Steps of Faith

The Puzzle

Have you wondered how Abraham could have been saved, even before Jesus died on the cross? Or even if he was saved? If Jesus was the only way to salvation, how could anyone in the Old Testament have been saved?

And then for Paul to say that we should walk in the steps of that faith of our Father, Abraham, when we question whether Abraham was even saved, how does that make sense?

My aim for this section is to show how God’s covenant with Abraham modeled the new covenant even before there was an old covenant.

The Mystery Revealed

^{John 15:9}As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. ¹⁰If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. ¹¹These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full. ¹²This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Jesus reveals in these few verses what had been hidden throughout generations. Embedded in these few verses is the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Old Covenant was a covenant with the Father; it was fulfilled by Jesus Christ, his Son. The New Covenant is our relationship with the Son underwritten by the new commandment. This is the framework of what we now know as the new covenant. 

Although Abraham was not the first to walk in the steps of faith, the Bible credits him with being the father of our faith. That is because the life of Abraham illustrates the new covenant, step by step. Abel, Enoch, and Noah were mentioned in Hebrews 11 as people of faith. Abraham was the fourth.

Steps of the Faith

^{Romans 4:12}And the Father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

Each step of the way, I will trace the love of the Father to the Son, the love of the Son to Abraham, to the love of Abraham to his son. The story begins in Genesis 12.

Showing All Things

^{John 5:20}For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.

One expression of love the Father had for Jesus was that he showed him what he was doing.

As the Father loved the Son, so would the Son love Abraham. Jesus showed Abram what he was doing, step by step, just like the Father had shown him.

Go to a New Land

^{John 3:17}God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

God sent Jesus into the world. That was an act of love of the Father to the Son: The world was to be the place of Jesus’ inheritance. 

As the Father loved the Son, so did the Son love Abraham.

^{Genesis 12:1}Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

It was Jesus who spoke to Abram telling him to leave the land of Ur. In Chapter 15 we see that the Lord sent him to a land that would be his inheritance. As the Father had sent Jesus from heaven to a land that would be his inheritance.

Although Abram believed, his faith at this point was not counted as righteousness. 

Cleansing the Account

^{Genesis 15:6}And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness. ⁷And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it? ⁸And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? ⁹And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. ¹⁰And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.

This step of faith had not been required of Jesus because there was no sin in Jesus that needed to be purged. The new covenant requires a pure heart, one that is without sin.

^{Hebrews 9:22}And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

The sacrifice offered was to purge sin from Abram’s account, which is in the heart.

This verse states that almost all things are purged with blood. You may wonder what the exceptions were.

^{Matthew 9:2}And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

On more than one occasion, Jesus explicitly forgave sins, even though there was no blood sacrifice offered. This is one of the rare cases where a blood sacrifice was not needed.

We think of forgiveness as someone not holding our offense against us. But forgiveness of sin has to do with what is written upon the heart. Those that heard Jesus forgiving the man’s sins knew that his forgiveness had to do with what was written upon the heart. Only God has access to write upon the heart, and to delete what has been written therein.

Delivered from the Law

The next step of faith involves bringing one out from under the law where sins are no longer imputed. (Imputed means to enter into one’s account.) This is how future sins are handled – they are no longer remembered, as spelled out in the language of the new covenant.

^{Romans 7:1}Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth.

To get out from under the law, one must die. However, there are shadows of death that qualify for the purpose of delivering a person out from under the law of sin and death.

Jesus instituted the ordinance of baptism as a shadow of death. John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance, but Jesus’ baptism was a baptism of death and resurrection. 

^{Matthew 3:16}And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: ¹⁷And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Another way the Father loved the Son was when he used John to baptize him. As he was loved by the Father, Jesus loved Abram with a baptism of death and resurrection.

^{Genesis 15:12}And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. ¹⁷And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

The deep sleep that fell upon Abram was his shadow of death. This is what brought Abram out from under the law of sin and death. No more would his sins be counted against him. 

Resurrection

Abram awoke from his sleep unto newness of life, no longer under the law but now under grace. From that point on his faith was imputed as righteousness. Before that point, Abraham was still under the law, still a servant of sin, free from righteousness. 

Supernatural Conception

^{Luke 1:35}And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

The Father conceived Jesus in Mary by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. This was a supernatural conception.

^{Isaiah 53:8}He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. ⁹And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. ¹⁰Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Jesus also gave birth under supernatural circumstances. Here we see that he was cut off. That means he died without any children. Yet in verse 10, he was able to see his seed. He had children, conceiving them even after his death.

^{1 Peter 1:23}Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

We are his supernatural children, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God: the same seed by which Jesus was conceived. The seed is incorruptible because, no matter how many generations it is used to conceive, there are no mutations. Some translations say the seed is immutable.

^{Genesis 17:17}Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

Abraham gave birth to a Son under supernatural circumstances, he at the age of 100, Sarah at the age of 90, long after they were both dead as far as reproduction was concerned.

The Seal of Circumcision

^{Luke 2:21}And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Jesus was circumcised. I can only assume that this is an act of love.

^{Genesis 17:11}And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.

Jesus is the one who initiated the covenant with Abraham when he was 99. It was at this time that Abram was given his new name, Abraham.

Abraham also circumcised his son.

Sacrificing the Son

^{John 3:16}For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God gave his son as a sacrifice for all who believe.

^{Genesis 22:1}And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. ²And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

What God told Abraham to do was in direct violation of old covenant law, a law that at that time had not been given. However, it was in complete compliance with new covenant law where rivers of love flow from the Father, through the Son to us, then to one another. This is one example showing how the new covenant law is incompatible with the old covenant.

Follow in His Steps

Abraham was brought out of the land of Ur to a land he would inherit. We will be brought out of the land of Urth (earth) to a new land we will inherit – heaven. 

Our sacrifice is Jesus. The blood shed by Jesus cleansed our account from all sin. 

Our shadow of death and resurrection is baptism, bringing us out from under the law and under grace where sins are remembered no more, keeping our account free from sin. One need not be baptized to be saved, but one does need to die to get out from under the law.

^{Isaiah 54:1}“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord. ⁵For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.

We are encouraged to conceive children supernaturally by the word of God, the same seed by which we were born again. It is the Holy Spirit that conceived us and it is the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit that conceives the ones we witness to. We are the bride of Christ, he is our husband, we bear his children. The curse of the pain of labor in childbirth has been lifted.

We are circumcised with a circumcision done without human hands, by the Holy Spirit, sanctifying us. 

We are called to be a living sacrifice, dying to self. 

We have been loved by the Holy Spirit. To love as we have been loved, we must also love by the Holy Spirit. This is the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us (Romans 8:4).

To love one another as we have been loved is our superpower, for we do this strengthened by the Spirit of holiness. We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. The love we receive by the Holy Spirit is our joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength.

Let us not miss a step.