The last line of song #194 contains three statements which will close out this series of lessons: Believe in Me, Be Not Afraid, and Come to Me. As we look at the invitation of Jesus to come out from the world, without fear and believe that He is light and life and able to give eternal life to all who believe in and on Him, it becomes hard to separate the three.
If we look back to Abraham, called out of Ur to a wilderness, many ask how a man can leave luxury for nothing? But Abraham believed God enough to leave the life he had known for a promise of more glorious things. A vast posterity which would inherit a wonderful land and provide a savior for humanity.
Moses believed in God enough to reject the house of Pharaoh for a life in slavery. He reluctantly answered God’s call to bring Israel out of Egypt, give them God’s words at Sinai, and lead them through the wilderness. But he failed to obey God by hitting a rock rather than speaking to the rock. For that, he was charged with unbelief and denied the land of promise (Numbers 20:9-12).
And so it is throughout the Old Testament. Those heard and believed, obeyed what they believed, and received the immediate promise made to them. But there was always another much greater promise they looked for, the blessing of all humanity to come with the Messiah and for “the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Hebrews 11:10)
As the voice of God was giving the Law of Moses, the demand of belief and obedience was evident in the first commandment; Exodus 20:2 “You shall have no other gods before Me.” A promise of a new and better lawgiver was made and recorded in Deuteronomy 18:18-19, “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.” Jesus claimed to be that prophet. John 6:29, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” And John 6:38, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
The Messiah has come and offered eternal life to all who will believe that He is the Christ, The Son of the Living God. John 6:47, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.” The opposite is also true. Unbelief will have the same result as it did for Moses. John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
As Jesus was speaking to Martha, the sister of Lazarus, about the resurrection, He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26 This is a question we all need to consider with exceptional care for our future in eternity depends on our response.
Jesus often spoke of the source of His words and made it clear that His words come from The Father. In John 12:44-50, Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me … For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
In what has been called the Great Commission, Jesus commanded His followers to make learners of all nations and baptize those that believe in Him. In Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:15-16, it is clear that those who believe and obey the message preached will be saved, but those who do not believe will be condemned because of their unbelief.
In His prayer just before He was arrested, Jesus prayed for people today who believe in Him because of the testimony of eyewitnesses who wrote the New Testament. John 17:20-21, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” Jesus spoke of today’s body of believers as a surety, as if it existed then. It does exist today, and you can be one of them if you believe and obey Him. And if you are in the body know that Jesus prayed for you just as He did for those who walked with Him in the garden.
Do you believe and obey?
