Doorway of Faith

by J. M. MacLeod

For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and not that of yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not of works lest any man should boast. (Eph. 2: 8&9)

Granted. But why? Why is faith the only 'commodity' that God is willing to accept for our salvation? The above verse explains some of the answer-- because any person who made 'it' via righteous works would be able to brag about it, and would then become less than humble and therefore no longer fit to dwell in heaven. That explains the 'why' as far as we are concerned, but in the eternal economy of things, how is it that God, Who is Justice itself, can accept mere intentions and belief as qualifying for redemption and not some actual, tangible undoing of all the gross ills of the world? In short, why does God consider faith superior to works?

To begin to understand the answer to this question, we need to first understand what faith is, and what it is not. Scripture tells us that "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," (Heb.11:1) but what exactly does that mean? The substance of things hoped for... evidence of things not seen... unusual terminology to say the least. The dictionary defines substance as: the essential nature; or the physical material from which something is made. In other words, faith is the physical, essential nature of whatever things are being hoped for. Paul tells us "...hope that is seen is not hope, for what a man seeth, why does he yet hope for?" (Rom. 8:24)

So, to understand the definition of faith, we must first comprehend the meaning of the word 'hope'. The world looks at 'hope' as something that may or may not happen and 'hopes' it will, but in the Kingdom of God, 'hope' has quite a different appreciation. Hope knows that something will happen, and waits patiently, enduringly, until the object of the hope comes to pass. For what a man seeth, why does he yet hope for? It is like a student studying for a major test. The student applies himself, learns all the ins and outs of the material covered by the test, and is thoroughly prepared to take the exam. The day of the test comes, and there is not an unfamiliar question to the student. With confidence every question is answered correctly, and the student goes back over the test to make sure there has been no technical mistake. Still, the student is finished before the allotted time, and turns in the test, knowing that a 100% is guaranteed to him. He leaves the class and returns to his dorm or home, assured that an A+ is his. Does he have the A+ in his possession yet? No. But he is assured it is going to be presented to him when the graded papers are returned in some following class. This is the classic Christian definition of hope: waiting for what has been guaranteed. While the world wishes, confusing wish with hope, the Christian hopes, certain that what God has promised is going to be fulfilled. Anything less than certain expectation is less than hope for the Christian.

Hope fills the interim period of waiting for the promise to find fulfillment, but it is faith that lays hold of the promise. So, if we are to lay hold of God's promises, we must accurately understand what faith is, and why it is imperative in our life and walk with God. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith has obtained what hope is in expectant waiting for. Now it is no secret among Believers that there has been much confusion and abuse of 'Faith Teaching' in the Body of Christ, leading to suspicion and division.

To know what God meant by telling us to have faith, however, we must understand what Jesus meant when He said " Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them," ( Mark 11:22-24) we need to know the framework He placed around this teaching, or else we will come away from this passage with a distorted, unscriptural view of what belief/faith really is. Mental wards are full of people who declare such and such an impossible thing, and do not doubt in their heart that what they said is true, but since we live in a real world with absolutes, their declaring something so does not make it so. That things remain the same despite their lunacy that has decided to believe otherwise does nothing to convince the mental patient. He is unswerving in his loyalty to his unique and distorted world view. So Jesus obviously did not intend to teach that just strong belief in such and such a thing will cause it to happen. Many believers, and not a few New Agers, misunderstand this and other teachings of our Lord, to their own frustration, confusion and even destruction. We hear of people imagining their white blood cells as white knights riding to war against the cancerous tumor devouring them, eroding it away as they 'believe' themselves to health, and other similar foolishness, instead of dealing with the real issues in a realistic manner. (This is not to minimize supernatural healing, but rather to keep it in perspective with God's will rather than human fickleness.) Others 'visualize' their way to wealth, or power, or love; and when their dreams are not fulfilled, they are persuaded by their 'faith-spouting gurus' that the breakthrough is almost within reach, if they will keep on 'believing, or try harder. Or else they are flooded with guilt over their inability to 'believe hard enough', leading to manipulation and spiritual bondage. Numerous cults and not a few Christian sects have sprung up around this 'mind over matter' heresy, misleading and spiritually damaging adherents, though they are unaware of all but the temporary, superficial benefits they assume are the direct result of their particular belief system.

No, Jesus was not teaching 'mind over matter', rather He was laying down some specific guidelines for the use of faith and prayer. Missed almost completely in this oft quoted proof-text passage is His prefacing statement "Have faith in God." We so often miss what Jesus was really saying here because when we pray, we are focusing exclusively on the object of our desires instead of what God has said. In Mark 11, Jesus and His disciples were returning to the Temple the day after he cursed the fig tree and cleansed the Temple of those who defiled that holy place with profiteering. The day before He had been hungry, and stopped by the fig tree to eat some of its premature fruit. But it was devoid of fruit, expending all its energy into leaf production, not fruitfulness. It was a perfect picture of what Israel as a nation and religion had become-- religion for the control of the masses, producing not righteous people to dwell with God in heaven, but morally stunted, legalistic practitioners of a distortion of God's Laws. All ceremony and regulations, no righteous fruit. Leaves, not seeds of life. Jesus cursed the fig tree, as Israel was being also judged and cursed for its lack of fruitfulness. Now returning to the scene of the symbol, Peter couldn't help but comment on the withered condition of the tree. Normally a tree that is cut down takes a few days at least to wither and dry up and be totally devoid of life; but the cursed fig tree did it overnight. As Jesus knew the Father was cursing Israel to another banishment, and forsaking the earthly Temple worship and religion of the Jews, so He made a visible symbol of that fact by cursing the unfruitful tree which throughout scripture symbolized the nation of Israel and its now deformed Law. What he heard and saw His Father do in the real but invisible realm is what He said and did in the visible realm (John 8:38). Jesus did not make up the action of cursing the fig tree, He imitated in a prophetic way what He knew was going to be His Father's action that should have been understood by His Jewish band of followers.

Going back to the Garden of Eden, it was the presence of two trees among all the others that catches our attention: The Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Of those two trees only one was forbidden. That one was selected, albeit by temptation; while the other, which offered so much more in reward for partaking, remained ignored. Adam partook of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and immediately knew he was uncovered, and guilty. Could it be that the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, which is the cause for Law governing our societies, was in actuality the fig tree, since they clothed themselves with the first thing they could lay their hands on? God's dealing with those under the curse of the Law is repeatedly symbolized by the fig tree throughout the prophets of the O.T., culminating in God's curse upon those under the Law? And by contrast, that would seem to indicate that the Tree of Life is symbolized by the Olive tree, which throughout the O.T. prophets are presented as the anointing presence of the Holy Spirit, the faithful witnesses, Jesus Himself being pressed on Gethsemane (Mt. of Olives oil press) by Satan and his minions.

So, Jesus heard from God first, then acted. "Have faith in God." And this is the essence of faith-- hearing from God. This then is the battleground of the conflict for believers--clinigng to what God has said in the presence of all the 'evidence' Satan exhibits to prove that such and such cannot happen. Remember, the world is in corroboration with Satan providing tons of evidence that can be seen, denying God's word, keeping us prisoners to his Lie so we do not know or recognize God's working in out fallen realm unless we have the eyes of faith.

To counter the mature believer's attitude of believing God over visual proofs, Satan also has a counterfeit to faith-- presumption. And this counterfeit is expertly used to discourage believers and prove to the world that Christians don't know what they're talking about. Jesus was directing His disciples to hear from God, not presume upon Him by telling Him what He ought to do. In effect, in Mark 11:22-24 He was declaring "What you know God wants to do, pray for, believing until it happens, and it shall happen." Faith is knowing what God is saying, and holding fast to it even when it looks impossible; whereas presumption is dreaming up our petty schemes in accordance with our limited understanding of God's will and expecting God to conform to our plans! He is under no obligation to do so. Christians wonder why God didn't come through for them, especially when they believed so strongly that He would do this or that, but if they would take the time to hear from Him before they commit their faith, they would never be disappointed. This common misconception is what prompted John to write the disclaimer in I Jn. 5:14 ...that if we ask anything, according to His will, He heareth us....

Hebrews 11 has been called 'Faith's Hall of Fame' (if such thing as a Hall of Fame can be imagined in God's Kingdom). It is more accurately the description of the power of faith, and those whom true faith has encouraged despite overwhelming opposition. How were these men and women of faith able to make such heroic stands? Simple, they knew God spoke to them, and clung tenaciously to the promise of Him who cannot lie! Picture Noah going about his antediluvian business, suddenly coming up with the bright idea, "Hey God! I got an idea. How's about if You flood the whole world and drown all these abominable people while I build an ark and escape with all my family and two's of each animal?" Or consider Abraham, counting his flocks one day, getting a flash and suggesting "Hey God, how about You leading me to a land that I've never seen, and I leave all my family and friends, and You can call me Your friend, and make me a father of many nations?" Absurd? Certainly, but isn't that what we try to do, tell God how to bring about His Kingdom instead of seeking knowledge of His will and how we fit in? So we see then that Faith is not our telling God what to do, but Him revealing to us a measure of His doings, and us clinging to His word. Follow every other example in Heb. 11, or throughout the Bible, and see the same chronology: first --God speaks; second--His servant hears, understands and obeys; third-- His servant then shares what God has shown him; fourth-- he is then is ridiculed and opposed; fifth-- God waits, delaying the fulfillment (this is where hope strengthens the believer); and sixth, after the believer has endured through ridicule and persecution, God accomplishes His promise, vindicating His servant.

After seeing what faith and hope really are, it seems works be a much simpler method of redeeming a people after all! But works done in the natural realm cannot fix what was disturbed in the spiritual realm.

But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. (Heb. 11:6) Or read it this way: 'But without hearing God and obeying, and clinging to His Word, it is impossible to please God, for he that comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.' But, argues the natural man, how can I believe in what I don't believe? And therein is the crux of the differences between the natural man and the spiritual. The natural man, being only of this unholy world, reasons with empirical evidence, wanting test tube proof. Show me and I'll believe. Prove it to me and I'll commit. But for all of that, he is devoid of knowing God, for one must first believe and commit before God will reveal Himself. Now faith is... the evidence of things not seen. (Heb. 11:1) The proof that the natural man insists on seeing before he believes is unseeable! It is only apprehended by faith and hope. Why is this? With all the emphasis on evangelism in the Church and in the scriptures, one would think God is over-anxious for people to come to Him, and would do something to empirically prove His existence so more would come. But not so. It is decreed that mankind must come to God by faith, and faith alone. And not faith in just anything, but faith only in what God has said, as revealed in and by His Son Jesus Christ and handed down to His apostles in their writings (Matt. 28:20). There is no alternative. Why has God demanded such a stringent method where rational man must set aside all his skills of coping with his natural realm, suspend all the truisms that serve so well in this realm, and take that gigantic leap of faith, hoping that the God who said He is there really is there? It has to do with doorways.

God has established an order to all He has done, therefore everything in His Kingdom must be done decently and in order (I Cor. 14:40) It is logical to expect order from the Creator, for He is the Grand Designer, forming order out of chaos, and peace out of confusion (see I Cor. 14:33). Now picture life as traveling down a vast corridor filled with multitudes of doorways or choices. If we make a wrong choice and enter a wrong door and realize our mistake, we must turn around and go back through the same doorway to the main corridor again in order to resume our progress. Or consider the last time you travelled down an interstate highway and accidentally got off the wrong exit. You had to find the on ramp of the same exit in order to resume your journey to its intended destination. The Departments of Transportation have so designed the roadway systems to assist travelers in knowing where they are so they can know where to go next. This is order. And it is understandable. Now apply the same principle to the spiritual realm.

Come back to the Garden of Eden, to the beginning of creation, the beginning of the human race, when we were all there in our forbear Adam, back before the catastrophic fall which plunged the creation into disaster. As God prepared an environment suitable to sustain life of His crowning achievement of the Third Dimension-- man, He pronounced everything He made good! This means that the ecosphere was 'user friendly'. There was nothing harsh or hostile in all that man was supposed to encounter. No thorns to pierce his skin as he did the gardening, no jagged rocks to bruise his feet as he walked, no blistering heat to cause him to sweat as he went about his chores, no freezing temperatures to numb him at night, no debilitating diseases to cause misery, no terrors from the animal kingdom to frighten, no hardship, frustration or pains of any kind were in man's prepared environment. It was a totally good place under God's blessing. Everything proclaimed the love and care the Creator had provided for his tenderly beloved first human pair. All that their eyes saw said God is good, and He loves you; all their ears heard were the gentle praises of creation proclaiming God's goodness and love; all they tasted and smelled and felt reinforced God's loving devotion to them. Eden was paradise! The perfect environment for the perfection of His creation. All was His life, and His life was in all. All was Truth, and His truth was in all.

Into this sublime milieu entered the Deceiver, intent upon murder. But everything that existed was immune to his malevolence, and he and his minions were kept at bay by God's protective goodness. Adam and Eve were sheltered because they loved and abode in the God Who loved them. The Defiler could not harm what God had blessed-- unless they could be persuaded to leave His protection. Thus, into the essence of the realm of Truth entered the temptation to turn away from the Truth and believe the Lie. A doorway opened in the fabric of Eden's goodness, an opportunity to explore something God did not intend for His beloved man and woman. Satan challenged them to suspend knowledge and disbelieve all the information their five senses told them about God, everything their seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and sensation communicated of God's existence and good provision. And when Adam partook of the forbidden piece of fruit (immature fig?) he placed his confidence in what was suggested to him by the Liar rather than believe all the external evidence of God's goodness, believing the Lie instead of the Truth. Ignoring what God had said, Mankind believed the Liar, instantly bringing enslavement as well as judgment upon not only themselves, but all of us who were resident in their loins. As a result, man was expelled from the garden where everything proclaimed God's love and goodness, being cast through a doorway, a rent in the fabric of Eden, a gap in the firmament. Man placed his faith in the Lie, despite all the empirical evidence he could ever want that God was True and spoke truth. It was not through works that man fell, but the doorway of a misplaced faith.

On the other side of this doorway of faith lay a world inconceivable to mankind prior to their fall. Instead of comfort and health and joy, they now knew peril, pain, anger and frustration-- and fear. These were new concepts, but hardly worth the price they paid. Where now was the God Who had so generously provided, Who had visited and comforted and enjoyed being with them? No longer did the world they occupied rejoice and sing His praises. Everything now denied His existence. The climate was harsh and demanding, and unforgiving of any mistakes; work caused blisters and sweat, rest only took the edge off the fatigue they felt, and heat and cold alternately buffeted them; disease occasionally ravaged them, as well as injuries which did not completely heal; aging began to take a toll on their strength, and always the knowledge that they had disobeyed God thereby forfeiting His companionship as they had known it before. Yes, there was still the relationship, but it was remote now, no longer the intimate fellowship they once enjoyed, and only through the blood of some innocent animal which temporarily prolonged their forfeited life. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Gen.2:17) Most of the time now their thoughts were on survival, not on God. He seemed so far away, and unreal despite what their memories told them. The harsh environment around them only confirmed minute by minute that God was alien to them, they were something other than what had once been created in His image. They left God's blessing and presence by a doorway called faith. Their whole world, which had been a wondrous place, was suddenly upside down and inside out. Is it any wonder that Satan tries so hard to keep mankind from believing the truth about Creation, supplanting it with the spurious Evolutionary theories that have captivated rebellious mankind's thinking? He wants mankind to be ignorant of the doorway through which we came under his dominion. All the variations of the Lie which monopolize man's thoughts are only intended to keep us from realizing our true state and seeking to return through that porthole to our loving God and Creator.

Where is this door, and how do we find it? If the only way we can return to God is through the same doorway we used to leave His presence, it is imperative we discover and use this door way. How is it that this door way became closed? So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Gen 3:24) Adam and Eve perhaps, upon finding themselves ousted from their idyllic environment into the horrors of the world we now know, tried to reenter the garden when God was not looking. But they found the terrible Cherubim and a flaming sword preventing them from returning lest they partake of the Tree of Life and be forever living in their degenerative state of sin. That is the condition of Satan and his minions. Ever existing, ever sinful, ever becoming more and more depraved and removed from what God created them as. God did not intend such a fate to befall humanity. Nevertheless, all who follow Satan will receive the same fate God has in store for Satan and his angels, everlasting fire (Mat. 25:41). Until we understand that our very lives are reversed from what we were originally created, and that we need to find forgiveness and acceptance, we are doomed. Yet when we try to come back to God, we find the way barred by terrifying angels with a flaming sword to slay all who dare seek the Tree of Life.Something else happened in the spiritual realm when Adam partook of the forbidden fruit, mankind died, the spiritual death happening immediately, and the physical death being temporarily postponed by the substitution of innocent animals (Gen. 3:21). Yet, like a summer tree which is cut down, the leaves remain green for some days, possibly a week or two, and the branches and trunk are not dry for a full year, yet the tree, cut off from its source of life, is quite dead. Satan lied, making mankind disbelieve God, yet what God said came true no matter what mankind collectively thought about the issue. We all died in Adam when he sinned. And no amount of positive thinking can restore life to us. No man-made religious rituals will undo what has been done. No setting the tree back on its stump will keep life in the severed trunk and branches. We are dead, though our physical bodies still possess some vestigial signs of life, we are dead inside, and our brief sojourn through this life proves that we, as a species are dead, leaving us unprepared to meet our Creator, Whom we have offended by calling Him a liar, and handing that which was committed to our stewardship (planet earth) over to His enemy (Gen. 1:26). There is no second chance, no retry, such as the Lie promises in its reincarnation variations, for the scripture proclaims ...And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this, the judgment. (Heb.9:27)

Arrayed against our return to God and His blessings are satanic deceptions and an actively zealous, malignant, evil horde of spirits intent upon keeping us from knowing the truth; universal, ubiquitous blindness in the ungodly climate of the world and the very real intrusion of sin which offends God; and our own false sense of pride and hard-heartedness, and deserves judgment. The world, the flesh and the Devil, or as the apostle John wrote to the early church: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is of the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lusts thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever (I Jn. 2:15-17). The world, once so gentle and full of expression of the Father's love has become a cold, hostile place, denying the very existence of God to the natural man's eyes. Satan seemed to have robbed God of not only His beautiful planet, but also the crown of His creation, Man made in His image. With a lie Satan murdered the whole human race, and keeps them bound with multitudinous variations of the same lie.

But then, in accordance with the counsels of His own will as He planned, God intervened in human history. I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture (John 10:9). Jesus used the metaphor of a shepherd watching over his sheep, but in a very real way, He proclaimed Himself the very essence of the doorway by which we return to the Father. We left the presence of God believing the Lie, so Jesus personally came as the Truth for us to believe. He is the Word-- the explanation of Who God really is to an ignorant, deceived, hard-hearted world; He is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6) i.e., the only way to the Father! He is the way back through the rent in the imperfect fabric of this anti-paradise; He is the speaking, living demonstration of the Truth to oppose the Lie, and He is the Life which robs death and the grave of their sting and victory over the human race (I Cor.15:55). Jesus came to expose the lies and hypocrisy that mankind delightedly pants after, to reveal the True God as He is. His death became the substitute for our own-- not an inferior (though clean and innocent) member of the animal kingdom, for the blood of bulls and goats could never remove the onus of sin, merely placing a temporary payment against our debt, not unlike a mortgagee falling into financial difficulties and making agreement with the bank to pay only the interest until things improve. You would not give a nickel in exchange for a quarter and expect all to be equal, so neither could an animal pay for the debt of a human, for it is inferior. Man is the crown of creation being formed in the image of God Himself, and therefore not an equal part among many equal parts (though some variations of the Lie make it seem so). Therefore man could never be redeemed by anything but sinless human blood. For the life of all flesh is the blood thereof... (Lev. 17:14). By substituting His own precious, sinless, human blood, Jesus became the sacrifice that fulfilled all the Law's sacrificial requirements. He paid off the whole mortgage, not just the interest. He not only was the Truth Incarnate, He made Himself the doorway, creating a rent in the fabric of deception in which the Father of Lies has so carefully entangled the world of men, keeping them from knowing the good God Who loves them and wants to receive them back into His presence-- but on His terms! In effect, Jesus went through the flaming sword guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden, suffering death though He did not deserve to, being the Tree of Life Himself, to bring us eternal life that is in Himself. He proved that by rising from the dead on the third day. Death cannot keep the Living One! Hell cannot punish the Innocent! God cannot refuse the Righteous!

Amidst the multitudinous facets of truth in the Garden, Satan snared humanity away from their Creator with a singular Lie; but now, amidst the multitudinous tumult of confusion and deceptions, Jesus has come to be the Truth to which human beings who wish to leave this unholy realm can cling. He is the doorway, but we must cling to Him and His words against all the so-called visible evidence supporters of the Lie rally to deny the existence of 'such a bigoted, narrow-minded way'. That is why it is of faith, and not works that we come into God's presence, for that is the very doorway through which mankind left God's presence. To come back to God we must denounce all the lies, philosophies, religions, politics, social systems, theories etc. etc of this world that either outright deny the Jesus revealed in God's Word (the Bible), or attempt to alter our perceptions of Him and His mission in some way so that He is not presented as He truly is. This takes faith. This is why John encouraged the early church which was already under attack from antichrist forces to Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us, even eternal life (I Jn. 2:24-25). To depart from the revelation of Who Jesus is, is to depart from the Truth, the Doorway of Faith, and to remain under the Lie of the Devil and the threat of eternal damnation.