Contending for the Ancient Faith

“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.” (Jud 1:3)

Which faith did Jude the brother of Jesus say we were to contend for? Was it the Catholic faith, the Baptist faith, the Pentecostal faith, or some other denominational faith? Is it possible that there can be more than one faith?

Every group likes to boast of their having the true faith. However, there has always been and will always be but one faith. Jude said the faith we were to contend for was the faith that had ‘once for all’ been handed down to the saints. [The word ‘saint’ means ‘a holy one’. All true believers have been made holy ones in Christ Jesus.]

If the faith we are to contend for had ‘once for all’ been handed down to the saints, then it must have originated in ancient times, long before the Christ of God took His place among men as the Son of God, and as the Son of Man. (Jesus fully represented both God and man.)

The once for all faith was set in eternity. It reaches its apex and unfolding in the finished work of the cross.

In this study we want to find out what Jude meant by our need to contend for this once for all faith. And why contending is so important.

It Began Before the Foundation of the World

It is crucial to understand that the faith we are to contend for is a faith that was set forth from the beginning of time. It is also important to understand the purpose of the Bible itself. The Bible is a book of redemption.

The redemption story opens with God’s promise of a Redeemer, the ‘seed of woman.’ It completes itself with the last judgment, with the heavenly Jerusalem, and in the eternity to come. All else in-between will relate to great theme of redemption.

And so, the ancient faith reaches far back to the very beginnings of history as we know it. The Bible has much to say about things that took place in eternity. The term “from the foundation of the world” is used several times in the Bible.

Let’s look them over:

(1) Concerning Messiah, it says, “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.” (Matt13:35)

(2) As to one phase of the kingdom of God, the King says to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matt25:34)

(3) Of the Christ-rejecting leadership, the Lord said, “The blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged to this generation.” (Luke11:50)

(4) When Jesus prayed, He said, “Father….You loved me before the foundation of the world.” (John17:24)

(5) Paul says of all believers, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love.” (Eph1:4)

(6) The book of Hebrews speaks of God’s rest in the Messiah, in saying that, “His works were finished from the foundation of the world.” (Heb4:3)

(7) Of Christ’s pre-existence in eternity, and with regard to our salvation, it says, “He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” (Heb9:26)

(8) Peter says, “(Jesus Christ) was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you, who through Him are believers in God…” (1Pet1:20,21)

(9) Both Rev13:7 and Rev17:8, speak of the names of the saved written in the Lamb’s book of life, “from the foundation of the world.” 

All these Scriptures involve the eternity of God. They are hard for our finite minds to grasp. But in the eternity of God, time is of no essence. This is why the Lord could say of Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you…” (Jer1:5)

And this from David:

“Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” (Psa 139:16)

This brings us to …

The Faith of Moses and the Prophets

The apostle said that the church is built upon foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone. The prophets were the predecessors of the apostles. Sometimes we forget that the memoirs (Scriptures) of the apostles did not arrive until a several years after Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the Father. The Bible of the early Church was the writings Moses, David, and the prophets.

Some tend to limit the role of Moses to the Law given on Mount Sinai. What they don’t realize is that Moses wrote the book of Genesis. And it is in Genesis where we find the ancient faith clearly defined.

Without Moses, the New Testament writings would make no sense. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. The Hebrew people speak of these first books as the Torah. They are also called the Pentateuch. The term Torah in Hebrew simply means instructions. The term Pentateuch is from the Greek, ‘pent teuchos’, meaning ‘five-volume (book). It stems from the Jewish designation of, ‘the five-fifths of the law.’

Thus for the ancient Hebrews, the book of Genesis was part of their bedrock faith. Moses wrote about creation, about the garden of Eden and the fall of Adam, of God’s promised Redeemer. He gave the history of the patriarchs, of Noah and the flood. He wrote about Abraham taking Isaac on the Mountain, which was a foreglimpse of the cross.

The coming Messiah is a theme that flows through the book of Genesis. But it wasn’t just Moses. The coming Messiah was an encoded message in the hearts of all God’s faithful Old Testament people. One of the clearest evidences we find of the ancient faith is found in the book of Job:

“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!” (Job 19:25-27)

The prophets of old spoke of God’s eternal covenant to come. The prophets had visitations with God’s Messiah. They had been instructed by the Holy Spirit about the Messiah, that He would be crucified and would arise from the dead, and that the things they were given to write was for the generations of the cross.

Listen:

“As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.

“It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven–things into which angels long to look.” (1Pe 1:10-12)

And now we come to …

The Ancient Faith Realized

The message of the Christian faith takes up from the prophets. We preach the faith of the prophets realized. The apostle Paul said that we had been given a clear message to preach and that our preaching must center on two things; on the message of the cross, and on what had already been written by the prophets.

Listen to these two cautions:

[Preach the cross] “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” (1Co 2:2-5)

[The writings of prophets] “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God. Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other.” (1Co 4:5-6)

And if these two admonitions are not enough, listen to the instructions of the Lord Jesus:

“Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’

“Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.'” (Luk 24:44-48)

The point at hand is that there is no power on earth like the true gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a gospel of God’s love and not of our works. It is a gospel that purifies our life. It is a gospel of unconditional grace and acceptance. And the ancient gospel has been written in the stars.

The stars you say?! Yes indeed. The Lord God used the stars to speak to Abraham about God’s Redeemer.

“And He took him outside and said, ‘Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’

“Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (Gen 15:5-6)

Have you looked at the stars lately? Perhaps how is a good time. Ask the Lord if He has a message for you from the stars.

In the meantime, here is a song for your meditation.

In Christ always,

Buddy

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