We’re always in a tension between faith and sight. We trust our God to guide us and give us wisdom and ultimately take us to his side in glory through Jesus. But we want to see! We’d like to know where our path will go, how things will turn out, whether or not we made the right decision, before we get there. We probably would enjoy a peek into heaven ahead of time, too.
Just this year news came out of evidence of the battle between King Josiah of Judah and Pharoah Neco (see 2 Chronicles 35:20-25 for the story). Egyptian pottery from right around the time of Josiah’s death was found in the Israelite town of Megiddo where the confrontation took place.
That’s exciting! It’s something we can see. We’re happy when anything backs up the Bible’s accounts because it reinforces our faith in God’s revelation to us. It might also lead to some taking the Bible . . . . seriously if they haven’t before. At the same time, it’s not a huge surprise to us that the Scriptures are a true account of what happened. God inspired them for us.
Do we need evidence from scientists and archaeologists to believe? Not at all. All we need is the faith of Sarah, Abraham’s wife: … she considered him faithful who had made the promise (Hebrews 11:11). If God promised it, that was enough for her. And it’s enough for us.
The ancients were commended for their faith (Hebrews 11:2). Imagine how it was for them. They had the promises of the Messiah. The Lord gave them plenty of details through prophecy. But they didn’t have nearly as much to go on as we do. They didn’t have Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They didn’t have the over 500 witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:6). They passed away before – in many cases long before – Christ’s birth in the world, death and glorious rising again to life. And yet they believed.
Faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). As with all gifts from God we give him all the glory. However, we do know that we will be commended for continuing in faith until the end. Walk by faith as the ancient believers did.
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for. (Hebrews 11:1-2)