{"id":611,"date":"2017-01-29T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-29T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/?p=611"},"modified":"2017-01-28T23:18:16","modified_gmt":"2017-01-29T04:18:16","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-faith-in-the-old-testament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/2017\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-faith-in-the-old-testament\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Bible say about faith in the Old Testament?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cBehold the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy\u2026Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield\u2026Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, just as we hope in You.\u201d Psalm\u00a033:18\u201322<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I remember long ago pondering the idea of faith in the era of the Old Testament. How was an Old Testament saint assured of his eternal state when the Messiah had not been revealed, nor had all His work in His first advent been understood? Surely, I thought, without full knowledge, an Old Testament believer had to labor under a certain amount of uncertainty about heaven and the life hereafter. Does not the New Testament explain that the Law is merely a school master which is designed to show the inadequacy of human effort in the area of salvation? How blessed are we that we get to live on this side of the cross and the resurrection!<\/p>\n

Fortunately, I did not lay the chain of thoughts down, especially when a similar ill-informed argument can be made in the Church Age. If \u201cknowing enough\u201d is the prerequisite of saving faith, then who among us can be assured we know enough. Even in this dispensation people struggle with the idea that faith is just that, believing what God said and living in humble, principled obedience.<\/p>\n

Faith\u2014saving faith\u2014is just the same in the Dispensation of Law as it is in the Dispensation of Grace. Hebrews\u00a011:1 states, \u201cNow faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.\u201d There follows the rest of the chapter naming saint after Old Testament saint as illustrations of authentic faith. Here we find that faith is very dynamic and real, just as God and truth is. But remember, saving faith does not spring unaided from within man, in any age. Saving faith is a product that is initiated by the gracious pursuit of God, at work in the heart of man. Ephesians\u00a02:8ff is quite plain on the matter, just as John\u00a01:12. Hebrews\u00a011:6 explains, \u201cBut without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The revelation of the work of the Messiah is found throughout the pages of the Old Testament. In Genesis\u00a03:15 we see the \u201cFirst Gospel\u201d following the first occurrence of sin. To Satan God said, \u201cAnd I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise [crush] your head, and you shall bruise His heel.\u201d This same good news of redemption is traced though the pages of the Bible. Isaiah\u00a053 speaks plainly about the vicarious (substitutionary) death of the Savior. The only cure for man\u2019s sin problem is found in verse 4: \u201cSurely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrow; yet we esteemed Him stricken of God and afflicted.\u201d The awful cost of our sin problem is in verse\u00a05, \u201cBut He was wounded for our transgression, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.\u201d Then the personal consequence of our sin problem is seen in verse\u00a06, \u201cAll we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verses\u00a010\u201312 detail the work of the suffering Messiah: \u201cYet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin\u2026for He shall bear their iniquities.\u201d The Gospel truth is plainly seen in these words to be believed, trusted, claimed, and obeyed. The object of faith is still the same, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And the significance is just the same; for saving faith is not a static accomplishment like a graduation or trophy would be. It is rather a dynamic force in the life of a believer, just as a career or a profession is to an individual.<\/p>\n

Our passage found in Psalm\u00a033 is an apt illustration of what a dynamic engine faith is for any saint in any age. There are at least eight defining principles found in these five verses. The first of which is the fact that there is only one Lord recognized by the man of faith. This principle is found three times, in verses\u00a018, 20, and 22. The true God, Jehovah, stands alone; there is none like Him and no other God. He deserves all of life\u2019s focus and is the source of all life. Jehovah\u2019s name is mentioned three times.<\/p>\n

From the significance of Jehovah in the life of the believer, all the other principles unfold. We learn that the man of faith has only one reverence<\/strong> (Psalm\u00a033:18): fear God; only one treasure<\/strong> (verses\u00a018, 22): the mercy of God; only one sustainer<\/strong> (verse\u00a019); only one focus<\/strong> (verse\u00a020): setting his hope on the Lord; only one option<\/strong> (verse\u00a021): there is no real hope or help from any other quarter; only one knowledge<\/strong> (verse\u00a021): one Person to really know; and only one prayer<\/strong> (verse\u00a022): \u201cMay we enjoy, O LORD, Your faithful care, as we have put our hope in You!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBehold the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy\u2026Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield\u2026Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, just as we hope in You.\u201d Psalm\u00a033:18\u201322 I remember long ago pondering the idea of faith in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}