[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on the 9th of August, 2015. Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]
“Faith” and “belief” are words we Christians use fairly frequently. They, in one form or another, appear very often in our Bible. We could even say they form the foundation of our religion. After all, the belief in Jesus as the Son of God is the very cornerstone of our Christian faith.
But just what is “belief” besides a concept? What is “faith” in a world that demands proof? Today I’d like to try to answer those questions and possibly more. Listen and follow along as I read from the New Living Translation of Mark’s Gospel account of the life of Jesus, chapter 11, verses 12 through 14 and 20 through 24…
But just what is “belief” besides a concept? What is “faith” in a world that demands proof? Today I’d like to try to answer those questions and possibly more. Listen and follow along as I read from the New Living Translation of Mark’s Gospel account of the life of Jesus, chapter 11, verses 12 through 14 and 20 through 24…
12 The next morning as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 He noticed a fig tree in full leaf a little way off, so He went over to see if he could find any figs. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit. 14 Then Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat your fruit again!” And the disciples heard Him say it.
20 The next morning as they passed by the fig tree He had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up. 21 Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree You cursed has withered and died!”
22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.”
--Mark 11:12-14, 20-24 (NLT)
Let us pray… Almighty God, fill us with Your Holy Spirit and touch each heart with Your incredible love that we might better understand the message You have for each of us this day. Help us better see Your will for us, Your plan for our individual lives. In the blessed name of Your Son Jesus we pray. Amen.
Retired Reformed Church pastor Donner Atwood reports that one night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee from his upstairs bedroom to the roof. His father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling out to his son, "Jump! I'll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life, otherwise the fire would consume him. All the boy could see, however, was flames, smoke, and blackness. As you can well imagine, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the boy protested, "Daddy, I can't see you." The father replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters."
The father was asking his son to make a leap of faith, to plunge into the unknown and trust that his father would catch him. The father knew that was the only way his son’s life could be saved.
Our Father in heaven asks us to make a leap of faith, to jump off the roof while the rest of the world stands paralyzed in fear, or even mocks us for even considering such an act. Our heavenly Father says it doesn’t matter that we can’t see Him – He can see us. Our Father knows this is the only way we can be saved. So we close our eyes and jump, trusting in His outstretched loving arms.
This is faith.
The Apostle John, in the 18th chapter of his Gospel, recounts for us a conversation between Jesus and Pontius Pilate, after Jesus' capture and during His so-called trial. The Jews had accused Jesus of claiming to be a king, even above Caesar. Pilate questioned Him, asking if He did indeed think Himself to be a king. Jesus replied that His kingdom is not of this world, and Pilate grabbed hold of that with his best “Ah-hah! Gotcha!” accusation. Listen to how the exchange plays out as recorded by John in his Gospel chapter 18, verse 37…
Retired Reformed Church pastor Donner Atwood reports that one night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee from his upstairs bedroom to the roof. His father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling out to his son, "Jump! I'll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life, otherwise the fire would consume him. All the boy could see, however, was flames, smoke, and blackness. As you can well imagine, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the boy protested, "Daddy, I can't see you." The father replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters."
The father was asking his son to make a leap of faith, to plunge into the unknown and trust that his father would catch him. The father knew that was the only way his son’s life could be saved.
Our Father in heaven asks us to make a leap of faith, to jump off the roof while the rest of the world stands paralyzed in fear, or even mocks us for even considering such an act. Our heavenly Father says it doesn’t matter that we can’t see Him – He can see us. Our Father knows this is the only way we can be saved. So we close our eyes and jump, trusting in His outstretched loving arms.
This is faith.
The Apostle John, in the 18th chapter of his Gospel, recounts for us a conversation between Jesus and Pontius Pilate, after Jesus' capture and during His so-called trial. The Jews had accused Jesus of claiming to be a king, even above Caesar. Pilate questioned Him, asking if He did indeed think Himself to be a king. Jesus replied that His kingdom is not of this world, and Pilate grabbed hold of that with his best “Ah-hah! Gotcha!” accusation. Listen to how the exchange plays out as recorded by John in his Gospel chapter 18, verse 37…
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me.”
--John 18:37 (NIV)
Pilate, refusing to cede the argument, countered with the cynical, “What is truth?”, before turning away and leaving the room.
Jesus used two key words in His response: fact and truth. We basically have three ways of expressing what we perceive as a fact or the truth. Generally, if we can verify something with one of our five senses – if we can see it or touch it or smell it or taste it or hear it – if we can somehow prove it exists through our senses, we say we know it to be true. Now we may not be absolutely, 100% sure since we are aware of optical illusions and other phenomena that can fool our senses, so we may qualify our answer a bit.
And there are those cases where we cannot fully rely on our five senses, nor provide any other sufficient proof, to verify the truth of their existence. Those times we may say “I think it is so”, or “I'm pretty sure”, or “Well, yeah, most likely, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it”. These could also be used for what I will call comparative facts, where your opinion and mine may differ. Like, “I think it's hot in here, but I'm wearing this suit and standing up here in front of all of you and more nervous than a long tailed cat in a retirement home so it may not seem hot at all to you.”
And lastly, there are those times when you know something beyond even the glimmer of a doubt, although you have no proof for it whatsoever. It is then that we exhibit true faith, and we say “I believe it to be true”.
The Book of Hebrews provides us with an excellent definition of faith, in the 1st verse of chapter 11…
Jesus used two key words in His response: fact and truth. We basically have three ways of expressing what we perceive as a fact or the truth. Generally, if we can verify something with one of our five senses – if we can see it or touch it or smell it or taste it or hear it – if we can somehow prove it exists through our senses, we say we know it to be true. Now we may not be absolutely, 100% sure since we are aware of optical illusions and other phenomena that can fool our senses, so we may qualify our answer a bit.
And there are those cases where we cannot fully rely on our five senses, nor provide any other sufficient proof, to verify the truth of their existence. Those times we may say “I think it is so”, or “I'm pretty sure”, or “Well, yeah, most likely, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it”. These could also be used for what I will call comparative facts, where your opinion and mine may differ. Like, “I think it's hot in here, but I'm wearing this suit and standing up here in front of all of you and more nervous than a long tailed cat in a retirement home so it may not seem hot at all to you.”
And lastly, there are those times when you know something beyond even the glimmer of a doubt, although you have no proof for it whatsoever. It is then that we exhibit true faith, and we say “I believe it to be true”.
The Book of Hebrews provides us with an excellent definition of faith, in the 1st verse of chapter 11…
11 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
--Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)
The author then goes on to say that the ancients were commended for their faith. Abraham is presented as an example, citing that purely by faith, when called to head out to some place he would only later learn the location of, Abraham did just that. He obediently followed God's instructions because he had faith in God. In other words, Abraham believed.
I try to mix up our congregational and responsive readings each week, but quite often we stand and recite what is known as the Apostle's Creed. While tradition has it that the creed was written on the day of or shortly after Pentecost by the Apostles themselves, most Biblical authorities today believe the authors to have been a group of close followers of the Apostles, written sometime within the first few centuries after Pentecost, during the Apostolic age. So either way, it is safe to say that these statements of belief have been around quite a while, and have well stood the test of time.
But is this creed so old, and so often used, that we take it for granted, that we no longer listen to the words as we speak them, but instead chant them as a ritual, as a solemn duty? That’s why I try to have us doing a different reading each week, so it almost seems as if we’re doing something new and maybe we’ll pay a little more attention to the words leaving our lips.
I love the Apostles’ Creed. I feel it a very important part of my worship. It states my reason for being a disciple of Christ and is right up there with my baptisms as an outward sign of my covenant with God.
But sometimes we get a little confused with parts of that proclamation of faith, so if you will indulge me, I would like to look a little more closely into this list of brief statements that together form the fundamental tenets of Christian belief.
“I believe.” I am confident that what I hope for will indeed come to pass, and, in this case, sure of what I cannot see. I have faith. And by faith I know. By faith I believe.
“I believe in God.” Every time I see the sun set, or a baby's fingers, I believe. When I hear a bird's song, or a breeze fluffing dry leaves, I believe. I touch a snowflake, it melts in my hand, and I believe. I smell the ocean's life, breathe in the earth following a rain, and I believe. I can sip from a cool mountain spring, or bite into an apple right off the tree, and I believe. All five of my senses offer proof of the existence of a living God, Who orders and controls each and every thing that ever was, is, and ever will be.
I can neither see nor hear nor touch nor smell nor taste God, no more than I can experience the wind itself except by its passing. (And no, we do not smell the wind, but only the scents it carries. Neither can we feel it, but only its effect on our skin as it passes.) Yet I know the wind exists by what it causes, and I know God exists by the effects He creates.
“The Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.” I also believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and that what it tells me I can accept as truth. Jesus spoke of God as His Father, and instructed us to think of Him as our heavenly Father too. And since the Bible tells us that God is the one God, the only God, we can know He is all mighty, all powerful.
There is nothing God cannot do, nothing that is beyond His power, no force that can prevent Him from accomplishing His great plan. Not only did He create this earth upon which we live, us, and the plants and animals we share earth with, He created the sun that warms us and all the stars and planets and moons that speckle our night sky. He created the angels to worship and serve Him, and heaven where they all reside. He even created Lucifer, who turned on God and now torments us all with his misguided and self-destructive desire to be greater than God. I believe that everything there is, God created.
“And in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord.” It is sometimes a little difficult to think of our all-powerful God as a small human baby, but that is exactly how He came into our world in the flesh. God understands that many folk have trouble believing in something they cannot see or touch. Time after time He has witnessed how easily we fall into idol worship of one form or another. So He knew that for us to more easily believe, He would need to give us something physical.
Because He loves us so much, He came to us in the flesh, as His only Son, to walk among us, live with us, suffer our pains, dream our dreams, and ultimately die at our hands. This is our one true Lord, Jesus Christ.
“Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.” For God to become flesh, to take the physical form of a man, it was necessary to be born of a human woman but fathered by God Himself. So the third form of God, the third member of the Holy Trinity, entered Mary and planted the seed within her that would grow to be our Lord and Savior.
But even the Son of God needed an earthly father. So Joseph humbly obeyed God's angels and accepted the special circumstances of the birth of Jesus, and raised Him as his own, teaching Him the ways of the world while providing Him a solid religious upbringing.
“Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried.“ As Jesus grew into a young man, He also grew into the role for which He was born, the role He tried to explain to Pilate as I read earlier. Jesus shared the truth with the world of man. He taught the true way of life. He promised eternal life to those who would only believe. And He made enemies, great and powerful enemies who sought to silence Him, no matter what it took.
So they arrested Jesus and handed Him over to the governor assigned by Rome, for the Jews had no authority to put a man to death but the Romans indeed did. It is significant that we can, through this article of faith, pinpoint with great certainty the time when Jesus suffered and was put to death, because we can determine when Pilate ruled over the Jews by researching independent, non-Biblical documents and records. This places our Lord’s death as an event in earthly time, not something that simply happened “long ago”.
While in Roman hands, Jesus was beaten mercilessly, the flesh literally ripped from His body. He was ridiculed and derided, was spat on and jeered at. And He was nailed to a rough-hewn cross, upon which His earthly body took its last breath and died.
His corpse was taken from the cross, cleaned, wrapped in funeral cloths, and interred in a newly excavated tomb. The entrance was blocked and sealed by a huge boulder and guards stationed to watch over it so no one would take the body away.
“He descended into hell.” Jesus went to the place of the dead. Jesus was really, truly dead. His mortal body ceased all functions. There was no illusion involved, no sleight of hand. Jesus went to where all people go who die, for He was dead.
For those who think death is final, as most did during the time of His walk on earth and many still do today, this would be the end of the story of the Man of Nazareth. Jesus went where the dead all go, never to return or be seen again.
“The third day He rose again from the dead.” Now this is the point that makes every Christian heart sing! Even death could not hold our Lord! Through Jesus, God showed us that He can conquer death, that anything is within His power.
Jesus did return, he was seen again, in the flesh and by many people - hundreds of people. His wounds could be seen and touched, His voice heard. This was no apparition, no mirage, no illusion. This was the living, walking, talking Jesus Christ once again! The boulder was pushed from the tomb and the declared-dead Jesus walked right out.
Had our Lord not risen from the grave, there would be no Christian faith today. Instead we might have an interesting story of a man from somewhere around the Sea of Galilee who preached a little here and there and supposedly did some pretty amazing tricks. But no, that is not the case. Now we know for sure that our God lives! He defeated death and rose from the grave and walked among us once again!
“He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.” Once His work upon earth was done, once doubtful man was assured of His defeat over death, Jesus bodily arose into heaven. He went back home and we know that there He rejoined God His Father and sits at His right hand. The Son and the Father, both part of God, equals with the Holy Spirit in the form of the Holy Trinity.
“From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” In the book of Revelation, Jesus revealed through John that He would come again one day, and would at that time sit in judgment of all mankind, both those still living on that day and those who had died and gone on before - both the quick and the dead.
It won't matter if you are dead or alive at that time, or when you died. You will stand before Jesus. Your name will be searched for in the Book of Life. You will be separated, either to Christ's right to enjoy eternal life with Him and His Father, or to His left where you will be cast into the lake of fire, there to spend an eternity in torment. Matthew assures us of this in the twenty-fifth chapter of his Gospel.
“I believe in the Holy Spirit.” This is the third aspect of God, the third person of the Holy Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit share equal power and authority in the Trinity, yet each has specific functions or roles as directed by God to assist mankind. The Holy Spirit is that aspect of God who was sent after Christ's ascension to fill man and become part of him. His role is to guide us, to speak God's word into our hearts, to give us courage and strength, to console us and comfort us. The Holy Spirit is God's gift to us, to continue Christ's mission of teaching us the true way.
“The holy catholic church.” Many people are confused by this phrase, and some even take offense at it. But this is not what they think it is. This does not refer to the Christian sect known as the Catholic Church, capital “C”, or any of its variations.
The word “catholic” in general means something that is universal in extent, involving all, of interest to all. In this sense, in this phrase, it pertains to the whole Christian body. So when I say I believe in the holy catholic church, I mean that I truly believe in the entire church of Christ, serving as the body of Jesus left on earth to fulfill His great commission. It means that I believe that Christ intended God's word to be available to us all, His plan to be intended for us all, and not just some select few. I believe in the complete and universal love of God.
“The communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins.” Here, the saints are all those who suffered, were persecuted, were put to death for their belief in God and in Jesus Christ our Lord. Throughout time, even to this day, people of God, brothers and sisters of Christ, have suffered great physical and emotional pain, even death, simply because of their beliefs. The forces of Satan cannot stand such faith, so they torture those who will not be deterred from God. At the time of final judgment, these saints will be granted life eternal by Jesus, and we who believe will be among them. Our communion together will be complete.
And we all can be forgiven of our sins, just as Jesus forgave so many when He walked among us. If we believe in Him, admit our sins, and truly repent of them, He will forgive us and stand for us before God at our judgment. Again, forgiveness is not for some select few, but for all who believe and who repent.
“The resurrection of the body.” Just as Jesus bodily rose from the dead and walked among us again before ascending into heaven, He promises we will also be resurrected in the flesh. The graves and the seas will give up the bodies of the dead and they will stand before our loving Judge.
Jesus promises death will not hold us captive, just as it did not hold Him. Just as He walked from the grave, so will we. We were created in the image of God, and in His image will we live forever.
“And the life everlasting.” This is what Christians live for, what we long for. Life after death. Eternal life. And we usually mean eternal life with Jesus, living in the new heaven and the new earth.
But the final judgment also promises eternal life for those who do not believe, who did not repent. This is a life of everlasting fire and torment, the punishment promised for the beast, his false prophet, and Lucifer himself as well as all their agents of evil both alive at that time and dead.
I believe in the life everlasting, so I understand that I can choose to suffer eternal torment, or live forever with my Lord and Savior. I choose Christ.
I believe.
Amen.
Let us pray… Almighty God, we do believe in You, as our Father in Heaven, as our Lord Jesus the Son of God, and as the Holy Spirit living within us and guiding us through life. And Father, we understand that faith is not something that we generate within ourselves, but that it is a gift from You, a gift out of Your great mercy and grace, a gift that offers us the means of our salvation. We acknowledge that only through Your grace might we be saved and not by anything that we might do or give. Our belief in Your Son Jesus and our faith in Your word are all we need.
Help us, Father, to be more faithful in our faith, to be more gracious while in Your grace, to be more forgiving under Your forgiveness, to be more loving in Your love. Help us to cast aside all our fears, all our worries, all our anxieties, and trust in You to see to all our needs now and beyond. Help us trust and obey, that our faith might grow within us. Help us trust that our faith can move mountains, as long as our faith is in You and Your mighty power.
Hear us now, loving Father, as we speak to You silently from our hearts, offering our thanks and seeking Your help…
Father God, thank You for Your wonderful grace and the gift of faith. Thank You for the path through You Son’s cross that leads to our salvation. And thank You for Your love, the very foundation of Your grace and our faith. This in the blessed name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
I try to mix up our congregational and responsive readings each week, but quite often we stand and recite what is known as the Apostle's Creed. While tradition has it that the creed was written on the day of or shortly after Pentecost by the Apostles themselves, most Biblical authorities today believe the authors to have been a group of close followers of the Apostles, written sometime within the first few centuries after Pentecost, during the Apostolic age. So either way, it is safe to say that these statements of belief have been around quite a while, and have well stood the test of time.
But is this creed so old, and so often used, that we take it for granted, that we no longer listen to the words as we speak them, but instead chant them as a ritual, as a solemn duty? That’s why I try to have us doing a different reading each week, so it almost seems as if we’re doing something new and maybe we’ll pay a little more attention to the words leaving our lips.
I love the Apostles’ Creed. I feel it a very important part of my worship. It states my reason for being a disciple of Christ and is right up there with my baptisms as an outward sign of my covenant with God.
But sometimes we get a little confused with parts of that proclamation of faith, so if you will indulge me, I would like to look a little more closely into this list of brief statements that together form the fundamental tenets of Christian belief.
“I believe.” I am confident that what I hope for will indeed come to pass, and, in this case, sure of what I cannot see. I have faith. And by faith I know. By faith I believe.
“I believe in God.” Every time I see the sun set, or a baby's fingers, I believe. When I hear a bird's song, or a breeze fluffing dry leaves, I believe. I touch a snowflake, it melts in my hand, and I believe. I smell the ocean's life, breathe in the earth following a rain, and I believe. I can sip from a cool mountain spring, or bite into an apple right off the tree, and I believe. All five of my senses offer proof of the existence of a living God, Who orders and controls each and every thing that ever was, is, and ever will be.
I can neither see nor hear nor touch nor smell nor taste God, no more than I can experience the wind itself except by its passing. (And no, we do not smell the wind, but only the scents it carries. Neither can we feel it, but only its effect on our skin as it passes.) Yet I know the wind exists by what it causes, and I know God exists by the effects He creates.
“The Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.” I also believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and that what it tells me I can accept as truth. Jesus spoke of God as His Father, and instructed us to think of Him as our heavenly Father too. And since the Bible tells us that God is the one God, the only God, we can know He is all mighty, all powerful.
There is nothing God cannot do, nothing that is beyond His power, no force that can prevent Him from accomplishing His great plan. Not only did He create this earth upon which we live, us, and the plants and animals we share earth with, He created the sun that warms us and all the stars and planets and moons that speckle our night sky. He created the angels to worship and serve Him, and heaven where they all reside. He even created Lucifer, who turned on God and now torments us all with his misguided and self-destructive desire to be greater than God. I believe that everything there is, God created.
“And in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord.” It is sometimes a little difficult to think of our all-powerful God as a small human baby, but that is exactly how He came into our world in the flesh. God understands that many folk have trouble believing in something they cannot see or touch. Time after time He has witnessed how easily we fall into idol worship of one form or another. So He knew that for us to more easily believe, He would need to give us something physical.
Because He loves us so much, He came to us in the flesh, as His only Son, to walk among us, live with us, suffer our pains, dream our dreams, and ultimately die at our hands. This is our one true Lord, Jesus Christ.
“Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.” For God to become flesh, to take the physical form of a man, it was necessary to be born of a human woman but fathered by God Himself. So the third form of God, the third member of the Holy Trinity, entered Mary and planted the seed within her that would grow to be our Lord and Savior.
But even the Son of God needed an earthly father. So Joseph humbly obeyed God's angels and accepted the special circumstances of the birth of Jesus, and raised Him as his own, teaching Him the ways of the world while providing Him a solid religious upbringing.
“Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried.“ As Jesus grew into a young man, He also grew into the role for which He was born, the role He tried to explain to Pilate as I read earlier. Jesus shared the truth with the world of man. He taught the true way of life. He promised eternal life to those who would only believe. And He made enemies, great and powerful enemies who sought to silence Him, no matter what it took.
So they arrested Jesus and handed Him over to the governor assigned by Rome, for the Jews had no authority to put a man to death but the Romans indeed did. It is significant that we can, through this article of faith, pinpoint with great certainty the time when Jesus suffered and was put to death, because we can determine when Pilate ruled over the Jews by researching independent, non-Biblical documents and records. This places our Lord’s death as an event in earthly time, not something that simply happened “long ago”.
While in Roman hands, Jesus was beaten mercilessly, the flesh literally ripped from His body. He was ridiculed and derided, was spat on and jeered at. And He was nailed to a rough-hewn cross, upon which His earthly body took its last breath and died.
His corpse was taken from the cross, cleaned, wrapped in funeral cloths, and interred in a newly excavated tomb. The entrance was blocked and sealed by a huge boulder and guards stationed to watch over it so no one would take the body away.
“He descended into hell.” Jesus went to the place of the dead. Jesus was really, truly dead. His mortal body ceased all functions. There was no illusion involved, no sleight of hand. Jesus went to where all people go who die, for He was dead.
For those who think death is final, as most did during the time of His walk on earth and many still do today, this would be the end of the story of the Man of Nazareth. Jesus went where the dead all go, never to return or be seen again.
“The third day He rose again from the dead.” Now this is the point that makes every Christian heart sing! Even death could not hold our Lord! Through Jesus, God showed us that He can conquer death, that anything is within His power.
Jesus did return, he was seen again, in the flesh and by many people - hundreds of people. His wounds could be seen and touched, His voice heard. This was no apparition, no mirage, no illusion. This was the living, walking, talking Jesus Christ once again! The boulder was pushed from the tomb and the declared-dead Jesus walked right out.
Had our Lord not risen from the grave, there would be no Christian faith today. Instead we might have an interesting story of a man from somewhere around the Sea of Galilee who preached a little here and there and supposedly did some pretty amazing tricks. But no, that is not the case. Now we know for sure that our God lives! He defeated death and rose from the grave and walked among us once again!
“He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.” Once His work upon earth was done, once doubtful man was assured of His defeat over death, Jesus bodily arose into heaven. He went back home and we know that there He rejoined God His Father and sits at His right hand. The Son and the Father, both part of God, equals with the Holy Spirit in the form of the Holy Trinity.
“From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” In the book of Revelation, Jesus revealed through John that He would come again one day, and would at that time sit in judgment of all mankind, both those still living on that day and those who had died and gone on before - both the quick and the dead.
It won't matter if you are dead or alive at that time, or when you died. You will stand before Jesus. Your name will be searched for in the Book of Life. You will be separated, either to Christ's right to enjoy eternal life with Him and His Father, or to His left where you will be cast into the lake of fire, there to spend an eternity in torment. Matthew assures us of this in the twenty-fifth chapter of his Gospel.
“I believe in the Holy Spirit.” This is the third aspect of God, the third person of the Holy Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit share equal power and authority in the Trinity, yet each has specific functions or roles as directed by God to assist mankind. The Holy Spirit is that aspect of God who was sent after Christ's ascension to fill man and become part of him. His role is to guide us, to speak God's word into our hearts, to give us courage and strength, to console us and comfort us. The Holy Spirit is God's gift to us, to continue Christ's mission of teaching us the true way.
“The holy catholic church.” Many people are confused by this phrase, and some even take offense at it. But this is not what they think it is. This does not refer to the Christian sect known as the Catholic Church, capital “C”, or any of its variations.
The word “catholic” in general means something that is universal in extent, involving all, of interest to all. In this sense, in this phrase, it pertains to the whole Christian body. So when I say I believe in the holy catholic church, I mean that I truly believe in the entire church of Christ, serving as the body of Jesus left on earth to fulfill His great commission. It means that I believe that Christ intended God's word to be available to us all, His plan to be intended for us all, and not just some select few. I believe in the complete and universal love of God.
“The communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins.” Here, the saints are all those who suffered, were persecuted, were put to death for their belief in God and in Jesus Christ our Lord. Throughout time, even to this day, people of God, brothers and sisters of Christ, have suffered great physical and emotional pain, even death, simply because of their beliefs. The forces of Satan cannot stand such faith, so they torture those who will not be deterred from God. At the time of final judgment, these saints will be granted life eternal by Jesus, and we who believe will be among them. Our communion together will be complete.
And we all can be forgiven of our sins, just as Jesus forgave so many when He walked among us. If we believe in Him, admit our sins, and truly repent of them, He will forgive us and stand for us before God at our judgment. Again, forgiveness is not for some select few, but for all who believe and who repent.
“The resurrection of the body.” Just as Jesus bodily rose from the dead and walked among us again before ascending into heaven, He promises we will also be resurrected in the flesh. The graves and the seas will give up the bodies of the dead and they will stand before our loving Judge.
Jesus promises death will not hold us captive, just as it did not hold Him. Just as He walked from the grave, so will we. We were created in the image of God, and in His image will we live forever.
“And the life everlasting.” This is what Christians live for, what we long for. Life after death. Eternal life. And we usually mean eternal life with Jesus, living in the new heaven and the new earth.
But the final judgment also promises eternal life for those who do not believe, who did not repent. This is a life of everlasting fire and torment, the punishment promised for the beast, his false prophet, and Lucifer himself as well as all their agents of evil both alive at that time and dead.
I believe in the life everlasting, so I understand that I can choose to suffer eternal torment, or live forever with my Lord and Savior. I choose Christ.
I believe.
Amen.
Let us pray… Almighty God, we do believe in You, as our Father in Heaven, as our Lord Jesus the Son of God, and as the Holy Spirit living within us and guiding us through life. And Father, we understand that faith is not something that we generate within ourselves, but that it is a gift from You, a gift out of Your great mercy and grace, a gift that offers us the means of our salvation. We acknowledge that only through Your grace might we be saved and not by anything that we might do or give. Our belief in Your Son Jesus and our faith in Your word are all we need.
Help us, Father, to be more faithful in our faith, to be more gracious while in Your grace, to be more forgiving under Your forgiveness, to be more loving in Your love. Help us to cast aside all our fears, all our worries, all our anxieties, and trust in You to see to all our needs now and beyond. Help us trust and obey, that our faith might grow within us. Help us trust that our faith can move mountains, as long as our faith is in You and Your mighty power.
Hear us now, loving Father, as we speak to You silently from our hearts, offering our thanks and seeking Your help…
Father God, thank You for Your wonderful grace and the gift of faith. Thank You for the path through You Son’s cross that leads to our salvation. And thank You for Your love, the very foundation of Your grace and our faith. This in the blessed name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
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