| The Christian Life | April 1943 |
Even Your Faith
“This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”—I John 5:4
TO HAVE faith in God is to believe God, and have confidence not only in His promises, but as well in the wisdom and justice of His will for us. To whatever extent we lack this full confidence, in like proportion we will fail to be overcomers in our struggle against the selfish spirit of the world, the deceptive and malignant attacks of Satan, and the carnal desires of the flesh. In the earthly life of Jesus, particularly the closing experiences of that sacrificial life, we have the Scriptures’ best example of the victory that is possible through an unfaltering and perfect faith.
At no time during the three and. a half years of Christ’s ministry did He enjoy fellowship and encouragement except from those who were imperfect and dying, hence could not by any manner of means have measured up to His stature of mind and heart. But there were those who were friendly toward Him and from whom He enjoyed a measure of friendship and understanding. There was that little family at Bethany—Mary, Martha and Lazarus—where He delighted to spend time in the enjoyment of their fellowship. He also had twelve disciples. These were all His avowed followers and supporters. Among them were some whom He specially loved and who seemed to understand and appreciate Him more fully than the others. Peter and John seemed particularly near to the Master. There were others who, while not openly His disciples, nevertheless manifested a measure of friendship toward Him. Such an one was Joseph of Arimathea. Again, among those whom He healed of their sicknesses as well as the relatives of such, there were doubtless many who respected and honored the Master to the extent it was possible in keeping with their limited knowledge and understanding. At times, indeed, Jesus was in high favor with the multitude who, marveling at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth and rejoicing in the boon of His health and life-giving powers, desired to make Him King.
But when Jesus came to the end of His eventful ministry of self-sacrifice, all the hitherto material sources of help and encouragement—imperfect though they were—were no longer available. The multitude which had acclaimed Him (although they may still have respected Him) were not willing to stand at His side; indeed, under the rabble-rousing influence of Israel’s leaders, many of them clamored for His death. His own disciples forsook Him in the hour of His greatest need, one of them turning traitor and betraying Him into the hands of His enemies. While doubtless the little family at Bethany continued to love their Master, and rejoiced in the news of His resurrection, yet there is no Scriptural evidence that they were on hand during those tragic closing hours of His life when perhaps a word of comfort from one or all three of them would have meant so much.
It was the implicit faith of the Master in His Father’s plan and will that alone aided Him when the forces of darkness were pitted against Him, and gave Him the victory. Jesus’ faith was so firmly grounded in the promises of His God that even when the Father Himself withdrew the smile of His own countenance, He was able to say, “Into Thy hands I commit My spirit.”
True, only a few moments before this He cried out in anguish of soul, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” This does not mean, however, that Jesus had lost confidence in His Father. This particular expression is a quotation from Psalm 22:1. This entire Psalm depicts the suffering and death of Jesus upon Calvary’s cross, and finally, in verse 28, gives assurance that the Messianic Kingdom of promise was to be established in spite of the seeming triumph of God’s enemies over the Messiah. It seems evident that Jesus’ quotation from this Psalm means that He recognized its fulfillment in the experiences through which He was passing. The 19th verse of the Psalm foretells Him as saying to His Father, “Be not far from Me, O Lord: O My strength, haste Thee to help Me.” Jesus was too weak to give audible expression to this entire prophetic prayer, but the prophecy certainly had a complete fulfillment, hence we know that He must have, in His heart, at least, given this expression of His confidence in His Father. It was the Father’s response to the Master’s prayer, “Haste Thee to help Me,” that enabled Him, a few moments later, to say with full confidence, “Into Thy hands I commit My spirit.”
Enemies of Righteousness
Jesus declared, “For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” (John 3:20) In John 7:7 we read, “The world cannot hate you; but Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.” Thus we have clearly stated the fundamental reason for the hatred which slew the Master. This hatred finally found an opportunity to express itself. It was the time of the Passover.
St. Luke explains, “And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill Him; for they feared the people. Then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains how he might betray Him unto them. And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray Him unto them in the absence of the multitude.”—Luke 22:2-6
Thus is vividly portrayed the dark and somber background of Satanic hatred against which the closing experiences of our beloved. Master’s life are silhouetted in faith-inspiring outlines of loving submission and obedience to His Father’s will. This Satanic hatred which expressed itself through the worldly and hypocritical leaders of Israel sought opportunity to kill the Prince of Life from the very beginning of His ministry. Indeed, even before this, we see evidences of its malicious scheming and plotting to destroy the “seed” of promise. Had it not been for the Father’s protection, Herod in destroying the young children of Bethlehem and region thereabout would have killed the babe Jesus. Jehovah’s protection was manifest in His warning to Joseph to take Mary and the child and flee into Egypt. In Luke 6:11 we read concerning Jesus’ enemies that, “They were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.” There is a due time in all of the divine arrangements, and not until this due time came for Jesus to give Himself a “ransom for all,” did God permit His enemies to accomplish their hateful design to take His life. The fact that at long last they had Him in their power seemed to increase the malice of their sin-blackened hearts, and “they cried out, Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him.”—John 19:15
Without a Cause
In an admonition to us, the Apostle Peter says, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” (I Pet. 4:12,13) In verses 15 and 16, the apostle adds, “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet, if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.” From this we learn that suffering as a Christian is suffering for righteousness’ sake. It is suffering for the same reason that Jesus suffered. Jesus suffered because, as the Light-Giver of the world, He exposed the darkness of His day by proclaiming the true Gospel of light.
Jesus did not suffer as an evil-doer. He was hated and caused to suffer in keeping with the words of the prophet, “They hated Me without a cause.” (Psalm 69:4; John 15:25) The leaders of Israel verily thought they had a cause for hating Him, and they did—an evil cause. He exposed their hypocrisy and treachery. He told them that while they made long prayers in the streets to be seen and heard of men in a display of sympathy for the bereaved and needy, yet that secretly they misused their position of power and authority among the people to devour widows’ houses. They knew that if this exposure continued the people would sooner or later rise up in rebellion against them, so they hated this Giver of Light and blessings because of their own selfish lust for honor and power and wealth.
But they had no righteous cause to hate the Master. Had they been humble of heart and desirous of being truly pleasing to the God whom they professed to serve, they would have rejoiced in the presence of the long-promised Messiah, and gladly cooperated in His ministry. But as Jesus said concerning previous dark days in Israel when they killed the prophets and stoned those sent to them as messengers from God, so now these blind leaders were ready to kill the Just One because He exposed their injustice and pointed the people to the true worship of God.
The common people of that day, when not influenced by their prejudiced teachers, saw naught but good in Jesus. They heard Him gladly, yea, they marveled not only at the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth, but rejoiced in the benefactions of His healing power, as in mercy and love He went about doing good. Even Pilate, the civil representative of Caesar in Judea, could not understand why the chief priests of Israel wanted to kill this outstanding character which he described as “The Man.”
Doubtless, Pilate had heard of Jesus, and expected that His accusers would have some real and serious crime with which they could charge Him. While this representative of Rome seemed powerless to save the Master from the wrath of those who hated Him, yet when he reluctantly turned Him over to become the victim of their now outwardly legalized vindictiveness and hatred, he said to them, “Take ye Him, and crucify Him; for I find no fault in Him.”—John 19:6
Forsaken By Friends
Preparing the Passover and partaking of it with Jesus was the normal thing for the disciples to do. There probably, however, was some misapprehension on their part on the occasion of the Last Supper because Jesus had explained to them that suffering and death awaited Him at Jerusalem. Peter had remonstrated with his Master, endeavoring to persuade Him not to take the risk. For this, Peter was rebuked, with the explanation that he who seeketh to save his life shall lose it, but he who loseth his life for the sake of Christ and the Gospel, shall save it. (Mark 8:35) And now they were in Jerusalem, having prepared the Passover in the upper room to which, by divine providence, they had been directed.
Partaking of the Passover by devout Jews was doubtless attended by a considerable degree of solemnity and serious reflections at all times. The disciples, therefore, would be especially attentive to anything which the Master might say that would add to the seriousness of the occasion. How shocked they must have been when He indicated that one of their own number was about to betray Him into the hands of His enemies. The sincere cry of the eleven, “Is it I?” indicates that they were utterly unprepared for the experiences that lay before them that night. They seemed to mistrust the sincerity of their own devotion to the Master.
Perhaps they were still conscious of the stinging rebuke which the Master gave them for seeking to be greatest in the Kingdom. Conscious of their ambition for seats of honor in the Messianic Cabinet, perhaps they wondered how loyal they would be if now their Leader and King were to be taken from them and killed. Later, when they left the upper room and went out into the dark night and to Gethsemane, Jesus told them that they would all forsake Him. Peter was sure that this couldn’t be true of him, and in failure to know his own weakness, was quick to assert that even though all the others might be offended, he would not, that he was ready and willing to die with his Lord.
As the night wore on, Jesus became ever more conscious of the fact that there was now no human arm of strength upon which He could lean. The eleven went with Him, to the, edge of the garden, where He left all but three—Peter, James and John—whom He invited to go with Him farther. Then He left these, and alone communed with God. There is nothing in the recorded prayer of the Master on this occasion that indicates any hesitancy on His part, or unwillingness to carry out fully all that was involved in the divine will for Him. There is the thought, however, that He may not have known clearly as yet all the details of His Father’s will. Three times He went back to the disciples, and found them asleep, and evidently it was partly in answer to His prayer the Father revealed to Him that He was no longer to seek help or comfort from any human source.
The Scriptures tell us that Jesus was comforted, John explaining that it was by an angel. As a result of this Gethsemane experience, in which the Master’s faith rose above the arm of flesh and laid hold upon the assurances of all the divine promises that had been made on His behalf, He became calm and resolute in His determination humbly to surrender Himself to His enemies that He might become the Redeemer of the world.
From here on, we see all the beautiful highlights of a truly victorious faith, a faith that gave the Master victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil, a faith in His Father’s will so supreme that it enabled Him willingly to surrender His life instead of in the slightest way seeking to save it.
Peter endeavored to rescue the Master from the in of hate-inspired enemies, but Jesus calmly told him to put his sword away, and in the last use of divine power which was still at His command, He healed the wounded ear that had been smitten by Peter’s sword. Jesus never had used that power for His, own benefit, and now, while He could have called upon twelve legions of angels to protect Him, He did not do so. When brought before those in authority, both religious and civil, He made no attempt to defend Himself, but rather, when He did answer, purposely said those things which gave them the opportunity to secure the sentence against Him which their hate-inspired hearts were seeking. What a glorious victory of faith indeed this was, when finally on that cruel cross He cried, “It is finished!”
Beloved, how does our faith measure with this perfect example portrayed in the Master’s life of self-sacrifice which was thus victoriously consummated in death. This indeed was a faith such as is described by the poet,
“A faith that will not shrink,
Though pressed by every foe;
That will not tremble on the brink
Of any earthly woe.”
During the Memorial season of 1943, may the faith of Jesus and the glorious victory which it achieved, inspire us to lay hold more firmly than ever upon all of the exceeding great and precious promises of God’s Word. Satan and his cohorts still hate the Seed of promise. Those who follow the Master are still the targets of his malignant vengeance. The fiery darts of his hate are still being flung at the righteous. These may be bitter words, they may be cruel persecutions, they may finally lead to death. But faith will give us the victory. Faith, not in our own strength, not in any earthly source of help, but in God, who has called us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and promised us that if we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him.
The faith of the disciples on that tragic night temporarily failed them. Jesus said that He had prayed for Peter that his faith fail not, and indeed Peter’s faith did finally triumph, but we should remember that the disciples at that time were not begotten of the Holy Spirit. There was good reason why, through lack of full understanding of the issues involved, they should temporarily take the course they did. But it is different with us. We have the truth, we know to what we are called. The Holy Spirit is leading us in the way of sacrifice. We understand full well that only if we suffer with Him may we also reign with Him. So may our faith lay hold indeed upon that never-failing source of grace and strength divine that will enable us to be conquerors, yea, more than conquerors through Him who loved us and died for us.