession, practically by conduct, and objectively by communion. It has an eternal dimension being infinitely dissatisfied with the things of the world: consequently, it finds repose only in the infinite depths of God’s love and faithfulness. This kind of faith raises one from the fringes of temporal satisfaction, instills in one responsibility, and frees one from the fear of the future. It also rests assuredly in and conforms to the designs and plans of God the Divine Architect. Finally, faith is not mere blind belief but is historically grounded, personally oriented, rationally established, and existentially confident. Therefore, true faith inherits the promises of God as Abraham did.
THINGS TO REMEMBER:
1. One only gets according to his faith.
2. Doubt, lust, and pride are enemies of faith.
3. A man of faith confesses God’s Word and lives according to it.
4. A man of faith is not earthly minded; he looks to the glorious vision of God’s heaven.