April 12, 2023
A Bridge to Belief
“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’” John 6:29 (NASB)
My wife and I traveled to an area in Saxony Germany, also referred to as Germany’s Switzerland. We visited a place called the “Bastei.” This ancient fortification has been a tourist destination for the last 200 years. The Elbe River sits about 1000 feet below. Its beauty is unparalleled. In ancient times, this bastion was built for protection. This huge rock formation has several places where bridges were constructed to connect the rock formations making it an impenetrable fort. There are vertical drops of 600 feet making it quite breathtaking. The bridges, originally wooden, allowed soldiers passage from one rock formation to another. Today, they have been replaced with iron bridges. Some sections still remain in original sandstone. When we visited, there are three sections of the fort. Most would not be intimidated in the first stage. There are two more stages however. Stages two and three become more challenging for those afraid of heights (like me). I decided that day I would gather my bravery and take on all three. I didn’t want to miss this memory because of my fears. When we arrived in section 2, I was beginning to feel nervous, but continued. The drops were hundreds of feet. Then we proceeded to stage three. This area is separated by a locked door. The guide said once you went through the door, there was no return. So, I gathered my courage, and took off. As I walked over the bridges, I kept telling myself, several before me have made this journey. It was the knowledge of those who had taken the journey and those who constructed the bridge to make the journey possible. I didn’t die that day (as you can see), but it did bring me interesting observations for today’s passage.
“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” Jesus told the people the works they wanted to perform (or creating a new habit as we saw yesterday), were not possible. They couldn’t do what God could. They could only be performed by the Hand of God. The only way to do it was to “believe in Him.” The word “believe,” or pisteuo has a form of the word we need to understand a little more thoroughly. The word means “trusting.” It is used poetically of confidence in weapons or skill in weapons; of trust in men.[1] It is also used in the sense of those bound by a treaty. Men are expected to keep a treaty from the day it is signed. So, it goes for our “believing” in Christ Jesus and God the Father. In the opposing sense of this word is the word, “unbelieving.” When Jesus told the people, “That they needed to believe in Him whom He has sent,” He saw their present condition as an “unbelieving” people. These people were defined as unfaithful, and therefore unreliable. They only saw with their human eyes…
So many today have made the journey into genuine faith. It is real. It can be trusted, just like the bridges I crossed several days ago in the Bastei. I had to do something though. I had to trust who built the bridges, even if I hadn’t met the builders who lived several hundred years ago. Today could you honestly say to yourself you have trusted and believed in God through Jesus Christ? Remember several people from our past have made these journeys of faith in God through Christ. Do you trust Him enough to step out, even if you haven’t seen Him? Do you trust Him enough to bridge the gap between you and God? He is the Bridge to God’s forgiveness!
[1] Rudolf Bultmann, “Πιστεύω, Πίστις, Πιστός, Πιστόω, Ἄπιστος, Ἀπιστέω, Ἀπιστία, Ὀλιγόπιστος, Ὀλιγοπιστία,” ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 175.