“We don’t always see things as they are, we see them as we are.” —ancient proverb (public domain)
The first of the Twelve Steps is to admit that we are powerless and that our lives on our own are unmanageable. The second step is to believe in a power greater than ourselves who can restore us to sanity, but as I prefer to say, to restore us to sustainability, stability, manageability, or simply to retore us… period. The third step is to then, in full awareness, commit to turn our will and life over to the care of God, as we understood him, trusting in what we believe.
The third step is one of faith that only makes sense, and makes the most sense, because of what we believe. This begs the question, what do you believe about God? What do you understand about his Son, Jesus? Who was Jesus before he was born as a human being? Who is Jesus, today?
Who really is Jesus, today?
When you consider the sun that is necessary for planet earth to exist, and for any life on planet earth to be possible, remind yourself that God created the sun. The manifestation of God that spoke the universe and all life into existence is who we know to be Jesus. (I only say it like that since the Son of God wasn’t given that name until the angel that spoke to Mary instructed her to give him that name upon giving birth to him.) It is the Son of God that spoke light into existence. It is the Son of God that catalyzed the process of everything and all life.
Today, there are trillions of suns throughout the universe that are hundreds of trillions of miles away from earth. That would mean that the power we believe in that is greater than ourselves, is also greater than every sun in the universe. How does one even begin to comprehend that?
Again, let us focus on the sun that is less than a hundred million miles away. We see in the daytime when no other sun (star) is visible because of the light of the sun most visible to us. We can feel its heat.
It can certainly be challenging to see things clearly when the sun is in our eyes. Most have heard the expression, “blinded by the light.”
The sun can be blinding… literally. There are a couple of stories in the New Testament that I will share here of instances where men attempted to look at Jesus when he appeared radiant ablaze with glory.
Saul Encounters Jesus
1 Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. 2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
3 As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
5 “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! 8 Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. 9 He remained there blind for three days. Acts 9:1-9 (NLT)
This man, Saul, a Jewish man of esteem and authority, presumed he was doing the right thing attempting to eradicate what he believed to be a radical movement in pursuit of some kind of kingdom in opposition to Roman authority as well as the religious establishment. Saul believed that these people were promoting the cause and purpose of some radical leader they believed to be the risen Messiah. Saul believed in the coming Messiah as well, but did not believe in any way, shape, or form, that Jesus was the anointed (chosen) one.
Though there were at least several hundred, if not thousands, of people claiming to have seen and heard Jesus, claiming he had resurrected from the dead, there were hundreds of thousands more people who had not seen or heard Jesus and did not consider the resurrection of Jesus as legitimate. To them, and to Saul, the resurrection of Jesus was nothing more than a baseless rumor. But is was a powerful notion in that it was still stirring up a revolutionary movement among the followers of Jesus. Saul had been commissioned by both government and religious authorities to arrest and perhaps kill these people, which in Saul’s mind would kill the movement.
Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:5-6 (NLT)
Saul was heading back to Damascus (modern day Syria) to have his orders extended and expand his authority to continue to pursue members of The Way (followers of the risen Christ… Christians). On the road to Damascus, Saul encountered Jesus, post-resurrection, having been exalted to the throne at the right hand of the Father. The sight of Jesus, ablaze with glory, was far more than Saul could behold with his eyes. The retinas of Saul’s eyes were scorched that very moment. Saul had literally been blinded by the light. Saul heard Jesus ask, “Why are you persecuting me?” Jesus made sure that Saul believed in what he experienced by speaking to him audibly, instructing him to see someone who was anointed by God to heal Saul of his blindness.
Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”
All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And didn’t he come here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests?”
Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. Acts 9:19-22 (NLT)
From that day forward, Saul saw everything clearly with the Son (Jesus) in his eyes. Saul would be called Paul from then on, and was known as an apostle—defined as a vigorous and pioneering advocate or supporter of a particular policy, belief, or cause (Oxford dictionary). Paul became a leading prominent member of The Way, writing 13 books of the New Testament.
John Encounters Jesus
A devout follower of Jesus, John, thought he had seen it all. He was one of the first followers of Jesus recorded in the Gospels. John witnessed Jesus perform numerous healings and miracles. John was there when Jesus raised the daughter of Jiarus from the dead.
35 While he was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”
36 But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”
37 Then Jesus stopped the crowd and wouldn’t let anyone go with him except Peter, James, and John (the brother of James). 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw much commotion and weeping and wailing. 39 He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”
40 The crowd laughed at him. But he made them all leave, and he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples into the room where the girl was lying. 41 Holding her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!” 42 And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed. Matthew 5:35-42 (NLT)
John was there when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. He recorded what he witnessed.
39 “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.
But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”
40 Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” 41 So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. 42 You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” 43 Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!” John 11:39-44 (NLT)
John recorded the experience (not recorded anywhere else in the Bible), something rarely addressed when messages are given about the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus. Just prior to being apprehended, John wrote that three words spoken by Jesus, “I am he,” impacted a company of armed soldiers, likely more than 400 of them, so forcefully that they stumbled back and fell to the ground. They may have been pinned down until Peter drew a blade and struck the ear of a highly ranked official followed by Jesus healing the man. Then, after healing the man’s ear, Jesus handed himself over in surrender to Roman commanders and soldiers.
3 So Judas took a company of soldiers and some officials[a] from the chief priests and the Pharisees and came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
4 Then Jesus, knowing everything that was about to happen to him, went out and said to them, “Who is it that you’re seeking?”
5 “Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered.
“I am he,” Jesus told them.
Judas, who betrayed him, was also standing with them. 6 When Jesus told them, “I am he,” they stepped back and fell to the ground.
7 Then he asked them again, “Who is it that you’re seeking?”
“Jesus of Nazareth,” they said.
8 “I told you I am he,” Jesus replied. “So if you’re looking for me, let these men go.” 9 This was to fulfill the words he had said: “I have not lost one of those you have given me.”
10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s servant, Malchus, and cut off his right ear. John 18:3-10 (CBV)
John was right there when Jesus sacrificed his life and was nailed to a cross. John was the one who comforted Mary, the mother of Jesus, and as instructed by Jesus, took her into his home and cared for her.
Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home. John 19:25-27 (NLT)
Not only did John witness the excuciating death of his dear friend and teacher, he also had the experience of interacting with Jesus after he had been resurrected from the dead.
When it was evening on that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Having said this, he showed them his hands and his side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” John 20:19-20, 29b (NLT)
By then, I would imagine that John believed he had seen it all. He had seen Jesus ascend to heaven, however that may have gone. I have written these stories of John’s interactions and experiences with Jesus for the sake of context. John had experiences in his relationship with Jesus beyond belief unless you had been there. However, perhaps more than a decade or two later, John would experience, through all of his senses, something he could never anticipate.
9 I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus. 10 It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast. 11 It said, “Write in a book everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
12 When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. 13 And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. 14 His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. 15 His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.
19 “Write down what you have seen—both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen. Revelation 1:9-18 (NLT)
Whoa!
John writes about his initial reaction to seeing Jesus, the Son of God, “I fell at his feet as if I were dead.”
John is not suggesting anything about gestures of reverence, submission, or worship. He appears to be saying, “What I saw and experienced I thought took my life… I thought it killed me.”
John is attempting to describe what his experience in the presence of Jesus after the fact of his experience. How long would it be before he wrote down all that he saw, heard, and felt? The voice of Jesus was like a trumpet blast. His eyes were penetrating like flames of fire. A two-edged sword came from his mouth.
John writes that Jesus, the Son of God, held seven stars in his right hand. Bible scholars suggest that the number seven represents completion and perfection, and in the book of Revelation, “the all encompassing presence of God.”
“Write down what you have seen—both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen. This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Revelation 1:19-20 (NLT)
The seven stars, it written by most bible scholars refers to the seven angels, meaning messengers, to the seven churches. The seven gold lampstands refers to the seven churches. John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, was told directly to write down was he had seen and heard. Perhaps, as Jesus clarified his presence with the assurance of who he is, John was afforded the favor necessary to look upon Jesus as from within the glory of his visible presence, as opposed to Saul, whose eyes were blinded on the external side of God’s glorious presence.
A light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
“Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one!
Saul, too, may have experienced something, which to him was intensely frightening, that knocked him to the ground. Could it have resembled the experience of a lightning strike? It is not said how long the light appeared. When knocked to the ground, Saul knew immediately that what he experienced was the presence of sovereign authority. Saul’s initial reaction was sudden and alarming. He experienced the light and the voice, which called him out by name. Saul’s response was, “Who are you, lord?”
(Lord is defined by Merriam-Webster as, one having power and authority over others; a ruler by hereditary right or preeminence to whom service and obedience are due.)
When John goes down initially in the presence of the light, he is not aware of who it is either. He followed Jesus, the human being, stripped of his glory in order to serve humbly in ministry. John knew Jesus as a teacher. He bore witness to Jesus doing incredible things: miracles, healing, even resurrecting other humans who had died. John saw Jesus die mercilessly on the cross, instructed by Jesus to care for his mother, Mary. John experienced the company of Jesus resurrected from the dead.
While the activity of Jesus reflected the glory of God, Jesus looked and sounded like any other human being. Even upon his resurrection from the dead, Jesus was human. It was when Jesus ascended from his humanity that he was exalted to the throne of glory.
When John experienced Jesus this time, it was something different entirely. What John saw and experienced on this specific occasion was unique. Something beyond anything he could have anticipated or expected.
It’s no wonder that John’s initial reaction was to fall having been blown away in the moment. It leads me to wonder that when Jesus was confronted by the Roman soldiers just prior to his arrest, and responded, “I AM he,” if they got a glimpse into who and what they were arresting, and the blast knocked them to the ground as though they had experienced a massive burst of wind of something.
Jesus instructed John to write down his experience. He did. We can only imagine the totality of what John had witnessed and experienced. We know that we cannot look directly upon the sun before it begins to burn the retinas of our eyes. We can try but then within a second or so look away. When we blink our eyes, we still see the sun in them. Imagine looking into thousands of suns… millions… trillions of suns in one place. How would it adjust your perception of who Jesus is to experience the presence of God in that way?
How does one boldly approach the throne of grace with the all-encompassing presence of God seated there?
Blinded by THE Light
So, this man Saul experienced Jesus with his sight and literally was blinded by what he saw. This man John saw Jesus in a similar way and thought what he saw he could not behold and fell as dead.
When attempting to measure the glory of God, it is necessary to understand that any manifestation of God’s presence is witnessed in the person of God that we know today to be Jesus. Moses had an encounter with God. While the Son of God was not referred to as Jesus until he was God made flesh as a human being, this being that the Bible refers to as The Lord, was the one we understand today to be Jesus. Jesus is and has always been the face of God.
15 Then Moses said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. 16 How will anyone know that you look favorably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.”
17 The Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you, and I know you by name.”
18 Moses responded, “Then show me your glorious presence.”
19 The Lord replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose. 20 But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live.” 21 The Lord continued, “Look, stand near me on this rock. 22 As my glorious presence passes by, I will hide you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and let you see me from behind. But my face will not be seen.” Exodus 33:15-23 (NLT)
What is described in the book of Exodus appears to be the experience of Saul, renamed Paul when referred to as an apostle, as well as the experience of John, also an apostle (an apostle is one who has been chosen and sent by God as a messenger of the good news that Jesus is alive and merciful). It is only by the grace of God that neither Saul nor John were killed having been exposed to the face of their Lord when Jesus appeared to them.
John’s interpretation of what he witnessed is Jesus holding stars (suns) in his hand. He wrote that the countenance of his face shone like the sun in all of its strength. John wrote that when Jesus spoke it was as if he was pierced by the blade of a sword.
Both Saul and John experienced the glory of the Lord in the way Moses described. It is how Jesus would appear if any mere mortal were to lay eyes on him. It would require a dispensation—a uniquely systematic provision—to adjust the laws of physics to experience the presence of God in the person of Jesus Christ without being blinded or overcome.
When speaking of Jesus glorified with sovereign in authority over the entirety of the universe, how is it that we can experience a personal relationship with this Jesus? It’s a fair question. How, then, is it possible?
A Shift in Attitude
It might be wise to provide context as to the how and the why the authority (Lord) over all things, from the expanses of the universe to the breath in your lungs, became human to live the very life we live. The Son of God, in all of his splendor within and throughout his glory, as Paul and John to some degree experienced (and lived to write about it), stripped himself of all of it to be born as an infant; a human being. Other than the crucifixion and resurrection of the Son of God, the descension of the Son of God from glory to human flesh is the most significant event ever. It is beyond human comprehension.
God is always oriented to sustain order and freedom through love. God is, and has always been, sovereign. God is, and has always been, giving and loving. God is, and has always been, compassionate and generous with favor. This is who God is. It forever was and is the attitude of God to give through love. God chose to do to revoke disorder for the purpose of restoring order. When humanity fell into sin, we were separated from God who is holy.
For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited… It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began. 1 Peter 1:18-20 (NLT)
The plan from the beginning was put into motion; that being to reconcile us back into right relationship with God. Before there was the creation of human life, before there was the world, and very possibly before the creation of anything, God knew that free will would be our downfall, and their would have to be a sacrifice for our selfishness, known as sin.
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:3-11 (NLT)
Though the Son of God, always the sovereign Lord of the universe, and everything in it, emptied himself of his divinity to become human and fully participate in the human condition until dying a physically and psychologically torturous gruesome death, fully experienced in the condition of his humanity. That’s a lot to unpack right there.
The persecutor of Jesus followers, Saul, once being transformed by the revelation of who Jesus, wrote this truth about the humanity of Jesus. Now referred to as Paul the apostle, he wrote that, though Jesus was God, he thought it not impressive in the way we would consider it impressive. Rather than consider and pursue his own interest, the Son of God of the universe, thought about you and me, and what we need. He gave up his position of privilege to become a human slave.
What does that mean? A slave to whom? To whom did he serve as Jesus, the Son of God, while fully human?
Consider the glory that was his as divine. How could he lay that aside, to give it up as a sacrifice to live the human experience?
Jesus would get hungry and thirsty. Without sustenance, Jesus would grow weary and tired. He would need rest for his body and mind. As a toddler, child, adolescent, into adulthood, even Jesus learned continuously. Like you and me, Jesus experienced that giving, sharing, serving, honesty, loyalty, and in particular, obedience and sacrifice, was learned. If this all were to come naturally to Jesus as a child, how and why would he ever be tempted to give in to selfish desire, which would be sin?
Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. James 1:14-15 (NLT)
This would have to be what Jesus faced by way of temptation to truly be tempted to sin, would it not?
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Romans 8:3a (NLT)
Now, God cannot sin! God is God. God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is altogether glorious. God is only ever revealed through God the Son. This is the person of God who humbled himself—emptied himself—to lay aside his glory to be so human that he experienced weakness, a human imperfection. As human, Jesus, in his weakness, was tempted to act on his self-centered impulse to behave in the way of self-preservation and to seek satisfaction, to a fault. Instead, Jesus the man depended on his sovereign Father whom he called God.
The Advocate
So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT)
This cannot be overlooked. The writer of Hebrews (the book’s author remains a mystery) is specific in recognizing the very real temptation of Jesus; that he was subject to selfish urges and desires when mature enough to be accountable for such behavior. Jesus, when most challenged, fully dependent on whom at the time he referred to as God, maintained his innocence from sin. Jesus came to understand human weakness and vulnerability to the fullest extent. We are told that, since we have given in to temptation, we can be confident that we have a High Priest who will advocate for us when we are willing to admit to ourselves and to God our need for grace due to our need of him.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7 (NLT)
When considering what it means to boldly approach the throne of grace in time of need, Paul writes that like a child will plead to someone he trusts, like a parent who loves constantly and is always dependable, we can plead in earnest to Jesus in our moment of desperation. The original Greek translation for the word supplication is δέησις, translated deésis, which means to humbly plead; to beg when necessary (reference Strong’s Greek Lexicon). Supplication is a response to the anxiety associated with the need to be intensely persuasive. While we cannot necessarily flip a switch to turn off anxiety, we can use our anxious energy to intensify how we pray.
Recognizing who we are addressing when we pray is of paramount significance. Again, understanding the context in our recognition of who Jesus is at this very moment can embolden our prayer life. Recognizing Jesus for who he is means everything. When confident through the lens of the glory of Jesus—Emmanuel, God with us—why wouldn’t we absolutely depend on Him to advocate for us in any and every circumstance?
Jesus did.
As a person of human flesh and a carnal make up, somewhere around age 30, Jesus went off into the desert wilderness where he fasted for 40 days to be alone with God until he came to absolutely depend on him. If that were not the case, what would be the point of this excursion that would take everything out of him? In addition to extreme hunger, fatigue, and loneliness, Jesus would go on to face the most extreme of adversaries, including that which is spiritual, Satan himself. Jesus would be tempted to take up the very thing he had laid down so he wouldn’t have to, at some point, suffer and die for God’s children.
Had Jesus given in to that temptation, both history and eternity would be very different. The plan would have changed. Satan tempted Jesus in the areas of provision, strength, and authority (power) at a time when Jesus was lonely, weak, and starving. Jesus was vulnerable to such unfathomable temptation. Satan had to know that it wasn’t his to give Jesus anything. Satan had seen Jesus as God in all of his glory before Jesus stripped himself of divine privilege to live the human experience. It was a trick! Satan, the great deceiver, tried awfully hard to persuade Jesus to defy God by rejecting his purpose to redeem humankind in order to restore the broken relationship between God and his people.
Jesus resisted the temptation by totally depending on God for everything he could no longer achieve in his own strength. Jesus served out his calling, his purpose. Jesus did in fact sacrifice his own life by crucufixion on the cross, taking into his body, mind, and soul, the sin of every person who will ever live, even the worst of it. The juxtaposition of his reality from glory to condemnation beyond comprehension. Three days later, God would raise Jesus from the lowest of places that defies imagination, and raise him up to equality with God, as God.
Jesus has been exalted to the throne of who he is as God, the sovereign authority over all things. Jesus is Lord! Within Him is the glory of Almighy God.
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Romans 8:31-33 (NLT)
Soak that in!
The Son in Your Eyes
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” John 14:6-7 (NKJV)
Jesus told his disciples that his body was mortal. His disciples could not comprehend these prophetic words. They had anticipated that the chosen Messiah would be an instant reflection of the glory of God, someone who would be feared by their enemies and catalyze a revolution. They did not have the words from the New Testament that I have provided here. They did not at that moment have a spirit of understanding that would embolden them while in the presence of the Son of God. (Embolden defined by Mirriam-Webster means to instill with boldness, courage, or resolution enough to overcome timidity or misgiving.)
It is in relationship with Jesus Christ that you have relationship with God. It is in this relationship that the Spirit of God is alive in the dwelling of your being. What I am sharing to those who have relationship with God, may find this somewhat revelating, but more than that, anticipate excitement in the hope of what is to come.
There is a day coming when all in relationship with God, made manifest in the person of Jesus, will be able to look upon His face and see Him, like a sun being able to look upon another sun and behold its spectacular glory. The sun that has been made in the image of the original sun, recognizes and understands its position in relationship with the original sun, submitting in reverence to it, while looking upon the original sun with robust confidence and joy such as it is.
12 Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. 14 But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. 15 Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. 16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 (NLT)
Our soul and spirit when resurrected into the very presence of Jesus. We will be glorified in a way that we cannot possibly comprehend with these mortal minds at this time. Our bodies and minds will be glorified as though the earth becomes a sun that orbits the sun in submission to it. Its light overcomes the light of its moon. Until then, the light of the moon will radiate toward earth the reflection of the sun as a forecast of what is to become of her. We will bask in the joy of fellowship with God as we glow in the glory of being made in the image of God, restored into what God created us to be from the beginning.
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.” —C.S. Lewis, author, The Weight of Glory
The veil has been removed. Reflect on the truth of this. Meditate on it until you more fully grasp it. Allow this truth to penetrate deeply into your comprehension of it. Allow yourself to consider that this is the truth of how God sees you even now. Just as the Son of God has been resurrected, God sees you resurrected. When asked what we call God, he responded, “Call Me, I am.” I think and believe that when God looks upon you, He calls you, “You are,” which simply means as Jesus said from the cross, “It is finished.”
The challenge is too see yourself through the lens God sees you. The veil has been removed so that you can see truth clearly with the Son in your eyes. Be focused on Jesus, wanting and striving to know him.
“It was not enough that I found God. I must keep finding him… If you are not experiencing God as a treasure so great that no circumstance can steal your joy, then keep seeking him.” —Dieudonné Tamfu, professor, Bethlehem College and Seminary
