Faith Through the Eyes of Jesus

This week’s double Torah portion, BeHar-Bechukotai בְּהַר־בְּחֻקֹּתַי (On Mount Sinai-In My Statutes), based on Leviticus 25:1-27:34, teaches us about the kind of faith that pleases God.

In Luke 18:8, Jesus asks: "I tell you, He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"

Surely most people can tell that we are living in the last days. Even the secular world recognizes this—there are said to be only 89 seconds left until midnight on the Doomsday Clock (where midnight represents humanity’s self-destruction), a concept established in 1945 by Einstein and other prominent scientists after the invention and deployment of the first atomic weapon. Scientists realized that humanity now possesses the power to self destruct and that this clock representing all of mankind's time in history show us how close to the end we are: two minutes in a day that contains 1,440 minutes. Another way to represent this is that we are 99.9986% done before reaching 100% of destruction (or just 0.0014% of our time left over).

Before answering Jesus' question, we need to define the word "faith." Unfortunately, in today’s world, words have lost their meaning and power. Words exist to define something specific; once a word becomes too general, it loses its clarity and strength. For example, the word "woman" defines a specific category and excludes others. This precision is what gives meaning to communication and language. Because this has been lost in the past few years, the term became ambigious and lost all power and it is damaging the very category it was meant to protect. Women who trained their entire lives are losing their spot, their scholarship, and their recognition for all the hard work to mediocer men who claim to be women so they can compete and dominate the chosen sport. It is sad to see the consequences of these instances and similar ones because words have become too broad to define or convey anything meaningful.

The same applies to symbols. Hebrew helps define words more concretely because it is a language rooted in physical reality and tangible concepts. Modern languages, largely influenced by Hellenistic thought, tend to be more abstract. Hebrew is concrete and reality-based; Greek is abstract and idea-driven. A good example of this is the word "home". Home is an idea and everyone would define it differently based on their preference and experience. A "house", however, is a concrete concept. If you asked 100 people to draw a "home" you will get different ideas based on ideas, but if you asked 100 people to draw a "house" you will get a similar, if not identical, depiction of a physical building with a front door and a few windows. It may differ in size, color and probably shapes, but it will still be a house.

So what is faith?

The Hebrew word for faith is Emunah אֱמוּנָה and it is rooted in the word Amen אָמֵן, which means "faithful" and "faithfulness" and is action-based. There is no faith without action. Every act of faith toward God is accompanied by an action that supports what you believe—even salvation reflects this:

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:9–10)

Believing in the heart is faith (leading to justification), but confessing with the mouth is action (leading to salvation). If you pay attention to biblical language, you will see that faith never exists without action. When the people brought the paralyzed man through the roof to Jesus, they demonstrated faith in action. Jesus responded, "Your faith has saved you." Faith accompanied by action.

So will Jesus find faith of this quality on the earth? This kind of faith? I believe so, because even in the secular world we see examples of it. When we board an airplane, we exercise faith. We believe the plane will not crash and that the pilot is capable—so much so that we act on that belief and entrust our lives to it.

However, we must continue searching to understand what Jesus truly meant. Today, we often see distorted forms of faith that do not please God. There are even churches where pastors live in open contradiction to biblical teachings yet preach with passion, using Scripture to justify their lifestyle. Likewise, people from other religions sometimes demonstrate more dedication to their beliefs than many Christians. Mormons, for example, are often cited as highly committed.

So what kind of faith is Jesus referring to? If we read the full context, we see that His question comes after the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge—a passage about justice. Therefore, true faith must be connected to justice. And to pursue justice, we must understand what it truly means.

Scripture says: "The righteous shall live by faith" (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Hebrews 10:38).

Yet it also says: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away… there is no one who does good, not even one." (Romans 3:10–12)

So how can we have the kind of faith Jesus is looking for? How can we live as righteous people if it seems impossible? In Hebrew, there is an important distinction between being "justified" and being "just". The word mutzedak (מוּצדָק) means "justified":

We can define the word by it's letters or symbols. Qoof means holiness, Dalet means door or portal, Tsadi mean justice or just, Vav means mankind, and lastly Mem means waters but is also used as a directional preposition "from". If we interpret the symbols of this word we can see its meaning: Holiness opens the door to be just through or from a righetous man (the Messiah). We are justified by Christ and Christ alone. Our own righteousness and any attempt to gain salvation by actions is filthyness to God's standard. Here are specific biblical references that clearly says the same thing:

"God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Similarly, Romans 5:18–19 explains that through one act of righteousness, justification and life came to all. "Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous."

In contrast, we see that the word Tzadik צַדִיק, which means "righteous", can be defined by its fields and symbols as this:

Qoof is again, holiness, Yod is arm/hand and symbolizes works, Dalet still means door or portal, and lastly Tsadi means righteousness or just. It paints a very different definition: Holiness through actions and works opens the door to justice or righteousness. Here are biblical references:

"To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice." (Proverbs 21:3)

"The one who practices righteousness is righteous." (1 John 3:7)

"Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight…" (Deuteronomy 6:18)

The key difference is this: we are justified through the actions of another (in our case, Jesus and in the Old Testament, the priest perfoming the cleansing ritual or sacrifice), but we become righteous through our own actions.

Now we can better understand Jesus' question. He is asking whether there will be faith on the earth—a faith grounded in justice—when He returns. To be righteous, we must know God’s Word and act as though we truly believe it. Not based on human reasoning, culture, traditions, or religious systems—but based on obedience and trust. Do you truly trust the LORD and enough to obey even blindly? Do you love and trust God enough to surrender your own will and desires?

This week’s Torah portion, Bechukotai, means "in My statutes." These statutes are commandments that do not necessarily make sense from a human perspective. For example, dietary laws about clean animals fall into this category.

The little things matter more than we can ever know. "If you love me, obey my commands", Jesus.

The questions again are: do we trust God enough to obey even when something doesn’t make logical sense? If God asks you to do something without explanation, will you trust Him enough to act? This is the kind of faith Jesus expects to find when He returns, but is doubting will be present. My challenge to you is to pursue this kind of attitude as you study the Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see truth without religious bias or the influence of others’ opinions, and with the humility to let go of your own assumptions.

From experience, I can say this: your life will be completely transformed, and you will become a righteous person who pleases the Father. Shalom Ve'Shavuah Tov beloved.

For those who dare take up this challenge, here is a word of encouragement directly from the Lord Jesus: "Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:19-20

This is NOT a salvation issue. Note the both are going to be part of the kingdom of heaven, but one will be called LEAST and the latter will be called GREAT. I pray you choose to be great as you serve the Living God. Shalom.