The apostle Paul tells us that we live here on this earth "by faith, and not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5: 7). In this life we are not able to see with our physical eyes this God we trust and believe in. The writer of Hebrews defines faith as being "the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen" (Hebrews 11:1).Our whole life on this earth is a life of living by faith and in faith. But faith is the way of seeing Jesus on this earth. Paul speaks of it being the "eyes of our understanding being enlightened" in Ephesians 1:18. We read that the Holy Spirit opens our blind eyes to be able to see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus in our hearts in 2 Corinthians 4:6. the hearers of 1 Peter were told by the apostle that though they had not seen Jesus with their physical eyes that they "Believed Him, loved Him, and their hearts were filled with inexpressible joy and glory." In short, they saw Him here through the eyes of faith, not sight. So there is a way of seeing Jesus here on earth that God has both blessed us with but in another sense Paul says "for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known"(1 Corinthians 13:12).
John Owen in his profound work The Glory of Christ, puts it this way. The view which we have of the glory of Christ by faith in this world is obscure, dark, inevident, and reflexive. He interprets the idea of a glass being more like a mirror. A mirror gives an image of something but it is imperfect in the sense that it is still an image or reflection, it is not actually the real thing. Owen writes., "The shadow or image of this glory of Christ is drawn in the gospel, and in it we behold it as the likeness of a man to us in a glass; and although it be obscure and i comparison of his own real, substantial glory, which is the object of vision in heaven, yet is it the only image and representation of himself which he has left, and given to us in this world...by this figurative expression of seeing in a glass declares the comparative imperfection of our present view of the glory of Christ.".
We see Jesus dimly but brightly through the gospels and the scripture. Here Jesus is set forth to our sight of faith crucified, exalted, glorified and graces us with the ability to understand and savor these truths about Jesus. Owen writes: "This is our faith, which, as it is in us, being weak and imperfect, we comprehend the representation that is made to us of the glory of Christ as men do the sense of a dark saying, a riddle, a parable; that is, imperfectly, and with difficulty.On the account of this we may say at present, how little a portion is it that we know of him! As Job speaks of God (Job 26: 14). How imperfect are our conceptions of him! How weak are our minds in their management! There is no part of his glory that we can fully comprehend. And what we do comprehend, as there is a comprehension in faith (Ephesians 3: 18), we cannot abide in the steady contemplation of ."For ever blessed be that sovereign grace, whence it is that He who 'commanded light to shine out of darkness has shined into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of his own glory in the face of Jesus Christ', and in it of the glory of Christ himself; that he has so revealed him to us, that we may love him, admire him, and obey him: but constantly, steadily, and clearly to behold his glory in this life we are not able; 'for we walk by faith, and not by sight."
So this is the sight that we have in this world by the grace and means of faith in this world. in that vision Owen says "are represented to us desirable beauties and glories of Christ. How precious, how amiable is he, as represented in them! How are believers ravished with the views of them! Yet is this discovery of Him also but as through a lattice. We see him but by parts unsteadily and unevenly.Such, I say, is the sight of the glory of Christ which we have in this world by faith."
So we will never see the glory and the fullness of the glory of Jesus with our physical eyes in this life. That is reserved for the life to come. Jesus prayed for it in John 17:24, "'Father, I will that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which you have given me." Owen describes this vision in this way:
"Christ himself, in his own person, with all his glory, shall be continually with us, before us, proposed to us. We shall no longer have an image, a representation of him, such as is the delineation of his glory in the Gospel. We 'shall see him', says the apostle, 'face to face' (1 Cor. 13: 12); which he opposes to our seeing him darkly as in a glass, which is the utmost that faith can attain to. 'We shall see him as he is' (1 John 3: 2); not as now, in an imperfect description of him. As a man sees his neighbour when they stand and converse together face to face, so shall we see the Lord Christ in his glory; and not as Moses, who had only a transient sight of some parts of the glory of God, when he caused it to pass by him...this I know, that in the immediate beholding of the person of Christ, we shall see a glory in it a thousand times above what here we can conceive. The excellencies of infinite wisdom, love, and power in it, will be continually before us. And all the glories of the person of Christ which we have before weakly and faintly inquired into, will be in our sight for evermore.Hence the ground and cause of our blessedness is, that 'we shall ever be with the Lord' (1 Thessalonians 4: 17), as himself prays, 'that we may be with him where he is, to behold his glory."
I liken the two different ways of seeing Jesus by faith in this life and sight in heaven as being the difference between reading about and seeing pictures of Kauai and actually being there. Kauai is one of my favorite places on this earth. Before I had ever been to Kauai I had seen slide shows, photo montages, and heard eloquent descriptions of Kauai from my friends. I found joy and momentary pleasure in seeing and hearing about this tropical island. It would also cause my mind to wonder and dream of what Kauai would be like.. But the ultimate joy was to be there and seeing Kauai firsthand in all of its splendour and beauty.
Owen writes, ". For, whatever can be manifest of Christ on this side of heaven, it is granted to us for this end, that we may the more fervently desire to be present with him.".
For many like me, seeing pictures of Kauai is the very means that creates in many a longing and a vision to go to Kauai! So people save, plan, talk, dream, and look ahead to that day they will land in Lihue airport and get off of that plane and smell the plumeria flowers. There is a tremendous sense of joy and expectation in all of the thinking,planning, and preparing for such a trip but that joy is but a foreshadow of the greater joy of being there.
Remember Jesus prayer in John 17:24, "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world."?
Owen writes: "Our Lord Jesus Christ alone perfectly understood in what the eternal blessedness of them that believe in him consists. And this is the sum of what he prays for with respect to that end, namely, that we may be where he is, to behold his glory. And is it not our duty to live in a continual desire of that which he prayed so earnestly that we might attain? If in ourselves we as yet apprehend but little of the glory, the excellency, the blessedness of it, yet ought we to repose that confidence in the wisdom and love of Christ, that it is our best, infinitely better than any thing we can enjoy here below.whatever can be manifest of Christ on this side of heaven, it is granted to us for this end, that we may the more fervently desire to be present with him.".
Living by faith yet longing for the day of sight,
Pastor Bill
2 comments:
I have some difficultly understanding this:
"Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world."?
Jesus speaks in the present tense "where I am." When he was speaking he was on the earth.
I understand that now He is with the father, because he ascended. Where is the Father and Jesus, exactly? If heaven, where is it and who is there and what is there?
And why did Jesus use present tense, where I am if he was on the earth?
Please help, I do not understand any of this, but certainly want to understand.
That is a very good question. Jesus statement is wonderful and yet mystrious and difficult for our finite brains to understand.
The ascended Jesus is with the Father in heaven. Please read Revelation 1. Heaven is in the realm of enternity where on earth it is not yet, but in reality is already. It is a realm that is beyond time and space. In eternity it is always now. That is why Jesus can say "where I am", because in the trust sense in eternity, Jesus was already there, while in time he wasn't for a time.
These are passages that bring forth humility, awe, and worship like Paul who said,
"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?"
"Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?"
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen."
I say AMEN as well!
Pastor Bill
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