HOPE WITHOUT SCRIPTURE?

My hope used to be in myself. I told myself that “whatever life threw at me, I’d be able to endure and that nothing could stop me,” and I believed it. However, life began to show me that there were things that I couldn’t endure. This, of course, sent me in a tailspin, a downward spiral.

We all need hope, even to get out of bed in the morning, but where does it come from? The Apostle Paul claimed that it comes from what has been written:

·       For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

Some claim that we should trust in God without resorting to Scripture - its teaching and promises. However, this isn’t possible. How can we hope in a doctrine-less, amorphous god? Instead, we need to know that when we confess our sins, He will forgive and cleanse us (1 John 1:9), that He will return for us, and that we’ll rise from the dead to receive an everlasting kingdom of joy.

Without these Scriptural assurances, a belief in God is an empty room that can only be filled with the objects of our imagination. However, it is evident that some prefer such an undemanding “god.”

Paul also claimed that “WHATEVER was written” is for our benefit so that “we might have hope.” We cannot pick-and-choose from among the verses. They are all the Word of God, as Jesus also affirmed when He was being tempted by the Devil in the wilderness:

·       “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)

Life was a matter of submitting to each word as God’s Word. This was how we were to love Him:

·       Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. (John 14:23-24)

How else can Scripture provide the basis for our hope unless we regard it ALL as God’s Words? If we don’t respect Scripture enough to receive it as God’s message to us in its entirety, we will also not respect those verses we have chosen to suit our lifestyle. We cannot play fast-and-loose with Scripture. When we do this, we play fast-and-loose with God.

FAITH IN GOD APART FROM THE WORD OF GOD IS EMPTY AND MEANINGLESS

Karl Barth (1886-1968) was arguably the most influential theological thinker of the twentieth century. In "The Absurdity of Unbelief," Jeffrey D. Johnson wrote that, according to Barth, faith in Christ is somehow independent of His words and teachings:

• It is not faith in a document [the Bible] but faith in a living person that saves. It is the moment that we believe through the power of the Holy Spirit that the life, death, and resurrection of Christ effectually means something to us. Thus, according to Barth, knowledge of God comes by experiencing a personal relationship with Christ Jesus through faith.

Yes, salvation has to begin with the work of the Spirit. However, this is not a work that takes place independent of the Word of God, as Paul had written:

·       “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14 ASV)

Emerging from theological liberalism and skepticism about the complete inspiration of the Bible, Barth wrongly attempted to separate God from His Word, as many today do.

Instead, if we have faith in God, we have faith in Him according to what He has revealed in His Word:

·       “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him...If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.” (John 14:21, 23-24 ESV)

Likewise, to rebel against God is to rebel against His Word, as the Prophet Samuel charged the disobedient King Saul:

·       “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” (1 Samuel 15:23 ASV)

Consequently, to honor God is to honor His Word, the Truth of God:

·       “I will worship toward thy holy temple, And give thanks unto thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.” (Psalms 138:2)

This, of course, doesn't mean that His Word is greater than God. Instead, it means that, for our sake, He has elevated His Word to the place of prominence. Therefore, it is through His revealed truth that we believe, obey, and even worship Him. Without His Word, we do not know what to believe or how to act. We don't know when we go wrong or rebel. We are on our own, adrift of any connection to God. It is like being technically married but without a clue how to please our spouse.

Consequently, if we love God and want to please Him, we will keep His Word.

Discouragement in the Lord

Israel had just been defeated by the Canaanites at Ai, and Joshua was deeply discouraged. Although only 36 Israelites had lost their lives in this battle, it signaled the fact that Israel was not invincible. This sent Joshua into a tail-spin:

• Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! Pardon your servant, Lord. What can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?” (Joshua 7:6-9)

Even worse than the fact that this defeat would have catastrophic effects on Israel’s Canaan campaign, it was discouraging for another reason. God had promised Joshua that no one would be able to resist him:

• No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. (Josh. 1:5)

However, Ai seemed to make a mockery out of this promise. They had just stood very successfully against Joshua and his Israelites. How could Joshua ever trust in the Lord and His promises again? If God had let him down once, why not again and again? No wonder Joshua was devastated and even imagined that he had done something wrong by having the hubris to cross the Jordan, believing that he would conquer the Promised Land.

However, Joshua’s problem was that he lacked an important piece of the puzzle, and this lack prevented him from understanding the defeat. God explained to Joshua that Israel had been defeated because they had sinned by violating the command of God:

• The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face?  Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction. (Josh. 7:10-12)

Sin will interfere with receiving any of God’s promises. We cannot expect the blessings of God if we reject the Word of God. Actually, it was only one person – Achan - who had sinned, but his sin involved the entire nation of Israel. We are our brother’s keeper, and whenever we allow unrepented sin in our midst, we all suffer.

With this knowledge, Joshua was able to address the problem, and Israel was once again enabled to stand. However, sometimes it seems as if the Word of God has failed. Paul had warned the church that although the Word might seem to have failed, it really hadn’t. It only seemed to have failed because we have interpreted it wrongly:

• It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. (Rom. 9:6-7)

In fact, God’s people have often despaired because it appeared as if God’s promises had failed. The Psalmist despaired as he viewed what had seemed to be the failure of the Davidic Covenant (Psalm 89). However, the Psalmist had regarding God’s promises too narrowly. We do the same thing and wrongly conclude that God has failed us.

Abraham had wrongly concluded that God had failed him. He had intervened with Yahweh for the salvation of Sodom where his beloved nephew Lot and his daughters resided. The next morning, he went out the mountain overlook to survey the fate of Sodom and the cities of the plain. They had been utterly consumed. In despair, Abraham packed his bags and never returned to that area, convinced that Lot and his daughters had also been consumed. As far as we can tell, Abraham never found out his God had rescued them.

Our Lord is more faithful than our discouraged eyes are able to perceive.