========================================================================
  WRITINGS OF DOMENIC MARBANIANG
  by Domenic Marbaniang
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A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by Domenic Marbaniang,
compiled for study and devotional reading.

  Chapters: 46

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 00.00. Marbaniang, Domenic - Library
    2. 01.00. Exporations of Faith - Hebrews 11
    3. 01.002.     Introduction
    4. 01.01.     Chapter 1: Beyond Uncertainty
    5. 01.02.     Chapter 2: Zero Reinterpreted
    6. 01.03.     Chapter 3: Effacing Evanescence
    7. 01.04.     Chapter 4: Climbing the Clouds
    8. 01.05.     Chapter 5: Ship without Sails
    9. 01.06.     Chapter 6: Unquenchable Flame
   10. 01.07.     Chapter 6: Unquenchable Flame-2
   11. 01.08.     Chapter 7: Great Salvation
   12. 01.09.     Conclusion
   13. 01.10.     D-Bibliography
   14. 02.01. Outline of Theology
   15. 02.01B.     Resources
   16. 02.01C.     Contents
   17. 02.01I.     Introduction
   18. 02.02.     Bibliology (Bible)
   19. 02.03.     Theology Proper (God)
   20. 02.04.     Trinity
   21. 02.05.     Christology (Jesus Christ)
   22. 02.06.     Pneumatology (Holy Spirit)
   23. 02.07.     Creation
   24. 02.08.     Angelology (Angels)
   25. 02.09.     Demonology (Demons)
   26. 02.10.     Anthropology (Man)
   27. 02.12.     Atonement
   28. 02.13.     Soteriology (Salvation)
   29. 02.14.     Ecclesiology (Church)
   30. 02.15.     Eschatology (Last Things)
   31. 03.00. Psalm 50, A Psalm of Asaph
   32. 03.01.     Introduction
   33. 03.01.     The Divine Appearance (1-3)
   34. 03.02.     The Divine Call (4-15)
   35. 03.03.     The Divine Warning (16-22)
   36. 03.04.     The Divine Postcript (23)
   37. 03.05.     Conclusion
   38. 03.06.     Bibliography
   39. 04.00. Three Major Religions
   40. 04.01.     Origin of Religions
   41. 04.02.     Christian View of Other Religions
   42. 04.03.     Hinduism
   43. 04.04.     Buddhism
   44. 04.05.     Islam
   45. 04.06.     Recommended Guides
   46. S.     Practical Christian Ethics

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  CHAPTER 1: 00.00. MARBANIANG, DOMENIC - LIBRARY
========================================================================

Marbaniang, Domenic - Library Marbaniang, Domenic - Explorations of Faith -
Hebrews 11 Marbaniang, Domenic - Outline of Theology Marbaniang, Domenic - Psalm
50, A Psalm of Asaph Marbaniang, Domenic - Three Major Religions S. Practical
Christian Ethics


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  CHAPTER 2: 01.00. EXPORATIONS OF FAITH - HEBREWS 11
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EXPLORATIONS of FAITH Studies of the Heroes of Faith in Hebrews 11 DOMENIC
MARBANIANG

Contents

Introduction Beyond Uncertainty Zero Reinterpreted Effacing Evanescence Climbing
the Clouds Ship without Sails Unquenchable Flame

Great Salvation

Conclusion

Bibliography


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  CHAPTER 3: 01.002.     INTRODUCTION
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Introduction

Hebrews 11:1-40 has been one of the most inspiring chapters of faith in the
Bible throughout the history of Christianity. The book of Hebrews itself is the
sacred saga of God’s self-revealing of Himself as the salvation of the world
through faith. The power of faith in God is indubitable. The horror of doubt is
unimaginable. In My Confession, Leo Tolstoy, the Russian novelist and former
atheist, confessed that it was faith in God that finally brought true meaning
into the confused and crumbling structure of his life. A few years before faith
had come to his aid, his life had started to seem meaningless and absurd to him,
a feeling that was almost destroying him from the inside. He felt that he had no
reason to either live or do the things he was doing.

…five years ago, a strange state of mind began to grow upon me: I had moments of
perplexity, of a stoppage, as it were, of life, as if I did not know how I was
to live, what I was to do, and I began to wander, and was a victim to low
spirits…. These stoppages of life always presented themselves to me with the
same questions: "Why?" and "What after?"

I was perfectly disconcerted, and knew not what to think. Another time, dwelling
on the thought of how I should educate my children, I ask myself "Why?" Again,
when considering by what means the well-being of the people might best be
promoted, I suddenly exclaimed, "But what concern have I with it?" When I
thought of the fame which my works were gaining me, I said to myself:

"Well, what if I should be more famous than Gogol, Pushkin, Shakespeare, Molière
– than all the writers of the world – well, and what then?"…

I could find no reply. Such questions will not wait: they demand an immediate
answer… but answer there was none.

I felt that the ground on which I stood was crumbling, that there was nothing
for me to stand on, that what I had been living for was nothing, that I had no
reason for living….

Tolstoy described this sense of meaninglessness as "some irresistible force"
that was dragging him onward "to escape from life." Many do try to escape this
situation by indulging in materialistic pleasures or pursuits. Drugs, parties,
shopping, television, games, etc provide easy means for escaping the seriousness
of life. However, this indulgence is not without its boredom and vexation of
spirit; while the flesh is being indulged in its passions, the spirit is
suffocated. After much study of this problem, Tolstoy found that it was true
faith in God alone that gave him meaning in life. He said,

I remembered that I had lived only when I believed in a God. As it was before,
so it was now. I had only to know God, and I lived; I had only to forget Him,
not to believe in Him, and I died…. To know God and to live are one. God is
life. The question that Tolstoy didn’t attempt to answer was "Is there really a
God?" To him, as well, as to many believers that is not the beginning point. The
Swiss theologian Karl Barth said that the existence of God is not a thesis to be
proved but a fact of revelation that has to be accepted by faith. The believer
doesn’t believe simply that God exists: he believes in God. The confrontation
with God through faith is the most real one because God Himself is the author
and source of all reality. It is a matter of fact that the Bible doesn’t begin
with an attempt to prove God’s existence: it begins with faith in God. But faith
and truth must be properly connected or else the result would be false belief.

FAITH AND TRUTH The faith of God (faith that is particularly related to God) is
the most assured, trustworthy, irrefutable, truthful, and credible fact of
Biblical experience. Therefore, the psalmist calls someone who denies God as a
fool (Psalms 14:1). He is a fool not just in the sense of being unintelligent
but in the sense of being wicked in sin since he knowingly denies what he
irrefutably knows to be the truest fact, viz. the existence of God. He is also a
fool because he thinks that by stating so he can escape the penetrating eyes of
God. It is like a child who covers his eyes with his hands and then thinks no
one is watching him. The importance of faith as inevitable for any relation
among humans and between them and the universe is evident from the fact that the
Romans worshipped Faith as a goddess, honoring her with temples, altars, and
sacred rites, as Augustine mentions. But this deifying of Faith desacralized it
since all worldly instances of faith among humans would be referred to
originating from her in the same manner that all instances of love were related
to Eros or Cupid. Secondly, this deifying of Faith desacralizes faith in the
sense that it finds its source and end in the goddess herself and thus is
rendered powerless to be the means of relating with the infinite and true God of
all creation. Obviously, this Roman worship did signify in a sense the high
value of faith in human society. However, Augustine rightly censured the
deifying of it as being illogical, false, and vain. He calls faith as a part of
justice, which is one of the four cardinal virtues, viz. prudence, justice,
fortitude, and temperance; and then questions why temples and altars were
dedicated to faith but not to fortitude, temperance, and prudence. Someone might
answer that they need not be worshipped separately since they are worshipped in
the form of the goddess Virtue. But, he asks, if they could so be worshipped in
the form of Virtue (of which faith is a part but is still worshipped separately)
then they could thus worship the true God also. In other words, if the Romans
could worship all the different virtues as the goddess Virtue then they do not
need so many deities after all. The worship of the only one God would suffice
all. Thus, the deifying of faith was both irrational and meaningless. But the
deifying of faith as Faith didn’t end with the Romans. It has emerged in the
popular positive thinking philosophy that looks at faith as if it were a god or
a deity, possessing infinite power to accomplish anything. Now positive thinking
in relation to divine revelation is healthy. But positive thinking in relation
to positive thinking itself is baseless. The Bible doesn’t call us to faith in
Faith but to faith in the truth of God; ultimately in God.

There is a popular saying in India that if one stubbornly believes a stone to be
gold, it will become gold for him. I believe this is a dangerous belief that
confuses truth with imagination. For instance, if a man boarded a train that was
headed towards Chennai and kept on believing strongly that it is heading towards
New Delhi; will the train change its direction just for the sake of his strong
faith? What about the faith of the other passengers? Obviously, here faith
deprived of truth is false. On the other hand, if there is a truth and it is not
believed on, that truth becomes useless to the unbeliever. Thus, faith must be
combined with truth in order to be productive. Therefore, the writer of Hebrews
says regarding the Israelites: "For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as
unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith
in them that heard it" (Hebrews 4:2).

Faith, obviously, then is only productive when it is faith in the truth. While
faith in temporal truths (like faith in the laws of physics or in some economic
theory) has only temporal value (i.e. as long as one remains in this world or as
long as this world remains); faith in the truth of God has eternal value and
significance.

There are many faiths in this world. That doesn’t mean that all of them are
true. For when two statements contradict each other, either one or both of them
are false. They can’t be true at the same time. For instance, if I say that my
pen has only blue ink and someone else says that my pen has only black ink, we
have run into a contradiction. For since I said that it has only blue ink, it
cannot have any other color of ink. Either I or the other person is right; or
both are wrong (the pen may have red ink); but both cannot be true at the same
time. Similarly, there are many differences in belief about God, man, and the
universe. Either one of them is true or none of them is true. This is an
undeniable assumption behind all valid reasoning.

Pluralism and Exclusivity of Truth

Pluralism, or the belief that all religions are equally valid ways to God or
ultimate reality, has become an attractive philosophy in our times. This is so
because pluralism seems to facilitate religious toleration and peace among
people of different faiths. Certainly, the rise of militant religious sects and
fundamentalist movements has created more terror and pain than peace among
humans. It is disheartening to see that religion has become more a
trouble-making element than a spirit-healing medium in modern times. Each group
or sect claims to possess the truth and this orthodox holding on to belief is
what is said to generate intolerance among people.

Therefore, some have opted for pluralism as the better answer. However,
pluralism fails to accord with the logical law of non-contradiction stated
earlier. Two opposing beliefs cannot be equally true. However, some will say
that they can be equally justifiable. That is to say, one is justified in
believing certain things if his reasons for believing it are justified in his
eyes. This is to reduce faith to mere subjectivity, a problem which we
illustrated earlier with the example of the man on the train. Faith segregated
from truth can be both useless and dangerous. The law of non-contradiction must
apply to truth. Even pluralism must accept this to maintain its assertion that
its claims are true (implying that views opposite to it are false). Therefore,
pluralism cannot be considered to be philosophically sound.

Criteria for Truth

One cannot also absolutely state that there is no way to measure the
truthfulness of religious beliefs. Of course, some philosophers known as the
logical positivists held that since religious beliefs were empirically
unverifiable, they were meaningless or empty of meaning and therefore signified
nothing. However, this view is self-conflicting since this principle of logical
positivism itself is not empirically verifiable. There must be a way to measure
the truth or else truth will have no meaning. The question is what is that
measuring rod?

Philosophers generally agree on a set of laws as criteria of truth like the law
of internal consistency (truth must not be self-contradictory), the law of
correspondence (truth must correspond to reality), the pragmatic law (truth must
be successful in the end; it must work), and the law of coherence (a statement
of truth must cohere with other statements of truth). For instance, it is
evident that the tribal belief about the sun being a god who needs blood to rise
up in the morning neither corresponds to reality nor coheres with the set of
scientific discoveries (not hypotheses) known to us. Therefore, it is a false
belief. Similarly, the view that God is everything and everything is God
(pantheism) involves internal inconsistency since by calling everything God, not
only the distinctness of God is lost but also truth as opposed to falsehood is
lost to this "everything". Likewise, the view that all experience is an illusion
since plurality is false and reality is one (monism) fails all the tests since
it neither corresponds to experienced reality nor is internally consistent (all
is one is utterance possible only if more than two exist, at least the speaker
and the statement) nor does it have any pragmatic value, added to its lack of
coherence with available data. Polytheistic beliefs have largely been proven as
mythical, failing the correspondence and coherence tests, in addition to the
difficulty involved in grounding these beliefs into some explanatory framework:
pantheism and monism have been tried in India. Other religious beliefs like
beliefs about man, the universe, morality, and salvation can be evaluated in
this manner.

However, mere religious belief and faith in God must be distinguished from each
other. While religious belief is belief in a set of doctrinal statements, faith
in God is a personal commitment to and reliance on God. Religious belief can be
strong and orthodox owing to one’s strong binding with the religious community
and submission to such authority or feelings of communalism. However, the
justification for such beliefs is never found in an encounter with the truth of
God. Faith, on the other hand, has only to do with statements of belief and
forms of religiosity in so far as they make the relationship with God
meaningful. Faith is primarily related to God in His self-revelation. It is not
mere belief that such and such statement is true but is a commitment to God by
the acceptance of the truth of God. One may believe, for instance, the statement
"God exists" and yet not submit to Him in faith. The expression "believe that
God", therefore, is not the same as "believe God". For instance, James says "You
believe that there is one God, you do well; even the demons believe and tremble"
(James 2:19, MKJV; italics mine). Then again he says "Abraham believed God, and
it was imputed to him for righteousness" (James 2:23, MKJV; italics again mine).
Religious beliefs about creeds and traditions, therefore, cannot amount to faith
in God. Those beliefs do not imply a relationship with God. But if one has faith
in God that faith revolutionizes one’s total life since it connects him to God.
This is the faith which the writer of Hebrews talks about in chapter 11 and
which we seek to understand. But before we do that let’s take an overview of how
beliefs, truth, and reality are related to each other. This, however, will be a
little tedious one to some who do not wish to bother themselves with
philosophical stuff. In such a case, the reader may skip to the next section
without much loss if he or she wishes to and may come back to this whenever he
or she likes. THE GRID OF INTERPRETATION

All knowledge is the product of interpretation. Every interpretation is governed
by pre-understanding. Pre-understanding is composed of pre-beliefs. For
instance, when the islanders of Melita saw a viper curled around Paul’s hand,
they said to one another, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, being saved
from the sea, Justice has not allowed to live" (Acts 28:4). Their interpretation
of the event was based on several pre-beliefs like the belief in Justice (as a
god perhaps), the belief that murder is unjust, and that Justice will never
absolve anyone. However, when later they found out that Paul had neither been
infected nor killed by the viper, they decided that he was a god. Their
conclusion followed from the implicit belief that only a god could survive a
viper’s bite. These pre-beliefs formed their pre-understanding and governed
their interpretation of the event. Such pre-beliefs themselves are products of
earlier interpretation. A set of beliefs regarding the world, man, God, life,
and morality makes a world-view. Thus, one’s world-view is the framework in
which one tries to understand newer things which are soon assimilated in that
world-view to modify it. The chief sources of beliefs are direct perception
(sense-experience, intuition, and feeling) and verbal testimony (hearsay,
literature, oral traditions, etc). The process of interpreting direct perception
and verbal testimony in order to form either opinion or belief is inference.
Opinion is the result of incomplete interpretation. Belief is the result of
complete interpretation. Opinion is based on guesswork and speculation to fill
the gap of information required to finish the process of inference. Belief is
based on inference from data considered to be sufficient for the interpretation.
When the process of inference is faulty, the resulting belief will be false. But
given the conditions that the pre-beliefs (premises) are true and the inference
faultless, the resulting belief will be true. False belief is related to
unreality since what is believed is not real. True belief is related to reality.
Opinion is intermediate since it is incomplete inference. True belief is known
as truth.

All inference is based on reason. Reason is the logical foundation of inference
or reasoning. Reason doesn’t provide the data for belief or opinion: it provides
the rationally irrefutable assumptions (or rules) of inference: e.g. the law of
causality, the law of calculation (quantity, number), the law of necessary
relation, etc. When one tries to force reason to provide data for
interpretation, the result is absurdity; because it can only provide the rules
and not the data for interpretation. For instance, we all lack the empirical
data (from direct perception) to infer the size of the universe. However, if one
turned to reason from experience to imaginatively speculate the size of the
universe, one would draw the nonsensical conclusion that the universe is neither
finite nor infinite; because the mind can neither conceive an infinite universe
nor a finite one. If you don’t believe me then try imagining first that the
universe is finite (or has a boundary); you can’t, since the mind says there
must be something or at least some empty space beyond that boundary. But then,
again try imagining the universe as infinite; you can’t, since the infinite
cannot be limited in any conception in order to imagine the infinite one must
infinitely keep imagining it because infinity surpasses boxed imagination. But
since the universe, unlike transcendent concepts or ideas, is an object of
spatio-temporal sense-experience, its infinity cannot be imagined. Thus, the
resultant conclusion is absurd. However, some rationalists such as the Hindu
non-dualists (monist) have accepted this to be true, thus denying the reality
everything we experience. Obviously, then to avoid such absurdity one must not
look to reason as the source of beliefs but only as the provider of the rules of
inference. Similarly, the result of illogical or irrational interpretation of
empirical data leads to false conclusions. For instance, I see a little boy
eating a banana; then I see a monkey eating a banana; I conclude that there is
no difference between the boy and the monkey because both of them eat bananas.
The conclusion is false because there is no necessary relation between the two
phenomena: a banana is not a necessary relation. However, if I see smoke rising
from a nearby building, I immediately infer from it that there must be fire
there; because smoke and fire are causally related. Thus, experience and reason
must work together to produce knowledge. However, it is also true that most of
our beliefs are not based on direct experience. We learn them from our parents,
friends, teachers, books, TV, movies, etc. They are secondary information. All
such information is processed by the interpretive grid of the mind as it seeks
to relate it to the already existing framework of beliefs. The processing of new
information leads to the modification of the framework by correction,
development, or strengthening of the existing knowledge. However, one’s
intentionality can sometimes interfere in the right processing of the
information, in which case the interpretation may lead to twisted meaning and
distorted truth.

Faith and Knowledge

Obviously, one’s way of looking at life is largely determined by one’s
pre-understanding. It influences one’s way of thinking. One’s framework of
beliefs, or worldview, determines to a great extent one’s interpretation of
reality; for reality is never taken as it is – all belief is interpreted reality
since reality by itself and in itself lacks meaning. Meaning is always found in
a relation of things; that relating of things is interpretation. But meaning
imposed (eisogesis) is not true meaning; for instance, a man may see a man
picking a candy from a store and say he was stealing it, when in fact he may be
the owner of the store. Meaning discovered (exegesis) is the only true meaning.
False beliefs can lead to false conclusions. For instance, to an atheistic
existentialist this universe is absurd, human life is absurd, and all toil is an
illogical enterprise.

However, the worldview of an atheist is itself composed of several beliefs that
are the result of interpretation – mainly of secondary information (i.e. chiefly
through mimesis, i.e. imitation of popular beliefs or flowing with the cultural
milieu). The historical development of the atheistic cultural milieu in the
Universities needs no particular reference here. It all took impetus from the
Enlightenment as we know. With each new interpretation, the atheistic grid of
interpretation was modified. The modifying atheistic worldview took many forms:
nihilism, fascism, Marxism, evolutionism, scientism, existentialism, etc. Thus,
beliefs determine interpretation until the framework itself is doubted and a
revolution in the pattern of thinking is secured, as we saw what happened in
Tolstoy’s life.

There are several different worldviews in the world: e.g. Hindu karmic
worldview, Hindu reformed worldview, Buddhist worldview, spiritualist worldview,
occult worldview, liberal worldview, Pentecostal worldview, secular worldview,
MTV culture worldview, etc. Each way of looking at life is distinct in itself.
Each framework has developed its own method of contextual interpretation as
well. Here we see two aspects of interpretation: rational and contextual. While
rational interpretation is absolute involving the laws of reason, contextual
interpretation is relative, i.e. relative to the framework; for instance, the
karmic interpretation of time, liberal interpretation of the Bible, etc.

Such plurality of interpretive grids makes pluralism very attractive. But
pluralism, or the belief that all belief-systems are valid ways in themselves,
is an interpretive grid that attempts to overrule the others without their
consent. Therefore, its ruling is objected by most who deny their way as equal
to the others. Test of correspondence, coherence, consistency, and pragmatic
value do help to a great extent; however, their significance is overruled by
particular world-views; for instance, the non-dualist view admits neither the
reality of the phenomenal world nor the effability (able to be expressed in
words) of ultimate reality; thus, disannulling all the above stated tests of
truth. But none of the views can violate the fundamental laws of logic without
violating themselves. For instance, the law of non-contradiction doesn’t exist,
I at the same time deny myself the right to make such a statement since by
making that statement I assume that its contradictory statement "the law of
non-contradiction" exists is false. But to accept such opposites is to assume
the law of non-contradiction which was being denied earlier. Thus, this law is
inescapable. Even if someone said that knowledge is not mental but transcends
the logical limits of the mind and so cannot be expressed in language, such
assertion itself assumes the law of non-contradiction; thus, the fundamental
nature of rational rules is established.

Inconsistency or incoherence within the framework due to an acquirement or
realization of a particular truth can cause doubt eventually leading to a
faith-crisis. This faith-crisis is helpful, if accompanied by honesty, to
revolutionize one’s way of thinking. However, one may also choose to be
committed to the prior belief-system and reject the truth that now presents to
him by suppressing it or trying to destroy it. But when mixed with truthfulness
(honesty), faith-crisis can lead to truth. Thus, doubt when accompanied by a
will-to-meaning propels investigation and facilitates openness to truth.

Rationality of belief is a fundamental responsibility of man. For that
determines the nature of his decisions. True faith is never irrational (i.e., in
conflict with itself and in conflict with rational acceptability), though not
limited by reason. Common faith, however, is quite different from the faith of
God as will be seen. In fact, the faith of God is more rational (coherent to
one’s framework of knowledge and convincing to the heart) than the rationality
of other beliefs. That is the reason why the writer of Hebrews says that faith
in God is substance and evidence; not just conjecture and interpretation THINGS
TO REMEMBER:

1. To not have faith in God, the Bible says, is to be foolish not only because
it is moral dishonesty but also because if one can’t believe in God then one
doesn’t have any rational reason to believe in anything else.

2. Truth that is not believed in is useless; belief that is not true can be
dangerous!

3. If truth was as diverse as tastes are then courts of justice, legislative
bodies, and universities would go berserk as rules of logic and all speech
become meaningless.

4. Faith in God necessarily requires commitment to Him.


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  CHAPTER 4: 01.01.     CHAPTER 1: BEYOND UNCERTAINTY
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CHAPTER ONE Beyond Uncertainty "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1) The chapter begins with the
statement, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen." The Greek word for faith used here is pistis ("strong belief,"
"persuasion," "conviction") but it seems to reflect the Hebraic idea of emun or
emunah (from Heb. aman meaning "to build up or support"; emeth, "truth", is
another derivative of it). This pistis (emun) is not just undeniably related to
the truth (emeth) of God but is also the ground and support (aman) of all
spiritual experiences, as we will see shortly. Obviously, what the writer here
has in mind is true faith in God and His revelation. It is not blind faith or
herd-mentality faith. Faith in God is of ultimate kind and is, therefore, both
unique and absolute. Since it is not concerned with contingent things of this
world it is also not like the belief in the contingent things of the world.
Further, belief in God is foundational to our common-sense assumptions about
this world as both moral and rational. Anyone who denies God must also deny the
existence of absolute morals and absolute truth, for both lose their foundation
if their foundation is found within this world itself. It would be like trying
to place a ball on that ball itself. Without an unchangeable transcendent
ground, there can be no absolute point of reference (as in outer space where all
bodies hang in positions relative to each other). The unchanging nature and
character of God is the foundation of true morality and His veracity is the
foundation of all reasonability and truth. Therefore, divine existence is the
surest fact of reality as the psalmist also says that it is only the fool who
says in his heart that there is no God (Psalms 14:1). Since God is the final
cause, ground, and reason of this universe and all human experience, faith in
God is also final and ultimate. It is this reason why God can accept no excuse
for unbelief from the unbeliever. For the faith of God (Mark 11:22) is both
distinctive and final; it is the ground of the ultimate form of experience which
is divinely given.

BETWEEN NOW AND ETERNITY In the Greek (in which the New Testament was written),
the order of words gives emphasis to "things hoped for". These "things" are
firstly, "hoped for", but also "not seen" as Paul clearly explains it to the
Romans that "hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which he
seeth?" (Romans 8:24, ASV).

Hope is defined as "expectation and desire"; thus, "to hope" signifies wanting
something to happen and believing in its possibility. Thus believing and hoping
are connected as the now to the future. We believe in the present what we hope
about the future; the future being invisible at the present. The future
possesses the goal and meaning that integrates our present life and gives us a
reason to move forward. Thus, faith is that which binds history together with
meaning. One tends to look at history as general and particular. General history
deals with the history of the world: its origin (also including the origin of
time), its progress, and its destiny. Here, we are not just talking about
History as a study-discipline but history as the whole of events in general –
past, present, and future. Particular or specific history, on the other hand,
deals with some particular object like a people, phenomenon, or an individual:
thus, we have Indian history, history of religion, and autobiographies.
According to the Bible, general history is not absurd but intrinsically and
teleologically meaningful. In other words, it is through and thoroughly
meaningful to the end. Its processes are meaningful and its end is also
meaningful because the processes are controlled by God and the end is determined
by God. Therefore, every event that occurs in history can measure its
significance by referring to God’s general purpose for His creation. This does
not proclaim the teaching of determinism or fatalism but of the judicious
governance of this world by God. To fall short of God’s will and purpose means
to lose the true meaning of life and degrade to inauthentic existence – a life
that is not seriously concerned with its reality and focus or one that
suppresses the truth of God by giving in to the faith-destroying voices of
unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). This kind of life has two kinds of responses
towards the future: false hope and hopelessness. False hope is hoping in things
that are unreal in the sight of God; for instance, the hope of the demons to
defeat God. This is a false hope because it is not based on a reality sanctioned
by God. Their faith, therefore, lacks a solid basis and their hope has no real
anchor. It is also, therefore, both useless and dangerous. Obviously, false
faith leads to false hopes.

Answer to Hopelessness

Another kind of response is seen in the sense of hopelessness. It is the
single-most greatest assailant of joy in modern times. In the absence of hope,
people lose all sense of living. The fact is that when faith is renounced, hope
is also lost with it. When one can’t believe anything, one can also expect
nothing. I think that’s the reason why our present (postmodern) age of relative
truths and values has lead to more sighs of despair than ever. With nothing to
hold on to and no solid ground to stand on, there remains no sure expectation
left. The euphoria of relativity only leads to the evaporation of hope because
the uncertainty of present is chained to the uncertainty of future. Faith in
absolutes provides the rail track for the train of action to move on towards the
destiny of hope, towards ’things hoped for’. Thus, faith is the substance or
ground of things hoped for. An example of this is found in the life of the
Preacher in Ecclesiastes. Reporting his frustration with a life lived without
divine reference, merely ’under the sun’ (a phrase that signifies a
materialistic and godlessly rationalistic lifestyle), he writes:

"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything
is meaningless." What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under
the sun? ...I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them
are meaningless, a chasing after the wind…. I tried cheering myself with wine.…
I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself…. made gardens and park….
made reservoirs…. owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem…. amassed
silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces…. Yet when I
surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything
was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun…. So
I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me
(Ecclesiastes 1:2; Ecclesiastes 1:14; Ecclesiastes 2:3-8, Ecclesiastes 2:11,17,
NIV). To this writer, most probably King Solomon, a loosening of faith in God
led to spiritual bankruptcy and life lost its ultimate focus. Terrestrially
speaking, this world had no final meaning for him once death took him into its
bosom. To the materialistic mind there is no difference between the death of an
animal and the death of a man. One may believe in the spirit and its survival
after death but his materialistic orientation breeds more frustration than hope.

Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one
dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the
animal. Everything is meaningless (Ecclesiastes 3:19, NIV).

Thus, when ultimate faith is lost, ultimate hopes also evaporate. Therefore, the
Preacher admonishes the young to remember God and submit to Him in reverence in
the blossom of youth, before old age dawns on them with feelings of
worthlessness and a wasted life (Ecclesiastes 12:1; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

Another clear example of the relation between faith and hope is found in the
book of Job. Job was a sincerely devout and pious believer. However, Satan
finding occasion came before God and accused him of utilitarianism (that Job
feared God only because God provided for and protected him). God allowed the
trial of Job. One thing to note here is that God allows trials into the lives of
His children not to destroy and debase them but to prove that their faith is
pure. If we can believe that then the devil is plundered and victory is ours. In
the case of Job, the devil’s main accusation was that Job was a utilitarian; he
followed God because God gave him what he wanted. In other words, he wanted to
say that Job’s faith was not spiritual but natural and carnal. According to him,
Job honored God for natural and carnal reasons and not because he loved God in
spirit and in truth. Such response is animalistic, instinctive, and natural.
Even a dog is faithful to its master. The nature or being of God didn’t matter
much to him. What God did for him was more important to him than who God was.
Bluntly, the devil was saying that God was not being worshipped because He was
worthy of it but because people were getting their fill of desires. Once these
materialistic blessings were removed, he said, Job would turn against and curse
God to His face (Job 1:11). Even Job’s wife agreed to this as the expected
response for misery (Job 2:9). But Job did not flicker because he knew that
though circumstances might change, the nature and being of God is beyond the
shadow of a change, and that his faith was anchored not in the appearance of
circumstances but in the constancy of God. His faith was not a response of the
flesh that sought physical motivation to go on; it was the ground of his
existence. Therefore, he says "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" (Job
13:15). If Job didn’t have faith in the truthfulness and faithfulness of God,
suffering for him would have been both pointless and absurd. Everything would be
madness. But it was faith in God that infused in him a hope for the future.
However, this hope was not of some materialistic, utilitarian fulfillment but of
a spiritual encounter with God Himself. As he says,

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
And 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. How my heart yearns within
me! (Job 19:25-27, NIV).

Apparently, it is not just a hope of resurrection that is expressed here: it is
the hope of seeing God "with my own eyes". Job’s faith was not based on
space-time instances, but on the eternal reality of God Himself, a vision that
connected his now to eternity. THE CERTAINTY OF FAITH The Greek word for
"substance" used here is hupostasis (ὑπόστασις), from which is derived our
English word "hypostasis", which means, in metaphysics, "essential nature or
underlying reality." Literally, it meant "that which is placed under", that is
the ground beneath something on which the thing gains a firm foothold. It is in
this sense that the Septuagint (LXX) uses it for "standing" in Psalms 69:2,
where the psalmist says, "I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing," or
place for the foot to rest. The word is used five times in the New Testament;
thrice as "assurance" or "confidence", once as "person" or "essential nature",
and once, i.e. here, as "substance". Obviously, a word can be used in more than
one sense, as for instance the word "ground" in the English language can be used
to mean "the surface of the earth", "a piece of land", e.g. a playground, "the
basis for some action or belief", e.g. moral grounds or grounds for belief, or
"a preliminary coat of paint applied to a surface", among many other things.

I believe that the three basic meanings of the Greek word hupostasis may
together help us to understand a greater import of the text. The three forms are
as follows:

Faith is the ground or basis of things hoped for.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

Faith is the assurance or confidence of things hoped for.

Faith as Foundation

Firstly, faith is "the ground of things hoped for." It is on the basis of faith
alone that God can give to us what He desires to give us. However, faith can
only be a basis because of God’s Word (Truth of God). The faith that is not
based on God’s Word is not foundational about the things of God. It leads to
somewhere else. But the faith that is connected to God’s Word is the ground for
experiencing the things of God. There are many instances in the Scriptures that
illustrate this truth. The Israelites perished in the wilderness and couldn’t
enter the Promised Land due to their unbelief (Jude 1:5). Moses could not enter
the Promised Land because of his unbelief in the word of God (Numbers 20:12 ;
disobedience is a form of unbelief). Jesus could not do many miracles in
Nazareth because of their unbelief (Mark 6:5, 6; Matthew 13:58). Scripture tells
us that those who do not believe in Jesus Christ will not be saved (Mark 16:16).
It is on the basis of faith that we receive healing (Matthew 9:22), salvation
(Zephaniah 2:8), the promise of the Spirit (Galatians 3:14), and eternal
inheritance (Acts 26:18). Obviously, faith is the inevitable condition for the
appropriation of divine gifts, not because God is incapable of acting without
our faith but because faith is the spiritual relation between a heart that
willingly receives and the heart that willingly gives. However, the text also
has a second implication: that faith is the ground upon which things are hoped
for. We can only hope of better things because we have, first, faith. As has
already been seen earlier, if I can’t believe in someone, I can’t hope anything
from him. I can’t have hopes of victory, for instance, from an army that I don’t
believe to be capable of victory. Without faith there is no hope, without hope
there is no vision, without vision there is no strength, and without strength
there is no thrust. In other words, faith determines a lifestyle by providing
both vision and inspiration, and also a reason to live.

1. Faith as Ontological Basis of Spiritual Blessings. By ontological basis is
meant that it is not just a mental assent but is also a real and solid basis for
spiritual blessings. In fact, faith connects knowledge of truth with the reality
of the truth itself. In that sense, it is the basis of the things hoped for.
Faith is a real act of commitment to the truth, a space-time event that pierces
through time to eternity. Therefore, an act of faith has inevitable results.
When Moses acted out in faith on God’s word and struck the Red sea, it was
inevitable that it split into two parts. When the blind man obeyed Jesus and
washed his eyes in the pool of Siloam, it was inevitable that his eyes be
opened. This is so because faith is the basis of things hoped for. The faith of
God is an act directly related to God and not this space-time world; therefore,
it pierces through space-time and catches hold of the hem of God’s garment
unleashing His power and blessings in this temporal frame. That is why miracles
are possible, despite the general laws of nature. Peter walked on water by the
faith of God that sees God as the Lord of creation and not limited by its
phenomenal functions, its natural laws, or the way things happen. God is the
source of all created reality and all phenomena owe their existence to God. His
infinite power spans the difference between being and non-being and brings
things out of nothing. Therefore, He is Lord of all creation. For God, nothing
is impossible. An act of faith connects to the will and power of God. Therefore,
Jesus said, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed…nothing shall be
impossible to you" (Matthew 17:20); for through faith what is possible to God is
also possible to the believer.

2. Faith as Epistemic Basis of Spiritual Experiences. Faith not only connects to
the will and power of God; it also connects to the knowledge of God. It is both
mental consent and commitment to the truth proclaimed by God. Therefore, it is
the epistemic basis of spiritual knowledge. The experience of faith is the
experience of divine truth. This is very obvious in the Scriptural assertion
that the natural or carnal man cannot receive the things of God (1 Corinthians
2:14). They have no personal significance for him. There were many people who
saw and heard Jesus during His physical ministry in this world; however, it was
very few who really believed and, consequently, experienced Him. Let’s compare
two perspectives here: the first, of the high priest and the second, of Jesus’
disciple, John:

(1) And the high priest answered and said unto him, "I adjure thee by the living
God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God." Jesus saith
unto him, "Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see
the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of
heaven." Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, "He hath spoken
blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard his
blasphemy" (Matthew 27:63-65).

(2) And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John
1:14). The contrary experiences of the high priest (feelings of desperation,
fury, anguish, discomfort, and rage) were governed by his refusal to believe the
confession of Christ. He could never know Christ because he could not believe
Him. On the other hand, John saw Jesus as the Son of God who came and dwelled
among us. The high priest accused Him of blasphemy; but John saw Him as being
full of grace and truth. The high priest could not know God because of his
unbelief. Thus, faith is considered to be essential to knowledge. To know means
also to believe. This is very true also in relation to statements about this
temporal world. For instance, if someone says that he knows that the earth is
spherical, it also means that he believes the earth to be spherical. Further,
knowledge is composed of truth; therefore, knowing something means also to
believe in the truth about that thing. To believe in falsehood does not
constitute knowledge. For instance, one may believe that the earth is flat, but
since this belief doesn’t correspond to reality therefore, it is obvious that
this person doesn’t really know what the earth is like but is, on the other
hand, deceived about it. False belief doesn’t constitute knowledge; it
constitutes ignorance and deception. True belief alone, therefore, is knowledge.
Evidently, then belief is elemental to knowledge. There is a difference between
sensory experience and spiritual knowledge because spiritual knowledge is not
given to us in the form of sense-perception but must be received on the basis of
faith alone. For instance, the knowledge of Christ’s atonement on the cross is
not derived from a sense-observation of the crucifixion – there were many who
saw the crucifixion but only few who truly understood it. It is based on faith
in God’s revelation and a communication of this conviction to the heart of the
believer by the Spirit of God. Therefore, the nature of this revelation is
spiritual, transcending all limitations of language and thought though not
contradicting them. Evidently, then, faith is the basis of spiritual
experiences. Therefore, the Scripture says:

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed
them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep
things of God (1 Corinthians 2:9,10).

Faith as Substance

Secondly, faith is "the substance of things hoped for." In other words, the
things that we hope for are, at present, composed of and given to us as faith.
Therefore, whenever we have faith we also have the things we hope for in the
form of faith now. That is why Jesus said "Whatever you ask for in prayer,
believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mark 11:24). He
doesn’t ask them to believe that they will receive it in future but to believe
that they have already received it in faith. In other words, if someone has
faith in God for something, he already has that thing. I believe this is so
because God is not conditioned by time but if something is "yes" in Him then it
is eternally "yes" and the same in future, present, and past. Thus, it is not
whether that thing will be real to us in the future but whether it is already
real in the sight of God that is significant. We may have those things later on,
but if God has already said a "yes", then there is no doubting about their
reality which we experience in the form of faith. Faith itself, thus, becomes
the evidence, as we shall see later, of things yet unseen. But more than just
being evidence, faith is the fact of our having what we are hoping for. It is in
this spirit that we know that we are the children of God, that our citizenship
is in heaven, and that the devil is a defeated foe. Obviously, all these facts
will be physically manifest only at the last day but they are readily known as
facts by us now without any doubt. That is faith: to know the future in the
present as true. Therefore, a man of faith doesn’t live his life regretting
about the past or worrying about his present but he is elated by faith to see
the hopes of the distant future as a timeless reality and lives his life in
accordance to the reality of those facts in the sight of God (Php 3:7-10). That
is one reason why unbelief in God’s revelation is sin; because it attempts to
falsify God (1 John 5:10). It attempts to deny what is true and undeniable in
the sight of God. Therefore, the unbelievers cannot inherit the kingdom of God
since they cannot see it and know it now. Weighing the ultimate value of
spiritual faith, it has infinitely greater value than the temporary escapism of
drug hallucinations, day-dream fantasies, and entertainment. These may provide
temporary escape from the inescapable void of the future inherent in the blank
realities of the present that the unbeliever experiences, but can’t liberate the
soul in reality, engendering more vexation of spirit than peace. Life, as a
result, becomes more banal, confused, and dissatisfying. But faith connects the
life of the believer to the eternal realities of God and, therefore, his
spiritual experiences possess the value of a far greater reality that the world
can’t counterfeit.

Faith as Conviction

Finally, faith is "the assurance of things hoped for." The assurance or
certainty of faith is based on the finality of its object. Finality refers to
that which is both foundational and terminal. By foundational is meant that
which is basic and necessary. Terminal refers to that which is the end and
finality of something, its destiny. Now, it is evident that God is the
foundation and terminal of faith since He is the Beginning and the End of all
reality; for everything consists and subsists by Him (Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 48:12;
Colossians 1:7 ; Revelation 21:6). In other words, all that is real and true has
its source in Him and has Him as its final end as the Word says about the Son of
God "he is before all things, and by him all things consist" (Colossians 1:17).
This world cannot be the final source and end of faith since it is contingent
and therefore not final in itself. Secondly, since we ourselves are part of this
world, to trust in this world would amount to trusting in nothing (objective);
for, it would be like a man trying to walk on his boots. Therefore, God alone is
the foundation and end of faith. Faith begins and ends in Him. It is the reality
of God where the world finally collides and comes to an end. There is nothing
conceivable by reason, experience, or faith beyond Him. Therefore, the faith of
God is final. As seen earlier, God’s finality for faith is also seen in His not
just being the beginning and the end of all things but also in His being the
only eternal, infinite, all sufficient, unchanging, absolute, necessary, and
relational being. The last attribute, relationality, is essential for faith to
be able to relate to God and find its finality in Him. Relationality means that
God has an infinite relational possibility, implying also His eternality of
relation to someone. If God didn’t have such eternal relation then relationality
would not be an essential attribute of Him. But if relationality were not an
essential attribute of God then faith cannot in anyway relate to Him in reality
or essentially. Therefore, relationality must be an essential attribute of God
for faith to be possible. However, relationality cannot be an eternal attribute
of either a finite deity (polytheism) or monad deity (unitarianism); the former
is not eternal or infinite and the latter has no relations except after the
creation of this world, which is logically impossible since it presupposes an
infinitely lonely god who finds the possibility of relation only through
creation, indicating his insufficiency and contingency. It is only in the
Christian concept of God as a Trinity that one finds eternal relationality. The
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are eternally related to each other in
love. Thus, finality of faith presupposes the finality of God as an eternal,
infinite, all sufficient, unchanging, absolute, necessary, and relational being.
If such were not the conception of God, then faith in a contingent, fluctuating,
finite, self-contradictory, and unrelated god will and must not be final. If
someone finalizes his faith in such a god that lacks such attributes, his faith
is incoherent.

Faith is being assured and confident about the reality of things hoped for.
Since this faith is distinctive and final, being based upon the absolute and
unchanging nature of God, this assurance is also unshakeable and final. That is
the reason why a man of faith is at peace with himself; he is not alarmed at the
appearances of contradicting situations because he knows that the thing he is
hoping for is assured in the sight of God (Isaiah 26:3). This gives him
confidence in confessing and living out his faith. This drives away all fear and
discouragement. Fear is a sign of unbelief; that is the reason why cowards
cannot inherit the kingdom of God (Revelation 21:8). Those who are not bold
enough to confess their faith do not have that faith. This is because the
possession of faith also means the possession of assurance and confidence, since
faith is the assurance of things hoped for. The assurance of hope is stronger
than hope alone. For in it hope is combined with confidence. It gives greater
strength for meaningful living. It is not like a man who embarks on a journey
without a roadmap, but as a man who boards a train with its destination clearly
signified on it. Thus, faith is being assured and confident about things hoped
for. This assurance, however, is not passive but coterminous with accepting the
reality of God and His truthful nature. Thus, whenever one believes God, he is
also assured of the promises of God for his life. It is this assurance that gave
Peter boldness to tell to the cripple, "Silver and gold have I none, but what I
have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk"
(Acts 3:6, MKJV); and the man leapt, stood up, and walked because his healing
was a fact which Peter knew beyond a doubt. Miracles only exist for those who
can believe in them. If we can’t be assured about the possibilities of God then
we can be assured about nothing else. Therefore, the faith of God is distinctive
and admitting no excuse.

FINAL EVIDENCE The second part of this statement is parallel to the first. It
modifies the first clause. Thus "substance" is "evidence" in the same manner
that "things hoped for" are "unseen". A significant truth of revelation here is
that faith doesn’t need further evidence for its existence than its presence
itself. Since it is the final ground of the things hoped for, it is also the
evidence of the things hoped for. It is not based on anything else. It is the
basis for everything that we know and experience. Attempts to base faith on
rational or empirical proofs, i.e. on logic or experience, adds nothing to it.
These may help to justify beliefs but cannot be the source of faith. One must
not search for evidence for faith. Faith itself must be seen as the evidence for
everything else. In fact, it is through the eyes of faith that meaning and the
meaningfulness of divine truths is discerned. One proceeds from faith to the
things and not from things to faith. The Greek word for ’evidence’ is elegchos
(ἔλεγχος), which can either mean ’proof’ or ’conviction’. A conviction is an
unshakeable belief in something without need of proof or evidence. This talks
about the finality of this kind of faith. It doesn’t need evidence. The other
meaning implies that having this faith itself is the evidence that the unseen
things hoped for are true. That you can have faith for the things you hope for
is the surest evidence of their reality and possibility.

There are, however, certain criteria to measure the authenticity of such faith
since this could easily lead to superstition and false belief. First of all, the
believer must possess a sound mind. This is necessary in order for faith not to
be based on illusions or delusions; one knows that there are many in the lunatic
asylums that have strong faith about many things which are not true. Secondly,
faith must be open to reason; in other words, open to verification and
falsification or, at least, justification. Faith is justified belief; by this is
meant that the believer must always be able to give a justification for his
faith as the Scripture says "Be ready always to give an answer to every man that
asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you…" (1 Peter 1:15). This doesn’t
mean that faith follows evidence; nor that evidence strengthens faith. On the
other hand, it means that faith in itself is neither irrational nor without
evidence, but is full of proofs though not based on proofs; therefore, an
evangelist is never short of proofs – in fact, he might often be astounded by
the proofs of his faith. Thirdly, this faith must be connected with
righteousness and peace. This is so because the faith of God cannot contradict
the character of God. By righteousness is meant not only that this faith is
internally consistent (possesses integrity), but also that it is legally
consistent (conforms to the righteous Law of God). At the same time, it
engenders peace (good relationship with God and removal of fear and doubt).
Fourthly, and most importantly, it must not contradict the written Word of God,
i.e., the Scriptures, which reveal God. By this is meant that it must not
contradict the real import of Scriptures – this doesn’t apply to false
interpretations of Scriptures; faith has nothing to do with them.

Now, to say that faith is the "evidence of things unseen" means that the
invisible things are proven by faith. Evidence may be classified into two
categories: rational evidence and empirical evidence. Rational evidence is
expressible in the form of arguments or reasoning. Empirical evidence may be
divided into two further groups: primary evidence and circumstantial evidence.
Primary evidence is based on first-hand witness (e.g. the disciples saw the
risen Lord). Circumstantial evidence is evidence not drawn from direct
observation (e.g. the empty tomb). Faith is neither rational nor circumstantial
evidence; it is primary evidence. In other words, faith is neither a set of
arguments nor a set of data that needs interpretation and verification. On the
other hand, the experience of faith itself is evidence of things unseen because
it is the experience of a knowledge that is revelatory, illuminating, and
convicting; it is the experience of the truth of God. To have the faith of God,
therefore, means to possess the truth of God. Thus, though the things hoped for
are invisible to us now, they are clearly known to faith.

Faith as evidence is also source of knowledge. Undeniably, faith is a voluntary
act or else personal responsibility and even truth would be mythical. For if man
doesn’t know by exercise of his will then his knowledge is determined; but if
determined then there is no possibility of verifying that knowledge to know
whether it is true or false. Man would only know and believe what he is
programmed to believe. But faith as voluntary act is the precursor to knowledge
as Jesus said, "If any man desires to do His will (God’s pleasure), he will know
(have the needed illumination to recognize, and can tell for himself) whether
the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking from Myself and of My own
accord and on My own authority" (John 7:17, Amplified). Thus, the
will-to-believe is the condition for the knowledge of truth. If anyone is
unwilling to accept the truth, then all evidence is meaningless (perhaps
detestable) to him. Therefore, faith as evidence (Sanskrit, pramana meaning also
source of knowledge) is also source of knowledge.

One question that may arise in this connection regards the source of faith.
Obviously, the source cannot be either reason or experience. For that would mean
that faith is based on them and is not itself the final evidence. Further, any
amount of reasoning cannot produce the absolute assurance that faith possesses.
Thus, reason cannot be the basis of faith. In fact, as the French mathematician
Blaisé Pascal argued, to say that one believes on the basis of reason is to beg
the question. For, one needs to first believe in reason itself before believing
in its results. That is to say, reason itself is originally based on faith.
Reason cannot be based on reason for that would evidently beg the question. The
same also extends to experience. One can doubt the reality of everything about
experience, as the French philosopher René Descartes showed. Consequently, faith
itself cannot be based on experience. One chooses to believe in experience; one
doesn’t have faith out of experience in the ultimate sense. Thus, experience can
only be the source of knowledge when it is based on faith. Faith can only be
final when it is not ultimately based on reason and experience. All knowledge of
this world, therefore, deriving from reason and experience is not final. There
is always some element of doubt that is admissible. But the faith of God, as has
already been seen, is fully assured and final. In fact, this faith of God is
that which stabilizes knowledge by giving meaning to both reason and experience.
That is the reason why, disbelief in God, in its final form, leads to a sense of
absurdity, hopelessness, skepticism, cynicism, and nihilism. The source of faith
then can be neither reason nor experience. What then is the source of faith? It
is an encounter with the revelation of God as the Scripture says, "Faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). This doesn’t mean
that one has faith as soon as one hears God’s voice; but, one exercises faith
only when face to face with the revelation of God. In fact, one may choose to
even reject the revelation. Faith is a choice, it is not automatically produced.
When one encounters the revelation of God one has the choice of accepting it or
rejecting it. The nature of both the encounter and choice is spiritual and not
rational or physical. Therefore, the choice is also a moral one. Further, the
truth revealed is spiritual and so physical events (e.g. miracles etc) cannot be
regarded as final proof of it. The truth itself is its proof and is known only
by someone who responds in faith. The one who rejects it remains unprofited by
the encounter (cf. Hebrews 4:2). The one who accepts it, however, is immediately
ushered into the reality of God and, thus this faith becomes the substance and
evidence of the unseen things one hopes for. As long as reason and experience
are held on to, uncertainty and temporality holds the scepter; but faith
unchains one from the infinite sequence of evidence and takes one beyond
uncertainty to the substance, the ground, the confidence, and the evidence of
the things of God. The value of this faith is not measurable by human standards:
it is only measured by God. The possession of this solid faith of God earned the
elders a good report and testimony (Hebrews 11:2). This was so because they
possessed the thing they hoped for in the form of faith even though the
fulfillment was scheduled only at the last day. They were undaunted by the
present circumstances but were faithful to the end because of the assurance they
had in God. Their faith was their evidence of the things still invisible to us,
and by it they obtained a good testimony, God Himself testifying about their
faithfulness. Their choice took them beyond uncertainty to obtain a good
testimony from the Father. In view of what we have seen this far, it is obvious
that the source of all frustration, fear, anxiety, boredom, vexation, emptiness,
loneliness, and hopelessness is either the weakening of or the loss of faith. Of
course, the world presents us with the crisis of faith: reasons for not
believing in God. But the world has no substitute for the faith of God. To trust
in the world or in man is to sink with the ship. Soon the loss of faith gives
way to conscious or unconscious escapism. The means of escapism are not few and
the worldliest are the most evil ones as well, hurting self and society. But
they are also false ones along with the reality of their being temporal as well.
They do not and cannot give eternal solace. It is the faith of God alone that
gives true meaning, purpose, and reason to life.

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

1. One can only know and receive spiritual knowledge by faith.

2. In matters of faith, faith alone is evidence; although, it is not separable
from reasonability.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 5: 01.02.     CHAPTER 2: ZERO REINTERPRETED
========================================================================

CHAPTER TWO Zero Reinterpreted "Through faith we understand that the worlds were
framed by the word of God…." (Hebrews 11:3)

One distinctive tenet of Christian faith is the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo or
creation out of nothing. Contrary to many other cosmogonies, the Bible teaches
us that God did not create this world out of some primordial substance; the
universe is not eternal, but God created the world out of nothing. This is
contrary to the natural principle that something cannot come out of nothing.
Obviously, this doctrine, though unpalatable to reason, is acceptable to faith.
This is not meant to say that faith contradicts natural philosophy, but that it
transcends the natural and, therefore, can connect to the reality that gives
significance to this universe.

It is not our purpose here to examine the many prevalent cosmologies of the
world. However, it must be stated here that no cosmology that deals with the
ultimate nature of reality can be absolutely based on reason or scientific
inferences alone. This is so because neither the beginning nor the eternality of
time is rationally conceivable. Similarly, neither the limits nor the infinitude
of space is rationally conceivable. For instance, one Greek philosopher once
asked his students what would happen if he stood at the end of the universe and
threw a javelin; will it go anywhere? Obviously, an end was inconceivable. The
German philosopher Immanuel Kant called it one of the antinomies of reason.
Another antinomy relates to whether the universe has a cause or it is uncaused.
Neither of the options is mentally conceivable. One may suggest theories
regarding origins but can never rationally or scientifically prove beyond doubt
that his theory is true. Theories "are always being changed to account for new
observations," as Stephen Hawking says, and a complete unified theory that could
explain the universe is still non-existent. Of course, many a philosopher
proposed a quintessence of the universe, but his view still remains a theory.
Further, no one can claim hold to such infinite knowledge that admits no
deficiency and thus provides all the data necessary for a perfect deduction. But
even if a beginning or non-beginning of the universe were ’proved’, it will
still be rationally and empirically unsatisfactory since the antinomy would
still remain. Consequently, it is on the basis of faith alone that cosmogonies
exist. Nevertheless, the truth or falsity of a claim can always be verified. For
instance, one is very well sure that the myths that talk about the earth
standing on a bull’s horn or on the back of a giant tortoise are no longer
tenable.

Creatio Ex Nihilo The writer of Hebrews tells us here that it is by faith that
"we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God". In other words,
through faith we gain the understanding of how this world began, that "things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear," i.e. the world was made
out of nothing. However, someone else might by faith understand that the
physical universe is the body of God. But then, how does one know which of the
two is right? In fact, can anyone know which of the two is right or one can only
hope or believe that one of them is right? The writer of Hebrews, obviously, is
not concerned with this problem. To him what matters primarily is that by faith
we understand that the universe was made out of nothing. However, on the basis
of the fact that faith is the substance of things hoped for, one can evaluate
the value of a particular faith by looking at the nature of hopes it entertains.
In atheism, for instance, hope doesn’t exist; in monism, hope is an illusion; in
pantheism, hope is absurd (since good and evil ultimately become one); in
polytheism, hope is uncertain (the gods are finite and might be overpowered by
demons after all). Evidently, though tersely stated, none of the non-Biblical
religious philosophies is seen to possess the worth of belief. For, if one needs
to believe a cosmology, its anticipated hope must also be ultimately meaningful.
If not, then the belief is not of any worth at all. It’s neither worth living
for nor worth dying for.

Obviously, the doctrine of creation out of nothing implies that the world, as it
is, is basically composed of nothing since it was made out of nothing. Without
the creative power of the word of God, this world would have remained nothing;
in other words, it would not even have existed. Theologians call all created
reality as contingent since it owes its existence to something other than
itself, i.e., to God. Thus, the world is ultimately nothing by itself and in
itself. Therefore, idolatry and witchcraft are detested by God since, while the
former holds that God can be represented in contingent forms, the latter holds
that this universe itself contains the power to meet the gap between being and
nothingness, both of which are false beliefs and expressions of false pride and
presumption; thus being vain shows, they lead to nothing but eternal separation
from God. Faith, however, takes one beyond the fringes of nothingness by
reposing in the absolute possibilities of God.

INFINITE POSSIBILITIES The strong optimism of the faith of God is that it has
the infinite power of God on its side and is, therefore, able to see infinite
possibilities where natural eyes fail to see even a glimpse of hope. Only
infinity spans the difference between being and nothingness. To put it the other
way, the difference between zero (0) and one (1) is infinite. Therefore, it
takes infinite power to bring out something out of nothing. Obviously, the faith
that can understand and perceive the world as created out of this zero-state
(not some singularity), is the faith of the most immense kind. In fact, it is
the faith that can do anything because for it anything is possible. If the God I
believe in is able to produce the world out of absolute nothing then He is able
to do anything for me. Therefore, I can never be a miserable man as long as I
believe in God. It is this faith that gave Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego the
boldness to refuse the worship of King Nebuchadnezzar’s image, though threatened
with death. They told the king,

O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.
If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us
from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not,
we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the
image of gold you have set up. (Daniel 3:16-18, NIV). The faith of these three
men was final: whether God saved them or didn’t save them from the burning
furnace, they were going to trust Him alone because they knew their God. There
is nothing utilitarian about this faith. It’s not based on some selfish desire
of comfort or security but is final in itself as they said "we do not need to
defend ourselves before you in this matter." It is the faith that defies the
world and glorifies God. The infinite power of God, which is also inexhaustible,
is unlike the contingent physical force inherent in this universe. Even magic
can’t compare with it. Though it is believed by some that magical powers exist
and that magicians can produce objects out of thin air, the magicians themselves
deny it. As Gaudapada said "dream and magic are seen to be unreal." Only God who
possesses infinite power can bring things out of nothing. In fact, only God can
possess infinite power since He alone is a necessary being and above all
exhaustibility, definitions, and determinations of contingency. Therefore,
nobody who clings on to some power of this physical world (be it mana, chi, or
sakti) can possess the infinite power akin to God since whatever power he
possesses is conditioned by contingency and so will always remain finite and
thus infinitely incapable of creatio ex nihilo. Thus, only the eternal God who
transcends this universe can create things out of nothing by His infinite power.
Obviously, then the faith of God inevitably transcends the rigors and conditions
of this contingent world. Therefore, events, circumstances, and appearances of
the world do not matter to the one who has the faith of God. He is not alarmed
by them because his faith is above them all. It is transcendental. The
Concreteness of Faith But it is not abstract. The concreteness of faith is
already evident in its being called the substance of things hoped for. Further,
this power is not something undemonstrated now. This world itself is an example
of God’s immense power as the Word says, "I have made the earth, the man and the
beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm"
(Jeremiah 27:5). To the early Christians as to many believers today, the
infinite power of God is not an abstract hope but a concrete reality. The
resurrection of Christ, for instance, witnessed by over 500 people (1
Corinthians 15:4-9) was evidence of this great power of God which Paul describes
as "the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to
the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him
from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places"
(Zephaniah 1:19-20). In fact, the Bible says that it is this power that is also
active in us today: "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be
glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.
Amen" (Zephaniah 3:20-21). It is also the hope of all believers that as God
raised Jesus Christ from the dead by His great power, so will He also raise us
up at the last day as the Scripture says "God hath both raised up the Lord, and
will also raise up us by his own power" (1 Corinthians 6:14 ; cf. Php 3:10).
This infinite and inexhaustible divine power working in us, i.e. actively and
dynamically present within us, produces the signs, wonders, and miracles that we
see today and that are inexplicable on natural terms (cf. Hebrews 2:3-4 ; Romans
15:18-19). This power is not produced in us (as some think of the term dunamis);
it is actively present in us. It is only through faith that one can bring into
concretion the possibilities of this divine power. However, one must understand
that this is not some mystical, occultic, or magical power that can be
controlled by us. This is God’s power that is active in us only because God is
active within us (cf. Php 2:13). And He works according to His sovereign good
will and purpose. It is only when faith attunes with God’s will expressed in His
word that miracles take place. This power cannot be counterfeited. The Egyptian
magicians tried to counterfeit Moses’ miracles but could not stand before him
for long. At last, they conceded saying "This is the finger of God" (Exodus
8:19). The devil cannot counterfeit it, since he himself is contingent.
Therefore, the Scripture says that "the devils also believe, and tremble" (James
2:19). The boldness of a man of faith, consequently, is quite different from the
boldness of worldly men and even demons. Worldly confidence is false because the
world is nothing in itself and by itself. One who puts confidence in the world
or its things is like a man clinging to a falling tree. The man of faith knows
that the world is a finite scheme of things that will soon pass away, but he who
follows God’s will abides forever (1 John 2:17). All the hopes and dreams
cherished by worldly men will perish with the world on the last day of Judgment
when unbelievers will be confined to infinite contingency and nothingness (not
of non-being but of existence; i.e. where existential frustration and emptiness
would be hellishly painful, they being separated from the life, power, and
goodness of God). To believers the faith of God presents great optimism, not
necessarily this-worldly, but of God. As this chapter unravels, the difference
between this-worldly optimism and divine vision will be clearly seen. Jesus
Himself when answering Pilate said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it
were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my
kingdom is from another place" (John 18:32, NIV). The fact that believers go
through trials and suffering and that there are martyrs for the faith is
evidence that Biblical optimism is not this-worldly, ultimately. This, however,
doesn’t mean that God has no power over this world. God does deliver His people
from troubles but this deliverance is not that final kind of deliverance which a
believer is optimistic about. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but then
Lazarus died again. Yet, since the believers hope is not limited only to death,
it is far superior to the hopes of this world, as Paul says "If in this life
only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable" (1 Corinthians
15:19). This optimism, therefore, is far greater than what the world can
imagine.

Indubitably, also then faith is not the opium of the masses as the Socialist
thinker, Karl Marx, thought. It is not something that dulls rational thinking in
hope of some future heaven, thus leaving the present to its fate. The Bible is
very clear about this that God is truly at work in us even now. The experience
of God is not a strange phenomenon to believers. They are in the fellowship of
light. Answered prayers, miraculous deliverances, supernatural blessings and the
turning of people to God are evidence of the present reality of divine power
working in us. Moreover, it is a fact of faith that it is God working in world
history to bring about the completion of His will. This is indicated by what
we’ll next see as God’s framing the worlds by His word.

WORLDS IN THE MAKING The Greek word aion (αἰών), translated here as "worlds",
can mean "an age", "the universe", or "eternity". It basically carries the
concept of being in time. This takes us further from looking at the world only
at its beginning to looking at the world in the whole of time (past, present,
and future). To put it differently, we are looking at this contingent world
taking shape in time. Obviously, the expression "the worlds were framed by the
word of God" doesn’t simply mean that time was framed but that something was
framed in time, that something spatio-temporal took a particular shape by the
power of the word of God; thus, were the ages framed or fitted together.

Evidently, then, this is not limited to just the creation of the world but
extends to also the shaping of history by the providence of God. This is also
indicated by the usage of the word rhema (ῥῆμα) for "word", meaning "spoken
word" or "command" in specific situations. In other words, faith sees history as
only meaningful in connection with the will of God. In light of what this
chapter is going to speak about, viz. the heroes of faith, it may be seen how
history was shaped when different individuals at different moments in time
responded to the voice of God. God could only shape the ages because people
responded to Him in faith. This doesn’t mean that He is not free to do as He
wills, but that when people responded to Him in faith, they became part of His
grand design and thus became part of sacred history. Apart from God, they would
have been reduced to chaotic nothingness. But faith in God took them beyond
their limitations and turned their chaotically oriented world into divinely
structured histories. By submitting to the Great Architect, they ensured the
beautifying of their lives. The framing of ages was by the specific word of God
"so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Creatio
ex nihilo also applies here to the shaping of ages in the progression of time.
The faith-heroes brought things into existence out of nothing by their acts of
faith in the revelation of God. The impossible was made possible by the faith of
God. For instance, as will be seen in Abraham’s case, the birth of Isaac was the
result of faith in the promise of God. This child of Abraham, in accordance to
the promise, later became a nation and a blessing to many nations. Similarly,
Moses triumphed over his own inabilities by his faith in God and thus was able
to lead the Israelites to the borders of the Promised Land. The things that we
see now in present history were not made of things which do appear. That is to
say, they were not products of visible natural processes or human talents. They
are results of God’s interventions in history on behalf of those who trusted in
His nature, power, and purposes and were obedient to His will. The Bible makes
it very clear that it is God who controls the world. It is He who, for instance,
"rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He will" (Daniel 4:25,
MKJV). But someone would ask, if this is true then why does God seem to be so
silent while crime, wars, and violence prevail everywhere? This question is
natural to the heart that has lost its touch with the heart of God. One can only
doubt God when one’s heart is overruled by the visible realities of this world
and has lost sight of the "things hoped for". Indubitably, the question has been
asked several times by servants of God themselves. But the answer has always
come in being assured of the final end of all this. For instance, observe what
Asaph says in Psalms 73:1-28 :

I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no
struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens
common to man; they are not plagued by human ills. Therefore pride is their
necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts comes
iniquity; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits. They scoff, and speak
with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression…. They say, "How can
God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?" This is what the wicked are like –
always carefree, they increase in wealth…. When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood
their final destiny…. Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all
who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made
the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds (Psalms 73:3-12,
Psalms 73:17; Psalms 73:27-28, NIV).

Now, this reasoning will be unacceptable to the unbelieving mind. But to the man
of faith, this is not reasoning: this is fact. Further, God can only judge the
world for the crimes it has committed. All tribunals have the same purpose: to
judge criminals for their crimes and not for their potentiality for crimes. And
man is only free to do as he likes in this framework of the kingdom of man.
Earthly judgment (at the most capital punishment) is given by earthly tribunals
(Romans 13:4), by the act’s consequences (Proverbs 18:7 ; Proverbs 11:19), and
sometimes by God (Jeremiah 14:12). The final judgment, however, will be unlike
earthly judgment: the punishment is eternal damnation (Matthew 25:46 ; Mark
3:29). But the question will be asked, "Why doesn’t God prevent crimes if He is
a just ruler?" The answer is that this is not God’s prerogative in the kingdom
of men. Man is responsible for it because man started it when he chose to
disobey God and was cast out of God’s garden. The casting out of the garden to a
world of thorns and thistles represented God’s abandoning of man to his
discretion. It is only His mercy that grants man the opportunity to choose God
and become part of the redemption plan which He has drawn in order to finalize
the purpose of creation. At present, however, God is only related to the
governance of this world as far as His purpose of His kingdom is concerned. That
is what is evident from Jesus’ statement that "My kingdom is not of this world."
God intervenes in human history in accordance to His final purpose. It is only
in this way that He frames the ages. Thus, the phrase "the fullness of the time"
in Galatians 4:4 refers to a point in the divine blue-print of time when Christ
was ordained to be born. Despite the fact that the world continued to see
several evils in the course of time, the time-table of God was not affected
since God was in perfect control of His processes. Similarly, God is in perfect
control of this present world and His sacred history is unaffected by the evil
of men. However, anyone who responds to God in faith becomes part of this
history and heir of the blessings of His kingdom. And, since the believer is a
citizen of the kingdom of heaven, he can claim heaven’s protection and blessings
over his life, though the final and complete manifestation of this is still
awaited (cf. Php 3:20 ; Php 4:19; Hebrews 1:14 ; Psalms 34:7 ; Revelation 11:15
). Consequently, anyone who enters the world of God’s history becomes His
partner in the establishment of God’s kingdom and thus affects the way this
world runs. To quote one example, the conversion of the African tribes did put
an end to demonism and cannibalism there and opened them up to the blessings of
God. African history since then has been different. This doesn’t mean that
Africa is totally saved. But this definitely means that it is not the same
anymore. Its history has been shaped by the word of God and is continually being
shaped as men of faith respond to God’s call.

FAITH BEYOND PHENOMENA The word for "things that do appear" is phainomenon
(φαινομενων) which is in the middle voice and is used in this form only once in
the New Testament. It comes from the word phaino which means "to shine", "to
show", and "to appear". The English word derived from this Greek word is
"phenomenon" meaning "thing that appears". A literal rendering of the Greek text
would be: "Not out of things that appear (phainomenon) were the things that are
seen (blepomena) made." To the Greek mind, phainomenon simply was an appearance
or resemblance and not necessarily the actual image of the thing. For instance,
a spoon standing in a glass half-filled with water appears to be bent though not
really bent. Perhaps, in using the word phainomenon here the writer of Hebrews
also wishes to say that faith doesn’t look at the things that are now apparent
to us as the real basis of this visible world. As appearance cannot be the final
basis of knowledge, so can it not be the final object of faith. In other words,
faith is not controlled by "things that do appear" or phenomenon; on the
contrary, it is controlled by the word of God since the worlds were framed by it
and not made by the "things that do appear". In fact, they have appeared out of
nothing only because God commanded them to be. The apparent can often confound
faith. For instance, as Peter began walking on water by faith in Christ’s word,
his eyes turned to the winds which appeared to him to be strong (or stronger?)
and his heart lost confidence and began to fear. Consequently, he began to sink
(Matthew 14:30). Obviously, what was apparent to him was in actuality false; not
false in the sense that it didn’t exist but false in the sense of his perception
of it. Things don’t appear as they show themselves to be; on the contrary, they
appear to us as we take their appearances to be. It is we who impose our
meanings on the things around us. It is our intentionality that determines our
conception of things. The problem of faith is not the world around it but the
way one sees and thus makes it appear to be to oneself. Truth can never create
doubt or fear; it can only liberate (John 8:32). Where the meaning imposed is
false, the belief is also false. The modern world presents before faith more
complications to deal with. While in the pre-technological era it was mythical
stories that presented a distorted picture of reality, in modern times it is the
bombardment of pictures and virtual reality through television and cinema that
distorts reality and presents a false phainomena. The images may be too
convincing, yet they drive one away from reality; in fact, they influence the
mind to look at things in a confusing manner; for instance, that God is not in
control, that smoking is very fashionable, that vengeance is right, that
adultery is fun, and thousands of such lies. Thus, with myriads of false objects
before the mind, faith can lose sight of reality if it doesn’t stand aright and
hold on to the truth unwaveringly. The pictures may be destructive or seductive.
Bertrand Russell once said that "Japanese novelists never consider that they
have achieved a success unless large numbers of real people commit suicide for
love of the imaginary heroine." That is the power of imagination. It is not
surprising then that the devil showed Jesus the glory of the world and proposed
to give it to Him if He would only fall and worship him. He somehow conceived
that the way things were presented or made to appear could destroy the faith of
even the Son of God. Of course, by showing things in the wrong light he tries to
first create doubt and then destroy faith. For once the carnal mind takes hold
of imagination, faith will inevitably recede. Hadn’t David known and experienced
the power of God and Gehazi seen Elisha raising up the dead? But both of them
fell into sin when their faith was broken on the altar of appearances (cf. 2
Samuel 11:2-5; 2 Kings 5:20-27). The vision of faith transcends the fake
realities of this world. Natural interpretations of the world are never the
object of faith. This is why the conflict of faith can sometimes be a tensed one
when the mind is wavering between what the natural mind perceives to be and what
the Word of God declares to be. The natural mind cannot receive the things of
God because they are beyond its understanding. In fact, they might even appear
to be absurd to it (1 Corinthians 2:14). For instance, when Jesus told the
mourners at Jairus’ house that the girl was not dead but asleep, all of them
jeered at Him (Luke 8:52-53). But He put them all out, took the girl by her hand
and called her saying "Little girl, arise!" And she immediately arose. There was
no denying the fact that the girl was dead. But the vision of faith does not
terminate with natural facts. It also does not entertain the negativity of those
that cannot glorify God because of their lack of faith: that is the reason why
He put them all out. The natural fact was that she was dead. The spiritual truth
was that she was asleep; because faith is the substance of things hoped for and
sleeping anticipates waking. Faith could see beyond the natural appearances of
things. What didn’t appear to be here was that she was alive. What faith could
see here was that she was alive, though sleeping. The word that Jesus spoke
brought this faith into visible reality. Thus, "not out of things that appear
was this thing that was seen made." To conclude, one must remember that faith is
never self-induced imagination. On the other hand, it is given by God in the
sense that the vision of faith is the revealed truth of God. To walk after the
imagination of one’s heart is evil (Genesis 6:5). Similarly, to walk against the
truth of God is also sin (Romans 1:18). For instance, to say that one cannot be
justified by faith in the blood of Jesus is to commit the sin of unbelief and
transgress against the righteousness and truth of God. It is not what one is
able to imagine or conceive of that is vital to faith. The most important thing
is how far one can believe in the truth declared by His Word. True faith cannot
be less than final since to believe God is to believe in His infinite power and
possibilities. Thus, nothing is impossible for those who can believe in God.

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

1. The God who created this world out of nothing has infinite power to work on
our behalf.

2. Faith doesn’t look at appearances; it walks according to divine revelation.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 6: 01.03.     CHAPTER 3: EFFACING EVANESCENCE
========================================================================

CHAPTER THREE Effacing Evanescence

"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain… and by it
he being dead yet speaketh" (Hebrews 11:4) The names that Adam and Eve gave
their children reveal something of what they thought about life. When their
first son was born, they named him Cain (qayin), meaning "possession", as Eve
said "I have gotten a man from the LORD" (Genesis 4:1). When the second son was
born they named him Abel (hebel), which means "vapor" or "breath". Probably, by
this time they had begun to see the evanescence of life and the reality of death
that consumed man as a vapor. The word hebel, in fact, is the motif of
Ecclesiastes Hebel (vanity) of hebelim (vanities), says the preacher, all is
hebel (vanity). The word signifies temporality, transitoriness, ephemerality,
impermanence, meaninglessness, effervescence, and vanity. By naming their son as
Abel, Adam and Eve indicated their perspective of man as a perishing creature.
The view is not unfounded. It was their sin that brought this calamity on man.
"Dust thou art" God had said "and unto dust thou shalt return" (Genesis 3:19).
Ever since then callous death has held sway over kings and paupers alike, having
sympathy on none. It stands as a great taskmaster exacting of men all toil and
labor to stall its fury until it suddenly strikes taking its toll. The vanishing
strength of a hero, the fading beauty of a queen; the ebbing tide of desire and
the melting texture of pride soon screech to halt at grave. With such
pessimistic identity for a name, could Abel survive the plot of life? Yet, death
was crueler to him. His elder brother Cain killed Abel out of jealousy and
hatred. However, before this tragic end Abel had already obtained witness, says
the Word, "that he was righteous" (Hebrews 11:4). This was the testimony of no
man but of God, and that was regarding his offering and his gifts to God, by
which though being dead he yet speaks.

One of the greatest privileges that a believer has is the opportunity to give to
the Lord. Abel’s offering was both sacrifice (thusia, θυσία) and gifts (doron,
δῶρον). The phrase "gifts and sacrifices" is used three times in the book of
Hebrews, each time in connection with the priestly offerings in the temple (cf.
Hebrews 5:1 ; Hebrews 8:3-4; Hebrews 9:9). For instance, Hebrews 5:1 tells us
that "every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things
pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." The
phrase "both gifts and sacrifices for sins" indicates that the two are not the
same but different from each other. "Sacrifices for sins" refers to the blood
sacrifices offered for the remission of sins, whereas "gifts" refers to
free-will offerings. However, it is not evident that this distinction really
existed in the pre-Mosaic age. According to Moses’ Law, sacrifice for sins was
mandatory while gifts were voluntary. However, it seems that since such a law
had not yet been established, the sacrifice that Abel brought was voluntary and,
as such, also his gift, it being a voluntary act of faith: if this is true then
Abel’s sacrifice of the fattest of the firstlings (the best of the best, cf.
Genesis 4:4) combined the essence of worship and service in one. The shedding of
blood, in sacrifice, was considered to be necessary for the remission of sins
(Hebrews 9:22). The sacrifice was indispensable, since the gifts meant nothing
unless reconciliation with God was first effected. To us in the New Testament,
there is no more need for sacrifice of animals since Jesus Christ offered
Himself once for all as the sacrifice for our sins (Hebrews 9:28 ; Hebrews
10:14). However, though imperfect in effectuality (that’s why they had to be
offered again and again) animal sacrifice was indispensable to the spirituality
of the Old Testament. Its significance consisted in its function as a type and
foreshadowing of the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:1-14 ).
Abel’s offering of a blood sacrifice revealed his acknowledgement of his sin and
his need for redemption. It is evident to us now that what is a past event for
us now (viz. the sacrifice of Christ) was to the Old Testament saints a thing
hoped for and something yet unseen. It was by faith that the sacrifice of Christ
became a reality to them through the animal sacrifice and they were declared
righteous because they hoped for and experienced it beforehand by faith. Thus,
Abel received the testimony of being righteous by faith in not his own
righteousness but in the righteousness of God. This recognition before God is
far superior to this-worldly reputation and honor. Abel’s life may have seemed
short, vain, and extinguished in men’s eyes; but in the sight of God he bears
the testimony of a worth that is eternal. He was justified and declared as
righteous in the sight of God. However, the value of Abel is not contained in
the category of his sacrifice but in the commitment of his heart to God. In
fact, the tearing apart of an animal in sacrifice meant nothing if the heart lay
not broken already on the altar of God in total surrender.

WORTH IN WORSHIP

It was not that Abel alone brought his offering before God; Cain too brought his
own. However, God respected Abel’s offering but not Cain’s (Genesis 4:4-5). It
is obvious, that bringing an offering to the Lord is more than a physical act;
it is a spiritual act and the Bible makes it very clear that a broken and a
contrite heart is far valuable before the Lord than a herd of animal sacrifices
or tons of grain offerings (Psalms 51:17). Evidently, since Abel’s sacrifice was
not made mandatory by some law, it was his voluntary offering and thus
superseded the mere rigors of religious ritualism or legalism. It was his
worship of God in spirit and in truth.

Worth of Giving The worth of a gift is measured not by the content of the gift
but by the intent of the giver’s heart. One may remember the story of the poor
widow who dropped into the treasury of the temple only two small copper coins,
while the rich walked by dropping bags of money into it. Jesus looked at all
this and said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put
more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth;
but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on" (Mark
12:43-44). That talks more than words can say about this poor widow’s faith in
and commitment to God. It’s very easy to share a piece of bread with somebody
when one has two. But what if he has only one? Added to this is the question of
whether the temple treasury is really in need of those last two coins of this
poor widow. She could have argued, as many believers today argue, that the
temple is already very rich and financed by stout pockets; therefore, she need
not part with the last of her coins. Thirdly, legally the widow was the one that
needed to be supported by gifts (Deuteronomy 14:29; Deuteronomy 16:11;
Deuteronomy 24:19-20), and she was not under any legal compulsion to cast her
two mites. But she did, not because she was forced to but because she wanted to;
not because God or the temple needed it, but because she needed to; and she cast
her everything into God’s treasury – all she had to live on. That is the faith
that honors God and attaches priceless worth to worship. That is the same reason
why the Scriptures say about Abel that by faith he "offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain". It is already evident that Abel brought the
"firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof" while Cain only brought "of the
fruit of the ground an offering" (Genesis 4:3-4). It is very clear from this
that Cain was neither concerned about the distinctness of God’s altar nor the
value of the offering. He just brought something in the way of a vacant ritual.
And that is how God treated his ritual. His grief over his being rejected was,
therefore, unexpected. And so God said to him, "Why are you angry? Why is your
face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do
not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but
you must master it" (Genesis 4:6-7, NIV). But Cain was no longer for the
listening anymore. He turned to his brother, took him to the field and slew him
there. By now his hypocrisy had revealed its cruelty. Therefore, the Word says
that Cain murdered his brother because "his own works were evil, and his
brother’s righteous" (1 John 3:12). But why were his brother’s works righteous
and his evil?

Evil and Good The murder itself was evil, but preceding it was the evil of
Cain’s heart. But, I think we should define the word "evil" before judging Cain.
As a Biblical way of answering it, let’s draw a primary definition of it as
"something that is evil in the sight of God". That is not to say that the
definition of evil is not rationally possible; for, then this would beg the
question since it will be necessary again to explain why something is evil in
God’s sight. But to be evil in God’s sight and to be rationally evil are the one
and the same thing for reasons that’ll be explained now.

God is perfect being because He has no deficiencies, for if He had any He would
not be infinite and, therefore, not God. Therefore, to avoid self-contradiction
and self-destruction of the concept it is necessary to assert that God is
perfect being and lacks nothing. To lack nothing means to lack no good thing
since lacking anything good would amount to deficiency and, consequently,
imperfection. Therefore, God lacks no good thing. In other words, He is the
embodiment of infinite goodness. Therefore, evil is that which falls short of
His perfection. In other words, the evil that is seen as abrogating some virtue
of reason is in fact evil that opposes the character of God. Therefore, evil is
also that which is evil in God’s sight and what He calls as evil since He is the
perfection of wisdom and judgment. Secondly, God is the active source of all
this-worldly reality. He created it and sustains it. Therefore, there is nothing
in this world that can go against Him and retain an independently justifiable
standing. Consequently, all rational definitions of ultimate value conform to
the source, God. Thirdly, God is the finality of the best and the one above whom
nothing else can be conceived of. In other words, He is the finality of
rationality. This doesn’t mean that He is limited by reason if reason be truly
limited – I mean reason in itself and not the limited reasoning capacity of man;
in fact, Jesus is called the Logos of God, meaning reason, intelligence, and
word. And since God is the final point of reason, therefore, the rational
definition of anything cannot contradict God’s definition of it. In fact, God’s
definition can transcend the rational definition, but the rational can never
disqualify the divine definition. Therefore, evil is what is evil in God’s
sight.

Now, evil is seen as the opposite of righteousness; thus, to fall short of
righteousness is to do evil. But the Bible makes it very clear that
righteousness has never and can never be the product of human works but is the
work of faith as is said "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous"
(Hebrews 11:4). Clearly then, Cain’s works were evil because they were not
according to faith and Abel’s were righteous because they were done by faith.
The faith of God decided the acceptability or unacceptability of any action
before God. But why must faith be the criteria for righteousness?

Righteousness by Faith This is so because, firstly, faith is the fundamental
condition and voluntary determinant of all moral action, and, secondly, faith is
that which connects one to the righteous works of God. Moral actions are moral
only in so far as they are exercises of morally intelligent and volitional
beings. That is why neither animals nor lunatics can be incriminated. Morality
is the intelligent acceptance of God’s definition of good and evil. The reason
for such acceptance has been explained earlier. This intelligent acceptance
constitutes faith in God. Immorality is the intelligent rejection of God’s
definition of good and evil. This intelligent rejection constitutes unbelief in
God, which is also rebellion. The sin of Adam and Eve was their choice to
renounce their faith in what God defined to be good and evil, thus renouncing
their faith in God. Eve believed the lie of the serpent and the power of the
tree (symbol of nature; cf. Romans 1:18-23). Adam followed Eve and thus the
whole mankind was condemned because the consequence of their false faith was
naturally irreversible. Therefore, they were cast out of the Garden of God. All
this was due to their unbelief in and rebellion against the divine prescription.
Thus, it is on the basis of faith alone that moral actions become possible.
Consequently, if one has faith in God his faith will inevitably manifest through
his actions (James 2:17-18). Therefore, faith is the fundamental condition and
voluntary determinant of all moral action. Further, faith connects one to the
eternal righteousness of God. If I have complete faith in the present
government, for instance, I will definitely believe that whatever it does is
right; thus, I’m connected to its ’righteousness’. Faith in this-worldly things
need not be complete since nothing here is perfect and final; however, as seen
earlier, the faith of God admits no shadow of doubt and so it is in perfect
conformity to the will of God; consequently, it is connected to the
righteousness of God and all God’s works intended to fulfill the righteousness
of God (which includes our salvation plan through Jesus Christ). Therefore, it
is by faith that one is declared to be righteous.

Faith as Worship

Faith gives God the worth that is truly His because it believes who God is as He
reveals Himself to be. Therefore, the faith of God is the worship of God. When
the devil came to Jesus and told Him that if He fell down and worshipped him, he
would give Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, Jesus rebuked him
saying, "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord
thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" (Matthew 4:10). The devil had asked for
a divine impossibility. It reveals his frustration in running out of tactics to
deceive or allure our Lord. Jesus not only knew the truth; He is the truth of
God, the finality of divine revelation. Therefore, He can’t be deceived.
However, the devil might have thought that he could confuse the Lord by turning
His eyes to the visible appearances of this-worldly reality. Thus, he wished
that the phenomena would somehow thwart His faith. But the Lord rebuked him
saying, "Go away, Satan: for it is written…." He countered the devil with the
Word of faith and reminded him of the divine command "Thou shalt worship the
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." The Greek word for "worship" used
here is proskuneo, which literally meant to prostrate oneself in homage or
reverence. The word for "serve" is latreuo and refers to the kind of service
that is given in the temple. Observe the connection between worship and service
here as always: only a worshipping heart can truly serve the Lord. In other
words, sacrifices and offerings that do not come from a worshipping heart do not
matter at all. The devil was asking the Lord to fall (obviously, from the truth)
and prostrate before him in subservience to him. This involved giving the devil
the worth that only belonged to God, which constituted false worship. Any
worship that is not rightly directed to God is false. That is the reason why
idolatry is also false since it falsely represents the God of creation and
doesn’t glorify God as God, but worships and serves the creature more than the
Creator (Romans 1:21-25). But true worship gives God the worth that truly
belongs to Him. It is for this reason that Jesus told His disciples that "This
is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (John 6:29). In
other words, it is in believing on and accepting the One sent by God that one
truly serves Him. Therefore, the faith of God is the true worship of God and
service of Him.

Now, true worship not only glorifies God but also gives the worshipper the true
honor that comes from God as the Lord said "for them that honor me I will honor,
and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed" (1 Samuel 2:30). Jesus said
to the Jews "How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek
not the honor that cometh from God only?" (John 5:44). Their lack of faith
deprived them of the worth and dignity that comes only from God. The honor of
this world, however, is as evanescent as the world itself as the Word says "all
flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass
withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord
endureth forever" (1 Peter 1:24-25). Therefore, it is in submission to the truth
of God by faith alone that one finds true dignity and worth.

God accepted Abel’s offering because Abel gave by faith. The Bible says that God
had respect unto Abel and to his offering (Genesis 4:4). It was not just the
offering that was respected but Abel himself was first accepted because of his
absolute faith in God. The Hebrew word for "respect" is sha’ah and means "to
gaze and look at", which implies "to have respect for and consider something
worth looking at." Thus, God considered with respect Abel’s sacrifice but He
didn’t even look at Cain’s offering. Cain’s offering was as if directed to
nobody. God didn’t consider it worth any attention. This was so because only
faith attracts the attention of God; and it is faith alone that gives worth to
both the gift and the giver, because it is through faith alone that one connects
himself to the realities of God. Thus, Abel conquered the evanescent worth of
this world by putting his faith in God and giving himself in worship and service
to Him; thereby, obtaining a testimony that still speaks though he is dead. He
obtained that eternal worth and honor that comes from God alone.

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

1. Only one who approaches God with can appreciate His true worth in worship.

2. Through faith in God one comes to a right standing with Him – which is,
righteousness.


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  CHAPTER 7: 01.04.     CHAPTER 4: CLIMBING THE CLOUDS
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CHAPTER FOUR Climbing the Clouds "By faith Enoch was translated that he should
not see death" (Hebrews 11:5). The seventh from Adam, Enoch was also a prophet.
In fact, he was the first man who ever prophesied about the second coming of
Jesus Christ (Jude 1:14-15). He was also the first man in Scripture who never
saw death: he was taken away to heaven alive. The writer of Hebrews tells us
that he was translated (i.e. to heaven) so that he should not see death; which
also implies that death has no power in heaven where God rules. The process of
decay and ageing inherent in the spatio-temporal and entropic (decreasing
energy) world is absent in the transcendental and spiritual world of heaven. It
was known to the contemporaries of Enoch that he walked with God (use to have a
close fellowship with God) and that God took him; not just as a matter of
conjecture but as a fact, which reveals that he bore a very strong witness of
piety and the grace of God during his days on earth. The reason why God took him
and not the other saints is not a matter of debate opened to us by God. Remember
that "the secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are
revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the
words of this law" (Deuteronomy 29:29). However, Augustine saw a foreshadowing
significance in Enoch’s translation with reference to his being the seventh from
Adam and his being called Enoch (meaning "dedication", i.e. to God), who
prefigured the dedication of the heavenly city in contrast to Cain’s son Enoch
who represented the earthly city dedicated to the world. In his own words, his
opinion is argued as follows: For that line also of which Seth is the father has
the name "Dedication" in the seventh generation from Adam, counting Adam. For
the seventh from him is Enoch, that is, Dedication. But this is that man who was
translated because he pleased God, and who held in the order of the generations
a remarkable place, being the seventh from Adam, a number signalized by the
consecration of the Sabbath. But, counting from the diverging point of the two
lines, or from Seth, he was the sixth. Now it was on the sixth day God made man,
and consummated His works. But the translation of Enoch prefigured our deferred
dedication; for though it is indeed already accomplished in Christ our Head, who
so rose again that He shall die no more, and who was Himself also translated,
yet there remains another dedication of the whole house, of which Christ Himself
is the foundation, and this dedication is deferred till the end, when all shall
rise again to die no more. And whether it is the house of God, or the temple of
God, or the city of God, that is said to be dedicated, it is all the same….

Obviously, Augustine regards Enoch’s translation as akin to the translation of
saints on the Last Day, which means that he will never die again in accordance
to the Word in Hebrews 11:5 . However, some have opined that he will have to
return to die a mortal’s death as appointed for all men (cf. Hebrews 9:27), and
this would be during the Great Tribulation (cf. Revelation 11:2-11). For
instance, the church father Tertullian said that the death of Enoch and Elijah
was postponed till the time comes that by their blood they may extinguish
Anti-Christ. Others do not think that this needs to be so. In fact, they say,
Moses and Elijah would best fit the interpretation of the two witnesses in
Revelation 11 than Enoch and one of them. Moses and Elijah represented the Law
and the Prophets and the miracles of Revelation 11:1-19 are similar to those
done by them during their ministry. They will "represent the Jewish Christian
community at the end of history." But, since Moses’ death is already mentioned
in the Bible, some have thought that Enoch would better fit the picture with
Elijah than Moses would. The complications of such interpretation need not be
dealt here since we are presently concerned with Hebrews 11:1-40 and not
Revelation 11:1-19. However, there seems to be good reasons for also saying that
Enoch need not come back to the earth to die a mortal’s death after all since
the word ’translated’ may also mean that the change was not just a matter of
place but also the bodily salvation or transformation of Enoch, in which case
he, having donned immortality, cannot die again as Revelation 11:1-19 predicts;
in which case, further, one of the witness of Revelation 11:1-19 cannot be Enoch
or even Elijah.

Translation before the Final Day

There are strong reasons to suppose that Enoch’s translation also meant his
transformation, though this doesn’t prove that it might have happened that way.
It might be that he was taken to heaven and is awaiting the consummation of ages
when his body will finally be saved, though this seems less probably the case.
The Scripture tells us that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God"
(1 Corinthians 15:50) meaning that someone who is not born again by the Spirit
of God has no part in the kingdom of God (cf. John 3:3, John 3:5-6). That which
is born of flesh (man) is flesh (Adamic, see 1 Corinthians 15:48 ) and that
which is born of the Spirit (God) is spirit (sons of God; heirs of His kingdom).
Now the final part of regeneration, absolutely needed to qualify one to inherit
the kingdom of God, will be seen at the last day when the dead in Christ will
rise to a glorious resurrection and the living will be transformed into the
image of the Son of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 ; Php 3:20-21). In either
case, there is a spiritual transformation of this mortal body and it puts on
incorruption and immortality (1 Corinthians 15:51-53). Without such
transformation there can be no part in the kingdom of God. This final
transformation is also called ’the manifestation of the sons of God’ (Romans
8:19) which is the "glorious liberty of the children of God" (Romans 8:21) and
the final adoption, i.e. "the redemption of the body" (Romans 8:23). It is the
moment when "the sons of God" will be manifested or revealed (apokalupsis) to
the world. That is why, the Bible says: "Dear friends, now we are children of
God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he
appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2, NIV).
Obviously, this is an event scheduled to take place at the consummation of ages
in the future, in which case, one may say, Enoch could not have experienced it
prior to the time. Further, the Scripture is very clear that the firstfruits of
this resurrection is Jesus Christ, whose resurrection is the ground for the
resurrection of those who put their faith on Him (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23).
In which case, Enoch could not have been transformed when Christ had not even
been born. But this fixation of events in time disregards the eternal
significance and dimension of the work of Christ. It limits the effects of
Christ’s work to the time following Him as if His death and resurrection was
similar to any temporal work. However, the Bible makes it very clear that the
sacrifice of Christ was not a mere temporal work; it had an infinitely deeper
spiritual dimension. Jesus offered Himself without spot to God through the
eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9:14), that is why His sacrifice could bridge the
infinite chasm between man and God created by sin; that is also how He
disannulled the penalty of eternal punishment in the moment of sacrifice. He
alone could be our sin-offering that takes away the sin of the world and the
source of our new life since He as God was infinite in being and, therefore,
able to atone infinitely and also defeat death, bringing out a new creation out
of it through the resurrection. His sacrifice was not just a physical event; it
was a spiritual event that spanned all time by transcending it. That is the
reason why its effects are undiminishing and equal through all time – past,
present, and future. That is how the Old Testament saints were saved and that is
reason for which the transformation of both Enoch and Elijah could not have been
an impossibility. In such case, their transformation would have preceded
Christ’s resurrection in time, but not in sequence. The firstfruits was Christ
and theirs was only based on the work of Christ. Anyway, the Word definitely
says that "by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death" meaning
that he will also not die anymore and the Word of God is true without doubt.

Now before his translation (i.e. being carried over to heaven) he had this
testimony, says the Word, that he pleased God. This testimony, according to the
writer, is proof of the faith of Enoch since "without faith it is impossible to
please Him"; therefore, it is evident that Enoch was taken to heaven by faith.
This, however, doesn’t mean that if anyone had faith to be taken away, he or she
will be taken away (of course, all should have the blessed hope). Enoch was
taken away by God’s choice, not Enoch’s choice. It is not said that he believed
and prayed for him to be taken away, but it’s clear that he had faith in God and
walked with God. However, there is room to wonder if Enoch, himself having the
prophetic vision of Christ’s return with his saints, ever wondered what it would
mean to be translated in an instant to glory. Yet, that was what he himself
experienced because he knew beyond doubt that Christ’s return with the saints
was a fact ordained in history, implying the knowledge that death was not the
final end of God’s people.

WALK TO WONDERLAND The Bible says that Enoch walked with God for over three
hundred years (Genesis 5:22) and then, suddenly, one day "he was not found"
because God took him away to heaven. The Septuagint (LXX) renders "And Enoch
walked with God" as "And Enoch pleased God" (euerestesen de Enoch to Theo). The
writer of Hebrews is, obviously, quoting the Septuagint when saying about Enoch
that "before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." To
walk with God meant to please Him since to walk with Him meant to walk in
conformity to His desire and will. The opposite of walking with Him would be
walking against Him, which is characteristic of unbelievers. The characteristics
of this walk are explicit in the words "seek", "come to", and "please Him".

He’s near Us The writer says that without faith it is impossible to please God;
for he who comes to Him must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of
those who diligently seek Him. The Greek word ekzeteo (ἐκζητέω) literally
means "to seek out", the word being a compound of ek (out) and zeteo (to seek).
This reveals not just the inquisitive and investigating nature of the faith of
God but also the imperative to ’seek out’ the truth or keep seeking till the
true answer is found. Why should there even be a concern to seek for something
unless it already exists by nature of the design of things? This, obviously, is
the unsolved problem of secular philosophy. For instance, if immortality is
mythical, why should man have the desire to seek for it? But the imperative of
seeking God is infinitely stronger than the quest for immortality? In fact, an
immortality deprived of the experience of God would be blank and void or, to be
more specific, hellish. There, definitely, exists a deep hunger for the absolute
source of eternal life, who is God, and this can be fulfilled by the experience
of the true God alone. However, if someone supposes that neither God nor
immortality existed then this hunger will have to be explained in contingent
terms as some, for instance, have tried to do when they have related it to the
natural instincts of sex, reproduction, and evolutionism. But, obviously, both
God and immortality are far beyond the contingent constrictions of this world,
and so to explain this hunger in contingent terms doesn’t solve the problem at
all, and it is also incomprehensible to believe how contingent objects of this
world were meant to satisfy this abysmal hunger. It is irrational to suppose
that something can be satisfied by something not meant for it.

Obviously, the signs of this hunger are present in every religion of the world.
However, the Bible tells us that in many of these cases the real appetite for
God has be suppressed by magnifying false passions of this world (cf. Romans
1:18-31). It is like a drug addict who loses his true appetite to the craving
for drugs. Certainly, such false procedures cannot help us in the path of truth.
One must truly seek the Lord and Him alone primarily, in order to find Him. For
faith must not have a false object; its object must be truth and truth is one.
Even Krishna in his liberalism and generosity for world religions shows his
reserves in this matter. Observe some of his words, for instance, from the
Bhagavad Gita: By whatever way men worship Me, even so do I accept them; for, in
all ways, O Partha, men walk in My path (IV. 11).

Whatever form a particular devotee wishes to worship with faith – concerning
that alone I make his faith unflinching. Endowed with that faith, he worships
that deity, and from him gets his desires, which are indeed granted by Me alone.
But that fruit of these men of little understanding has an end; the worshippers
of gods go to the gods, (but) My devotees come to Me (VII. 21-23).

Even those devotees of other gods who worship (them) endowed with faith, worship
Me alone, O son of Kunti (Arjuna), though in an unauthorized way (IX. 23). The
words "that fruit of these men of little understanding has an end," "(but) My
devotees come to Me," and "devotees of other gods…worship Me alone…though in an
unauthorized way" demonstrate the exclusivist tendencies of Gita’s pluralism.
One can’t be rational and still escape being exclusivist with regard to truth
somehow. All ways cannot, therefore, be the same and lead to the same goal as
Krishna himself confesses that "the worshippers of gods go to the gods, (but) My
devotees come to Me."

Therefore, God alone must be the object of the faith of God that seeks Him and
must find Him in order to rightly resolve its desperation. This also means that
the seeking must be on the right track and the finding must be of the real one.
Man’s religiosity (a term that denotes man’s nature of seeking for God) doesn’t
absolve him from his responsibility to the truth. This responsibility involves a
rational evaluation of our beliefs. That is what Paul intended to say to the
Athenians on the Areopagus when he said: The God who made the world and all
things in it, since He is Lord of Heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples
made with hands, nor is served with men’s hands, as though He needed anything,
since He gives life and breath and all things to all. And He has made all
nations of men of one blood to dwell on all the face of the earth, ordaining
fore-appointed seasons and boundaries of their dwelling, to seek the Lord, if
perhaps they might feel after Him and find Him, though indeed He is not far from
each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also certain
of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring. Then being offspring
of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like gold or silver or stone,
engraved by art and man’s imagination. Truly, then, God overlooking the times of
ignorance, now He strictly commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:24-30,
MKJV).

Notice that it is God who ordained the times and habitations of men so that they
may "seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after Him and find Him, though
indeed He is not far from each one of us." In such case, therefore, "we ought
not to think that the Godhead" can be represented in forms of human imagination.
Consequently, God calls men to repent from all false procedures of religion.
Thus, "seeking out" (ekzeteo) God is mandatory and obligatory for man. The
phrase "seek the Lord" has profound meaning in Hebrew tradition as is evident
from its usage in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 4:29 ; Ezra 6:21 ; Psalms 34:10
; Psalms 105:3-4; Proverbs 28:5 ; Amos 5:6). It doesn’t mean searching for God
as if He is lost or unknown to us. In fact, the seeking is because God is
already present in the knowledge a priori though, perhaps, in a vague way. That
is why Paul says to the Romans about the gentiles that they were guilty because
"when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but
became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened" (Romans
1:21). Biblically speaking, God is not totally unknown to the human spirit. That
is why when the Gospel is presented to him, he instantly recognizes the truth.
However, this doesn’t mean that the preaching of the Gospel doesn’t face the
problem of hindrance caused by the blindness imposed by the devil through
falsehood communicated through false religion and tradition (cf. 2 Corinthians
4:3-4). But when the Gospel is preached, one who has faith immediately accepts
it not because he rationally grasps it but because he spiritually recognizes it
by faith. Therefore, Paul, talking of his conversion, says: "But when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to
reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I
conferred not with flesh and blood"(Galatians 1:15-16). Obviously, for Paul the
instant of the revelation dispelled all previous antagonism against the Gospel
of Christ from his heart and he didn’t need to consult people in order to seek
confirmation or understanding of it.

It is like a baby hungry for milk, who when given it immediately recognizes it
because the hunger was unalterably connected to the milk beforehand, i.e. a
priori. Thus, when Paul preaches to the Athenian crowd at Areopagus, he doesn’t
say that they were ignorant of God; instead, he recognizes their religiosity
(i.e. their a priori understanding of God manifest in their worship of Him as
the Unknown God) and says to them, "Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him
declare I unto you" (Acts 17:23). Evidently, though vaguely, some knowledge of
God was already present to them even before Paul had to preach to them. They
knew that this Unknown God existed and was involved in human history. Thus,
their seeking of God was not related to the investigation of whether He existed
or not. In fact, such a quest would be rather impossible for that would require
them to check all parts of the universe which would require infinite time and
lead to infinite knowledge, of course; something that was the most impossible.
And still, even if one was unable to find material proofs of Him in this world,
this could not disprove the hypothesis that He existed as some other form of
being. Obviously, faith in God must precede seeking God. Therefore, the seeking
is not at all in order to find out whether God exists or not. It begins with and
from faith. That is why the writer of Hebrews says that "he who comes to God
must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek
Him" (Hebrews 11:5, MKJV). Thus, seeking God doesn’t refer to searching for Him
as if for someone lost or unknown to us. It is obvious that God cannot be lost
and if He were really totally unknown to us then how would we recognize that it
is He when we find Him? It is we who have become blind (groping for Him in the
darkness) though surrounded by Him all the time. Thus, "seeking out" doesn’t
refer to trying to know whether God exists or not. It starts with the faith that
God exists and rewards His people. Seeking out God diligently is, then, an act
of faith. The phrase "seek the Lord" usually occurs in the Old Testament in the
sense of seeking God to see His power and glory (Psalms 63:1-2 ), to know His
will in a particular matter (2 Samuel 21:1), of worshipping Him (Exodus 33:7 ; 2
Chronicles 11:16), seeking to follow His will (1 Chronicles 28:9 ; 2 Chronicles
14:4-7), and seeking God for an answer to prayer (2 Chronicles 20:3 ff; Psalms
34:4). The Bible requires that we seek God not casually but "diligently", i.e.
with all the heart and soul (Deuteronomy 4:29). This flows from a sense that
nothing but God can satisfy the infinite hunger for love and holiness, as
Augustine confessed "Thou hast made us for Thee and our heart is unquiet till it
finds its rest in Thee." David seeks God desperately in Psalm 63 as a man
thirsty for water in a parched and dry land. Thus, whether it is seeking God in
prayer, worship, study of His Word, or knowing and doing His will, it should be
whole heartedly and persistently. The Word tells us that God is the rewarder of
those that diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). In fact, unless one believes this
he can neither seek God nor come near to Him. This implies that faith is
personal. It is not faith in some blind, cosmic power but in a personal God who
attends to the calls of those who trust Him. Unless one has this faith one
cannot please God or walk with Him. Of course, there is no sense of talking
about pleasing or walking with some blind and impersonal cosmic power. The
believer is personally related to God through faith. Further, one must also
remember that God only rewards those who diligently seek Him. Obviously, a
reward has no meaning if some effort has not been made to get it. The word
"reward" itself means return, recompense, retribution, and requital. Thus, it
can only follow some action towards it. Evidently, then faith is also active and
full of the efforts of faith. Therefore, Jas. tells us that "as the body without
the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26). The
effort of faith that God rewards is the effort of seeking to know and do His
will. That alone is the true form of worshipping and honoring Him (cf. Romans
12:1-2). All such labor will never go unnoticed and unrewarded as the Scripture
says "God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love" (Hebrews
6:10). This, it must be remembered, is not a preaching of salvation by works of
the Law; because "by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight" (Romans 3:20, ASV). No man can be justified by the works of the law for
"by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20). In other words, man already
stands condemned before the court of God. Therefore, he can’t point to some or
many of his good works and claim justification in the same manner that a thief
cannot claim justification by referring to some of his works of generosity. And
so the Scripture says, "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the
curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Galatians 3:10), and again
"whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty
of all" (James 2:10). Thus, by the works of the Law shall no man be justified;
instead, "the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith
of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe" (Galatians 3:22). The one
who bases his righteousness on the literal Law of God, therefore, stands
condemned since he cannot keep the Law. The works of faith, on the other hand,
are never intended to prove self-righteousness but to demonstrate and work out
one’s faith in the goodness and righteousness of God. It is the intent and act
of seeking to know and do God’s will, therefore, that constitutes the core of a
seeking faith. And such faith will be duly rewarded.

Space Is Not the Limit The second element of this walk with God is coming to Him
or approaching Him as is indicated by the words "he who comes to God" (v. 6).
However, coming to God doesn’t imply going to certain places where He may be
found as if He could be found only in certain places. God is not limited by
space. In fact, the rational law "objects occupy space" doesn’t apply to Him,
even for the sake of both rational and empirical consistency; for to say God is
connected to space as material things are connected to it is to say that space
is co-eternal with God, which is attributing to space a quality that can only
belong to God; secondly, knowing now that space is a material dimension, we
cannot apply it to God who is the source of all kinds of being, including
space-time. God’s infinity exceeds the material limits and dimensions of
space-time. He is above and beyond this all. He fills both heaven and earth, as
King Solomon said at the dedication of the temple at Jerusalem, "Behold, Heavens
and heaven of the heavens cannot contain You! How much less this house which I
have built?" (2 Chronicles 6:18, MKJV). God, not being limited by space, is
omnipresent, i.e. everywhere. Therefore, coming to God is not to be understood
in materialistic terms. Coming to God doesn’t mean to visit a temple or holy
place. God is approachable anywhere; one only needs to draw near to Him in
spirit and truth (John 4:21, 23) and He will draw near to him (James 4:8) for He
is found of them that seek Him (Deuteronomy 4:29). God is the "exceeding great
reward" of all who seek Him in spirit and truth (cf. Genesis 15:1).

There are several things, however, that this act of approaching entails; and one
must be able to know them in order to see the significance of the faith of God
that draws one closer to God. First of all, faith gives us access into the
presence of God. It is faith that bridges the chasm between God and man and
brings him close to God. It is evident that a distance exists between God and
man; that is the reason why, it is necessary for man to come near to God "though
He is not far from each one of us". The problem about this distance is man
himself. It is man’s sin that puts up a wall between God and man (Isaiah 59:2).
This separation is not a physical separation; it is a spiritual separation (also
referred to as spiritual death) and is characterized by a violent enmity against
God in the spirit (Colossians 1:21). This is an undeniable malady in man; in
fact, the Bible calls denial of sin as self-deception (1 John 1:8-10). The fact
of this human malady (evil tendency) is not just a Christian doctrine. For
instance, Glaucon in Plato’s Republic tells the story of a young shepherd named
Gyges who, one day, found a ring that could make him invisible. Soon, he entered
the palace by means of it, seduced the queen, murdered the king and took the
kingdom. "Suppose now that there were two such magic rings," says Glaucon, "and
the just put on one of them and the unjust the other; no man can be imagined to
be of such an iron nature that he would stand fast in justice." Then, proceeding
to prove that all human show of justice doesn’t prove man to be just, he argues:
No man would keep his hands off what was not his own when he could safely take
what he liked out of the market, or go into houses and lie with any one at his
pleasure, or kill or release from prison whom he would, and in all respects be
like a God among men. Then the actions of the just would be as the actions of
the unjust; they would both come at last to the same point. And this we may
truly affirm to be a great proof that a man is just, not willingly or because he
thinks that justice is any good to him individually, but of necessity, for
wherever anyone thinks that he can safely be unjust, there he is unjust.

Studies in the psychology of evil, in the past few decades, have shown that
crime escalates where anonymity prevails, proving the internality of human
sinfulness and tendency towards evil when things seem conducive. This inherent
tendency towards evil is what is described in the Bible as the carnal mind set
on the things of the flesh and sold under sin (Romans 7:14) and set in enmity
against the Law of God; therefore, in enmity against God (Romans 8:17). For us
in the New Testament, this unsurpassable wall of separation is broken down by
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who satisfied the demands of the Law in His flesh
and brought us into fellowship with God (Zephaniah 2:14-16). Only His sacrifice
could do that as only He, being the embodiment of infinite deity and untainted
by Adamic guilt through the virgin birth, could be a true mediator between God
and man as the Scripture says:

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of
Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having a high priest over the house of God;
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water
(Hebrews 10:19-22).

Thus, we know that it is through Jesus Christ that we have access into the
presence of God (Zephaniah 3:12) as Jesus Himself said "I am the Way, the Truth,
and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me" (John 14:6); which also
implies that Enoch and all saints could only have access into God’s presence
through the effects of Christ’s atoning sacrifice for their sins and the sins of
the world. Their conscious acceptance of the revelation of God and submission to
His will was in line with the acceptance of the finality of this progressive
revelation in Jesus Christ (cf. Hebrews 1:1-2). Therefore, their faith in God’s
will and purposes was faith in Jesus Christ as the Scriptures tell us several
times, for instance, regarding the Israelites: For also we have had the gospel
preached, as well as them. But the Word preached did not profit them, not being
mixed with faith in those who heard it (Hebrews 4:2, MKJV).

And, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant that all our fathers were under
the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all were baptized to Moses in the
cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the
same spiritual drink; for they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them,
and that Rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:1-4, MKJV). In fact, the Scriptures
tell us that salvation in the Old Testament was through Christ alone, who in His
pre-incarnate form as Spirit, preached to the them in various ways (Hebrews 1:1)
the Gospel of His death and resurrection. It was Christ who through the Spirit,
for instance, preached to the people then, "when once the longsuffering of God
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared"; but they
disobeyed and are now kept in prison for the Day of Judgment. For Christ also
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God,
indeed being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit; in which
also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, to disobeying ones, when
once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was
being prepared (in which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water);
which figure now also saves us, baptism; not a putting away of the filth of the
flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ; who is at the right hand of God, having gone into Heaven, where
the angels and authorities and powers are being subjected to Him (1 Peter
3:18-22, MKJV).

It must be remembered that when we talk of Christ’s death and resurrection and
His Gospel, we talk of spiritual things (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:13 ) that transcend
the rigors of time and space; thus, it says "but made alive in the Spirit; in
which also He went and preached…in the days of Noah." In other words, the Gospel
of the Spirit of Christ, though not as clear to them as to many of us, was the
same bringing salvation to the saints in the Old Testament as well.

About which salvation the prophets sought out and searched out, prophesying
concerning the grace for you; searching for what, or what manner of time, the
Spirit of Christ made clear within them, testifying beforehand of the sufferings
of Christ, and the glories that should follow (1 Peter 1:10-11, MKJV).

What was a shadow to them is now a reality to us, and what is now a shadow to us
will be a reality in the days to come; yet, we walk in the fullness of the
assurance and partake of the goodness and mercies of God: that is faith, the
ability to go beyond the shadows and experience the eternal and spiritual
blessings of God in Jesus Christ. The strength of this faith in the Old
Testament can be seen in the fact that never once did any of the men of God
claim forgiveness of sins on the basis of a sacrifice or offering they brought
before God. They knew that whatever they brought could not atone for their sins.
They needed the grace of God and a way that God would provide (Lamentations 3:22
; Daniel 9:9 ). They were at His mercy. In fact, the Law had no stipulation of
forgiveness for intentional sins. Anyone seen breaking the Ten Commandments was
condemned to death. No sacrifice could atone for him. But the prophets preached
repentance and forgiveness by the grace and mercies of God. Therefore, without
any doubt, salvation in the Old Testament was by faith alone; and God’s way of
salvation is Jesus Christ (cf. Numbers 15:28 ; Deuteronomy 19:4 ; Exodus 21:12 ;
Exodus 21:15-17 ; Exodus 21:29; Isaiah 1:18 ; Psalms 51:7 ; Micah 7:19 ; Luke
2:25-32 ). In fact, there is no doubt that the fellowship with God in the Old
Testament was, in fact again, the fellowship of Christ (Matthew 22:41-45). Thus,
even the Old Testament saints could have access into the presence of God by
faith in God’s grace and salvation. On the basis of the Law or their own works
of righteousness, they could never have fellowship with God since only the high
priest was allowed into the Holiest Place of the Sanctuary, once a year, and
that too with the blood of a sacrifice. No one else had this privilege (Hebrews
9:7). In fact, we could never have gained access beyond the veil of separation
in the Sanctuary of the Law. But in Jesus Christ, we through the Spirit have
unrestricted access into the presence of God (Zephaniah 2:18).

Secondly, faith gives us the boldness to approach God (Hebrews 10:19). It is
like the boldness of a child who can approach his father without any fear or
hesitations. We do not just have the access but also the boldness to come before
God. The boldness comes from the faith in the revelation of God’s love towards
us as the Scripture says: "The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I
have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I
drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3). It is the awareness of God’s longing towards us as
His children and our irresistible need of Him that draws us to Him. Boldness is
the absence of guilt and anxiety. Guilt is the sense of having failed
infinitely, existentially, morally; anxiety is the sense of insecurity and
infinite threat. Guilt is infinite regret because the past act cannot be undone
for infinity. Anxiety is infinite apprehension because it is uncertain of any
hope beyond the horrific end that is at hand. This anxiety might not necessarily
be concerned with death but with the fear of an irrecoverable and hopeless
experience. Guilt prevents man from coming before the presence of God as it
makes one ashamed of himself for failing to be right and thus be pleasing in the
sight of God (see Luke 5:8 ; Job 42:5-6). Anxiety from sin-consciousness
produces the hesitation that prevents man from coming boldly to God (Genesis
3:10 ). Faith in the Word of God gives us boldness as it shows the goodness and
mercies of God towards us. God reveals His love to us so that they who accept
His love will find forgiveness of sins and healing for the past as well as
assurance for the future. We have expressively seen God as Love in the face of
Jesus Christ in the New Testament (1Joshua 4:8-9). Similarly, Enoch and the
other saints saw God as Love in God’s revelation of Himself as "Jehovah! Jehovah
God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth"
(Exodus 34:6, MKJV) because God is One and is revealed to us (whether in the Old
or the New Testament) only in the face of Jesus Christ (John 1:18 ; 14:9;
Genesis 32:30 ; Joshua 5:13-15 ; 2 Corinthians 4:6 ; 1 John 5:20 ). Thus, faith
in God’s revelation of His love casts of all guilt and fear as the Word says
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of
judgment….There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear." (1 John
4:17-18).

It is a tragedy, however, that there are some who have lost their consciences
and exhibit a kind of impudence with disdain for the Law of God (2 Timothy
3:1-4). Such impudence and insolence is nothing but false boldness that leads to
fall (Proverbs 16:5 ; Proverbs 16:18). As seen earlier, disdain for God’s Law as
sign of rebellion is the result of carnal mindedness. It is all about a
willing-to-believe or inclination of heart towards anything that decides the
"rationality" or "intelligibility" of that thing. Therefore, to one who chooses
or is drawn to disbelieve in the Law or authority of God, God’s Law looks
irrational, unfair, and absurd to him. Such persons will have no guilt-feelings
since their consciences are dead to the Law of God. Obviously, such persons
cannot find peace and joy in the presence of God. Yet, God is merciful to allow
time and opportunity to repent and His love strives with the sinner’s spirit
with the hope that he will turn his ways to God as the Word says "I drew them
with cords of a man, with bands of love" (Hosea 11:4 ). However, the Bible warns
us not to take the patience and mercies of God lightly:

And, O man… do you think this, that you shall escape the judgment of God? Or do
you despise the riches of His kindness, and the forbearance and long-suffering,
not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But according to
your hardness and your impenitent heart, do you treasure up wrath for yourself
in a day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will
render to each according to his works; indeed to those who with patience in good
work are seeking for glory, and honor, and incorruptibility, everlasting life.
But to those who indeed disobeying the truth out of self-seeking, and obeying
unrighteousness, will be anger and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every
soul of man who has worked out evil…. (Romans 2:3-9, MKJV). But those who accept
God’s love into their lives are "born again" by the Spirit of God and are
adopted as sons in the family of God, and as such have child-like confidence
before their heavenly Father. One cannot deny that there are times when the
heart will say "You should not have done it" or "Your sins are too great to be
forgiven", and with such thoughts condemn us. But the Word says, And hereby we
know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if
our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God (1 John
3:19-21). In other words, it is possible that our hearts continue the natural
way of condemning us even when our sins have already been blotted out. In such
cases, faith must take the stand to affirm that the witness of God’s Word is
greater than the witness of one’s heart. And when the heart that is steadfast in
God no longer condemns, one has boldness before God; for with the removal of
guilt and anxiety also comes the child-like boldness to approach God. Remember
that Jesus never condemned Peter for failing Him thrice; He never mentioned it:
He only asked him whether he loved Him (cf. John 21:14-17). Peter replied in the
affirmative and Jesus told him to take care of His sheep (the church). Peter
need not be obsessed with his failures as if that was all to his life and as if
God expected him to be righteous in his own power; he only needed to trust in
God and be confident that God is not against us but for us if we love God and
commit ourselves to His will (cf. Romans 8:33-34). Thus, faith gives us the
boldness to enter the presence of God. By faith in God’s love and rich mercies
Enoch walked with God in fellowship, and, obviously, experienced each day the
insurmountable blessings of His grace until, one day, his time merged into the
eternity of heaven.

Attunement The Bible tells us that Enoch "pleased God" (as seen, the LXX
rendering of "walked with God"). Thus, walking with God is equivalent to
pleasing God as the inspired Word confirms. And "without faith it is impossible
to please Him"; therefore, Enoch pleased God not because of his works but
because of his faith. The necessary connection between faith and pleasing God is
revealed in the words "impossible" and "must" as follows: But without faith it
is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near
to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of
those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out] (Hebrews 11:6, Amplified
Bible).

Evidently, one cannot get around faith to please God. It is the only way
available The opposite is the way of flesh which can never seek to please God.
Therefore, the works of faith are in variance against the works of the flesh.
The works of faith flow from a heart that is attuned with the heart of God; the
works of flesh flow from selfishness. The flesh cannot please God because it is
bound and enslaved to its immediate desires and cravings (Romans 8:8).
Therefore, when the flesh tries to keep the Law of God, it externally keeps it
only to suit its selfish intentions as Glaucon says in The Republic, "all men
who practice justice do so against their will, of necessity, but not as a good."
Such compulsive law-keeping is abominable in God’s sight since it doesn’t come
from a heart of faith; in fact, carnal worship (i.e. worship by flesh for
immediate desire fulfillment) is never worship of God but the worship of an
ideal of the flesh, which is idolatry. This is how the unspiritual Israelites
and priests could go and worship in the temple while also doing wicked deeds
everywhere; the flesh fooled them to believe that God was not concerned with all
their evil deeds as long as His rituals were met, similar to the gods of the
heathens. That was their false picture of God created by the flesh. This
ultimately led to total departure from even the godly form of worship as the
flesh found situations conducive to idolatry (Isaiah 1:13-14; Ezekiel 8:8-17 ;
Psalms 94:7 ; Isaiah 29:15), because obedience to the flesh is the same as
idolatry and the worship of the flesh (Jude 1:16-18).

One cannot walk with God unless one’s heart is already close to God. The show of
walk is not true walk. For instance, a love letter can be written by both a
lover and a computer; however, it is the letter of the lover alone that pleases
the beloved, not because it has better display of words, but because it comes
from the lover’s heart: the computer, on the contrary, having no heart, only
makes a show of love in words that have been programmed into it; therefore, it
is incapable of love and its "love letter" is meaningless. Similarly, someone
who doesn’t have a heart after God cannot walk with God. Therefore, as has been
seen, seeking precedes pleasing God in this walk of faith and seeking never
ceases. The word for "to please", used here, is euaresteo (εὐαρεστέω), whose
noun form is euarestos, a combination of two words eu (good, well) and arestos
(agreeable, fitting, pleasing); thus meaning "to please entirely" or be "well
pleasing". The word arestos is used in Romans 8:8 where it says, "they that are
in the flesh cannot please (arestos) God" meaning that they who live fulfilling
their fleshly desires all the time cannot agree with God or fit His ways; in
other words, they can neither walk in agreement with Him nor please Him; for to
walk implies also to be in agreement with as the Word says "Can two walk
together, except they be agreed" (Amos 3:3). Through the combination of eu with
arestos, euarestos attains the meaning of being in total agreement with or being
perfectly or well attuned with God. It is understandable that God cannot accept
less than euarestos in anyone’s approaching or relating to Him. That is the
reason why the Scripture uses euarestos and not just arestos when talking about
pleasing God by faith. The sense is that they that are carnal minded cannot even
agree with God, far be it that they can be perfectly pleasing in His sight. But
the man of faith goes beyond mere agreement to a total satisfaction of divine
will and pleasure. Obviously, this is not humanly or fleshly possible; it is
only possible by faith and a self-giving in trust into the hands of God in total
commitment. It is like the burnt-offerings of the Old Testament in which the
sacrificial animal had to be totally offered and burnt on the altar. It is that
which is wholly pleasing to Him. That is also what the Word calls for when it
says, "present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable (euarestos) unto
God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1); and again, "And be not
conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable (euarestos), and perfect,
will of God" (Romans 12:2). The walk of faith that pleases God must be selfless
and wholly dedicated to God. But such qualities are internal and not external.
That is why Romans 12:1-2 talks about reasonable (logikos, rational or logical)
service and renewing of mind. For, unless one’s way of thinking is governed by
the faith of God, his walk cannot be pleasing to God. In fact, a willing
committal of self in holiness and conformity to God’s will is the only kind of
service that God accepts as rational (logikos); all other forms of religion are
meaningless before Him. It is only when the mind is renewed that the body can be
offered as a living sacrifice to God (for God has no use of the dead; He needs
the living to serve Him in spirit and truth). Jesus said that the internal of a
vessel needs to be cleaned before the external is cleaned (Matthew 23:26). The
internal must be purified by faith in God’s Word and the love of God. Obviously,
the tenth commandment, "Do not covet", deals with the internal aspect of man’s
moral life. It is the only law that prohibits something that is externally
invisible until it manifests itself in visible forms of violating the other
commandments. Only the one who covets really knows if he is coveting or not.
That is why when the rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked Him what he must
do to get eternal life, Jesus told him to keep the commandments, namely "do not
murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor
your parents, and love your neighbor as yourself." He didn’t mention the first
three commandments of honoring and worshipping God; neither did He mention the
last commandment "do not covet", instead of which He said "love your neighbor as
yourself" since love would never violate any of the commandments but would go
beyond them to fulfill God’s will and, thus, honor Him; for if one cannot love
his neighbor then one cannot love God either (1 John 4:20-21). The hideous
nature of covetousness is what constitutes the anti-love element of sin in the
human heart. It is the enemy of love; therefore, both of them cannot co-exist:
either one must win or the other. Therefore, the carnal mind is said to be in
enmity against the Law of God. But true love fulfills the whole Law of God in
spirit and truth as the Scripture says:

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves another has
fulfilled the Law. For: "Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do
not bear false witness; do not lust;" and if there is any other commandment, it
is summed up in this word, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love
works no ill to its neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law
(Romans 13:8-10, MKJV).

Love doesn’t just think about the letter of the commandment; it looks beyond it
to its spirit. It is covetousness that looks to the letter in order to find a
way to get around it and fulfill the desires of the flesh (cf. Mark 7:10-13).
Therefore, the Law was rightly given to the sinners in order to condemn them (1
Timothy 1:9-10; Romans 3:20; Romans 7:7-8). It is only ludicrous when sinners
use this same Law of God to accuse each other (Romans 2:1). Remember the
incident of the Pharisees bringing a woman caught in adultery to Jesus and
trying Him with the question of what to do with her since the Law of Moses
commanded to stone adulterers to death. There were several side-tracking
complications like, for instance, the whereabouts of the man who also,
obviously, was caught in the immoral act. However, Jesus didn’t act like a
normal scribe would have; he stooped down and started writing on the ground as
if they had come to Him with a meaningless question. But when they insisted He
stood up and told them "Anyone who is without sin among you may cast the first
stone at her." On hearing this, and convicted by their consciences, everyone of
them left the scene except the woman (John 8:10). Evidently, though their
external adherence to the Law might have been visible to all, their conscience
did not testify that they were sinless (because lust or covetousness ruled their
internal thoughts) and they knew that they were equally condemned by the Law as
the woman was. In such case, their bringing her to Jesus and making a show of
being protectors of the Law was absurd. In the case of the rich young ruler, he
was prompt to say that he kept all those commandments that Jesus had talked of
from his childhood and inquired whether he lacked anything yet. Jesus answered
him saying "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the
poor, and you shall have treasure in Heaven. And come, follow Me" (Matthew
19:21, MKJV). The Bible tells us that the man went back sorrowful because he had
great possessions. Obviously, this man could not get over his covetousness for
the things of the world despite the fact that he was externally keeping the
commandments. For the sake of such worldly desires he even disregarded the
treasures of heaven. But he could not do anything else because his mind was set
compulsively on the flesh and so he could not see the things of God nor place
his faith in the promise of Christ "You shall have treasure in Heaven". Thus, it
is obvious that though he was saddened by how he was proven wrong, yet his deep
love for worldliness disabled him from submitting himself to God completely.
Therefore, it is not the external compliance to the Law but an internal
sacrifice of self and perfect attunement with the will of God that is the first
step towards pleasing God. Certainly, such attunement is only possible when
actions flow purely out of love for God and His ways. It is God’s love alone
that can break the spell of covetousness from our hearts and get us beyond the
letter (or fetter) of the Law to a free and pure service of God; for the only
kind of service that is acceptable before God is the service of faith that works
by love (Galatians 5:6). It was in this sense that Mother Teresa told Malcolm
Muggeridge that the world lacks faith because of so much selfishness and so much
gain only for self, but faith to be true must be a giving love, and love and
faith go together. The one thing that the young man lacked was the faith of God
that operates by love. He neither cared for the poor nor for God, and he could
trust neither because of his lack of faith. Teresa’s perspective is the contrary
as she says: "Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself" and then
again "Only in heaven we will see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to
love God better because of them." Obviously, it is not an attraction towards
some utopian treasures or pleasures in heaven but the love of Christ that drew
her to serve the poor. It was because of this that Muggeridge says, "Every day
Mother Teresa meets Jesus", i.e. at not just the Mass but also in "each needing,
suffering soul she sees and tends." Her own confession of this faith in God is
overwhelming as, in her, love and action combine in her faith. She says:

Faith is a gift of God. Without it there would be no life. And our work, to be
fruitful and to be all for God, and beautiful, has to be built on faith. Faith
in Christ who has said, ’I was hungry, I was naked, I was sick, and I was
homeless and you did that to me.’ On these words of his all our work is based.

Obviously, faith here goes beyond the carnal craving of those who look at the
reward of faith as some carnal pleasure and luxury in heaven. In fact, the Bible
never talks of such reward. The reward of the faith of God is God Himself; for,
it is God alone whom faith seeks and approaches and finally pleases. Therefore,
the apostle tells the believers to do whatever they do, heartily as unto the
Lord and not unto men (Colossians 3:23); for our attitudes and intentions matter
more than our words and actions. The "LORD does not look at the things man looks
at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (1
Samuel 16:7, NIV). There will be many on the Day of Judgment who’ll say to Jesus
that they did mighty works of wonders in His name, but He’ll deny them since it
is only those who do the will of God that are known by Him in an intimate way
that pleases Him (Matthew 7:21-23). Lusts and passions may come (uncalled for
many times) but it is the resolute act of faith that alone overcomes the world
(1 John 5:3-4). Thus, one can see how by faith Enoch pleased God and was
translated that he should not see death. His faith possessed the qualities of
completeness, absoluteness, and finality leaving no possibilities for a turn
around. It was incessantly inquisitive, infinitely intimate, and inextricably
integrated with God’s will; therefore, it was testified of him that he pleased
God, and so will it be of everyone that blends his life completely with the fire
of God’s will on the altar of His love, by faith to the glory of His grace
(Zephaniah 1:6) who is the only One who can be absolutely trusted forever. Amen!

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

1. Through faith one inherits the eternal salvation of God which is eternally
available to all in the past, present, and future, through Christ Jesus.

2. To walk by faith is the same as pleasing God.

3. Faith recognizes God’s truth in the same way that a thirsty man receives pure
water.


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  CHAPTER 8: 01.05.     CHAPTER 5: SHIP WITHOUT SAILS
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CHAPTER FIVE Ship without Sails "By faith Noah…prepared an ark to the saving of
his house" (Hebrews 11:7). The action-nature of faith is recurrently stressed
throughout this chapter in words like "by faith Abel offered", "by faith Noah
built an ark", "by faith Abraham went out", and so on. In each case, faith is
known by its works which is the only way it can be known, as James challenges
the hypocrites: "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith
by what I do" (James 2:18, NIV). Faith is both internally consistent and
empirically verifiable; that is the reason why a trial of faith is possible (cf.
1 Peter 1:7). Faith is internally consistent in the sense that within itself it
is free from any shadow of doubt, ambiguity, or contradiction with regard to
truth: obviously, faith can only relate to its object if it has no
double-mindedness about it. Secondly, faith is also empirically verifiable,
i.e., you can always verify the presence or absence of faith in a pragmatic way.
For instance, Peter’s beginning to sink in the water revealed his shattering of
faith by buckling under fear (Matthew 14:30-31). The internal variance surfaced
in external difference. Therefore, the Scripture says that one is as he thinks
in his heart (Proverbs 23:7), which also means that one’s quality of conduct is
defined by one’s attitude of thinking. Eventually, one’s experiences are
determined by one’s attitude towards truth, especially the truth of God. This
attitudinal difference was what distinguished the warriors of faith from the
victims of flesh (or circumstances). As far as physical structure, mental
capacity, and emotional stability was concerned one could not make a huge
difference between both of them. However, history is witness to the fact that
their differences lie in what each has done to history. In Noah’s case, history
was reinvented when God invented Noah’s ship without sails; and he put the
design together with wood, pitch, and nails. The Biblical portrayal of Noah’s
time is a pathetic one. Here is first mentioned that God repented for having
made man and was very grieved at heart because of what man had made of himself
(Genesis 6:6). The literary picture "God repented" expresses the depth of grief
man had caused God by his evil works. Man was doomed to death by the sentence of
Justice; and yet, the dark influence of evil was so tense and dense in the human
heart that the light of God’s grace seemed a dismal ray obliterated by the
wrench of wickedness (cf. Genesis 6:5-7 ; Romans 1:18; Romans 1:32). For it does
say that Noah preached righteousness to these people (2 Peter 2:5) and that the
Spirit of God strived with them (Genesis 6:3), in case they might turn their
ways to God but they were indurate with a stone-like coldness to the mercies of
God. It is reasonable to assume that God gave up striving with the people before
deciding to destroy them and apparent from His plan revealed to Noah. In which
case, it is also reasonable to assume that Noah was a preacher of righteousness
not merely after getting the mandate to build the ark but even before it. But
the world had now become a bag filthy refuse. Even those who came from a godly
background had corrupted themselves by disregarding both God and conscience
(Genesis 6:2-4). The Bible says that every imagination of the thought of man’s
heart was evil continually (Genesis 6:5). In other words, there were no
intervals of evil. Good had lost both its voice and hold over men’s hearts.
Man’s heart had become an unceasing lab of evil designs and inventions. It is
not easy to imagine Noah’s day in our age with scores of Christian T.V.
channels, radio programs, magazines, books, churches, ministers, godly
believers, Christian artists, statesmen, and other Christian presences besides:
in Noah’s day, it was Noah alone and his family; the whole world had fallen
beside and turned wicked beyond repair – no government, no rules, no human
rights protection, no conscience; good was absent and evil was ubiquitous. One
can only imagine how hostile everything was against faith. But in face of all
this, Noah obtained the witness of having found favor in God’s eyes, of
condemning the world, and becoming a heir of God’s righteousness by faith. His
faith, like the ark he was going to make, didn’t need sails to propel it
forward; in fact, the winds of this world could never be kind on the sails of
faith – they would only seek to sink it down. But Noah’s faith was set to sail
on the winds of God’s grace, whom he obeyed without a question.

RUDDER OF REVERENCE The Scripture says that "by faith Noah, being warned of God
of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his
house" (Hebrews 11:7). The phrase "moved with fear" is actually one word in the
Greek, eulabetheis (ευλαβηθεις) which is in the middle voice and carries the
meaning of conducting oneself carefully, cautiously, and circumspectly with
reverence towards God. This is not the kind of fear that arises out of the
animal survival instinct. The animal instinct for survival that every living
organism has produces the emotion of fear in man. When faced with danger, such
fear triggers large amounts of adrenaline into the bloodstream and prepares the
organism for immediate action. Obviously, Noah’s fear was not this kind of
instinctual fear because there were no visible signs of danger around him for
the many years while the ark was being built; in fact, he was moved with fear
after being warned of God of "things not seen as yet". Thus, it was not this
animal kind of fear. On the other hand, it was also not anxiety, or fear of some
unknown thing with a sense of an inability to control the future and feelings of
hopelessness. Noah’s fear was not fear of the unknown because God had already
revealed to him that He was going to destroy the world with a flood and had also
shown him His plan of saving him by the ark (Genesis 6:13-17). Obviously, then
anxiety was not the kind of fear that he had. To the contrary, his was a
reverential fear of God that circumspectly defined his lifestyle. The fear of
God was his motivation for obeying God diligently. This fear of God proceeded
from faith, i.e. the faith of God; for it says "by faith Noah, being warned of
God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear." In other words, this kind of a
fear of God can only proceed from faith in God. It is unlike the fear that the
demons have (James 2:19); for though they believe that God exists they do not
have the faith of God and so have no reverence for Him; instead, they shudder
and tremble at His presence out of an instinctual fear related to their concern
for themselves and not a regard for God. The word for "warned of God" is again
one word in the Greek, chrematistheis (χρηματισθεὶς) and is used 9 times in the
New Testament, each time referring to a revelation, a warning or a labeling by
God. Thus, for instance, the wise men were chrematisthentes in a dream that they
should not return to Herod (Matthew 2:12); Cornelius was echrematisthe by an
angel to send for Peter (Acts 10:22); the disciples were first chrematisai as
Christians at Antioch (Acts 11:26); and Moses was chechrematistai to follow the
blueprint of the tabernacle that was shown to him by God (Hebrews 8:5).
Evidently, God spoke to Noah through one or more of His many ways. It may have
been through a dream or a vision or through an angel; we are not certain how;
but, it is clear that Noah never doubted God’s revelation. He believed and
obeyed God. The revealed truth, indubitably, was prophetical as it says "of
things not seen as yet", i.e. of things to come. The fear, as has already been
seen, was not a fear of portended evil that drove Noah to build the ark. It was
a fear that came from an apprehension of God’s mission-related revelation by
faith. That is to say that God’s word to Noah came with a mission for him to
complete; Noah took that mandate and cautiously (fearfully) worked out the task.
For Noah, as for any of us, it is the fear of God that gives direction and
meaning to life. It is the rudder that drives our lives forward towards God’s
goal; propelled by the arms of faith.

True Reverence is Obedient

Only reverential fear can obey God first before even seeking to understand the
rationality of the commandment. It is so since only the word of the Lord has
ultimate sense and significance for a heart of faith. All that is needed is that
the commandment be clear; every other thing is only secondary. A classic example
of this godly fear is found in Abraham. When God asked him to take his only son
Isaac to Moriah and offer him to God on one of the mountains that He would
specify, Abraham obeyed without any questioning whatsoever (Genesis 22:2-3). The
reason was not because Abraham believed in human sacrifice but because he knew
the promise of God that God would make a nation from Isaac (Genesis 15:4-5;
Genesis 21:12). This faith was what made him tell his two servants near Mt.
Moriah to tarry there as he and the lad go to worship and will come back to them
(Genesis 22:5). He didn’t say "we’ll go and I’ll come back" but "we’ll worship
and come back to you" because he knew that even if Isaac died God will have to
raise him up to keep His promise which He could never break. This faith is also
obvious in his answer to his son when he asked "Father, we have the wood and the
fire but where is the lamb for the offering?" Abraham answered, "God will
provide himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son" (Genesis 22:7-8). The
movies paint a false picture of this episode when they show that Abraham was
filled with grief when God gave him this command. The Bible never tells us this
about our father of faith. Abraham never doubted the voice or character of God
for even a split of a second. Neither was God’s command grievous to him for he
knew the finality of the faith of God who never fails in perfection. People of
the world submit to the orders of their captains and leaders by faith that they
know better or have the right to command their obedience; yet, none of these
leaders are perfect. If worldly men could so be feared and obeyed, even if it be
for the sake of smooth governance, how much more should our faith be obedient to
the only wise and true God. Abraham believed God and acted in reverent obedience
to Him; therefore, God testified to him saying "now I know that you fear God,
since you have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me" (Genesis 22:12,
MKJV). And Abraham looked and saw before him a ram caught in a thicket by its
horns; he took it and offered it as a burnt-offering instead of his son. This is
the kind of godly fear that prompts obedience to God’s command.

Godly fear is a sense of awe and reverence from a vision of God’s holiness,
power, and love. The world knows two kinds of reverence: true reverence and
faked one. True reverence is that which comes from the heart while faked
reverence is hypocritical. It is axiomatically true that no one who really knows
God can ever fake reverence before Him. Only they will attempt to deceive God
who do not know Him as the maker and discerner of hearts (Psalms 94:7-9).
Therefore, the opposite of godly fear is ungodly rebellion. It is inevitable
that Noah, being moved by godly fear, constantly warned his generation of the
judgment to come on earth while he reverentially prepared the ark (2 Peter 2:5).
However, none of them but his family responded to the message of God. Their
stance was that of open rebellion. It reveals the condition of their sinful
heart that had lost its capacity to either blush or bristle at the divine
indictment (cf. Revelation 9:20-21). They could not fear God because they did
not believe Him. And they did not believe Him because they did not want to fear
Him. That is the contradiction of human rebelliousness; man demands of God to
give him evidences so that he can believe in Him, but if the same were demanded
of him, his answer would beg the question and run into a whirlpool of blank
reasoning. A true atheist is never rational; for if he were he could not be an
atheist, since denying God is equivalent to making a universal statement which
is only possible on grounds that the maker of the statement possessed universal
or infinite knowledge, which being not true, the atheist’s belief in God’s
non-existence is rationally unsustainable. An atheist, therefore, is not an
atheist by virtue of rational deduction but because of his unwillingness to
believe in God. In fact, no one can be rational and deny God; even the agnostic
is being careless if he keeps on saying that he doesn’t know whether God exists
or not. This doesn’t mean that God is known by reason, but that faith in God is
necessary to sustain reason and ultimately the rationality of life. Therefore,
the Scripture says about the unbelievers that though "they knew God, they
glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened" (Romans 1:21) as the Word
also says in Genesis that "the imaginations of the thoughts of their heart was
evil continually." But the loss of reason also means the loss of sense and
meaning.

Two disturbing characters in the Bible who ended their lives in suicide were
King Saul and Judas Iscariot. Both of them were chosen by God. Both of them saw
the power and majesty of God. Yet, both rebelled absurdly against God (1Sam. 15;
1 Samuel 18:28-29 ; 1 Samuel 28:6-7 ; Matthew 26:14-16). The former fell on his
own sword after realizing he could no longer fight against the armies of God (1
Samuel 31:4). The latter fell into remorse after betraying our Lord and hanged
himself to death (Matthew 27:3-5). In either case, they chose not to come back
to God and humbly seek His forgiveness and mercy. Their rebellion was rebellion
because they knew God earlier and showed their submission to Him, but later
giving in to their own fleshly lusts they lost sight of God and fell into the
irrational and unnatural desires of the flesh: the one wanted to retain a
kingdom that God had taken away from him and the other acquiesced to sell the
Messiah for just 30 pieces of silver; if this was not irrational then
irrationality will need to be redefined. Consequently, their failure to cope
with the senselessness of their own rebellion drove them to suicide. Any work or
mission that has not the sanction of God is ill-driven and ultimately senseless.
For it is bound to self-destruction since no one can rebel successfully against
the Source of life and intelligence; no one can fight against truth and remain
intact as the Word says "Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what
kind of wisdom do they have?" (Jeremiah 8:9, NIV). In fact, we can have some
hope for the man who cuts the branch on which he sits but never for one who
thinks that he can rationally rebel against truth. Therefore, without godliness
it is impossible to rationally cope with life.

Faith Makes Sense

Noah’s construction of the ark, obviously, made no sense to most people of his
day. Similarly, serving God seems nonsensical to many in our own day. Jesus said
that our days would be like the days of Noah (Luke 17:26); for as the people of
Noah’s days never took the words of Noah seriously, so does this generation
disregard the Gospel of Christ. In a vigorously materialistic age, all godly
work is naturally set to be despised by worldly men as it is done. But the man
of faith knows that God’s work in this world is more important than the world
itself, a view that’ll cause constipation to materialists. While people
everywhere were building houses and making future plans, Noah was building the
ark. He knew the futility of their works while they thought that he was crazy.
We can only imagine the milieu of Noah’s ministry since the Scripture only tells
us that the people of his generation were disobedient or unbelieving (1 Peter
3:20 ). Obviously, people had many reasons to give for disbelieving in Noah’s
preaching. There had neither been a universal flood before nor were any signs of
such an impending flood visible. If God wanted to save people, He could do that
without an ark for nothing was impossible for Him. Why would He need a human to
help Him in constructing the means of salvation and wait till the work be over?
There were no signs or miracles as proofs of God’s existence and He never
appeared to any. If a flood were to come it would be predictable, and several
such arguments could have been brought to disannul Noah’s preaching. But God is
not interested to provide evidences for and answers for the questions of those
who have made up their mind not to believe. The people’s own wickedness and the
revelation of divine wrath through Noah’s preaching were evidence enough as the
Word says "Say to them, ’This is what the Sovereign LORD says.’ And whether they
listen or fail to listen – for they are a rebellious house – they will know that
a prophet has been among them" (Ezekiel 2:4-5, NIV). That is the reason even why
Jesus didn’t give a defense of Himself at His trial; in fact, Herod had wanted
to see some miracle but Jesus didn’t answer him (Luke 23:8-9 ). God doesn’t
fulfill the desires of the unbelieving heart but if there is someone who seeks
Him in spirit and truth, God readily answers him (Psalms 91:14-15). It is only
an irreverent heart that demands of God answers to its carnal questions. In
fact, all such rebellious talk and action will be judged in the Day of Judgment
as is said "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute
judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their
ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches
which ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude 1:14-15).

If one wishes to live a real life he must give himself to serve God through
obedience to His Word; for the pursuit of worldly gain at the loss of one’s own
soul is a foolish business as Jesus said "For what shall it profit a man, if he
gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36); the proverb also says
likewise that "riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness
delivereth from death" (Proverbs 11:4). For the purpose of a thing is not
determined by the thing itself but by its maker who made it with a purpose for
himself or for someone else. Similarly, the Scripture says that God made the
universe through Christ and for Christ that He might be the head over all things
subjected to Him by the Father (Colossians 1:16-18). Rebellion is the
self-imagination and determination of one’s meaning for oneself; it is the
rejection of God’s definition of what life was meant to be. But all such
determinations are foiled by death and will be proved false on the Day of
Judgment. It is therefore crucial for us to stop hardening our hearts and listen
to the voice of the Spirit today (Hebrews 3:7); for the Spirit strives with us
through the preaching of the Gospel convincing, convicting, and calling us to
repentance (Genesis 6:3 ; John 16:8 ; Hebrews 2:3-4) as the Scripture says:

O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For
he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
Today if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart… (Psalms 95:6-8 ).

It is only in obedience to this Spirit of grace that our lives can really make
sense. This was what distinguished Noah from the people of his day. He knew his
Maker and knew the logic of life in the service and worship of his Maker.

SAIL OR SINK! By his act of faith Noah condemned the world (Hebrews 11:7). It is
not well known how big the world then was; though it may be supposed that there
was just one large land mass surrounded by sea on all sides and the world was
undivided. It may also be calculated that there were above or less than 1 crore
(10 million) people on the earth. Whatever be the case, it is apparent that the
news of Noah’s message and ship-engineering was in wide circulation in those
days from what the Scriptures tell us about Noah’s preaching to and condemning
the world for their disobedience (cf. 1 Peter 3:20). The statement "by the which
he condemned the world" can be taken in at least three senses.

First of all, Noah’s faith condemned the world by convicting it and proving its
just deserving of divine judgment. His life and message was a sign of their
doom. The contrast of his life with theirs revealed their alienation from God.
The disobedience of the people and their rejection of God’s grace were grounds
for their condemnation. Noah’s display of unflinching faith in God condemned
them by leaving them no excuse for disbelief. If he could believe God beyond all
uncertainty, they could also have done the same. But their disobedience meant
their doom. There were no alternatives left.

Secondly, Noah’s faith condemned the world by proving them all wrong at the end.
While they died in their self-invented prisons of false beliefs and practices,
Noah and his family were saved by an obedient faith in God. To the world seeing
is believing. To Noah believing was seeing. Therefore, being warned of things
yet unseen, moved with fear, he built the ark, by which act of faith he
condemned the world and himself became heir of the righteousness that is by
faith. Noah’s faith won the battle of beliefs at the end. Indubitably, our world
does rest on faith. Much of the information that one possesses and acts upon is
a matter of belief. Much is assumed as a matter of faith in our relationships,
our work, our dreams and our plans. One can’t shirk the reality of faith aside
since very less can be done on the basis of knowledge acquired by pure reason or
direct experience; but much is done on the basis of faith. However, the
directing and acting out of faith cannot be an irresponsible business. One must
not believe lazily or blindly as if he has no alternative but this before him,
and one must not also believe in things out of social pressure or for
maintaining the status quo. For no one is a slave of any other man’s opinion. We
have seen how whole nations led into false thinking, prejudice, and
war-justification during World-War II. Most Germans had fallen into believing
Hitler’s lie about the purity and supremacy of the German race and the vileness
of the Jews. The irresponsibility of belief in this matter was cataclysmic.
Albert Einstein, himself a Jew writing to the heroes of the battle of the Warsaw
ghetto, said: The Germans as an entire people are responsible for these mass
murders and must be punished as a people if there is justice in the world and if
the consciousness of collective responsibility in the nations is not to perish
from the earth entirely. Behind the Nazi party stands the German people, who
elected Hitler after he had in his book and in his speeches made his shameful
intentions clear beyond the possibility of misunderstanding. The Germans are the
only people who have not made any serious attempt of counteraction leading to
the protection of the innocently persecuted. When they are entirely defeated and
begin to lament over their fate, we must not let ourselves be deceived again,
but keep in mind that they deliberately used the humanity of others to make
preparation for their last and most grievous crime against humanity.

Obviously, Einstein’s mind could not absolve the German crime of (whether
irresponsibly or willingly) submitting one’s faith to undeniably inhumane
beliefs and values. Speaking out of his experience of the shame and terror
inherent in the War (one must remember that over 6 million Jews were killed in
Hitler’s concentration camps), he is not at all considerate to those who acted
on such morally shocking terms. Those who did that stood condemned in the sight
of Justice. Similarly, by an irresponsible and willing self-giving to the
dictates of the flesh and rebellion against God, the world of Noah’s time stood
condemned before God. But Noah’s submission to God in faith justified him.

Thirdly, Noah’s faith condemned the world by showing that salvation is not by
works but by faith. Only faith can seek the help of God. Pride, on the other
hand, seeks to find its own way because it imagines of itself as being something
while forgetting that it is nothing. The Bible says that God resists the proud
but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6 ). God can only give grace to the
humble because only the humble seek God’s grace. The proud cannot bow down
before God but consider themselves as equal to God in the choice of what is good
and evil. That was the deception into which Eve fell and is referred to as the
condemnation of the devil (1 Timothy 3:6 ); for the devil thinks that he is not
anything less than God himself (Isaiah 14:12-14). In this the devil and all who
bear his mark of perdition stand condemned. But "blessed are the poor in spirit;
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3). Thus, the world was
condemned because of its insolent rejection of God and His grace. As a result of
this, they were destroyed.

There were also other godly men in the days of Noah. Both Noah’s father and
grandfather were living while the ark was being made. Noah’s father, Lamech,
died when Noah was 595 years old, i.e. five years before the flood came and
Methuselah died five years later, i.e. in the year that the flood came (see
Genesis 5:25-31; Genesis 7:6). We understand that Lamech was a godly man from
his calling his son Noah, meaning rest, saying "This same shall comfort us
concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD
hath cursed" (Genesis 5:29) which signified beforehand that hat God would bring
rest to the earth through Noah, a prophetical foresight revealing the
foreknowledge and fore-plan of God. This prophetical legacy, definitely, was
carried down in the family line from the time of Lamech’s grandfather, Enoch,
who was a prophet and walked with God. It reveals the godly upbringing of the
children. Lamech’s father, Methuselah, himself was a living prophecy to the
people, his name carrying at least two different meanings with prophetical
significance: "dying" and "darted" or "sent forth or sprout forth",
prophetically signifying that "it will be sent out as a dart when he dies".
Accordingly, in the year that Methuselah died the flood was sent like a dart on
the earth as fountains of the deep burst forth and the firmament cracked in to
send down torrents of rain deluging the earth. Thus, God had not left man
without a witness; the warning was already given as these men became living
symbols of God’s impending judgment on the world; but the world had no more ears
to hear or eyes to see since sin covered their ears and eyes with deceptive
sounds and visions; therefore, their condemnation was made obvious by the faith
of Noah.

God knew beforehand who needed to be saved; He also knew who will not be saved
(i.e. all the others who were disobedient). Therefore, in accordance to His
foreknowledge He gave the design and the commandment to Noah: "I am surely going
to destroy them and the earth. So make yourself an ark…. Everything on earth
will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the
ark – you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you" (Genesis
6:13-14; Genesis 6:18, NIV). Even the exact dimensions and material of the ark
were specified. In fact, God foreknew what He foretold. Similarly, regarding the
people of the Anti-Christ during the Tribulation, God has foretold that they
will not repent but will be destroyed by His wrath (Revelation 16:2; Revelation
16:8-21). The same is true also of the devil and his angels for whom there is no
possibility of repentance. The Bible never asks to pray for the devil and his
angels! God also forbade Jeremiah from praying for the rebellious house of
Israel (Jeremiah 7:16 ; Jeremiah 11:14 ; Jeremiah 14:11-12). There was no chance
or possibility of their repentance; therefore they were doomed beyond hope.
Their unbelief had passed the extent of becoming irreversible and they had made
themselves immune to God’s grace by hardening their heart beyond repair.
Obviously, here we find the instance of absolute unbelief or the maturation of
unbelief. In the same manner that faith can grow to the position of becoming
irreversible; unbelief can grow into irreparable demonic degeneration.
Therefore, believers are warned several times in the New Testament to beware of
false confidence created by the fleshly mind. For instance, Peter says, "Ye
therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also,
being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness"
(2 Peter 3:17). Similarly, "This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy,
according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them
mightest war a good warfare; holding faith, and a good conscience; which some
having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck" (1 Timothy 1:18-19). Also,
"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in
departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called
Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews
3:12-13). All such warnings are given to believers to keep them from falling
from their faith in God knowing that any concession to sin can be fatal to
faith. The Scripture also commands the Church not to appoint newly converted
Christians in leadership positions saying: "Not a novice lest, being lifted up
with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil" (1 Timothy 3:6). To
commission novices in leadership positions within the church, though they may be
successful elsewhere, is like sending untrained and inexperienced soldiers to
command forces at battle frontlines, which is a fault that lies not on the part
of the soldiers but on the part of those who carelessly appoint them so in the
Church of God. And whatever is done to the Church of Christ is more serious than
any other business in the world for the Church is the body of Christ and to be
careless with regard to it is a great offence (1 Corinthians 3:9-10). Therefore,
it is the sacred duty of each believer, not to be indifferent or ill-disposed
towards each other but, to build each other up in the faith through the love of
Christ and the ministration of the Word (Zephaniah 4:31-5:2; 1 Thessalonians
5:11 ; 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 ; Jude 1:20-21). But above all, the responsibility
rests in the believer himself to hold on to faith and preserve the genuineness
of his first love towards God. And the Scripture assures us that God "is able to
keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his
glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24). If one knows His Lord and both loves and is
loved by Him, it is before Him that He stands or falls; and our Lord is faithful
to lift us up if our hearts stay resolute on Him even in our weaknesses (Romans
14:4 ; John 21:16). By faith Noah didn’t just save himself but also his family
as the Scripture says "By faith Noah, being warned of God… prepared an ark to
the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world." God didn’t give
this commission to other families as well, though He could do so and there could
be many arks instead of just this one. But the fact of the ark is this that it
was only constructed because the rest of the world stood condemned. All humanity
had corrupted its way before God (Genesis 6:12). But as head of his family, Noah
was faithful in his house before God. He was faithful before God as a steward of
the family of God and a priest unto Him. Therefore, he alone among all the men
of the world got the honor of worshipping God at His altar in the new world
(Genesis 8:20). Noah’s family was his church and the ark symbolized God’s grace
and salvation by faith since all the world outside of it stood condemned when
God’s wrath fell on the earth. One can imagine what would have happened if Noah
too disobeyed; for instance, no one would be here to write these words about him
since humanity would have been wiped out. Human responsibility in his salvation
is symbolized here in Noah’s building the ark "to the saving of his house".
Indubitably, Noah was saved by faith but this faith could only save because
first it prepared the ark. This is what the Scripture refers to as working out
one’s "own salvation with fear and trembling" (Php 2:12) along with the
assurance that it is God who works in us "both to will and to do of His good
pleasure" (v. 13). In other words, God’s work in us must be met by a faith that
is active. God has no use of spiritually careless and slothful men who try to
push on God all the blame for their failures. The Bible warns us saying "be not
slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promises" (Hebrews 6:12). Noah inherited the promise of a new world because he
labored and did his best to finish the ark in accordance with all that God has
said. He had no time for questions and doubts about the workability of the
design given by God, he believed and acted on faith because He knew his God.
Therefore, he inherited the promise of God and became an heir of the
righteousness that comes by faith.

BEYOND THE BILLOWS By faith Noah "became heir of the righteousness which is by
faith." The Scripture attests that no one can be justified before God except by
faith. It never says that one is made righteous by faith but that one is
declared righteous or testified as being righteous, or becomes heir of
righteousness by faith. The only place where the phrase "made righteous" is used
is Romans 5:19 ; but even there the Greek word kathistemi, used for "made",
means "to designate", "to appoint", or "to ordain" indicating that it is not
because of one’s worthiness or merit but by grace that one is designated as
righteous. Noah is said to have become heir of the righteousness which is by
faith which indicates that there are two kind of righteousness: one of works and
one of faith; and the Scripture states that no man is justified in the eyes of
God by the works of the Law. There is only one righteousness, which is the
righteousness of Christ. Therefore, we understand that Noah inherited Christ’s
righteousness by faith (Romans 3:22 ; Romans 10:4). The Bible tells us that
Noah’s salvation through the ark symbolized the baptism (figuratively) that now
saves us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:20). In other words,
Noah’s passing through the flood and becoming the father of a new world
foreshadowed the gift of a New Creation (in which righteousness dwells, 2 Peter
3:13) that those who believe inherit through the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. It is this righteousness that Noah was made heir of by faith.

Jesus said that "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6) and, again, "Seek ye
first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be
added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). The word "righteousness" (Greek dikaiosune,
δικαιοσύνη) means "the quality of being right and doing right" or the "state of
being just". It comes from the word dike meaning "justice". Two other
derivatives from dike are dikaios (just or righteous) and dikaioo (to justify).
Thus, to be righteous means to be just, to be justified, or to be in conformity
to justice. Plato defined justice as "the having and doing what is a man’s own,
and belongs to him" In other words, justice as a condition is a man’s possessing
what is his own; as an act, justice is giving to a man what is his own (if it is
taken away from him). In this sense we talk about economic justice, political
justice, and social justice. In each of these cases, justice is the removal of
inequalities among men and securing of their natural rights. This is sought to
by trying to purge unjust laws by resort to reason and to initiate activities
that will restore and administer justice to the people. That false
interpretations of a just law can create unjust laws is a fact that is well
known. Jesus, for instance, rebuked the Pharisees and the Jews for making God’s
Law void through their traditions (Matthew 15:2-6). Thus, justice, reason,
truth, righteousness, and God’s Law are related. The traditional way of looking
at righteousness is to connect it to some law or principle of right and wrong;
thus in Judaism righteousness means conformity to the Mosaic Law, in Hinduism
righteousness means conformity to dharma (caste duty), and in Islam
righteousness means conformity to the Shari’ah (God’s Law revealed to Mohammed),
whose primary tenet, however, is faith in Allah which is the essence of the Law.
In all these, interpretation of Law is important in order to distinguish between
what is just (righteous) and what is unjust (unrighteous). Justice is considered
to be retribution or reward for conforming to or not conforming to the Law. Now
this Law is above the laws and interpretations of men. For instance, our
governments have hundreds of laws for citizens to abide by. When the laws of a
nation conform to the standards of justice, they are considered to be just laws;
but when not, they are considered to be unjust laws. In other words, the
particular laws of a nation or people are also measured by the absolute Law of
God. While in Hinduism and Buddhism justice is administered through the
impersonal principle of karma (what one sows that he reaps), in Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam ultimate retribution is always in the hands of God, who
is considered to be the only wise and just ruler. The rulers of this earth are
themselves accountable to God. In any of the cases, the retribution of
unrighteousness (sin, iniquity, evil or wickedness) is severity. Even the
ethical imperative of ahimsa (non-violence) in Jainism is not without himsa
(violence) in terms of retribution. The reward of righteousness, on the other
hand, is life in heaven or supreme bliss. However, it is commonly accepted that
such perfection of righteousness is hard to achieve in this present evil world
(the Hindus call it kalyuga or the age of darkness and unrighteousness).
Therefore, deliverance from sin and justice (just retribution) is sought in ways
other than trying to establish one’s own righteousness (which is impossible).
The different ways include practices like trying to earn merit through religious
rituals, devotion, or fulfillment of some particularly difficult mission that
will earn a place in heaven. However, the Bible makes it clear that all such
ways do not match the penalty demanded by the justice of God which is nothing
less than eternal death.

Righteousness and Justice

Obviously, unrighteousness or sin is sin against the righteous Law of God or the
justice of God. In the Bible, the word "righteousness" is often related to
justice in the kingdom of God. Justice is administrative and retributive, in the
sense of giving to someone what is properly his own or what he justly deserves.
To the just, justice administers good and to the unjust, justice administers
evil; if the scheme is not so then evil will be exalted as the Scripture says:
"The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men" (Psalms
12:8, NIV) and the element of falsehood and lovelessness will freely gain
ascendency in God’s world. But God as just God will not permit evil forever. At
the time appointed all things will be brought to judgment. Some, however,
misunderstand the Day of Judgment as the day when people will be condemned for
their sins. But, the Scripture makes it very clear that the moment one breaks
the Law of God one already stands condemned in the Law’s eyes. And the Law of
God is impartially rational and true. It never fails. It discerns the innermost
things of the human heart (Hebrews 4:12 ) and nothing is hid from the eyes of
God. Thus, the predicament of man is not that he is guilty and will be condemned
at the Judgment Seat of God but that he is already condemned because of his sins
and the irrevocable sentence is already passed over him. This sentence is based
on the righteous decree of God (Romans 1:32, Amplified) which is irrevocable.
The decree is that those who do such things are worthy of death, i.e. eternal
separation from the life, presence, and goodness of God. And since the decree is
irrevocable (for the laws of God are just and perfect), there is no way for a
person to be saved from it.

One may say, however, that God being Sovereign has the authority to pardon the
sin of those He will. And so all one needs to do is repent and believe in God
and the merciful God will pardon him. But while it is true that God is merciful
and that He is willing to pardon sins, yet it is also true that it will be false
for Him to treat someone who has stolen something, for instance, as one who has
not stolen anything. In other words, God cannot treat a sinner as a righteous
(as justified). If God did that He would be false though He were merciful in
judgment. Therefore, God’s sovereignty to forgive sins cannot justify the
wicked; the guilt still remains. However, if the guilt remains then the
forgiveness (even if given) cannot be infinite. And if it is not infinite then
it is not ultimately real; therefore, God cannot forgive sins infinitely without
being false (overlooking of sins on earth doesn’t mean absolution from eternal
damnation) – and God cannot be false since He is infinitely perfect and
positively all-sufficient. Therefore, the only way one can expect to escape the
judgment of God is to be justified; but, obviously, a sinner cannot justify
himself of his past sins even by repentance. However, God provided a way of
escape for those who would come to Him in faith. That way of escape is Jesus
Christ. Scripture tells us that He willingly offered Himself as the ransom for
our sins (1 Timothy 2:6) so as to redeem us from all sin and present us holy and
blameless before God (Zephaniah 1:4). However, He can only present before God
the one who comes to Him in faith and repentance accepting His sacrifice as that
which purges his soul and conscience from all sin before God.

Jesus died and rose again from the dead for the justification of sinners. Those
who die in their condemnation due to their unbelief in Christ will be
resurrected at the end of time with a body fitted for eternal torment and
separation from God. But those who come to God in repentance are made partakers
of Christ who partook of death for our sins so that by the offering of His
sinless body a glorious resurrection would be obtained for those who trust in
Him. Anyone who is in Christ is justified by faith in Christ and there is no
condemnation over him (Romans 8:1). As in Adam all die (1 Corinthians 15:22 ),
meaning that death has become part of our being adamic by nature; in Christ all
those who believe shall be made alive in a glorious resurrection. The Scripture
compares the death of a person with the death of a seed. If one sows a mustard
seed, for instance, one obtains a mustard plant. Similarly, when a sinner dies
he is sown to a resurrection of condemnation which ends up in the eternal fire
of hell. But when one who believes in the atoning death and resurrection of
Christ dies, he is sown to a resurrection of glory which inherits the kingdom of
God (1 Corinthians 15:42-58). Thus, death in one’s sins is the door to hell
while death in Christ is the door to eternal life. But how does one get into
Christ from Adam? The answer is by being born again (John 3:3) by faith in the
eternal and imperishable Word of God (1 Peter 1:23-25) so that one is made heir
of the promises of God’s Word by faith. This doesn’t mean that we stop bearing
this adamic body. But that this body will be transformed at His coming into His
likeness (Php 3:21) and the dead in Christ will be raised incorruptible (1
Corinthians 15:52).

Now to those who ask the question of how Christ’s death could possess any
"mysterious or miraculous virtue" to redeem man from his sins (its power,
presence, and penalty), the Scriptural answer is as follows (only two basic
aspects of it are given here; there are many more):

1. By the Authority and Power of the Word of God. It is by the decree of God
that one is condemned; likewise, it is by the decree of God that one is
justified. The just decree of God has appointed Christ as the Judge and the
merciful decree of God ordained Him as the Savior. In history, the decree of
judgment met the decree of mercy in the willing and substitutory sacrifice of
the Messiah for the sins of the world by which sinners are reconciled with God.
God’s Word appears to us in two forms: the Law and the Gospel. In the same
manner that condemnation is by the Law (its pronouncement), justification is by
the Gospel (its promises). The Gospel is the free gift of Christ’s fulfillment
of all that is required by the Law to justify us before God. Thus, as Adam’s sin
condemned us and made us inheritors of corruption, Christ’s righteousness makes
us heirs of incorruption by faith: both by legal pronouncement, for the
unbelievers the pronouncement of condemnation and death, while for the believers
the pronouncement of justification and life. (John 3:18 ; John 8:11 ; Romans
5:16-18). Apart from Christ, however, the sinner has no hope for there is no
other way by which one can be saved. Therefore, justification is by faith in the
Word of God.

2. By the Condemnation of Sin in His Flesh (Romans 8:3). The just requirements
of the Law that Christ fulfilled were not just His obedience to the Law of God
but all requirements pertaining to the legal means of securing our salvation.
Thus, for instance even His sacrificial body was prepared according to and by
the Will of God (Hebrews 10:5). This means that Christ was sinless and not under
the condemnation of Adam since, first of all, He preceded Adam in existence and
then also He as Son of God could not have sin. Adam’s sin could only be imputed
on those originating from him. But Christ being born of a virgin (possessing
adamic body) by the power of the Spirit, thus taking the form of a human, was
not under Adam’s condemnation of flesh and spirit. Therefore, in His flesh sin
was condemned in the sense that He, by His obedience to God in the flesh (i.e.
as the Man), condemned sin as having no power over Him and those who come to Him
by faith. Then through His sinless offering on the cross He condemned sin in His
flesh (destroyed the power of sin) by demonstrating its incapacity to kill Him
for it had no power over His sinless body (He was not killed but He offered
Himself to God, John 10:17-18) nor over those of whom He was the substitutory
price. Thus, He put an end to sin itself in His flesh (removed the presence of
sin) by nailing it to the cross. The old race (adamic) is still under
condemnation, being both mortal and sentenced to eternal punishment. However, He
being ordained the sin-offering for us, sin was condemned and judged in His
flesh so that we could be heirs of His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). His
condemnation of sin in the flesh constituted the fulfilling of all
righteousness. Through this offering up by the eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9:14), He
eternally vanquished sin and death, thus also disannulling the penalty of
eternal damnation by bearing away its infinite intensity and density by His
death (He paid off and cancelled the penalty of sin; Colossians 2:14). The New
Man in the resurrection is the glorified Christ and the Law of God pronounces
the blessing of life eternal and glory to all those who put their faith in Him
so that His power works in us to finally save soul, spirit, and body because the
Spirit of God’s power operates by the Word of God by which the heavens and earth
were made and which by mixture with our faith has the same power in us. The act
of faith is the event that connects one with God’s power available to us. The
door was opened by Jesus; it is the act of faith that enters it. Therefore,
justification is by faith alone and so is Christ’s righteousness imputed to us.

Thus, the Bible provides a distinctive perspective of divine justice and mercy
in which man is saved by faith is Christ. Evidently, Noah could not have known
much about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But he had faith in God and, though he
passed through the Flood, and eventually died, he became an heir of the
righteousness that is by faith, so that in the final resurrection he will, in
Christ Jesus, rise up to incorruption and immortality. This was so because
Jesus, who came much later than Noah, paid the price for Noah as well and
provided the basis for the new creation of God. Christ is truly "the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8). Thus, God took Noah beyond
the billows into the realities of the Resurrected Lord. The faith of Noah
teaches us several things: that faith in God is inseparable from the fear of
God, that promptness of action is characteristic of faith, that faith stimulates
diligence in work, that one’s faith impacts the people it comes in contact with,
especially one’s family, that justification is by faith, and that by faith we
inherit all that is secured to us in Christ. We also learn the truth that
because of our faith we are also signs of God’s warning to our generation so
that the world is without excuse if it rejects the righteousness and salvation
of God that is by faith alone. We are His witnesses.

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

1. Faith and fear of the Lord go together. One who approaches God by faith also
does so with reverence in his heart.

2. One who believes also obeys.

3. A man of faith brings conviction to the lives of people.


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  CHAPTER 9: 01.06.     CHAPTER 6: UNQUENCHABLE FLAME
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CHAPTER SIX Unquenchable Flame "By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to
go out… not knowing whither he went." (Hebrews 11:8)

Unquestioned obedience is what distinguishes Abraham’s faith from anyone else’s
in the Bible. Never once has it been mentioned that he questioned or took a
second thought about God’s commandment. This doesn’t mean that he never had
difficult times in his life; but that through all this he never once doubted the
sacredness of God’s truth. He was unflinching in faith: his flame never dying.
The writer of Hebrews underscores three facets of Abraham’s example of faith for
our edification. They were his forsaking his old land, his dwelling in tents in
the Promised Land, and his offering up of Isaac his only begotten son in
obedience to God. Let’s now turn to see what these events of his life reveal
about the faith of God.

UNCONDITIONAL OBEDIENCE The nativity of Abraham, Ur of Chaldees, represented the
unconscionable dark chillness of his age. Steeped in idolatry, nature-worship,
and the occult the city swelled with a populace that prided itself of the wealth
and power that accumulated on it due to its advantageous location by the
Euphrates. The massive ziggurat (a pyramidical temple), about 70 ft high and 210
by 145 ft at the base, still visible at the site, was dedicated to the moon god
Nanna. Each of its bricks were baked and inscribed with the names of the
building kings or those who repaired the tower in later times, probably meant to
obtain merit from the moon god. The Bible tells us that at the time when God
called Abraham, his father worshipped other gods, implying that they were
idolaters (Joshua 24:2). This is not to mean that the worship of the true God
was no longer in existence; for there is always a remnant in the
salvation-history of God. Melchizedek, for instance, a contemporary of Abraham
was called the priest of the Most High God (Genesis 14:18), to whom also Abraham
gave his tithes. Yet, it was also quite true that traces of true worship had
almost faded.

Abraham’s call to inherit God’s promise reveals God’s incessant working out of
His salvation plan. Jesus said "My Father works until now, and I work" (John
5:17, MKJV). It reveals the depth of God’s love and His care towards us. It’ll
only take eternity to understand the depth of the love of the Almighty and
All-Sufficient Creator who gives all of His self to save sinners in conflict
with His purposes. But while the world slumbers and sleeps or goes about doing
its own earth-bound temporal works, God is incessantly at work, striving with
men and women through His spirit, to bring them into His saving grace. The fact
is that God is not in need of us: we are in need of Him. But He like a mother
loves her baby and attends to her all the time, has attended to us in history.
And when we were yet weak and incapable of saving ourselves, Christ died for us
to ransom us from our sins (Romans 5:6).

Conviction without Conflict

Abraham instantaneously responded to God’s call by faith. The writer of Hebrews
tells us that "he went out, not knowing where he went." There is no doubt that
as soon as God’s word came to Abraham, it was met by a heart prepared to receive
the word like a good ground ready for the seed. The word met with a heart that
anticipated and desired divine intervention since only such a heart could
receive the revelation of God by faith (remember the parable of the Sower and
the Seed, Matthew 13:3 ff.). This tells us about the intellectual, emotional,
and spiritual preparedness of faith before meeting with the word of God.
Perhaps, Abraham was already a godly man despite his father’s idolatry and knew
God’s voice so well that he recognized it immediately the moment he heard it and
so responded to it in faith; or perhaps he had heard God for the first time and
as soon as he heard Him, he was convicted that God was true. This second
experience would be similar to Paul’s (then Saul) when, as on his way to
persecute the Christians at Damascus, he was met by the vision of Jesus.
Immediately, he was convicted and became convinced of the Lordship of Jesus
Christ (whom he considered to be false just a few minutes ago). Paul’s response
at this moment of encounter is captured in the words "and he trembling and
astonished said, Lord what wilt thou have me to do?" (Acts 9:6). His reaction
was a mixture of fear and astonishment and also a deep conviction from Jesus’
words "I am Jesus whom you persecute. It is hard for you to kick against the
goads" (Acts 9:5, MKJV). There was obviously no rational investigation.
Conviction was instantaneous. He himself confessed "But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother’s womb, and having called me by His grace, to reveal
His Son in me... immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood" (Galatians
1:15-16, MKJV). He didn’t have to go through some tests of truth or
justification of beliefs before accepting God’s revelation. The conviction was
immediate and beyond doubt. The similar might have been the experience of
Abraham. When he encountered God, faith sprung to meet God’s truth without
hesitation, though, as in Paul’s case, ambivalent emotions such as a mixture of
fear (numinous) and surprise (awe) might have accompanied the event. Yet, it
also will be understandable that what is convincing to some might not be
convincing to others. For instance, many might have seen the star that was seen
by the wise men, but it was only they who were convinced of it as being the sign
of the birth of the King of the Jews. To others it might have had no such
significance. In any case, whether it was Abraham, Paul, or the wise men
conviction is the product of a preparation of faith.

Now, one might be antagonistic to the truth, as in Paul’s case before
conversion, yet be prepared for it because of a seeking-faith that is honest at
core. A seeking-faith is also restless since it discerns that something is
either missing or wrong with the framework of beliefs it is holding to (its
present world-view). The frustration may be experienced as some internal
voidness or frustration with self or things around or inability to rationally
connect with the world. This can be referred to as the pre-faith crisis or the
crisis that is an aspect of faith in preparation (i.e. before seeking-faith
finds perfect solace in truth). This state of faith may be figuratively referred
to as a state of hunger and thirst for the truth; as a hungry and thirsty faith.
We have seen earlier that this kind of faith intuitively recognizes the truth
the moment it perceives it as a child recognizes the milk he is hungry for. The
only danger is that this seeking may meet with a false object (which may be even
fatal). The Scriptural answer to this problem is that while in the case of
humans there may be some fault, God never makes a mistake in this regard. The
Scripture says: If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he
give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or
if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"(Luke 11:11-13 ). And
again, "The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will
be found of you" (2 Chronicles 15:2). This is true since God is with us and all
around us though we do not see Him and it is God who put this quest for Him in
our hearts as the Word says: "He has made all nations of men of one blood to
dwell on all the face of the earth, ordaining fore-appointed seasons and
boundaries of their dwelling, to seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after
Him and find Him, though indeed He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we
live and move and have our being, as also certain of your own poets have said,
For we are also His offspring" (Acts 17:26-28, MKJV). Therefore, we are assured
that God will not allow a falsehood to deceive His children but being close to
us will Himself answer the heart that seeks Him with faith. But the principle is
clear. One only gets according to the desire of his faith. This is so because it
is the desire of faith that determines the acceptance or rejection of truth.
Therefore, the sinners who keep trying to suppress the truth of God by means of
false religions and false actions are given up by God to evil (Romans 1:28 ; 2
Thessalonians 2:9-12). However, if there is anyone who truly seeks God, then he
is known of Him as the Word says that the Lord knows them that are His (2
Timothy 2:19) and that those that belong to Him (which is known by their honest
craving for Him) recognize His voice (John 10:27). Further, Jesus’ parable of
the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin reveals the heart of God in seeking and saving
them that are lost (Luke 15:3-10 ; Luke 19:10). Scripturally speaking then, one
cannot doubt that God answers a faith that truly seeks Him and, obviously, when
a heart of faith encounters God in revelation the conviction is beyond any
doubt. A clear example of this seeking-faith that finds a convicting answer in
divine revelation and promptly responds to it is found in the confessions of St.
Augustine. Obviously, in his case the search was for a prolonged period of time.
In Book Six of his Confessions, he writes: Where wert Thou, ’O My Hope from
youth,’ and whither hadst Thou retired afar off? Hadst Thou not made me and
distinguished me from the beasts of the earth, making me wiser than the fowls of
the air? I was wandering about through the darkness and over slippery ways,
seeking Thee outside myself, not finding the God of my heart. I had come to the
depths of the sea. I lost confidence and was in despair of finding the truth.

Here, Augustine quotes the fact of man being created distinctly from animals in
that he is imbued with rational faculties that enable him to obtain wisdom. Yet,
he finds himself groping for God in various moods, cultures, and philosophies of
the world; sometimes almost as a rebel of God yet, internally thirsty for his
Maker until there came a time of crisis in his life when he doubted whether
truth could be found. The problem was not that God was difficult to be found.
But the days of his internal incoherence and frustration prolonged as his flesh
kept preventing him from submitting himself completely in faith to God. This
went on until one day he was broken by his own doubts that stood between him and
God’s will. While in such brokenness, he heard the voice of a child from a
nearby house repeating over and over: ’Take it, read it! Take it, read it!’
Immediately, he saw that the child’s voice was truly God’s commandment for him
to open a book and read the first passage that he would find. So he hurried to
the place where he had left the copy of Paul’s epistle to the Romans. Snatching
it up, he opened and found the words in Romans 13:13-14 where the Word commands
to walk as in the day not in revelry and drunkenness nor strife and jealousy,
but to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and take no thought for the lusts of the
flesh. As soon as he read it, said Augustine, "all the darknesses of doubt were
dispersed, as if by a light of peace flooding into my heart." Clearly, here
conviction didn’t occur in a blank soul; it occurred in a soul that was already
desperate for God. And obviously, the depth and intensity of the desperation
determined the depth and intensity of the faith. One can’t fail to see here that
when true conviction breaks the spirit of man, it touches him with a touch that
ends all conflict inside. Therefore, God’s conviction evokes instant response.
Abraham’s pre-faith experiences might or might not be as Paul’s or Augustine’s;
however, when God’s word came to him, he was ready for it and accepted it
without doubt or hesitation to the point that he didn’t even worry to ask God
where he was meant to go. He was asked to go and that was all that faith needed
to set it on the go. He went without doubt, without conflicts. Therefore, he is
known as the father of all that have faith. No Regrets, No Returns! The divine
commandment to Abraham came in the words "Leave your country, your people and
your father’s household and go to the land I will show you" (Genesis 12:1, NIV).
The command came with the promise to make of him a great and blessed nation
(Genesis 12:2-3 ). Abraham’s leaving did not signify a setting out on a trip to
some foreign land in order to return back after sometime. It was a total
departure from the land that was his own, from his father land. We know from the
story of his life that he never returned to Ur of Chaldees again. When he left
it once, he left it forever. Obviously, faith had brought in a total
disconnection with all of his past that he left behind and Abraham never lost
his faith. This shows us the irreversible endurance of Abraham’s faith. His
faith didn’t die because he didn’t let it slip away (Hebrews 2:1) or let it grow
weak through despair (Romans 4:19) or wreck it through carnality and
debilitating of conscience (1 Timothy 1:19). This doesn’t mean that faith has no
battles to win. The Scripture warns us not to be slothful but to be diligent in
faith (Hebrews 6:12 ; Judges 18:9). Faith is not only to be guarded (Revelation
14:12) but also to be contended or fought for (Jude 1:3); for it is only by
fighting that one keeps one’s faith (2 Timothy 4:7). The crisis of faith is a
condition brought in by at least three faith-assassins: doubt, desire, and
division.

1. Doubt. Doubt is helpful in the pre-faith condition by narrowing one’s
direction towards truth. That is to say, as doubt breaks all the false beliefs
of the past one by one, a person is set in the direction of knowing the truth.
In this sense, doubt is the precursor of faith. However, the moment faith is
torched by truth "all the darknesses of doubt are dispersed", to use Augustine’s
expression. Doubt no longer has any place but its place is taken by the
certainty, peace, and repose of faith. But even in the pre-faith condition,
doubt cannot be segregated from seeking faith. Absolute doubt, in the sense that
the possibility of truth is hung in perpetual doubt, can never come to truth for
though it may see it face to face yet its doubt would prevent it from
recognizing it as so. A mind committed to doubt can never submit in faith to
truth. Therefore, absolute doubt is the greatest enemy of true faith.

There are chiefly seven Greek expressions that have been translated as "doubt"
in the New Testament (KJV): aporeo (John 13:22) meaning "to be perplexed";
diaporeo (Acts 2:12 ; Acts 10:17) meaning "to be thoroughly perplexed";
meteorizo (Luke 12:29 ) meaning "to suspend as in mid-air"; airo psuche (John
10:24 ) meaning "to keep the soul in suspension as in air"; dialogismos (Romans
14:1 ; 1 Timothy 2:8 ) meaning "to reason" or "to argue"; diakrino (Matthew
21:21 ; Romans 14:23 ) meaning "to judge differently" or "to discriminate"; and
distazo (Matthew 14:31 ; Matthew 28:17) meaning "to waver". We can learn of the
different ways in which doubt finds intrusion in one’s life by looking at the
usage of these words.

First, doubt appears in the form of perplexity or a loss of answer. This is
indicated by the word aporeo. For instance, when Festus introduces Paul the
prisoner to Agrippa the King, he says that the Jews were accusing Paul of some
questions related to the Jewish religion; but since he was not well acquainted
with this religion he was at a loss of answer or doubt (aporeo) how to judge him
(Acts 25:20). Obviously, the KJV would have done better to translate the word as
"was perplexed" or "confounded" instead of "doubted". But, still it is also true
that perplexity is a condition of doubt since it contains the element of
uncertainty. Festus lacked the confidence to judge Paul because he was
confounded by the complexity of the problems that this trial presented to him.
Therefore, he doubted about this matter of judging Paul. He was at a loss of
answer. An intense form of this perplexity is indicated by the word diaporeo
which means to be thoroughly (dia) perplexed. Perplexity indicates the condition
of doubt as dilemma. It is the condition of neither knowing nor not knowing. It
is the condition of being totally unable to understand something that seems to
be significant and demanding an answer. Undeniably, faith does sometimes come
across situations that confound and perplex it for a want of answer. There are
things that can happen to us that we can’t explain by any rational means, for
instance. Or, there can be a question put forth before faith which it
immediately lacks an answer for, though it knows that there must be some answer
to it. However, in many cases when complexity presents itself to us the
temptation is to turn away to simpler things. This is a natural instinct. One
tries to avoid unwanted complications, especially when they appear insoluble or
even too demanding. One tends to walk around the problem and if incapable of,
tries to turn on it. This is what happened with those disciples who turned away
from Jesus because they felt He was becoming too complicated for them to get
along with (John 6:60; John 6:66). But when Jesus turned to the twelve and asked
them if they would also go away, Peter gave an answer which is a classic
response to this dilemma of faith. He answered: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You
have the Words of eternal life" (John 6:68, MKJV). Peter understood the fact
that there cannot be a turning away from something without a turning away to
something else. There is no middle ground. Peter knew that this was an either/or
situation. One could choose Christ and eternal life or choose to relinquish
both. He made the wiser decision to stay with Christ despite the inability to
understand several things. A more practically existential situation confronted
Job, as seen earlier. It was practically existential because the absurdity or
perplexity of the suffering that he went through was thoroughly personal and its
answer too evading (Job 7:1-21). Yet, he knew that there could be no turning
back from God. God was where his world came to an end. God was his no-returning
point. Therefore, despite all the confoundedness of his suffering, Job held on
to God in faith. And when his wife reprimanded him for holding on to his faith
and told him to curse God and die instead of bearing the brunt of this absurd
life, he answered her saying "You speak as one of the foolish ones speak. What?
Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" (Job
2:10, MKJV). In other words, he in turn demanded from her an explanation for
considering experience of evil as sufficient proof for turning away from God,
even if such evil came from God. The finality of his faith in God could admit no
doubt in God.

Another way in which doubt presents itself to us is suspense. The word comes
from the Latin suspensus meaning "suspended" (akin to the Greek meteorizo and
airo psuche, see above). The word indicates a condition of uncertainty fraught
with intense curiosity, fear, or anxiety. Jesus told His disciples to stay away
from such a condition (Luke 12:29). Feelings of anxiety due to uncertainty may
come to suspend our souls in doubt, but they should not be allowed to take hold
of our lives; in other words, worry or anxiety should not become the condition
of our lives. For such anxiety can easily lead to despair and a total shipwreck
of faith. Similarly, unwanted curiosity can also be fatal to faith as seen in
Eve’s case. For when the devil told her that the forbidden fruit was forbidden
not because God sought her welfare but because He didn’t want her to be like
Him, she immediately was convinced by his words (Genesis 3:4-6). Her curiosity
regarding the forbidden fruit led her obey the devil’s lie. If God has forbidden
us something, there is no danger greater than trying to conduct a scientific
analysis of the forbidden thing. It is no surprise then why the Ephesian
believers burnt all books of curious and magical arts when they accepted the
Lord (Acts 19:19, KJV, Amplified). This is so because such curiosity can lead to
a departure from faith. It is in this regard that the Mosaic Law commanded the
Israelites to destroy all images and things related to false belief to prevent
their influence from corrupting the Israelites (Deuteronomy 7:3-5). The images
represent the symbols of false beliefs that stand against the faith of God. They
are doors to disbelief. Therefore, sympathetic curiosity towards what is
logically known to be wrong must be avoided. By "logically wrong" is meant those
ideas that contradict the rational sense. For instance, in the story of Eve she
turned towards the illogical belief that she could become like God (who is
spiritual and infinite in wisdom) by eating a physical fruit and to the false
idea that God was either jealous or afraid of her becoming like Him; as if she
could become like Him and that God was afraid of His own creation. Similarly,
the sympathy towards idols is absurd since an idol is not only a lifeless object
but also symbolic of the vanity and falsehood of man. Therefore, one must guard
oneself against any fear or excitement that is both irrational and godless. The
third kind of doubt is more intriguing. It appears in the form of reasoning or
argumentation and is indicated by the word dialogismos meaning that form of
argumentation that is controversial, unending, or false. It is in this sense
that it is sometimes rendered as "imaginations" for its speculative nature is
averse to any conclusion. In other words, dialogismos is doubt that expects no
final answer. The imagination keeps going on finding no final ground to stand
on; thus, hanging suspended (meterorizo) in curiosity and doubt all the time. I
think our age understands this form of doubting better than any age before
since, in our age, it is this kind of a scholar that is highly appreciated while
the one who claims to have the answer is labeled as fundamentalist and
narrow-minded. While in the past the wise man was he who had more answers and
fewer questions, now he is one who has more questions and fewer answers. The
modern wise man is like the Greek sophist who excelled in clever arguments but
had no belief in absolute truth: his arguments generated more doubts than
solutions. Our English word "sophistry" comes from this "sophist" and means
"clever, misleading, and deceptive argument". Obviously, this form of doubt or
methodological skepticism is deliberate, proceeding from the bias that detests
absolute solution to any problem. That is the reason why the Scripture warns
several times to keep away from such love for show of cleverness and unhealthy
disputing that signifies pride and rebellion instead of humility (Php 2:14 ;
Romans 14:1 ; 1 Timothy 2:8 ; cf. 1 Timothy 6:3-5). The next kind of doubt is
diakrino meaning "to judge by analysis" or "to make a difference". In relation
to doubt it means "to make a different judgment", "to think otherwise", or
"allow for some other possibility as well". It is in this sense that it is used
in Matthew 21:21 when Jesus tells His disciples "Truly I say to you, If you have
faith and do not doubt (me diakrithete), you shall not only do this miracle of
the fig tree, but also; if you shall say to this mountain, Be moved and be
thrown into the sea; it shall be done." (Matthew 21:21, MKJV). Similarly, James
says: "let him ask in faith, doubting nothing (meden diakrinomenos). For he who
doubts (diakrinomenos) is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed"
(James 1:3, MKJV). Obviously, this kind of doubting is antithetical to faith
since it introduces a rival element (a foreign particle) into one’s framework of
belief. This kind of double-thinking is what leads to distazo or to the
inability of holding on to faith, thus becoming unstable (as in Peter’s case
when he walked on water and then started sinking due to fear); for the natural
thoughts of the mind are set in conflict against the supernatural truths of God
leading to a weakening of faith. The imbalance and instability caused by
diakrino can be compared to an airplane (on flight) that loses its balance due
to some technical failure to keep up with the laws of aerodynamics. That
technical failure may be compared to diakrino when the plane wobbles between the
law of aerodynamics and the law of gravity, for instance. The loss of balance is
due to the plane’s inability to totally comply with the law of aerodynamics. The
problem is solved if the airplane keeps to the purpose of its design, which is
to be in air till it lands safely on the ground; the tragedy is when it fails to
do that by giving in to anti-elements. Now, the anti-element may not be false in
itself; for instance, the law of gravity is true as well as the fact that Peter
could not naturally walk on water. However, in matters of faith the natural must
submit to the supernatural and not vice versa. Even as the airplane is designed
to fly in air, a man of faith is designed to sail on the winds of God’s
promises. Abraham was a man of faith. He was not a man of a double-opinion or
double-thinking. Therefore, there were no regrets about his obedience to God;
neither was there any possibility of a return for him. The Scripture testifies
about him that "he staggered not (ou diekrithe) at the promise of God through
unbelief (apistia); but was strong in faith, giving glory to God" (Romans 4:20).
Apistia is the antonym of pistis which is faith. Thus, Abraham didn’t allow an
anti-faith element to make him double-think about and doubt the promises of God.

2. Desire. The second enemy of faith is false desire. Desire is the drive of the
human will. Therefore, it is always seen as desire to do something or to get
something in the sense that the mind is set on that particular thing, ultimately
leading to action in that direction. In this sense, to will something is to
desire that thing. In fact, the Greek word thelo is translated as both "to will"
and "to desire" in the New Testament. However, in human experience, desire is
often ambivalent as the Scripture says: "For the desires of the flesh are
opposed to the [Holy] Spirit, and the [desires of the] Spirit are opposed to the
flesh (godless human nature); for these are antagonistic to each other
[continually withstanding and in conflict with each other], so that you are not
free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do" (Galatians 5:17,
Amplified). And again, "I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but
the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing" (Romans
7:19, Amplified). Obviously, there are two kinds of desires at work here and the
either one gives in to the other in the struggle for letting out. One is
lawless; the other, lawful. One is brutish; the other, rational. One is carnal;
the other, spiritual. One is godly; the other, ungodly. One is sinful; the
other, holy. While spiritual desire is rationally sound, emotionally stable, and
conscientiously clear; lawless desire bypasses reason, corrupts the feelings,
stalls the conscience, and captivates the memory. That is the reason why the
Scripture says, "Beloved, I implore you as aliens and strangers and exiles [in
this world] to abstain from the sensual urges (the evil desires, the passions of
the flesh, your lower nature) that wage war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11,
Amplified). The fatal blow of desire is its luring the mind to justify
wickedness. This is when faith is jettisoned and deception sneaks in. Sometimes
even a whole nation can fall prey to the rule of passion by rebelling against
truth. In his Republic Plato quotes Damon as saying "when modes of music change,
the fundamental laws of the State always change with them." We may not totally
agree with Plato’s view against musical innovations; but when one sees the
unrestrained wand of passion displaying gestures of rebellion in any art-form,
one cannot but suspect that values are being redefined. The Word warns, "Woe
unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and
light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah
5:20). The simplicity of Abraham despite the blessings of God on his life is
evident from his contentment to live in tents all the days of his life (Hebrews
11:9). It is also evident from his contentment with what only God gave to him
and not desiring even a shoe lace by any other means. He made a covenant with
God to never be blessed except he was blessed by God; therefore, when the king
of Sodom came to him offering the spoils of war, he replied: "I have lifted up
my hand and sworn to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor and Maker of heaven
and earth, that I would not take a thread or a shoelace or anything that is
yours, lest you should say, I have made Abram rich" (Genesis 14:22-23,
Amplified). Abraham knew God’s promise of blessing to him and wanted nothing
more than that. That is faith. The Scripture warns us that they who are minded
to be rich fall into temptation and many foolish, irrational, and hurtful
desires that lead to perdition (1 Timothy 6:9). One example of it is Gehazi, the
servant of Elisha the prophet, who ran after Naaman the Syrian and, in the name
of his master, took from him stuff that his master had refused; but when Elisha
questioned him where he had gone, he replied "nowhere". This man had seen even
the dead raised through Elisha’s prayer and still found the courage to lie to
him. His conscience and memory were smeared by lust and greed to the extent that
he believed that everything was okay despite his sinful act (2 Kings 5:20-26 ).
Similarly, David when captured by the lust for Bathsheba forgot all bonds of
wickedness. He not only committed adultery with her (breaking God’s covenant)
but also got her good husband ruthlessly murdered. This man, who once was so
zealous for God in faith that he single-handedly defeated the giant Goliath, had
now fallen prey to a woman’s beauty (2 Samuel 11:1-27). One doesn’t know what
irrational justification his mind was framing in order to not lose the
opportunity and companionship of lust. But it broke the heart of God. The same
was also true of Judas Iscariot who sold the Lord for 30 pieces of silver after
being with Him for three and half years. It is foolishness to think that one’s
environment or conditions of living determine the strength of one’s faith. Adam
and Eve were in a perfectly sinless environment before they fell into sin.
Lucifer was an angel of God. Judas, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the chief
priests saw Jesus in person and yet went against Him. Many of us often imagine
that if we were as close as the disciples were to Jesus much of our spiritual
struggle would be solved. Many desire at least one vision of Christ in this
life. But one must understand that all such spiritual and sacred experiences put
together can easily be suspended by the onslaught of lust; for lust hijacks all
emotion, intelligence, memory, and conscience. Therefore, one must guard himself
of all ugly desire that, though seemingly fulfilling, is disastrous in the end.

3. Division. By division is meant the lack of real spiritual fellowship and
communion with God. This causes alienation and distancing from the knowledge of
God. As a result, faith suffers loss. Division manifests itself in three forms:
discord, dissension, and disunion. a. Discord. Discord means a lack of agreement
or harmony between two persons. While discord between men may be expressed or
unexpressed, discord between man and God needs no expression since God knows
what’s in the human heart. Discord between God and man is a matter of
perspective and will-towards-something rather than ratio-empirical disagreement
(as in matters of scientific or philosophical research). This is so because the
relationship is not of the nature of this spatio-temporal pluralistic world
where things stand divided from each other in space and time. God is unlike the
world and its objects; He is not far from us, as the Scripture says, and we live
and move and have our being in Him (Acts 17:27-28), which means His presence is
more real than the world around us. Therefore, discord or concord between God
and man is unlike discord and concord between worldly things, in the sense that
it is not primarily a matter of ratio-empirical dispute. It is a matter of
perspective, a matter of faith. Discord with God is not justifiable since it is
not based on rational judgments but on the choice of will propelled by desire.
Therefore, the Word says that God has given up those who, falling to evil desire
and reprobate thinking, disgusted themselves by abominable practices (Romans
1:21-28 ). The Bible says that the carnal mind is unsubmissive to the Law of God
(Romans 8:7 ). This lack of submission is not in the sense that it has some
logical reasons for not submitting to God but in the sense that the intentions
and actions of the carnal mind are opposite to the Law of God. The
perspective-shift (from carnal to spiritual or vice versa) can be in a split of
a second or gradual. It may be a reaction to a temptation or a moral decline
through negligence. Whatever way, the perspective-shift is indicative of a shift
from faith to practical disbelief. b. Dissension. Dissension is the violent and
aggressive form of discord in which the disagreement is vociferously expressed.
While in the former case, discordant questions may not be expressed for fear of
causing obstacle to the faith of others (see Psalms 73:15), in this case all
shame and fear is set aside. The Bible uses different words to describe
dissension; some of them are: murmuring, complaining, scoffing, mocking,
blaspheming, strife of words, evil talking, perverse disputing, railing,
speaking in hypocrisy, ungodly talking, etc (Php 2:14 ; Psalms 1:1 ; 1 Timothy
4:2 ; 1 Timothy 6:4-5; 2 Timothy 3:2 ; Jude 1:15-16). Jesus warned His disciples
that on the Day of Judgment men will have to give an account of every idle word
that they speak (Matthew 12:36 ). Dissension comes from a heart of unbelief. It
was because of such vehement and vexing ungodly talks that the Israelites were
destroyed in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:10 ). All their opposition was
based on their lusts and whims and not on any logic. God had shown such wonders
to them that He had never shown before. He foiled the skill of the Egyptian
magicians, broke the strength of pharaoh and his forces, tore the Red Sea into
two, and walked before them as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by
night. I do not know of any nation on earth as a whole who had seen so much of
God and yet disbelieved Him so much. They broke God’s commands whenever they
liked and spoke whatever came to their mouth against God’s servants. Jude tells
us that God destroyed them because of their unbelief (Jude 5). c. Disunion.
Disunion refers to a break-away from faith in God, thus from God. This is the
severing of relationship with God. This disunion is the final end of a life of
ungodly speech and action. It is the moral failure to hold on to faith and a
good conscience and is characterized by a blasphemous lifestyle (1 Timothy
1:18-20). This is what the Scripture also calls as a departure from faith by
giving in to seducing spirits and the doctrines of devils (1 Timothy 4:1). The
doctrine of the devil is nothing but ultimate rebellion against God and His
truth. The life without faith in God is a life of falsehood. It is a life of
self-opposition (2 Timothy 2:25). Therefore, says the psalmist, the ungodly
shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the
righteous (Psalms 1:5). The sinners who walk after ungodly counsel and associate
to scoff at the revelation of God will not be justified (cp. Psalms 1:1). But
the just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17). The Scripture warns believers
against this alienation from God’s truth. It is the sin that brings a division
between God and man (Isaiah 59:2). The sin of willful commitment to unbelief and
disunion with God is unpardonable. It leads to death (1 John 5:16). The book of
Hebrews tells us that there is no chance of renewal for those who, after knowing
the irrefutable truth of God, fall away from the faith (Hebrews 6:4-6); for it
is evident in their case that their falling away from faith is self-willed and
not because of weakness in understanding the truth. The truth was crystal clear
to them. Similarly, Peter says that the final condition of those who turn away
from the knowledge of Christ after having escaped the pollutions of the world is
worse than the first; for, he says, it would have been better for them not to
have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then willingly
turn away from it (2 Peter 2:20-21). Such a life becomes blasphemous, godless,
and a willful opposing of the ways of God.

Now, there are three chief ways in which faith can be kept; they are:
confession, conduct, and communion. Let’s look briefly at each one of them and
see how Abraham not only kept his faith but grew stronger in it by following
these and by refusing false doubt, ungodly desire, and any sin-induced division.
We do not say here that Abraham never made mistakes but despite of all his
weaknesses and shortcomings he was justified before God because of his holding
on to the Lord. He loved the Lord and no matter what he had to go through, he
didn’t stagger in faith, since he knew that he could never leave the Lord that
he knew as the true and gracious God. For him there were no regrets and no
turnings back.

1. Confession. Confession is the verbal establishment of inward belief (Romans
10:10). It is the public testimony of private faith. And when confession is
heartily and confidently done, then the internal and the external dimensions of
human experience are reinforced in the integrity of faith. Abraham’s confession
of faith is captured in his single statement to the king of Sodom. He said: "I
have lifted up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of
heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet, and
that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have
made Abram rich" (Genesis 14:42-43). He confessed here that it is God alone who
could have the absolute right of claim over all of Abraham’s blessings, that his
sustenance came from God, and that everything of him was God’s and what was his
was what God had committed to him. This shows his total trust in God and no
side-glances at anything else. His mind was steadily focused on God and His
promises. Of course, this doesn’t mean that Abraham never sought any
clarification from God. But whenever he did that it was in humility of spirit
and never in the haughtiness of pride characteristic of the dissenters. For
instance, when God told him that He would bless him with a seed that shall
become a nation, the Bible says that Abraham believed God and it was accounted
to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). But when God tells him in the next verse
that he was going to inherit Palestine, he asked for a way to know how that
would happen. He knew that he was living in tents here and that there were
little chances that this tent-living could be given up soon since the land
belonged to the different tribes that inhabited it. But God showed him how he
would do it giving assurance of it by means of a covenant. He told him that his
seed would go to a foreign land whom they shall serve but then return back in
the fourth generation to take this land into their hands by punishing the
inhabitants of it. Accordingly, the next two generations of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob too lived in tents, went to Egypt and returned after about 400 years to
take the Promised Land. Obviously, there were things that Abraham didn’t
understand but he confessed what he knew and trusted God for things too
difficult for his understanding. And God was faithful to reveal His counsel to
Abraham. Similarly, spiritual facts like being saved, being forgiven of all
sins, being heirs of Christ’s righteousness and the Kingdom to come must be
confessed again and again in faith or else the devil will gain place by
introducing guilt-feelings, doubts, and fears in the heart of the believer. One
must acknowledge one’s sinfulness and inability to save oneself, submit to God,
and then resist the devil.

Confession brings the mind in subjection to the line of verbal reasoning
manifest in the assertion of faith-statements. It awakens the consciousness to
the truths of God. It enlightens the memory with the optimism of divine
assurance. It is the active choice of the believer to set his mind on the things
of God. It is this reason why Christ confessed God’s Word and His purposes by
quoting the Scripture when the devil came to tempt Him. He told him that "Man
shall not live by bread alone" when the tempter challenged His divine sonship.
He need not prove anything to either the devil or to anyone. By confessing the
Scripture, Jesus declared to the devil God’s counsel of sending Christ as man to
this earth; and that this material world is not an end in itself – bread is not
the ultimate thing: to turn stones into bread would mean to look at any object
of nature with selfish intentions.

2. Conduct. Conduct is the factual establishment of faith. It is the behavior of
faith. It is the phenomena of active faith. It is not mere asserting but the
confirming of faith through action. It is the conformity of life with faith. It
is the finalizing of the meaningfulness of belief. One can only live out that
which one considers to be livable or meaningful and significant. Therefore,
conduct is the establishment of faith in fact and in deed. There is not one
instance in the Scripture where it is mentioned that Abraham disobeyed God.
Whenever God told him anything to do, he immediately did it. We have seen his
obedience of faith in regard to leaving Ur and also, at a latter point,
sacrificing his only begotten son. His obedience is also seen in the case of
sending Hagar away. When Sara told Abraham to send Hagar, his concubine away, we
are told that this thing was very grievous in his eyes because of Ishmael, his
son by Hagar (Genesis 21:11). However, when God told him to quit feeling
grievous about this and do as Sara had said since God was in control of
everything and was going to bless Sara’s son, Abraham rose up early in the
morning, packed up things for Hagar and Ishmael and sent them away, without
grieving, having been assured of the promise of God regarding the maid and her
son. Abraham’s emotions were controlled and directed not by any worldly wisdom
but by his faith in the truth and power of God. He knew His God very well and,
therefore, he followed Him wholeheartedly. Of course, his half-truth about his
wife (Genesis 12:13 ; Genesis 20:2) due to fear evinces his use of cleverness in
escaping difficult situations instead of trusting totally in God’s ability to
protect him. Similarly, his giving heed to Sara in cohabiting with Hagar,
according to their custom, in order to have a child was a hasty and humanly
rationalized way (Gen. 16). But one must remember that, in the former case, Sara
was truly his half-sister and Abraham’s tactic was something to prevent a
possible enemy’s foil act. It was not motivated out of a failure of faith at
all. Anyone who has read about the tactics that believers of the underground
churches employed in order to prevent the enemy’s success in sin should not be
hasty to indict them as failing in faith as if God could not protect them. In
fact, they did so because of their unflinching faith in God Whom they could at
no cost deny. Obviously, no one generally stretches these things to such an
extremity to say, for instance that footballers should give up their play
tactics or army men should give up their war stratagems in order to walk
according to faith. I am here only trying to prevent hasty and unjust accusation
against Abraham; not to justify Abraham’s actions. What for me is important
about Abraham is that God never accused him of what most people accuse him. Even
if he failed, God would not have accused him since God knew Abraham’s faith and
it is before his Master that he falls or rises, and even if he falls God is able
to raise him (Romans 14:4 ). One will also remember that Christ never condemned
Peter for denying Him thrice but understood the love that was in the depth of
his heart. Similarly, in taking Hagar as wife, this might have been so because
God’s revelation of giving a son through Sara, specifically, is revealed only in
Genesis 17:1-27. Further, Abraham’s listening to his wife to give her as she
desired should not be interpreted as wavering from faith; for, even in doing so
there was no indication of his disbelief in God about anything; there could not
be. In addition, God never treated Abraham’s child through Hagar as the product
of a mistake, but instead blessed him as well. At any cost, none of these things
were indicative of any weakening of Abraham’s faith; the truth being that in
every instance of God’s specific commandment, Abraham was obedient without
question, hesitation, or second-thought.

3. Communion. Communion is the relational establishment of faith; the
personalizing of faith in relationship. One can only be one with someone one is
at one with; and one can only be one with someone who is like that one, i.e.
basically personal then other points of aesthetic and ethical agreement or
harmony: therefore, communion is the personal relationship with God through the
harmony of faith. Communion with God is the living out of the I-Thou
relationship with Him. It is the establishment of the fact of faith as
relationality and not just as subjectivity. Communion can never be one-sided.
Communion can never be fantastical. Therefore, communion is the objective
establishment of faith in a real divine relationship. When Abraham was 95 years
old, God spoke to him saying "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou
perfect" (Genesis 17:1). The command to walk before God was the command to be in
perpetual agreement and fellowship with Him. The command to be perfect was the
command to be wholeheartedly committed to God in this relationship. The Bible
tells us that as soon as Abraham heard this voice (he was still called Abram
till this point), he fell with his face prostrate on the ground. He didn’t even
speak a word. Anyone who reads the life of Abraham can see him not only as a man
of few words but also as a man of diligence and great reverence for God. His
communion with God was so close that the Scripture calls him "the friend of God"
(James 2:23 ; 2 Chronicles 20:7); yet, it was only with reverence in heart that
Abraham ever approached God. This can also be seen in the case when he
intercedes for Sodom. His intercession is not like one demanding something from
God by right though he was God’s friend. For instance, when he enquires the
second time he says: "Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord,
who am but dust and ashes" (Genesis 18:27) and goes on to make his petition.
Remember God’s confession about Abraham just before this session; God said
"Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do… for I have known him" (Genesis
18:17-19, MKJV). God could trust Abraham as a friend could trust his friend.
That was the depth of communion between them because God knew the genuineness of
Abraham’s faith and his absolute and indefatigable holding on to the truth of
God. Abraham knew God and glorified God as God; therefore, he was blessed by
God.

Thus, we see that through faith and obedience to God Abraham inherited the
promises of God. The anti-faith elements of doubt, sinful desire, and division
could not find place in his heart full of trust and faith in God. Abraham’s
words, actions, and feelings were all tuned up with the will of God. Therefore,
he only kept moving onward and never turning back in his walk before God. While
the world groped in the darkness of unbelief and falsehood around him, Abraham
recognized God’s call over his life and followed Him not knowing where he was
going.


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  CHAPTER 10: 01.07.     CHAPTER 6: UNQUENCHABLE FLAME-2
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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.


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  CHAPTER 11: 01.08.     CHAPTER 7: GREAT SALVATION
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CHAPTER SEVEN

Great Salvation "By faith he forsook Egypt…seeing him who is invisible."
(Hebrews 11:27). The story of Moses from Nile to the Jordan is covered by four
books of the Pentateuch, viz. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Though Moses himself never entered the Promised Land, yet he led the children of
Israel to its borders. The Scripture testified about him that he was "very
humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth" (Numbers 12:3,
NKJV). Obviously, Moses did not have a domineering or imposing personality, as
some think it vital for leadership. Neither was he very articulate as he himself
confessed to God saying "I am not eloquent…but I am slow of speech, and of a
slow tongue" (Exodus 4:10). Nevertheless, God chose him to be the leader of the
Exodus. It was by faith in God that he defied the overwhelming power of Egyptian
magic and military supremacy; yet, he prevailed because God sent him and God was
with him.

FAITH LEAVES A LEGACY The writer says that "by faith Moses, when he was born,
was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and
they were not afraid of the king’s commandment" (Hebrews 11:23). One can observe
here that often it is the faith of others that adds into our lives. In this
case, it was the faith of Moses’ parents that prompted them to hide him from the
king and by this they invested into Moses the results of their faith. This is
the blessing of a godly family: its children are blessed because they enjoy the
blessings of their parents’ faith. Similarly, the congregation who has a pastor
rich in faith partakes of the blessings of his faith. Certainly, our actions are
not without their ramifications. The ramifications of faith are blessings from
generation to generation but the ramifications of unbelief are disastrous. What
we believe and do impacts not just our lives but also the lives of the
generations to come. Therefore, a study of history must not be disentangled from
a study of culture and philosophy (in other words, of people’s belief-systems).
Ideas shape history through religion and culture. This means that what one
believes in has far-reaching consequences. In Moses’ case, it not only meant the
channeling of divine providence through his parents’ faith-action but also the
provision of a leader for the creation of Israel’s history as a nation. Though
it was Moses who led the people out of Egypt and gave them the law and a
religious-system, it was his parents that first contributed to this
history-making through their faith in God regarding Moses. Obviously, they also
left a legacy of faith for him as can be seen later on by his refusal to be
called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and taking up the path of suffering by
faith. Faith is influence and faith is legacy because faith doesn’t keep silent:
it acts out. The writer of Hebrews underscores three elements of the faith of
Moses’ parents: sight, courage, and action.

Faith as Aesthetic The writer says that Moses’ parents saw him as being a
beautiful baby. The word for "beautiful" is asteios (ἀστεῖος) in the Greek and
is used only twice in the New Testament (Acts 7:20 ; Hebrews 11:23): both of the
times to describe Moses. The word "aesthetics", meaning the philosophical
science of beauty, comes from this word. The Jews believed that Moses was a very
handsome person; so handsome, said Josephus the historian, that people would
stop to gaze at him when he passed by. However, it is understandable that it was
not as much the physical beauty of the child as much as it was the spiritual
fairness of their conscience that prompted his parents from taking the risk of
hiding him. Inevitably, Pharaoh’s soldiers might also see Moses but would not
spare him; not because they could not appreciate his physical beauty but because
their vision differed from the vision of Moses’ parents. Their way of looking
was just different. The Egyptians looked on the children of Israel with
contempt. They didn’t consider them to be a special people at all. And
therefore, prejudice prevented any optimistic vision in them. That is the reason
why they made slaves of them. But, Moses was Amram’s and Jochebed’s own son: he
was special to them; and he was beautiful not just because of his being
good-looking but because he was God’s gift to them. Most importantly, both of
them realized that the child, being himself dependent on them as a babe, could
only be saved by their risk of faith. This is the either/or condition of faith.
Either give up or stand against the tide. Parents and leaders need to realize
this fact that often the future of their children or followers depends on
whether they are or not faithful in fulfilling to the end the care entrusted to
them. Their faithfulness is their mark of faith or the ability to see beyond all
natural limits. Moses’ parents obviously saw Moses as not just their son but as
a son of the Hebrews, as belonging to the flock of God. He was not just born to
them but to the people of Israel, the people who worshipped Jehovah.

It is important for parents, teachers, pastors, and leaders to reconsider how we
look at each other. The Bible shows us the aesthetic way of looking at each
other. Aesthetic, not in the sense of physical beauty which fades with time, but
in the sense of looking at each other as being special and uniquely designed by
God for His glory. This aesthetic view is not just about how we look at others
but also about how we look at ourselves. Obviously, when the Bible says that we
must love our neighbor as ourselves, it also implies that we must first
understand what it really means to love ourselves. For if we miss that we also
miss the second, namely loving our neighbor or as the Good Samaritan’s story
tells us, being a loving neighbor to someone. Self-despisal is a sinful as
despising our neighbor. For if it is false to judge others wrongly then it is
also false to judge oneself wrongly. Extending from here, we need to realize
that despising anyone else is nothing but practice of a false faith. This
immediately tells us that faith is not just related to what we think of God, but
also what we think of ourselves and our fellowmen in relation to ourselves and
God. Obviously, knowledge of God or relationship with God is not
one-dimensional. Even as the Jewish mystic, Martin Buber, saw relationship as
compounded in an I-It or I-Thou perspective, we understand that any
understanding of God through faith also involves a second dimension; that is
knowledge of ourselves in relation to Him. Therefore, the command to love one’s
neighbor as oneself is not separable from the command to love God; and the Word
asserts that someone who fails to love his fellowmen cannot be considered to be
loving God (1 John 4:20). Faith, therefore, has double implications. What we
believe about God is also related to what we believe about ourselves and how we
treat ourselves with respect to God and the world around us. It is in this sense
that I think the biblical aesthetic view-point of valuing each other’s life,
rights, and person becomes pivotal for authentic Christian living.

Faith as Courageous The Bible tells us that Moses’ parents were not afraid of
the commandment of Pharaoh (Hebrews 11:23). The Greek word for "afraid" used
here is phobeo (φοβέω) which means to be intensely terrified, so much that the
fear grips at the whole being almost to the point of a paralysis. The word
"phobia" comes from the same root word. Pharaoh had commanded the people saying,
"Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you
shall save alive" (Exodus 1:22, NKJV). The interesting thing is that eventually
Moses was anyway cast into the river but, obviously, not to be killed! The fact
to be observed here is that it was because of faith that Moses’ parents were not
terrified of a human decree. No doubt, the Egyptians considered the Pharaoh to
be a God but he was still a human. This doesn’t mean that believers are not
required to submit to earthly authorities; for the Scripture clearly states "Let
every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority
except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God." Further,
"whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who
resist will bring judgment on themselves" (Romans 13:1-2). Notice the Bible
doesn’t tell us to be afraid of the authorities but to be afraid of God. In
fact, it asks "Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and
you will have praise from the same" (Romans 13:3). This also means that if
rulers begin to be a terror to evil works (i.e. that they make evil laws and ask
the citizens to comply), then citizens need not comply with them since the
authority to make such evil laws doesn’t come from God. One doesn’t need to be
afraid of such commandments. Obviously, it is the faith that relates to the
goodness of God that prompts submission to anything that is good and true.
Earthly fears cannot take hold of the man who only fears God.

True faith is not terrorized by this-worldly threats. Jesus said, "fear not them
which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him
which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). It would
have been ruthless if the parents of Moses would have let their son cast into
the river just so that their lives would be protected. Even parental instinct
doesn’t permit this. We know of instances from the animal kingdom when the
mother would do anything in order to protect its little ones. It is only false
religion and evil ideology that sacrifices the children for personal advantages.
That was the case with the religion of Molech in which children were burnt alive
so that their god would be appeased. Falsehood eventually corrupts nature and
turns humans in unnatural beings (Romans 1:26). However, truth guards the heart
against all evil by placing one’s self in the right perspective in relation to
God and man. Therefore, true faith drives away all false fears and self-centered
apprehensions. It guards the conscience against evil and purifies the heart with
right affections. It was the faith of God that gave Amram and Jochebed the
courage to do right despite of the pervasion of evil.

True faith is not terrified by the world. When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
challenged the God of heaven and threatened to burn Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego with fire if they didn’t bow to his golden image, they replied "O
Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the
case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery
furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be
known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the
gold image which you have set up" (Daniel 3:16-18, NKJV). Obviously, their faith
was not utilitarianism here. It is not like believing in that which seemingly is
profitable. That was the error of Eve. She thought the tree of knowledge was
profitable and believed the words of Satan. But profit or loss has nothing to do
with the faith that has grasped reality. Therefore, the three Hebrew children
fearlessly answered that whether they were saved or it cost them their life they
would not bow to false worship. It is this kind of faith that is resolutely
committed to truth that pleases God; for it is written that God is seeking for
those who worship Him in Spirit and truth.

Faith as Active

Faith is not just courageous in its stand and confession but is also bold to
take the initial step of action that pleases God. There is no doubt about faith
being an antonym of fear. Peter walked by faith on water because he was bold
enough to take his first step on it; but as soon as fear gripped his soul, he
began to sink. Thus, faith, courage, and action are closely connected. The
Scripture tells us that "by faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three
months by his parents" (Hebrews 11:23, NKJV). If his parents had just sat silent
without doing anything, the story would have been quite different. But they
acted out in faith. Evidently, as seen, faith without works is dead. The faith
of Moses’ parents was active.

Importantly, here, it says that it was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for
three months. This tells us that acts of avoiding evil are not acts of unbelief
but of faith when they are sagaciously done. There are many such instances in
the Bible. For instance, Jesus tells His disciple to leave any city which as a
whole refuses Christ’s message and starts persecuting the messengers (Luke 9:5;
cp. Acts 13:51). Jesus Himself avoided unnecessary falling into the enemy’s
traps (Matthew 4:12; Luke 4:30). Similarly, Paul escaped once through a basket
when people were in wait for him, was prevented by the disciples from getting
beaten by a crazy mob, and took measures to inform the authority of a group of
Jewish fanatics who had vowed to not eat till they killed him (Acts 9:25; Acts
19:30; Acts 23:17-21). He also used his Roman citizenship as a privilege to
prevent unnecessary torture, to appeal to the highest court of justice, i.e. to
Caesar, and to get people understand that they cannot just by-pass laws to
persecute the minority (Acts 16:35-40; Acts 22:25; Acts 25:11). Thus, it is
obvious that the Bible desires Christians to be rational in their conduct of
life, seeing that the Bible does allow the avoidance of persecution if it is
possible. This also extends to avoiding any circumstance that is conducive to
evil. Jesus taught His disciples to pray "lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil" (Matthew 6:13) and Paul tells us under divine inspiration
to "abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:22). In other words,
if we know that there are certain things that can lead us to evil, we must avoid
them. For instance, a man who has quit smoking should avoid places and people
that could be a temptation to him to relapse into that habit. Such avoidance is
not sign of weakness but of the strength of faith. For instance, I strongly
believe that if I touch a live electric wire with bare hands, I’m going to get a
shock and so I’ll avoid touching it. I’ll avoid doing things that can harm me
because I know and believe the truth regarding those things. Similarly, I brush
my teeth to avoid tooth decay, keep myself and my surroundings clean to be
healthy, and take proper food to have strength. However, if God told me directly
not to do these things I would not do them. But as long as such specific
commands do not come, it is my duty to abide by the principles that keep this
universe functioning properly. Faith doesn’t overestimate things unnecessarily.
It abides by the truth. If God had directly told Amram and Jochebed that they
need not hide their child then they would have done it, but where such a thing
was not revealed they had to do what was wisest to do. Any act of unnecessary
presumption could only prove fatal to both the child and the parents.

Moses’ parents saw with the eyes of faith, were bold in their stand, and were
prompt to act by faith since they knew and believed that which was pleasing in
God’s sight. One may say that any parent would have done that; what has that to
do with faith? The fact, as has been seen, is that faith does play a major role
in determining whether the child needed to be saved or not, whether there was
any value to his life above theirs. More importantly, it rejected the Egyptian
claim of the Pharaoh as divine. Since Pharaoh was not God and had not given life
to anyone, he had no right to get innocent babies killed. By their disobedience
to his evil commandment they rejected the falsehood of an evil law. But they
were also wise and not presumptuous in their action; and their faith was justly
rewarded too.

FAITH DESPISES EARTHLY GLORIES The writer goes on to say that "by faith Moses,
when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches
than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the
reward" (Hebrews 11:24-26). It is interesting here that the writer refers to
Moses’ commitment as a commitment to Christ. One might ask how that could be
since Christ was hidden in the Old Testament. The answer is that though Christ
was not yet revealed in the New Testament manner, it was He who was with the Old
Testament saints in their spiritual journey. It is in this sense that Paul says
about the Israelites that while in the wilderness "they drank of that spiritual
Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). In
other words, they were partakers of Christ. Similarly, Peter says that unto the
prophets "the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow" (1 Peter
1:11). Certainly, since salvation is only found in Christ, the Old Testament
saints were saved and redeemed by the blood of Jesus the Lamb of God who was
spiritually slain from the foundation of the world. This commitment to Christ is
important because it demonstrates one’s association with and belongedness to the
Kingdom of Christ. Therefore, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s
daughter. He rejected the rights, privileges, and honor promised by the world
for the true glory and destination that God had for him. In doing this, he chose
to suffer affliction with the people of God. Obviously, this information is not
from the Old Testament but from Jewish tradition. However, the inspired Word
inscribes here as a truth about this warrior of faith. Moses renounced the royal
palace and chose to identify himself with the despised and rejected people of
God. Paul testifies about Onesiphorus that he was not ashamed of his
imprisonment but sought him and did whatever he could to serve him (2 Timothy
1:16-17). Jesus said that whoever confesses Him before men on earth, him will He
confess before the Father in heaven (Matthew 10:32). Jesus Himself left the
riches and privileges of heaven in order to fulfill the will of His Father in
heaven (Php 2:6-8); and when the devil came to Him with the temptation of easy
bread, worldly reputation, and earthly riches He rejected them all. He endured
the shame of the cross for the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2 ). One who has
seen the riches of Christ will have no respect for the pleasures of this world.

There are three things mentioned here about the reasons that guided Moses’ step
of faith: the fact that these pleasures were temporary, that the riches of
Christ were greater, and that faith had its recompense.

Finality is the Measure

Moses knew that the pleasures of sin did have an end: they were not perpetual.
This is the ability of faith to look beyond the entanglement of the present.
Those who lack faith get entangled in the lusts of the flesh which gravitates so
much inwardly that all distant perspective is lost. The present desire is so
much magnified that it obscures everything else. But faith has an eagle’s
perspective. It sees beyond the present. It looks at the end of all things.
There are two ways in which Moses’ final perspective can be understood.

1. The pleasures lacked an intrinsic reality. They were pleasures only
superficially but, intrinsically speaking, they were void of the essence of true
pleasure. These were pleasures of sin; firstly, because they thrived over the
affliction of the Israelites; secondly, because they were part of the process
that enslaved the people of God. In other words, they were devoid of the reality
of God. They not only lacked divine approval but also divine glory. In fact,
they were disconnected from the goodness with which God created this world. They
fell short of the end or purpose of all things intended by God. Therefore, these
pleasures were also false and empty in themselves. They could never give any
ultimate or enduring satisfaction and therefore were not worth having at all.

2. The pleasures lacked a prospective reality. They were only for a season:
momentary, ephemeral, transitory. At the end they only left a bigger vacuum. The
intoxication of the lust now over, bitterness engulfs the soul demanding to fall
back into a greater intoxication than this. The void only intensifies at the
end. The pleasure of sin can never give final satisfaction; it only drags one
deeper into the snare of wickedness and evil invention. It plunges one into a
thicker darkness each time befogging the mind against all reality of God.
Therefore, a man of sinful pleasures can neither appreciate nor desire the
things of God.

Thus, Moses refused to partake of the pleasures of Egypt that thrived over the
affliction of God’s people. Instead of going for such pleasures he chose to
share with the afflictions of his people.

Value Relates to Person, to Christ

Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of
Egypt. One might wonder how reproaches could be considered to be richer. But if
you love someone then you would surely understand that suffering for that loved
one is far better possession than everything contrarily put together. No doubt,
true value is personal and not materialistic. That is the reason why the love of
money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10 ). It replaces the value of person
with the value of money (the Judas Iscariotic syndrome) and in doing that it
also replaces the love of neighbor with the love of self-satisfaction.
Therefore, it is the root of all evil. Moses knew what really had value in his
life: it was his relationship with Christ. The treasures of Egypt would not
remain his forever – death parts one with everything on earth – but his
relationship with Christ would be permanent. But even more truly, true value
rests in love on which relationships are founded. There cannot be any true love
between persons and things, since it is not reciprocal. Love of things (like
money) is nothing but self-centeredness. Love has to be between persons. But is
there anyone more than God who could be the true object of our love? Obviously,
not; therefore, Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the
treasures of Egypt.

Faith Has Its Reward

Finally, it says that Moses was looking to the reward. He had the end in his
mind all the time. It would be a ludicrous scene to see a runner running without
his eyes focused on the goal. Moses knew where to look at when making even the
smallest decisions of his life. He had a rightly fixed perspective. He looked at
the reward. The Greek word for "reward" is misthapodosia (μισθαποδοσία) meaning
"due wages" or "recompense". 1 Peter 1:10 tells us that the end of our faith is
the salvation of our souls. Jesus said "what shall it profit a man, if he shall
gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36). The fact is that
whatever the world can give will only remain with the world, but when one gives
himself to Christ, he becomes an heir of God’s eternal, incorruptible, and
indestructible inheritance. But an eternal inheritance is not just what Moses
was looking at. He was looking at Christ the Finality of all things. This was
also what Paul looked at when he said, "I count all things but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ" (Php
3:8). For the man of God there is no greater reward than Christ Himself. For the
Church of Jesus Christ, the Bride of the Lamb, there is no greater reward than
her Bridegroom coming back to her. Looking back at Abraham, one might not be
surprised about his unconditional obedience if one saw that he took God for what
He said, that He would be his "exceeding great reward" (Genesis 15:1). Moses
walked in this faith and got his reward.

FAITH HAS NO TURNING BACK The Scripture tells us that "by faith he [Moses]
forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him
who is invisible" (Hebrews 11:27 ). This Moses who once was even hesitant to
return back to Pharaoh and the children of Israel is now bold in faith and
fearless of the wrath of the king. He knew the fact that the wrath of man does
not work out the righteousness of God (James 1:20 ). It was good for nothing
before God; it was absurd before Him. God despises the wrath of man; He casts
down the proud but exalts the humble. Moses knew his God. The friend of a lion
is not afraid of a fox. But God is the Sovereign Lord of all things. Therefore,
the man of faith, as Moses was, had no respect for the wrath of Pharaoh. Moses
had seen God and talked to Him face to face; he had seen the invisible one (Ex.
4); so what could man’s fear mean to him anymore?

Faith Keeps Moving On

Moses forsook Egypt. Obviously, this is not talking about the first time he fled
from Pharaoh’s wrath. If the writer of Hebrews is following the chronological
order (because it mentions the Passover in the next verse), then this most
probably refers to Exodus 28:1-29 :

Then Pharaoh said to him, "Get away from me! Take heed to yourself and see my
face no more! For in the day you see my face you shall die!" So Moses said, "You
have spoken well, I will never see your face again."

It may be right to say that this was the point where Moses abandoned Egypt never
to return again. Pharaoh never got to see his face again, not because Moses was
terrified by his threat but because God took over the final scene as if with a
storm. Moses need not plead before Pharaoh anymore. His job before him was done.
What he needed now was to move onward. The man who walks by the Spirit continues
in the Spirit. But there can be times when someone starts in the Spirit and ends
up in the flesh (Galatians 3:3). Whether it be in our conversations with others,
services, or daily work, it is important to remember that we are not debtors to
the flesh to live according to its passions (Romans 8:12) since we are already
dead to it and are now slaves of a new Master who is Christ. Therefore, it’s
important to be sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit and walk accordingly
for when one refuses to stop where the Spirit tells to stop and keeps continuing
in the flesh (this may even happen with preachers) then disaster is sure to
strike; for where the fruit of the Spirit is absent, the works of the flesh come
into play. Moses was sensitive to the Spirit of God; and, therefore, knew that
it was time to prepare for the final things and abandon Egypt.

Faith Endures

Moses endured or was steadfast, as the Greek also indicates, meaning he was
unshaken in his walk and determination. There are at least two things that can
be understood about this:

1. Moses had self-control. He didn’t respond to Pharaoh’s threatening according
to his flesh, but chose to listen to God and follow His instructions instead. In
fact, Pharaoh’s anger had nothing to disturb Moses since he was actually working
for God. His concentration on God’s word and submission to Him enabled him to
not only be fearless in such situations but to keep his reactions under control.

2. Moses stood strong. Moses was not weakened by the threatening of Pharaoh. The
world does try to threaten God’s people and thus weaken them as Sennacherib
tried to do to Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 32:9-19). But Hezekiah turned to God and
saw His salvation. Moses was steadfast in faith before God because He knew God
was in control and the words of man could not prevail against the power of God.
Therefore, later on, when the Israelites are terrified by the sound and sight of
Pharaoh’s chariots rushing against them at the Red Sea, he proclaims aloud
"Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD" (Exodus 14:13).

3. Moses had strong hope. Obviously, one can’t endure without much hope. Moses’
hope was not in human strength or wisdom. It was in God. The God who had been
with him this far would not fail. He had not only encountered God in the burning
bush but had also seen the wonders that His hands had worked before his enemies.
Therefore, his hope could not be moved. He was steadfast in it and continued
with no retreats.

Faith has its Eyes on God

Moses endured, as seeing Him who is invisible (i.e. God). It was not just a whim
of imagination; for he did see God with the eyes of faith. The God who is
invisible is not inapprehensible. He is closer to us than our breath and He
desires that we should "feel after Him and find Him" (Acts 17:27). It is only
eyes of faith that can see God for He is discerned spiritually and not
physically. Moses saw God and endured. Unless one can see one can’t endure. One
needs to see where one stands in relation to some point of reference to even
know where he’ll go from there. God was Moses’ point of reference and His
commands were his directions.

1. Seeing means knowing. Moses knew his God because he had seen Him. This
implies that God had shown Himself to him since no man can see God by himself.
One can’t know God except by divine self-revelation. No amount of reasoning or
mere sense-experiences can lead one to God. In fact, they can’t lead one beyond
the world. That is the reason why pure rationalism ends up in monism or idealism
and pure empiricism ends up in naturalism or some kind of pantheism or
polytheism. But Moses had God’s revelation. He didn’t blind himself against it
but submitted to God’s revelation and therefore was able to see the glory of
God.

2. Seeing means focusing. Moses not only knew God but had his eyes fixed on Him,
as we saw earlier. He didn’t have any heroes or great men in view before him. He
had no models. He just knew God. Of course, he was educated in the Egyptian
learning and arts but they couldn’t take the place of God in his life. God had
given him a mission and that mission became his bread and drink. Other things
didn’t matter much to him anymore.

3. Seeing means anticipating. Moses’ expectation was from God. He didn’t try
human methods and means at all. There are a host of man-made programs and
devices today that people think are indispensable to ministry. Moses had no
political connections, no negotiation charms, and no material means of
influencing the world. His only strength and support was God. Therefore, he
looked to God in anticipation to fulfill His work and will through him.

4. Seeing means waiting. Moses also waited as he looked towards God. He endured.
He knew God had His proper time-table and way of working. He was not hasty. He
waited till the ten plagues were over. A leader needs such patience very much.
Everyone needs that. The farmer has to wait for the proper season for rain and
harvest. The soldier has to wait and endure the training. Moses had to wait on
God’s timing. He could do that because God’s word was always before his eyes.
Therefore, he endured.

It was because of such openness to and commitment to God that Moses was able to
move on steadfastly in the path chosen for him by God.

FAITH THAT DELIVERS

Finally, the writer says about Moses that "through faith he kept the Passover,
and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch
them" (Hebrews 11:28). There is no doubt about the fact that this event
significantly foreshadowed the crucifixion of Jesus the Lamb of God by which the
sins of the world were remitted. Yet, if it were not for Moses’ faith, the whole
nation of Israel would have also fallen prey to the plague of the death of the
firstborn. It is important to understand that leadership comes with greater
responsibilities because it is possible for one leader to lead a whole nation
either to God or to hell. One has many lessons from history to know how one
leader could lead whole nations into great evils, but it is comforting to see
that Moses was not disobedient to the divine command. He believed God and saw
His salvation revealed for his people. The Passover and the Exodus The Passover
was one of the most significant feasts of the Old Testament because it portrayed
Israel’s deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. The feast is that it is a
celebration of and not a ritual towards salvation. The most important thing
about it was that it was celebrated the first time even before the Israelites
were set free. That means that the feast was an event of faith. The stipulations
about the Passover lamb were that it should be without blemish, a male of the
first year, taken on the tenth day of the first month and kept until the
fourteenth day of the month when the whole assembly of the congregation of
Israel shall kill it in the evening (Exodus 14:3-6). It was, obviously, not
known to Moses or the congregation then that this foreshadowed Jesus Christ. But
we can see it now that it did. Jesus was, as this foreshadowed, crucified on the
Passover day on the fourteenth day of the month called Abib or Nisan. He was the
unblemished Lamb of God by whose sacrifice God has made forgiveness, salvation,
and eternal life available for all those who believe. Every act of God’s
deliverance is related to the work of Christ. If the angel of death didn’t touch
the firstborn of Israel because they had the blood of the Lamb on their
doorposts it was because, the blood foreshadowed the sacrifice of Christ. Moses’
faith was not in the blood of the lamb as if it had some magical power in
itself; it was on the plan of God’s salvation. He sprinkled the blood and
applied it to the doorposts because of God’s infusing it with salvation-meaning.
It was because of God that the blood obtained a salvific character. And, since
the lamb was part of the plan as a shadow of Christ, the faith related to the
Passover feast was reckoned for righteousness for those who believed. The writer
tells us that Moses kept the Passover by faith. The observance of the Passover
involved the killing of the lamb, daubing the posts of the house with its blood,
and eating of its meat roasted with fire along with unleavened bread and bitter
herbs; all the time bearing in mind to eat it while standing with clothes and
shoes on, and a staff in hand, as if ready to go out (Ex. 12: 5-11). It was
symbolic of the Exodus, the hurriedness that it depicted: roasted meat,
unleavened bread, and traveler’s suit on. It also was a departure with reminder
of the bitter experiences they had had in Egypt (the bitter herbs); evidently,
the Exodus can never be appreciated adequately without a remembrance the pain
they had been undergoing while in bondage. Similarly, a believer can never
appreciate well the salvation of God until he is able to see how miserable a
life without divine deliverance would be. Moses’ faith in keeping the Passover
can be seen in the following ways:

1. His abandonment of a life of bondage. By observing the Passover, Moses made a
definite break with not only his past, but also with the past of his people. The
Passover was a threshold to a newness of life. It symbolized a departure from
slavery to men and a returning to the service of God. The Passover completely
severed the Israelites ties with Egypt; the yoke of bondage fell to the ground
and Egypt had no power left in it to hold Israel in its clutches. It was an
annunciation of and proclamation of the redemption of God by faith. The blood
talked of death to the world; the unleavened bread talked about sincerity and
truth and a newness of life. This breaking off with the old is reiterated by
Paul when he asks the Corinthian believers to "purge out the old leaven, that
you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our
Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old
leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). The old did pass away as
the shadow of death passed from off their homes; the new had begun.

2. His acceptance of the divine means. Moses’ observance of it demonstrated his
acceptance of God’s means of deliverance. The sacrifice of the lamb and other
things would have looked weird to others but, though he might have not fully
understood it yet, Moses scrupulously followed what God had commanded. He
accepted the way chosen by God. The Bible says that the cross of Jesus Christ is
foolishness to the philosophers (Greeks) and a stumbling block to the religious
(Jews). The philosophers smile at it sarcastically and the religious scholars
are offended by its simplicity (or perhaps its severity). However, to those who
accept it, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians
1:24); for true power is that which can save endlessly and true wisdom is that
which shows us the face of Truth. It is not a surprise that the Passover
demolished the ancient wisdom and towering might of Egypt in just one night.

3.His activeness in fulfilling the divine command. Moses was prompt to observe
the feast. As seen earlier, faith is not faith unless it acts; and the writer of
Hebrews constantly emphasizes this fact throughout the chapter. The act of
Moses, however, was not just personal. He was a leader and so his action
required getting people to do what God had commanded. In fact, his action was
meant not just for him but truly for the whole nation of Israel which God wanted
to deliver out of the bondage of Egypt. That was the reason why he was sent to
that land. While one might not be in the same position as Moses was still it is
also true that each one of us is a leader in the sense that we do influence each
other; and leadership is influence, as someone said. We are built into a nexus
of relationships in a way that whatever we do has an impact on others in some
way or the other. As was seen, the faith of Moses’ parents did leave something
for history: it left a legacy through Moses. Similarly, the Exodus is closely
tied with Moses because he chose to obey God. It is important to understand that
our actions, no matter how great or how simple they are, have some impact in the
scheme of things within our world. But it is the acts of faith that serve to
shape the pages of divine history. The Sprinkling of the Blood The writer says
that through faith Moses kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, lest
he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. The sprinkling of the blood
referred to the taking of the lamb’s blood in a basin and sprinkling it upon the
lintel and the two side posts of the door of the house with a bunch of hyssop
dipped into the blood in the basin. The sprinkling of the blood testifies of
many things; few of which are as follows:

1. Blood is the cost of faith. Faith did have a cost and that was the blood of
the lamb. It cost the lamb’s blood for the house to be protected from the
scourge of death that ripped the back of Egypt that night. The lamb had to die
for the faith to be active. This foreshadows the sacrifice of Jesus. It was He
who by His sacrifice made faith in Him possible and available for us. In the New
Testament, this blood of sprinkling from the sacrifice of our Passover Lamb,
Jesus Christ, established the New Covenant (Hebrews 12:24) which is a covenant
of grace and faith, not a covenant of works. The Old Covenant demanded obedience
to the Law in order to be righteous. However, mercy is not absent from justice
in the Old Testament and were recurrently see men and women justified not by the
works of the Law but by faith. However, this only became possible for them
because of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Now, since this faith cost the blood of the Lamb, who definitely was Christ
(though symbolized by the Passover), it was equal to blood itself; which means
that the one who puts faith in Christ and is bought by His blood no longer
belongs to himself again – his life belongs to Christ (1 Corinthians 6:20).
Therefore, self-denial and spiritual crucifixion is mandatory for discipleship
(Mark 8:34); because until faith equates the cost, its validity is null. A true
disciple, consequently, is a sold property – he belongs to Christ; therefore,
his life rests in the hands of his Master.

2. Blood is the sign of faith. The blood had to be daubed on the lintel and
posts of the house as sign of the lamb that was slain for the house. It
demonstrated the fact that the house belonged to the believers of Jehovah; so
that when the angel walked through the land inflicting death to the Egyptians it
passed over the house that bore the blood of the lamb. Similarly, it is only by
the application of the blood of Jesus over our lives by faith that we are saved
from eternal death and the judgment to come. The blood was to be sprinkled with
a hyssop which spoke about the purity of the blood and of the fact that
salvation is not by any human agency; there were no works of the hands attached
to it. It was applied by faith through the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 12:3).

Thus, it was by the application of faith that was procured through the sacrifice
of the Passover that deliverance and redemption became possible for the
Israelites. Moses did lead the people out of Egypt, but he could only do that
because of God’s mighty arm and His grace over them. God’s grace was revealed
through His acts and the Israelites basked in it through their faith. The Exodus
was one of the most important events in the experience of the people of God. It
depicted the defeat of human wisdom, power, spirituality, and social system. It
showed the bankruptcy of the gods of Egypt, the futility of its wisdom, and the
paleness of its strength. However, it had great demands over Israel which failed
to fulfill them on its wilderness journey. The redemption was obtained at a very
great cost. It, first of all, cost the Egyptians their firstborn and also their
possessions; then it cost the blood of a lamb for salvation from the judgment
and redemption from out of the land. This not only indebted the Israelites to
God but made Him their legal owner since He bought them at a great price, and
the payment was symbolized by the sanctification of the firstborn for the Lord;
later exchanged for the tribe of Levi. They belonged to Him. Therefore, the
commandment came to Moses saying: And it will be, when Jehovah shall bring you
into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and
shall give it to you, you shall set apart to Jehovah every one that opens the
womb … all the first-born of man among your sons you shall redeem. And it shall
be when your sons asks you in time to come, saying, What is this? you shall say
to him, Jehovah brought us out of Egypt by the strength of His hand, from the
house of bondage. And it happened when Pharaoh hardened himself against sending
us, Jehovah killed all the first-born of the land of Egypt, both the first-born
of man, and the first-born of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to Jehovah all that
opens the womb, that are males. But all the first-born of my sons I redeem. And
it shall be for a token upon your hand, and for frontlets between your eyes. For
Jehovah brought us out from Egypt by strength of His hand (Exodus 13:11-16,
MKJV).

One can immediately see here that the blood of a mere animal or a lamb could not
have equated the blood of all the firstborn of Egypt. However, it symbolized the
sacrifice of Jesus who cancelled eternal judgment for us by giving Himself up in
our place. Therefore, those who come by faith to Him do not any longer belong to
themselves but belong to God. The Exodus not only sanctified the people of
Israel for God but also established them as a testimony of His truth, grace, and
power. It disqualified Egyptian spirituality as false, reached out to the people
by grace, and brought them out with a powerful arm. Israel had to be a beacon of
truth, grace, and power to the world. Instead, it succumbed to the falsehood of
idolatry, craving of the flesh, and fear of the Canaanites; which only led to
more pain than joy. God desires His people to walk in truth, love, and
fearlessness. Often times, this does become difficult since we are surrounded by
the contrary things all the time. However, His blessings never fail to those who
adhere to Him in love and obedience through faith. In fact, they have an impact
that reverberates through history. Men may come and men may go, empires rise and
empires fall, words are written and words erased, thoughts arise and thoughts
forgotten, but they who walk by faith and know their God go on forever: the
gates of time can’t close on them, the whip of darkness recoils away from them,
the jaws of death tremble at their sight; this is the saga of the heroes of
faith, who belong not to themselves but to the one who rules over their body,
soul, and mind, who live not by sight but by faith, who care not for their lives
as much as they care for God, who see the invisible, walk in truth, and run with
power; "the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great
exploits" (Daniel 11:32, NKJV).

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

1. People of faith leave indelible marks on history.

2. A man of faith fears no man.

3. A man of faith doesn’t hold on to earthly glories or riches.

4. God rewards faith in the present and will in the age to come.

5. Faith never shrinks back due to doubt or fear; it always keeps moving on.

6. Faith relies on God and not on circumstances.


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  CHAPTER 12: 01.09.     CONCLUSION
========================================================================

Conclusion The journey of faith is marked by transitions of faith-scenes. Each
choice of faith is a step forward. Voices and choices fill the avenues of this
walk: faith chooses the voice of truth. The light of faith may flicker in the
night winds of darkness, but it refuses to blow off; for it is made up of that
which is invincible – the eternal Word of God. The faith that is made up of
human words dies a mortal death, but the faith flamed by God’s own heart will
never die. His Word is His heart revealed to us. Therefore, there is nothing so
personal about God than His revelation on this earth. His Word may be stern or
it may be soft, it may be sweet or may taste bitter; yet, it is His Word that
comes from His heart. Therefore, he who has set his heart on the Word of God has
set his heart on God. He shall never fail.

Faith is final as the Word is final. It is the evidence. It is beginning and end
of all evidences. He who can’t recognize the truth of God when he sees it is
blind; no amount of evidence will ever convince him. But he whose eyes have been
opened sees the light and rejoices in the salvation of God. His Word is
self-evidencing and self-disclosing. No man can either close it or disclose it.
No knowledge can either prove it or disprove it; for it speaks directly to the
spirit of man and commands his obedience. If one can’t believe God one can
believe in nothing else. The heroes of faith were not just heroes unto
themselves: they were those who combined faith with the Word of God to shape
divine history. History is divided into two opposite worlds: the world of faith
and the world of rebellion. Evil rules over the world of rebellion and it
doesn’t know God: its history ends in condemnation and judgment. The world of
faith is ruled by the scepter of His Word: it shall abide forever. The world of
rebellion ridicules the world of faith; the flesh strives against the Spirit;
but truth and light are in the city of God while darkness reigns with curdling
chaos in the hearts of unbelievers. By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice
than Cain, and obtained the witness that he was righteous; for Abel believed God
for who He was and gave to Him the best of all. But Cain brought the common
things to God and was not careful to sanctify Him (or recognize His ultimate
distinction) through proper worship. A worship that doesn’t sanctify God is
abominable before Him; it is idolatry and sin; for God cannot be compared with
anyone. Therefore, the Word commands: "Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his
name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of
holiness" (1 Chronicles 16:29). The walk that pleases God is the walk of faith.
The Scripture says that Enoch obtained the testimony that he pleased God before
he was taken away. Is our life something that pleases God or something that
seems to be a burden to Him? Does He rejoice over us or is He hurt by our ways?
One can’t please God unless one approaches Him in sincerity and truth; one can’t
approach Him unless one seeks Him; and one can’t seek Him unless one believes
that He exists and is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. "Seek the
LORD, and ye shall live" (Amos 5:6) says the Word. Enoch sought God and obtained
a life that is immortal. He never died. The flood of God’s judgment covered the
face of the earth with waters; it destroyed everything that had breath in it
because the world had corrupted itself with selfishness, pride, and presumption.
Unbelief only brings condemnation. But faith has a saving nature. It saved Noah
and his family; for by faith he was declared to be righteous and he also
condemned the world by his obedience to God. His faith allowed no excuse to the
ungodly. It exposed their falsity, condemned their rebellion, and demolished
their pride; but it saved those who obeyed. In his time, Abraham saw human
religion at its great heights. The giant Ziggurat at Ur, the temple of Nina, and
the curious arts of astrology and witchcraft captivated human hearts. Money
flowed in from trade to this commercial city and it had a strong political
influence as well. But God took him out of it and called him to be a nation.
Abraham never disobeyed God. He was always prompt at His Word. He obtained the
heavenly vision and moved out without knowing where he was going. In fact, he
did reach the land of Palestine promised to him but never saw it becoming his in
his lifetime. He lived in tents along with his people and family there. He never
had a building of his own (except, of course, the tomb that he bought for his
wife). Yet, he believed God and drank in every Word that He said; and God
imputed it to him as righteousness. Therefore, he is called a friend of God and
the father of all believers. The Word tells us that his vision was not limited
to this earth; he looked to the city which has foundations, whose builder and
maker is God. Abraham and Sarah believed God for His promises and God blessed
them with Isaac in their old age. He believed in hope against hope and she
received strength because she counted on God’s faithfulness.

Moses’ parents never knew what plans God had for their child but by faith they
protected him because they saw that he was a proper child. We never know what
plans God has for our children; but the eyes of faith recognizes how precious
they are in the sight of God and treats them with honor, nurtures them with
grace, and brings them up in the fear of the Lord; for faith leaves a legacy
through its posterity. Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh’s daughter because he learnt faith at home. He chose to suffer for
Christ rather than enjoy the transient pleasures of sin. Anything separated from
God is sin, for nothing can be holy apart from God. He looked to the treasures
that are hid in Christ. By faith he forsook Egypt and was not afraid of
Pharaoh’s wrath, for nothing less than God can terrify the man who trusts in
God. So, he endured as one seeing the invisible One. He led his people in the
observance of the Passover and saved them from the angel of death. The magicians
and armies of Egypt fell asunder before the might of Jehovah as this man of
faith spoke on God’s behalf. A nation was redeemed, a promise fulfilled, and
history was made when Egypt shook off Israel from its clutches after being
scourged by God. The story of the heroes of faith doesn’t end here. The writer
goes on to speak of the Israelites, of Rahab, of Gideon, Barak, Samson,
Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets: "who through faith subdued
kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness
were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the
aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured,
not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still
others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and
imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain
with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being
destitute, afflicted, tormented – of whom the world was not worthy. They
wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth" (Hebrews
11:33-37, NKJV). Perhaps, these latter descriptions might not look heroic but
the heroes of faith are not heroes because they look successful in human eyes;
they are heroes because they triumph in faith and endure to the end: their faith
is not broken by any power of man or the enemy. And what does this all encourage
us to? Obviously, to be unshaken in our faith in God no matter how hard the
rough winds of the world blow against us: the house built upon the rock shall
stand. The writer of Hebrews calls these heroes or warriors of faith as "a cloud
of witnesses" that surrounds us. The scene painted here is that of a stadium;
however, the runners (which are the believers) are not just surrounded by mere
spectators: they are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses (martus) who inspire and
challenge them to move forward towards the goal. Faith not only saves the one
who believes; it also inspires, impacts, and influences others.

Pages can be filled with stories, messages, illustrations, and testimonies of
faith. However, it is more blessed to live it than to merely talk about or even
just listen about faith. Faith without truth and faith without action, both are
futile. One must believe in the truth. There are some who just try to believe in
faith (idolizing it) and preach a gospel of optimism about self-invented dreams
and visions. However, faith is not at all about them. It is related to the truth
of God’s revelation. A mountain of faith in something God has not revealed
cannot move a mustard seed; but a mustard seed of faith in something God has
spoken can move a mountain. Thus, faith, truth, and action are related. Faith
also works by love, for God is love and He who conforms to the Word of His heart
will inevitably conform to His heart. This also means that faith is spiritual as
the Word clearly implies when it states that the things of God are spiritually
discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14) and that we walk by faith and not by sight (2
Corinthians 5:7). Therefore, it is also mentioned as both the gift of the Spirit
(1 Corinthians 12:9) and the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). This
remarkably differs from the imaginations and presuppositions of the human heart.
It comes from God as a gift with the Word of the Spirit that He gives to us; and
so, it has fruits unto everlasting life. Faith is that which defines our
identity and relationship with God. To sum it all up in the words of the writer
of Hebrews itself: "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who
comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6, NKJV). The heart of faith has no
presumption, It simply trusts His Word.

It stands secure, and in His Promise Finds eternal worth. The eyes of faith will
never tire, Though deeper gets the night;

They hope ignited by the fire Of God’s Eternal Light. The dreams of faith are
dreams of glory; Not earthly name or fame. A child may write another history, If
he’s of God ne’er ashamed.

Faith will worship God forever; For faith alone, in truth, sees Him.

Faith is an unceasing river Of praise and worship to the King.

Faith listens and faith obeys, Faith moves on and never stays, Faith is strong
and faith grows stronger And never falters in His ways.

Faith offers its all to God Not a thing to itself left; For faith’s true rest
and meaning Are in the bosom of His chest.


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  CHAPTER 13: 01.10.     D-BIBLIOGRAPHY
========================================================================

Bibliography

Augustine, Confessions, trans. Vernon J. Bourke; Ed. Roy Joseph D., The Fathers
of the Church, New York: Fathers of the Church, Inc., 1953.

Augustine, The City of God, Trans. Marcus Dods, New York: Modern Library, 1950.

Einstein, Albert. Ideas and Opinions, New Delhi: Rupa & Co., 2002.

Pate, Marvin C. (Ed.), Four Views on the Book of Revelation, Secunderabad: OM
Books, 2001.

Plato, The Republic and Other Works, Trans. Benjamin Jowett, New York: Anchor
Books, 1989.

Pojman, Louis P. (Ed.), Introduction to Philosophy, Belmont: Wadsworth
Publishing Company, 1991.

Richter, Peyton E. & Fogg, Walter L. (Eds.), Philosophy Looks to the Future,
Eds., Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc., 1978.

Roberts, Alexander & Donaldson, James (Eds.), Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. III.,
Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993.

PC Resources Used E-Sword: www.e-sword.net

Dictionary Modules: Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions, King James
Concordance, Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, Thayer’s Greek Definitions.

Commentary Modules: Adam Clarkes’ Commentary, Albert Barnes’ Notes, John Gill’s
Exposition, John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes, Matthew Henry’s Commentary,
Robertson’s Word Pictures, Vincent’s Word Studies.

Encyclopaedia Britannica 2005, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 2005.

Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, Microsoft Corporation, 2001.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 14: 02.01. OUTLINE OF THEOLOGY
========================================================================

OUTLINE OF THEOLOGY Compiled & Edited by DOMENIC MARBANIANG "Theology is like a
map." – C. S. Lewis


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 15: 02.01B.     RESOURCES
========================================================================

References used Berkhof, Louis. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1939.

Berkhof, Louis. The History of Christian Doctrines. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1937.

Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1985.

Hodge, Charles. Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1995.

House, H. Wayne, Charts of Christian Theology & Doctrine (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan Publishing House, 1992).

Menzies, William W. & Horton, Stanley M. Bible Doctrines (Madras: Bethesda
Communications, 1993).

Pearlman, Myer. Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible (Springfield: Gospel
Publishing House, 1995).

Purkiser, W.T. (ed.), Exploring our Christian Faith, Rev. Edn. (Kansas City:
Beacon Hill Press, 1978).

Williams, J. Rodman. Renewal Theology, Grand Rapids: Academie Books, 1988.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 16: 02.01C.     CONTENTS
========================================================================

CONTENTS

Introduction Bibliology (Bible)

Theology Proper

Trinity Christology (Jesus Christ) Pneumatology (Holy Spirit)

Creation Angelology (Angels) Demonology (Demons) Anthropology (Man)

Atonement Soteriology (Salvation) Ecclesiology (Church) Eschatology (Last
Things)


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  CHAPTER 17: 02.01I.     INTRODUCTION
========================================================================

INTRODUCTION The Meaning of Theology

Theology is a study of Christian doctrine and faith. The Queen of sciences,
Theology is an attempt towards a systematic exposition of and presentation of
Christian doctrine. The Need of Theology

For a clear understanding of faith

As a rational and articulate defense of faith (1 Peter 3:15)

For a systematic presentation of God’s revealed truths (2 Timothy 2:15)

As a guard against heresy and false teachings (Matthew 22:29; Galatians 1:6-9; 2
Timothy 4:2-4)

For spiritual growth and maturity as Christians (Ephesians 4:14).

Divisions of Theology

Biblical (Exegetical) Theology: Often studied as Old Testament Theology and New
Testament Theology based on an exegesis of the Bible.

Historical Theology: Study of the origin and development of theological
perspectives in the context of their historical background.

Systematic Theology: Systems of theology or systematic arrangement of an
presentation of doctrines.

Practical Theology: Application of Theology. Disciplines: Homiletics, Pastoral
Theology, Christian Education, Worship (Liturgies), Evangelism, Church Polity
(Forms of Church Organization and Government).

Different Theologies

1. Roman Catholic Theology – Authority of the Bible (includes Apocrypha) and the
Pope’s authoritative pronouncements ex cathedra (from the chair); saving grace
communicated through the 7 sacraments; and Mary is merciful mediator between man
and Christ.

2. Lutheran Theology – The 3 fundamental doctrines are sola scriptura (Scripture
alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and sola fide (faith alone). Scripture alone
is authoritative and salvation comes only by grace through faith. The Spirit
uses an infant baptism to produce faith in them and bring them to salvation.

3. Reformed Theology - built around the central theme of the sovereignty of God.
Sola scriptura, the sole authority of Scripture in matters of doctrine. Total
depravity of all men, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistable
grace, Perseverance of saints.

4. Arminian Theology – tries to preserve justice (fairness) of God. God’s
sovereignty along with human responsibility and freedom. Conditional election
(predestination on basis of foreknowledge).

5. Wesleyan Theology – is essentially Arminian but has a stronger sense of the
reality of sin and of dependence on divine grace. The ultimate standard for
faith and practice is the Bible. Four means by which truth is mediated:
Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience. Salvation is a 3-step process of
grace: prevenient grace, justifying grace, and sanctifying grace. Prevenient
grace keeps one from straying very far, and enables one to respond to the
gospel. Justifying grace produces salvation in those who respond positively.
Entire sanctification or perfection in love is the Holy Sprit’s second work of
grace.

6. Liberal Theology – Immanency of God. Unitarianism. Fallibility of Bible.
Denial of Fall, original sin, and substitutionary nature of the Atonement.
Christ will not personally return.

7. Existential Theology – ’Demythologizing’ of Scripture – interprets everything
supernatural as mythical. A statement about God is basically a statement about
man. The Trinity is a myth. The historical Jesus is not very much known.
Salvation is self-realization.

8. Neo-orthodox Theology – Hermeneutical. God cannot be known through proofs but
only through encounter in revelation. Natural revelation, if it exists, is
ineffective towards salvation. Revelation is personal not propositional. The
Bible is human and fallible and is reliable only to the eChristent that God
reveals himself through encounters with Scripture. Historicity of Scripture is
unimportant.

9. Liberation Theology – Theology is not dogmatic but liberatative. God is
immanent and mutable, the God of the oppressed. Jesus was a messiah of political
involvement. The Bible is not concerned with eternal truths but with specific
history (often unreliable). The Exodus account proclaims liberation. Salvation
is social change.

10. Feminist Theology – 3 Models: Rejectionists – reject Bible as patriarchal;
Evangelical – The Bible teaches mutual submission and roles of women and men are
complementary; Reformist (Liberation) – Discards Bible and Christian tradition
as patriarchal and desires to overcome it through ’proper’ exegesis.

11. Pentecostal Theology – Emphasis on the infallibility and finality of
Scripture, salvation by grace, the baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of
speaking in tongues, restoration of the five-fold ministry in the Church, the
gifts of the Spirit, baptism by immersion, holiness, prayer and fasting,
evangelism of the world, spiritual warfare, and return of Christ.


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  CHAPTER 18: 02.02.     BIBLIOLOGY (BIBLE)
========================================================================

BIBLIOLOGY (BIBLE)

I. Revelation Strong: {ἀποκάλυψις} 1)a laying bare, making naked 2)a
disclosure of truth, instruction 2a)concerning things before unknown

2b)used of events by which things or states or persons hitherto withdrawn from
view are made visible to all 3)manifestation, appearance (Strong)

General Revelation: Psalms 19:1-3; Acts 14:15-17; Romans 1:18-20.

Special Revelation: Concerned with the redemptive plan of God. Special
revelation is both personal and propositional.

Bible: The Written Word. All historical information (genealogies, covenants,
law, events), literature (prose, poetry), prophecy, exposition (e.g, epistles)
connected with and necessary for the complete understanding of the redemptive
plan of God that He desires and intends us to have.

Visions, Dreams, Prophetic Word. Must accord with the Written Word (Galatians
1:8-9).

The Lord Jesus Christ: The Finality of the Revelation of God (Hebrews 1:2-3)

Illumination: The Holy Spirit’s revelation of the rhema to the human spirit,
whereby man comes to an understanding of the Truth and responds to it through
the help of the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith. The subjective aspect of
Revelation. This illumination accords with the totality of the Written Word and
the Finality of Revelation in Christ (John 14:26; John 16:15). Necessary (1
Corinthians 2:11).

II. The Purpose of Writing (Woodrow Kroll)

Precision: The Bible records the exact words in which God wanted to communicate
with us.

Propagation: The written word spreads the message.

Preservation: The words are preserved in writing.

III. The Reliability of Bible

Historical Veracity

Prophetical Accuracy

TeChristual Authenticity

Pragmatic – It works when put to practice.

Scientific Accuracy

Philosophical Consistency.

IV. Inspiration Theories of Inspiration

1. Mechanical or Dictation: The biblical author is a passive instrument in the
transmission of the revelation of God. His personality is set aside to prevent
its fallible intrusion.

2. Partial Inspiration: Only doctrines unknowable to the human authors are
inspired. God revealed ideas which the writers penned in their own words.

3. Degrees of Inspiration: Certain portions of Bible are more or differently
inspired than other portions.

4. Intuition or Natural Inspiration: Gifted individuals with exceptional insight
were chosen by God to write the Bible. Inspiration is like an artistic ability
or a natural endowment.

5. Illumination or Mystical Inspiration: Human authors were enabled by God to
write the Scriptures. The H.S. heightened their normal powers.

6. Verbal, Plenary Inspiration: Both divine and human elements are present in
the production of Scripture. The entire teChrist of Scripture, including the
very words, are a product of the mind of God expressed in human terms and
conditions.

2 Timothy 3:16 (Theopneustos): God-breathed

Neither mechanical nor dictational inspiration but organic; i.e, the personality
of the writers was involved. The writers were Spirit-borne, led, moved (Phero)
(2 Peter 1:21)

The inspiration is verbal; i.e., it eChristends to the words and not just the
ideas.

The inspiration is plenary; i.e., full –"All scripture…" equally.

V. Infallibility: It is open to verification and falsification and is entirely
perfect in its communication of the revealed Truth.

VI. Inerrancy: It contains no errors. Complete Inerrancy: The Bible is fully
true in all it teaches or affirms. Other Views: Limited Inerrancy: Inerrant in
salvific doctrines; Teleological Inerrancy: Inerrant in accomplishing its
purpose of reconciling man to God; Irrelevancy: The doctrine is irrelevant; the
spirit or purpose of Bible should be considered.

VII. The Bible is eternal and complete.

VIII. Canon: Lit. measuring rod, rule. Canonicity, canonical, canonize. This
word is derived from a Hebrew and Greek word denoting a reed or cane. Hence it
means something straight, or something to keep straight; and hence also a rule,
or something ruled or measured. It came to be applied to the Scriptures, to
denote that they contained the authoritative rule of faith and practice, the
standard of doctrine and duty. (Easton’s Bible Dictionary).

5-fold Criteria: Authorship (Prophet, Apostle, Holy Man), Local Church
Acceptance, Recognition by Church Fathers, Subject matter (Sound Doctrine),
Personally edifying. The OT canon is accepted as accepted by Christ and the
apostles. The NT canon is accepted on the basis of apostolic authorship and
recognition of the same by Church Fathers.

During the 3rd Council of Carthage (AD. 397) 27 NT Books were declared
canonical. St. Athanasius (AD 297-373) in his 39th Paschal letter (AD 367),
listed the books of the NT as we know them.

VIII. Symbols of it used in the Bible

1. Sword (Hebrews 4:12) 2. Hammer (Jeremiah 23:29) 3. Seed (1 Peter 1:23) 4.
Mirror (James 1:23-25) 5. Fire (Jeremiah 23:29; Jeremiah 20:9) 6. Lamp (Psalms
119:105) 7. Food (1 Peter 2:2) 8. Water (Ephesians 5:25-27) 9. Milk (1 Peter
2:2) 10. Meat (Hebrews 5:12) 11. Bread (Matthew 4:4) 12. Silver (Psalms 12:6)

IX. Other Names The Lord’s Book (Isaiah 34:16); The Book of Truth (Daniel
10:21); Scriptures (John 10:35; Matthew 21:42); Holy Scriptures (Romans 1:2);
Sacred Books (Daniel 9:2; Hebrews 10:7); The Oracles of God (Romans 3:2); The
Word of God (Hebrews 4:12); The Living Oracles of God (Acts 7:38).

X. The Bible Influences our: Thinking, Living, Values, Destiny.

XI. The Bible has Authority over: Human Wisdom, The Church, Our Experience, The
Christian.

Reliability

’As to the question, How shall we be persuaded that it came from God without
recurring to a decree of the Church? it is just the same as if it were asked,
How shall we learn to distinguish light from darkness, white from black, sweet
from bitter? Scripture bears upon the face of it as clear evidence of its truth,
as white and black do of their colour, sweet and bitter of their taste.’ (John
Calvin, Institutes)


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  CHAPTER 19: 02.03.     THEOLOGY PROPER (GOD)
========================================================================

THEOLOGY PROPER (GOD) I. The Existence of God

Arguments: From cause-effect (cosmological argument), from design-designer
(teleological argument).

II. The Nature of God

Westminster Catechism: "God is Spirit, Infinite, Eternal, and Unchangeable in
His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth."

III. Attributes of God a. God’s Inner Nature (Unrelated Attributes)

(i) Spirit (John 4:24) (ii) Infinite – Immense in relation to space (1 Kings
8:27), Eternal in relation to time (Exodus 15:18; Deuteronomy 33:27) (iii) One
(Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 4:35, Deuteronomy 4:39; 1 Samuel 2:2; 1 Timothy 1:17)
b. God in Relation to the Universe (Active Attributes) – (i) Omnipotent (Genesis
1:1; Genesis 17:1; Job 40:2; Amos 4:13; Matthew 19:26) (ii) Omnipresent (Genesis
28:15-16; Psalms 139:7-10) (iii) Omniscient (Genesis 18:18-19); 2 Kings 8:10-13;
Jeremiah 1:4-5; Romans 8:27-29; 1 Peter 1:2) (iv) Wise (Psalms 104:24; Proverbs
3:19; Jeremiah 10:12; Daniel 2:20-21; Colossians 2:2-3) (v) Sovereign (Daniel
4:35; Matthew 20:15; Romans 9:21) c. God in Relation to Moral Creatures (Moral
Attributes) (i) Holy (Exodus 15:11; Leviticus 11:44-45; Revelation 4:8) (ii)
Righteous (Ezra 9:15; Psalms 116:5; Revelation 16:15) (iii) Faithful (Exodus
34:6; Micah 7:20; 2 Timothy 2:13; Revelation 15:3) (iv) Merciful (Titus 3:5;
Psalms 32:5) (v) Love (Deuteronomy 7:8; John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10) (vi) Good
(Psalms 25:8; Psalms 85:5; Acts 14:17)


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  CHAPTER 20: 02.04.     TRINITY
========================================================================

TRINITY I. Essential Element s of Trinity 1.God is One.

2. Each of the persons of within the Godhead is Deity.

3. The oneness of God and the threeness of God are not contradictions.

4. The Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is eternal.

5. Each of the persons of God is of the same essence and is not inferior or
superior to the others in essence.

6. The Trinity is a mystery which we will never be able to understand fully.

II. Natural Illustrations 1x1x1=1 (Nathan Wood) 1.Length x Breadth x Height =
Space 2. Energy x Motion x Phenomenon = Matter 3. Future x Present x Past = Time
4. Space x Matter x Time = Universe 5. Nature x Person x Personality = Man III.
Philosophical Rationality of Trinity

1. Provides the rational-eternal basis for moral categories - If God was a not a
Trinity, then categories such as love, joy, and goodness couldn’t be absolute.

2. Provides the rational-empirical basis for epistemic categories - if God was
not a Trinity, then the knowledge as a subject-object relationship, as
analytic-synthetic distinction, and Truth as such couldn’t find an original
ground.

3. Provides the relational basis for interpersonal relationships. Therefore,
Christ could pray regarding His disciples, "that they may be one, as We are"
(John 17:11).

4. Provides the metaphysical ground for a pluralist reality, and unity in
diversity of the uni-verse.

III. Scriptural Proofs

Deuteronomy 6:4; Psalms 2:7; Hebrews 1:13; Psalms 68:18; Isaiah 6:1-3; Isaiah
9:6; Genesis 1:2; 1 Timothy 1:17; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6; 1 Peter 1:2; John 1:17;
Php 2:11; Matthew 3:16-17; Acts 5:3-4 IV. False Views of Trinity 1. Unitarianism
– Father is creator, Son is creature, Spirit is impersonal.

2. Sabellianism – (Modalism) Father (OT), Son (NT), Spirit (Present).

3. Tritheism – Father, Son, and H.S. are three distinct gods.


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  CHAPTER 21: 02.05.     CHRISTOLOGY (JESUS CHRIST)
========================================================================

CHRISTOLOGY (JESUS CHRIST) I.Nature The Son of God – Deity The Word –
Preexistence & Activity Lord - Sovereignty The Son of Man – Humanity The Christ
– Official Title and Mission Son of David – Royal Lineage II.Offices Prophet –
Mark 6:15; John 4:19; John 6:14; John 9:17 Priest – Hebrews 2:14-16; Hebrews
8:3; Ephesians 1:6 King – Genesis 14:18-19; Hebrews 7:1-3; Psalms 110:1-4;
Zechariah 6:13 III.Work Matthew 1:21; John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 15:1-3 IV. The
2nd Person Co-Eternal, Co-Substantial, Co-Equal With Each Of The Person Of
Trinity (Nicea 345 AD) Christ’s Two Natures: Unmixed, Unchanged, Undivided,
Inseparable. (Chalcedon 451 AD) V. Christological Heresies (in bold, acceptable)
1. Ebionism – Denied deity and pre-existence of Christ.

2. Docetism – Denied His humanity; affirmed His deity; Jesus appeared human but
was really divine.

3. Arianism – Denied deity; Christ was the first and highest created being
homoiousia, not homoousia. He is subordinate to the Father.

4. Appolinarianism – Denied human spirit of Jesus. The divine Logos took the
place of the human mind. Affirmed Christ’s deity and real humanness (not
complete humanness).

5. Nestorianism – Denied union of natures, the unity of Christ’s person. The
union was moral, not organic-thus tow persons. The human was completely
controlled by the divine. Distinguished human Jesus, who died, from Divine Son,
who cannot die.

6. Eutychianism – Denied distinction of natures; monophysitist; the human nature
was swallowed by the divine to create a new third nature. Maintained the unity
of Christ’s person.

VI. Kenosis – Php 2:7: Lit. to empty oneself, KJV: ’made himself of no
reputation,’ i.e., to take the form of servant, of man. The conteChrist means
that Christ being the Son of God chose to stoop down to live a life of a
servant, and being tested and found obedient in all, is now exalted above all
creatures as the One in whom the will of God is finally accomplished; He is the
embodiment and finality of divine will; and, therefore, worthy of rulership and
judgement. Christ lost neither the divine consciousness nor the divine
attributes, neither did he withdraw from divine activity in the kenotic event.

Other Kenotic Theories 1. Christ emptied Himself of Divine Nature.

2. Christ emptied Himself of Eternal Form (which He exchanged for a temporal
one).

3. Christ emptied Himself of relative attributes, namely omnipotence,
omniscience, and omnipresence.

4. Christ emptied Himself of the integrity of infinite divine existence. The
Logos became assumed dual consciousness at incarnation: the divine continued
apart from the human, while the human was unaware of the cosmic functions of
Deity.

5. Christ emptied Himself of divine activity by turning over all His duties to
the Father.

6. Christ emptied Himself of the actual exercise of divine prerogatives. He
retained His divine consciousness but renounced the conditions of infinity and
its form.

Sub-Kenotic Theories 1. Christ emptied Himself of the use of divine attributes
though possessing them. He chose not to use them.

2. Christ emptied Himself of the independent exercise of the divine attributes.
He worked in submission to the Father.

3. Christ emptied Himself of the insignia of Majesty, the prerogatives of deity,
the outward form of deity.

VII. The Person of Christ

1. Preincarnate – Pre-existence (John 1:1; 1 John 1:1; John 17:5). Participation
in creation (Genesis 1:26; Proverbs 8:30; Colossians 1:15; John 1:3; Colossians
1:16; 1 Corinthians 8:6). Christophanies (Genesis 18:1-33, Genesis 19:1-38;
Hosea 1:7; Genesis 22:1-24, Genesis 31:1-55; Exodus 3:2; Exodus 14:19; Numbers
22:22; Judges 6:1-40).

2. Divine Nature – Divine Attributes (eternal- John 1:1; John 8:58; John 17:5;
omnipresent- Matthew 28:20; Ephesians 1:23; omniscient- John 16:30; John 21:17;
omnipotent- John 5:19; immutable- Hebrews 1:12; Hebrews 13:8). Divine Offices
(Creator- John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Sustainer- Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3).
Divine Prerogatives (forgives sin – Matthew 9:2; Luke 7:47; raises dead- John
5:25; John 11:25; executes judgement- John 5:22). Identified with OT YHWH - I AM
(John 8:58; John 12:41; John 8:24; John 8:50-58). Divine Names (Alpha &
Omega-Revelation 22:13; I AM – John 8:58; Immanuel- Matthew 1:22; Lord- Matthew
7:21; Son of God- John 10:36; God- John 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1; Titus 2:13; 1 John
5:20). Divine Relations (Image of God- Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3; One with
Father- John 10:30). Accepts Divine Worship (Matthew 14:33; Matthew 28:9; John
20:28-29). Claims to be God (John 8:58; John 10:30; John 17:5 – in such case, He
is either liar, lunatic, or the Lord that He claims to be, but never can be
regarded as merely a good moral teacher).

3. Human Nature – Human Birth (Matthew 1:18; Matthew 2:11). Human Development
(Luke 2:50-52). Essential Elements of Human Nature (Human body – Matthew 26:12;
John 2:21; Reason & will – Matthew 26:38; Mark 2:8). Human Names (Jesus -
Matthew 1:21; Son of Man- Matthew 8:20; Matthew 11:18; Son of Abraham- Matthew
1:1; Son of David- Matthew 1:1). Sinless Infirmities of Human Nature (weariness-
John 4:6; hunger- Matthew 4:2; Matthew 21:18; thirst- John 19:28; temptation-
Matthew 4:1-25; Hebrews 2:18). Repeatedly Called a Man (John 1:30; John 4:9;
John 10:38).

4. Union of Natures – Theanthropic – The person of Christ is theanthropic; He
has two natures, divine and human, in one person. Personal – Hypostatic union,
constituting one personal substance: two natures but one person. Includes the
Human and Divine Qualities and Acts – Both the human and divine qualities and
acts may be ascribed to Christ under either of His natures. Constant Presence of
Both Humanity and Divinity- His natures cannot be separated.

5. Character – Absolutely Holy (His human nature was created holy –Luke 1:35; He
committed no sin – 1 Peter 2:22; He always pleased the Father- John 2:22).
Possesses Genuine Love (Laid down His life – John 15:13; His love surpasses all
knowledge- Ephesians 3:19). Truly Humble – Php 2:5-8. Meek- Matthew 11:29.
Balanced – ’He was grave without being melancholy. He was joyful without being
frivolous.’ Prayerful – Matthew 14:23; Luke 6:12). Incessant Worker – John 5:17;
John 9:4). Stern (Matthew 16:33; Matthew 23:13-36). Wise (Matthew 22:19; John
2:24; John 7:1). Compassionate (Matthew 14:14; Matthew 15:32; Matthew 20:34).

VIII. Impeccability of Christ

Definitions: Peccability – Christ could sin; Impeccability – Christ could not
sin. Questions: If Jesus could not sin, how could He be truly human? Vs. If
Jesus could sin, how could He be truly divine?

Points of Agreement: Christ’s temptations were real (Hebrews 4:15); Christ
experienced struggle (Matthew 26:36-46); Christ did not sin (2 Corinthians 5:21;
Hebrews 7:26; James 5:6; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 Peter 3:18).

Conclusion – Impeccability : Temptation implies possibility of sin in general
(humans) but not in specific (Christ). For instance, the testing of gold implies
the possibility of things not being gold in general, but not the possibility of
pure gold not being pure gold. The end of testing gold is to distinguish true
gold from false gold. Thus, Christ’s not falling in sin proves He could not sin.
Since, Jesus is God and sin is rebellion against God, Jesus could not sin, for
it is impossible for Him to rebel against Himself, unless His omniscience and
omnipotence were brought into question. Thus, being human, He was tempted, but
being divine and undivided in His moral nature, He was essentially holy and so
could not sin.


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  CHAPTER 22: 02.06.     PNEUMATOLOGY (HOLY SPIRIT)
========================================================================

PNEUMATOLOGY (HOLY SPIRIT)

I. Nature

Names.

Spirit of God – Person, Executive of the Godhead Spirit of CHRIST. Romans 8:9 –
Sent in Christ’s Name (John 14:26; John 16:14; Matthew 18:20; Romans 8:9-10)
Comforter – John 14:1-31, John 15:1-27, John 16:1-33, John 17:1-26 Holy Spirit
of the Holy One. Sanctification Holy Spirit of the Promise – Luke 24:49; Ezekiel
36:27; Galatians 3:14 Spirit of Truth – John 14:17 Spirit of Glory – 1 Peter
4:14 Spirit of Grace – Hebrews 10:29 Spirit of Wisdom & Knowledge Isaiah 11:2
Spirit of Life – Romans 8:2; Revelation 11:11 Spirit of Adoption – Romans 8:13

Symbols Fire – Isaiah 4:4; Matthew 3:11 Wind – Ezekiel 37:7-10; John 3:8; Acts
2:2 Water – Ezekiel 17:6; John 3:5; John 4:14; John 7:38,39 Seal – Ephesians
1:13; 2 Timothy 2:19 Oil - Psalms 92:10; Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38; 1 John 2:20
Dove– Matthew 3:16-17;

II. Personality 3rd person of the Godhead – Matthew 3:16-17; John 14:16 Has
knowledge – Isaiah 11:2; Romans 8:27 Has feeling – Isaiah 63:10; Ephesians 4:30
Has will – 1 Corinthians 12:11

III. Attributes 1.Is Divine (Acts 5:3-4) 2. Eternal (Hebrews 9:14) 3.
Omnipresent (Psalms 139:7) 4. Omniscient (John 14:26; John 16:13)

IV. Works 1.Active in Creation (Genesis 1:2; Job 33:4; Psalms 104:30).

2. Inspired the Bible Writers (2 Peter 1:21).

3. Empowered the conception of Christ (Luke 1:35).

4. Convicts of sin (John 16:8; Genesis 6:3).

5. Regenerates (John 3:5-6).

6. Counsels (John 14:16-17; John 16:7-14).

7. Brings assurance of salvation (Romans 8:15).

8. Teaches or enlightens (John 16:12-14; 1 Corinthians 2:13).

9. Aids in prayer (Romans 8:26-27).

10. Resurrected Christ (Romans 8:11; 1 Peter 3:18).

11. Calls to service (Acts 13:4).

12. Seals the elect’s salvation (Romans 8:23; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians
1:13-14; Ephesians 4:30).

13. Indwells the believer (Romans 8:19; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians
6:19).

14. Works in the church (1 Corinthians 12:7-11).

V. Baptism in the Holy Spirit It’s a promise of the Father (Acts 1:3).

It’s a promise of Jesus (John 16:1-33).

Baptizer – Jesus Christ (Matthew 3:11) Initial Sign – Speaking in Tongues (Acts
2:1-47, Acts 10:1-48) Meaning – Anointing, Filling, Being immersed Results –
Power, boldness, guidance, miracles, gifts of the Spirit Means – Faith
(Galatians 3:14), Laying of Hands (Acts 8:1-40) Prerequisites – Salvation,
Desire, Prayer, Expectancy, Water Baptism VI. Gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians
12:1-31) Gifts of Power – Faith, Healing, Miracles Gifts of Knowledge – Word of
Kn. W/Wisdom, Discern./spirits Gifts of Speech – Tongues, Interpretation,
Prophecy VII. Fruit Of Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) VIII. Offences Against the
Spirit 1.Resisting the Spirit (Acts 7:51) 2.Insulting the Spirit (Hebrews 10:29)
3.Blaspheming (Matthew 12:31-32) 4.Grieving (Ephesians 4:30-31) 5.Lying (Acts
5:3) 6.Quenching (1 Thessalonians 5:19).


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 23: 02.07.     CREATION
========================================================================

CREATION I. Theories of Creation Evolutionism, Deism, Dualism, Non-Dualism,
Polytheism, Pantheism, Materialism, Panentheism.

II. Origin of Creation 1. The Six Days of Creation (Genesis 1:1-31, Genesis
2:1-25; Exodus 20:11)

False Views: Gap Theory, Progressive Creationism, & Theistic Evolutionism- None
of them have support from traditional hermeneutical history nor explicit
Biblical support (except recourse to jumble of words and out-of-conteChrist
interpretations) nor authoritative support from scientific discoveries or
theories.

2. Creatio ex nihilo – Creation out of nothing (Hebrews 11:3). The world,
therefore, is basically nothing in itself and by itself.

3. Free Creation – God didn’t create the world out of necessity, but of His own
free and sovereign will.

4. Creation of Darkness – Darkness is not co-eternal with God and, therefore, a
created reality (Isaiah 45:7).

5. Creation of Space-time- God is not contained by space, neither does He move
in time; space and time are physical dimensions (conditions) of material objects
and are part of creation. It is, therefore, false to conceptualize a
spatio-temporal God. Creation of Time (Psalms 90:2 – ’or ever thou hadst formed
{Hb. Chul- to rotate, spin} the earth and the world’).

6. Creation of Life- biological (flora and fauna). Unconscious and
world-conscious creation.

7. Creation of Humans- rational, moral, volitional, spiritual. Self-conscious
and God-conscious.

III. Nature of Creation 1.Spatio-Temporality: Linear Time; Space & Time are
physical dimensions.

2. Contingency: Dependent on God 3. Plurality

4. Finitude 5. Uniformity: The Laws Of Nature 6. Open – the universe is not a
closed system but open, and so miracles are possible.

IV. Purpose of Creation (Three Views) 1. Anthropo-centricity – Man is at the
center of creation and all is for him, the view of humanism.

2. Eco-centricity – Life (flora & fauna) is at the center of creation and
eco-balance is necessary for sustenance of earth as habitat of life.

3. Christo-centricity – Christ is the center of creation and all is by Him,
through Him, and for Him (Colossians 1:16), ’that in all things He might have
the pre-eminence’ (Colossians 1:18), to bring all things under the headship of
Christ (Ephesians 1:10).

V. Man’s Relation to Creation 1. Man is to have dominion over the earth (Genesis
1:26; Psalms 115:16).

2. Man is steward of God’s creation (Genesis 2:5, Genesis 2:15).

3. After Fall, nature turned hostile to man (Genesis 3:18).

4. Man was to rule by fear and violence; the age of innocence had ceased
(Genesis 9:2-3).

Non-biblical Relations 1. Pantheism – Man is equal to all creation.

2. Asceticism – Physical world is man’s enemy.

3. Utilitarianism – Man exploits nature.

VI. Divine Providence – The doctrine that God has not only created the world but
also sustains it.

1. God is the reason behind the uniformity of the laws of nature (Job 38:1-41).

2. God rules over the world and controls its processes by wisdom and power (Job
38:41; Exodus 3:20; Job 9:10; Psalms 77:14).

VII. Problem of Evil – Theodicy – If God is both powerful and good then why is
there evil in the world?

Non-dualism – Evil is an illusion.

Pantheism – Evil is part of the world.

Dualism – Good and Evil and two eternal forces.

Evolutionism – Evil is part of the struggle for existence. The Biblical Answer –
Evil is the result of Adam’s disobedience, whereby sin and death entered the
world, sicknesses and demonic forces ran rampant ravaging human lives. God’s
answer is Christ by whom evil is conquered and the Kingdom of righteousness
inaugurated. This is done through the atonement, whereby men are saved, and
finalized at the second coming when salvation will be complete and justice fully
dealt.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 24: 02.08.     ANGELOLOGY (ANGELS)
========================================================================

ANGELOLOGY (ANGELS) I. Nature of Angels 1. Creatures (Revelation 19:10;
Revelation 22:8-9; Colossians 2:18) 2. Spirits (Hebrews 1:14) 3. Immortal (Luke
20:34-36) 4. Numerous (Daniel 7:10; Matthew 26:53; Luke 2:13; Hebrews 12:22) 5.
Sexless (Luke 20:34-35) II. Classification (1 Peter 3:22; Colossians 1:16;
Ephesians 1:20-21) 1. The Angel of the Lord (Exodus 23:20-23, Exodus 32:1-35,
Exodus 34:1-35; Isaiah 63:9) 2. The Archangel: Michael (Jude 1:9, Revelation
12:7); Gabriel (Luke 1:19; Daniel 8:16; Daniel 9:21) 3. Elect Angels – Stood
true during Satan’s rebellion (1 Timothy 5:21) 4. Angels of the Nations (Daniel
10:13, Daniel 10:20; Ephesians 3:10; Colossians 2:15) 5. Cherubim – Connected
with God’s retributive (Genesis 3:24) and redemptive purposes (Exodus 25:22) F.
Seraphim – ’Burning Ones’ (Isaiah 6:1-13)

III. Character 1. Obedient (Psalms 103:20; Jude 1:6; 1 Peter 3:22) 2. Reverent
(Nehemiah 9:6; Hebrews 1:6) 3. Wise (2 Samuel 14:17; 1 Kings 8:39; 1 Peter 1:12)
4. Meek (2 Peter 2:11; Jude 1:9) 5. Mighty (Psalms 103:20) 6. Holy (Revelation
14:10)

IV. Work

1. God’s Agents – Executors of God’s decree of judgments (Genesis 3:24; Matthew
13:39-41, Matthew 13:49; 2 Kings 19:35; Acts 12:23) 2. God’s Messengers (angels)
– (Luke 11:20; Matthew 1:20-21; Genesis 28:12; Revelation 1:1) 3. God’s Servants
(Hebrews 1:14; Matthew 4:11; Genesis 16:7; Psalms 103:20) V. Classification 2 1.
Ministering Spirits 2. Warring Angels 3. Worshipping Angels 4. Messenger Angels
VI. Angelic Appearances (3 Theories)

1. Simulation - Angels appear in different forms during which they reproduce the
very nature and functions of the form they take. Critique: This is impossible
for it would imply the essential transformation of angelic nature and confusion
in the order of creation. Proof: Angels never appear in reality as animals or as
females.

2. Restriction – Angels appear in different forms only superficially;
essentially, however, they are restricted to their own angelic nature. Critique:
This view assumes that angels use deceptive methods in their ministry, which is
false.

Against both the theories, the fact that God neither uses deception nor is in
short of instruments (when God needed a fish, He used a fish and didn’t
transform an angel into a fish) counts.

3. Negation – Angels do not assume different forms but appear as they are,
though in different dimensions of glory (Judges 13:3-5). It is, then, safe to
infer from this that angels look like humans. In fact, Jesus said that in the
resurrection men would be like angels (Matthew 22:30).


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 25: 02.09.     DEMONOLOGY (DEMONS)
========================================================================

DEMONOLOGY (Demons)

SATAN I. Origin (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:12-19)

II. Character

Adversary (Satan), Slanderer (Devil), Destroyer (Apollyon), Serpent, Tempter,
Prince and God of this world (John 12:31; 2 Corinthians 4:4, 1 John 5:19; 1 John
2:16); Father of lies (John 8:44); wicked one (Matthew 13:19)

III. Activities

A. Nature 1. Opposes God’s work (1 Thessalonians 2:18; Matthew 13:19; 2
Corinthians 4:4) 2. Snares the wicked (Luke 22:3; Revelation 20:7-8) 3.
Presumptuous (Matthew 4:4-5);

4. Proud (1 Timothy 3:6) 5. Powerful (Ephesians 2:2);

6. Malignant (Job 2:4) 7. Subtle (Genesis 3:1; 2 Corinthians 11:3) 8. Deceitful
(Ephesians 6:11) 9. Fierce and Cruel (1 Peter 5:8) 10. Can cause physical
illness (Job 2:7) B. Sphere – Highest Circles (Ephesians 2:2) C. Motives –
Intent on our ruin (John 10:10) D. Limitations – Only with God’s permission –
Time Limited (Revelation 12:12) E. Destiny – (Genesis 3:15; Revelation 12:9;
Revelation 20:10; Matthew 25:41)

DEMONS Gr. Daimon, daimonion – fallen spirits

I. Description: angels who fell with Satan (Matthew 12:24), divided into two
groups: one group is active in opposing God’s people (Revelation 9:14;
Revelation 16:14) and another is confined in prison (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6),
intelligent (Mark 1:24), know their doom (Matthew 8:29), have their own doctrine
(1 Timothy 4:1-3).

II. Pictures: Scavenger Birds (Revelation 18:1-2) – unclean and dirty; Frogs
(Revelation 16:13-14) –living in dark regions; Locusts and Scorpions (Revelation
9:2-3, Revelation 9:7-10) –torturing men; Serpents and Vipers (Luke 3:7) –
totally, morally depraved in character.

III. Activities: Seek to hinder God’s plan (Daniel 10:10-14; Revelation
16:13-16); inflict illnesses (Matthew 9:33; Luke 13:11-16), possess animals
(Mark 5:13), promote false doctrine (1 Timothy 4:1); influence nations (Isaiah
14:1-32; Ezekiel 28:1-26; Daniel 10:13; Revelation 16:13-14); possess
unbelievers (Matthew 9:32-33; Matthew 10:18; Mark 6:13).

IV. Limitations: Limited by place like unfallen angels (Matthew 17:18; Mark
9:25), are used by God for His purposes when He desires (1 Samuel 16:14; 2
Corinthians 12:7); may be expelled and return back to the one from who exorcized
(Luke 11:24-26).

V. Destiny: Will be cast along with Satan into lake of fire forever (Matthew
25:41).

VI. Expelling Demons

1. As a believer, you have Christ-given authority to cast demons (Matthew
10:1,8; Mark 16:17). It is Christ’s power, not yours. You’re only safe in
Christ.

2. Christ cast them out by the Spirit of God (Matthew 12:28).

3. Prayer, fasting and total submission to God is required (Mark 9:29; James
4:7).

4. Pray for the gift of discerning the spirits (1 Corinthians 12:10).

5. Do not talk with demons, as a general rule (Mark 1:24). They are deceivers.

6. Cast them out in the Name of Jesus (Acts 16:18).

7. Do not close your eyes when casting out demons: you are commanding, not
praying; demons are sometimes seen to be physically violent (Matthew 17:15; Acts
19:15-16).

8. Do not allow the demon to weaken your faith in God, His Word, and the power
of Christ’s Holy Spirit.

9. In every deliverance session, there must be order and discipline among the
servants of God; let one minister in authority while the rest back him/her in
prayer.

10. All amulets, charms, fetishes, and occultic objects must be removed before
any deliverance can take place. The possession of such things provide
strongholds for demonic oppression. (Acts 19:19).

11. The delivered must be guided into confession, repentance, belief, and the
infilling of the Holy Spirit to avoid serious consequences of demonic return
(Matthew 12:44-45). A life of holiness and keeping in the will of God is
imperative (1 John 5:18).

VII. Can Believers be Demon-Possessed?

1. No, for they are ruled by the Spirit of God.

2. Yes, if they fall from faith and favor with God (e.g., Saul, Judas Iscariot);
which obviously means they have forsaken faith and are no longer believers. Some
would choose to say that such forsakers (or apostates) were never true
believers; either way, a believer is not demon-possessed. Forsaking faith refers
to making a final, decisive, and willful rejection of Christ in a way that
repentance is impossible (Hebrews 6:4-6).

3. Christians must guard themselves against demonic wisdom (James 3:13-16; Acts
5:1-4; 1 Timothy 4:1-5).

4. Christians must be sober-minded, watch and pray (1 Peter 5:8).

5. Christians must resist the devil being steadfast in faith (1 Peter 5:9; James
4:7) on the basis of the blood of Christ and the wielding of God’s Word
(Revelation 12:11; Matthew 4:4). Know that Jesus is with you (Matthew 28:20).

6. Watch your words, temper, actions, and relationships (Ephesians 4:26-27; 2
Corinthians 2:10-11).

7. Live a Spirit-filled life (Luke 4:1, Luke 4:14; Jude 1:20-23; Ephesians 6:10
ff).


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 26: 02.10.     ANTHROPOLOGY (MAN)
========================================================================

ANTHROPOLOGY (MAN) I.Origin Genesis 1:1-31, Genesis 2:1-25

II. Nature Body – 2 Corinthians 5:1; Daniel 7:15 Soul – Intellect, Will, Emotion
Spirit – Numbers 16:22; Numbers 27:16 Intuition, Conscience, Communion III.Imago
Dei Kinship with God

Moral Character

Reason Capacity for Immortality Dominion over the Earth At Fall the image of God
in man has been marred but not erased (Genesis 9:6; 1 Corinthians 11:7; James
3:9). Man has not lost his freedom of will and power of reasoning. However, they
have been severely depraved by sin. Therefore, without the work of the Holy
Spirit no man can be saved. No man can climb uphill to God (Exodus 20:26). God,
in Christ, and through the Spirit, meets man where he is and reconciles him to
Himself (Romans 5:8; Galatians 5:16; 1 Corinthians 12:3).

IV. Original Sin Pelagianism – Man’s soul is created by God at birth and so is
free from hereditary corruption.

Arminianism – Man receives from Adam a corrupted nature but does not receive
Adam’s guilt. This nature is corrupted physically and intellectually, but not
volitionally. Prevenient grace enables man to believe.

Calvinism – 2 Views: Federal Headship (creationist view of origin of the soul) –
The individual receives the physical nature from parents. God creates each soul.
Adam was representative of all humanity and thus, when he sinned all humanity
sinned. Natural Headship (traducianist view of origin of soul-Augustine) – The
individual receives the physical nature and the soul from the parents. Thus, all
people were present in Adam in germinal or seminal form. Each individual
participates in the sin of Adam. Thus, each individual inherits Adam’s sin.

Conclusion: Humanity suffers death as physically (naturally) born of Adam
(natural headship); Christians receive eternal life as a gift, by faith, being
born, not physically but, spiritually (spiritual headship of Christ) (1
Corinthians 15:45-50; John 1:13; John 3:5-6; 1 Peter 1:23).


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  CHAPTER 27: 02.12.     ATONEMENT
========================================================================

ATONEMENT I.OT Origin of Sacrifice 1.Ordained in Heaven. Revelation 13:8; Exodus
12:3,6; 1 Peter 1:19,20; Titus 1:2; Acts 2:23 2.Instituted on Earth. Genesis
3:1-24; Revelation 5:6-10 Mosaic Sacrifices – Law OT Sacrifices good; NT
Sacrifices CHRIST – Better (Hebrews 10:17,18) II.NT

Atonement ’to cover’ (Heb. Kaphar; Gk. Katallage) – Exchange, reconciliation,
ransom, substitute, covering. (Jeremiah 18:23; Isaiah 6:7; Psalms 32:1)
Propitiation ’removal of wrath’ Romans 3:25; removal of enmity, Expiation –
removal of sins Substitution Isaiah 53:5; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24

Redemption ’buy back by payment, release from bondage by paying a price’
(Matthew 20:28; Revelation 5:9; Revelation 14:3-4; Galatians 3:13; Galatians
4:5; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 1:28) Reconciliation 2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Romans
5:10; Colossians 1:21; removal of enmity

Efficacy 1.Pardon. John 1:29; Ephesians 1:7; Revelation 1:5; John 5:24; Hebrews
9:22-28 2. Freedom. Romans 6:14; Titus 3:5-7 3. Deliverance from Death. 2
Corinthians 5:21; John 11:26; Romans 8:10, Romans 8:27 4. Life Eternal. Titus
1:2; Romans 6:22 5. Victorious Life. Revelation 7:14; Galatians 2:20; Revelation
12:11


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  CHAPTER 28: 02.13.     SOTERIOLOGY (SALVATION)
========================================================================

SOTERIOLOGY (SALVATION) I.Nature

3 Aspects 1. Justification – Courtroom scene – declaration as righteous.

2. Regeneration (inward experience) – Adoption (outward privilege) – Household
scene 3. Sanctification – Temple scene (Luke 2:37).

Subjective and Objective Aspects

1. Objective Aspect – Provided by the atoning work of Christ – Justification,
adoption

2.Subjective Aspect – The work of the Holy Spirit –Effectual calling,
conversion, regeneration, sanctification. On the cross ’Christ procured for us
salvation; the Holy Spirit produces in us salvation.’ Watchman Nee II.
Justification – Romans 4:25

1. Declared (not made) righteous – imputation of Christ’s righteousness and
restoration to God’s favor (Romans 3:22; Romans 5:17; Romans 13:21) 2.Change in
standing 3.Removal of penalty. Romans 4:7; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Romans 8:1
4.Forgiveness of sins. Colossians 2:12-13 5.Ground – Blood (Death) of Christ.
Romans 5:9; Romans 4:5; Romans 3:25.

6.Means – Faith. Romans 3:34-35 7.Spring – Grace. Romans 3:24 8.Proof –
Resurrection. Romans 4:25 III. Regeneration – New Birth 1. New Creation – 1
Corinthians 5:17; John 3:3-7; Galatians 6:15; 1 Timothy 3:5 2. New & Divine Life
– John 3:3-7; Ephesians 2:15; 1 John 5:24; Romans 6:24; James 1:8; Colossians
2:12-13 3. New Nature – 2 Peter 1:4; Mark 2:21-22; 1 John 2:9; Colossians 3:10
4. New & Divine Impulse – Acts 26:19-22 IV. Adoption (Huiothesia – ’placing as
son’)

Blessings Family Name. 1 John 3:1; Ephesians 3:14-15 Family Likeness. Romans
8:29 Family Love. John 13:35 Family Spirit. Galatians 4:6; Romans 8:13 Family
Service. John 14:23-24; John 15:8

We Receive Chastisement. Hebrews 12:5-11 Comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:4; Isaiah
66:13 Inheritance. Romans 8:17; 1 Peter 1:3-5

Privileges Child-like confidence. Galatians 4:5-11 Boldness, Access. Ephesians
3:12

Fellowship of the Brethren. Ephesians 2:19; Ephesians 3:6; Colossians 1:7;
Colossians 2:25; Romans 16:7; Colossians 4:10; Philemon 1:24 V. Sanctification.
Holiness ’set apart’

Implications Separation from the world Dedication to God

Steps Positional. 1 Corinthians 6:11; Hebrews 10:14 Progressive. Galatians 4:19;
2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Peter 2:2; Ephesians 4:15; 1 Peter 1:14-15; Galatians 3:3
Prospective. Perfect. 1 John 3:2 Other Views of Sanctification

1. Wesleyan: Sanctification as 2nd Work of Grace that is result of total
surrender and faith in the Holy Spirit and means perfection in love.

2. Keswick: Sanctification is a distinctive experience that marks the point
where the defeated Christian is transformed into a victorious Christian in a
total surrender and consecration to God captured in the phrase ’Let Go and Let
God.’

3. Reformed: Sanctification is growth in holiness through spiritual disciplines.

4. Chaferian: At the point of conversion, Christ is accepted as Savior and a
natural man becomes a believer, though being a carnal man; at sanctification,
the carnal man accepts Christ as Lord and becomes a spiritual man.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 29: 02.14.     ECCLESIOLOGY (CHURCH)
========================================================================

ECCLESIOLOGY (CHURCH)

I. Nature 1. Name – Ekklesia – an assembly of called out ones Kuriake – that
which belongs to the Lord 2. Christns are called – brethren, believers, saints,
elect, disciples, Christians, those of the Way (Acts 9:2) 3. Illustrations The
Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 12:27) The Temple of God (1
Peter 2:5-6; Ephesians 2:21,22; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17) The Bride of Christ (1
Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 19:7)

II. Founding

1. The Rock (Matthew 16:18) – The Confession of Jesus being the Son of the
living God (His Being) and the Christ of God (His Work – Ministerial Title) 2.
Ephesians 2:20 – Apostles & Prophets (Christ – The Corner/Cap Stone) III.
Membership – By faith in Christ and obedience in Water Baptism IV. The Work of
the Church 1. Evangelisation – Matthew 28:19-20 2. Edification – Ephesians
4:7-16 3. Exaltation – Worship – 1 Peter 2:5-10

V. Ordinances

1. Baptism

Mode: Immersion Formula: Matthew 28:19 Recipient: Believer (Mark 16:16)
Efficiency: Public Acceptance Meaning: Pictures of Salvation, Experience of
Death & Resurrection with Christ, Regeneration 2. Lord’s Supper Commemoration of
Christ’s Death: New Covenant Looking Forward to His Coming


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 30: 02.15.     ESCHATOLOGY (LAST THINGS)
========================================================================

ESCHATOLOGY (LAST THINGS) I. Key Terms to the Second Coming of Christ Parousia –
1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; lit. ’being by’ ’presence’

Apocalypse – 1 Corinthians 1:7; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-7; 1 Peter 4:13; lit.
’revelation’

Epiphany – 1 Timothy 6:14; 2 Timothy 4:8; Titus 2:13-14; lit. ’appearance’

II. Rapture: Pre-tribulation- Christ will come for His saints before the 7-year.
trib. period; afterward He will come with His saints. The first stage is
Rapture; the second, Revelation.

Other Views: Partial Rapture – only believers who are watching and waiting for
the Lord will be raptured at various times before and during the 7-year. trib.
Mid-tribulation – the church is raptured in the middle of the tribulation
period, prior to the Great Tribulation. Post-tribulation – living believers are
to be raptured at the second coming of Christ, which will occur at the end of
the Tribulation.

Daniel’s 70th Week is the Tribulation period of 7 years (Daniel 9:24-27)

Signs – Matthew 24:1-51 : Wars, False Teachers, Persecution, Apostasy,
Callousness, Return of Jews, Restoration of land (Isaiah 35:1); Trees plantation
(Ezekiel 36:30); Inhabiting desolate cities (Isaiah 54:3); Federation of Nations
(Daniel 2:44).

III. Millenium: Dispensational Premillenialism – Christ’s revelation (2nd phase
of 2nd Coming) will be followed by a literal 1,000 years. of reign on earth
during which time the Abrahamic covenant will be completely fulfilled in Israel
(Genesis 12:1-3). Its outworking is seen in the Palestinian, Davidic, and new
covenants. The church shares the blessings of the new covenant, but does not
fulfill its promises (Galatians 3:16). Historic, Classical, nnd
Nondispensational Premillenialism – The rapture will occur at Christ’s second
coming and will be followed by an earthly kingdom of Christ. Church goes through
the future Tribulation. Millenium is both present and future. Christ is reigning
in heaven. Millenium not necessarily 1,000 years. Postmillenialism – The kingdom
of God is now extended through teaching, preaching, evangelization, and
missionary activities. Tribulation is experienced now. The world is to be
Christianized and followed by a long period of peace and prosperity called the
Millenium. This would be followed by Christ’s return. Amillennialism or Realized
Millenialism – There is no literal Millenium on earth after 2nd coming. The
kingdom of God is now present in the world through His Word, His Spirit, His
Church. Christ’s return is a single event. Tribulation is experienced in this
present age. Church is the new Israel.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 31: 03.00. PSALM 50, A PSALM OF ASAPH
========================================================================

PSALM 50 A PSALM OF ASAPH a c a l l t o w o r s h i p i n s p i r i t & t r u t
h DOMENIC MARBANIANG

2001


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 32: 03.01.     INTRODUCTION
========================================================================

INTRODUCTION

Psalm 50 is the first of the psalms in the Psalter bearing the name of Asaph in
their inscriptions. It is one of the forty psalms (42-72) that form the second
group in the Book.

AUTHORSHIP The titles of twelve psalms (50,73-83) bear the name of Asaph. The
name Asaph means "collector." He was a singer with cymbals of brass in the
Tabernacle of David (1 Corinthians 15:16-17, 1 Chronicles 15:19), a song writer,
psalmist (2 Chronicles 29:30), a seer (Heb.chozeh), one who beholds, a prophet.
Concerning the word chozeh, The Complete Word Study Old Testament indicates that
’of the twenty-two occurrences, eleven of them are associated with the name of a
particular person, indicating his office as prophet (Gad, 2 Samuel 24:11; 1
Chronicles 21:9; 1 Chronicles 29:29; 2 Chronicles 24:25; Heman, 1 Chronicles
25:5; Iddo, 2 Chronicles 9:29; 2 Chronicles 12:15; Hanani, 2 Chronicles 19:2;
Asaph, 2 Chronicles 29:25; Jeduthun, 2 Chronicles 35:15; and the prophet Amos).
Used with the meaning of contemplation in Isaiah 47:13....chozeh and navi are
contrasted in 2 Kings 17:13; Isaiah 29:10; Amos 7:12. Another word ro’eh is
almost identical in meaning to chozeh (1 Samuel 9:9; 1 Chronicles 29:29). Navi
means a spokesman (Exodus 7:1-2). Ro’eh and chozeh reflect that God sometimes
revealed Himself to prophets by visions.’

Asaph was a Gershonite (1 Chronicles 6:39-43). In Numbers 3:25-26; Numbers
4:24-28, we find that the Gershonites were in-charge of the tabernacle, the
tent, its covering, the hangings of the court, the curtain for the door of the
court, their cords, and all the instruments in relation to their service. At the
time when David decided to bring the Ark of God to Jerusalem, Heman, Asaph, and
Ethan were appointed singers to sound with cymbals of brass by the Chief of the
Levites upon the word of David (1 Chronicles 15:16-19). Chenaniah, the master of
the song, instructed about the song (1 Chronicles 15:22, 1 Chronicles 15:28).
After the ark was brought in and set in the midst of the tent that David had
pitched for it, and the sacrifices were completed, Asaph was appointed the Chief
of those Levites appointed by David to minister before the ark of the Lord and
to record and to praise the Lord God of Israel. Asaph played the cymbals (1
Chronicles 16:4-6;cf.1 Chronicles 16:37). That same day, David delivered his
first psalm to thank the Lord into the hand of Asaph and his brethren (1
Chronicles 16:7). 2 Chronicles 35:15 (during the reign of Josiah, 640-604 BC)
refers to the singers as the sons of Asaph. Ezra and Nehemiah record only the
Asaphites as the singers (Ez.2.41; Ezekiel 3:10; Nehemiah 7:44; Nehemiah 11:17,
Nehemiah 11:22; Nehemiah 12:35, Nehemiah 12:46 : 458-423 BC).

DATE

Since Asaph lived during the period of both David and Solomon’s reign(1
Chronicles 6:31-32), we can decide his life-term as being between or around
1000-900 BC. Psalm 50, then, was composed somewhere during this time.

CHARACTERISTICS The following characteristics of the Psalm may be ascertained
from the nature of the office of Asaph himself:

1. The Psalm was probably sung with instruments of music, psalteries and harps
and cymbals, sounding (1 Chronicles 15:16).

2. The Psalm was probably sung at a high pitch with much rejoicing (1 Chronicles
15:16).

3. The Psalm is surely a record, a remembrance, a reflection upon; a mention, a
declaration, a proclamation; a commemoration of the majesty, righteousness,
goodness, and salvation of Yahweh and His covenant relationship with His people.
The word for "record", zakhar, in the Hebrew text (1 Chronicles 16:4) indicates
the above meanings. (cp. Psalms 50:1, Psalms 50:5, Psalms 50:7, Psalms
50:15-23).

4. The Psalm is also a thanksgiving and praise psalm (1 Chronicles 16:4; cp.
Psalms 50:11-6, Psalms 50:14, Psalms 50:23).

5. The Psalm is also prophetic in nature and in harmony with the office of Asaph
as a seer. This prophetic Psalm was, most probably, sung with the accompaniment
of musical instruments (1 Chronicles 25:1). The seer--one who gazes
intently--possesses three kinds of prophetic sights and we expect his prophetic
psalm also to possess them; they are: a. A Prophetic Hind-sight -- Retrospective
b. A Prophetic In-sight -- Introspective c. A Prophetic Fore-sight --
Prospective As the Psalm unfolds, we find how a retrospective glance at the
covenant relationship is made, how an introspective exposure of each of the
group’s life is brought forward, and how a prospective look at the consequences
is enabled. The introspective exposure can also be well-treated as a prospective
analysis of a group-condition in the future, with, of course, a prediction of
the consequences.

THEME This Psalm is "A Divine Introduction To The Meaning, Significance, And
Gravity Of True Worship." The theme of the Psalm is "God calls for and desires a
hearty, holy, honest, and high service to Him from His people while repudiating
and warning the dishonest."

OUTLINE INTRODUCTION: The Divine Appearance (Psalms 50:1-3) A. A Call To The
Heavens And The Earth (Psalms 50:4-6) A1. A Call To The People Of His Covenant
To Realisation (Psalms 50:7-13) 1. That He Is Sovereign (Psalms 50:7-11) 2. That
He Is Self-Sufficient (Psalms 50:12-13) *The Covenant Is A Covenant Of Grace.

A2. A Call To True Worship(Psalms 50:14-15) Through 1. Thanksgiving (Psalms
50:14) 2. Vows (Psalms 50:14) 3. Prayer (Psalms 50:15) 4. Glorifying Him After
Receiving His Deliverance(Psalms 50:15) B. A Warning To Those Who Falsely
Consider Themselves As Part Of The Covenant (Psalms 50:16) B1a. An Exposure Of
Their Works (Psalms 50:17-21 a) 1. Rejection Of His Teaching (Psalms 50:17) 2.
Accomplice With The Lawless (Psalms 50:18) 3. Godless Speech (Psalms 50:19-21 a)
B1b. An Exposure Of Their Thoughts (Psalms 50:21 b) 1. That God Was As Lenient
As Themselves *The Covenant Is A Covenant Of Judgement.

B2. The Exposition Of The Fact 1. That God Will Reprove Them (Psalms 50:21 c) 2.
That God Will Set The Charge Before Them (Psalms 50:21 c) 3. That God Will
Punish Them (Psalms 50:22) CONCLUSION: The Essence Of True Worship (Psalms
50:23)

STATISTICS 1. Words (KJV) -- 399 2. Characters (KJV) -- 1,746 3. "God" -- 10 4.
"Offerings" -- 1 5. "Offer" -- 1 6. "Offereth" -- 1 7. "Sacrifice(s)" -- 2 8. "I
will..." -- 7 *Psalms 50:7 -- "I will speak...," "I will testify...."

*Psalms 50:8 -- "I will not reprove...."

*Psalms 50:9 -- "I will take no bullock...."

*Psalms 50:15 -- "I will deliver...."

*Psalms 50:21 -- "I will reprove...."

*Psalms 50:23 -- "...will I show the salvation of God."

** "Will I" as interrogative -- 1 (Psalms 50:13)


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  CHAPTER 33: 03.01.     THE DIVINE APPEARANCE (1-3)
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THE DIVINE APPEARANCE

(Psalms 50:1-3)

TEXT THE MIGHTY God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the
rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and
shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very
tempestuous round about him.

Concerning the backdrop of the Psalm, Barton remarks:

’ The exordium or beginning of this Psalm is the most grand and striking that
can possibly be imagined -- the speaker GOD, the audience an assembled world! We
cannot compare or assimilate the scene here presented to us with any human
resemblance; nor do I imagine that earth will ever behold such a day till that
hour when the trumpet of the archangel shall sound, and shall gather all the
nations of the earth from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other;
when the dead, small and great, shall stand before God, and the sea shall give
up the dead which are in it, and death and hell shall deliver up the dead that
are in them.’ The introductory sentences are indubitably awe-inspiring.
Delitzsch, without concessions, entitles the section "The Theophany", and Kidner
entitles the whole Psalm "The Judge Breaks Silence", while pointing out that the
features (Psalms 50:1-5) recall Mount Sinai and the covenant. The solemnity of
the Theophany is even more intensified by the manner of the presentation of the
subject of the first sentence itself. "The Mighty God, even the LORD...." While
Craigie considers the poetic form such that it may be too artificial to make
fine distinctions between the names, Delitzsch understands the Divine name El as
the name for God as the Almighty, Elohim as the Revered One, and YHWH as the
Being, absolute in His existence, and who accordingly freely influences and
moulds history after His own plan. Gemeren synthesises the significance of the
names as: "The Creator-God (Elohim) and the Redeemer-God (Yahweh) are one God
(El)." The KJV translates it "The Mighty God, even the LORD;" the RSV and the
Amplified versions, "The Mighty One, God the LORD (Lord--Amplified); the NIV,
"The Mighty One, God, the LORD...." As according to the KJV, if Elohim was meant
to be conglomerated with El, this would be one of the few El-conglomerate names
of God found in the Bible: El-Berith ("God of the Covenant," Judges 9:46),
El-Elyon ("Most High God," Genesis 14:18-20), El-Olam ("The Eternal God,"
Genesis 21:33), El-Shaddai ("The All-Powerful God," Genesis 17:1-2), El-Gibbohr
("God’s Strong Hero" or "The Mighty God" Isaiah 9:6), and, here, El-Elohim ("The
Mighty God"). It can be noticed that in each of the cases above, El has been
translated as "God" except in the last one, where it has been translated as
"Mighty". Betty Isham and Don Stanton have this to say about El:

"EL is the most basic Hebrew word for "God." It is singular in tense, and it
occurs about 250 times in the Bible. EL signifies "strong" and "first", and is
the title that proclaims God as THE MIGHTY ONE, and "the First Great Cause of
all."

Evidently, its meaning and usage seem to permit its being interpreted either of
the ways.

Concerning Elohim, they write:

"It occurs about 2500 times. Elohim is the plural of Eloah, but it may appear
along with verbs and pronouns that are singular as well as plural. It means the
Mighty One (the One who is to be worshipped). It can also mean the mighty ones.
Much the same as in the English - God/gods.

"Elohim is used 35 times in the account of creation.... The word contains the
idea of creative and governing power, of omnipotence and sovereignty.

"Elohim (plural) is the Creator."

El-Elohim would, then, be a superlative qualificative name for God; furthermore,
intended to qualify the name following it: YHWH. It may be noted that the name
YHWH is the specific, personal, and sacred name of God as revealed to the
Israelites. God proclaimed His name to Moses in Exodus 34:4-7, a name the
meaning of which has been a subject of much research and debate. Betty and Don
assume the meaning of the name as derivable from the words that add up to form
the name; they are: hawa, hayah, havah, chayah. The words carry the meaning of
"being in existence" and of "living", which by implication would reveal YHWH as
being the eternally self-existing One. They write:

’He exists in a sense in which no other being does. He is! And the cause of His
being, is in Himself. He is because He is! Yahwah is absolutely self-existent,
and He alone is the true and eternal, unchangeable Elohim.

"Before Me there was no elohim formed, and there will be none after Me. I, even
I, am YHWH; and there is no saviour besides Me. (Isaiah 43:10-11)."’

Prof. Alexander, according to Barnes, renders the clause as "The Almighty, God,
Jehovah, speaks," and remarks that ’the word "mighty" is not an adjective
agreeing with the next word (the mighty God), but a substantive in apposition
with it.’ Barnes adds: "the idea is that he who speaks is the true God; the
supreme Ruler of the universe." However the understanding of the names, the
juxtaposition seems to indicate atleast three things,

1. Gradation. According to Hengstenberg, "In the relation of these designations
there is a gradation. Elohim is more than El, to which its singular Eloah is
equivalent. The plural marks the fullness and the richness of the Divine nature.
Jehovah is the highest name according to its derivation -- it marks God as the
only real Being -- and, according to the usage also, which ascribes to Jehovah
the most glorious manifestations of God to and behalf of His people."

2. Specification. The names move from the general to the specific. El and Elohim
were names which even the gentiles would use for God, but the name YHWH was only
used by the children of Israel. This was the name which the Lord said was His
name forever, and His memorial unto all generations (Exodus 3:15). This was no
God which the heathens served. This was YHWH, Elohim of elohim, the awesome El
(Deuteronomy 10:17) who brought these Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt
into this promised land.

3. Sublimation. The magnificence, splendor, and majesty of this God is
resplendent in the names themselves. He is the Mighty One, the true God of all
creation, and the God who has revealed Himself to His people to the glory of His
own Holy name. The sublimity of the subject is even more intensively revealed in
the first verb of the Psalm: hath spoken. Here is a God of communication, a God
who speaks: in direct opposition to the idols of the heathens. The tense of the
verb, in the Hebrew Text, is in the Piel Perfect, which is an intensive, active
conjugation expressing a causative idea. The Psalm writer wants to say that the
true Supreme Lord has spoken, and He has spoken strongly, weightfully, and
forcefully. Isn’t that indicative of the prophetic nature of the Psalm itself?

"The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but
prophesy?"

Evidently, the voice of the Lord is incomparably more powerful and fiery than
the voice of the lion, a creature of His. Elihu felt his heart as "wine that has
no vent; like new wineskins" ready to burst, when filled with words of
uprightness. Jeremiah felt as if there was in his heart a burning fire shut up
in his bones. He said he was weary with holding it in, and that he could not.
The fire was the word of prophecy that God had given him to speak. Asaph’s
implementation of the Piel conjugation does indicate that God’s word cannot be
escaped being heard and re-related. A speaking God, of course, would seem to be
repugnant to the philosophical mind. What does it mean for an Infinite to speak?
We must, however, content ourselves with the knowledge that the Infinite has
spoken, regardless of whether our minds understand the real process of the
phenomenon or not. If the Infinite could not act nor speak, as the monists
suppose, then the origin of the universe cannot be assessed. Common sense agrees
that the world we perceive is plural and so cannot be eternal: the factuality of
time cannot be denied; which means that an infinity of the past cannot be held.
For that would make the reality of the present an impossibility due to an
infinite regression of the past. The world began when the
One-Infinite-Transcendent Lord called it into existence out of nothing. This
implies action by the Infinite; a phenomenon unscrutinizable by any space-time
bound finite mind, and yet undeniable without damage to both sense-in-common and
reason as well. Furthermore, our God is not the Deist’s God who creates and then
withdraws from His own creation. He is a God of concern, a God of care, a
covenant-making and a covenant-keeping God: He is also God The Ruler, The Judge;
a God who speaks and calls the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going
down thereof. This active nature of involvement in God is expressly unfolded in
the Psalm in the following manner:

1. He is a God of Revelation (Psalms 50:1-7).

2. He is a God of Relationship ("my saints...those that have made a covenant
with me by sacrifice," Psalms 50:5; "my people" Psalms 50:7).

3. He is a God of Reproof (Psalms 50:8, Psalms 50:21).

4. He is a God of Retribution (Psalms 50:21-22).

5. He is a God of Redemption (Psalms 50:15, Psalms 50:23).

"...and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down
thereof." The call has been interpreted as a triple summons extending through
Psalms 50:5 by Craigie, as we have already seen earlier (see Outline under
Introduction). He understands the first summons as a summons to the "world" as a
whole to observe what is about to happen. Delitzsch understands the purpose of
the call as Jahve’s summons to the earth "to be a witness of the divine
judgement upon the people of the covenant." He goes on to add that this "summons
precedes His self-manifestation"(Psalms 50:2). The expression "from the rising
of the sun unto the going down thereof" has been understood by Craigie as more
likely designating the passage of time; "for a whole day, from sunrise to
sunset, the world is summoned as an observer of the events about to take place."
He adds: "The summons must have been issued at (or just before) sunrise,"
interpreting it around its setting of the festival. He, however, doesn’t deny
the possibility of it meaning "from east to west; viz. the entire world."
Delitzsch writes:

’The addition "from the rising of the sun to its going down," shows that the
poet means the earth in respect of its inhabitants. He speaks, and because what
He speaks is of universal significance He makes the earth in all its compass
this audience.’

Gemeren points out to the fact that "His rule extends far beyond Israel to the
whole earth, poetically described as "from the rising of the sun to the place
where it sets." The Call reveals atleast two characteristics of God: His
Sovereignty and His Omniscience. As a matter of fact, He does iterate the truth
in Psalms 50:10-12. As no part of the earth can escape the light and heat of the
sun so no part of the earth can hide itself from the rule and the scrutinising
eyes of the Lord Most High. The description of Zion as the perfection of beauty
(Psalms 50:2) displays the importance, glory, and splendour attached to it due
its being inhabited by the Lord. It is not just beautiful but is the perfection
of beauty. Out of this Zion, Asaph says, God (Elohim) has shined. Barnes
believes the meaning of this to be that "the great principles which are to
determine the destiny of mankind in the final judgement are those which proceed
out of Zion; or, those which are taught in the religion of Zion...." The verb
shined, in the Hebrew Text, is an Hiphil perfect conjugation which is causative
of the Qal. God has caused Himself by self-determination to shine out of Zion.
This was the city which God had chosen, said Solomon in 1 Kings 8:48. Psalms
132:13 says:" For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his
habitation." God chose it according to His own Sovereign Will and has shined out
of it by the same. It was not the quality of Zion that made it magnificent and
beautiful: it was the Presence of El, Elohim, YHWH the Great King that made it
so.

"Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the
sides of the north, the city of the great King." The meaning of "shined" can be
construed through a study of its usage in Psalms 80:1-3. There the expression
"shine forth" is used parallelly with "stir up thy strength" with the purpose of
a visitation to save His people. The expression here also can be interpreted by
associating it with the promise of deliverance given to the true worshippers of
God in verses Psalms 50:14-15, Psalms 50:23. And yet the Judgement connected
with this deliverance cannot be overlooked. The Salvation of God cannot be
understood apart from The Judgement of God. He saves His people from those whom
He is going to punish, their enemies. If He saves one then He must also judge
that one’s contrary or else Judgement is not complete. Here, the contrariety is
between the ones true to His covenant and the ones untrue to it. God by Himself
shines forth out of His own chosen place, Zion, to judge His people for
"judgement must begin at the house of God...." The timing of the event is not
absolutely clear. Craigie’s cultic interpretation of the Psalm moves him to
associate the event with the former "from the rising of the sun...."

’At the moment the sun rose in the east (Psalms 50:1), God "shone forth" from
Zion; thus the liturgy was timed to coincide with a natural event, which
symbolized dramatically the theophany of the law-giving God of Sinai.’ The
prophetic nature of the Psalm, however, must not be forgotten alongside its
informative and instructive natures. God has shone forth out of Zion in the
past, He shines forth now (cf. RSV), and He will shine forth in the future
(Revelation 21:22-27) at the consummation of world history.

"Our God shall come,..." Most modern versions read "Our God comes." His coming
is like the splendour of the sun rising in the brilliance of its strength. The
verb is cast in the imperfect tense, showing that our God is not merely waiting
for a future moment, to come, but that He is already on His way. He shall surely
come, "and shall not keep silence...." The silence of God has given rise to
atleast two kinds of responses among men in general:

1. Carefreeness, recklessness, and irreverent autonomy among the rebellious.

2. Distress, discouragement, and discomfiture among the godly.The text promises
that this silence would not be for too long. In fact, the wicked are, later,
reproved of the tendency of leniency into which they had fallen in response to
this silence of God (Psalms 50:21). The splendour and solemnity of His coming
are well captured in the next part of the verse: "a fire shall devour before
him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him." The word tempestuous, in
the Hebrew, is saar which means "to bristle with terror; to shiver; to fear, be
horribly afraid; to have a feeling of sacred awe; to be agitated, be
tempestuous; to be fiery like a tempest; to rush like a storm." The word is in
the Niphal Perfect tense which is a reflexive of the Qal conjugation. The clause
can also be paraphrased as "and it shall by itself be a frightening,
horripilating, and raging tempest round about him." Fire is symbolic of
judgement in the Bible. A consuming, purifying, and cleansing agent, it has also
been used as a figure of holiness, righteousness, and righteous indignation (cf.
Psalms 18:8; Psalms 97:3; Daniel 7:10). It is the agent of God’s judgement on
the ungodly (Genesis 19:24; Psalms 11:6; Isaiah 10:16-17; Matthew 3:10). God
Himself is called a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). As T. Longman puts it: "When
God comes in judgement, he appears in a threatening guise." The appearance of
God on the judgement scene is indubitably accompanied by fear, terror, and
dreadful panic to the rebellious.

"Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew
first, and also to the gentile...."

"And the kings of the earth, and the great men...and every...man, hid themselves
in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

"And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of
him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

"For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" The
fierceness, the tempestuousness, and the terror of the event is but a joy to His
people; their Hero is come, and shall no longer be silent. The hypocrites,
however, have reason to fear.

CONCLUSION The Lord God Almighty, the Ruler of heavens and earth is a God of
revelation. He chose to reveal His name in Zion (2 Chronicles 12:13), whence His
light of strength and salvation rises to enlighten the whole earth. True beauty
in perfection can only be found where the Lord of Creation finds a dwelling
place; from whence He causes His light to shine forth. And that is what he has
called us to be: to be a light to this dark world and to reflect the beauty of
His glory (Matthew 5:14-16; 2 Corinthians 3:18). This assumes greater
responsibility and commitment to the truth. Our relationship with Him by His
Covenant is what calls us to a greater accountability ("of the Jew first...")
before Him. Therefore, Judgement must begin at the house of the Lord. This
inclusion of Judgement (Curse) in the stipulations of the Covenant must not be
overlooked. Isn’t that the reason why we as members of the New Covenant are
called to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Php 2:12)? The
intensifying of wickedness and corruption in the world should only serve to
remind us that the prophecies of the Bible are surely being fulfilled. This
world is not our home. Our Lord is going to return as a flash of the lightning
to punish the wicked and take us home.


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  CHAPTER 34: 03.02.     THE DIVINE CALL (4-15)
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THE DIVINE CALL (Psalms 50:4-15)

TEXT He shall call to the heavens above, and to the earth, that he may judge his
people.

Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by
sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge
himself. Selah.

Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee:
I am God, even thy God.

I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been
continually before me.

I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. For
every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are
mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fullness
thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon
me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. The
Call To The Heavens And The Earth (Psalms 50:4-6)

"He shall call to the heavens...that he may judge his people." The purpose of
His Appearance as being for Judgement is now shown. Fire and the Call to the
heaven and the earth (as in Psalms 50:3-4) are also juxtaposed in Deuteronomy
4:24-26, where Moses is warning the Israelites against the consequences of
forgetting the covenant of the Lord. The Call there is a call by Moses to
witness concerning the factuality of the warning. Craigie considers this call
(Ps.50) also as a summons to the heavens and the earth to be the silent
witnesses to the Judgement event. The Call must not be read apart from the Call
to gather the saints (Psalms 50:5) and the appointment of the heavens to declare
His righteousness (Psalms 50:6). Assuredly, the covenant relationship is, here,
brought to view. The saints, who have been true to the covenant, need not fear
any longer: the God of the covenant has come and the promise of the covenant
will be kept. The people are His. The relationship between Him and His people is
well portrayed through the words "my saints" (Psalms 50:5), "my people" (Psalms
50:7), "thy God" (Psalms 50:7), and "those that have made a covenant with me by
sacrifice" (Psalms 50:5). The addressive words of the Call are reminiscent of
the words the Lord spoke at the making of the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 19:4-6).
The Theophany, there, was for the establishment of the Covenant. The Theophany,
here, is for the explanation of what that covenant really meant: its meaning,
its gravity, and its significance.

"Gather my saints...those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."
Craigie opts the word "devotee" for "saints" and considers it as designating
specifically those who were committed to God in the relationship of covenant.
They are, of course, His saints -- His holy ones. This points out to atleast
three characteristics of this people group:

1. Distinction. They were separated from all other peoples of the world by His
Sovereign choice. They were now distinct(1 Kings 8:51). The word hagios, Greek
for "saints" and "holy", has also been translated as "distinct", "different",
and "separate" by scholars.

2. Possession. They were His, His peculiar treasure above all people (Exodus
19:5). The word "peculiar" is important as it distinguishes them from all other
of His possessions -- "for all the earth is mine"(Exodus 19:5), but the
Israelites are His peculiar treasure.

3. Consecration. They were His saints. In Exodus 19:6, He calls them "a kingdom
of priests, and an holy nation"(emphasis mine) unto Him. They were His "holy
people", His "special people", and His chosen people not because of their own
quality or quantity, but because of His own love and faithfulness (Deuteronomy
7:6-9).

Craigie prefers the version "those about to make a covenant with me..." to
"those that have made a covenant with me..." and considers it to be critical to
the understanding of the text as a whole. He thinks that treatment of the verb
in the text as belonging to the past tense by the RSV, NIV, NEB, et al., is but
a failure to recognize the force of the k-d-t-y. He comments:

’In this context, the participle functions as the "the participle of the
immediate future," as is commonly the case in covenant contexts.... Thus the
covenant members are summoned by God; later in the day, they will be making, or
renewing, the covenant, but first they must go through the searching preparatory
ritual of divine scrutiny, to ensure that they are ready for the ceremony
itself, in which the covenant "sacrifice" (Psalms 50:5-6) would be offered.’ The
call to an introspection of self-motives is, of course, a motif throughout the
Psalm. Yet, if the translation preferred by Craigie is agreed with, then the
timing of the Theophany may even be supposed to be that of the Sinai-event now
reproduced in a festive drama (the like genre of the Book of The Songs Of
Solomon). This interpretation, however, doesn’t align with the situation
presupposed by the Psalm itself. The context of the Psalm presupposes that the
covenant had already been made in the past; now, there are some who are loyal to
it while the others are not. In addition, it seems inappropriate to interpret
"those about to make a covenant with me"(italics mine) as "those about to renew
their covenant with me." The mention of the Covenant by sacrifice is surely a
reference to the sacrifices and the sprinkling of the blood at the initiation of
the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 24:3-11). The Covenant was, without doubts, a
Covenant of blood. And the people had, then, agreed with one accord: "All the
words which the LORD hath said will we do." It was time now to investigate
whether they had been faithful to the Covenant. Sten Nilson illustrates that the
act of covenant-making, among the Hebrews, demonstrated two things:

1. Death to self and renunciation of right to self, and

2. That the two (between whom the covenant was made) have begun a walk together
that will last until they are separated by death. They are friends forever. The
hazard of breaking the covenant was death itself. Nilson writes:

’...the two point to the bloody animal cut in two and say, "May God strike me
thus if I should ever break this covenant. May I be cut in two and be eaten by
vultures if I break this holy covenant."’

There is every reason to suppose that Psalms 50:22, where God speaks of tearing
into pieces the forgetters of God or, more specifically, the forgetters of the
covenant, is in reference to this basic ingredient of the Covenant-stipulations.
The Covenant by blood repudiates half-hearted service. It is a Covenant of life
and demands total affection and total sacrificial service by each of the members
of the covenant. Hadn’t God loved them with His whole heart (Deuteronomy 7:7-8)?
His love is called an "everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3), that is, it is
infinite and unlimited by either time or space. He also served them with His
whole heart (Jer. 63.9; Exodus 19:4). He rejoices to act for the good of His
people and does that with His whole heart (Jeremiah 32:41). He is a faithful God
and desires His worshippers also to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John
4:24). He, therefore, calls His saints to gather together at His presence for
the exposition of their hearts -- their thoughts, desires, and intentions -- and
to instruct them concerning the kind of service that He expects from them. The
reference to the heavens as the witnesses of His righteousness, in the next
verse, seems to indicate that the direct speech in Psalms 50:5 is addressed to
the earth itself. He has called the earth from the rising of the sun to the
going down thereof to gather His saints together unto Him. The interpretation in
that manner, however, is not necessitated if a comma is supposed before and
after the expression "my saints". The addressee, then, would be the saints
themselves. Craigie supposes that the people themselves are summoned to gather
together in God’s presence, in the words of an oracular pronouncement. But the
syntax, as the NIV, the RSV, and the Amplified Version also indicate, doesn’t
support the supposition proving that the addressee is the earth itself. The
earth, the habitat of men, is summoned, poetically speaking, to assemble the
saints together; and the heavens, as in Psalms 19:1, are summoned to declare His
righteousness. Both are His witnesses.

"And the heavens shall declare his righteousness...." The sudden shift from a
direct speech to an informatory statement almost suggests a choral arrangement.
The words "shall declare" is an Hiphil Imperfect conjugation, which is an active
causative of the Qal. The implication is that the declaration of His
righteousness is caused by the heavens themselves. Any act of God is of
universal significance. The imperfect tense of it implies that the action is
still in effect. The Amplified Version interprets it: "And the heavens declare
His righteousness -- rightness and justice...." The Poetic nature of the
expression can also suggest a principle of investigation: when observed from a
planer(terrestrial) point of view, the works of men are righteous to their
ownselves which, inevitably, gives rise to rationalizations and
self-justificatory arguments. But when viewed from the heavenly perspective with
a comprehensive legal outlook, the vileness of man is revealed proving the
righteousness of God (cf. Psalms 51:4). The earthly perspective is surely a
biased perspective; the heavenly, as an external witness, a biasless one.
Atleast four characteristics of this witness can easily be observed:

1. Externality. The heavens are an external witness. The heavens are neither the
Judge nor the judged.

2. Eternality. In the sense that they were present from the very beginning of
the creation and that their expanse is uncomprehended by man. This suggests
universality, both in time and space, of its witness.

3. Unity. The heavens are one.

4. Immutability. Their being immutable since the creation of the universe (not
immutable in the sense that we move in space-time, but by its very nature of
being a continuum) strengthens the quality of their witness. The witness is an
unquestionable witness of His righteousness and justice. "...for God is judge
himself. Selah." The italicised "is" is not in the original. The Amplified
Version interprets the clause: "...for God, He is judge. Selah [pause, and
calmly think of that]!" That God is Judge means that there is no escape. This is
not an earthy judge, limited in resources, ability, extent, and power. He is the
omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent Lord of the universe and the heavens
themselves bear witness of His righteousness: For God is Judge Himself. Selah.
It is a matter not just to be thought about, but one that demands a proper and
immediate response. The Call To The People Of His Covenant To Realisation
(Psalms 50:7-13) The section opens with the words: "Hear, O my people...O
Israel...I am God, even thy God." This is reminiscent of the Shema in
Deuteronomy 6:4 : "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD...." The call is
followed by a call to love the LORD with the whole being (Psalms 50:5). Worship
cannot begin without the realisation of who our God is. He is God, the God of
Israel. He is one. Thus, worship cannot be pluralistical -- i.e., the object of
our worship is our God alone ("with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy might"). Craigie considers the summons to "hear" as implying also
"obey". He goes on to add that "I am God thy God" (Psalms 5:7 c) is the
equivalent, in the Elohistic Psalter, to the more familiar "I am the Lord
(Yahweh), your God." "I will speak...." The verb is a Piel conjugative imperfect
and implies that the speech will be very intense, thorough, and complete. When
the Lord of the hosts speaks who can but listen? "...and I will testify against
thee...." Delitzsch shows that "the forms strengthened by ah, in Psalms 50:7,
describe God’s earnest desire to have Israel for willing hearers as being quite
as strong as His desire to speak and to bear witness." The Mighty God YHWH has
called, has shone, has come, and now He commands to pay Him attention: who can
dare but listen to this weightiest and the gravest of all speeches ever heard or
ever to be heard by human ears?

"I will not reprove thee...." This section is neither meant to be an accusation
nor a chiding as is the section that deals with the warning to the wicked (i.e.,
Psalms 50:16-22; cf. Psalms 50:22 : "I will reprove thee"). The word for
"reprove" (Psalms 50:7), in the Hebrew, is the word Ya Khach which means "to
dispute with someone, argue; to be convicted, reproved; to decide, judge; to
prove; to rebuke, correct; to meditate, arbitrate; to punish; to chide." It is
the same word used in Isaiah 1:18, where the KJV interprets it as "reason".
"...for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before
me." The Hindi version joins "for thy sacrifices" with "I will not reprove thee"
and without interposings of "or" before and the comma after "thy burnt
offerings" joins it to "continually before me" with an "are". The English
version of the Hindi would read: "I do not condemn you for your peace offerings,
your burnt offerings are continually offered to me." God is not disregarding the
sacrifices of His people; He only desires to show them something more
significant than these -- the true meaning of worship, of sacrifices. Craigie
observes:

"The essence of the divine speech concerns the meaning and purpose of
sacrifices, and it was vital that the people have the meaning clear in their
minds before the actual sacrifices were offered later in the day."

He means that since the occasion of the recital of the Psalm would be at sunrise
during the feast of tabernacles and the people would be offering sacrifices and
burnt offerings later in the day, it was necessary that they understand what
those sacrifices really meant.

"I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds." The
reference seems to be for the purpose of burnt offerings; since that was the
offering in which either a bull or an he goat/ male sheep or turtledoves/ young
pigeons were required for offering. The peace offering, on the other hand, being
a freewill offering did not require that the offering be a male alone. A female
goat in the sin offering was admitted if the offerer was poor while in the
tresspass offering a ram was required along with a restitution fee. The purpose
of the burnt offering was for the propitiation of sin in general (Leviticus 1:4)
and the signifying of one’s total commitment, dedication, and consecration to
God. The bullock or he goat (excepting its skin) was entirely burnt on the altar
of offering. Here, God says that He wouldn’t take either of them: the reason He
gives in the next verse.

"For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills."
The Amplified Version suggests that the phrase "the cattle upon a thousand
hills" can also be translated as "upon the mountains where thousands are." The
idea is that God is the sole Owner of all living creatures. The implication
seems to be that He doesn’t need to strive with them to get them to submit to
His will; but with man He strives (cf. Genesis 6:3)and is provoked by their
rebellious nature (Exodus 23:21; Numbers 14:11; Psalms 78:40; Jeremiah 4:8). God
is Sovereign but He doesn’t deny the freewill of man. Sin is a freewilled
rebellion against the Will of God. That is the reason why when two or three
kinds of offerings were to be offered the sin offering usually was the first of
the sequence. Then came the burnt and the peace offerings. Reconciliation and
propitiation, without which any positive relationship is made void, must precede
dedication. "I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the
field are mine." The knowledge is unlike that of man: it is deeper, complete,
full, and perfect {"I know and am aquainted with...," (Amplified)}. God is
Omniscient. "...are mine" can also be translated as "are with me." God is
Omnipresent. Thus it is shown that the idea that God requires a material gift
from us is absurd and preposterous. He is the Ruler, Possessor, Knower, and
Sustainer of all things. Is He in need then of anything?

"If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is mine, and the
fullness thereof." Obviously, God doesn’t get hungry: He is Infinite,
non-contingent, Absolute, and a Spirit -- that is, He transcends the limitations
of this finite space-time continuum. But the Psalm is not a philosophical
treatise. It doesn’t, however, shun to display the fallacy of their reasonings.
The implication seems to be that even if the people reasoned that the offering
was to satiate the hunger of God, they would still be committing a fallacy. For
to call Him God, The Almighty YHWH and to posit that He needed to be sustained
by their offerings at the same time would be erroneous. What makes Him Almighty
then, if He couldn’t make provision for Himself or if there is something over
which He cannot exercise His might and so must depend on others to satiate His
needs? But the question is: Is He really in want of the flesh and blood of these
animals?

"Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?" The question is a
rhetoric one. The answer, obviously, is "No." God is Self-Sufficient in Himself.
Daniel Cresswall rightly observes that the pagan sacrifices were considered as
feasts of the gods. The pagan religions surrounding the Israelites often tempted
them to regard their own religion as something similar to them. But the purpose
of sacrifice in Judaism was completely different from the purposes of them in
the pagan religions. Hinson writes about these fallacious thinkers of Judaism as
follows:

"Continually they were tempted to follow the pattern of other religions, and to
suppose that what the LORD chiefly required from his people was worship and
sacrifice. They found it difficult to understand that even though they took part
in the sacrifices and feast days, the LORD was not necessarily satisfied with
their service." The purpose of the sacrifices which God instituted was not for
the fulfilment of God’s needs but for the fulfilment of the people’s needs. The
significance of the sacrifices was tied to relationship these people had with
God through the Covenant ("by sacrifice"). The effect of the sacrifices was
nullified without the existence of the covenant. Hinson writes:

"The first thing we must remember is that Salvation depends on God, and not on
man, so it is achieved through His Covenants, rather than through sacrifices.
The ritual of sacrifice may be a way for the covenant people to approach God.
But their relationship with God is established in the first place by a covenant,
not by an act of sacrifice." The sacrifices were meant for three purposes:

1. The Atonement of sins -- e.g. the sin offering, the guilt offering, and the
annual Day of Atonement. These were unacceptable without an accompaniment of
confession and restitution (Numbers 5:7).

2. Thanksgivings for His goodness -- especially, the thank-offerings (Leviticus
7:12) and the burnt offerings (Leviticus 1:10-13).

3. Fellowship with God -- e.g. the peace offering (Leviticus 3:1-5), which
expressed peace (fellowship) with God and so culminated in a community meal.

These external sacrifices were meant to be significations of internal givings to
and relationship with God. They were not meant to be mere one-time events but
were meant to signify a whole life relationship with God. What the offerer did
at that one moment of sacrifice was meant to signify what he was going to do for
the rest of his life. They were reflections of the decision that one was really
going to love the LORD his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and
with all his might. Which meant that he was going to do only that which would
please his God, without which all his sacrifices were meaningless. For obedience
is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). The Psalm indicates that the
hypocrites (dealt with in the next main division) had none of the motives listed
above. The Call To True Worship (Psalms 50:14-15) This section is a Call to the
saints to action, to do that which their God really desired from them: this is a
Call to true worship. Four actions are called for, here, as imperative:

1. Thanksgiving. "Offer unto God thanksgiving...." Thanksgiving is the offering
which God desires. For, factually speaking, man can offer nothing else: all
belongs to Him. Gratitude towards God is also an expression of a total and
joyful acceptance of whatever He gives us and the humility to accept the fact
that it is His doing and it is marvellous in our sight. The religion of pride
refuses to accept any gift of God’s grace. The Israelites, however, ought never
to forget the fact that the Covenant relationship into which they have entered
is but a relationship through grace. The Covenant was a Covenant of grace.

2. Cheerful Giving. "And pay thy vows unto the most High." The language and the
command of this Shema is very reminiscent of the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:1-25.
Deuteronomy 6:13 says:

"Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name."
The Call was to total reverence and total allegiance to Him alone. The word
"pay" is a Piel imperative conjugation, which implies that the act is to be
thorough and complete. The payment of the vow is to be cheerfully done because
what has been received was thankfully received out of His bounty.

3. Prayer. "And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee...." The
Israelites must not remember the fact that their existence was solely because
God chose them to be His own peculiar people and so had delivered them and
sustained them through the years. A pride in their own ability and strength
would only later confuse them. The assurance of the answer to prayer is made
evident by the use of "will" instead of "may". God will surely answer the call
of those who trust and wait patiently on Him.

4. Praise. "and thou shalt glorify me." The word "glorify" is a Piel imperfect
conjugation. The idea is that he act of glorifying God wasn’t meant to be
momentary but was meant to be continuing throughout life. In other words, the
delivered one becomes a living testimony of God.

True worship is not possible other than these. A person who is neither thankful,
nor owes his allegiance to God, nor prays to God, nor glorifies God in his life
cannot serve Him. He cannot worship him in spirit and in truth.

CONCLUSION The instruction of this section is marvellous. The heathen could not
comprehend this. And the saints of God should not forget it. The Covenant was
what made this relationship with the Almighty possible. God desired an
intensification of this relationship which could only be made possible by,
first, a realisation of who this God of the Covenant was. He is Sovereign.,
Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Self-Sufficient; therefore, He was never in need of
their sacrifices. What was it that made Him institute the laws of the
sacrifices? Wasn’t it not the will to maintain and deepen the Covenant
relationship? The sacrifices were only meant to signify how this relationship
was maintained. The Call is to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. The
motives must be right and must accord with the revelation of God. A life of
thankfulness, cheerful giving, prayer, and glorifying of His Name is what God
calls forth for. Thus the relationship is deepened. God, it must be noted, is
concerned with the individual and not just the masses. He is a God of care. He
is a God of relationship. And true worship is what builds this relationship up.
A thankless, grumbling, murmuring, and prayerless life cannot glorify God.
Worship and service to God becomes impossible for such kind of a person. And his
relationship with God before long comes to an end. The bullocks and the goats
were not what God required from His holy ones: it was their heart that He
desired to be offered up to him. Wasn’t that what the burnt offering signified?
Note, God doesn’t reprove them for their sacrifices. He is not rejecting them.
He only wants to tell His people that the person was more significant than his
gifts. In fact, God had no use of those offerings except that they expressed a
heart of thankfulness, dedication, trust, and adoration towards Him. He is
forever ready to accept to these gifts of theirs and answer their prayers to
Him. So that His saints would glorify Him and continue to be a living testimony
of His love in this world of pain and hopelessness.


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  CHAPTER 35: 03.03.     THE DIVINE WARNING (16-22)
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THE DIVINE WARNING (Psalms 50:16-22)

TEXT But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes,
or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?

Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. When thou
sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and thou hast been partaker with
adulterers.

Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own
mother’s son.

These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was
altogether such an one as thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in
order before thine eyes.

Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be
none to deliver.

While the addressee of the former division were the saints the addressee of this
division are referred to as "the wicked". The word "but" distinguishes this
division from the former. Thus it can be seen that "my people" was set in
contrast to "the wicked". These people, then, were not considered the people of
God; reminiscent of the prophetic illustration in Hosea 1:9. God commanded Hosea
to call his second daughter’s name Lo-ammi, which meant "not my people". This
daughter symbolised "God’s rejection of his people Israel."

"The infidelity of Gomer, Hosea’s wife, portrays the apostasy of Israel in her
covenant relationship with God. Instead of responding in gratitude and love to
God’s grace extended to them in material blessings, the Israelites used their
crops in making offerings to idols. The injustice, bribery, mistreatment of
others -- all of these reflect their laxity of love toward God as well as their
fellow citizens." The prophetic words of this Psalm of Asaph had already warned
these people to be cautious and sober almost 250 years before the word came to
Hosea. An underestimation and neglect of God and His Covenant is what ultimately
alienates man from His Creator. The neglect of the covenant is, of course,
displayed through a lifestyle which is in total rebellion to the stipulations of
the Covenant itself. Therefore, God says to the wicked: "What hast thou to do to
declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?" A
profession of an allegiance which is not in possession is what constitutes
hypocritical religiosity. Craigie understands "the wicked" as "those who know
the law but did not keep it." Delitzsch understands these to be the "manifest
sinners". He writes:

"...the divine discourse is now turned to another class, viz. to the evil-doers,
who, in connection with open and manifest sins and vices, take the word of God
upon their lips, a distinct class from those who base their sanctity upon
outward works of piety, who outwardly fulfil the commands of God, but satisfy
and deceive themselves with this outward observance."

Kidner calls them "the hardened and hypocritical" and Leupold labels them
"despisers of the Word of the Lord." Surely, their actions spoke louder than
their words. And because of this they had nothing to do with God’s Covenant. For
once they had broken the Covenant by a transgression of its stipulations, they
could no longer claim inheritance of any of its promises. The transgressor was
ridden of all rights pertaining to the Covenant and was doomed to death (for the
Covenant was a blood covenant). This, however, did not alter God’s commitment to
do His Will.

"The soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just, and do that which is
lawful and right...hath walked in my statutes, and kept my judgements, to deal
truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD."

Psalms 50:23 describes the visitation of this salvation on the just while Psalms
50:22 deals with a description of how the death penalty will be visited upon
these Covenant-breakers. But before the penalty would be effected God exposes
their wickedness and issues a warning to them. The Exposure of Their Works
(Psalms 50:17-21 a)

Psalms 50:17-21 a deal with God’s exposure of these people’s Godless actions.
The section begins with the words "Seeing" which speaks of the conspicuousness
of these works of theirs as being a very manifest evidence of and witness
against them in the Divine Court of Justice. Delitzsch did rightly call them
"manifest sinners". The description of their transgressions against the Covenant
is given as follows:

1. Rejection of His teachings. "Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my
words behind thee". As Leupold labelled them, these were surely despisers of the
Word of God. The hatred and contempt of the stipulations of the Covenant was
undoubtedly fuelled by their own lusts, pride, and the desire to be autonomous
and have everything their own way. These were chronic rebellers as is implied by
the tense of the word "castest". The word is an Hiphil imperfect conjugation and
implies that the discarding of His Law was willingly done on a regular basis.
Any attempt to correct them proved only futile since they hated correction.
These were those incorrigible and stubborn fools mentioned in the book of
Proverbs (Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 1:28-29; Proverbs 5:12-13; Proverbs
26:11;Proverbs 27:22). A student doesn’t submit to the teaching of his teacher
has no right to call him his teacher -- obviously, because he has chosen to
learn nothing from that teacher. Therefore, these ungodly men had no right to
declare the statutes of God nor to take His Covenant in their mouth.
Furthermore, one who despises a law has no authority to teach others to follow
that same law (cf. Romans 2:21).

2. Accomplice with the lawless. "When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst
with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers." The accomplice is an
accomplice by either of the ways: a. Consent. The verb is set in the imperfect
tense implying that the consent was given whenever a thief was spotted. The
wicked agreed with the moral code of the thief and thus broke the eighth
commandment of the Covenant (Exodus 20:15). b. Involvement. The Hebrew literally
reads "thy portion was with adulterers." It might be that these hypocrites were
really adulterers in the literal sense of the word. The sons of Eli were
examples of such hypocrites. It was said concerning them that they were sons of
Belial and that they knew not the LORD (1 Samuel 2:12). It could even be a
reference to spiritual adultery as pictured in the book of Hosea. These people,
by rejecting the God of their covenant by a rejection of His commands (cf.2
Samuel 12:9-10), and by intercoursing with the companions of wickedness, were
committing spiritual adultery.

3. Godless Speech. "Thou givest thy mouth to....slanderest thy mother’s son."
The Godless chatter is a consequence of submitting the mouth to the dictates of
evil itself, or of a commitment to speak evil alone. This is implied by the
perfect tense in which the word "givest" is set in. The Hebrew word for
"givest", used in the Text, literally means "sendest". The picture seems to be
that of someone sending an other with a commission to accomplish a given task.
Thus, the purpose of their tongue seems to be just one: evil. Two things flow
out of such an abandonment to evil: a. Creative deception. The speech is
deceitful. The hypocrite’s speech is incredulous and not worth any belief. If he
has been unfaithful to God what is the surety that he will be faithful to men.
"...thy tongue frameth deceit." The verb is in the imperfect tense suggesting,
perhaps, that this continual behaviour is only a result of what had already been
done earlier: the commitment to evil-talk. The tongue is said to be the one that
is framing deceit. Such an identification seems to indicate the intensity with
which the tongue was being implemented for wicked purposes. It must also be
noted that the Hebrew language often pictured the body parts as initiating a
function when to specify how the person was doing a thing. For example: "...no
eye shall see me." (Job 24:15); "...mine eye shall weep sore...." (Jeremiah
13:17); "Thy hands have made me and fashioned me...." (Psalms 119:73). Thus is
the Godless person’s deliberate and active act of deceptive speech exposed. b.
Coldblood, constant slander. "Thou sittest" indicates the cold-bloodedness of
the action. The imperfect tense in which the words "sittest" and "speakest" are
cast imply that the accusative behaviour was constantly displayed. The word
"speakest" is a Piel conjugation indicating the intensity of the slander. It
also shows that the slander was continued until its purpose be accomplished. The
gravity of this breaking of God’s ninth commandment is, further, intensified
with the modification of "thy brother" by "thine own mother’s son". The sin was
grievous. If the fellowship of the Covenant was not maintained how could the
Covenant be maintained? The contempt of the fellowship of His Covenant was a
contempt of His Covenant itself. In addition, if one couldn’t love his own
brother whom he encounters daily, how can he love God whom he cannot see (1 John
4:20).

Thus, it has been made obvious the fact that the wicked one has no inheritance
in the promises of His Covenant. In addition, it is also implied that the
transgressor of the Covenant is worth to suffer its penalty. "These things hast
thou done...." The works of the wicked have been exposed. The guilt of the
transgressor has been proven in the court of His Justice. The Exposure of Their
Thoughts (Psalms 50:21 b)

"...and I kept silence...." Earlier, we noted that the silence of God had only
served to enflame the idleness, carefreeness, and lustfulness of the wicked. The
fact was that God was patiently waiting to see if they would repent and change
their way of living.

"And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and
therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a
God of judgement: blessed are all they that wait for him." The word "kept
silence" is a Hiphil perfect conjugation. The meaning conveyed is that the
keeping of silence, of being patient, had been very persistent, perseverant, and
resolved so as to give a chance for them to bear the fruits of repentance. But
the wicked had interpreted this silence of God very differently. "thou
thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself...." The wicked were,
now, questioning the very Justice of God. The perfection of Heaven’s rule was
questioned. In effect, it was a direct mockery of His Justice, His Authority,
and His Power. The intensity and seriousness of their way of thinking is shown
by the tense of the word "thoughtest" itself, which is a Piel perfect
conjugation. They were sincerely deceived by themselves. Sin had blinded them.
Their conception of YHWH was identical to the pagan conceptions of their gods
and goddesses. They thought that He was also like them -- lenient and unjust.
God is not going to keep them in this misapprehension for too long. The
Exposition of The Fact (Psalms 50:21 c,Psalms 50:22)

"...but I will reprove thee...." The Lord had been patient, gracious, and
long-suffering: but it was time now to remind these men that the Covenant is
also a Covenant of Judgement. And Judgement belongs to the Lord. He would
reprove them, perhaps meaning that He would convict them of their sins. The
Hindi version interprets "will reprove" as "will make [you] understand". "...and
set them in order before thine eyes." The Amplified Version reads: "...and
put[the charge] in order before your eyes." The idea seems to be that till now
they had been deceived concerning the Justice of God, but now God Himself will
show them the order of His judgement after rebuking them for their foolishness.
The RSV puts it as "But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you." The
wicked are rebuked for their false way of thinking and are convicted for their
very acts of wickedness.

"Now consider this...." This is a command that must be followed. To consider is
imperative. "this" might refer to either what has been said this so far or what
is going to be told now or both. "ye that forget God...." The wicked are now
referred to as the forgetters of God. These are those who live their lives as if
God is not there, or if He is He is bothered about them. The word God, in the
Hebrew Text, is Eloah which ’comes from "Ahlah"(to worship, to adore), and thus
presents God as the one supreme object of worship; the Adorable One.’ These
people had forgotten the only Adorable One. They were being irreverent and
disobedient towards Him. The consequences of such insolence can only be very
terrible. He continues, "...lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to
deliver." Surely, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God." If the God of the Covenant Himself turns against them then who can
deliver? Years later, lamenting on the desolation that had fallen on Jerusalem
because of her unfaithfulness to the God of the Covenant, the writer of the book
of Lamentations expresses the grief of Jerusalem as follows:

"For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because
the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are
desolate, because the enemy prevailed."

Jerusalem would not have had to lament so if the Divine warning, in Psalm 50,
had been heeded to earlier. They didn’t, and they suffered the consequences
thereof. The description of the Judgement as through tearing in pieces has
allusions to the event of the making of the Covenant. The penalty of breaking
any blood covenant, it has been pointed out, would be the tearing apart of the
defaulter in the same manner in which the animal, through which the blood
covenant was made, was torn apart for the shedding of the blood. Craigie
considers the language as metaphorically referring to God as the fierce lion who
would tear apart evil doers (cf. Hosea 5:14).

CONCLUSION

Honesty is vital and indispensable to the maintenance of any relationship. God
did not make a covenant with the Israelites because of their quality, but
because of His own great love. They did not choose Him; it was He who had chosen
them to be a people unto Himself. The stipulations of the Covenant were only for
the good of the people (Deuteronomy 10:13). God is loving but He is also Just.
He is forever truthful to His promise of the Covenant. It was the transgressor
of the Covenant who would suffer the penalty. Those who forsake the Lord by the
breaking of His Covenant will be forsaken by Him (Deuteronomy 31:16-17). And
when God turns against someone in the fiery wrath of His Justice, who can
deliver that one? The despiser of Moses’ Law, the Covenant, suffered the penalty
of death, how much more the one who despised the very blood of the Covenant of
Jesus Christ? The writer of Hebrews says:

’A man who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy at the testimony of
two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved
by the man who has spurned the Son of God, and profaned the blood of the
covenant by which he was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? For we
know him who said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay." And again, "The Lord will
judge his people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God.’ The grace of God has only been made available to us because of the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord. One can forfeit the blessings of this grace
by simply proving by his lifestyle that he owes no allegiance to Christ any
longer. The Covenant of Grace is also the Covenant of Judgement. The Divine
warning must not be left unheeded. Covetousness, deception, fornication, and
slander of a brother-in-Christ is nothing but an expression of a heart which has
no reverence for either God or the relationship which one could have with Him
through the blood of His Covenant. That is the reason why the writer of Hebrews
says:

"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and
thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe; for our God
is a consuming fire." May this Divine Warning only serve us to the
intensification and deepening of a love, worship, reverence, and awe which is
acceptable and pleasing in His sight!


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  CHAPTER 36: 03.04.     THE DIVINE POSTCRIPT (23)
========================================================================

THE DIVINE POSTSCRIPT

(Psalms 50:23)

TEXT Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his
conversation aright will I show the salvation of God.

"Whoso offereth praise...." The Speaker, of course, is God. The latter part of
the sentence, "I will show the salvation of God," almost suggests Asaph or the
singer of the Psalm as being the one who offers to show the salvation of God.
But the context doesn’t support such an interpretation. Nowhere in the Psalm is
the psalmist speaking with a first person personal pronoun. In addition, the
sudden intrusion of an other speaker in the scene, while God himself is
speaking, doesn’t seem appropriate. Furthermore, such usage of His own Name
while addressing is not novel to God. For example, in Exodus 31 He uses the
phrases "spirit of God"(Exodus 31:3), "holy to the LORD" (Exodus 31:15), and
"the LORD made"(Exodus 31:17) while Himself addressing Moses. It is concluded,
therefore, that Psalms 50:23 is a Divine Postscript to all that has been said
heretofore. The Divine Postscript enumerates and calls for two things as
pleasing Him. They are:

1. A God-Honouring and God-Glorifying Sacrifice 2. A Righteous and Preparatory
Walk

1. A God-Honouring and God-Glorifying Sacrifice. "Whoso offereth praise
glorifieth me...." The word "offereth" is a Qal active participle and indicates
continued action the call is for an habitual and constant sacrifice of praise.
The word for "praise" is also translated as "thanksgiving" (RSV & The Amplified
Version) and "thank-offerings" (NIV); the word for "glorifieth", as "honours"
(The Amplified Version, RSV, & NIV). A constant, instant, persistent, and
abundant offering of praise is what constitutes a real God-honouring and
God-glorifying sacrifice.

2. A Righteous and Preparatory Walk. "...And to him that ordereth his
conversation aright will I show the salvation of God." The italicised words, as
can be noticed, are not found in the original Text. The phrase "that
ordereth...conversation", in the Hebrew, literally means "that disposeth way."
The RSV translates it: "...to him who orders his way aright...." while the
Amplified Version puts it : "...and he who orders his way aright -- who prepares
the way that I may show him...." The NIV knits it with the former text to mean
that the offerer of thank-offerings prepares the way for God to show him His
salvation. The call is, evidently, for a perfect and upright walk before the God
of Covenant. This walk mingled with a heart of thankfulness and praise to God is
what opens the door for God to demonstrate His salvation. The preparation of the
way for God to show His salvation has also got a prophetic significance. 1
Samuel 7:3 indicates two things as requisites for returning with all the heart
to the Lord: a. Abandonment and destruction of all false gods. b. Preparation of
the heart or direction of the heart to the Lord. c. Service to Him alone.

Then and after doing that only could they experience the deliverance of the
Lord. The call to prepare the way of the LORD in Isaiah 40:3 also gives insight
into the prophetic significance of the text. Matthew saw it as a prophetic
fulfilment in John the Baptist (Matthew 3:3): John preached repentance. The word
"to repent", in the Greek, meant "to change the way of thinking." The
Interpreter’s Bible comments:

’The word "repent" implies a radical change of mind. It looks to the past in
honesty and remorse, and then in a rightabout-face it looks to the future in
resolve on a new way of life.’ The call to prepare one’s way through repentance
and seeking of the face of the Lord, thus ordering one’s way aright, is an
opportunity to renew one’s fellowship with the Lord. The hypocrite is still
given a chance. The call is also a signification of the salvation by grace which
was about to come through the incarnation and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It was He who chose us and not we by ourselves. And He did that
"according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his
grace; wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." He who offers
thanksgivings, therefore, with a grateful acceptance of His gift and will in his
life, glorifies and honours God. And he who thus walks in accordance to his
confession prepares the way for the demonstration of the salvation of God.

CONCLUSION The Divine Postscript was truly, as Craigie also notes, a
re-emphasising of the Call to true worship in Psalms 50:14 and Psalms 50:15. The
offerings and feasts would lose their significance once the people forgot the
place and meaning of these in the Covenant relationship. They were only
momentary rituals and celebrations to commemorate, emphasise, and signify the
life-long relationship. The relationship was more important than the ritual.
Wasn’t that the reason why Abraham was commanded by the Lord to walk before Him,
and be perfect (Genesis 17:1)? Then would the promise of the Covenant
materialise. The Israelites had to remember that honesty, sincerity, and
faithfulness were crucial to the maintenance of the covenant relationship. Of
course, they were chosen to be His peculiar treasure not because of their own
ability and quality, but because of His own great love and grace. But they were
chosen to be His people, to be subjects of His rule. They were not chosen
because of their good works; but were chosen to good works: to be distinct in
life, thought, conduct, and speech. They were his saints. The observance of the
Law would only show how much they honoured, loved, and revered Him. Their
offerings of thanksgivings would tell the Lord that all they were and had, in
this Covenant relationship, was His and because of Him alone. Their walk of
integrity would show that now they were not their own, and that it was no longer
going to be their own way: His will was paramount in their lives. Such a
maintenance of the Covenant relationship would prepare the way for the promise
of the Covenant to be fulfilled in their lives. They could now stand still and
see the Salvation of God. As Christians, we too need to understand and recognise
the supremacy of His Good-Will in our lives. We were saved not by our own works
but by His grace, unto good works (Ephesians 2:10). We must be thankful to God
for His "unspeakable gift"(2 Corinthians 9:15), and "walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith" we are called (Ephesians 4:1).


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  CHAPTER 37: 03.05.     CONCLUSION
========================================================================

CONCLUSION The significance of Psalm 50 has been very well summed up by Peter C.
Craigie as follows: "Just as the covenant was the very heart of the religion of
Israel, so too Psalm 50 lies at the heart of the meaning of the covenant." The
reality of the access of sinful men to the presence of God is not a thing that
must be lightly estimated. Often man forgets the gravity of this truth. Man is
forever doomed by his own sinfulness to eternal separation from God. It was His
grace and provision that has brought us closer to Him. A price was paid. In the
Old Testament, it was the sacrifice of the animal, which was but a portrayal of
the great sacrifice that was going to occur in the fullness of time. Most often,
we as Christians lose the sense of sublimity, gravity, and significance
associated with this sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ that bridged the gap for
us to gain access into the presence of the Father. It often happened so with the
Israelites. It happened with Moses. He got so familiar with God that, perhaps,
he thought that God need not need to be obeyed verbatim. He struck the rock
twice when, in actuality, he was commanded just to speak to it (Numbers
20:2-12). He had to learn that obedience has no substitute. Saul had to learn
this lesson: "...to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat
of rams." The sacrifices and offerings were meaningless to God without the
heart-attitude of gratitude towards what all He had done to them in His gracious
disposition. They were even more worthless if they were not attended by an act
of remorse and repentance of all unworthy acts and thoughts, and a decision to
live according to His will. The Greek word for worship is proskuneo (its
counterpart in the Hebrew being shachah). And it means "to fall down, prostrate
oneself, adore on one’s knees...do obeisance." It denotes reverence to,
submission to, and adoration of the one worshipped. And where these qualities
are not included in the act of ’worship’, ’worship’ becomes only an
empty-shell-word. The other word for worship, in the Greek, is latreia, and
"relates to the worship by priestly service that every believer can now offer to
God through prayer and personal adoration." It is when His will and service
become our happiness that worship actually takes place.

Psalm 50 explicitly declares that a confession of our gratitude to Him for all
that He had done in our lives, a cheerful giving out of all that He had given to
us, a prayer of faith and trust in Him alone is what God desires as the true
service to Him. This dynamic relationship shows that we are the people of a
living God and positions us as living witnesses of His marvellous deliverance in
this dark and dying world. The essence of worship lies in the recognition of
God’s character and an understanding of our relationship with Him. We were not
worth it at all. It was only by His grace that we are brought nigh into His
presence. An honest adoration of Him through an expression of praise and
gratitude in speech, and an expression of love through the observance of His
commands is what constitutes real worship. This is how Archbishop William Temple
summed up the meaning of worship:

"Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God, it is the quickening of
conscience by His holiness, nourishment of mind by His truth, purifying of
imagination by His beauty, opening of the heart to His love, submission of will
to His purpose, all this gathered up in adoration; it is the greatest of
expressions of which we human beings are capable. Let me take that all and put
it in one statement: worship is the sense and the service of God." The knowledge
of God and His will with a sense of responsibility are vital to our relationship
with Him. The wicked, in Psalm 50, underestimated this. They limited God in
their thinking and became lax and frivolous in their actions, speech, and
thoughts. God reproves them for that and warns them of the impending Judgement.
They had taken the Covenant of Grace lightly and needed to be taught that this
Covenant was also a Covenant of Judgement. He who breaks the Covenant will bear
its consequences but he who offers praise and thanksgivings to God honours and
glorifies Him; and he who walks according to His will prepares the way for the
manifestation of the salvation of God.

Psalm 50 is, surely, a very instructive Psalm. It displays the factuality of the
truth that "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God," the gravity of the command "Thou shalt not tempt the
Lord thy God," and the imperativeness of the call "Thou shalt worship the Lord
thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." God desires His people to worship Him
-- to love, adore, praise, thank, and serve Him with a total submission of
themselves to His will. The twenty-four elders, in the book of Revelation, are
shown as falling down before God and worshipping Him and casting down their
crowns before His throne, saying,

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour, and power: for thou hast
created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." For every
beast of the forest is His, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. He knows all
the fowls of the mountains. The world is his, and the fullness thereof. He alone
is worthy of all praise, honour, and glory. He alone is worthy of all worship.
Man can give nothing to Him except worship. God is not desirous of vain-glory.
He is worthy of all glory.

’God did not need thanksgiving to bolster his own self-esteem, as if (in the
words of C. S. Lewis) he were "like a vain woman wanting compliments, or a vain
author presenting his new books to people who had never met him or heard of
him"[Reflections on the Psalms,79]. God wanted thanksgiving, for that in turn
emerged from human lives full of joy; it was the joyful lives of the covenant
members, expressed so vividly in the sacrifices and the words of the ceremony,
which fulfilled in God the richness of relationship which he had given to his
people.’ The significance of worship is well summed up by Jack Hayford in the
following words:

’God requires no more of us in our doubts than He did of those early apostles.
He only calls us to worship; to offer up all glory, honor, and praise...

’For it is there, as we exalt and lift up on high the Name of Jesus, that doubts
like shadows will fade away.

’For it is there that His power will be poured out like new wine; and that
Kingdom Authority will freshly flow through us.

’For it is there that Jesus Who died, now glorified, will be revealed among us
in all His Majesty.

’So, MAGNIFY, come GLORIFY Christ Jesus the King -- WORSHIP HIS MAJESTY!’

Let us , therefore, offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is,
the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His Name. May we not forget to do good
and to communicate: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. And may the
God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great
Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant, make us
perfect in every good work to do His will, working in us that which is
well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and
ever. Amen (Hebrews 13:15-16, Hebrews 13:20-21).


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  CHAPTER 38: 03.06.     BIBLIOGRAPHY
========================================================================

BIBLIOGRAPHY Archer, Gleason L. A Survey of Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press,
1994) Baker, Warren, Gen.ed. The Complete Word Study Old Testament (TN: AMG
Publishers,1994) Barnes, Albert. Notes On The Old Testament; Psalms, vol.1
(Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996) Baxter, J. Sidlow Explore The Book (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1998) Craigie, Peter C. Word Biblical Commentary, vol.19,
Pss.1-50 (Texas: Word Books, 1983)

Delitzsch, F. Commentary On The Old Testament, vol.5, Psalms; Trs. James Martin
(Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991) Exell, Joseph S.The
Biblical Illustrator, The Psalms, vol.1 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1977)
Gemeren, Willem A. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol.5, Psalms (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1991) Hargreaves, John. A Guide To Psalms (Delhi: ISPCK,
1997)

Hayford, Jack W. Worship His Majesty! Part 1, adapted for ACTS by Dr. Robert
Frost and Frank & Wendy Parrish, ACTS 2000, India Edition, vol. 28/ No.3; CA:
World MAP, July/ August/ September 2000 Hill, Gary. The Discovery Bible
(Chicago: Moody Press, 1987) Hinson, David F. History of Israel (Delhi: ISPCK,
1997) Hinson, David F. The Books Of The Old Testament, rev.ed. (Delhi: ISPCK,
1997) Hinson, David F. Theology Of The Old Testament, (Delhi: ISPCK, 1996)

Jamieson, Robert; Fauset, A.R.; Brown, David. Commentary On The Whole Bible
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1961)

Jones, William. The Preacher’s Complete Homiletic Commentary On The Book Of
Psalms, vol.1, Psalms 39-87 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1974) Kidner, Derek
Tyndale OT Commentaries, Psalm1-72 (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973) Leupold,
H.C. Exposition Of The Psalms (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981) Martin,
Raymon A.An Introduction To Biblical Hebrew (Bangalore: Theological Publications
In India, 1998) Nilson, Sten. The Blood Covenant ( Bombay: Word of life
Publications, 1998) Smith, Jerome H, ed. The New Treasury Of Scripture Knowledge
(Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1992) Spurgeon, C.H. The Treasury Of
David, vol.1, Psalm 1-57 (Massachusetts: Hendrickson,_).


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  CHAPTER 39: 04.00. THREE MAJOR RELIGIONS
========================================================================

THREE MAJOR RELIGIONS An Introduction to Religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, and
Islam Domenic Marbaniang


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 40: 04.01.     ORIGIN OF RELIGIONS
========================================================================

ORIGIN OF RELIGIONS The subject of the origin of religions is not free from
debate. Perspectives differ along presuppositions. Even the scientific versions
are not beyond dispute. Novel discoveries are forcing us to re-examine these
scientific theories of religion that were considered to be axiomatic.

Much of the problem involved in the study of pre-literary religions arises
because of the lack of sufficient historical information dating back to the time
when religion began. What all we have that can give actual information dares
from the literary period (c. 3000 BC) — the time when the great civilizations
were rising and priesthood was being developed with the building of temples,
idols, altars, and scriptures.

Archaeological findings dating to the time before the literary period do give
some idea, but the interpretations cannot be considered conclusive, since they
lack absolute evidence – i.e., evidence that proves the interpretations as being
beyond doubt. A stone ’altar’ might not have really been an altar after all.
Though the various religious scriptures give some idea of the kind of religion
practiced by their respective adherents, each of them differ in at least some
way from each other in their descriptions of the origin of religion.

Robert Brow cannot be considered wrong when he answers the question "What was
the first religion of man?" with the statement: "Answers to this question differ
widely and depend very much on what view is taken of man’s origin." A
polytheistic view, for instance, would opt for a polytheistic approach to
religious history. An evolutionist would view religion as an evolved or evolving
system. The disagreement among the accounts intensifies the problem even more.
Formerly, most would have chosen to cling fundamentally to their own religious
tradition; but with the advent of Darwinism and the new ideological shift it
provided, the intellectual climate was challenged. Darwin’s naturalistic
evolutionism provided a newer perspective and way of approach. Herbert Spencer
applied the idea of evolution not just to biology but also to psychology,
sociology, religion, and ethics. Thus the evolutionary process of religion was
charted as from animism to polytheism to monotheism, pantheism, and monism. The
evolutionist viewpoint begins with the view that man evolved from a pre-simian
ancestor. And so, since animals have no religion, a long period of apish chatter
and fear of the unknown marked the trail towards the first religion "animatism".
"Animatism," a "belief in a vague, potent, terrifying inscrutable force"
preceded "animism," the spirit-fearing religion of tribals. Out of animism arose
polytheism, when the nature-spirits began to be attributed with
personality—intellect, emotions, and volition. Evolutionists believe that a
certain form of polytheism divided the many gods hierarchically: one god was
exalted above all the other gods in some way. Then each tribe began giving
allegiance to a particular tribal god until monotheism was formed. Some
philosophers (especially in India) began so deep an inward search that they
ended up in abstractions concluding that Truth was beyond the domain of senses
and could only be realized through self-abnegation. Pantheism and monism arose
as a result. The scientific garb worn by evolutionism greatly attracted and
influenced scholars of most disciplines. It appeared to be proved, factual, and
correct. In the west, the struggle to resolve the conflict between science and
religion was tentatively solved by Wellhausen’s documentary hypothesis, which
attempted to interpret the Pentateuch to fit in with the evolutionary theory of
history. Wellhausen’s theory has now, however, been discredited and discarded by
most scholars. The archaeological findings and writings of early historical
period give evidence of a monotheistic religion with priestly practices. Wilhelm
Schmidt of Vienna and anthropologists led by him have shown that hundreds of
tribes around the world do not follow animism as their original religion. But
most of them have a faint picture of a ’high-god,’ a benign father-creator-god,
who seems to be almost forgotten, so transcendent and so alienated that he is no
longer feared. In place of him have come spirits that are dreaded and sought to
appease. In other words, animism was not preceded by animatism, but it was
preceded by monotheism. Religion has not evolved; it had degraded. The
hypothesis of evolution is also not beyond controversy. It has scientific and
rational as well as historical problems involved in it. That is one of the
reasons why we can contend that the biblical answer is not to be so easily
dismissed as outdated. It has already been shown how anthropological researches
have indicated that monotheism may be more naturally primitive as a world-view
than animism. Thus, it is arbitrary to just state that religion has evolved,
without considerations for other viewpoints and evidences. The multiplication of
evidence against the theory that religion originated in the fear of the dark
unknown, feeling of dependence, and apish chatter and evolved into animism,
polytheism, and consequentially, monotheism and monism; and the growing evidence
in support of religion as having first started as monotheism and later degraded
to polytheism, animism, and pantheism forces us to reconsider the biblical
vantage point.

Turning to the biblical viewpoint, we see that God created the first man in His
own image and likeness – i.e., as a rational, moral, volitional, and spiritual
being – and began to have fellowship with him. Thus began the first religion as
a relationship between God and man. The fall of man in disobedience to God’s
commandment brought in the element of sacrifice. Later, descendents of Adam
began to depart from the original concept of God, and the more they departed
away the more distorted their conception of God, of human life, and human
responsibility became. After the confusion of languages at Babel, people became
divided rapidly into nations by languages and families (Genesis 10:5). Paul’s
theological interpretation of this historical event was that God "made of one
blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth, and determined
the times before appointed, and bounds of their habitations; that they should
seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him." (Acts
17:26-27). This division of clans and communities prevented faster spread of
religious degeneration as it had, earlier to the flood. Religious degeneration
was also checked by the destruction of the tribe or ethnic group that
degenerated in its morality. This is a well-witnessed fact of history.
Immorality weakens a tribe to such an extent that it falls prey to invading
tribes, thus bringing disaster on itself.

Signs of a system of sacrifice in pre-literary religion seem to be almost every
where. But a clear interpretation of their purpose is not very easy. Only data
dating from the literary period is of substantial help. Prehistory gives proof
for none of the theories. That is to say, what may be considered as proof for
one theory of religious history can also be interpreted as proof for an other.
In addition, how do we even know that the objects had religious significance in
the first place? And so whatever evidence we have dates from the time when
religion had come a long way from its first and original state. By the time
religion began, it had already developed a system of priesthood, place of
worship, etc. therefore, since we can obtain no absolute proof for even our
hypothesis of the origin of religion, we may, on recourse to reason opt for the
biblical account as our starting point. Monotheism explains several historical
facts that are intractable on the evolution of religion hypothesis.

Traces of the sacrificial system can be found in ancient religion. Sacrifice was
a means of approaching God or gods. The nomadic Aryan tribes who invaded the
Indus and Ganges plains brought along with them to India the practice of
sacrifice. After their settlement in India they developed a regular priesthood,
and the Vedas were born during this period. The Vedas are hymns chanted during
the sacrifice. The hymns address God as ’the sun,’ ’the heavenly one,’ ’the
storm.’ And no matter whatever name was given to God, He was worshipped as the
supreme ruler of the universe. This practice is referred to as henotheism.
Later, henotheism changed into polytheism when the various names were
personified to form various gods. And so, by 1000 BC, it is understood that the
Vedic religion had become polytheistic; whereas, in its earliest forms it has an
appearance of being monotheistic.

Attention may be focussed at the origin of the various names of God while
discussing the origin of religions. The Creator-God has been called by various
names in different nations. At first he was referred to as Dyaus Pitar (’divine
father’) which is the same as the Greek Zeus Pater, the Latin Jupiter or Deus,
the early German Tiu or Ziu, and Norse Tyr. He was also known as ’the heavenly
one’ (Sanskrit Varuna, Greek Ouranos), or ’the friend’ (Sanskrit mitra, Persian
mithra). He was also, later, referred to as ’the fire’ (Sanskrit agni, Latin
ignis, Greek hagnos) which was crucial to the sacrificial event. As time went
by, stories and myths increased in these religions. Polytheism went rampant and
deities were identified in the forms of terrestrial creatures. Sex was added to
worship in the fertility cult with a host of superstitious beliefs. Monotheism
having degenerated into polytheism, the religious situation got worse and worse
until, finally, monotheism became almost untraceable. However, monotheism didn’t
totally vanish from the face of the earth. Some groups still worshipped the one
true God.

Priests had become significant to religion because of the mediatory role they
played between God and man. Ancient India, China, Egypt, classical Greece, Rome,
and many other civilizations found priesthood emerging in their religions. The
priests performed the religious rites, ceremonies, and sacrifices. Later, this
priesthood degenerated into priestcraft with all its malicious and rapacious
depravedness. Rituals increased with time and apparent need. Writings, hymns,
collections, etc., came into being. Thus originated religion, which still keeps
going on.

We can summarize the account of the origin of religion by stating that it began,
as far as it seems reasonable to assume, with the creation of man and his first
understanding of God as the Almighty Creator God. This form of pure monotheism,
however, began degenerating by the impact of sin into polytheism and other forms
that expressed separation from God. The Concept of God, Nature, Fear, and
Salvation in Pre-Literary Religions As to what the pre-literary-era man
conceived of God is also open to discussion as has already been seen. The
evolutionist would say that God was once conceived of as the dark unknown, then
as forces of nature, then as spirits, gods, and lately – towards the beginning
of literature-- as the transcendent God. But the biblical perspective suggests
something very different. Anyway, resorting to archaeological findings becomes
necessary once information regarding pre-literary religion is sought. The
interpretation of archaeological findings is not so easy. Pre-literary and
pre-history are synonymous since pre-historic period refers to the period before
recorded history. The period of interpretation of pre-historic materials is the
difficulty one faces when ascertaining whether an object was used for religious
purposes or for something else. Pre-historic source materials include the
following:

Burial places and burial finds,

Deposition of offerings,

Representation of deities, spirits, and cultic figures (carved idols, reliefs,
rock paintings, etc.),

Remains of constructions with religious associations, such as altars, temples,
or foundations of world pillars.

The pre-historic period has been divided into

The Paleolithic – Old Stone Age. Historians consider the people of this period
to be hunters, food-gatherers, and fishers.

The Neolithic – New Stone Age (c. 10,000 BC). During this period the hunters
began turning into farmers.

Viewing from the monotheistic viewpoint, we may infer that the people of the
Paleolithic period regarded God as the one who protected them and helped them in
their hunting episodes. Following the monotheistic theory (that religion
degenerated from monotheism to all of its other forms), we may assume that this
God of the hunters became very significant only to the utilitarianistic purposes
of later generations. That is to say, He was worshipped not for relationship but
for benefit. For example, bear skulls found in Drachenloch cave in Switzerland
seem to indicate that the dead bears’ skulls were so buried in stone coffins
because it was believed that the dead animal will return to life, or persuade
its relatives to make themselves available to the hunter. If this plausible
’cultic interpretation’ is true then it indicates not only how much the concept
of God had fallen down but also how low the need of worship and its quality had
come down. From 30,000 – 10,000 BC spans the Upper Paleolithic Age. The way the
bodies were buried during this period gives evidence of a clear belief in life
after death. Also during this time the cult of the mother-goddess appeared. The
idols have very distorted features with the breasts, hips, and sexual parts
excessively enlarged. This emphasis on the private parts is a sure evidence of
religion degenerating into a kind of naturalism – fertility cults. The concept
of hunting magic might also have appeared during this period as is indicated by
the cave paintings. If it was so the concept of a Transcendent, All-powerful,
Sovereign God was delimited now to a power that could be tapped in by formulas.

It is certain that man was very fearful of natural forces that could be
hazardous to his survival. And so he was turning more and more to the mercy of
nature, which he personified in many forms. The Neolithic Period (from 10,000
BC) is the period during which objects of stones are not found as chipped but as
grounded and polished. During this period, producing replaced hunting. Warm
weather and fast melting ice characterize the climate. Farming and village life
are established. Pottery, weaving, and agriculture come to scene. Dogs and goats
are domesticated. Death and burial beliefs appear. Graves have been found with
gifts in them; probably, indicating a certain kind of belief in life after
death. Fertility rites also abound. Temples appear with altars, vases, etc.,
inside. The megalithic monuments, dolmens, and menhirs indicate that the
priesthood had also indulged in astrology and magic. Superstitions and religious
rituals might as well have begun to abound with further leanings towards magic,
taboos, totems, and witchcraft. The interpretations are, however, only
probabilities. The temples became the places of sacrifice. Salvation-beliefs may
be divided into salvation-present and salvation-future. Salvation-present was
survival-oriented and was sought by appeasing gods and goddesses and also by
nature worship. Salvation-future was for the peace of the soul after death. The
family members buried their dead one with gifts that would give him/her comfort.
There are a varied possibilities of interpretations, however. In short,
pre-historic religion with its concept of God, fear, nature, salvation might be
considered to be much superstitious and utilitarianistic arising from a fear of
the natural forces and the instinct for survival. Anyway, we should not presume
that our hypothesis is the final.

Finally, the Bible believing Christian can find many anthropological proofs for
the fact that the first religion was monotheistic, which later degraded to
polytheism, pantheism, and such isms that bear marks of departure from the true
revelation of God (Romans 1:18 ff).


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  CHAPTER 41: 04.02.     CHRISTIAN VIEW OF OTHER RELIGIONS
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CHRISTIAN VIEW OF OTHER RELIGIONS What Should Be Our Attitude to People of Other
Faiths The Bible demands us to respect every human as one created in the image
of God. Each life is precious. Each person is significant. And Christ died for
all humanity. This, however, does not mean accepting their ways of worship. It
is acceptance of the person, not of his beliefs. But people who are dangerous to
society must be handovered to law. And Christians should contribute towards the
Judicial, Executive, and Legislative administration of their nations. This, in
order that all humans might live peacefully.

There are chiefly three theological perspectives regarding world religions:
exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism. Exclusivism maintains that the truth is
only found in the Biblical revelation of faith; inclusivism holds that people of
different faiths can also be saved because of Jesus Christ, though they do not
know Jesus Christ; pluralism regards all religions as equally valid ways to God.

Many Evangelical Christians look at the people of other faiths as those who are
lost and are in need of the Savior. This calls for a heart of compassion, love,
and sympathy. This also calls for action. Extremities of traditionalism, not
endorsed by the Bible, which might be very offensive to non-christians must be
avoided. All that is a stumbling block and hindrance to people from coming to
Christ must be abandoned. This is an obvious exclusivist position. But, this
must not be equated with fundamentalism. The pluralists and the inclusivists, by
stating their positions as right, also posit an another exclusivist position. In
fact, on matters pertaining to truth, exclusivism is inescapable. Truth is
unique, divisive, and paramount. The truthfulness of the Christian Gospel is not
only evident but also consequentially very beneficial to all humans in the
present. Therefore, it must be preached. Thus the exclusivist attitude is
totally contrary to the fundamentalist extremism that is often characterized by
intolerance, hatred, and gives rise to terroristic activities. The Christian
exlusivist attitude is open to the truth. Therefore, no man must preach the
Gospel unless he is sure of the power of the Holy Spirit working in his own life
and making him God’s witness. Jesus Himself commanded His disciples to wait till
they received power from above after the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).
The actual working of the Spirit in a believer’s life and evangelistic pursuits
provides reasonable ground for him to proclaim Christ as the exclusive source of
salvation. The fruit of the Spirit is anti-terroristic (Galatians 4:22-23).
Divine wisdom is open to reason (James 3:17). This means that to have a really
Christian attitude towards people of other religions is to appreciate the
goodness in them, be ready to work along with them for beneficiary purposes and
at the same time have a heart of compassion to win them to Christ by love. No
man an be a Christian by fear or by greed. Self-desiring is anti-christian.
Therefore, the attitude of a Christian towards people of other religions must be
an attitude which Christ had for them: of love, compassion, respect, and passion
to rescue them from the bondage of Satan, sickness, and sin. A Christian is
different from a non-christian as far as beliefs are concerned. But this doesn’t
argue for discriminations on the basis of religion. Even Christians are divided
among themselves on matters of doctrine. The Christian who is confident that he
has the truth must strive to preach that truth in love. Superiority complexes
and colonial spirit must be avoided since they are anti-christian. Pride leads
to tensions and intolerance. A Christian should understand that if he knows the
truth it is only by grace, and this should make him more humble. If it were not
for the grace of God then the Christian himself would have been in the position
of the one he judges. Man is man whether he is a Christian or a Hindu. The same
temptations that a non-christian faces are the temptations that a Christian
faces. And there is possibility of the Christian himself falling from faith. So,
let us look at men as those created in God’s image and those for whom Christ
died.

How God Blesses People of Other Religions Biblically speaking, God’s blessings
on the people of the earth can be divided into two general categories:

General Blessings on everyone.

Specific Blessings on His Covenant people.

It is an understood fact that no man deserves any of the blessings of God. All
blessings that man gets from God is only by grace, and arises out of some kind
of a covenant act initiated by God Himself. Thus, even the former general
blessings also are not apart from some kind of a God initiated covenant. The
covenant people are those who have bound themselves to God by a covenant God
Himself has initiated. According to the Bible, the Jews and the Christians fall
under this category. The Mosaic and the Palestinian Covenants with the Jews had
different ramifications than the New Covenant by Jesus Christ with His
followers. The Davidic Covenant directly referring to the reign of Jesus Christ
has implications for both. We can’t explore each of them right here. But the
point to be made is that both the Jews and the Christians are entitled to the
privileges that the people of other religions are not entitled to. History
testifies to the fact that the Israelites have experienced many miracles as a
nation. This is nothing but the blessing of God in their lives, which comes not
just as protection but also as fruitfulness, success, development, and victory
over enemies. Christians experience the blessings of the New Covenant here on
earth and expect to experience greater blessings in the coming Kingdom.
Christians have the forgiveness of sins, the rights of sonship, the authority
over demons, over sickness, and over adversities. They have the promise of
answered prayers and host of other blessings as a result of Christ’s Covenant
with them. The General blessings result out of the covenants made with Adam and
Noah. These covenants are unconditional and are relevant to all humans. The
Edenic Covenant with Adam in Genesis 1:28-30, gives humans authority over all
creation and authorizes them to eat of every herb and tree. God reiterates the
covenant in the covenant with Noah and his descendants in Genesis 9:1-29. An
additional item of this reiteration is that all the creatures will fear humans
and every living thing was made available as food for humans, in addition to
vegetation. God blesses man to be fruitful, multiply, bring forth abundantly on
the earth, and multiply therein (Genesis 9:7). I believe that the recent
population explosion is a blessing. Mankind can never be totally wiped out of
existence, even by themselves, apart from God’s will. But then God goes on to
state that that He would never again destroy mankind as a whole again by flood
(Genesis 9:11). The token of this covenant is the rainbow (Genesis 9:13). The
covenant also institutionalizes Human Government. "Whoso sheddeth man’s blood,
by man shall his blood be shed" (Genesis 9:6). This, in a way, was not left to
man alone to be carried out, but was originally backed by God Himself. This
blessing of Justice is a clearly observable fact. What one sows is what one
reaps. When a viper wound around Paul’s wrist at Malta, the people said among
themselves "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the
sea, yet vengeance (dike – God of Justice) suffereth not to live" (Acts 28:4,
parenthesis mine). Thus, God’s Justice as a blessing is seen as an experience of
all humans.

God’s blessings include all that work towards and facilitate human well being
and prosperity on earth. The blessings of Justice is given for the preservation
and well being of human life. Without which man would have destroyed his own
species.

Jesus Himself said that God "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the evil
and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45).
Thus, we see God as blessing the people of the earth with everything necessary
for the continuation of life. It is only the social, economic, and political
boundaries that man has built up, in addition to his own sinful and selfish
pursuits, that lead to the state of distress and poverty in the world. Other
curses of sin like sickness and death also prevail and hinder God’s blessings on
the people. However, justice through various means is also dealt on the
transgressors as emphasized in the Bible. God punishes the evil doers by
withdrawing His blessings of goodness, thus allowing famine; by withdrawing His
protection, thus allowing the enemies to prevail; by punishing by pestilence (1
Chronicles 21:12). History is a witness to the fact that all those races that
had reached a level of moral degeneration that was intolerable and dangerous
were in a way or the other, often by one of the ways listed above, exterminated.

Thus, God’s blessings on the people of other religions are for their well being
while on earth. He also protects them in order to give them a chance to accept
His Son, Jesus Christ, and thus become partakers of the heavenly blessings of
the New Covenant. The Significance of The Study of Major Religions The study of
major religions of the world does help me to become both a better human being
and a better follower of my own faith.

After studying briefly the various major religions of the world, I could realize
the universality of this quest for meaning and the eternal, despite of the many
scientific developments. The further development of religions is an indication
that even though we have developed materially we still are in need to develop
spiritually. The dissatisfaction inside and search for fulfillment is well
reflected in the way the various religions are followed. The realization of this
human condition spurs me even more on the search for the truth. Even as a
Christian I realize that there are still many questions that are left
unanswered. This, probably, helps me to be more spiritually oriented and thus be
a better human being. It is amazing to find how great a role worship and belief
play in a religion. Faith in a God is indispensable to life. Tolstoy said that
it was faith that gave him meaning in life. Perhaps, this understanding of the
significance of faith could only be realized after studying the pathos of people
of other religions.

I believe that if every individual man and woman studied the major religions
with an open mind they would grow to learn to respect each other and relate to
each other in ways that are more efficient. This would surely help them to be
better humans. I think that instead of remaining in my own well and desiring to
limit everything to and bringing everything in to it, one must get out of that
well, survey the whole expanse of human spiritual experience. This would surely
help him to be more sympathetic to his fellow humans. I am not encouraging here
compromise. I only am emphasizing the need of a knowledge of other religions for
an understanding of the human quest for spirituality, the human quest for
salvation, and what that means to me as a human myself. A study of the major
religions also helps me to become a better follower of my own faith. By studying
the major religions, I sense the need of studying my own religion more deeply.
This, in order that I may find myself in a sure ground when proclaiming to other
people that my faith is the truth. To say that I know the truth does seem to be
ambitious and to say that I do not know the truth seems to be humble enough to
many in this post-modern world, which follows the rule that absolute truth
cannot be known. But one who has tasted and proved the truth must equip himself
must also be ready to prove and confirm the truthfulness of his testimony. That
is what makes a witness a witness. This forces me to study my faith more deeply.

After observing the plurality of religions, I am also forced to be committed to
the truth that I know follow it more diligently. I understand that if I didn’t
do so I would not be able to proclaim to these searchers of truth the truth that
I know. Unless I believe and practice my faith how can I preach it? The study of
religions does challenge me to be more careful in my conversations with,
behavior before, and relations with the people of other religions.

Therefore, study of major religions is very significant, especially to one
undergoing ministerial training.


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  CHAPTER 42: 04.03.     HINDUISM
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HINDUISM The word "Hindu" comes from the word "Sindhu" (name for the Indus river
in Hindi – the word "India" comes from the name Indus). It originally referred
to the people who lived beyond the Sindhu (or Indus) river. Later, it came to
describe the religions that they practiced. Thus, Hinduism is not one single
religion but a group of many religions. Popularly, it is the religion that came
to be established through the invasion of Aryans who entered India in about 2000
BC. The other people groups, the major being Dravidians, embraced the Aryan
culture and this intermixture produced various forms of Hindu religious ways.
Other people groups who didn’t assimilate came to be known as the tribals – they
were separated from contact with the main world. Some other groups were declared
as untouchables and didn’t find liberation until the dawn of the modern age,
when humanism started becoming popular.

Hinduism doesn’t have a founder; still Manu, the author of Manusmriti, the Hindu
law code, is considered to be the law giver of Hinduism. It was he who
propounded the division of Hindu society into four castes (Brahmins - priests,
Kshatriyas- warriors and rulers, Vaishyas – Business class people, and Shudras –
Lower caste workers), and established many laws for the people. In the 5th
century BC, two protest groups, Jainism and Buddhism, arose as reaction against
the oppressive theologies and practices of the upper caste people, known as the
priestly class of Brahmins. Both Vardhamana Mahavira (founder of Jainism) and
Siddhartha Gautama (founder of Buddhism) were Kshatriyas. Following this, there
was a highly philosophical era that involved scholars of different schools
debating on many issues such as epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and
liberation. There came to be 6 theistic schools (Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya,
Vaisesika, Uttara Mimamsa, and Purva Mimamsa or Vedanta) and 6 atheistic schools
(Charvaka, Jaina, and four schools of Buddhism). Later, during the period of
Islamic invasion in the 14th and 15th centuries, Bhakti or devotional trends
arose that emphasized on pluralism and devotion. Important Bhakti saints were
Tulsidas, Meerabai, Tyagaraj, and Surdas. Another major Indian religion,
Sikkhism, also arose during the same period. In modern times, people like Raja
Ram Mohan Roy, Rabindranath Tagore, S. Radhakrishnan, and Mahatma Gandhi gave a
new outlook to Hindu thought and practice. Hinduism also has a number of guru
cults, in which a sect conforms to the teaching of their patron guru or teacher.
The chief scriptures of Hinduism are the Vedas (Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva)
and the Puranas (the epics chiefly, Ramayana and Mahabharata). The Vedas contain
hymns and regulations regarding the sacrifices, while the epics recount stories
regarding the dealings of the gods with men. The doctrine of Avatara
(Incarnation of Lord Vishnu) is a main theme of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The
doctrine states that Vishnu incarnates whenever evil increases in order to
destroy the wicked and re-establish righteousness. The Hero of Ramayana is Lord
Rama, and the Hero of Mahabharata is Lord Krishna. The Bhagavad Gita (Song of
God) is a part of the Mahabharata which has gained immense popularity in modern
times.

Two important teachings in Hinduism that are also found in Buddhism and Jainism,
though variantly, are the doctrines of Karma (the doctrine that we reap what we
sow) and Punarjanma (the doctrine that a soul is reborn to suffer the sins of
its past birth). Liberation is a process by which sins are cleansed at each
stage of rebirth. If one’s sins multiply, he is reborn into a degraded
life-form. However, there are a great number of Hindus who don’t believe in the
doctrine of Punarjanma and a number of those in the age of Hindu Reformation who
no longer hold to idolatry and polytheism.

Main Teachings: The Four Goals of Life The four goals of life according to
Hinduism are dharma (righteousness), artha (worldly prosperity or material well
being), kama (enjoyment or pleasure), and moksha (liberation).

1. Dharma: Dharma is translated as righteousness, duty, law, and religion in
English. In Hindu mythology, Rama, Yudhistra, and Harishchandra are all symbols
of dharma – ones who symbolized the dignity and power of dharma through their
lives.

Dharma is a relative term – relative in the sense that it has sense only in its
practical relation to each of the varnas and the ashramas. The edifice of law
dealing with the varnas (i.e., caste divisions) is called the varnasarama
dharma. The varnasarama dharma, however, must be distinguished from the practice
of the modern caste system. The Hindus came about with the varnasarama dharma
theory for the purpose of benefit to the society. Dharma is social and
relational. A cooperative division of labor in society is imperative for its
progress. Each individual must perform his duty (dharma) as prescribed by the
law related to his varna. He must be faithful to his dharma for the benefit of
society and his own self. The mythological basis for the varnasarama dharma
theory is that Brahma, the Creator God, is the originator of the castes.
According to this mythical account, the Brahmin or the priestly caste came from
the mouth of Brahma and so were the sole authority on deciphering and
proclaiming the scriptures; the Kshatriya or the warrior group came from the
arms of Brahma; the Vaisyas or merchants, from his thigh; and the Sudras or the
workmen, from his foot. It is the dharma of the Brahmin not to eat
non-vegetarian food. It is the dharma of the Kshatriya to protect his people
from the enemies. That is the reason why when Arjun desired to back off from
killing his cousins out of love and compassion, Krishna explained to him the
meaning of life and dharma and encouraged him not to give in to his feelings but
fulfill his dharma of being a Kshatriya by killing the enemies of righteousness,
presently his brothers. The modern world looks at the caste-system as the
greatest evil, because of the inequality it presupposes and the evil it
produces. It is a hindrance to the self-actualization a Sudra. Most scholars,
however, agree that the caste system originated out of pure motives – aiming
towards a well-organized and cooperative society. Caste system, according to
them, becomes an evil when it is implemented as a means by the upper castes to
dominate and suppress the lower castes. The ashrama dharma divides a human life
term into four stages. At each of the stages, an individual is expected to
fulfil his particular ashrama dharma -- related to that particular stage – in
order to attain moksha (salvation). This too is a responsibility-duty-oriented
division, which we will later explore a little more.

2. Artha: Hinduism is not a not-this-worldly religion altogether. It also
emphasizes the importance of earthly prosperity. Progress by development occurs
through the pursuit of worldly and material well being, and that in accordance
to the rule of dharma. This is the material aspect of life. A man not only ought
to pursue righteousness (dharma) but also pursue material prosperity (artha).
Almost every Hindu aspiring to be rich worships the goddess Laxmi, the goddess
of wealth. Various religious ways are sought by the Hindus to ward off an evil
eye, to destroy a dangerous spell, and to tap the flow of riches.

3. Kama: Life’s goal is also to satisfy the demands of the flesh. The enjoyment
of kama, physical desire is not evil when it is pursued in accordance to the
dharma in Hinduism. The erotic sculptures over the temples at Khajuraho and
other places, the once prevalent practice of the devadasi system, and a host of
other things bear witness to the religious encouragement of kama. It doesn’t,
however, mean that Hinduism promoted licentiousness, though some of its gods
favored that. Hinduism does uphold the virtues of Pativrata (a wife’s
faithfulness and total allegiance to her husband) and Tyaga (renunciation of
worldly desires). The pluralistic nature of Hinduism also allows a plurality of
ethical ways, only they must be someway disguised as a form of dharma.

4. Moksha: Moksha can be translated as ’liberation’ or ’release.’ It is the
release, exit of the self from this world of existence and liberation from the
series of birth and rebirths. Release can be obtained at different levels. A
householder who, for example, conducts well his household affairs gets into
Swarga-loka where gods live. A brahmacharya who performs well his dharma enters
Maharloka. A vanaprasti enters Jnanaloka and Tapaloka to enjoy higher pleasures.
A righteous sanyasin enters Satyaloka. But the final part of salvation can only
be obtained when an individual merges with the Over-Soul Brahman in the final
stage of realization. A person can achieve moksha by following three ways. We
will examine each of them later. The ideas behind the doctrine of moksha are
Samsara, Karma, and Punarjanma. There is also the concept of Maya (illusion –
subjective and objective) which is posited to explain each of these. Samsara is
the universal manifestation, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. The law of
Karma states that each man receives the fruit of his actions in the next birth
(Punarjanma). The cycle of rebirth goes on and on until moksha is attained.
Moksha is the release from rebirth by union with the absolute. By breaking loose
from these chains of Maya and avidya (ignorance) and merging with Brahman in
absolute identity moksha is attained. The Four Stages of Life Hinduism divides
the life of man into four stages. They are as follows:

Brahmacharya. The bachelor-student life.

Grihastya. The householder life.

Vanaprasthi. The life of retirement to forest, i.e., the hermit life.

Sanyasin. The holy sage, ascetic life.

The above four stages are known as the ashram dharmas. These were dharmas or
duties assigned to each period of a man’s life. While the first three stages are
said to be obligatory, i.e., all men experience them, the last is only optional,
and not all men reach it. Each period or stage may be divided into 25 years
each. The first stage of Brahmacharya is of student life. This is the period of
life when man lives in the house or ashram of the guru, his teacher and guide,
and under his supervision studies the sacred texts. He also acquires expertise
in various fields of learning at this stage. The student must be obedient and
submissive to his teacher, without which he can learn nothing. The guru to him
is like God since he helps him to meet and know God. The respect for the guru
and for the parents is to be continued to the end of ones life. The Grihastya is
the period when a man gets married and settles down to ordinary family life. It
is known as the householder life. Living with his family and looking after them,
the householder also contributes much to the society in which he lives.
Continuation of the family line by reproduction is a significant part of this
stage. All the dharmas pertaining to this stage contribute much to the wellbeing
of the society, family, and lineage. Virtues like honesty, responsibility,
industry, and hospitality are obligatory during this period. The householder is
not just a provider of his family needs but also a guide to his family. Dharma,
artha, kama, and moksha are highly pursued during this stage. The Vanaprastha
period, i.e., of hermit life, is the stage when a man retires to the forest with
his wife and meditates on the value of life. Away from all pursuit of worldly
materials, he can now concentrate on spending his time in meditating on the
values of life and strive to know God. The observance of such a life is, it may
be noted, highly impossible in the modern era. The ashram dharmas were solely
enacted in accordance to the feasibility of circumstances during the Vedic and
puranic era and could not have been envisaged for our times. The final stage of
life, which only some can reach, is that of the holy sage, the ascetic life
called the Sanyasa. During this stage a man renounces all worldly attachments,
immerses himself in his struggle to know the truth and experience union with it.
The Sanyasin practices hard asceticism to overpower his flesh and his senses.
The goal is to become so liberated from the domain of the senses and carnal
passions so as to transcend them, realize God and attain moksha.

All that are faithful in the observance of the various varana and ashram dharmas
enter the various respective gradations of heaven. The Three Ways to Become One
with God

Freedom from Samsara, the cycle of birth and death, is moksha. It implies union
with Brahman – the only Absolute Reality. By this experience of Brahman, avidya
(ignorance) is destroyed. By the power of Maya one is deceived into believing
that the plurality of phenomenon is true. In his avidya he is chained to samara,
the manifest world filled with the cycle of events, of birth, death, rebirth,
etc. Moksha is the eternal, intrinsic nature of the Atman and is the chief goal
of life. It can neither be produced, modified, attained, nor refined since it is
an accomplished fact, the intrinsic nature of the Atman that needs to be
discovered by intuition. Self-realization or realization of the Atman (Self) as
the reality of the universe is moksha. The key is detachment from the phenomenal
world and union with Absolute Reality.

Three ways have been prescribed by which one may attain perfection, or be
liberated from the bondage of Samsara. They are as follows:

The Karma Yoga, i.e., the path of work

The Jnana Yoga, i.e., the path of knowledge

The Bhakti Yoga, i.e., the path of devotion

The Karma Yoga is the practical method, the Jnana Yoga is the theoretical
method, and the Bhakti Yoga is the emotional method.

1. The Karma Yoga. This is the path of action. It essentially involves the
working out of right principles in ones life so as to be liberated from the
chains of Samsara. The bad Karma has its roots in selfishness and the desire for
the fruit of action. The Bhagvad Gita states that action should be motivated by
detachment from the desire of its fruit. Action is, indubitably, superior to
inaction. Only action that is selfless is liberating.

"If one performs all actions including daily duties dispassionately, without
anger, without attachment, in the spirit of selflessness, in dedication to God,
without desire for the fruit, such action will free the individual soul and will
lead him to perfection."

Such action alone constitutes sacrifice. Every single act must be a sacrifice
(Yagna). Sanyasa is the renunciation of the desire and not the renunciation of
action. Tyaga is the renunciation of the fruit of all works. Karma includes acts
of sacrifices, gifts, austerity, dharma, etc. but true, liberating Karma is
desireless.

2. The Jnana Yoga. It is the way of knowledge, not the kind of scientific or
physical knowledge that the world pursues but a metaphysical, a mystical one. It
is the knowledge of reality as it is by union with it. While the plurality of
the universe as it appears to us does constitute our experience of self and the
world, the Gita calls for consideration of the Jnana Yoga. It calls for union
with the absolute non-dual Reality – the realization of self as Self. For this
the mind must be disciplined and tuned in with Reality. The individual self is
the hindrance when it phenomenalises as a separate entity from other entities.
Jnana or knowledge happens when this self realizes that it is Brahman – Being –
Reality; and that all the other phenomena is itself in manifestation. It is held
that Jnana Yoga is difficult without Karma Yoga. Study of the Vedas and other
scriptures is the action followed by long periods of reflection and meditation.

3. The Bhakti Yoga. This is the way of devotion, the way of trust and love.
Devotion is interpreted as the bond of trust and love to a personal God. Unlike
Jnana Yoga, which focuses on the Impersonal Brahman, Bhakti Yoga focuses on a
loving attachment to God, a longing for God for its own sake. To be noted is the
concept of this God as being transcendent and yet totally immanent. All icons of
this God are to be considered as symbolical. Absolute meditation and undivided
devotion to Ishwara is essential to Bhakti. God must become his/her sole refuge.
For those who have found Karma Yoga and Jnana Yoga extremely difficult, the
Bhakti marga comes in as solace. A true devotee has three distinctive qualities:
evenmindedness, undivided devotion, and skill in action. These three qualities
woven together in perfect harmony within the devotee knit him/her to his/her
Lord. By absolute devotion, one is united to his/her Lord in love. Stories
abound of how Vishnu finds the marks of the beating inflicted on his devotee’s
body on his own. The Lord is so tied to his devotee that in one story he forgets
to bring his chakra along with him when he hurries to rescue his devotee from
peril.

Thus, by following any of the above three ways a person can find his/her way to
God.

Parallels in Christianity The Four Goals: Christianity also talks of
righteousness, material prosperity, enjoyment of life, and salvation (Matthew
6:23; Psalms 1:1-6; Ephesians 6:3; Psalms 104:14; John 3:16), but it has no
division of class or caste within it. It neither does set rules for ashrama
dharmas. The moksha of Christianity is moksha from sin, its condemnation, and
its misery. Hinduism talks of liberation from the misery of the world. But then
it delimits that misery as being an illusion of the self and reduces it to a
picture of recurring birth. The difference centers on the diagnosis of the human
problem. It also consists on how the solution is formulated. "Why is a man here"
(the goal of human existence) is tied to "Where did man come from" and "Where is
he going?" What a person believes about his origin and his destiny (past and
future) affects his decision (present) greatly. Christianity does differ greatly
from Hinduism in the explanation of all these three questions, although it
resembles superficially to it in its acknowledgement of the belief on creation
and judgement. The Four Stages of Life: Although Christianity doesn’t subscribe
to the theory of ashram dharma, it does uphold the virtues of social
responsibility, duty, protection of family, respect of parents and elders,
detachment from carnal lusts, sacrificial giving, etc. One is required to
fulfill his duty according to his position. There is a time for everything. The
Three Ways: Christianity, especially in its Protestant form, emphasizes the fact
and is built on the assumption that man can never be reconciled to his God by
his own works. Man is intrinsically sin-proned, lustful, and proud. That is why,
we have the concepts of Grace, Sacrifice, and Atonement on which Christianity
stands. But a Christian is saved unto good works (Ephesians 2:10).

Christianity does talk about spiritual knowledge, but it is the practical
knowledge of knowing God as ones Lord and accepting Jesus as ones Lord and
Savior (John 3:16). The world is not an illusion. It is real – created by God.
The self is not God. But man is created in the image of God and the Christian is
expected to grow up in the image of Christ the Son of God. In this way, the
Karma marga doesn’t is a failure according to Christianity. Jnana can be
reinterpreted as knowledge of God, not intellectual but personal and relational.
It is not Jnana of one being God himself but Jnana of God as ones God.

Christianity finds great parallels in Bhakti Yoga. Devotion is sublime to
Christianity. "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind," is said to be the greatest of the commandments. Loving God
and obeying his commandments (Bhakti and Karma) go together. Christian Bhakti,
however, is anti-idolatry. Idolatry is considered an affront on the dignity of
God. The devotional hymns of popular Hinduism are much parallel to Christian
worship. The only basic differentiating element is the cross of Jesus Christ,
which also segregates Christianity from any other religion of the world.


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  CHAPTER 43: 04.04.     BUDDHISM
========================================================================

BUDDHISM The Life of Gautama Buddha

Gautama Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gautama in c. 560 BC in a grove called
Lumbini near the city of Kapilavastu (modern Bhinla), Nepal. His father’s name
was Suddhodhana and mother’s name was Mahamaya. Suddhodhana was an aristocratic
Hindu chieftain who made all effort to keep his son in all comfort. It is said
that at Siddhartha’s birth some astrologers had predicted that this child would
either become a very great emperor and rule the world or renounce everything and
bring emancipation to the world.

Till the early twenties of his life, Siddhartha lived all the time in the palace
not venturing far from the comforts, luxuries, and delights provided to him by
his father. There were three palaces, each of which were built to suit the three
seasons of summer, rainy, and winter. Siddhartha resorted to each of them as
convenient. Female minstrels were appointed to entertain him and he enjoyed all
comforts and pleasures of life. He was also trained, during this period, in all
the skills that a prince needed. His skill in archery helped him to win him his
beautiful wife Yasodhara, while he was only sixteen years old. For the next
thirteen years after his marriage, Siddhartha lived a very luxurious and
complacent life until, one day, he encountered a very shocking scene, which was
followed by three others.

It came to pass that, one day, the prince climbed his chariot and drove through
the streets of his city. Suddenly, an old man with gray hair staggered out of
his house clad in ragged clothing. On inquiry, he was horrorstruck by the fact
that all men must encounter this inevitable pain of aging. On another day as the
prince drove in his chariot, he heard a curdling cry for help. Turning to where
the sound came from, Siddhartha was shocked to see a sick man rolling on the
ground with excruciating pain and agony. On an other occasion, the prince came
face to face a corpse of a man being carried to its funeral by bewailing men and
women. Siddhartha was overpowered by the reality of the scope of human
suffering. He was dumbfounded, shocked, disillusioned, and dismayed. Then, he
saw a hermit, calm and dignified, clothed in flowing orange colored robes.
Siddhartha understood this to be the way to finding emancipation from suffering
for all humans. And so, one night, at the age of twenty-nine, the very day his
son Rahul was born, Siddhartha left his family in the sleeping night hours and
departed into the forest in search of truth, peace, and deliverance. Deep in the
forest, he shaved his head and put on the yellow robes of a hermit. For six
years, after that, he kept searching for truth. He went through severe forms of
asceticism to the extent that he was close to death. According to traditional
accounts, once Gautama fasted so much that his belly was glued to his backbone.
After having found this way to b fruitless, he renounced asceticism; then
arriving at Gaya, sat down under a Peepal-tree with a resolve not to get up
until he found a solution. The story goes on that Mara, the tempter, tried to
dissuade Gautama from his meditation by sending horrifying storms, rains, and
fiery weapons. But Gautama was adamant and firm. Then, after forty-nine days of
meditation, on a full-moon night of May, Siddhartha achieved enlightenment.
Henceforth, he would be known as "the Buddha," which means "the Enlightened
One." The tree, under which he sat and achieved enlightenment, came to be known
as Bodhi-tree or Bo-tree, and the spot came to be known as Buddhagaya (it is in
modern Bihar). This was the thirty-fifth year of his life.

Beginning right here, for the next forty-five years of his life the Buddha
toured through north India teaching and preaching his message of truth and
deliverance. He made many convert, despite the many opposition and pains he had
to face. After all this, finally, on a full moon day at Kusinara the Buddha
passed away at the age of eighty.

Buddhist Scriptures The Theravada scriptures are known as the Tripitaka (the
three baskets) and consists of the Vinaya Pitaka (Discipline), Sutta Pitaka
(Discourses), and the Abhidhamma Pitaka (Metaphysics). The Mahayana scriptures
are named as Vinaya, Sutras, and, Shastras. The Teachings of Buddha

Immediately after his enlightenment, the Buddha set out for Banares. At Sarnath,
he preached to his five ascetic friends his first sermon called the
’Dharmachakra Pravartana,’ i.e., the setting in motion of the wheel of dharma.
The sermon set forth the four Noble Truths concerning life and the Eight-fold
path to deliverance. Dhamma is paramount for Buddhists. That is the word by
which they designate their religion. It means ’doctrine,’ ’law,’ ’norm,’
’religion,’ ’truth,’ or ’world order.’ ’Dharmachakra Pravartana’ is generally
called the speech of the foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness and is
considered the foundation of the whole doctrine. Buddha’s doctrine is based upon
two axioms:

All life is sorrow,

Always keep the path of the mean.

These two axioms are summed up in the Four Noble truths, which may be called the
Gospel of Buddhism. The first two of these Truths diagnoses the problem, the
third one declares the remedy, and the fourth one declares how this remedy is to
be attained.

1. The Four Noble Truths a. The first Noble Truth is that suffering is a
universal fact. All of earthly existence can be summed up in one word:
suffering. The word for suffering in the Pali language (the language which the
Buddha spoke) is dukkha. This word has a deep philosophical meaning and is very
difficult to define. It covers the whole avenue of concepts related to suffering
such as, misery, distress, despair, agony, suffering of body and mind, change,
emptiness, imperfection, conflict. This dukkha is what describes the condition
of all existence.

"This is the noble Truth of pain: birth is suffering, old age is suffering,
disease is suffering; death is suffering; sorrows, lamentation, dejection and
despair are suffering. Contact with unpleasant thing is suffering; not getting
what one craves is suffering. In brief the five groups of clinging are
suffering."

This, however, was not a pessimistic analysis leading to existential despair and
nihilism. Life is not totally meaningless and hopeless. The Buddha was Buddha he
knew the solution to this problem; he had awakened; he was enlightened. He has
already diagnosed the sickness of the world. Now he goes on to explicate the
second Noble Truth related to the cause of this problem of suffering.

2. The second Noble Truth states that suffering results from desire. Desire is
the cause of all suffering. In this sense, suffering is purely subjectivised.
The problem is internal not external. It is the thirst, the desire, the craving
(Tanha) for sensual enjoyment, indulgence, and self-satisfaction that leads to
renewed rebirths. The false self being submerged in desire, desire seeks
satisfaction and falls down to another birth. And so the cycle is set in motion.
The illusion of self is the fruit of ignorance, which gives birth to desire,
which in turn causes sorrow.

3. The third Noble Truth deals with the cessation of suffering. Suffering ceases
to be when desiring ceases to be. This state of complete deliverance, of
unceasing and unspeakable bliss is called nirvana.

4. The fourth Noble Truth declares the path to nirvana. It is called the Noble
Eight-fold Path. Also referred to as the Middle Way between the extremes of
self-indulgence and self-torture, the Noble Eight-fold Path lays down the moral
principles of Right living:

Right Views – understanding the Four Truths.

Right Aspirations – good will, lustlessness, kindness, etc.

Right Speech – abstaining from lying, slander, vain talk, and harsh language.

Right Conduct – abstaining from killing, stealing, and sexual immorality.

Right Livelihood – earning in way that doesn’t harm to any living being.

Right Effort – rejecting evil thoughts and cultivating good thoughts.

Right Mindfulness – watchfulness and vigilance to every state of body, feeling,
and mind.

Right Concentration – deep meditation to control the mind and body.

The Eight-fold path leads to insight and wisdom, which dispel ignorance and
bring about serenity, knowledge, and enlightenment; which is nirvana.

2. The Doctrine of Anatta

Buddha revolted against the Vedas by proclaiming the doctrine of anatta, which
essentially states that there is nothing called an eternal, unchanging soul, a
fundamental diversion from Hinduism. This would even mean that the concept of an
eternal Paramatma, the Supreme Self, the Brahman, is not only preposterous but
also false. Every existing entity is subject to the law of change and decay. The
apparent self (atman) is only an illusion, originating from and manifesting
itself in a clinging to things. The "I" arises out of sense-experience which
also are the cause of suffering; since they add fresh fuel to the flame of life.
An individual is made up of the Skandhas, which by combination produce the
delusion of the self, the "I." The five Skandhas are:

Material attributes (Rupa),

Feeling (Vedha),

Perception (Samjana),

Mental dispositions and will (Samskaras),

Reason (Vijnana).

All of the above forces or factors are changing; therefore, the self that they
combine to produce is also changing, although it assumes that it is an
unchanging unity. The false idea of the self must be done away with to attain
nirvana.

3. Karma and Rebirth

Buddhism retained the Hindu doctrine of Karma and Samsara, although with some
modifications: Buddhism doesn’t talk about the transmigration of soul. As we
have already seen, it denies the existence of the self. According to Buddhism,
after death the desire that a being entertained in his life (instead of
destroying it) gathers fresh life and forms a new mind-body complex, a new
’being.’ As long as there is desire, the law of Karma will hold sway and rebirth
will occur.

Ones Karma (action) determines ones kind of rebirth, as an animal, a ghost, or a
god. By ’ones rebirth’ is meant neither the rebirth of the same individual nor
the rebirth of another. The Buddhists attempt to solve this paradox by the means
of parables used to illustrate the doctrine. They say that rebirth is like
lighting a new candle by an old one. The two lights have the same properties but
are not identical.

4. Nirvana The goal of Buddhism is not eternal life. It is extinction and
annihilation of the illusion of the self and freedom from the cycle of rebirth,
the end of all birth and individual existence. It is freedom from suffering. The
word nirvana literally means ’dying out,’ or ’extinction’ as of fire. The world
is enveloped with the fire of suffering kindled by desire. All the panorama of
suffering that we observe is only a depiction of how evil desire is. This desire
needs to be extinguished. The extinguishing of this desire is nirvana. Once
desire for existence is annihilated, individual existence is annihilated, and
with that all suffering. The way to nirvana is the knowledge of the Four Noble
Truths, and the pursuit of the Noble Eight-fold Path. Sadly, Buddhists can
hardly point to at least one who has experienced nirvana, in the present time.

Main Buddhist Groups and their Ways of Worship The four main groups within
Buddhism are: Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, and
Mantrayana Buddhism.

1. Theravada Buddhism. This form of Buddhism is the orthodox group that
rigorously sticks to the Buddha’s original teachings. It follows the doctrine of
anatta, rebirth, the Four Noble Truths, and the Eight-fold Path strictly. Buddha
is considered as the emancipated one and his refuge is sought. This form of
Buddhism is also called Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle) Buddhism because of its
straitness and conservativeness.

Theravada Buddhism is practiced in Sri Lanka and Thailand where it has also been
mixed with local beliefs and practices.

2. Mahayana Buddhism. the high demands of Buddhist ethics were very severe for
ordinary men and women. Two hundred years after Buddha, a group of his disciples
came up with a more liberal interpretation of Buddha’s teachings that would suit
the needs of ordinary people. This movement came to be known as Mahayana
Buddhism or the ’Greater Vehicle.’ This form of Buddhism is practiced in the
northern countries of Asia, China, Korea, and Japan.

While the Hinayanas stressed salvation by works, Mahayanis taught that faith and
devotion were sufficient for salvation. Nirvana was not the only goal. One could
aim to become a Bodhisattva, a compassionate person who vows to reach supreme
illumination in order to help all other humans to gain the same. The Bodhisattva
postpones entering nirvana for the same. The Mahayanis consider the Buddha to be
their savior. There are other Buddhas besides Gautama that the Mahayanis
venerate. In Japan, Vairocana is the great Buddha; in China, Amitabha. The
Mahayanis also worship a goddess known as Kuan Yin, who is given equal status
with Amitabha and worshipped as the goddess of mercy, love, and compassion.

3. Mantraya Buddhism. This form of Buddhism is prevalent in Tibet, Mongolia, and
Japan. A mixture of magic, mysticism, and occultism, it was brought to Tibet by
an Indian Buddhist monk named Padma Sambhava in about AD 750. Also known as
Tantrism, it includes prayers, ritual dances, demon exorcism, and magic spells.

4. Zen Buddhism. Zen Buddhism derives its name from the Japanese ’Zen’ meaning
’contemplation.’ It originated in China and from there spread to Japan. The west
knows Zen Buddhism better than any other form of Buddhism.

According to the Zen doctrine, enlightenment can be obtained through
contemplation. It is not study, neither is it reason that leads to
enlightenment; only a mystical intuitive insight does. This form of Buddhism
understands logic and the mind as being a hindrance to enlightenment. The art of
right meditating is to be learnt by meditating and transcending the mind.

Ways of Worship As has already been seen both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhists
resort to Buddha for help in attaining salvation. In Theravada countries, the
Buddha is regarded as Devatideva – the God above gods – who lives, knows, and
loves, and is worthy of all adoration. Strict orthodox Buddhists, however,
regard Buddha as only the greatest man and the most enlightened teacher who ever
lived.

1. The Refuges and the Precept. Buddhist worship begins with a recital of the
formula of homage to the Buddha which is followed by the recital of the
worshipper’s resort to the three Refuges, viz., the Buddha, the Doctrine, and
the brotherhood of monks.

Immediately after this the five Precepts are taken, which are:

To abstain from destroying life,

To abstain from taking things not given,

To abstain from sexual misconduct,

To abstain from false speech,

To abstain from intoxicating drinks.

2. Offerings. Offerings offered by the worshippers are of various kinds, such as
flowers, oil lamps, candles, incense, food, drinks, and requisites for the
monks. Each offering is accompanied by a recital of the relative formula.

3. Prayers and Invocations. Prayers and invocations are offered for human needs
and material blessings, for rain, food, and for pardon.

4. Transference of Merit. Worshippers offer offerings in the name of their
deceased relatives in the form of robes, utensils, medicines, and food for
monks. The purpose is to transfer the merit thus gained to the account of the
dead. A formula invoking happiness for and transference of merit to the dead
relative follow this.

5. Pilgrimages. The Buddhists consider a pilgrimage to a sacred place very
meritorious. The birthplace of Buddha, the place of his enlightenment, the place
of his first sermon, and the place where he passed into nirvana are considered
sacred. In addition to these places are the Sri Pada in Sri Lanka and Phrabad in
Thailand. It is considered very meritorious to journey to these sacred places
all the way on foot.

6. Ceremonies and Festivals. The chief ceremony is known as Pirit. It is
believed that this ceremony wards off the malice of demons and gives blessing.
In this ceremony, one end of a long thread, twisted around the neck of a new
clay pot filled with water, is held by the Buddhist monks while the other end is
held by the congregation. The monks chant selected texts from the Buddhist
scriptures called Parittas. After this, the thread is broken in pieces and tied
round the wrist and neck of those assembled. The sanctified water is sprinkled
on all to ward off evil and bring blessings.

Another festival, the festival of Vesak, is celebrated by Buddhists all over the
world. It falls on the full moon day of the month of May. This day has three
significances. It is said that it is the day of the Buddha’s birth, his
enlightenment, and his death. The Buddhists decorate and illuminate their
houses, streets, and temples on this day. Clad in white, the devotees perform
religious rites at the Stupa, the Bodhi-tree, and the Buddha image. They also
assemble in the temples and halls to observe precepts, meditate, and listen to
religious discourse.


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  CHAPTER 44: 04.05.     ISLAM
========================================================================

ISLAM The word "Islam" means "to surrender to the will of Allah." A Muslim,
thus, is considered to be one who surrenders to the will of Allah, the name of
God in Islam. The founder of Islam was Mohammed, regarded as the apostle of God
by the Muslims, to whom the angel Gabriel, it is said, was sent to reveal the
Holy Koran (or Quran) while he was meditating in a cave near Mecca in Arabia.

Mohammed was born in Mecca in AD 570 into the Quraysh tribe that was incharge of
the holy shrine, Ka’aba in that city. The religion of Arabs, then, was
polytheism and idolatry. His father died before he was born and his mother died
when Mohammed was six years old; so, he was brought up by his grandfather ’Abdu
l-Muttalib, and later by his uncle Abu Talib. At the age of 25, he married a
rich widow named Khadija, 15 years older than him, for whom he earlier served as
manager of business. Of his six children born from Khadija, only the youngest
daughter Fatima survived. When Mohammed first obtained the call to be Allah’s
messenger, a few people believed in him. However, when persecution started to
rise against these, they fled to another city called Medina. In AD 622, Mohammed
with few companions fled to Medina as well. This flight is known as the Hijra
and marks the origin of the Muslim calendar. The Teachings of Islam The
teachings of Islam resemble much the teachings of Judaism and Christianity.
Authoritatively originating from Mohammed’s acclaimed revelations, they stood in
stark contrast to the prevailing beliefs of the people of his own time. The
people of Arabia were superstitious, polytheistic, and idolaters. Their lives
were steeped in blind beliefs, immorality, blood-drenched wars, and purposeless
living. In the midst of such chaos, Mohammed arose as a prophet of the One God
to lead his people back to their God. The word "Islam" means "to surrender or to
submit oneself for obedience to God." A Muslim is one "who surrenders himself to
obey God." The name Islam is received from the Koran itself:

"This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto
you, and have chosen for you as religion AL-ISLAM."

Mohammed tried to return his people back to God in accordance to and by the
revelation, he received; they are recorded in the Holy Koran. All who chose to
receive and abide by these teachings of Islam became a Muslim. Following are the
teachings of Islam on God, universe, human beings, angels, Koran, and the Law:

1. God: - The Muslims refer to God as Allah. Allah means ’the one and only God.’
David Brown points out three things about Allah (Guide to Religions, Delhi:
ISPCK, 1998, pp.207-208): a. The Uniqueness of Allah: The uniqueness of God is
fundamental to the faith of Islam. Any variance from this standing is considered
infidelity. This also reflects in Islam’s rejection of the Christian doctrine of
Trinity. God can’t be three; He is One. This is not non-dualism. While
non-dualism holds that all existences are only one existence appearing to be
plural but essentially non-dual, Islamic monotheism holds that the world is
surely pluralistic, God being transcendent and beyond the universe. There is
nothing in this universe to match or compare with Him. Allah is the one God, the
Creator of the universe. There is not and cannot be anyone equal to Him. b. The
Attributes of Allah: To know what God is like would have been very impossible if
the Koran had not revealed it. This is so because there is none like Allah in
the whole world. Following are some things about Allah that we can know from the
Koran:

Allah is eternal. He is beyond time.

Allah is omniscient. Nothing, past, present, and future is hidden from Him.

Allah is omnipotent.

Allah’s will is supreme. Nothing can happen without His will.

Allah hears all sounds; yet, He doesn’t have an ear like men.

Allah sees all things; yet, He doesn’t have an eye like men.

Allah communicates with men.

c. Names that Reveal His Nature: The Koran mentions various names of Allah.
Following are few of them:

The One, the Real, the Living, the Secure, the First, the Last.

The Wise, the Knower, the One who comprehends (everything).

The Great, the Powerful, the Strong, the Mighty.

The Agent, the Beginner, the Creator, the King, the Sovereign, the Governor.

The Hearer, the Answerer (of prayer).

The Watcher, the See-er.

The Giver, the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Forgiver, the Generous, the
Loving.

2. The Universe: - Islam teaches that the universe is made up of both visible
and invisible entities. Heaven and hell are also part of God’s universe, His
creation. Angels and zins are all part of the creature world. So is Iblis the
devil and his angels. Heaven is a place of cool gardens, rivers, and fruit
trees. It is the place where the believers will rest forever. Hell is the place
where the wicked and the unbelievers will go to suffer forever. It has been
divided into various compartments, each reserved for its kind of the condemned.

3. Human beings: - The Koran states that Allah created humans out of dust, then
from a little fluid.

"Allah created you from dust, then from a little fluid, then He made you pairs
(the male and female)." The life of a human is conditioned by God’s sovereign
will. Nothing happens to him without Allah’s approval.

"No female beareth or bringeth forth save with His knowledge. and no one groweth
old who groweth old, nor is aught lessened of his life, but it is recorded in a
Book."

God appointed humans as His agents to rule on earth. And so humans are servants
of Allah. The greatest honor a man can have on this earth is to be called ’a
servant of God.’ The fall of humans resulted from the disobedience of Adam who
chose to listen to Satan instead of listening to Allah. Allah guides whom He
wills unto a straight path.

4. Angels: - Angels one of the means by which Allah communicates with and guides
men. These unseen companions of men work as envoys of God. One of the most
important of them is Gabriel who brought the Koran to Mohammed.

5. Koran: - The Muslims believe that the whole Koran is a copy of the Heavenly
Book written before the world began. It is in the Arabic language; an exact
translation of it is considered impossible. The Koran was revealed to Mohammed
in portions over a time span of over twenty years. The Koran has been divided
into 114 Surahs, all of which had been recorded before the Prophet’s death. In
the Caliphate of Othman, all existing copies of the Holy Koran were called in
and an authoritative version, based on Abu Bakr’s collection and the testimony
of those who had committed the whole Koran to memory, was compiled. This version
preserved in its original form till now is considered the true copy of the
Heavenly Book. The Muslims treat the Koran with much veneration. They cannot
tolerate any dishonor of it. They will not touch it with dirty hands and will
neither hold it in hand below the loins. The Sikhs got their way of venerating
the Guru Granth Sahib from the Muslims.

6. The Law: - The Law of Islam is referred to as the shari’a. This Arabic term
means ’the road to the watering-place’. The Shari’a is the road of right conduct
following which a person can keep himself in submission to Allah. However, every
Muslim understands that conformation to this Law, especially in this age, is not
totally possible. Even interpretations of it differ. Seeing the difficulties
associated with it, Islamic rulers and people resorted to various means of
diluting and substituting the Shari’a with local customs and other feasible
norms. Following are the two forms of law, in addition to the Shari’a, that
guide the lives of Muslims:

Customary Laws: Local customs and the Shari’a are intermixed to form customary
laws. The African Muslims, for example, have retained their African customs
along with the Shari’a.

The Civil and Criminal Laws of Government: The Shari’a was meant to regulate the
lives of people of a very different time and place. Therefore, it cannot be
wholly applied to a different time and situation. Muslim rulers, having sensed
this difficulty, have come up with their own laws of trade and civil
administration. Most Islamic countries have adopted a law code that is often
based on European law. Nevertheless, the Shari’a is the law that is a reflection
ideal living to every Muslim, being endorsed by the Koran itself.

The Five Pillars of Islam and Their Practice by Muslims The five Pillars of
Islam are:

Declaration of the Islamic Creed: the Shahada.

The Prayer-act: the Salat.

Almsgiving: the Zakat.

The Fast during the month of Ramadan: the Sawm.

Pilgrimage to Mecca: the Hajj.

The above are mandated by the Shari’a to every Muslim. They are what makes up
Islamic service, or worship, ’ibadat.

Declaration of the Islamic Creed, the Shahada. The creed is a declaration in the
form, "I testify that thee is no god except Allah, and that Muhammad is the
Apostle of Allah." The sincere confession of this creed makes a person a Muslim.
The creed affirms the central belief of Islam that God is one, Mohammed is the
final and supreme prophet of God, and he has established the brotherhood of all
believers.

2. The Prayer-act, the Salat: Muslims are required to perform the Salat five
times a day: at dawn, before sunrise; soon after mid-day; during the afternoon;
soon after sunset; before retiring to bed. In addition to the time, a Muslim
must also observe the regulation regarding the posture: stand facing towards
Mecca in a fixed position, prostration with forehead on the ground. This should
be done only after having undergone the required ablutions. Various prayer
verses are uttered during the prayer act. The prayer is not a mere personal
prayer but a requirement of the law. The prayer-act must conform to the form
prescribed by the law. The prayer-act in the Mosque is done under the leadership
of the leader called the imam. Friday noon is the prescribed time for
congregational prayers.

3. Alms giving, the Zakat: The Zakat refers to the giving of contributions to
the poor and the payment of tribute of the crops, products, income, etc.
generosity and charity are encouraged by Islam. The Zakat money usually goes for
the aid of the poor, the needy, and the travelers.

4. Fasting, the Sawm: The Koran’s command regarding the observance of the fast
is as follows:

"O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, even as it was prescribed for
those before you, that ye may ward off (evil). (Fast) a certain number of days;
and (for) him who is sick among, you, or on a journey, (the same) number of
other days; and for those of who can afford it there is a ransom; the feeding of
a man in need – But whoso doeth good of his own accord, it is better for him:
and that ye fast is better for you if ye did but know – The month of Ramadan in
which was revealed the Qur’an, a guidance for mankind, and clear proofs of
guidance, and the Criterion (of right and wrong). And whosoever of you is
present, let him fast the month, and whosoever of you is sick or on a journey,
(let him fast the same) number of days. Allah desireth for you ease; He desireth
nor hardship for you; and (He desireth) that ye should complete the period, and
that ye should magnify Allah for having guided you, and that peradventure ye may
be thankful." This fast is observed very strictly during the day, to the extent
that a Muslim is not meant to even swallow his spit during the day. Feasting,
however, goes on till late in the night. During the day a Muslim is required to
keep away from all food and drink, from tobacco, use of perfume, sexual
intercourse, and evil speaking.

5. The Pilgrimage, the Hajj: The fifth obligation or Pillar of Islam is
pilgrimage to the holy places. The prescribed time for the Hajj is the month of
dhu-al-Hijrah. The primary place of pilgrimage is Mecca. Pilgrims, having gone
through the required ablutions, put on a special garment, and proceed towards
the sacred area in Mecca under the guidance of specially appointed mullahs
(priests). They then circle the Kaaba seven times kissing it once on each round.
This Black Stone (i.e. the Kaaba) is said to have descended from the paradise of
God, and will, on the last day, witness in favor of all those who had kissed it.
Other spots of pilgrimage include the valley of Mina and Mount Arafat. The
person who returns having completed his Hajj receives the title Haji, and
obtains a very honored position in Muslim society. The festival of ’Id al-Adha,
which begins on the tenth day of the Month of Pilgrimage, is an opportunity of
the whole Muslim community to share a little in the pilgrimage. ’Id al-Adha
means ’The Festival of Sacrifice.’ In addition to the above five obligations, a
Muslim is also required to fulfill one other duty known as the Jihad. In recent
times, this term has often been quoted as a controversial element of Islam,
often in association with the terroristic activities carried on by Islamic
fundamentalists and militants. The term originally means ’holy war’ and refers
to the duty obligatory on every Muslim ’to strive to bring the whole world under
the banner of Islam, if necessary, by war against the non-Muslim world.’ It is
the duty of spreading Islam and thus, get the whole world to surrender to Allah,
which is the only way to world peace. Though not one of the five Pillars, Jihad
seems to have been given the same importance as the five of them. Jihad
originally was Islam’s bold confrontation coming forward to support the cause of
Islam against the persecution raised against it by local rulers. However, in
modern times it has, sadly, come to symbolise terrorism as extremist and
fundamentalist group use it to wage war against non-Islamic nations.


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  CHAPTER 45: 04.06.     RECOMMENDED GUIDES
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Recommended Guides David A. Brown, A Guide to Religions, Delhi: ISPCK, 1998.

Glimpses of World Religions, Mumbai: Jaico Publishing House, 1957. A Lion
Handbook, The World’s Religions, Oxford, 1992.


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  CHAPTER 46: S.     PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN ETHICS
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BIBLICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR A GODLY CONDUCT IN FAMILY & SOCIETY DOMENIC MARBANIANG
TO PARENTS A.Encourage your child (Colossians 3:21) Don’t let them feel
discouraged, sullen, inferior, or frustrated.

Give gifts (Luke 11:11-13), Forgive, don’t dig the past (Luke 15:22)
B.Discipline him/her while he is young (Proverbs 19:18; Hebrews 12:10) C.Nurture
him/her in the Lord (Ephesians 6:4) 1.In the training (Proverbs 22:6, Catechize,
2 Timothy 3:15)

2.Discipline (Proverbs 13:24; Proverbs 22:15; Proverbs 19:18; Proverbs 23:13-14;
Proverbs 29:15, Proverbs 29:17; 1 Timothy 3:4-5) 3.Counsel 4.Admonition D.Do not
Irritate your child (Colossians 3:21; Ephesians 6:4) 1.Do not provoke to anger
2.Do not exasperate him/her to resentment 3.Do not fret 4.Do not be hard on them
or harass them 5.Do not break their spirit E.Provide for one’s home (1 Timothy
5:8; Proverbs 31:21-27). TO CHILDREN

A. Obey your parents in all things. Make it a lifestyle to obey. For this is
well pleasing unto the Lord (Colossians 3:20).

B. Obey your parents in the Lord. (Ephesians 6:1). For this is right.

C. Honor them (Ephesians 6:2-3). That it may be well with you, and that you may
live long.

D.Serve them (1 Timothy 5:4). The wrath of God descends on the disobedient
(Romans 1:30, Romans 1:32) TO MARRIED COUPLES A.In Union (Together) (Genesis
2:24; Matthew 19:4-6; 1 Corinthians 7:5, 1 Corinthians 7:10) 1.Mutual Love (1
Corinthians 7:3, Conjugal rights, goodwill, kindness, etc) 2.Mutual
Self-Giving/Submit to Authority of Other (1 Corinthians 7:4)

3.Mutual Consent (1 Corinthians 7:5. In submission to the Lord. Not like Ananias
and Sapphira as in Acts 5:1-42, but like the Shunammite couple in 2 Kings 4:9)
B.Duties of Husbands 1.Be the Head of your wife (Ephesians 5:23; 1 Corinthians
11:3. Leadership, decision-making) 2.Make Christ your Head (1 Corinthians 11:3)
3.Follow Christ’s Example (Christ’s love for the Church) a.Love (Ephesians 5:25,
Ephesians 5:28, Ephesians 5:33; Colossians 3:19) b.Nourish, protect, and cherish
her (Ephesians 5:29) c.Honor her with great respect (1 Peter 3:7) C.Duties of
Wives 1.Be Body/helpmeet for him (Genesis 2:18) Accept his headship/rulership
(Genesis 3:16; Ephesians 5:22) Be bound to him till he dies (Romans 7:2)
2.Desire for him alone (Genesis 3:16) 3.Learn from husband (1 Corinthians 14:35)
4.Be subject to husband as to the Lord (Ephesians 5:22, Ephesians 5:24)
a.Submission in obedience (Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 3:1) b.Adaptation 5.Revere husband
(Ephesians 5:33) a.Notice him (pay attention, have concern) b.Regard him c.Honor
him d.Prefer him e.Venerate, esteem him (think highly of, value greatly) f.Defer
to him (submission) g.Praise him h.Love and admire him exceedingly 6.Be sober,
wise (Titus 2:4; Proverbs 31:26, Proverbs 31:30) 7.Be trustworthy (Proverbs
31:10) 8.Be self-controlled (Titus 2:5) 9.Be chaste (Titus 2:5; Proverbs
31:10-11, Proverbs 31:25; 1 Peter 3:2) 10.Be homemakers (Proverbs 31:28-29,
Proverbs 31:15-16, Proverbs 31:18, Proverbs 31:21) 11.Be good natured,
kindhearted (Proverbs 31:12) 12.Be hardworking (Proverbs 31:12-30). Not be idle
(1 Timothy 5:13)

13.Be meek and quiet (1 Peter 3:4-6). Not nagging (Proverbs 21:19, Proverbs
21:9; Proverbs 19:13; Proverbs 27:15) TO FELLOW CHRISTIANS 1.Prayer (Colossians
4:12; Acts 12:5; James 5:15) 2.Love (Romans 12:10) 3.Honor (Romans 12:10)
4.Help, Assistance, Aid (Romans 12:13; 1 Corinthians 16:1; Galatians 6:6)
5.Hospitality (Romans 12:13; 1 Timothy 3:2) 6.Sympathy (Romans 12:15; Galatians
6:2; Romans 15:1-7) 7.Humility (Romans 12:16) 8.Goodness (Romans 12:17) 9.Honest
(Romans 12:17; Truthfulness, Ephesians 4:25, Ephesians 4:15) 10.Edifying words
(Ephesians 4:29) 11.Restoration (Galatians 6:1-2) 12.Exhortation (2 Timothy 4:2)
13.Mutual Subjection (1 Peter 5:5) 14.Forbearing (Colossians 3:13) 15.Forgiving
(Colossians 3:13) TO SERVANTS 1.Honor master, boss. (1 Timothy 6:1-2) 2.Obey
(Ephesians 6:5-8; Colossians 3:23-25) a.With fear b.Single-heartedly c.As unto
Christ d.Not as men-pleasers e.But as Christ’s servants f.Doing God’s will
3.Don’t answer back (Titus 2:9) 4.Faithful (Titus 2:10) 5.Subjection (1 Peter
2:18-20) TO MASTERS (BOSSES) 1.Do not threaten (Ephesians 6:9) Don’t be violent.
Don’t use abusive words 2.Be just and fair (Colossians 4:1) Do not exploit. Give
the right wages. Be merciful. Treat them with respect. (Leviticus 19:13) TOWARDS
THE WORLD IN GENERAL 1.Intercede for them (1 Timothy 2:1-4; 1 Samuel 12:23)
2.Honor (1 Peter 2:17) 3.Be honest (Romans 12:17) 4.Speak edifying words
(Ephesians 4:29) 5.Witness (1 Thessalonians 2:4; 1 Peter 3:1-5; Php 1:13;
Matthew 5:14; Php 2:15) 6.Follow the Golden rule (Matthew 7:12) 7.Keep no debts
but love (Romans 13:7-8) TOWARDS AUTHORITIES 1.Honor them (Romans 13:7) 2.Be
subject to them (Romans 13:1; 1 Peter 2:13-16) 3.Pray/Intercede for them (1
Timothy 2:2-4)


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-of-domenic-marbaniang/
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