Faith of Jesus

     Revelation enlightens us, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are the ones keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” (Revelation 14:12). This verse says that Jesus has faith and we are to have faith like His faith, if we aspire to be considered a saint by God. In Christ’s human state, "but we do see Jesus crowned with glory and honor, who on account of the suffering of death was made a little less then the angels so that by the grace of God He might taste of death for every son." (Hebrews 2:9), He needed to have faith that His Father would see Him through the duties He had before Him, to witness to men that He was from God Jehovah and to prove worthy as the sacrificial “Lamb of God”, "On the morrow, John sees Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!" (John 1:29), for establishing His Father's salvation, by shedding His own blood, paying the price for our repented sins. Christ performed His Father's request, to walk perfectly according to God's laws, in His human state, qualifying Himself for the perfect sacrifice in our stead. It was God’s plan from the very beginning, once Adam sinned, Jehovah was to provide a way to satisfy the consequences of transgressing His laws, freeing His people from the sure death for their sins, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is everlasting life in Christ Jesus." (Romans 6:23). And this task was accomplished by Michael, the only-begotten Son of God Jehovah, by visited the earth as a man, then named Jesus, to experience our trials and temptations, but retaining the knowledge of His Father and possessing a complete understanding of faith. Christ totally relied on His Father for all that He needed, for this most difficult task and He prayed to His Father in the morning hours “And rising up quite early in the night, He went out and went away into a desert place. And He was praying there.” (Mark 1:35), that His life on earth would measure up to perfection through His own faith. Christ was human at His first advent and could fail, but He knew that redemption for the human race was His responsibility and that faith in His Father, God Jehovah, was the only means of accomplishing this task of freeing the human race from the grips of their sinful state. We don’t know this kind of faith but we are to learn by searching all of Christ’s examples and His words. During Christ's first advent, He executed all these miracles, not by His divine power, which He originally inherited from His Father, but by the power of His faith, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words which I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who sent Me, He does the works." (John 14:10), because He retained the knowledge of His Father, God Almighty and their personal relationship. He shared this knowledge and spirit of faith with His disciples, as He sent them out to heal the sick, restore sight, hearing and speech, to withdraw demons and even to raise the dead “Heal sick ones, cleanse lepers, raise dead ones, cast out demons. You have freely received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8). All these things Jesus did and all these things they did, both by faith. Christ was human with all the pains and challenges we have and more, but His faith was a perfect faith because He remembered His Father's perfect character and exercised a faith that was needed to perform the tasks given to Him by His God. Christ's first advent walks are examples for us to see and to develop our faith toward this kind of faith He had in His Father. Our righteousness doesn’t come from our acts of obedience but from our faith in the power of Christ that empower us to do righteousness, after we learn and understand what is right and what is wrong. It is our efforts, but Christ's strength He may give to us. For us to have the “faith of Jesus" as He had in His Heavenly Father, we need to exercise our faith as Jesus performed His faith. We need to know that Jesus is the Son of God and that He was glorified after His resurrection and once again, retains His inherited Godly powers and has full power and authority to bring us home, to the kingdom of God.

     Was Christ divine and human at the same time? Christ was divine and He will always be divine, He is the Son of God, but as Hebrews 2:9 states, He was made a little lower then the angels, during His first advent to be the “Son of man” but that doesn't change His divinity, He will always be the Son of God, even though at His first advent He didn't have His original Godly powers. In the New Testament, Christ referred to Himself as the "Son of man" around 30 times, only once did Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of God, “Truly, truly, I say to you that an hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and the ones hearing will live." (John 5:25), but He was speaking of a future time when He would again be with His full powers. Christ did accomplish His given task and was glorified by His Father, receiving back His original Godly powers. If He possessed His original Godly inheritance at His first advent, could He die? If He didn’t completely die, was the price for our repented sins completely paid? If He possessed His Godly powers at that time, could He sin? The Old Testament says no, “As for God, His way is perfect, the word of Jehovah is purified; He is a shield to all who trust in Him” (Psalms 18:30) and the Son of God is exactly as His Father, lacking only Jehovah's sovereign authority. My understanding is that He was in a lowered state, just below the angels, but He retained His ability to read hearts and remembered His divinity. His mission was foremost for Him, and knew His Father to be perfect in His word, so perfect faith was possible, not assured but possible, and He proved that. He shared this knowledge of faith with His disciples, "...For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there! And it will move." (Matthew 17:20, Luke 17:6). We know that Jesus was successful because God, Jehovah accepted His Christ’s sacrifice as full payment for our repented transgressions. His human existence was driven by faith and we are to seek this kind of faith, as best we can by asking His Father for Christ's help and strength in being faithful. It doesn’t seem possible for humanity and a Godly state to exist together, at the same time as part of the same person, either He was human and could die or Godly and beyond death, they are in opposition, and this is confirmed“…who on account of the suffering of death was made a little less then the angels, so that by the grace of God He might taste of death for every son.” (Hebrews 2:9).

     Is faith given to us? I understand we can acquire faith but what is given is the strength to develop and then we may exercise faith. We first need to learn about God; reading the Bible teaches us this, to know Him, His plans, His character and His power, in order to understand what our faith is to rely on, the dependability of God. The Old Testament is filled with examples of God’s people depending on Him, doing exactly what He states, and by us exercising faith in doing His will and by seeing its results, our faith is strengthened, which is a gift from Christ by His power. We are not to put ourselves in harms way to test Him, to tempt God, but when an unexpected situation arises, then prayer is to be sent to the Father and strength may be returned. Faith is merely a thought until it is put into action. “But are you willing to know, O vain man, that the faith apart from works is dead faith?” (James 2:20, also in verses 17, 22 and 26). We are to follow Jesus, His faith was an example for our benefit and Christ's power is for those who ask and sincerely seek righteousness by learning and understanding that Jehovah's laws are just, perfect and for our benefit; our actions of righteousness are a blessing to others, as their righteousness is a blessing for us to behold. Righteousness is accomplished one act at a time and our faith in God Jehovah and His Son is the most needed element. Jesus displayed His faith in His Father thirty-three and a half years, for us to learn that we need to have the same kind of faith in His Father, and our Father, Jehovah.