Stand in Awe of Jesus, Faithful and True
Are there any passages of Scripture that, whether you read them or hear them read by others, never fail to awaken a deep sense of awe and worship in your heart? This is certainly true for me. Usually these verses are rich with descriptions of Jesus Christ—who He is and what He’s accomplished.
One such verse is Revelation 19:11, describing a scene we’re still awaiting—the moment when Jesus returns.
Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and
True, and with justice he judges and makes war.
What a description. What a day that will be.
I’m sure there are many reasons this verse evokes such reverence in me, but one reason is the name used for Jesus: Faithful and True. These are qualities I greatly treasure—primarily in Christ, but also when I see them reflected in others. A prayer that’s been on my lips for years is, “Lord, help me be faithful.”
For as long as I can remember, living in light of truth has been incredibly important to me—so much so that in my younger years I would have been afraid if someone asked me a question like, “What’s your favorite restaurant?” I might forget which one was my actual favorite and discover that I’d lied.
But no matter how faithful and truthful I seek to be, I’m regularly grieved by my inability to live these out as I ought. All too often I give into laziness, make selfish decisions, or drop the ball on a verbal commitment I’ve made. I’m regularly reminded that in my own strength I’m not what I should be.
Faithful and True: This Changes Everything
However, for those who have been saved by Christ, His distinction as Faithful and True changes everything. Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians with this greeting: “to the faithful saints in Jesus Christ.” He recognizes that we are faithful only because we’re in Jesus Christ—not because of our own work but because of Christ’s.
This is the glorious reality of the Gospel. Jesus came, lived a perfectly sinless life, took our punishment upon the cross, and rose again to defeat sin and death. Because of this, He now gives all who believe in Him the opportunity to be clothed in His righteousness and filled with His Spirit.
And because Jesus has been and always will be perfectly Faithful and True, we can live in His faithfulness and truth too. We can grow in these qualities as a reflection of belonging to our Savior and King.
As we rejoice in Jesus being Faithful and True, here are three implications for our daily lives.
1. Our inadequacy should point us back to Christ in praise.
The enemy of our souls would like nothing better than to keep us focused on our own shortcomings, constantly wallowing in discouragement. This causes us to forget the realities of the gospel and how it transforms how we live today—which is exactly what the enemy wants. So rather than gazing inward, our failings should cause us to look upward at Jesus.
2 Timothy 2:13 says,
If we are faithless, he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny himself.
Our hope is found in Christ’s everlasting faithfulness. Once we are in Him, there is nothing that can separate us from Him. When we do sin, we simply turn to Him in confession and repentance and continue walking in the grace that is ever available to us.
As a response to His unfailing faithfulness toward us, praise should also be ever ready to pour from our hearts and lips. We can join with the psalmist in declaring,
My lips will glorify you
because your faithful love is better than life. (Psalm 63:3)
2. We should continually fill our minds with truth.
As the line of a well-known hymn goes, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.”1 The world, our flesh, and the devil are constantly making noise that tries to drown out the wonder of Jesus, fighting to distract and deter us from who He is and what that means for us. For this reason, it’s critical that we intentionally open God’s Word and feed our souls with the truth found in its pages. We need to be freshly reminded with each new day how faithful and true God is and that by His grace He is enabling us to be faithful.
Verses like these can be a powerful infusion of truth and realign our perspective in the midst of confusion or discouragement.
- “But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one” (2 Thess. 3:3).
- “Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful” (Heb. 10:23).
3. We’re still being sanctified.
I love Paul’s words in Philippians 3:12 at the end of a reflection on how Christ has radically changed his life.
Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
Paul acknowledges that God has transformed him already, while also remembering the reality that there will be more to lay hold of in Christ and continued sanctification in his life until the day he dies. This should give us great hope as we acknowledge these two realities: God has done a great work in us, and He’s not finished with us yet. Praise God!
One of my favorite benedictions in Scripture is 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 because it reminds me of this very reality.
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will do it.
He has called us. He is faithful. He will do it.
Let’s turn our eyes to Jesus, the Faithful and True, and live in light of Him today.
Whatever you think about Jesus, He is more. Incomparably more.That’s the message of Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth’s newest book,Incomparable: 50 Days with Jesus, and it’s the message you can take wherever you go with our unique set of 52 “Incomparable” Scripture cards. Each card contains a quote from Nancy on one side, a related Scripture verse on the other, and comes in a fold-tab box. Meditate on one verse per week all year long or pass them along to a friend in need of encouragement. We’d love to send you a set when you give a gift of any amount to the ministry today.
1 “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” Robert Robinson (1758).
