Hello Readers and welcome to a new post on Renaissance Woman!

I want to open with a quote from Andrew Murray’s The Ministry of Intercessory Prayer: “…’As Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life’ (Romans 1:6 KJV).  It is the Risen One who says to us, ‘Get up!…and walk.’ He gives us the power of the resurrection life.  It is a walk in Christ: ‘As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him’ (Colossians 2:6 NKJV).  It is a walk like Christ: ‘He who says he abides in Him ought to walk just as He walked’ 1 John 2:6 NKJV).  It is a walk in the Spirit and after the Spirit: ‘Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh…walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:16, Romans 8:1 NKJV).  It is a walk worthy of God and well pleasing to Him: ‘That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work’ (Colossians 1:10 KJV).  It is a walk in love: ‘Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us’ (Ephesians 5:2 KJV).  It is a walk of faith, its power coming from God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: ‘We walk by faith not by sight’ (2 Corinthians 5:7 KJV).

How many believers regard such a walk as an impossible goal?  So impossible that they do not feel it a sin to walk otherwise.  Therefore, they do not truly desire this walk in newness of life.  They have become so accustomed to the life of fruitlessness that the life and walk in God’s strength has little attraction.  There is no expectation of attaining it.” (Murray, 80-81).

This struck me: especially the part about Christians thinking the Christian life so impossible there is no real expectation of attaining it.  I think I honed in on that portion because it is impossible for me to be seeking an accurate definition of faith without looking at Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  I have never performed a thorough study on this passage and so, curious what those who had done such study had to say, I looked at various commentaries.  I was amazed at how many spoke of those things hoped for as being things belonging to the future.  These commentaries had very little expectation of an immediate experience of “things”.  No, they were of God and therefore eternal and waited for us in heaven.

There were a few who suggested it was faith that made these future things “as though they were already present” (quoting Meyers NT Commentary).  The Expositor’s Greek Testament (quoting Dr. Hatch) says, “Faith is the ground of things hoped for, i.e. trust in God, or the conviction that God is good and that He will perform His promises, is the ground for confident hope that the things hoped for will come to pass…So trust in God furnishes to the mind which has it a clear proof that things to which God has testified exist, though they are not visible to the senses.” The Expositor’s then goes on to say, “The words thus become a definition of what faith does, not of what it is.  Substantially the words mean that faith gives to things future, which as yet are only hoped for, all the reality of actual present existence; and irresistibly convinces us of the reality of things unseen and brings us into their presence.”

Well, okay, but I find I am not satisfied.  If we are to stand firm in this present evil day, having put on the Whole Armor of God and taken up the Shield of Faith, defining that faith as giving to yet future things the reality of actual present existence is a definition I find lacking.  Something with-if I may use the same word as the writer to the Hebrews-substance in order to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

I found my first real glimmer of substance in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges: “The object of faith from the dawn of man’s life had been Christ, who, even at the Fall, had been foretold as ‘the seed of the woman who should break the serpent’s head.’ The difference between the Two Covenants was that in the New He was fully set forth as the effulgence of the Father’s glory, whereas in the Old He had been but dimly indicated by shadows and symbols.”  This was one of the few commentaries that suggested Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament and that the things hoped for were tangible in Him rather than things reserved for some later time.

Now, there is a passage found in 1 Peter 1:3-4 which says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.”  “Reserved” does sound as if our inheritance is a future one but the Greek word translated “reserved” here is tereo (G5083) and means “a watch, to guard from loss or injury by keeping the eye upon.”  This does deserve further study but I cannot see that the definition of the word warrants the pushing off of all “things” to either a future date or as something reserved for us which we cannot experience until we get to heaven.

There is the passage in Ephesians 1:13-14 which says, “In Him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

I am not saying I utterly disagree with the commentaries: this passage in Ephesians speaks of a time of redemption and Acts 3:21 speaks of a time of restoration of all things.  There’s this passage in Romans as well: “For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope: because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.  Not only that, be we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.  For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.  Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses…” (Romans 8:18-26a NKJV).

I wonder if a lack of both seeing and understanding the work of the Spirit isn’t the explanation for the lack of expectation described by Andrew Murray and still so prevalent among Christians today.  Not one commentary mentioned the Holy Spirit.  There are denominations who declare there is no longer any work of the Spirit: He ceased activity with the death of the last apostle and now we have the Bible to help us get into heaven.  And, going to heaven after death appears to be the pinnacle of expectation among far too many Christians.  They have no expectation of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, there is no understanding of having the fullness of God in us through Jesus Christ, and there is no understanding of our inheritance in Jesus Christ.  All of this due to an unfamiliarity with the Holy Spirit for it is He who takes what belongs to Jesus Christ and declares it to us. 

The Old Testament did point to a coming Day but, for us, that Day has already come.  We don’t have to have to trust that God will keep His promises because all of His promises are YES! in Jesus Christ to the glory of God through us (2 Corinthians 1:20).  Without the Holy Spirit teaching and interpreting for us, we can’t begin to understand the New Testament for it speaks of a covenant ratified by the blood of Jesus but made reality in us by Spirit and ministered to, in, and through us by Spirit.  If you do not know the Holy Spirit is poured out in YOUR flesh, then you are missing the inheritance that is yours in Jesus Christ sealed in you by the Holy Spirit and experienced by you in the Holy Spirit.  Is there more to come?  Absolutely! But, do not have what is yours in Jesus Christ stolen from you by denominations who teach there is no longer a working of the Holy Spirit or teach you that you must come to God through their leader.  The Spirit is for you.  There is an inheritance each one of us can experience right now of which the Spirit is the down payment-or firstfruits-but what a firstfruits!  The full harvest was not of a different type than the firstfruits neither was the firstfruits a belief there would be more to come.  The firstfruits were the promise there was a coming bounty but they were full, mature fruit able to be feasted upon and enjoyed.  Do not let the fact that there is more to come keep you from enjoying the firstfruits now.

The Christian life is so much more than going to heaven when you die.  It is life now.  Eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ (John 17:3) and we don’t have to wait until we die in order to experience it (1 John 5:13).  The Holy Spirit is lavished upon us and enables us to know our God now right from where He dwells in the secret place of our hearts.  Since He is the guarantee of our inheritance, I do not think I stretch Hebrews 11:1 too far when I say He is our faith.  He brings all that Jesus gained for us into our present reality while at the same time showing us the glorious future of all creation set free from bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Amen.

References

Hebrews 11:1 Commentaries: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (biblehub.com)

Murray, Andrew, The Ministry of Intercessory Prayer, Bethany House Publishers, Bloomington, Minnesota, 1981, 2003

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990