“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:9
Where does the concept of the faithfulness of God begin to be revealed to us in the Scriptures? It is in Genesis 1:1 where we read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This first verse communicates to us not only the magnitude of the power and wisdom of God, but His resolved, and realized intent or will. He willed creation to be and it was. The means by which creation came about was twofold: by the Spirit which was moving, and secondly by His spoken word. That which is revealed from the very beginning is that fact that there is perfect unison between the Holy Spirit, and His working, and the objective voice of God by His spoken word. This is born out in John’s gospel, and amplified by the fact that this “Word of God” is the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was “the Word” of creation, as He was also the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. Then John adds, “And all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
The author of the letter to the Hebrews brings into the consideration of the faithfulness of God the matter of man’s faith in God concerning the creation. He writes: “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” (11:3) Immediately, we begin to discover that man’s faith IN God is based on what God said, was, and is. That which is singularly essential to grasp is that God is TRUE in all that He declares. Christ declared this by saying that He was the truth. What this means is that the God, who before creation, chose to create the heavens and the earth, did so because He was true in everything that He was, and said. His was the very expression of the truth of His character, there being no dissonance, or discord between the two. What He declared was what He was, is, and evermore shall be, in the expression of Himself, for He cannot, and will not do otherwise. Thus, the matter of the faithfulness of God begins to take form in our minds and hearts, a faithfulness which is the basis for trust, or faith in Him. No other being in the whole of the created universe can be faithful in the manner, and magnitude as God, for He is Almighty in the perfection of His ways. He cannot deny what He is by nature. His word is, as He declares it to be: “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Is.55:11)
How does the matter of the faithfulness of God apply to the call to man to exert faith, to trust with the whole heart, and to prove the reality and blessing of God?
When the Apostle Paul wrote his first letter to the believers in Corinth, he spoke to them of fellowship, or communion with God. The concept of truly knowing God, and knowing His fulness, was revealed to these believers as a certain reality. But if one was to experience Christ, and live with, by, and for Him, then the matter of God’s faithfulness had to be the bedrock of faith. Paul declared that Christ had become for every believer his wisdom from God. The embracing of the truths of God in His wisdom would distinguish Christ as completely separate from all other ideas, or concepts of trust. Christ was also the righteousness of the believer, his only eternal justification before God, accepted by Him in peace. Christ was his sanctification, every power and resource in Him for living. And lastly, Christ was his redemption, the whole of his salvation forever settled in heaven.
Dear Father, Empower us to believe. In Jesus’ name, Amen.