It seems that many people think the Christian faith is built on a It is true because I believe it is foundation. This appears to be especially true of those who reject the faith. Does my faith make it true? Or true for me? Is the entire Christian faith built on a foundation of just believe hard enough? As in an objection I used to hear, “If you believe hard enough in this door knob it will do the same thing.” Is this true?
Absolutely, positively, No!
This immediately raises two very important questions:
1) What is the Christian faith based on?
2) What is the role of faith?
I’m sure one could write a book on this, but I only plan two brief posts!
#1 What is faith in Christ based on?
The Christian faith says God had a plan, an eternal purpose, namely, to rescue and redeem sinners. The Old Testament speaks of this rescue as salvation and the kingdom of God through a coming Savior, the Messiah or Christ. The Jews of old understood this and had great expectation of the Coming One. The New Testament says Jesus is this Christ. This is the essence of the gospel: Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Christ, the One who was to come and bring salvation. Why does it say this? What is the basis, the foundation, for this claim?
At its simplest it is two-fold:
(1) FULFILLED PROPHECY
Let me briefly trace the promise of Christ through the Old Testament
+ Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
He will be a human being, one of us. Not an angel, an alien, or an animal - a human being.
+ Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
He will come from Abraham’s family. This promise is repeated to Isaac and Jacob. Christ will be a Hebrew.
+ Genesis 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Jacob had 12 sons (the 12 tribes of Israel): He will be of the tribe of Judah.
+ 2 Samuel 7:12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
He will be of the house of David.
+ Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
He will be born in Bethlehem.
+ Isaiah 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
His ministry.
+ Isaiah 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
He will die for transgressors - he hath poured out his soul unto death
He will be raised from the dead - I will divide him a portion with the great
There are many more prophecies and details of the life and ministry of the coming Christ. And here’s the kicker – Jesus must fulfill them all or he is disqualified from being the Christ. If Jesus had been born in Gibeah, he could not be the Christ. If he was Chinese, he could not be the Christ. These are just a few of the prophecies - if he did not fulfill them all he could not be the Christ. No matter how good believing in him might make me feel, or what comfort I derive from believing in him, no matter how sincerely I believed, if he did not fulfill the prophecies he is not the Christ, he is not the Savior. Our faith is based on objective truth.
(2) THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS FROM THE DEAD
Psalm 16:8 I foresaw the Lord always before my face; for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart rejoiced an my tongue exulted; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
10 because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
11 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou wilt fill me with joy with thy countenance: at thy right hand there are delights for ever.
How is this even relevant? What is David talking about? The apostle Peter, quoting this very passage on the day of Pentecost explains:
Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
If you can prove that Jesus did not fulfill the prophecies, or that he did not rise from the dead, you have undone the faith. You see, faith in Christ is most definitely NOT 'true because I believe it is'. We believe in Jesus because he is the promised Christ, who died for our sins and rose again.
 |
Next: #2 What is the role of faith?
No comments:
Post a Comment