Meditations On Faith - 3

Faith Transcends Both
Time And Space

`I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near.
A Star will come out of Jacob . . .' (Numbers 24:17)

Sometimes great faith is evident in the lives of the most unlikely characters. Balaam was a reckless prophet, he was materialistic, and at times he even practiced sorcery - and yet there were times when Balaam revealed great faith. All of which only proves that God can use anyone to accomplish His plans.

This is an encouraging thought indeed..

One of Balaam's high moments came after he had three times blessed Israel - despite king Balak's demands that he should curse them. Having followed the Lord's commands, much to the frustration of king Balak, Balaam prophecies that Israel will conquer Moab in time to come. He opens this historical prediction with words that remind us of some of the more mysterious facets of faith . . . 

"I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A Star will come out of Jacob, a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab." (Numbers 24:17)

Though Balaam could not see Jesus coming at that very moment, He was permitted to look down the stream of time and there to clearly behold His coming through the eye of faith. Though time separated his vision from the reality, time could not cloud his vision of the reality.

Thus it is that faith transcends time . . .

In others words,  . . .

¤  faith can transport us into the future or, conversely, it can enable us to experience a future event in the present . . .

¤  faith can transform things that we hope for into things received - even though they are not yet received . . .

¤  faith can see the future now; it can touch today what we will only touch in reality at some future time . . .

¤  faith can believe in and respond to an unfulfilled promise as though that promise is a present reality or an accomplished fact.

¤  faith can "see Him, but not now," it can "behold Him, but not near."

Realizing these truths, we will appreciate that faith does not have to wait for the predictions and/or the promises of God to be fulfilled. Faith marches forward through time as though the promises are already fulfilled.

Nor does faith wait for the fulfillment before it imbues its possessor with the confidence and assurance that the fulfillment will surely bring.

Because faith understands that God's promises cannot fail, and because faith thrives on the fact that only time stands between the promise and its fulfillment, and because faith can transcend time, faith can borrow its confidence for today from the future fulfillment, and it can build its assurance for the present on the reality of a promised future event.

Realizing how faith transcends time, we too can cry out to a lost world that "A Star will come" - and this we can do with utmost confidence for God has promised that "He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him." (Revelation 1:7)

If we have faith, therefore, we can experience today the excitement and the relief and the joy that will be ours in that glorious day. Even today, right now, we can look up and behold our King by faith - and we can rejoice today as we will rejoice then, for only time stands between now and then . . . and faith transcends time. 

By faith we can hear the trumpet call, but not now, by faith we can see Him on the clouds of heaven, but not near, by faith we can live as though the Star has come, but not yet.

`I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near.
A Star will come out of Jacob . . .' (Numbers 24:17)