Now, the just shall live by faith. But if he draws back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of those withdrawing to destruction, but of those who believe to the preserving of the soul (Hebrews 10:38-39). Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1). The faith that we have within us now is in a thing not yet seen; something that is to be revealed to our sight . He who testifies these things says, Yes, I am coming quickly, Amen. Yes, come, Lord Jesus (Revelation 22:20). But our faith, that we have now, is also because, “Known to God from eternity are all His works” (Acts 15:18). Our faith in God now is because of who He was, is and is to be. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). “Now faith” is in things hoped for still left unseen.

It was Abraham’s “now faith” in the inheritance to come that was counted as righteousness. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11:17). For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness (Romans 4:9). Again Abraham was willing to offer up his son, Isaac, believing the promise God made and in what God would do. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense (Hebrews 11:17-19).

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:4-9). It is that which we are “eagerly waiting” for that is our hope yet unseen. “Now faith” is the faith we have now for what is to come. Yes, come, Lord Jesus.

Let our faith today be because of what God has done in what God is doing. Let us have faith in the One that “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1). Let our faith be in the One ” who will also confirm you to the end” (1 Corinthians 1:8). Let our faith be in the One that has said, “Yes, I am coming quickly” (Revelation 22:20). Let our confidence be in what we have seen and our faith be “the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

© 2006, Tim D. Coulter Sr.