Unbelievable

"Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you: "'Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.'" (Acts 13:38-41 NIV)

"Unbelievable!" This was one of the expressions commonly used by my generation when I was a teenager. It did not mean that we would not believe something. It did not mean that we thought the person was a liar. It meant that we thought something was extraordinary. It was another way to say "wow!" The way some used it, it simply meant, "Cool!" Today, a word that has taken its place in common jargon is the expression, "Awesome!"

However, when it comes to the Gospel, the word "unbelievable" is used quite literally. When some people hear the truth that, 1) a person can be right with God by trusting in the fact that God in Christ has taken their sin; 2) God provides His righteousness in sins place; and 3) this makes them completely right with God, they protest. "That’s seems to be too simple," or "It can’t be that easy,"they say. But what they are really saying, in essence, is: "That’s unbelievable."

As a believer I am compelled to ask, "WHY IS IT UNBELIEVABLE?" Why is the first reaction of the human heart to consider what God has promised - what the Bible clearly teaches - unbelievable? The Bible itself gives us many answers. Scripture gives abundant witness to the amazing unbelief of human beings. We can find one of the best examples of such skepticism in Jesus’ home town – Nazareth.

Amazing Unbelief

One of the greatest ironies in the life of Jesus was the unbelief of those so close to him. Now, I can readily accept why someone might not believe me. I am human. I am imperfect. Who am I to think I speak for God in preaching the Gospel? That people might reject the message I preach is, to a degree, understandable.

Nevertheless, Jesus was not like me. He was God incarnate. The fullness of the Deity lives in Jesus -- in bodily form (Col. 2:9). He is the Word made flesh (Jn 1:1,14). Surely, his sublime speech would irresistibly persuade everyone who listened to Him. Certainly the power of His miraculous touch would assuage all doubters. Assuredly, none could see the majesty and holiness in His bearing without falling at His feet. On the contrary, his own family DID NOT believe Him. Jesus’ relatives, close childhood friends, and neighbors DID NOT accept His mission.

At the beginning, Jesus’ family and his disciples were close - even co-existent. (Jn 2:12) Then there came a time of separation between his family and his disciples.

Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind." Mk. 3:21 20

Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you." "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother." Mk 3:31

Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. "Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. [bold added] Mk 6: 1

But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus' brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." For even his own brothers did not believe in him. Jn 7:2-5

Jesus’ family said he was crazy, they tried to take Him back home to straighten Him out, and they did not believe in Him. Unbelievable!

Rejection in Nazareth

We cannot appreciate the quality of unbelief Jesus faced until we know the historical background of Jesus’ home town. He was raised in Nazareth, a village with probably no more than 150 residents. They were direct descendants of a Davidic clan which returned to Israel from Babylon in 100 B.C. It was a large extended family, making them all relatives of Jesus [The information about Nazareth comes from scholar Bargil Pixner, With Jesus Through Galilee According to the Fifth Gospel, (Israel: Corazin Pub., 1992, pp. 14-18 (note: the fifth gospel is the Holy Land itself)].

Physically, the dwellings of the town were tightly compressed together. Like their dwellings, the people were small, inwardly focused, and ultra-conservative. They followed an even more stringent tradition of Judaism than the very conservative school of Shamai [Conservative wing of Judaism at the time of Christ].

They were a closed group - both in family and in religious beliefs. They were law-centered. They were self-righteous. They lived for the rules rather than for people. They believed they could be right with God through keeping the Torah. They were proud and exclusive. They were proud because they were David’s offsprings and had survived captivity. They were exclusive because they believed that God had to work primarily if not exclusively through them because they were King David’s descendants.

They were defensive, because they trusted in their heritage, tradition and personal righteousness. As the true line of David, they had to protect themselves from contamination. Any uncleanness or breaking of their traditions was a threat to their culture and system of beliefs. They were called "Natzoreans" because they claimed genealogical proof that they were direct descendants from David. Therefore they are the ones through whom the Messiah would come. This conviction led them to become very exclusive and closed. They did not want to be contaminated or diluted by other groups. They believed this would threaten their mission.

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Luke 4:16-19

The verses preceding this in the Old Testament read:

. . . the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end. Then will all your people be righteous and they will possess the land for ever. They are the shoot (netzer) that I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor. The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly. Isa 60: 20b

While Luke does not record Jesus’ quote of this portion, it was part of the section of his synagogue reading. It refers to the netzer of the Lord -- where Nazareth got its name.

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked. Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: `Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'" "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed-- only Naaman the Syrian." All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. [bold added] Luke 4: 20-28

What made them furious was that Jesus was saying they were like Israel under Elijah and Elisha. God chooses to work among the believing Gentiles rather than the unbelieving orthodox Jews.

They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. Luke 4:29-31

Jesus went directly from Nazareth to Capernaum and began to teach. He was rejected by one and received by the other.

From all the passages of the New Testament, the only positive references of Nazareth are in its connection to being the home of Jesus. They were more chosen than they realized. The angel of God had spoken the promise to one of their own. But they rejected the very one who was to fulfill their destiny. Their pride for their own religious assumptions blinded them to the unique - and unbelievable - way God literally fulfilled the promise of the Davidic Messiah.

Jesus’ Move to Capernaum

In the wilderness of Judea Jesus made a MAJOR SHIFT in his ministry. He moved to Capernaum, which was a trade village with more moderate views aligned with the House of Hillel. "To move from Nazareth to Capernaum would be something akin to moving from a familiar setting to a place that is almost exactly opposite of all that you have ever known." [Charles Page, Jesus and the Land, Abingdon Press, ‘95, p. 63.]

WHAT HAPPENED IN CAPERNAUM? Jesus made His "home" there (more than likely stayed with Peter while in Capernaum). He began preaching the kingdom of God is near. (Mt 4:17) People were astounded and amazed at Jesus’ teaching. Peter’s mother-in-law was healed. (Lk 4:38, 39) A demoniac was healed in the synagogue. Many people with various diseases and sickness were healed. (Mt 8:16, 17) Matthew commented that this fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah (53:4). He healed many with demons. They tried to prevent Him from leaving for Judea. (Lk 4:42-44). A large percentage of disciples were called there: Andrew, Peter, James, John, Matthew. Jairus’ daughter was brought back to life. The Centurion’s paralyzed servant was healed by Jesus’ word (Mt 8:5). A paralyzed man was let down through the roof because of the great crowd at Peter’s house (Mk. 2:1-12). A coin was found in the fish’s mouth there (Mt. 17:24). Jesus taught large crowds by the Sea. (Mk 2:13). He taught the message that He was the Bread of Life there (Jn 6:53-59).

All these things happened in the city that received Jesus. All these wonderful things happened after the traumatic decision to leave Nazareth in order to follow God’s calling and to widen his ministry to the world. This move was tremendously significant.

Jesus moved theologically to the left, rejecting the strict teachings of his sect/clan to embrace a more open and inclusive expression of the Jewish faith . . . Jesus rejects the strict, narrow-minded, religiously biased position of his own sect/clan in favor of the more inclusive, pluralistic position of the Pharisees of Capernaum. [Page, Jesus and the Land, p. 63]

Not only was he abandoning the sect, but also he was moving away from the faith of his own family. Those who are familiar with the importance of tradition in Jewish thought will realize that this is not something that one would do casually. For Jesus, this must have be a very traumatic experience, and there would be major consequences for this action. [Page, Jesus and the Land, p. 64]

The "Foolishness" of the Gospel

Paul frequently met the criticism that his preaching of the gospel was just foolishness. Here is what he said:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 1 Cor. 1:18-21 (NIV)

In the book of Acts we read the first Gospel message of Paul.

Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38,39 NIV)

Paul preached justification from the beginning of his ministry. Yet, the Jews rejected and resisted his preaching. He gave them a very strong warning about rejecting the gospel:

Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you: "'Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.'" (Acts 13:40-41 NIV)

This is taken from Habakkuk 1:5 where the prophet warns Israel that God was raising up the Chaldeans to take them captive to Babylon. This was the greatest disaster to hit the nation. But he said that many would not heed the warning because they would not believe it possible even if a prophet declared it. Paul quotes Habakkuk to equate the rejecting of the prophets’ warning as the same type of tragedy as rejecting the Gospel.

Why do we find it hard to believe the Gospel? Simply this: human nature finds the message of the Gospel UNBELIEVABLE. While God’s judgment seems too bad to be true, His Promises appear to be too good to be true. Our hearts are too sinful to accept God’s Word on these matters.

He said, "Go and tell this people: "'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' (Isaiah 6:9 NIV)

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. ( John 1:5 NIV)

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. . . For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. . . but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, . . . ( 1 Corinthians 1:18-23 NIV)

The reason the Gospel is so unbelievable is that the human nature is so corrupt.

The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. (Gen 6:5,6 NIV)

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9 NIV)

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:21-23 NIV)

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. (Ephesians 4:17-20 NIV)

Tragically, the great Gospel is foolishness to the fallen human heart. We find it strange that our friends in various denominations do not readily accept and rejoice over what we are discovering in the Gospel. But, because of what the Scriptures claim, should we be so surprised? We should expect that religious people especially will have the most trouble believing the Gospel. They have already committed their trust to a group, a tradition, a belief system or religion. This trust in one’s group can be a tremendous impediment to trusting Christ alone. It was for Nazareth; it was for the Jews.

It has been well said that the greatest barrier to faith in the Gospel is hubris. Hubris is the sin of having too high of an estimate of one’s self. It is self-righteousness. However, it is only when one has a clear sense of one’s total lack of personal righteousness before God, that one will see one’s desperate need for the righteousness that is "apart from the law." Only then will one cry out for a "righteousness from God" that "comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." (Romans 3:25)

Because of our foolish, fallen hearts, we fail to believe the essential truth of God’s work of salvation in the Gospel. We do not believe in the holiness of God. We do not tremble before the true God. Why? Because He is just too unbelievable. In truth, it is GOD WHO IS UNBELIEVABLE for us. We fail to believe in God’s character. And we do not believe what God says about sin. That sin makes us enemies of God; that we are dead because of sin; that we fall far short of God’s glory. Because God is unbelievable, his Word, His judgments, and His Gospel are all unbelievable.

How to Believe the Unbelievable

The very things we find unbelievable cannot be ours until we believe them. But how can we believe them? How does the unbelieving heart learn to believe that God is so holy, merciful and good? The only way we can believe in something is to first hear about it. You cannot believe what you do not know. If we do not hear the very words of Scripture, we will not know what God is like and what He has said. Too often the basis of unbelief is ignorance. Biblical illiteracy is too common. I have found a large number of Christians cannot answer questions on the basic facts of Scripture. Most cannot name the ten commandments or the books of the Bible. If we do not READ the Bible, how can we BELIEVE what God says through it? If Scripture is not PREACHED and taught, how can people KNOW the character and promises of God?

A great irony is that many churches are teaching the Bible poorly or not much at all. Every week preachers and pastors take a text of one or two verses, and then talk the rest of their message about other things than what the text is saying, i.e. personal stories, anecdotes, cliches, personal opinions and impressions they "got" that week. They may say, "God told me," but they don’t refer to Scripture. The text is not explained and often is never returned to. It is uncommon to find preaching that seeks to state what Scripture says and means from a consistently biblical context and theology. More often you will hear what their favorite speaker or writer thinks (from the recent tape they heard, or the book they are reading) than the timeless words of God. Scripture is merely a jumping off place for preachers to push their ideas and the popular trends and ideas going through Christian circles.

It is very clear from Paul’s statement in Romans 10 that faith comes by hearing and that, the hearing of the Word of God. We can only believe the unbelievable when it is preached to us. Unless the Gospel is preached on every occasion, the word which brings faith will not enter the unbelieving heart. Faith is not sheer decision. It is not something we just make up our minds to have. It is something created by the Spirit of God as the Word of God enters our mind and heart. In Genesis chapter one the Word of God was spoken into the darkness of the void. From the Word came light and created order. When the Gospel is preached it enters our hearts and enlightenment takes place. The old heart of unbelief is transformed into a heart of faith and trust. Unless God does this work none of us can and would believe. (cp. How Do We Get Faith?)

God’s Word must enter the darkness of the our hearts to bring the light of God’s promise there. Such words as these:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NIV)

Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38,39 NIV)

He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved-- you and your household." (Acts 16:30-31)

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1,2 NIV)

Hear the Word of the Gospel and believe the unbelievable.