Have You Seen Jesus?

Have you seen Jesus? I am not asking if you have seen what He has done for you. I believe that most Christian get to see that sooner or later in their Christian life. And sadly many of us reduce God to what He has done for us. I am asking if you have seen Him, if you have seen who He is, if you have beheld His glory, His character. When is the last time that you intentionally took time to see Him, asked Him to reveal Himself to you, asked the Holy Spirit to open your eyes that you may see Him as He is?

Though it is important to see what God has done for you, it is not enough. Seeing what He has done is only one of the initial steps in discovering who Jesus really is. And we should not stop there. We need to go deeper than that.

I believe the reason most of us are weak and have no power to change is that we are so content with seeing what He has done for us and too busy with working for Him. It is such a nice feeling to know that we are cared for and to have the satisfaction of a well-done job (at least of what we think it is a well-done job). And we stop there.

Ellen White says in The Colporteur Evangelist: "The value of the human agent is estimated according to the capacity of the heart to know and understand God.... The highest possible good is obtained through a knowledge of God. “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” John 17:3. This knowledge is the secret spring from which flows all power.... The great need of the soul is to know God and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent." p. 60

Just think of the disciples. They had been with Jesus for three and a half years, they witnessed so many miracles, they even performed some, but they denied Jesus when He was arrested. Peter sank in the see of Galilee even though he had a good start on the water. Philip asked to see the Father. The disciples complained that they cannot feed the multitudes because they had only five breads and two fishes. They had told the stranger on the way to Emmaus all about Jesus and how disappointed they were that He died and that He did not save the nation. They tried to heal a demon-possessed child but failed. Later on they cast out demons when Jesus sent them (Luke 9). The disciples had seen what Jesus had done for three and a half years, they worked with Him and performed some miracle in His name, but they failed to see who He really was while He was with them. How do I know this? I know it because they have run away when He was arrested, they have failed to understand what kingdom He came to establish, they did not understand why He had to die and they did not expect that He will rise again. So, it is possible to be with Jesus, to walk with Him, to witness His miracles, to be one of the recipients of His miracles and even to perform miracles but to fail to know Him and see Him as He is.

"If you see only what He has done for you, your God is not big enough. But if you have had a vision, seeing Jesus as He really is, experiences can come and go, yet you will endure “as seeing Him who is invisible”. O. Chambers.

If you have seen Him you will never be the same again. The worldly things that might have been appealing are not anymore. 

As you draw closer to God and start to realize who He is, you will stop asking for things and will ask God to reveal Himself to you. You will ask to see Jesus as He is so that you are changed more and more into His likeness, so that you have His mindset, so that you can see people and things through His eyes.

For so many years I thought that I knew Him, I witnessed His miracles, I worked for Him. Yet, I now realize that I only saw what He had done for me and through me. And I was content with that.

I think that I have just started to see a glimpse of Him... and no words could describe this experience and what it has done to me.