Unbelief

Jesus scoffs at Unbelief!

What is our attitude to unbelief? Do we consider the consequences of unbelief? Do we know what unbelief actually is and what the Lord thinks about it? With the influence of the cessationists and the influence of OSASers, we have many strains of pressure on what we believe and do not believe. Naturally as Pentecostal, I am going to be biased to the Word of God as it is written, but I will attempt to show some clear answers to these questions.

We need to understand that first and foremost, Jesus is God in the flesh, perfect, and without sin, period. Any other thought is out of the question because my Lord Jesus is without sin, never sinned, period. He is as pure as pure could ever be as He is Lord! There are far too many Scriptures that show Jesus sinless, so we must know that includes His thoughts as well as His actions. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in Matthew 23, He called a spade a spade, but did so in love and respect of His creation. He told them some heavy things, but He was not personal nor did He attack them personally. It was like preaching a sermon, if the shoe fits, wear it. He also drove out the money changers twice from the temple using a whip formed from some things He found because of their intolerance to God's Word, and their raping the public financially. Jesus again did this with the best interests of the money changers and although it was done in anger, He was not attacking them, He didn't personalize and degrade their character, He revealed the call of God for the temple, a house of prayer.

Why would money changers rob the people who came to sacrifice to the Lord? Why didn't they listen the first time? It can be simplified to unbelief. They didn't believe that making some money would matter to God. They didn't believe that God would say anything to them because they were Jews. Mark 9:1-2 And He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power." Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. NKJV Now to see some context for unbelief, we must first see that Jesus has with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration His inner three, the "sanhedrin" of the disciples. He takes Peter, James, and John with Him and they witness His holiness and purity as well as hear from the Father that He is Lord! But this isn't happening back with the rest of the disciples.

There is as usual, a dispute taking place. Mark 9:14 And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. NKJV If you read this too quickly, you would miss the fact that He came to the other 9 disciples who were being charged and debated by the scribes who laugh in unbelief when they couldn't cast a demon from a young boy (vs 18). I can hear all the conversation now in my mind.

The conversation would go like this:
"If you could heal the sick, you would go to all those hospitals in Jerusalem, and lay hands on them!"

"Father, in the name of Jesus we heal this boy."

"See, there's no truth in that hogwash that healing is for today! It was the devil that did it when that Jesus Guy sent you the first time. God doesn't do that healing any more and now you have proven it by not being able to heal this boy! How dare you call yourself a child of God! You blaspheme God by your stupid little games!"

"I don't understand why we can't use the power of God to heal this boy. Do any of you others know why we can't heal the boy? Wait a minute, here comes Jesus with James, John, and Peter. Let's ask Him."

The man whose son is possessed by a mute spirit knew about Jesus and knew about the disciples sent out and brought him to be healed. The man sees Jesus and goes to greet him with the hurt in his heart that his son, probably his only son is demon possessed. Mark 9:17-18 Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not." We know that because the disciples were unable to cast the demon out, the boy remained the same under the demonic control, and the scribes seized the opportunity to call the belief of the disciples a lie, and debated with them about why it was so wrong, and how they harmed people by believing it and telling others about it.

We talk about faith many times and then we cast it aside with our superior intellect, our endless doubtings, and last but not least our unending questions. Yet the Lord does tell us that we will not enter the kingdom of heaven except we become as a little child and have that same precious faith, simple and trusting (Matthew 18:3). A child is not able to keep up with the intellectuals, the brilliant doctors of the law, and so we see these disciples having a serious clash, and unable to "debate" with the scribes. I have faced a number of people on the net who said what I believed was wrong, and they went along and supposedly proved it to their satisfaction, and then after I showed them some Scripture that supported what I said, they cast it aside in unbelief saying that I haven't shown them any real proof from Scripture. I get asked all the time if all that I pray for are healed and of course the answer is obvious, no. Then comes the Scripture and long discourses proving me wrong and themselves correct. But I still know that many who I pray for to be healed are healed, and the Word says so. I choose to believe, period!

The disciples went out in the 12 sent and the 70 sent, and many were healed, demons cast out, and they went to the Israelites, their own countrymen. Now they are here and a man brings his son who is demon possessed and they can't heal the boy. Isn't it always the case that the devil jumps on the negative to cast doubts on the truth? We have the disciples unable top cast out the demon. We have the scribes and their unbelief wanting to debate and prove they are right. We have the crowd of people who are watching and wondering what is true. But the last group is the man and his son who want to believe that Jesus is the Lord and want to believe that the disciples are sent by Him to confirm the Word, but what does Jesus react to or address?

Let's look at what Jesus says when He comes into the area where all these things are happening. Mark 9:19 He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me." NKJV If the shoe fits, wear it! Jesus is ripped because of the endless debates about the Word of God, just believe it. The unbelief that is generated consumes even the child like faith of the disciples here, and they are unable to cast out the deomon. Yet some would say that I am doing an incorrect exegete and not looking at the verse that Jesus speak in answer to the disciples' question of why. Aaaahhhh, but I am thinking of that very verse. With prayer and fasting, much of each, a disciple will not doubt even in the face of the foolishness of the gnostic and learned scholars of unbelief. Just because I am unable to present to you enough evidence that you would accept to change your position has no bearing on the truth and as such I should not allow it to cause my child like faith to be rendered ineffective. If you don't want to believe, that's your decision, but as for me and my house, we will believe whether we have enough proof of material that an intellectual like you would accept.

Look at what Jesus said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?" Jesus is responding to the unbelief! Jesus is emotional at their unbelief, the generation that is faithless! Jesus is not happy that unbelief has overruled the truth! But there is one who sees things for what they are. Mark 9:24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" NKJV Jesus made the truth simple and told them man if he could just believe, then He could do what He said He would do. Believing that Jesus is Lord is important, just as He had His Spirit inspire holy men of old to record His Word is just how we are to believe it, no wranglings, no doubts, no histrionics, nor endless questionings, just believe it. Jesus does indeed respond to the man's honesty and heart. Jesus works in the belief area and heals the unbelief area nad through this casts the demon from his son who will speak and be in his right mind.

Now it is important to think about this issue of Jesus' anger and response to unbelief. Notice something in each and every case that you look at. You can not find a person who Jesus gets angry with unbelief who doesn't know better. Here are scribes who know the Mosaic Law, but they don't believe God's Word. You have Jews who have gone through the walk with Jesus being taught by Him, living with Him, sleeping with Him, seeing miracle after miracle, and they can't cast the demon out. Remember it was the chief priests, scribes, and ruling Pharisees who allowed the money changers to rape the public in the temple. They should all know better because the have the Old Testament. Jesus responds to unbelief.

Let's look at another time when Jesus responds to unbelief and what that reaction is. John 11:1-4 ś Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. KJV A number of issues are significant in this passge: Mary is the sister of Lazarus and knew Jesus was the Christ, she knew the truth then and showed her knowledge by wiping His feet with her hair after breaking the alabaster jar of precious burial ointment and anointing Him, crying over His feet, and kissing them. Jesus sends the Word back to them that God will be glorified, and the Son of God will be glorified because this illness of Lazarus was not for the permanancy of his flesh and the Sheol where Abraham's Bosom was located. Jesus wanted them to believe Him.

Jesus wants to reveal the power of God to a faithless generation and have it recorded for all of us to know through these last 2000 years. Raising someone from the dead had happened with Elijah, and it happened with Elisha, and the Lord wanted His disciples to know the same thing that He told Martha and Mary, that He is Lord and He doesn't change. Just as He was with Moses and Joshua, He will be with all those who believe His Word as it is written. John 11:11-16 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. KJV Just a quick side note to all those preachers that label Thomas a doubter and man of timidity and fear, think again! That was free!! Jesus is Lord, Lazarus is dead, and the Lord will do the miraculous for the glory of God and an example for all to learn. In other words, Jesus wants His disciples to simply BELIEVE!!

Jesus despises unbelief because He knows that only faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6), He knows that He operates in the faith realm, and He has given everyone a measure of faith (Romans 12:3). Unbelief stops people from entering into the promises of God, the relationship with God, from gaining entrance into the kingdom of God (Hebrews 3; Matthew 18). Jesus will now confirm the Word that He sent Martha and Mary. John 11: 20-27 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. KJV Praise the Lord, Martha allows Jesus to operate in the Bethany area because of her faith in Him. Jesus wasn't talking about raising Lazarus at the resurrection of the righteous, but He would do so before then.

Martha leaves the Lord filled with love and adoration for Him knowing Him personally and believing Him! It seems like a switch of position from the Martha that all those ignorant preachers make her to be if you hear what they say about her. Marth believes, praise God! She then sends word about Jesus to Mary! Look at what happens. John 11:30-31 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. KJV The professional wailers and lamenters think Mary is grieved and needs help to cry at the tomb, so they follow her to see the tomb where a dead man is buried. Mary knows where she is going, to see Jesus at whose feet she sat learning many wonderful things, and on whom she anointed her spikenard.

Jesus can deal with honest doubt, He can deal with the realization that one can be wrong and changes their minds when presented with the truth as we will see with Mary, but Jesus doesn't have much compassion and deals in anger with doubt that rejects the truth, doubt that debilitates the truth and detroys His ability to work in people's lives. John 11:32-33 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. ś When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, KJV Jesus sent Word from Himself to Martha and Mary that He would do the miraculous, He told Martha He would do the miraculous, and here is Mary doubting and telling Jesus about what if, and talking about Him as if it was the past. Perhaps Mary is influenced by these professional mourners, I am not sure, but one things is sure: Mary doubts, and the Jews certainly have not even an ounce of belief in them as they were hired from Jerusalem where the chief priests and scribes have controlled the atmosphere of unbelief.

If you don't look at the context, if you are not familiar with first century mannerisms, and if you don't understand some of the words in the Greek, it is easy to miss this as well, the reaction of Jesus to unbelief. Let's read it again. ś When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, KJV On the surface one may assume that Jesus is the compassionate type and very emotional, so He groans in His Spirit and is troubled, then He weeps as verse 35 points out. This is not the case at all.

These are from Thayer's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament

1690 embrimaomai {em-brim-ah'-om-ahee}

from 1722 and brimaomai (to snort with anger);; v

AV - straitly charge 2, groan 2, murmur against 1; 5

1) to charge with earnest admonition, sternly to charge, threatened to enjoin

*****

5015 tarassw tarasso tar-as'-so

of uncertain affinity; ; v

AV-trouble 17; 17

1) to agitate, trouble (a thing, by the movement of its parts to and fro)

1d1) to strike one's spirit with fear and dread

The Lord groans from the unbelief and it comes from the very core of His Spirit, it bothers Him, it troubles Him, it agitates Him that despite His repeated confirmation of God's Word, His affirmation of God's Word by the miraculous, that there is still all this unbelief. Jesus is truly troubled and disquieted. Here, tarassw is used as a metaphor. In many other locations it deals with false doctrine and evil doctrine that subverts believers (Acts 15:24; Galatians 1:7; Galatians 5:10), and it is used of those who are stirred in their minds by fear or perplexity (Matthew 2:3; Mark 6:50; Luke 24:38; 1Peter 3:14).

In Proverbs 8:13 we read this, The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. KJV Here is a similar response by Jesus, but it is to unbelief. Jesus hates unbelief because of what it does to His Word, to godly relations, to being able to bless His creation. God has chosen to move through belief in Himself trusting in what He has written, to move through the fervent prayers of the righteous. Jesus has faced the unbelief of His disciples a few days earlier, the unbelief of Martha, and each step of the way He has told them His Word to change their unbelief into belief, but now Mary is in unbelief despite all that He has done and all she knows to be true. From His innermost being comes an anger that does have a negative action, He doesn't beat anyone up, He doesn't say evil things, but from the core of His Spirit comes forth a sound, a groan that is based in righteous anger towards unbelief.

I am convinced if we read this as it is written in the context we can see this. Look at what Jesus says. John 11:34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. KJV Verse 34 is a part of the previous verse separated only by a comma. Now for those who want to state that man added the punctuation, that is true, but we still have the same situation as Jesus is responding to Mary's unbelief which is still a continuation of the thought despite man's placement of grammatical breaks. This is a natural continuation which explains why it is there. In response to Mary's unbelief, Jesus wants to raise Lazarus, so in an effort to remind her that He has already told them He came to be glorified and to glorify the Father, despite their knowledge that He would do a miracle, and that He told His disciples that He would do a miracle, and despite telling Martha that He would raise Lazarus, Mary still is in unbelief.

Jesus arrives at the tomb, and the atmosphere is ridiculous, people complain about why people aren't healed and this is the main reason, they just aren't going to believe it possible. So at the tomb, what does Jesus do? John 11:35 Jesus wept. KJV Now if you read this with your own preconceptions, you would assume that Jesus is madly in love with a dead man, moved with the hysteria of his death, and just weeps. Does that even make sense? Is Jesus in unbelief as well? Does not Jesus know what He is going to do as He has said it some three or four times? No. Jesus isn't walking in unbelief, He is not weeping because of Lazarus at all, He weeps because after all the Word He sent forth, there is so much unbelief. He will soon enter Jerusalem and start the last week of His physical life on earth, He will soon be crucified and hang on Calvary's tree for sin and healing and guilt becoming sin itself and having the wrath of God poured out on Him as He becomes the sacrificial Lamb of God.

Jesus answers a question that is asked in doubt, a snickering question that implies that He isn't the Lord and can't do the things that He has done or says He will do. Let's look at the mocking question that is asked of Jesus. John 11:37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? They are at the tomb, and Jesus has repeatedly said what os goping to happen, and the question is mockingly asked to which Jesus responds appropriately! John 11:38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. KJV Once again, Jesus is groaning, the same word as before!

Well we know what Happened! Jesus raises Lazarus and then is led into Jerusalem in a triumphant entrance that the people call Him the Son of God. Yet they don't do this because they believe, they do it because they saw Lazarus raised from the dead. You might say this is not possible because it is a miracle, but look how many miracles that Jesus did and if written in books the whole world couldn't contain the books (John 21:25), yet they still didn't believe. This is why Jesus hates unbelief in all shapes and sizes and for all reasons. Unbelief hinders His ability to do what He desires to do. Unbelief causes Him to groan from deep within, and He becomes troubled in Spirit.

There are times that I can feel the unbelief, I can sense the unbelief and it does anger me especially when it comes from those who have a Bible who profess to know something. I get upset that people have done away with the miraculous and have twisted God's Word. Yes, these things do make me mad, not at the person although it may appear that way, but at the issue of unbelief and how this very thing of unbelief robs that person from having the Lord move more profoundly in their lives. I have been called an angry person by some on the net, but you will find out if you knew me that this is not true at all. I get angry at unbelief and sin, that's all, it burns in the pit of my being. It happens when I read lies and heresy because they produce unbelief and rob people of their relationship with God whether they believe it or not.