How
much historical uncertainty would be set aside if only an eyewitness had come
forward? What if an eyewitness had looked over Lee Harvey Oswald’s shoulder?
saw what really happened to Jon Benet Ramsey? or stood post in the Oval Office
for 200 years of history? As significant as such eyewitness testimony might have
been, none of it approaches the level of significance of the eyewitness testimony
that verifies Jesus’ deity. Our eternal destinies are inextricably bound-up
in the reality of His deity.
God’s
Word verifies Jesus’ identity.
As
sure as that eyewitness testimony was, we have a “more sure Word” from
God. (2 Peter 1:19-21). All Scripture bears witness to Jesus of Nazareth. He invites
us to “search the Scriptures . . . they are they which testify of Me”
(John 5:39). To two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things
concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27).
Advertisement
Who
appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus? Moses, the Law-giver, and
Elijah, respected by the Jews as the greatest prophet of all. Long before He was
born in Bethlehem’s manger, Moses, Elijah, and all the other God-inspired
writers of Scripture testified of Jesus.
To
that Word we must continually give heed until the day of His return dawns, and
doubt’s darkness is forever erased.
We
posses eyewitness testimony and an inspired record, and still we struggle with
doubt. Like Christian and Hopeful in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress,
we moan and groan in the dungeon of Doubting Castle, pummeled by Giant Despair.
How are we ever to escape?
Christian
remembered that he possessed a key of Promise that would unlock all the gates
of Doubting Castle. When he finally inserted it into the lock, the door sprung
open.
Faith
in the promises and claims of God is the key. “Faith is not belief without
proof,” wrote Elton Trueblood, “but trust without reservation.”
To paraphrase Elisabeth Elliot, “True faith goes into operation when there
are no certain answers.” As we so often sing, “Faith is the victory
that overcomes the world,” even a world as uncertain and insecure as ours.
____________________
Sermon
brief provided by: Greg Hollifield, Chaplain with Youth for Christ and instructor
at Crichton College in Memphis, TN