God told Noah to build a ship — on land — hundreds of miles from the sea! That doesn’t make sense, does it? How about this: God promised Abraham that He would multiply his descendants into the millions — then commanded him to sacrifice his only son! Or, consider this: God commanded Moses to walk into theRed Sea! Later, God commanded Moses to speak to a rock in order to obtain water! Here’s another one: God commanded Joshua to lay siege on, and conquer the great and powerful city ofJericho– but don’t use any weapons!
It seems that God was always telling people to do things that ran contrary to human reasoning. However, these men obeyed these “seemingly unreasonable” commands. What was the result? They were saved.
Noah obediently built the ark — and was saved. Abraham obediently obeyed God, and his descendants multiplied into the millions. Moses obeyed and walked into theRed Seaand escaped the pursuing Egyptian army. Later, Moses obeyed and spoke to the rock and enough water came forth to satisfy the thirst of an entire nation. Joshua obeyed, attacking the powerful city ofJerichowithout any weapons — and was victorious! Why? Because they simply accepted, and therefore obeyed, God’s Word.
These examples give us a sense of the “majesty” of the faithful men of whom later the Holy Spirit said, “the world is not worthy of such men” (Hebrews11:38).
They did not consult with a conference of scholars — they did not try to reason it out in their own minds — they did not question the command — they simply obeyed.
I wonder what would happen to the modern-day church if such unwavering faith could be infused into the membership. What would happen to our evangelistic programs? our mission programs? our families? our brotherly love? We will never be able to fully understand, or logically reason, everything that God does if we form our conclusions based on human logic. We must base them on *faith* (which comes by hearing His Word – Romans 10:17). His thoughts and His ways are not our thoughts and ways (Isaiah 55:8). God judges from a Divine perspective; we must judge from a human perspective. Therefore, His ways will never be fully understood, in this life. That’s where *faith* enters in! We cannot put God’s commands in the test tube of human reasoning to verify there validity. They must be accepted by *faith* which is demonstrated by obedience.
There are many people, and I will go so far as to say the “majority” (Matthew7:14), who think they are going to be saved without obeying God’s Word — the Gospel (Colossians 1:5). However, one day all the fancy church buildings, all the prolific people-pleasing preachers that occupy them, will cease to exist. All will stand before His judgment seat (Romans14:12), “as naked” (Hebrews4:13), and the Books of the New Testament will be opened and we will be judged according to the things written therein (Revelation20:12). No judgment will come from church manuals, catechisms, or creed books — they’ll all pass away. The only Book that will never pass away is God’s Book (Mark13:31). And, it will read exactly the same then as it did when God gave it to us. It will say: “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6) … “Repent or perish” (Luke 13:3 & 5) … Confess me before men (Matthew10:32-33) … “Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins” (Acts22:16) … and, “Be faithful unto death” (Revelation 2:10). — Toby Miller