Faith To See The Unseen

You have probably heard the phrase, “seeing is believing.” What about that which is unseen? Can we believe in the unseen? That’s where faith comes into play. That is the kind of faith that Noah had. The author of Hebrews wrote this in Hebrews 11:7 (NIV):

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

Noah was declared righteous because he had faith. He had faith, not only in God, but in God’s promises. Though it had not rained, God said it would. Though the world had not flooded, God said that it would. Noah believed God and His Word. He also believed that God would save his family and so he began to build an ark. Indeed, the rain came and Noah and his family were saved.

Perhaps faith is hard for you. Believing the unseen can be difficult for some and easy for others. If faith in the unseen is hard for you today, know that just because you can’t see God doesn’t mean that He isn’t there. Just because you can’t hear His voice, He is still speaking. Just because He doesn’t seem to be working, He is still working. Hold on. Press on. Persevere in faith today.

The Flood Of Judgment

Imagine the sorrow that filled God’s heart in the centuries that followed the creation of the universe. God created everything and saw that it was good. He created humanity, His most prized creation, and pronounced it very good. Then humanity rebelled against Him and chose the momentary gratification of sin over the eternal relationship with the Creator. Things seemingly spiraled out of control from there. The world was violent and ungodly and God had to start over. So He brought judgment on humanity. Peter wrote in 2 Peter 2:5 (NLT):

And God did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood.

We live in a violent and ungodly world. Our job as followers of Christ is to be like Noah. We need to sound the alarm that judgment is coming. God will judge everyone for their deeds. We must remind ourselves and others that God is the Judge in front of whom we will stand. There is no escaping His perfect judgment. Judgment is coming soon.

The Unknown

Jesus won the ultimate victory over death and the grave when He walked out of the tomb on a Sunday morning nearly 2,000 years ago. What did He do while He was buried? What did He do while awaiting the third day? Peter offers a clue in 1 Peter 3:19-20 (NLT). He wrote:

So he went and preached to the spirits in prison— 20 those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood.

What did Peter mean? He says that Jesus, the ultimate Victor over sin, death and the grave, went and preached to those who were in prison for thousands of years. This raises a whole host of questions. What did Jesus preach? Did He preach about His victory? Did He preach repentance and give those imprisoned spirits a chance to get out of prison? Where is this prison? What does that even mean? The fact is that we’re not really sure. There are a few things in Scripture that are vague or unclear. There are things that, if we’re honest, we’d say, “We just don’t know.” What we do know is that God loves the world so much that He sent His one and only Son to save us from our sins and that if we put our faith and trust in Him for salvation and forgiveness, we’ll spend forever with Him. I may not know how the internal combustion engine works, but I know that if I put my key in the ignition of my car, I’ll get to where I want to be. Put your trust in Christ and He’ll get you to where you want to be – Heaven.