- [Carissa] If you tried to describe what God is like,
it could be difficult or daunting.
But when the people who wrote the Bible
pondered the mystery of God,
they consistently described God's character in this way.
"Compassionate and gracious, slow to anger,
overflowing with loyal love and faithfulness."
We're going to look at this last characteristic of God.
It's the Hebrew word "emet," which can be translated
as "faithfulness" or even "truth."
It's related to another word you've probably heard before,
"amen," which is an untranslated Hebrew expression
meaning "that's truth."
So emet can mean truth,
and it can refer to correct ideas or concepts.
This is because emet has to do
with stability and reliability.
Like when Moses holds up his hands for hours
to defeat Israel's enemies, the Amalekites,
his friends put a rock under him and support his hands
so that his hands will remain emet or steady.
When emet is used of people, it describes reliable
and stable character or trustworthiness.
Like when Moses appoints leaders in Israel,
they're to be people of emet, people who are trustworthy,
who won't take bribes or distort justice.
So to say that God is full of emet doesn't just mean
that God tells the truth or stands for truth,
it means that God is faithful and trustworthy.
This is why Moses calls God a rock, saying
that he's faithful, just, and upright.
He's saying that he can trust God
to be consistent to his character.
And the Hebrew word for "trust" is actually the verb form
of the word "emet." It's "he'emin."
It can be translated as "to believe," or "to have faith,"
but most basically it means
"to consider someone trustworthy," or "to trust."
The first person we meet in the Bible
who considers God to be trustworthy is Abraham.
God makes a promise that Abraham and his wife Sarah
will have a huge family and that through them
all nations will experience God's blessing.
But Abraham and Sarah are really, really old,
and they've never been able to have any children.
And yet in the face of these challenges,
Abraham he'emins God; he considers God trustworthy
to open a way forward.
And God does show emet to Abraham and Sarah.
In just four generations
their descendants form a whole nation called Israel.
And God invites Israel
into a trusting and faithful relationship.
And when God leads them out of slavery in Egypt,
Israel he'emins in God, they trust and rely on him.
But when they come to the land God promised to Abraham
and they find out it's filled
with giant cities protected by giants,
their trust in God's emet fails.
But eventually we meet an Israelite
who does trust God in the face of giants. It's David.
He yells at the giant,
"You come with a sword and a spear,
but I come with the name of the God of Israel."
David consistently relies on God.
In fact, it's said that David walked in emet before God.
So David considers God to be faithful
and responds with faithfulness.
This is why God promises to raise up a faithful descendant
of David whose kingdom will endure forever,
or in Hebrew, have emet.
This faithful king will become the source
of trust and stability for others forever.
But when the kingdom later collapses,
the Israelites find themselves
without a home and without a king and they cry out,
"Oh God, where is your loyal love
that you swore to David in your emet?"
They're accusing God of abandoning his promises
to Abraham and to David.
Is God trustworthy?
Is he faithful after all?
The first line of the New Testament
is an answer to that question.
"This is the lineage of Jesus, the Messiah,
the son of David, the son of Abraham."
In other words, through Jesus, God fulfills his promises.
Or as Paul says, "Jesus came on behalf of God's faithfulness."
He is the faithful king whose kingdom will endure forever,
and who invites all nations to trust God.
Now, trusting anyone is risky.
It's hard to know if anyone is really full of emet.
But the biblical story portrays a God
who's been faithful all along
and whose promises were fulfilled in the story of Jesus.
And so as we look out at the obstacles facing us
and our world, we are invited to take that same risk
and join Abraham, David, and the people of God
in trusting that God is overflowing with faithfulness.
(serene music)