Seeing Jesus

“And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (Jn. 6:40). We need to copy Jesus as John copied Him. In Him is all the fullness of the Godhead manifested. In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Col. 1:19; 2:3). Jesus is made our source of “wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” (1Cor. 1:30). All power to overcome our predisposed sins and sinfulness was given to Him (Matt. 28:18), by looking at His life.

 “All the words of [His] mouth [were] in righteousness; there [was] nothing froward or perverse in them. [And] they are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge…. Counsel [was His], and sound wisdom: [He was] understanding; [He was] strength.” (Prov. 8:7-14). He was the truth. “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” (Jn. 1:3,4).

But, how can we copy Him if we cannot see Him? How can we have the day to day life with the Messiah, the anointed One, when He came and left 2,000 years ago? Yes, He is in His heavenly sanctuary, ever living to make intercession for us; but that’s even worse for seeing Him. He was here 2,000 years ago, separated from us by time and a few thousand miles. Now He is separated from us with light-years between us; and added to that, the last time we heard from Him was 2,000 years ago, when He spoke to John. We must know Him like the apostles did who received His Spirit that propelled them to take the gospel to the furthest corners of the globe. In fact, we must know Him and His Father better than the apostles, inasmuch as the Latter Rain preaching of the gospel for a witness to the whole world will be more abundant than the apostolic Early Rain. Is knowing Jesus only our work? Does our heavenly High Priest have some part to play in our learning of Him? Yes, He does work with us to learn of Him.

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 16:17).

“Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight. All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.” (Matt. 11:26,27).

He must reveal Himself before we can learn of Him. And this He promises to do. He did it for His disciples more so after He left than when He was with them. When His physical features would no longer be an obstacle due to His physical absence, He revealed to them His character when He sent them His Spirit. The same will happen again today.

All who would receive Christ by faith were united to Him by a tie closer than that of human kinship. They would become one with Him, as He was one with the Father. As a believer and doer of His words, His mother was more nearly and savingly related to Him than through her natural relationship. Desire of Ages, p. 325.

Closer than father, mother, brother, friend, or lover is the Lord our Saviour. “Fear not,” He says, “for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.” “Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.” Isaiah 43:1, 4. Desire of Ages, p. 327.

When you succor the poor, sympathize with the afflicted and oppressed, and befriend the orphan, you bring yourselves into a closer relationship to Jesus. Welfare Ministry, p. 311.

Henceforth through the Spirit, Christ was to abide continually in the hearts of the children. Their union with Him was closer than when He was personally with them.… All that Christ was to the disciples, He desires to be to His children today.  Faith I Live By, p. 62.

Once the disciples were humbled by the cross and had come to terms with their self-sufficiency, then the Father sent His Son in Spirit “when the times of refreshing [would] come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19) through the Early Rain of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. By His Spirit they could hear Jesus again and see Him again, clear as a bell. Fulfilled in their souls was the great promise, “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer. 31:31).

Their earlier relationship during their discipleship, their humbling at the crucifixion, their recognition of their sinfulness and the gift of repentance led to their full conversion and the blotting out of their sins. Then the gift of God in its fullness shook off their earthly shackles and circumcised their hearts and minds. Until this happened, even physically following Jesus every day did not communicate to them the knowledge of Him that could transform them. They needed more than eyesight in order to copy Him truly in deed, not only by the letter, but in spirit. The real advantage came to them after He had left them and they had come through trying difficulties that tested their commitment to the max.

Their advantage is no less advantageous for us, and even more so. The more trying the Gethsemane, the greater the victory for those who survive it. We have a Gethsemane to pass through—a time of trouble such as never was. Even today, we are traversing a dark time in the world that is already sifting the ranks of Adventism. Many are falling away to unbelief in this strong delusion that God has permitted to come upon the world. The 5th and 6th trumpets are manifesting themselves by increasing fruition of atheism and abominations in the earth.

The original Adventism which Jesus gave to Ellen and James White is dead (Rev. 11:7-10). But it will come back to life again (vs. 11-13), and for that resurrection of Reformation living faith we need to prepare now. We must be striving to know Jesus’ character or we will not be worthy to receive the full revelation of the Lord in the Latter Rain. It is all a gift, for the Father will cause that revelation of His Son―“And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.” (Acts 3:20).

But we have a work to do. We must walk next to the Messiah, even if our sight is as dim as His erring disciples was, and our ears as clogged with misconceptions of His love and will. Even though the lines of communication are hampered by our surroundings and our own inherited spiritual and chosen disabilities, we must exert all that we have within us to hear and see Him as we read the Bible and meditate upon it. In both Old and New Testaments we must see Jesus.

His promise is, “I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me.” (Prov. 8:17). Do you love Jesus? Do you want to love Him more? Its children, needy children, faulty high-needs children, who come to Him. “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight…. Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” (Matt. 11:25-30).

If we take what little He has already revealed and put it into practice—for the purpose of knowing Him better—then our disability to see and know Him will lessen with exercise. And our ability to see Him will increase (most of sight and hearing happens in the brain). “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” (2Pet. 1:4-10). If we are seeking Him and His love wholeheartedly, downloading His life into our thoughts and lives, then, even if it takes a lot of time to perfectly reproduce His character traits in us, He will look upon us with grace, as He did for His weak and fledgling disciple family when He tabernacled among us; and so will His Father, our Father. “For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.” (Ps. 103:14).

“The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” (2Chron. 16:9).

“The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” (2Tim. 2:19).

“If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.” (Jn. 15:7,8).

“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Lk. 12:32).