Unbelief

From our Tuesday Morning Bible Study:

It is safe to say that no one in history has seen the type of miracles that the Israelites saw as God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. They saw the ten plagues through which God pounded Egypt into submission. They witnessed the miraculous parting of the Red Sea which allowed the Israelites to cross but destroyed Pharaoh's army when the waters returned to normal. One would think that the Children of Israel had all the proof they needed to believe in God.

Alas, such was not the case. Despite the wonders they saw, they continually rebelled against God. They refused to believe that He would take care of them. They continually chafed at Moses' God-ordained leadership and even yearned to go back to Egypt, concocting some fantasy that things were actually good there and refusing to remember how the Egyptians oppressed them with bitter bondage.

This is the nature of unbelief. It exists separately from evidence or proof because unbelief is the product of a sinful, fallen, and God-dishonoring heart. There is no amount of evidence that can be brought forward to "convince" a sin-hardened heart filled with unbelief. If more evidence could have corrected the problem, the Israelites would have believed when they saw God's miracles. As such, they did not believe God because their wicked hearts were set against Him. They wanted their own way. They sought their own immediate comfort. They cared nothing for the great things that God had for them in the Promised Land if they could not have it now.

God knew the type of people He was dealing with. That is why He led them on a path through the wilderness rather than have them take the direct route to Canaan. God knew that as soon as difficulties arose, the true nature of the Israelites would become manifest. They would complain. They would rebel. They would fully demonstrate that they did not believe, or know, God at all. God's continual provision of the Israelites was both a sign of his mercy toward them and His testing of them. They failed the test and forfeited the right to enter the Promised Land. God would allow that unbelieving generation to die in the wilderness with their dreams unfulfilled and would raise up a new generation that would believe Him.

Unbelief is a dreadful and damning sin that refuses to acknowledge God's greatness and will not submit to His will. True Christians can experience times of doubt but unbelief springs from a lost and unregenerate heart, a heart that has not experienced God's grace.

True unbelief will ultimately come forward. It will betray a professed faith in God because it cannot be hidden beneath a religious outer garment.

The writer of Hebrews warned his readers of unbelief using the example of the Israelites in the wilderness.

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. (Hebrews 3:12)

The writer of Hebrews feared that there were professed Christians who were actually unbelievers in the congregation to which He was writing. If that was the case, he knew that they would fall away from their faith in Christ when persecution arose. He wanted to warn them because he did not desire to see any of them be lost.

We need to give heed to the author of Hebrews and pay close attention to the example of the Israelites. Personal examination is necessary. Is our faith truly in God through Christ or do we "serve" God for other reasons, reasons of a selfish and ultimately damning nature?

As Paul wrote:

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Cor. 13:5)

Let us not fail the test like the Children of Israel did. Let us go on to the Promised Land holding to a firm faith in the saving power of God through our Savior Jesus Christ.

Tony

Audio from Tuesday's Bible Study (Right-click to save)
The Journey to Sinai
Handout