"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." — Hebrews 10:23
If you’ve ever chatted with a Christian who’s endured something difficult, they’ll often use this refrain within their retelling of tragedy: But God is faithful. To the cynical, the statement could feel like a spiritual happy face sticker we slap on top of our sad stuff to brighten things up a bit. But to those familiar with the storyline of Scripture, God’s faithfulness is an unshakable truth we can cling to no matter how quaking our circumstances. This “clinging” image is exactly what the writer of Hebrews uses in this month’s verse: "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful" (Hebrews 10:23).
By the way—a word like “faithful” is rich enough that we need to revisit its definition time and time again to make sure we truly grasp the significance of following a faithful God. What does it mean that God is faithful? Samuel Saldivar says, “The faithfulness of God means God is unchanging in his nature, true to his Word, has promised salvation to his people, and will keep his promises forever. He is worthy of eternal trust no matter how unlikely his promises seem. Nothing in heaven or on earth can prevent God from accomplishing all that he has promised his people through Jesus Christ” (Read Samuel's full article here). My version of the definition is this: God is who he is, always. God does what he says he’ll do, always. (Do you see why the writer of Hebrews talks about God’s faithfulness like a handle we can grab onto when life zigs and zags?)
God is faithful, and all of scripture bears witness to this. That matters, because our track record helps people know what to expect out of us. For example, my friends and family know that I, under no circumstances, will ever be able to describe what kind of car anyone drives. The make, model, color? I got nothing. Was it a red Ford Mustang, a black Toyota Sequoia, or the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile? Who could say? My entire life bears witness to this “car blindness,” and as a result, people know to expect it.
Similarly (and yet not similarly at all), because God has always been faithful, we can expect faithfulness from him. To prove it, let me show you God’s track record of faithfulness throughout the Bible. (Perhaps it’ll inspire you to chronicle his faithfulness in your story, too.) I’ll divide it into seven “chapters” to help our brains process this massive narrative.
Chapter 1: Creation
When we praise someone for being “a man of his word” (or a woman), we are saying, “You do what you say you’ll do.” That person is faithful. From the beginning, we see that God’s words and actions are fully aligned in a way that stretches beyond what we could’ve imagined: His word is his action. His word does exactly what it says. When God says, “Let there be light,” there is light. His word goes forth, accomplishing exactly what God has said it would. The creation account screams, “God is faithful.”
Chapter 2: The Fall
Tempted by the deceptive words of a serpent, man and woman were unfaithful to God. As shame overtook them, we wonder: Why didn’t they realize that only God’s words can be trusted? (We might ask ourselves the same question.) Through their rebellion, sin entered the world and changed everything. And yet, God did not change. In the midst of their unfaithfulness, God was still faithful, not just to his creation but to his word. He didn’t sweep their sin under the rug, claiming, “Eh, that’s okay!” Instead, he continued in his word and his character by faithfully offering consequences—and pointing to a rescuer who would defeat the serpent. This rescuer would be found fully faithful.
Chapter 3: The Patriarchs
As the earth filled with people, sin grew. People struggled to trust God. And yet, God was faithful. He set his sights on a man named Abram (later Abraham) and promised to make a great nation through him. Although Abraham sometimes demonstrated great faith, he didn’t live a perfect life by any means—and his son and grandson certainly didn’t either. However, God didn’t give up on this family. He was faithful to his word and faithful to his chosen people, repeating his promise over and over again through the generations so that his faithfulness would become the banner over their often unfaithful lives.
Chapter 4: The Law
Abraham’s family grew into a nation, and they were later enslaved in Egypt before God miraculously delivered them. After all, his promise to Abraham was still true. Out of Egypt, God would lead them home to the Promised Land, and along the way, he gave them the law. They were to shape their lives around God’s law and use all their energy to cling to it, obey it, and delight in it so that they could be formed into a faithful and holy people. God wasn’t just leading them to the trusted place, he was working to form them into a trusted people. (God is always faithful to tell us his ways—but are we faithful to hear his words and to do them?) Unfortunately, more often than not, God’s chosen nation was unfaithful to his commands.
Chapter 5: The Prophets
Despite all the disobedience, God didn’t give up. The more his people disobeyed, the louder God’s prophets seemed to shout. They were like “alarm clocks” designed to awaken sinners. But God’s people disregarded God’s faithful warnings, preferring their own ways over his. And so, eventually, God did what he said he would do: he would invite an enemy nation to conquer the Promised Land, and his people would go into exile. These unfaithful people had put their faith in their land, their stability, their riches—when they needed to trust in God alone. In exile, some of God’s people became more aware of their deep unfaithfulness and began to hope for a rescuer.
Chapter 6: Jesus’s Life, Death, and New Life
“When the set time had fully come” (Galatians 4:4), God did what he said he would do: he sent the promised rescuer. Interestingly, John called Jesus “the Word,” and Jesus’s life backed up the claim: he perfectly kept God’s law, wholeheartedly obeyed God’s will, and miraculously fulfilled God’s promises. Jesus lived his life as the very embodiment of faithfulness—and he died this way, too, making the way for unfaithful people to come to their faithful Father. Jesus promised he would rise again, and of course, this Word can be trusted. Jesus stepped out of the grave, and forty days after his resurrection, he ascended to heaven where we can know he is faithfully ruling this very moment.
Chapter 7: The Holy Spirit and the Church
At the Last Supper, Jesus promised he would send a Helper, and a few days after Jesus’s ascension, God the Spirit came to live in God’s people. The Church was born. Ever since this time, the Holy Spirit has faithfully come to indwell individual believers, comforting us, reminding us of God’s truth, helping us become faithful like our Father, and building us together as the Bride of Christ. If you’ve ever been involved with a church, you know how messy, complicated, and even corrupt church establishments can be. And yet, Jesus promises in Matthew 16:18 that even the powers of hell can’t prevail against what we call the “big C” Church (all true believers for all of time). We can cling to God’s faithfulness when we and the churchgoers around us are unfaithful.
Chapter 8: Jesus’s Return
We can also look ahead to the glorious day God has promised when the perfectly faithful Groom, Jesus, will return for his Bride and make all things new. On that day, we will be surrounded by proof of his faithfulness. We will worship him fully and faithfully, celebrating because he did all that he said—including shaping us into his faithful sons and daughters who get to be home with him forever.
Why can we hold unswervingly to the hope we profess? Because every part of the story testifies that he who promised is faithful.
