Faith

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come. Malachi 3:1

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.Isaiah 9:2

Merry Christmas Eve to everyone, and I hope that you're so busy with friends and family that you don't read this post until February. Why, you ask, as we read Hebrews in our Chronological Bibles, am I quoting Scripture predicting Christ's birth? It's very simple, and can be found in Hebrews 11:1:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 

When I speak of favorite Bible verses, this makes my top 5. I won't bore you with how I came to know this verse or how I can tell you the precise time (May 2002) when I first internalized it, but will focus instead on what it means. The first three verses I quoted at the beginning were made between 400-700 years prior to the birth of Christ, which required faith on the part of the people of Israel. They had been promised a Savior (quick note--the word "Messiah" does not appear in the Old Testament), and needed to have faith that the promise God had made would be carried out. They had to be sure of what they hoped for, and in the midst of constant turmoil, they needed to be certain of what they certainly couldn't see.

In the Age of Grace, we don't have to wait and hope for Christ, because he already came and gave the greatest gift in the history of the universe. No, what we wait and hope for is his Second Coming, when he returns in glory to make everything right again. I'll comment extensively on this point on December 31st, but we remain sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don't see. We have problems in this world that seem beyond our ability to overcome, but that's why we have faith--we wouldn't need it if all the answers were right in front of us.

Consider the words the writer of Hebrews uses--"sure" and "certain". These words are unambiguous and clear in their meaning, unwavering in the steadfast belief we're to have. Faith isn't being "pretty convinced" or "better than 50/50" of what we hope for or "reasonably confident" or "have a pretty good feeling" of what we do not see. For years, I've often confused this verse with Romans 8:24 (both these verses were referenced on the same evening by the same then-8th Grader), which asks a simple question--who hopes for what he already has? Our faith is rooted in confidence that the Lord will do what he promised to do, based on a solid foundation of acting for us in ages past. We will have doubts and questions as we go through life, and that's to be expected. When it comes to our faith, we need to be sure and certain. After all, God has been, is, and always will be:

Our God, Our Help in ages past, our hopes for years to come

Our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home

Have the merriest of Christmases, and be sure to take a moment to thank God for his willingness to leave heaven and live among us for 33 years because of our own shortcomings.

Scott