God Is Certain
Robert F Collins DipTheo, BTh/BMin, MDiv
One of the most dramatic moments in the Bible, perhaps in all of human history, took place in an environment that we have come to refer to as “the upper room.” It occurred toward the end of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus and his disciples were going to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, a Jewish festival that included a specific remembrance meal; a meal that commemorated what happened hundreds of years earlier when the Israelites ate their last meal as slaves in Egypt. The Hebrew people had been in Egypt for four hundred years. They began as a family and grew into a nation. For their entire history, all they had known was slavery. They had prayed unceasingly to their God, but their prayers had gone unanswered for four hundred years. Finally, God sent a deliverer, Moses. He told them that they would be leaving the next day and that an angel of death was going to pass over Egypt that night, killing every firstborn from every family that didn’t have lamb’s blood on their doorposts and above their doors. The Israelites believed Moses, slaughtered a lamb, had a meal, and smeared the lamb’s blood as they had been told. That night, every firstborn in Egypt was killed, except for those sleeping in homes with blood on the doorposts, just as Moses had said. When morning came, Pharaoh angrily told Moses to take his people and leave. The Bible says that the next day they packed up everything they owned, along with the things the Egyptians had given them, and headed for what would be known as the Promised Land.
Uncertain Times
Fourteen hundred years later, Jesus was preparing to gather with his disciples for the Passover meal, as they had done before. When they had gathered for previous Passover meals, things had been great. Jesus was a celebrity, a cultural icon, and was drawing thousands of people when he spoke. The disciples felt privileged to be so close to him. The crowds were getting bigger and bigger, as were the miracles. But this time was different. Things weren’t going well. The momentum had turned. Uncertainty was in the air. Rumors were circulating that people were trying to isolate Jesus from the crowds, to get him alone, to falsely accuse him, and to arrest him. The disciples knew that if Jesus went down, they’d go down with him. On the afternoon of Passover, Jesus still hadn’t told them where they would celebrate. Instead, as they headed toward Jerusalem, He told them that things were going to get really bad. Like us, they wondered, then why would we go there? It was as if he had a death wish. When they arrived on the outskirts of Jerusalem, they waited for the sun to set. Then Jesus sent two of the disciples into town to meet a mysterious man who took them to a secret place. Somehow, Jesus had arranged the Passover meal, but he hadn’t told his disciples about it. Because they would be isolated from the crowds and vulnerable, he didn’t want anyone to know where they would be. They snucked into Jerusalem under cover of night. They went to a home, slipped quietly upstairs, and gathered in an upper room. It was eerie. Mark 14:17, 18 recounts their arrival: “When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, ‘I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me one who is eating with me.’ ” That must have seemed odd, even a little insulting. It would be like inviting someone into your home and saying, “Thanks for coming. By the way, I know you’re going to betray me.” It messed with their minds, and the disciples tried to get Jesus to be more specific, but he only repeated that his betrayer was in the room, adding, “It would be better for him if he had not been born” (v. 21). Then at this last meal, Jesus began talking about his death, about being taken. The disciples tried to block it out. To their way of thinking much like our own if God were with you, then things would get better. When God shows up, there should be more certainty, not less. Not this time.
A Source of Comfort
Our world is facing uncertainty like many of us have never experienced in our lifetimes, which makes the Bible the perfect place to turn. The Bible is full of stories that took place in the midst of uncertainty. If you have a favorite Bible story, verse, psalm, or proverb, it probably unfolded during a time of incredible uncertainty. The Bible is not a compilation of stories about wrinkle-free lives. Not everyone lived happily ever after. Each narrative, every passage, and the things we draw hope and security from all of those came from troubled times in the lives of people who discovered that, in the midst of uncertainty, God is still certain.
You may be familiar with the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob, in the Old Testament book of Genesis. Even if you’ve had your share of sibling rivalry, you’ve probably never found yourself at the bottom of a well listening to your brothers deciding your fate. Joseph did. Above him, he could hear them debating: “Should we sell him or kill him?” “I don’t know. . . let’s sell him.” “No, let’s kill him.” But God was with Joseph in the well and eventually placed him in one of the highest positions of authority in Egypt. You may think you have problems with your teenaged children. In another story in the Old Testament, King David awoke one day to discover that his son had raised an army and was about to invade the capital city to conquer it and replace him. When you read this story, you discover that God was with David in the middle of that trial.
If you were raised in church, then you probably know the story of a Hebrew mother who feared for the life of her baby son. She heard that Pharaoh was going to kill all of the baby boys because there were too many Israelites in the land. Like any mother who loves her son, she would do anything to protect him. So she wrapped up her newborn, placed him in a basket, and shoved him out into the Nile River, probably thinking, If it’s between the crocodiles and the Egyptian butchers, I’ll take my chances with the river.
Baby Moses was found, and he became the deliverer of the nation of Israel. When everything else was uncertain in that mother’s life, God wasn’t.
Moses’ story foreshadowed another baby who would be rescued from a similar fate. Mary and Joseph discovered that Herod, jealously responding to the rumor that a baby had been born who would grow up to become the Jewish king, decided to wipe out an entire generation of Jewish boys. As Herod sent troops to murder the baby boys, Mary escaped to, of all places, Egypt, saving her baby, Jesus. Although there was weeping and wailing in the land, God was in the middle of it all. He still had the whole world in his hands.
In every one of these stories, it seems like things had spun out of control, like all the momentum was backward, like all of God’s activity had ceased, like the bad guys the evil kings, the gods of the pagans had won. But if you read them closely, you’ll discover that in the midst of that extraordinary uncertainty, God was there every time. If ever there was a time for us to pick up the Bible and read it, it’s now.
Bad News Doesn’t Change Truth
Now let us go back to the upper room. As they began eating, Jesus told his disciples that the bread they were eating was his body. He was saying that this isn’t what you think it is. You’ve been eating the Passover meal since childhood, but from now on, when you eat it, this is my body. What did he mean? All that death talks again and all that negativity. And they didn’t want to hear it. When God’s involved, things have to turn around, don’t they? Things are supposed to go well, aren’t they? God should bring more certainty, not less.
Jesus wasn’t finished. As they drank the wine, he told them it was his blood “poured out for many,” foreshadowing what would happen just hours later when he would be nailed to a cross and die in front of them. And the news from Jesus got worse as he predicted they would disown him. They left that room and headed to the garden of Gethsemane, where he would be arrested. Peter was thinking, enough of this. Enough bad news. That’s enough about death, betrayal, and arrest. No way we’re going to let that happen. Because if God is with you and you’re the Son of God, this isn’t how the story should go. Like us, Peter believed there should be more certainty, more faith, more miracles, and more intervention. And so we ask, Can we maintain faith in God when there’s absolutely no evidence of his activity in our lives, in the world? Can we continue to embrace God as our personal heavenly Father? When we experience extraordinary uncertainty in our families, in our jobs, with our children, with our leaders, with the economy with all of that uncertainty can we still trust God? Your answer will determine your response to continuing uncertainty. If we asked Jesus’ disciples months after he was crucified what their darkest moment had been following Jesus and when they had the least hope, I believe they would have answered, “It was when we realized things weren’t going to get better, when he promised us things would get worse, when he predicted that one of us would betray him and that all of us would fall away. It was when we saw him arrested and we denied him. It was when he was tried and convicted and we saw him die. It was when we thought we had wasted our time and that God wasn’t there.” If we asked them, when do you think God was doing his greatest work? Was it healing the lame guy, healing the blind or seeing Lazarus step out of his tomb? I believe they would answer, “Actually, it was during those hours when it seemed he was doing the least. In those darkest moments, when it seemed God was inactive, he was actually the most active.” Those hours were the epicenter of the salvation of humankind. Those hours are the ones that, for thousands of years, people all over the world have looked back to, rejoicing in God’s goodness and grace. But if you had asked the disciples in those moments, they would have said, “Game over. Not a man of God. We wasted our lives.” Again, God’s most amazing work often begins in the biggest messes, in times of brokenness. That’s a difficult message for Western Christians.
Yet it is the story of those who have chosen to follow God and, specifically, for those who have decided to place their faith in Jesus. It’s our story, because for many of us, that’s been our experience that God seems to do his most amazing work through broken, hopeless situations. He shows up in ways we would not choose, because we would never allow things to get as bad as they do. We look left. We look right. We look at circumstances. We doubt. That, more than any other time, is when we should turn to the Bible. Its stories including the story of our salvation were birthed in times of extraordinary darkness and uncertainty. You may think, that’s neat, even a little inspirational. But it’s not going to help me get a job. It won’t get my kids back in school. It’s not going to affect my wife going to work tomorrow to find out whether she gets to keep her job. It won’t earn me a commission. It won’t change anything about my prodigal son or my prodigal daughter. It doesn’t make me well. All of that is true. Never has there been a time as a pastor or a church leader that I haven’t wanted to be able to promise people that their circumstances will improve. But the question for us is; will we maintain our faith when we can’t see his hand? Even though Scripture doesn’t change anything in our circumstances, it does allow us to embrace uncertainty knowing that God is still in control, that although life is uncertain, God is not. Family may be uncertain, the economy may be uncertain, and the world may seem uncertain, but God is not. Embracing that truth even if it’s just holding on by our fingernails can keep us from making decisions that further complicate the difficulties we’re facing. Knowing that God is certain allows us to go to bed at night at peace, even in the midst of the storm. Knowing that God is certain helps us keep an eye out for things God is doing that may take us by surprise, just as they often took the characters of the Bible by surprise. God is not uncertain. He still has our whole world in his hands.
Someone Who’s Been There
A story was told by one of the Pastors of his experience in meeting Rev Otis Moss during the time of National Prayer for the new and first African-American President. It was during this time that this young Pastor learned of how Rev Moss lived through the hard times of American history and yet stayed faithful to God. Rev. Moss was born in Georgia in 1935 and was orphaned when he was sixteen years old. As a young African-American male in Georgia in 1951, he saw the worst that America had to offer. Yet he placed his faith in Christ as a teenager, and at nineteen years old, he decided to become a preacher. Through the years, he was able to connect with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and he marched with Dr. King in Selma, Alabama, and in Washington, D.C. Rev. Moss was part of a core group of men and women who experienced things that, hopefully, no one in America will ever have to experience again. He lost a friend. He saw the division of families. He experienced racism and hatred that most of us can’t imagine. Yet through all of those circumstances, he maintained his faith. This young Pastor asked Rev. Moss many questions and then just listened. Rev Moss was standing with his back to the stairs, talking to the young man, sharing stories, unbelievable history, conversations with Coretta Scott King and others. Suddenly, in mid-sentence, he stopped. He turned toward the stairs, kind of staring off into space, and said, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” Just like that, he quoted the first half of Romans 8:28.
This young Pastor couldn’t help thinking that the “all things” in this man’s life were nothing like my “all things.” Rev. Moss had seen and experienced things that many of us never have or ever will. As they were still standing in awed silence when Rev. Moss turned back and said, “But Pastor, sometimes it takes him a while.” Almost the instant he said it, a Secret Service contingent appeared from around the corner. There, standing before them, smiling was the first African-American president of the United States of America.
The young Pastor couldn’t even begin to appreciate the gravity of that moment for Rev. Moss and for all of them Ministers, as Rev Moss stepped forward and shook the president’s hand. The young Pastor knew that he was about to meet the first African-America president, but he had just had a conversation with a saint.
My friends Rev. Moss understands, in a way that most of us will never understand, that when life is uncertain, God is not. He still has your family, your personal finances, and all the things that are worrying you to death in his hands. He still has your whole world in his hands. Of that you can be certain.
