The Triumphs of Faith

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Sep 1, 1904

The Triumphs of Faith

“What will ye that I should do unto you?” said Jesus to the blind men of Jericho. “Lord, that we may receive our sight,” was the reply. “Believe ye that I am able to do this?” was the inquiry. “Yea, Lord,” was the answer. And he said, “According to your faith be it done unto you,” and immediately they received their sight.

In this answer to the blind men, Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, laid down, not the logical definition of faith, but the law of faith for the Christian. “According to your faith be it done unto you.” Christian experience governed by faith, Christian experience dependent upon faith, the measure of Christian experience dependent upon the measure of faith, obstacles met and overcome according to faith, victories gained according to faith,—“According to your faith be it done unto you.” And nowhere in the Scripture, so far as I know, do we have what might be termed a logical definition of the nature of faith, an analysis of faith in the abstract; but we do have a very direct statement concerning faith in experience, and it is that familiar scripture, the first verse of the eleventh chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews:—

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the proving [or test] of things not seen.” Things hoped for,—faith is the assurance of such things; the unseen,—faith is the conviction or the test, the proving, of them.

That is to say, as by touch or by sight we convince ourselves of the reality of things seen, so faith is that spiritual sense by which we convince ourselves of the reality of things unseen. As with these senses we deal with the things that are seen, by this sense of faith, this spiritual sense, we deal with the things that are unseen. As we prove to our mind’s satisfaction the existence, the reality, of things seen, because we can touch, we can see, we can examine them, so faith convinces the mind of the reality of things unseen, and enables us to deal with the unseen things with the same assurance as these other senses enable us to deal with things which are seen.

Faith brings assurance of things not

yet fully realized. Faith brings to us the proof, the test, of things unseen. So faith is that sense through which we deal, as it were at long range, with things yet future, and with things near at hand, yet unseen. Faith is not merely imagination. There is a vast difference between that vivid imagination which sees many things, and that genuine faith which sees unseen things which really do exist.

Faith deals not with unreal things, but with real things revealed through the Word. What God says, faith accepts. The unseen things which are revealed in the Word of God, faith deals with, as being real; and the Christian is therefore able to deal with two worlds. He is none the less able to deal with the things that are seen; rather he is better fitted to deal intelligently with them. The Christian, believing the Word, resting upon the revelations which God has given, deals with the same assurance with the things unseen as with the things seen; and because all things unseen, both of the past and of the future, are so intimately associated with the present, in the experience of men, faith teaches us better how to deal with things in the present, because it brings to our understanding things that are past and things that are future; that is, faith gives us God’s standpoint from which to view things. Faith deals with things in the light of truth, when all the glories that are to be revealed shall be revealed; when everything is judged in the light of God and the future world, rather than in the light of man and the present world.

And having given to us in this first verse such a brief statement concerning the experience of faith, this chapter then illustrates this by dealing with various cases. Note the catalogue in this whole chapter: “By faith we understand.” We must understand through faith, not through sight. But the particular thing is that the world was made of things which do not appear; but the Christian understands through the Word of God things incapable of being understood without the Word of God.

“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice.” “By faith Enoch was translated.” “By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house.” “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive for an inheritance.”

How he obeyed is particularly set forth: “He obeyed to go out.” But that one thought should be emphasized: “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out.”

This suggests the thought that the victories of faith, the triumphs of faith, are inseparably connected with obedience. All these illustrations of faith in this whole chapter, when examined, will be found to rest upon the direct instruction which God had given to these men. God commanded, they obeyed: God told them what to do, they followed his instruction; they lived by faith, they obeyed by faith, their obedience was the obedience of faith; and their obedience to God’s command, even when it seemed contrary to human reason, opened the way for these triumphs of faith that are recorded here.

When Abraham was called to leave kindred, home, all, and go out into a place which he knew not, he obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went, only knowing that it was God who called him to go.

So with Noah when he was commanded to build an ark in the face of ridicule and unbelief; when he was told to build an ark for the saving of his house, he obeyed, and in obeying he became a preacher of righteousness; in obeying, he condemned the world, and saved his own house, who believed with him.

So by faith Abraham when he was called, obeyed. And so the catalogue goes on: “By faith even Sarah;” “by faith Isaac;” “by faith Jacob;” “by faith Joseph.”

Now, we come to a special experience to which I wish to direct more than passing attention. “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a goodly child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to be evil entreated with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the first-born should not touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were swallowed up. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been compassed about for seven days. By faith Rahab the harlot perished not with them that were disobedient, having received the spies with peace.”

You recall the record of which this is a mere brief outline. You remember it is simply a record of experience. It does not tell us there of the faith of those who had these experiences. It merely gives us the record of the experience. It remains for this chapter to tell us that all that was the experience of faith.

Now, as these experiences were in themselves types of our individual experience, written for our instruction, and especially as this whole chapter on faith is introduced by the exhortation not to cast away our confidence, in view of the near coming of our Lord, I wish to call your attention somewhat particularly to this brief catalogue.

Begin with the experience in leaving Egypt. What did it mean to Moses when he decided not to take the throne that was coming to him, but rather chose to go out with his brethren, as the record says?

Moses, the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, was only one step from the throne. The children of Israel were a race of slaves in bondage; Moses turned his back upon the throne of Egypt, that he might join himself with those who were the slaves of the king of Egypt. And why?—The record gives very briefly, but in a very full sense, the real meaning: “Choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God.” Why did he go out unto his brethren?—Because his brethren, although they were the slaves of the king, were the people of God. Why did he turn his back upon the prospects in Egypt, to join himself to the people of God?—Because when he joined himself with the people of God, through faith in God he joined himself with God. It means, then, that Moses chose rather the service of God than the service of the king of Egypt. It means that he chose the kingdom of God rather than the kingdom of Egypt. But that which enabled him to do so, which enabled him to see in the despised people the people of God, and that enabled him to see in the outcome of their experience the triumphs of the kingdom of God, was his faith in God. And so it was faith that led him to choose what faith could enable him to see; that was the unseen kingdom of God rather than the seen kingdom of Egypt. He counted the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. A reproach was on one hand, the treasures of Egypt on the other; and Moses, the man of God, chose reproach. Why?—Because the reproach was the reproach of Christ, and because by accepting the reproach of Christ, he accepted all that belonged with Christ; because with the reproach of Christ he gained the whole treasure of the kingdom of Christ.

But what enabled him to see in that time, in the reproach of Christ, the fulness of the blessing of Christ?—Only faith, which enabled him to deal with the unseen; for he looked unto the recompense of reward.

(To be continued)

The Triumphs of Faith *

The Triumphs of Faith