Blind Faith.

 Blind Faith.

A blind person has to have a lot of faith. They have evidence of things not seen all the time, right? Blind from birth the person is told all about the sun in the sky, and about colors. They have no conception of the truth of these things. They can feel a round ball and be told the sun in the sky is the shape of that ball, and it radiates the heat they feel on their flesh. They don't have any real basis for colors though do they? You can say the object they hold in their hands is red, and another object blue- but given the same objects at another time those colors could have been changed and they'd know no difference at all. Color is something they have no real ability to know because they are blind. They believe you when you talk about colors because they have faith in what you say to them and they have no reason to doubt you.

Faith is blind, seriously, to have faith you must be willing to be as one who is blind - the Bible tells us that 'Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.' Hebrews 11:1  

Evidence of things NOT SEEN. 

The blind person takes you at your word, that something called colors exist. They are going by the evidence of the unseen- a BELIEF in what they've been told. 

FAITH in Biblical matters is the same- we believe in a salvation not seen. We are blind to the reality of eternal living. The closest thing we get to seeing eternal living is… nothing really. Perhaps we get a taste of it in the seeming eternal existence of things in nature. Oceans, rivers, the sun, moon, stars, and landmarks that have existed since history was recorded for us to learn from.  We know the sun, moon, stars and all existed already when the first human being came into existence and they still exist for us today. But we know we aren't eternally living people, we end. We get to witness the end of many people we love, and many who are strangers to us. We know one day those people exist and the next they don't any longer their presence in our world is gone. Just like that their life ends and we know that same fate awaits us all. We know we don't live eternally. We know we have a time limit on our existence. ONLY faith can give us the option of believing that one day we will live again, that one day we will become beings who live eternally. Nothing but FAITH gives us this wonderful belief, this amazing hope!

Some call faith crazy- believing in the unseen. What ISN'T crazy is being told certain things are going to happen and then being allowed to witness them happen! Imagine that blind person we spoke of earlier suddenly being given sight and witnessing for the first time colors! There they are! They were told all about them, and now, there they are! They see them!  They believed in their existence through the faith they had in people telling them they were real and then they were able to have that faith rewarded.

God hasn't asked us to believe in Him, to have faith in Him without offering us amazing proof. He gives us a basis for believing what He tells us is all true. Just as the blind person has a reason to believe you when you tell them about colors, we have a reason to believe God when He tells us about eternal life. You say that blind person has a reason because they can verify a lot of things told to them by touch and so on. Well, God has given us a way to verify a lot of things He tells us! We HAVE a reason to believe GOD! Prophecy. 

Prophecies are predictions for the future. Prophecies can prove reality, just as a blind from birth- person- receiving sight will know colors are reality. 

Maybe you're a person who has never heard of Biblical prophecies but you still have faith based on what you've read and heard from others, how you were raised etc and your faith is real without needing a reason to believe, you don't need anything verified, praise God! But there are a lot of people who refuse to believe in supposed fairy tales written to subdue people into some sort of submission. There are a lot of skeptics, and that's okay, a healthy skepticism will keep you from deception too. The skepticism has to be a healthy one though, not one filled with the disease of self-deception, arrogance, pride and what have you. Skepticism twisted by absolute refusal to admit to being wrong about something, is very unhealthy. Skepticism that refuses to seek truth from a whole picture, and only likes to pick apart bits and pieces, is very corrupted. If you need to verify God, to verify truth, to verify a reason for having faith, it is given to you. Let me tell you how- and do not scoffed instantly, to do so is just to reveal your unhealthy state of skepticism. 

We've had Biblical prophecy from near the beginning of Creation.  Prophecies over the last -close to six thousand years- have come to pass as predicted in the Bible- yet people still refuse to believe the Bible is true. They, unlike the blind receiving sight accepting colors, choose to remain blind rather than believe truth, irrefutable truth, they refuse to accept sight preferring their blindness. Why do people do this? Because their blindness is comfortable, it is well known to them, they would be lost in a world of sight- their entire life would have to be changed in light of their new understanding. We are creatures of habit- often loathing the very idea we might have to give up a cherished belief handed down to us from generation to generation. 

Let's assume for a moment that you choose to study these prophecies, and find out some people long ago did the same. A few of those people had the prophecies passed down to them from generation to generation as they waited for them to be fulfilled. Many years pass and several of the prophecies came to pass as they were told would happened. What if you were them, what would you do with this information? Ignore it completely? Sure, you can do that, many have, many do and many will continue to do so. What you could do is study the history of these prophecies throughout the ages and see for yourself what has occurred. You could also try to find out if there are more prophecies yet to take place and if so what they are and how they might just affect you if they should occur during your life time.  To me, that would be the logical thing to do. 

To simply ignore something - for whatever reason you choose- is rather ludicrous, especially if it concerns the possibility of you eventually having a life that goes on forever. 

If the knowledge that not everyone is going to have a life that goes on forever is told to you then you'd think you might be a little bit curious about this business about life going on forever. If you're all happy and content to believe that the life you are living right this moment is the only life you'll have and when you die it's completely and utterly over, just simply over- then that's your choice no one can take if from you, no one. Me, I'm going to study those prophecies and find out all the facts I can about all of them past, present, future and if my research reveals to me that real prophecies have really come to pass, over and over again, then I'd be very, very dense to believe the rest of those prophecies will not occur at some point in time.

If those prophecies point to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and His bringing the good news of salvation, the good news of eternal life, the good news of heaven, the good news of love-true love- then I'd simply have to believe that too was all true, wouldn't I? If these go hand in hand I can't pull them apart as I choose. No, I didn't see the prophecies being given. No, I didn't see a lot of them come to pass- history has been their solid proof. No, I don't see the future so therefore I can't see future prophecies as I can see those of the past. I have solid proof - not by faith, not by the unseen, but by history itself! I have solid proof by faith, by the unseen, because I believe the rest of the prophecies will come to pass even if I do not see them. 

Prophecy tells me that there is going to be eternal life given to people, not all people, but to people who choose to have eternal life. If you are reading this and just told yourself that you choose to have eternal life, then praise the LORD. Now, how does prophecy tell us we are given this eternal life we choose to have? 

Prophecy predicted a Messiah, a Savior from eternal death, from eternal nothingness. That prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  ((Don't believe me, go study all the prophecies, there are a lot of them that predicted Jesus' birth, life, death, resurrection long before it all occurred.))

We are given eternal life when we choose to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and we do this through FAITH. We are made righteous through faith, we are changed by this righteousness into a being able to gain eternal existence. Jesus isn't going to come to you right now in the flesh, knock on your door, ask you to step outside so He can talk to you for a few moments- perform a couple of miracles on you so you have reason to believe, and then go on to the next house. Faith doesn't work that way. We are given ENOUGH information to prove that we have every reason to have FAITH in what we cannot see for ourselves but must believe without sight. 

Faith. righteousness by faith is believing my faith will give me the righteousness I need to have eternal life through Christ- and the prophecies of the past, present and future reveal that righteousness IS Jesus Christ. 

My belief is Jesus Christ, His righteousness- past prophetically proven, future prophetically predicted. 

Jesus Christ by faith. Jesus Christ the evidence of the unseen, the substance of our hope!

Jesus Christ dwells in me! HE is that righteousness in me!

Jesus said- John 6:56  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, DWELLETH IN ME, AND I IN HIM.  

Luke 22:19  And he took BREAD, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 

Luke 22:20  Likewise also the CUP after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. 

1Co 11:23  For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took BREAD: 

1Co 11:24  And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 

1Co 11:25  After the same manner also he took the CUP, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 

1Co 11:26  For as often as ye eat this BREAD, and drink this CUP, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. 

BY FAITH- we believe this example of Jesus' given to the apostles to enact, this exact ritual in taking bread, just as Jesus took bread, taking wine, just as Jesus took wine- the SAME way He did it- real bread, real wine, two things that are  usually readily available always to all in SOME form. We take this food and this drink and we eat and drink it in REMEMBRANCE of Jesus Christ our Savior who gave His body and blood for US, dying to save us! We do this ritual as He instructed, REMEMBERING HIS LIFE AND DEATH, and when we remember His life and death we also remember His resurrection, His new life! By FAITH we do this. My belief is Jesus Christ, His righteousness, I dwell in HIM and HE dwells in ME! His righteousness is in me by FAITH in HIM. I don't see this, yet I believe it, I have faith, unseen evidence, hope! I believe, Lord, help Thou my unbelief!