Hard Words

There are many hard words in scripture and many of the hardest were first spoken by the Lord. We may think of such words as, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Or “…cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30). These are indeed hard words. But of all the words of our Lord that seem so hard, I am convinced the hardest, and yet the most comforting as well, are those from Mark 5:36, “Be not afraid, only believe.” Five little words: seemingly so benign and unchallenging we usually pass them over, being found as they are in the middle of a touching story of family tragedy.

“Be not afraid.” Yet who among us has not once been afraid? Who among us has not ever felt the apprehension that always comes with bad news? “Only believe.” Yet even the beloved Peter doubted, so much so that on one occasion the Lord had to pray for Peter’s very soul!

From the human perspective, these words are hard to understand in their fullness and even harder to live up to. It is our very lot to be afraid. Our fear has the same cause as our sin: the fall of man in Adam (Genesis 3:10). When Christ tells us to be unafraid it has the same weight and significance as when he tells us to be perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect, or to go and sin no more. But who among us is perfect? Who among us is able to go and sin no more? Are we then any more able to be unafraid? We are no more able to prevent fear than we are to prevent sin. But He is able. That is why He also says, “Only believe.” With these words He is telling us that He will take our burden of fear upon himself, just as He also takes our sin. With these words He is telling us that if we accept Him as Lord and Saviour, if we believe exclusively in Him, then fear, like sin, shall have no dominion. Because of Him, we need not fear that our sins are too many or too perverse, or that He is partial or His mercy too shallow. When we believe in Him, we must also believe what He has done, is doing and will do. We only need to believe that He is willing, able and sufficient for us.

In another place, He spoke these words, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

And it is here, in the complete and finished work of Christ that we are to find our salvation, not in ourselves and our own measly works, but in His perfect and permanent overcoming. He does not just command us to be brave but also reassures us that the basis and ground of our fear has now been removed, as far away as the west is from the east or the sun from the moon. Let us believe and be comforted by Him and the work He has accomplished on behalf of His people, the very work He was sent to accomplish by a loving, almighty, never-failing God.

And God’s commands to be unafraid are never to be taken alone, for in every case, whether stated or not, we are to understand and believe in God’s own reassurance and promise: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10).

The words which are so hard for us to obey—impossible in fact—have already been obeyed for us by God’s very own “right hand of righteousness” who is the Lord Christ Jesus. Because of His perfect righteousness and His sacrifice upon the cross, where He took our sin upon Himself, we need fear not nor doubt but only believe. And then, like Thomas before us, we will be able to stand before Him and proclaim with all boldness “My Lord and my God.”

Soli Deo Gloria.