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Works Of Jesus God’s Faith Jesus Our Intercessor
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The Wrath Of God
Q. Has the wrath of God been poured out on the nations as prophesied in the book of
Revelation?
A. No, that wrath is still to come and will happen as written. We don't pretend to have any knowledge of exactly when that will happen. God's wrath has been poured out on Jesus; the sins of the whole world were imputed to him on the cross. All of the judgment that is due to mankind has potentially been paid for. However, not everyone will accept that payment; therefore, this earth will be finally and horribly judged.
Considering the situation today with respect to the nations, we have been told by the Lord to go into all the world, preach the gospel and occupy until he comes. That is, we have been given the authority by Jesus to act in this world as he did, i.e. to demonstrate the love of the Father to the world. But the ultimate judgment of the nations is still to come, when the sins of this world are filled up. We don't know when that is, no one does, not even the Son. However, God is not actively engaged in the final judgment of the nations at this point in time.
There are consequences that happen as a result of man's sinful nature; outbreaks of disease, wars, famine, etc., but these are not as a result of God's judgment. We live in a world that has
not yet been totally redeemed from the effects of Adam's fall; and until it is, these are the kinds
of things that we will see happening.
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Jesus As Our Intercessor
(Heb 7:25 -- Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by
him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.)
(Jn 16:26 -- At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the
Father for you:)
Q. It seems to me according to John 16, Jesus is NOT acting as High Priest in the traditional Jewish manner, i.e., we pray in Jesus' name and He goes to the Father BUT rather our prayers, in Jesus name, take us directly to the throne of God. So what does Heb 7:25 mean?
A. In answer to your question, the role of a priest always has been as an intermediary between God and man: to act as man's representative before God, and God's representative before man. Obviously, the role of Jesus as our High Priest is on a higher level than any other priest because he is both God and man. But look at Heb 8:3: "For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices..." This means that the high priest did not, as a primary function, make requests of
God. His function was to handle the various sacrificial rituals and offerings having to do with sin, the Day of Atonement and so forth. That is a true intercessory, intermediary role. So Jesus as High Priest offered himself as the one sacrifice for sins forever, he was then raised and is sat down on the right hand of God. Every time the Father looks at him he sees the eternal sacrifice made on behalf of our sin, and also the eternal "intercessor" who offered it. We could accurately paraphrase that passage like this, "He ever lives as one who not only was the intercessor, but also the everlasting sacrifice, and because of his unchangeable position as priest is able to save completely them that come to him."
It's for that reason that the way to the Father is open, and that is why the statement Jesus made in John 16:26 is true. (Excerpt from A Sound Word, Volume 2.)
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Q. What does it mean that we are to continue in the works of Jesus?
A. Thanks for writing to us here at SMI. This means that we believe the Holy Spirit is continuing the work he started at Pentecost. That is empowering us to continue in what Jesus was doing on earth. If you recall in John 15, Jesus said we would do the works that he did and greater works because he was going to his father and was sending the Holy Spirit.
When we look at the things the Christian church is supposed to do, it is in the Great Commission from Jesus and telling the world the good news that God loves us and has taken our sins. People need to know that and the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost empowered the believers to be able to do that with demonstrating signs and wonders.
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Q If by definition faith is believing something we don’t know or have no knowledge of, or see, then how can God have faith if he is eternal? Wouldn’t we be denying the omniscience of God to believe that? Even if we call it supernatural it still isn’t visible,
but God knows/sees the end at the beginning. It doesn’t take faith to sit in a chair that’s sturdy. So when you give the interpretation from scripture, is it based on another understanding or aspect of the word faith? For instance in Heb 11:1, if ‘faith is the substance of things hoped for’, doesn’t this suggest that if God has faith that he must also hope. In Rom 15:13 he is called the God of hope, but I believe that relates to him being the source of hope. I can’t believe God hopes for anything; it makes God seem limited when faith, by definition, is applied to him no matter what type.
As it relates to Gal 2:16,20, ‘the faith of Jesus Christ’ and ‘the faith of the sn of God’, what about other scriptures such as Phil 1:27 ‘the faith of the gospel’ which means faith that believes in the gospel. I’m not a theologian and I don’t know Greek, but I want an understanding.
A The question you raise is very good. We had to think about it for a bit. But we realize God has faith. The very simple reason is that if he didn’t have any, we couldn’t get any. In terms of the concept of life, our source is from God, but it’s equally true that the source of our faith is from
God because he has faith -- so do we. The Bible says in Heb 1 that faith is the substance of things hoped for. If you refer back to Romans 4:17, it speaks of God as calling those things which be not as though they were. Taking those two verses together, let’s see what happened in Genesis chapter 1. God said (the literal Hebrew translation) Light Be. Was there light before God said those words? We don’t believe so. Yet, as a result of what he spoke, light came into existence. Therefore God’s word and his faith became light.
The word ‘hope’ has a different meaning that what we usually associate with it. We typically would say something like, ‘I don’t have money now, but I hope I will when the bills are due.’
The word ‘hope’ implies a wishful thinking. But a Bible definition of hope is actually closer to expectancy. In other words, when God said, ‘Light Be’, he expected it to happen. Therefore, his faith was the substance of what he expected when he said ‘Light Be’.
You mentioned the omniscience of God in relation to this. In other words, why would you need to have faith when you know everything. That’s the part of the question that was the most puzzling
at first. Actually, it’s God’s faith makes everything that he knows come into being. So, when you defined faith as believing something you don’t know or have no knowledge of, that is an inaccurate definition of faith. Faith, as defined in Hebrews, says it is the substance of things you expect or hope for. In that respect, God’s faith is what brought this material world into being and caused us to exist. It was God’s faith that caused him to be our atoning sacrifice when there was no guarantee that anybody would ever accept him. In his relation with us, you can see his faith at work because God has faith in us. Even when we sometimes don’t have faith in him at all!
ONLY Believe,
Mark & Denise, your Bible Answer Team
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