Walk By Faith

God is righteous because of whom he is. God’s righteousness is inside; ours is outside.  Remember when God declared all that he created was good, yes, very good. Righteous. Somewhere along about Genesis 3, Adam and Eve – we – take upon ourselves the knowledge of good and evil. What did we do? We think if we listen to lies and deceit, we will become like God. God, I Am Who I Am, has created us in His image, made with all the right stuff. We are who we are, but by disobedience, we get un-right. We are no longer that who we were.

When God calls to us in the garden, we have hidden because we are exposed. Righteousness is no longer internal. We have become afraid of whom we have become. We try to make ourselves right. We sew fig leaves together; we try to hide the unrighteous shame.  We think maybe if we hide, God will not note we are no longer right when he finds us. We make excuses, thinking if we introduce the blame game, we can distract God from the wrongness. Instead, God sends us out to understand who we were. To discover who we are. Did anyone notice? Not in fig leaves. Not in shame. No, God covers us. If we would but see, he has given us a Robe of Righteousness. The flaming sword of His creative Word becomes the first law. We cannot return. We separated ourselves from God. He gives us the Law and the Prophets. He sends his only Son. God gives us everything we need to become who we were.

From time to time, we remember. Cain saw the carefully stored garments, but dies because his brother does not know. Abel banished and Seth born. Their sons hear the stories. We realize that even though we are unrighteous, we can proclaim God’s righteousness.  From generation to generation, the story can be told. The robe of righteousness can be passed. Often it is carefully unpacked. We learn to sing and dance. We call it prayer and praise. Then we carefully conceal it so it will not give out.

Along comes a great, great, ever so great grandchild. Enoch becomes a father. Enoch took the cloak out of moth balls and wore it – all the time. Then Enoch walked with God. He understood. He got it. Enoch’s grandson told that story. It is possible to recover one’s righteousness. All we have to do is put on the robe, and not take it off. Noah got it. When God finally got fed up with the pack-it-up, put-it-in-moth-balls, take-it-out, put-it-back. In all this time, two men – only two – figured it out, Enoch and Noah.

God chooses to start again, not from the beginning, but from the point of understanding. He made His instructions clear and unambiguous. Noah wears the Robe of Righteousness onto the ark.

Paul, a whole testament later, tells us the story. He gives us a roll call of the heroes who unpacked the mantle and wore it as they walked with God. He finds in in the Prophets, packed carefully away, the path of righteousness: wear the robe, live by faith, walk with God. The course he thought he knew until he learned on a road leading to Damascus. The path Jesus walked to Gethsemane.

One cannot go back beyond the flashing sword, but one can walk on by faith. The trust that Jesus God, true and righteous, took the sword of unrighteousness into his side. The story told by John, the beloved disciple, who took up the Cup of Salvation and heard Jesus say “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. Receive the Holy Spirit. Thomas put your hand into my side. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.”  Wear the robe. Carry the cup. Receive His Spirit.  Walk by faith. Not from but to, Amen and amen.

Genesis 3-6, Habakkuk 2, Hebrews 11, John 20