Is Seeing Believing? Part 1

One of the greatest hindrances that most people struggle with in the church today is believing whether or not what God says in His Word is for today. Does God really do today what He did through the early church? Is what God did in the early church to be expected in the church today? Well, I want to start by answering YES to both of these questions. How do we know this to be true? Through His Word. Here are some passages of scripture that we must consider...

• Psalms 89:34 No, I will not break my covenant; I will not take back a single word I said. 
• Psalms 119:89 Forever, O LORD, your word stands firm in heaven.
• Psalms 138:2 I bow before your holy Temple as I worship. I will give thanks to your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness, because your Word is backed by all the honor of your name
• Isaiah 55:11 It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
• Jeremiah 1:12 Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word."
• Malachi 3:6 For I am the LORD, I do not change...
• Romans 4:17 Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who brings into existence what didn't exist before.
• Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful…
• Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds came into being, and still exist, by the Word of God.
• Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever…

All of the above passages show us something very specific concerning God and His Word. Time does not change Him or His Word! The only thing that we can remotely consider changing for a lack of better words is that God spoke His Word in a progression of revelation to man. In other word, He revealed His will, character, nature, purposes and plan in a progressive manner. This does not change His Word, it is only the manner in which God chose to reveal Himself to man. We also see this in His Word, "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." (Hebrews 1:1-3) 

God revealed His will, character, nature, purposes and plan in a progressive manner.though the Old Testament, but now has revealed Himself in full revelation through Jesus Christ. Keeping in mind the above passages, let's look deeper as to what this means. To do this we will consider the following passages of scripture...

• John 5:19-21 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
• John 6:38-39 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
• John 8:28-29 Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.
• John 10:37-38 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.
• John 12:49-50 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."

We can clearly see in these passages that Jesus only said and did the will of the Father. He even gets a little more personal as He reveals the unique and special relationship that He has with the Father, "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves." (John 14:7-11)

The Bible clearly shows us that God and His Word does not change. We also see that Jesus perfectly reveals the Father's will, character, nature, purposes and plan through everything that He says and does. If we read the gospels, we will also find that there is absolutely no evidence that Jesus ever said that what He was doing and saying would ever come to an end or that it would only be for a specific dispensation. On the contrary Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away." (Luke 21:33) Another thing that we can see revealed in scripture is...

• 1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
• John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
• John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 
• John 10:30 I and My Father are one.   

With all we have seen through God's Word, we can clearly see that the living Word became flesh. His name is Jesus. The Word is God speaking. God and His Word are one. The Word is the will of the Father, just as Jesus, the Word made flesh was the will of the Father. What God says, is. What God says, will become. If He did not want it to be so, He would not have said it nor would He have sent it. The Word is always now, it is a present tense fact because God is always now. So why do some many in the church today question, whether or not what God says in His Word is for today and or does God really do today what He did through the early church? We have built a strong immovable foundation to be able to answer yes to these questions, but for many, these questions have created a stronghold in the mind.

In part  two we will expose this doubting mindset in hopes of helping people to come to a place of faith in the integrity of Gods never changing Word.