Faith and Sight - Glenn Conjurske
Faith and Sight
by Glenn Conjurske
The connection between sight and faith—-the fact that “Seeing is believing”—-has been fully established, we trust, in former articles, and we do no more here than reiterate a few of the scriptures upon which that connection is founded.
“Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Rom. 1:19-20).
“Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had SEEN the things which Jesus did [the raising of Lazarus], BELIEVED on him.” (John 11:45).
“Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepluchre, and he SAW and BELIEVED.” (John 20:8).
Yet in spite of all this, Scripture also informs us that “faith is the evidence of things not seen,” and that “We walk by faith, and not by sight,” as though there were a direct antithesis between the two. How is all of this to be put together?
Really, quite simply. In everything which lies within the range of our investigation, faith stands directly upon sight. In the realm of things unseen, which lie beyond the sphere which we may investigate by our senses, sight stands upon faith. That faith which stands solidly upon sight becomes itself the evidence in the realm into which sight cannot penetrate.
There is nothing at all difficult in this. The faith which we have in a man, based upon his consistent reliability in those realms which we ourselves can investigate, becomes our basis for taking his word in those spheres which lie beyond our vision or our ability.
So it is with God. We do not believe in God as the evolutionist believes in evolution. We have no unproved hypothesis, but rather something which is “clearly seen.” Our faith in the Bible rests upon evidence, both objective and subjective. But when the Bible speaks of things which are beyond our ken, we believe it still. It has proved itself. Our faith, then, is the evidence of those things which we cannot see.
And the unseen is the proper sphere of faith. There is no virtue in believing what our eyes have seen. All the world does this. It is not the province of faith to believe in the existence of the sun, moon, and stars, which we can see, but in heaven, hell, and the coming judgement, which we have not seen. Our faith, itself founded upon that which we can see, is the evidence of things not seen. That faith is “the substance of things hoped for.” (Heb. 11:1).
To “walk by faith, not by sight,” is to determine our course on the basis of things not seen, but which have as much substance to faith as that which may be seen and touched. Noah walked by faith, not by sight, when he spent 120 years of his life building an ark, on dry land. He had not one iota of evidence that there was ever to be a flood, except the evidence of faith. God had spoken, and against all physical evidence he believed God, and so determined his course on the basis of things unseen—-yea, and things unlikely or impossible to reason and experience. Yet it is reasonable to believe God, as the unbelievers found to their cost. They no doubt regarded Noah as a fool, for they had no evidence of any coming flood, though they might have had it.
Moses walked by faith, not by sight, when he forsook the pleasures of sin and the treasures of Egypt, “for he had respect unto the recompence of reward.” (Heb. 11:26). The pleasures of sin and the treasures of Egypt he could see and feel. The recompence of the reward he had never seen. He had no evidence of its existence, except the evidence of faith. And by that faith he “had respect unto” the unseen. He reckoned on it. He determined his course by it. “By faith … he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” (Heb. 11:27).
People speak of “blind faith,” but the faith of the Bible is not blind. It sees the invisible, yes, and clearly sees it also, but on the basis of “the things that are made.” The man who has faith is as the sentinel who has his ear to the ground. He hears the distant pounding of hoof-beats. The advancing army has substance to him, though the sentinels who stand erect see nothing and believe nothing. And those who will not put their ears to the ground are a fit emblem of the men of the world, who have no faith, precisely because they will not honestly face the evidence. They are “willingly ignorant.” (II Pet. 3:5).
A better illustration may be found in an old sea-captain’s use of the barometer. Under the title “The Trusty Weather-Glass” I read the following:
“Many years ago several sailing vessels left a port in China laden with `new season’s’ tea, and it was an understood thing that the vessel which arrived first for the London market should receive a sum of money to be divided proportionately among the captain, officers, and crew.
“As one only of these vessels specially concerns the story, we shall now proceed to give a faithful narration of what transpired upon it. For a few days everything went well, the weather was all that could be desired, and a prosperous voyage seemed to be before them. But one morning the captain, who had been on deck, returned to his cabin, and as he was about to seat himself for a rest, his eye caught the weather-glass. To his surprise it indicated a storm, and he hurried on deck to scan the horizon. Carefully and patiently he watched the sky, but failed to observe the slightest confirmation of the warning he had received. No clouds were apparent, and the sea was calm. What should he do? `Perhaps,’ he thought, `something has happened to the glass. I can see no symptoms of a storm, and I can’t afford to waste time.’ Thus musing to himself, he made up his mind to wait a little, which he did.
“An hour or so afterwards he returned to the cabin, and this time the glass spoke more significantly than before—-storm. More perplexed than ever, again he went on deck and narrowly watched the sky. Still no signs there; nothing to indicate the disturbing elements which assuredly existed. The captain hesitated; a conflict began in his mind—-should he be guided by the old glass and prepare for a storm, or trust to mere appearances?
“The gold awaiting the first arrival was surely tempting at this moment, and a spirit of covetousness said, `Never mind the glass; it’s not to be relied upon to-day. Is not everything bright and fair?’ On the other hand, his better judgment whispered, “Be careful; that old glass has never been wrong in the past. You had better trust it now; it’s the safe course.’
“Immediately afterwards he shouted out, `Take every stitch of canvas in; there’s a storm coming!’ In an instant every eye on board turned upward, and the men, like their captain previously, looked in vain to see any sign of a storm. Surprised at the absence of any warning where they most expected it, and regarding the captain’s orders as unreasonable, the sailors began to murmur and rebel. The captain, fearing an open mutiny, pleaded with the men: and, partly by expostulation and partly by his authority, they, reluctantly enough, proceeded to obey his commands.
“Scarcely were the sails taken down, when quite suddenly the heavens became overcast with the densest clouds, the wind blew a hurricane, and they experienced a storm concerning which the captain afterwards remarked, `I never witnessed the like of it, either before or after, in all my experience.”’* His was the only one of the ships which reached England at all.
The falling barometer told a tale not to be ignored. The captain saw no storm, nor even the slightest indication of its coming, but he trusted the testimony of the barometer. His faith in the barometer was his evidence of the unseen storm. It gave substance to the raging winds and mounting waves, which were “not seen as yet.” But understand, this was no “blind faith.” It was entirely reasonable—-and indeed, it were most unreasonable to discount the barometer’s testimony. The barometer had proved itself, and so has the Bible. The Bible has proved itself in so abundant and thorough a manner that they are absolutely “without excuse” who disbelieve it. It has proved itself to our reason, in the sphere of things which we can investigate, such as the fulfilment of prophecy. We believe it therefore, and when it speaks of things unseen, we believe it still, and act upon it, and determine our course by it. This it is to walk by faith, not by sight. We can no more see the coming judgement than the captain could see the coming storm. To unbelievers our testimony may seem as foolish or superstitious as the captain’s testimony was to the sailors, who were looking at the sky instead of the barometer. They did not wish to believe in a coming storm. Their hearts were set on the gold in London. They must make speed. Why should they take in the sails when there was no appearance of a storm? This it is to walk by sight, not by faith. This is the way of the world. Noah had no more evidence of the coming flood than the rest of the world had. There was no evidence at all, except from the word of God. Noah believed that word, and determined his course by it. The world refused that word, and perished. Noah walked by faith, the world by sight.
It seems that some have taken the text to mean, “We believe by faith, not by sight,” by which they mean we believe blindly, without evidence. Like most errors, this has a grain of truth in it. We do believe in the absence of certain kinds of evidence, but underneath our faith lies a solid foundation, standing squarely upon “that which we have seen and heard.” To walk by faith does not describe the nature of our faith, but of our walk. To walk means to proceed. This term denotes our actions, our manner of life. To walk by faith means to order our lives, to determine our course, by faith. This we do first of all in the grand purpose and end of the course of life which we choose. We choose to forsake Egypt, and suffer reproach with the people of God. We choose to forsake the pleasures of sin, and deny ourselves. We choose to live for heaven and eternity rather than for earth and time. We order our lives in accordance with that choice. This is walking by faith, not by sight. We seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. In all the details of our life of faith, we reckon upon the unseen, and determine our course by it. “The recompence of the reward” is always before our eye, and for its sake we choose a pathway directly opposite of those whose whole range of vision is limited to things seen and temporal. This it is to walk by faith, not by sight.
Glenn Conjurske