We MUST See Jesus! (By Faith)

In my previous post I looked at the multitudes who saw Jesus with their physical eyes. They saw Him heal desperately sick people with a touch, cast out demons and calm storms with a word, create food, disappear in the midst of hostile crowds, raise dead people, then after an unjust arrest and trial, suffer and die upon a Romans cross in fulfillment of Isaiah 53:1-12 as the substitute for our sin.  Throughout His ministry He stood before the crowds, speaking to them of the Kingdom of God, how one enters that Kingdom, and revealing Himself to be its King (Mark 1:14-15) (Luke 17:20-21).

Despite this glorious revelation of Himself to these multitudes, few believed and embraced Him for who He was, namely the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the promised Messiah or anointed one who was the fulfillment of the promises of Isaiah 42:1-9 and Isaiah 61:1-3, and is the LORD that Isaiah saw in a vision, seated on His throne, exalted, whom the angels revealed as Holy, Holy, Holy (Isaiah 6:1-5).

Subsequent to His resurrection, over a period of 40 days, Jesus appeared to those who had believed, including His apostles and 500 others (1 Corinthians 15:3-8), speaking to them many things regarding the Kingdom of God.   At the end of those 40 days we have, both in Luke 24:50-53 and Acts 1:9-11, the account of His accension into Heaven, where we are told in the Acts passage that “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Jesus did appear to two other persons subsequent to His ascension.  He appeared dramatically to Saul of Tarsus, whom He saved, and as the Apostle Paul, commissioned him to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 26:17-18).  In the book of Revelation, we have Jesus appearing and speaking to the Apostle John, who He appeared to on the isle of Patmos where John was imprisoned for his faithfulness to Jesus and the Gospel.  There John conversed with and saw visions of the glorified Christ as He is presently ruling over creation, and most importantly governing His church from His throne in Heaven (Revelation 1:9-20).

In Revelation 1:7 we are told, consistent with the Luke and Acts passages noted above, that Jesus is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him.  And then it says, And all the tribes of the earth shall mourn. Why might that be?  Well, the Bible presents that time of Jesus’ second coming as a time of final judgement, the consummation of each man’s eternal destiny (Revelation 20:12).

In Daniel 12:1-2 we are told that it will be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time, and that at that time those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake (be resurrected), some to eternal life, some to shame and everlasting/eternal contempt.

In John 5:28-29, Jesus speaks of this same time when He says, Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of (eternal) life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

We have a similar warning in Romans 2:4-11, distinguishing between those who will receive eternal life and those who will live under the eternal wrath and judgement of God.

In each of these passages, we have a distinction between those who receive eternal life, those who will be resurrected to the glorious life with God for which we were created, and those who are condemned and will live under the wrath and judgement of God forever.

Each of these passages contains some description of what delineates those who will be resurrected to eternal life and those who will suffer eternal condemnation in Hell.

However, Jesus makes this distinction very clear and concise in His response to the question raised by the lawyer in Luke 10:25-28, regarding what one must do to inherit eternal life.  He asks the attorney to quote what had already been revealed regarding this in Deuteronomy 6:4-6, and he replies, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind.’ He includes from Leviticus 19:17-18 the love of our neighbor (who is created in the image of God) as ourselves.  Jesus acknowledges the correctness of this answer and commands the lawyer to do so and live. (Also see Matthew 22:34-40)

In Matthew 19:16-22, we have the same question from a rich young ruler, who inquires of Jesus what good thing he must do to inherit eternal life?  Jesus reminds Him of the commandments, and the young man (foolishly) states that he has kept all of them from His youth. Jesus then tells him there is “one thing that he lacks”.  Jesus does not remind him of the commands in Deuteronomy and Leviticus, but immediately tests the young ruler’s willingness to obey them by calling him to forsake all that he loves in this world, his riches, his status, his position of power, and follow Jesus as the object of his deepest love and source of his greatest joy.  Unfortunately, he declines Jesus’ call for he had great possessions.

Love for God, love for Christ who is God that greatly exceeds our love for, dependence upon and delight in anything and anyone else in creation, is the determining factor regarding our eternal destiny (Luke 14:26).

We are told in 1 Corinthians 16:22 that anyone who does not love Jesus in this way is accursed, condemned, devoted to destruction.

 In 1 Corinthians 8:3 the Apostle Paul tells us that anyone who loves God is known by Him, meaning known in intimate relationship.  Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:21-23, that being known by God in this way is the determining factor in our being welcomed into Heaven on the day of judgment.

In Romans 8:28 we are told that all things work together for the ultimate and eternal good of those who love God.  It would be reasonable to assume that for those who do not love God, all things are working together for their ultimate and eternal condemnation and destruction.

In 1 Corinthians 2:9 we read, ^“But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man, the (glorious) things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” Again, I believe it could be conversely stated regarding those who do not love God, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the (horrific) things which God has prepared for those who live their lives loving something other than Him, which is essentially idolatry. And we are told in Revelation 21:8 that all idolaters shall all have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Now the question we should have regarding this defining commandment is, how do we come to love God and Christ, who we cannot see with our physical eyes and interact with in this material world, supremely above all else that we can see and interact with?

The answer is by faith (Hebrews 11:6) (Hebrews 11:24-27).  We must see God, and His loveliness through the eyes of faith as He has revealed Himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ on the pages of scripture, both Old and New Testaments (1 Peter 1:6-9) (Luke 24:44-45).  It is only through our diligent study of God’s word, and the regenerating, revelatory power of the Holy Spirit that we will see Christ in such a way that He becomes the desire of our heart and the delight of our soul, the object of our deepest love and the source of our greatest joy, in whom we inherit the gift of eternal life (Romans 10:17) (John 16:12-15) (Romans 5:5) (Romans 6:23).

Much more regarding this in my next post.

Grace and Peace ×