Battling Unbelief - Midweek Message 28th October 2020

 

Jesus said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27)

Dear Friends,

What do you do when you are struggling with doubt? When the flame of your faith, your trust in God, in Christ, is burning low and indeed you feel is in danger of being extinguished? When your commitment to core truths of the Christian faith begins to waver? What do you do? Where do you go, when you find yourself battling unbelief?

There is no more core truth than the bodily resurrection of Jesus – as Paul makes plain in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4   For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.  Christianity stands or falls on this truth, as he confirms in v14, if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  

In relation to that truth, one of the most noticeable aspects of the gospel accounts of the reaction of Jesus disciples to his resurrection is their initial scepticism and unbelief. They struggled with doubt but what is equally noticeable is Jesus response to that scepticism and unbelief. As well as presenting them with evidence that it is him, risen and alive, (as for example in Luke 24.39-43 when he encourages them to look at his hands and his feet and then asks for something to eat and is given a piece of broiled fish which he eats in their presence), he also keeps referring them back to the Bible, the Old Testament Scriptures. We see that in the verses quoted at the top of the page where the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus are downcast in relation to the brutal reality of Jesus death and doubting about rumours of his resurrection. Jesus rebukes their reluctance to believe and then reminds them of the necessity of Messiah’s death and victory over death in resurrection, as he  takes them on a guided tour of these Old Testament Scriptures as they predicted, prepared for and pointed to all that Messiah (himself) would do. He does something similar in the concluding section of Luke that we looked at last Sunday morning : He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.  He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day… (24:44-46) . He keeps bringing them back to Scripture, that they might feed and ground their faith there. Paul in effect does the same thing with those who were questioning the truth of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, when he affirms (most likely quoting an early creed) Jesus being raised on the third day was according to the Scriptures (v4)

Here then is Paul sending people battling unbelief back to the Scriptures. Before him, here is Jesus, the living Word of God sending doubting disciples to the written Word of God (the Scriptures). Here, according to Jesus and his apostles is the antidote to doubt and unbelief, grasping and holding on to what God has said in his Word and never letting go. It can be a battle, a real battle. It always has been from the very beginning, for there is one who  loves to cast aspersion, sow doubt and fuel scepticism in relation to God and his Word – one who is constantly whispering in our ear, ‘ Did God really say…?’  (Genesis 3.1)  Yet when the battle is fiercest, remember that the Lord Jesus not only pointed his disciples in their doubts, their unbelief to Scripture,  Scripture was where he himself went in the darkest moments of his life. There was no darker moment in all of human experience than that between the sixth and ninth hour of his time on the cross and what did he do? He cried out from the depths of his being in the words of Psalm 22.1 "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (see Matthew 27.45-46) In his bewilderment he was still holding on to the word of God. And what were his final words as he breathed his last and gave himself up to death?  The written Word of God. Scripture. As he addressed his Father in the words of Psalm 31.5 “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”  He went down into death with the written Word of God on his lips to await the further fulfilment of that Word and the vindication of his faith in God and that Word, in his resurrection on the third day.

Whatever happens, however dark or deep the doubt, keep holding on to the Word of God for as Isaiah said and Jesus affirmed in principle and practice: The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands for ever (Isaiah 40:8)

Yours in Him

David