We
are now on the third and final trail of 1
Peter 2:23. It is also set in
the context of Christ
being our example as recorded in 1
Peter 2:21-25.
In 1 Peter 2:23, we see that
Jesus of Nazareth trusted God to be faithful.
Jesus of Nazareth was the one and
only human being on planet earth Who could trust God with all His heart, soul,
strength, and mind. He is the Author and
Perfecter of faith as written in Hebrews
12:2 and we ride on His faith.
Jesus of Nazareth is the mustard seed
faith that died and yielded a harvest of saved souls as recorded in John
12:24.
He is the mountain-moving faith as
depicted in Matthew
17:20 and Luke
17:6.
When our hearts are fully established
in the beloved Son of God Who came in the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth to be the Promised
Messiah, the mountain-moving faith will be set in motion. That conviction does not come from what other
people have said or are saying. It comes
from seeing for ourselves how Jesus of Nazareth had indeed fulfilled every
Messianic credential as recorded in the Old Testament.
Jesus of Nazareth is worthy of our
complete trust. How much we trust Him
depends on us. Yet, the extent of our
trust in Him corresponds with how much we know Him. For example, if you were to tell me that I
can trust you, I would take it with a pinch of salt. This is because I do not
know you.
Abraham trusted God because He knew
God (Romans
4:20-21). The Psalmist David was
credited by God to be a man after His own heart as recorded in 1
Samuel 13:14 and Acts
13:22. They got to know God to be absolutely trustworthy because they
allowed God to prove Himself to be so.
In fact, Abraham trusted God so much that he was able to give up Isaac,
who meant everything to him (Genesis
22:9-12, Hebrews
11:19). As for David, he was
conscious of the fact that it was God who rescued him from the paw of the lion
and from the paw of the bear (1
Samuel 17:34-37). That acute
consciousness of God being with them (Immanuel;
Matthew
1:23) gave them supernatural courage. As it was for them, so will it be for us who
knows that God is with us. In fact, God
is not only with us, He is also for us and in us (Romans
8:31, Colossians
1:27, and 1
Corinthians 3:16). That gives us
thrice the courage of Abraham and David.
Jesus of Nazareth is like a top-notch
blue chip. Whoever invests in that stock
is sure to profit. How much profit you make
will depend on how much you invest in Him, that is, how deep is your trust in
Him. When we get to know Jesus for
ourselves, that deep or abiding trust becomes effortless. For instance, you trust the elevator to
function because it has proven itself to be reliable. Do you stop and ponder for hours before
taking the elevator? No. You just step into it and trust that it will
work. In the same manner, when we look
at how Jesus of Nazareth has fulfilled every Messianic credential, we will
trust Him with a deeper conviction.
Down through history, God the Father
had revealed to many prophets the Messianic credentials. These prophets lived in eras spanning across
centuries and yet those Messianic credentials are consistently the same. All these credentials have been finally
fulfilled by the beloved Son of God in the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth. You can find this written in Hebrews
1:1-3.
In
view of the above, the nub of 1 Peter 2:23 is:
“Jesus of Nazareth trusted God to
be faithful”.
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