Page 32 - Evidence of Things Unseen

Faith’s First Steps

efore going forward chronologically in the story of our encounters with Christ, I must
Bfirst go backward and share some things that are necessary in order to understand that
which follows.
While I was still in my twenties, and fellowshipping at the church where I first learned
the message of grace, the Spirit began to reveal a truth that was to profoundly affect my
future walk with the Lord. He showed me through the types of the Old Testament that His
salvation is a free gift, and even as Moses (who is a type of Christ) delivered the children of
Israel from their cruel bondage and servitude in Egypt without their having to do anything
other than place the blood of a lamb on the doorposts and lintels of their homes, so too God
provided salvation to us as a free gift that we cannot earn, but which we merely receive.
Under Moses, the Israelites were set free from their taskmasters, and through Christ,
those who believe on His name are set free from the bondage of sin. The faith of many of
the Israelites was very weak, for they had been slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years. The
faith of many saints is also very weak, for they have known only bondage to sin. Because of
this slave mentality, many feel that they should not dare think themselves to be truly free
of sin’s hold upon them. Thus we see that when the Egyptians pursued Israel in the
wilderness, that many among the Israelites doubted. They thought that the Egyptians would
re-capture them, killing great numbers of them in the process. Even so, many Christians
upon being freed from sin’s bondage then doubt their freedom and begin to think that sin
will once more gain dominion over them.
The Christian life is by necessity a life of faith. We not only begin in faith, but we must
continue in faith. In the beginning of our life in Christ God seemingly tolerates doubting
much more than He does later on. The ideal of God is that our faith should grow, and never
stop increasing. Yet this ideal is not always met. The Israelites, having seen God perform
wonder after wonder in Egypt, culminating in the death of the firstborn of all Egypt, both
of men and cattle, still doubted that God would bring them to a fulness of salvation, and a
complete deliverance from Egypt. When they stood before the waters of the Red Sea with
the Egyptian army behind them and mountains to the left and right, they murmured against
God. They said, “Did Yahweh bring us out here to kill us because there were not enough
graves in Egypt?”
God was neither glorified, nor pleased with this faithless response. Nevertheless, He
delivered the people in spite of their murmurings. Moses spoke to the people, commanding
them to be quiet, to “stand still and see the salvation of your God.” Moses then stretched
forth his staff and the waters of the Red Sea parted and all Israel crossed over on dry land.
We see that God was willing at this point in His relationship with Israel to manifest His
provision for them before they demonstrated an attitude of faith. The people crossed
through the Sea after they saw it part. Thus God manifested His provision without first
requiring faith in the hearts of those He was saving.
We must keep in mind that Israel did not enter into the land of promise at this time.
They only crossed over into the wilderness of Sin. So too God will bring many of His
doubting children out of Egypt and into a wilderness of testing and trials, but He will not
allow them to depart this wilderness while still filled with doubts and unbelief. Many
Christians spend their entire lives in the wilderness, and perish there just as an entire
generation of unbelieving Israelites did.