FAITH TODAY

FAITH IN OUR MODERN TIMES

MARK 11:12-14, 20-22; JOHN 14:1, 7-11

"Have faith in God."—MARK 11:22

"Ye believe in God, believe also in me."—JOHN 14:1

"He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."—JOHN 14: 9

            We have been considering the triumphs of faith as they are illustrated in the letter to the Hebrews, that section which begins in the tenth chapter and ends in the twelfth. The present article is intended to be a conclusion to the series, and is the outcome of a needful consideration of many which might be said as such:

"Would it be possible to reserve a little time at the end of this Faith Series to point out to us its adapta­tion to present times?" I feel that this is very pertinent and quite reasonable.

            I want to reply to this very briefly generally, and then to reply to it from the Biblical standpoint as revealed in the texts that I have chosen.

            The accounts we have considered are con­cerned with an abiding principle, and we considered that principle at the very outset of the articles. It is the principle found in the prophecy of Habakkuk, and quoted in the New Testament, and it is found at the end of the tenth chapter of the letter to the He­brews, introducing all we have been considering. In the Authorized reading the principle is declared in the words, "The just shall live by faith," or as we have it in the Revised, "My righteous one shall live by faith." But the principle is the same. It declares that the principle of life is faith. Please lay the emphasis on "live," "My righteous one shall live by faith." The principle of life, of whole life, of complete life, of real life, is faith.

            Now all the accounts have gathered around that abid­ing principle, and if they have illustrated anything—and we have seen that it is not a complete list, and the writer did not suggest it was—it is this, that circum­stances are ever changing. Take the illustrations here, beginning with Abel, with all that garden environment, coming on down through the ages until we get the varied portraiture with which in impetuous sentences the writer closes his illustrations, we are always con­scious of different environment, different circumstances; but the principle never changes or varies, but has its application from the beginning and throughout all the accounts and illustrations. The value of the accounts is that they illustrate this principle, which never varies.

            Our present consideration concerning our modern day faith being perfectly honest, the secret of the difficulty is that we need to be careful that we are looking at the times almost ex­clusively, and for the moment at least, if it be not true constantly, and we grow perplexed by what we are seeing by the faith in "the present times," and failing to see God.

            Now faith always is the result of the vision of God. Of course when I say vision, I do not mean any spec­tacular demonstration. That is what Philip wanted, "Show us the Father," some spectacular demonstra­tions. I mean the spiritual conviction of God. In that connection it is said of one, "He endured, as seeing him who is invisible." What a glorious paradox. What a glorious apparent contradiction. Can you see any­thing that is invisible? Well, I can, and you can: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, and your spiritual vision being clear, you can see God. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," said our adorable Redeemer, and He did not merely mean, if you are pure in heart you will see God by and by. You will see Him now, and everywhere. You can see Him in the flowers. You can see Him in all Nature. All that is very poor finally for the soul, but you can see Him. It is a trite commonplace, but it is magnif­icent and final, as Tennyson sang:

"Flower in the crannied wall,

I pluck you out of the crannies,

I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,

Little flower—but if I could understand

What you are, root and all, and all in all,

I should know what God and man is."

            Yes, you can see Him everywhere, as you can see Him in all the movements of history; and the larger sweep you take in your outlook the more evident becomes the fact of God. Faith fastens upon that fact of God always. It is the vision of Him which is the in­spiration of the faith which we have been considering. The faith that characterized all these men and women, these heroes and heroines, these witnesses and martyrs of the past, was the vision of God. If we lose that, if we allow the mists and clouds that are gathering about us to obscure that vision, then faith will fade.

            How are we to apply this question of faith? I an­swer it at once, by seeing God. But let me turn from those generalities and ask you to look with me at these texts. All the words I read were words that fell from the lips of our Lord Himself, spoken in the last days of His earthly ministry. Probably there was about a week between the two occasions. The first was spoken to the disciples in view of the national failure. He was on His way to Jerusalem to excommunicate the Jewish na­tion from the high office it had held, and in which it had so appallingly failed. It was in that connection that He said to His disciples, "Have faith in God." The second and third of these words quoted and se­lected were said to the same disciples a little later, in view of their future, and the responsibilities that would rest upon them as the result of the fact that they were to be His messengers, His witnesses in the world. To them He said, "You believe in God, believe also in me . . . He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." (John 14:9) We take them for a moment in separation.

            That first word, "Have faith in God." (Mark 11:22) The occasion was the cursing and withering of the fig tree, and the disciples' astonishment at the swiftness of the carrying out of the sentence when on the next morning they saw the fig tree completely dead, withered. What a re­markable phrase that is, “Withered away from the roots." I am not concerned with any debates as to whether our Lord had any right to do that. To me to debate that is a ultimate disrespect, whoever the theologian or expositor may be. It is always curious to me, that people who study botany do not hesitate to take a flower and pull the petals off, and peek into the mysteries and leave it dead, and yet they question His right to destroy a fig tree. Remember His right was inherent. The promise of figs should have been there, and there were none; and that was the whole point. The tree was dead in its roots while still maintaining an outward appearance of life. The action of our Lord there was intended to illustrate what He, from His kingly and august and divine position was about to do with the Jewish nation. He was about to excommuni­cate it. In those last visits He had most definitely brought the whole nation before Him for trial in the most wonderful way. He told the rulers accounts, or parables, asking their opinion, and they found the an­swer to every question He asked them. He appealed to them to find a judgment, and in every case they an­swered Him, and they were right. Their answers were right so far as the accounts were concerned. Then they suddenly discovered He was talking to them: every account was an illustration of themselves and their fail­ures. They had found a verdict against themselves. They had uttered a sentence against themselves. "He will miserably destroy those miserable men," is what they said. Then they found He was speaking of them, and they were angry. He then pronounced the sentence of excommunication. I never feel we can read it with sufficient solemnity until we grasp the profound sig­nificance of what He was saying, "The Kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." (Matt. 21:43) That nation being Israel again but only after going through Great Tribulation. On His way He saw this fig tree. He knew that it was dead at the roots even then, and He pronounced His curse, and it came swiftly and suddenly: and the tree already dead at the roots before the light of morning had withered. He was illustrating what He was doing, and giving the reason for it.

            Now when His disciples drew attention to the dead tree, and were impressed with the suddenness of the death, it was then that He said to them, "Have faith in God." (Mark 11:22)

            Here I may run counter to a good deal of exposition. I rather like doing that sometimes when it is necessary. It is almost constantly said that He was telling them the secret of His power to curse the tree, that He was say­ing to them in effect, “you see that tree withered in the night. The secret of the power is this, faith in God. I have faith in God.” That is the general view. I submit to you that He meant nothing of the kind. He was not showing them the secret of the power, but declaring to them the reason of the nation's rejection, symbolized by the death of the tree. Why was the nation rejected? Because it had no roots. Its faith had failed. He said to those disciples, in view of that blasted fig tree before their eyes, with all that it symbolized in the national life of these people, "Take care yourselves, have faith in God."

            Do not let us forget that was the sin of the Hebrew people. The outward remained, the branches were spreading out of that tree, and it was clothed with leaves, but there was no fruit. Why not? It was al­ready dead at the roots. From the roots it withered away. From the dead roots the whole tree shared in the blasting, and was withered away. That was the sin of the Hebrew nation. You remember our Lord's description, "A faithless and perverse generation." That word "faithless" only occurs in the Gospels on the lips of Jesus, and then only on two occasions. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all refer to the fact that when He came down from the mount of transfigura­tion and saw the boy in the valley, He said, "O faith­less and perverse generation." (Matt 17:17; Luke 9:41) That is the word. The other occasion, interestingly enough, was to Thomas, when after the resurrection He said to him, "Be not faithless, but believing." (John 20:27) Now to His disciples as they looked on that withered tree, and He directed their at­tention to all it meant, and they saw through the sym­bolism of the cursing of the tree the blasting of a nation, He said, "Have faith in God."

            His call to the new nation, to His own people, what was it? See God, have faith in Him, and view your "present times" and your present circumstances, whatever they may be, from the standpoint of that vision of God, and faith in Him.

            I turn over from that great word to the Gospel ac­cording to John, and here the occasion was different. He was talking to the same men, but He was alone with them. Oh, the matchless wonder of that section, chapters thirteen to sixteen. There is nothing of this in any of the other Gospels. John has recorded for us those intimate and final conversations of Jesus with that little group of men who were going out presently. How wonderful they were. How well He knew their weak­nesses and failure. I began the reading at the first verse of the fourteenth chapter, where we never ought to begin, because we are interrupting the Lord. He was saying something, but He did not begin there. Glance back to the previous chapter. Peter is speaking—glorious, blundering and splendid Peter. I am sure I am related to him because of the blunders I have so often made. He said he would lay down his life for his Lord, and he meant it. He never said a finer thing. But he did not know himself, and he did not know the nature of the hurricane that was so soon to sweep upon his Lord and upon himself. What did Jesus say to him? Listen, and notice the change of number. He begins with a singular application, but at once intro­duces the plural, which does not exclude the singular.

            "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice. Let not your heart be troubled"—all of them. Peter certainly, and all the rest. They were round about Him, Peter with his honest and yet stupid boasting; and the Lord said to him, Peter, I know you better than you know your­self. I know what is going to happen to you before the flush of morning is upon the eastern sky. You, man of My choice, will have denied Me thrice. I can almost see the fear creeping over the faces of all of the disci­ples, especially Peter. But He has not done. "Let not your heart be troubled." Why not? "Ye believe in God, believe also in me."

            Then they went on. They were interrupting Him very honestly until Philip spoke, and to him He said, and to the rest also, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Alone with His own, facing the future, the hostile world massing its forces, conspiring against Him and against all His purposes, and the Cross lying right ahead. He had told them about it, but they had never grasped it. He is moving toward it, and knows directly He will reach it, but He is quite sure of the victory. Does He not say in the course of those last days, "Now is the judgment of this world"? Judg­ment of this world? Many professing faith today live their lives according to the thinking of this world, while attending on Sunday a pacifying service where they get their ears tickled according to Christ. Having no daily conversation with their supposed Lord nor caring to hear from His Spirit through the reading of His words. "Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself." Yes, He knew the hostility. He knew the forces. He had plumbed the depths of the hurricane. He knew He was going to that to which they were going; but He said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me."

            Notice how He links their intellectual conviction of the past and recognizes it. You believe in God. You believe, as this writer says, that God is. You believe that He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Now I am calling you to link with that belief something else. I am calling you to accept the new interpretation of the God in Whom you believe that has come through Me: "believe also in me." "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."

            That is the whole thing. It is a stupendous claim, so simple and yet so absolutely inspiring that one halts and worships in the presence of it, or else rejects it as sheer madness. We can take our choice. We cannot have it both ways: that He was mad, or an impostor, a fool; or else He was true to the men who had looked into those human eyes, and had seen God. That is what He said. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."

            What they saw of God in Him, and what it was in­tended that they should see of God in Him, was no contradiction of the past but a fulfillment of amazing significance.

            Faith is due to the vision of God. Where shall I see God? In Him, and when we are puzzled by the present times, He is calling to us saying, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe God, believe also in me. . . . He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." If we want to see God so that our faith shall be complete, shall be vindicated, shall be firm and steadfast, see God in Him. That is what Christ was saying, and that is the whole truth of our Gospel. When Paul was writing to the Corinthians he wrote a tremendous sentence. I am content with the declaration, using Paul's words. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto him­self." (2 Cor. 5:19) The incarnation, God manifest; and God mani­fest for one purpose, that through the manifestation in all its completeness, He would reconcile the world to Himself.

            Yes, the storms are gathering, the clouds are becom­ing more and more terrible. Hostility is roused throughout the world against our God and His Christ. "Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me." How shall we do it? "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." "God was in Christ," and that is not merely in life but in death; not merely the authority of all His teaching, but the actual personality, and the mystery of His atonement. "God was in Christ."

            Well did His forerunner, looking upon Him as He stood upon the banks of the Jordan, say to those listen­ing, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1:29)

            That is the application of faith to the present times. It is the same thing, the vision of God. But it is the vision of God granted to us now in Christ. The present times! We know so much about them, do we not? We read about them. The newspaper is really the mirror of the times.           Look at the newspaper tomorrow morn­ing, and see things there in the times mirrored. In every newspaper there is a mirror of the times. Do not forget that however fine, the mirror is concave, and very often it is convex, with the emphasis on the vex! These are liberal views and not conservative. Still there it is. "The times are out of joint." What is going to happen? You believe in God. Accept the interpretation of God that came to you through Christ. See that and what will you see then? The focal point of the revelation is not found in the birth, is not found in the teaching, is not found in the wonderful miracles. Where is it found? On "the green hill, outside the city wall." If I want to see God I go to Calvary, and when I see God there, I find out that He is not indifferent, in spite of all the stupid things that stupid men are saying. I find that He is sharing in humanity's agony. He is bearing the results of its rebellion. I find He is bearing the sin of the world. "A body hast thou prepared me." (Heb. 10:5) He is bearing the sin of the world in that body. If I want to see God I see Him there, and I find that God is revealed there as sharing, bearing, suffering with suffer­ing humanity in spite of all its sin. And I find that God is winning the victory that will open the gates for the return of man to Himself.

            That is the application for the present times. Are we not in danger of forgetting it? Are we not in dan­ger of going through the day and saying, What is the news this morning? More terrorism? What do you think of the news this morning? If you are tempted to ask that to­morrow morning, I will tell you something else. Pick up your New Testament for a few minutes, and go back to Corinthians. What is the news? "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself."    That is God, and He is not indifferent, He is not distant. He is at hand, and through a mystery of pain that baffles our theologies and our philosophies, He is bearing the sin and making possible the way back, and that in spite of all the appearances of the present times.

            You will remember those lines of Martin Luther written in dark and difficult days. I think they are very applicable today. Let me end with them:

"We wait beneath the furnace blast The pangs of transformation,

Not painlessly doth God recast And fashion anew the nation

"Where wrongs aspire; nor from the hand that from the land Uproots the ancient evil.

"Then let the selfish lips be dumb, and hushed the breath of sighing, before the joy of peace must come the pains of purifying.

"God give us grace

Each in his place

To bear his lot;

And, murmuring not,

Endure and wait the labor."

            See God in Christ, and then look at the times.