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The Triumphs of Faith

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Sep 8, 1904

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 81, No. 36.

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The Triumphs of Faith

(Continued)
MOSES feared God, and not Pharaoh; Moses feared the God of heaven, the King of heaven, rather than the mighty king of earth; and because he feared the God of heaven, rather than the king of Egypt, he forsook Egypt. “He endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” Apparently a contradiction of terms,—“as seeing him who is invisible.” But faith enables one to see that which is invisible. Note this apparent contradiction, because we may here see the very essence of this experience. He endured, as seeing him who can not be seen; as seeing, by faith, him who is invisible to the ordinary sight. It is the lesson of faith to every Christian. He who does not learn to deal in his Christian life and experience as seeing him who is invisible to the ordinary sight, has not learned how to walk the Christian pathway; for only by seeing him who is invisible do we endure as did Moses. He endured by faith. He kept the passover, the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the first-born should not touch them.
Let us read this record as given to us in the twelfth chapter of the book of Exodus; for it is the record of faith:—
“Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the bloodupon the lintel, and on the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.”
“By faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the first-born should not touch them.”
Now when we read in the third chapter of the epistle to the Romans, and put the two passages together, we can see the meaning of that experience. “But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.”
What did the blood sprinkled upon the lintel mean but the blood of Jesus, through faith in which we have forgiveness of sin? And there is a passing over of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. By faith, Moses and the children of Israel with him, sprinkled the blood, and they were protected by the sprinkled blood, not by virtue of any red liquid that might be seen upon the lintel of the door, but because they saw in that blood the blood of the Son of God, in which there is efficacy to protect from the destroyer.
And so they believed, and their faith saved them from the destroyer, and there was a passing over that night in Egypt, because of their faith, just as there may be a passing over now because of our faith; and without that faith there is no passing over of sins that are past.
And further: “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.”
We shall be well paid for studying these experiences. They had forsaken Egypt; they had sprinkled the door-posts; they had been delivered from the hand of the destroying angel and from their oppressors; they had been led out to the Red Sea, through a mighty deliverance. After those wonderful works of God in bringing them from the hand of the oppressor, the whole experience seemed to be a failure; for when they were in Egypt, although they were slaves, yet their lives were preserved, and they had what every slave must have in order to make him of value to his master; that is, he must have food and rest. But now these men who were led out thus through the triumphs of faith, were led to the Red Sea, and the journey brought them face to face with what was apparently a worse condition of things than when they were in Egypt; for while they had Pharaoh and the taskmasters for their helpers, their lives were preserved; but now Pharaoh and his army pursue them for destruction; on either side the mountains; behind them Pharaoh and his host; and in front of them the sea.
This is a test of their faith. But God commanded them to go forward, not to go back to fight the enemies who were pursuing them from Egypt, but to go forward toward the land to which he was leading them. And by faith they obeyed the command to go forward, even when the Red Sea was in their front. But the record says, “By faith they passed through the Red Sea as upon dry land.” The waters were congealed in the mighty sea. The full record says that the Lord caused a strong wind to blow, and the waters were piled up. The song of triumph, in the fifteenth chapter of Exodus, says that the depths were congealed. They became a solid wall. What is a solid wall of water? Water in a solid condition we call ice. And so there was a wall on either side, a wall of solid water. It was a wall of water, a wall of solid water, solid as ice. The depths were congealed. How?—It says by faith. How did faith make a solid wall out of liquid?—Because God commanded them to go through the Red Sea, and the command of God, when obeyed in faith, opened the way; that made the water, which would have been destruction in liquid form, a protection on either side, a wall, and they passed through as on dry land.
Now note the very next instance of faith. “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been compassed about for seven days.” They passed through the Red Sea; they sang their song of triumph on the shore; they passed through the wilderness; they faced Jericho, and Jericho was straitly shut up, a walled city, with gates closed against them. The command of God was that they were to form in procession, with no heavy artillery to beat down the walls. Apparently the only thing they were to take with them was the ram’s horns that the priests carried. And they were instructed, that whole army, not the mighty men merely, not the men of valor, but the whole people, to march around the city. Why?—Because men, women, and children can exercise faith. It takes skill to train those who are to use the artillery to beat down the walls; but when faith is the weapon, men, women, and children can belong to the army; they are all the hosts of the Lord. And they were all commanded to march around the city; and so they did the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth days. On the seventh day of the journeyings they were commanded to march around seven times, and then the priests were to blow, the people were to shout; and it was told them that the walls would fall down. And they did according to the word. Foolish to human reasoning, utterly foolish! But God was their leader; they did as they were commanded, and the record says that the wall fell down flat.
Now note the contrast: What stood between Israel and the promised land when they were commanded to go forward?—Water, liquid. It would be their destruction, ordinarily, to pass through it. What did faith do? Faith constructed, out of liquid, a solid, a wall, on either side, and they passed through as on dry land, protected by a wall which faith had erected.
When they go to the other side, what do they find?—A wall between them and Jericho, and this time a solid wall. What does faith do?—Faith makes that wall pour down just like liquid. Faith builds a solid wall out of liquid, and they pass through. When they need a solid wall, faith makes a solid wall; when they need the wall removed, faith makes it run down like liquid. These are the victories of faith.
Now one example further: “By faith Rahab the harlot perished not with them that were disobedient, having received the spies with peace.” Two things should be emphasized in this statement: Those who perished in Jericho, and the very reason for their perishing was because they were disobedient; those who were saved, were saved because of the obedience of faith. Rahab the harlot was saved because when the spies appeared, she accepted God’s word concerning Jericho, and she said, I know that Jehovah hath given you the city. And she believed the wordof Jehovah, and she was saved by that faith.
Rahab was a heathen; the children of Israel were God’s chosen people. We may not see that that faith would act to preserve; but this simple statement that Rahab perished not, shows that God’s mercy was toward the heathen, and that through the obedience of any to the gospel, salvation might come to other nations. The spies, coming up to Jericho, preached the gospel by their errand. And Rahab the harlot received the gospel, and believed Jehovah, and Rahab was saved, when all Jericho perished; and she was saved by faith.
When the Israelites were saved from the destroying angel before they left Egypt, they put the blood upon the lintel. Rahab put no blood upon the lintel; which shows that it was not simply the outward act of putting blood on the door-posts that saved the children of Israel; but it was because of what that meant to them,—their faith in God, and their faith in the gift of his Son, the Lamb of God to save from sin. But when Rahab believed the word, and was obedient to the word, she was preserved, saved, from perishing by that same faith, although she put no blood upon the door-posts.
(To be concluded)