The Promise Of Faith Becoming Sight
Scripture declares that when the believer sees Christ at the time of His coming, he will be like Him. Elisha saw Elijah go up to heaven, and that vision so strengthened his faith, that he was enabled to believe God for the double portion of Elijah's spirit. What great effect would it be if we were to behold in worship the Lamb of God, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and the King of Kings! Beholding brings transformation.
The Power Of Beholding
Essential to faith is beholding Christ, not only in His ministry, on the Cross, and seated at the right hand of God, but in daily worship as one's life. Christ in us is the hope of glory. The revelation of His life in our own is the beginning of the witness of God in the life. As one walks in the light with Christ by the Spirit, His life is revealed in and through the believer.
The Inseparable Union With Christ
One of the greatest truths of the Gospel has to do with one's union with Christ, brought about by the Father, sealed by the Holy Spirit, at the moment of the new birth. When Christ comes to dwell in the heart by the Spirit, He never leaves, nor is there any separation between the new believer and Christ. He is placed into a living union with Christ, from which he is to live by faith in the faithfulness of God.
The Empowering Gospel
There is power in the gospel of Christ, a power that comes from God to enable the lost sinner to first see his need of a Savior, and then, to reveal by God's grace the answer to that need, with the power and authority to believe and be saved. Only God can do this, and do it He will. God has proven His intent and will by sending His Son to die on a cross to save the souls of men.
Christ Our Very Present Stability
Stability in the storm requires strength, power, and resolve. To overcome the crashing waves of opposition and difficulty there must be a superior strength and power to overcome. Christ is that stability and power. The call to the believer in Christ is that he should trust fully, and wholly in Christ to be His rock, high tower, and overcoming strength. God strengthens those who wait upon Him.
Totally Poor Indescribably Rich
It is God who gives worth to men's souls. How could we otherwise even begin to understand why God loves the individual for whom Christ died? The comparison of what lost man has and is in and of himself, to that of which is true of him in Christ, saved for time and eternity, is indescribably vast. Only faith in the eternal goodness and love of God can span such a difference, seeing Christ the lost soul to win.
The Suffering Servant
It is hard to understand why the Eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, could give His only begotten Son to die on a cross to pay the sin debt for every guilty sinner. But then again, it is impossible to fully grasp the love of God, which is eternal, perfect, and unchanging. Faith is the means by which one begins to grasp such a wonder.
The Holy Name Of God
The name of God is holy. This means that it not only belongs to Him alone, but that the very unique nature of God is fully associated with it. His nature is perfect, right, love, light, and Life, and a thousand things more as revealed in the Scriptures. The one who will honor Him, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, will God honor.
The Believer's Commitment To Christ
The commitment of an individual to Christ is a commitment not only to believe, but to follow. It is a commitment that is specific and whole-hearted, directed by the revealed will of God in the Scriptures and empowered by dependance upon the Spirit of God. All things then become possible to and through the believer to the one who is committed to believing Christ according to His word.
Revelation And Realization
God reveals the things of Christ to the heart by His Spirit. He takes the objective word of God, then quickens it to the heart, in order to reveal His glory in the fulfilling of it. This is called the faithfulness of God, who will do that which He declares, seeking to bring men to Himself, to save those who are lost, and to edify or build up those who are followers of Christ.