(Un) Certainty

5 min read

4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.

Revelation 4:4

This verse is very mysterious. There is a lot of debate as to who these twenty-four elders are. We all may have our own ideas on the matter. What is more certain, though, is that in the Book of Revelation these elders have a role in the worship of heaven. They also seem to have a role in mediating God’s word to us and in ministering before God with the prayers of the saints. Beyond that, maybe it’s not really worth spending too much time thinking about.

There is in fact a lot of mystery in the word of God. I personally believe that the mystery of God’s word is intentional on God’s part in order to keep us humble and so that we would stick to the basics—to hold firm to what is certain and clear. But people even debate about what is certain and clear. We say that we must keep the main thing the main thing, but many people have different ideas about what should be included or excluded in “the main thing.”

I recently saw the movie “Conclave.” It’s one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while. We don’t find many good movies coming out these days. The movie is a commentary about the Catholic church and about faith in general. In one scene, the main character (Dean Lawrence played by Ralph Fiennes) says that certainty is the enemy of faith. He was speaking about the mystery of God and making the point that faith requires a certain measure of uncertainty—otherwise, it’s not faith.

But the ending of the movie made me kind of mad. The “moral” of the movie was dogmatic (certain) in its own kind of way. I would guess that Conclave is one of the best movies of 2024, but I would place an asterisk on it too, because I strongly disagree with its message in the end. And I strongly disagree because the culture is trying to make the message of the movie dogmatic.

In other words, the movie promotes its own message into the category of main things.

In a way, I agree with Dean Lawrence that the enemy of faith is certainty. But there must be some measure of certainty revealed to us in God’s word. For me, it is the gospel—Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, resurrected, and returning—and the direct implications of that gospel both theologically and practically.

Theologically (orthodoxy), God is Creator—all-knowing, all-powerful, present everywhere, and eternal—and God is love. Practically (orthopraxy), God calls the redeemed to build up the church of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth, and we do so with love.

Everything else is secondary.

Father, let me be “certain” in my faith. But I confess that Your word is often a mystery to me. Forgive me when things that should be clear are not so clear to me. I know it is because of my sin. But I trust in You alone. I trust in the gospel alone. Help me to be humble in my understanding, but help me to understand where the line is between faith and certainty. In Jesus’s name. Amen.