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Part 5 - Resting by Faith
Rejection of God's Works
Psalm 95 continues about unbelief in the Creator: "When your fathers
tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work" (Ps. 95:9). This verse
continues speaking of the rebellion in the wilderness by the children of
Israel. The point God is making in this statement is that the people
rebelled even though "they saw My work." God considers the witness of His
past works to be a cause for present faith. The testimony of God's works
The work that the children of
Israel saw was the miraculous power of God that delivered them from slavery
in Egypt. They observed God's judgment on the gods of the Egyptians in the
ten plagues sent upon Egypt. They observed their own preservation in this,
especially in the Passover where the blood sprinkled on their doorposts
preserved them from death. They saw the miracle of the sea parting to let
them pass through and then the drowning of the Egyptian army as it tried to
pursue them. They saw the miracle of God's provision of manna each day.
Despite the witness of these works the people persisted in unbelief. God
says of this unbelief that the people "tested Me; They tried Me." Their
unbelief was in the present working of God despite the witness of the past
working of God on their behalf. God's work toward Israel was a testimony
to God's plan and purpose for Israel. God gave His plan to Moses: "Therefore
say to the children of Israel: 'I am the LORD; I will bring you out from
under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage,
and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I
will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that
I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the
Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the
LORD' " (Ex. 6:6-8). God gave a model of His redemptive work to Israel in
the Sabbath Day commandment. This model involved the work of God in the
creation of the heavens and earth, God's seventh day rest, and the resting
of the children of Israel every seventh day in honor of this. The lesson is
this: it is the power of God that brings redemption, He does the work and
finishes it, and His people are to rest in that complete work and not try to
add to it. Israel was the creation of God. God said, "I will redeem you with
an outstretched arm and with great judgments." Unbelief in the plan
and purpose of God
A second trait of unbelief
is to discount the plan and purpose of the Creator. A creator of something
has the right to determine the purpose for his creation. A creator creates
something because he has a plan for that creation. The existence of the
heavens and earth is a testimony that the Creator has a plan for His
creation. Those He has created have a witness in creation that purpose in
life must be tied to the Creator's purpose. The power of the Creator is
testimony that He has the power to bring to pass His purpose. Unbelief
manifests itself by unbelief in the judgment of the Creator. It is to
discount His judgment on all matters and to cling to one's own wisdom as to
the course that one's life should follow. Chapter one of Romans continues
on about unbelief, having shown that God's plan through the gospel is
revealed "from faith to faith," (Rom. 1:16-17), and having shown that
unbelief begins with the discounting of the person of God (Rom. 1:18-21).
Romans continues with a second characteristic of unbelief: "Professing to be
wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into
an image made like corruptible man; and birds and four-footed animals and
creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the
lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who
exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the
creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen" (Rom.
1:22-25). Worshipping and serving the creation
Those who will discount the Creator and His purpose for creation
will do this: worship and serve the creation as god rather than the God of
creation. Mankind, a part of that creation, then becomes his own god to
serve his own purposes rather than the Creator's purposes. Romans previously
said of those who reject the person of God that they "became futile in their
thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened" (verse 21). In futility
and darkness they became thus: "Professing to be wise, they became fools."
The Bible states, "The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; By understanding He
established the heavens" (Prov. 3:19). The account of creation in the first
chapter of the Bible is that which is according to the wisdom and
understanding of the Creator. The unbelieving who discount the person of God
and His purpose for creation have come up with their own account of
creation: evolutionism. This is according to their wisdom and understanding.
The book of Romans says of such who reject the Creator that they "became
futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened," and
"professing to be wise, they became fools." This is God's perspective of
those who reject His wisdom.
The testimony of God's work of creation is that it is a top-down work that
is His alone, that it is a completed work, and that mankind must enter into
God's rest.
The testimony of evolutionism is that it is a bottom-up work, that there is
no creator or a creator's purpose, that it is a continuing work, and that
all are evolving up toward godhood. Lucifer fell from Heaven with the
concept of evolution, Adam and Eve caused the fall of mankind through the
same concept, and according to Scripture there will be a great falling away from faith in the last
days. The greatest cause for a fall from faith in our present day is
the rejection of God's work in creation and the replacement of it with
evolutionism. Redemption for a fallen world comes in a top-down manner.
Those who reject the Redeemer must embrace a concept of a bottom-up
evolution of a world in disarray to a higher and better state.
The wisdom of God
Paul the Apostles wrote, "For since, in the
wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God
through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ
crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but
to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and
the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:21-24). The crucified and risen Christ is the
wisdom of God. The testimony of Christ is this: "No one comes to the Father
except through Me" (John 14:6). The creation account points to this. It
models the redemptive work of Christ. It testifies that God has completed
that work. It shows that mankind must rest in Christ. The work of God in the
creation of the heavens and earth points to the work of redemption by Jesus
Christ. The wisdom and understanding of the Creator was to create a witness
to the work of redemption by the witness of the work of creation.
Evolutionism is mankind's attempt to hide that work of God and embrace the
lie that the creation stands alone without a Creator. The unbelieving
Hebrews who perished in the wilderness during the redemption of Israel did
so in part by discounting the witness of God's past work. "Your fathers
tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work." Those who perish "Today"
through unbelief do so with the witness of God's work in creation, the
witness of His work in the redemption of Israel, and the witness of His work
in the redemption of mankind through the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. God considers the witness of His work of redemption to be cause
enough for present faith. The Jews of Jesus' day requested a sign. Scripture
records, "Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, 'Teacher,
we want to see a sign from You.' But He answered and said to them, 'An evil
and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to
it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and
three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth' " (Matt. 12:38-40). Jesus
was prophesying of His death and resurrection. His resurrection from the
dead after three days is the main witness that God has given to mankind
concerning God's work of redemption. Glory in the LORD
Paul continues, "the
foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger
than men" (1 Cor. 1:25). The unbelieving would say of God's ways that they
are foolishness. But the creation account shows the wisdom of God and His
plan and purpose for those who would come to Him and "glorify Him as God."
As Jeremiah wrote, "Thus says the LORD: 'Let not the wise man glory in his
wisdom ... But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and
knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising ... judgment ... in the earth' " (Jer.
9:23-24). Paul's commentary on Jeremiah is this, "For you see your calling, brethren,
that not many wise according to the flesh ... are called. But God has chosen
the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise ... that no flesh
should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became
for us wisdom from God; and righteousness and sanctification and redemption;
that, as it is written, 'He who glories, let him glory in the LORD' " (1
Cor. 1:26, 27, 29-31). Jesus Christ's completed work is a testimony to the
world. God's work in creation, His work in Israel's redemption, and His work
in the world's redemption is a cause for present faith, for it shows the
plan of the Creator and His judgment as to the course of His creation. Those who reject
this testimony in unbelief are the true fools, for "professing to be wise, they became
fools."
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