Seeing Jesus

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

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About 40 years ago, I met someone who changed my life. When I first saw her at a Bible study we were both attending, my heart jumped a bit. I was fascinated with her not only because of her beauty but because of her presence. She had a career going for herself as a special education teacher. She was articulate, low keyed and consistent. In short, I wanted to get to know her more, so I set out to do that.

As I did get to know her over time, we eventually began dating. Once that started, I earnestly began to take her into my heart. I felt like she was doing the same with me.

A few months after we began dating, I asked her to marry me and she wholeheartedly said yes to that. – phew! Five months later, we were married. A year and a half after that we had our first child and then several years later, our second.

Segue to today, roughly 40 years from then and my wife and I can both honestly say we know each other far better now than we did then. You can relate if you’ve been married for any length of time. You begin to understand the meaning of a look that no one else would notice. You might start finishing the other person’s sentences. Sometimes, we’ll blurt out the same thought the other one had at just about the same time.

As we’ve gotten to know each other over the years, though there have been the ups and downs that everyone experiences, we can easily say that through the years, we’ve simply grown in our love and appreciation for each other. Interestingly enough, when we first married, both of us thought that we could not love the other anymore than we did then. Clearly, we were wrong and as we’ve gotten to know one another, our love has grown because there has always been something else to learn about the other person. In short, we do not come to the point where we have learned everything we can about the other person in our lives, the person we chose to spend the rest of our lives with here on earth.

The thing that has made this getting to know one another easier is the fact that we are both here physically. We can see, hear and touch each other.

That’s the wonder of being around another person who is the object of our love. We are blessed to have them in our life and hopefully, we give to them as much as we get from them. It comes to the point where making the other person happy through our support, our encouragement and our sacrifice is the main goal.

At the age of thirteen, I received Jesus as my Savior when I responded to an altar call given by the senior pastor of the church we were attending. That day began my traveling adventures with our Lord and Savior. I can say I’ve gotten to know Him better since then. I can say I’m more obedient to Him today than I was then. I can also say I take His Word more seriously and His will more avidly than I did then.

But over the years, something has bothered me that in some ways, I could not quite put my finger on. There were times I doubted my salvation as some of you may have, but that wasn’t the big sticking point. There were times I questioned if I was in His will, but that wasn’t the big sticking point. When I say “sticking point” I’m talking about my walk with the Lord, how it seemed to me whether or not I was actually getting to know Him or not.

Yes, I certainly gained more Bible knowledge over the years. I started with a Bachelor’s in Bible from Philadelphia College of Bible in the 1970s. I then sought my masters degree and received a Masters in Biblical Studies in the early 2000s from Tyndale Biblical Institute. Eventually, I pursued my doctorate and received a Doctorate in Theology from Northwestern University. My doctoral thesis was a commentary I wrote on the book of Revelation. So over the years, I never lacked Bible knowledge and I’m still learning and studying today.

So what was it that was my personal sticking point? Put simply, it was not being able to see Jesus in Person, not being able to hear His voice, see the looks or expressions on His face, watch Him cry with and for others in sorrow, or join in with joy at their happiness. There is no physical touch we can experience from our Lord in this life now and touch is very important to the human experience, whether it’s a hug or a handshake.

The Bible says this about knowing God:

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;

But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

Today, we spend a good deal of time seeking things that have some value, but compared to God and eternity, have little to no value really. God tells us we should not glory in any wisdom we might have. We should not glory or praise ourselves because of any strength or might we believe is ours. We should also not glory in any riches we have acquired. None of these things have any real staying power, no real eternal worth. We can lose them in a moment. Of course, this does not mean that if the Lord has given us wisdom, might and even riches, that these are necessarily bad things. They are not, but when we focus on just those things, we are missing something very large and very eternal.

Notice, the text says that if we are to glory or offer praise for something it should simply be for this: that we know Him and understand Him. Then He tells us through the prophet Jeremiah what knowing and understanding Him truly means so that we don’t have to guess.

It means…

1. He is the Lord
2. He exercises lovingkindness
3. He exercises judgment
4. He exercises righteousness in the earth

The truth of the matter is this…we can get to know God through His Word of course and we need to do that. We cannot learn who God is, how He works and how much He loves us unless we are willing to open, read and study His Word on a regular basis.

But there’s something else that, in my view, is equally important. Since I cannot see or hear a physical Jesus as I can see or hear my wife or even my friends, what is there that I can do that will help me see Jesus more clearly in the here and now, in addition to reading, studying and even memorizing His Word?

Jesus is found in the lives and actions of other believers. Jesus said if you have seen Him you have seen the Father (John 14:9). The disciples of course were confused about that as we would have been as well. What Jesus was saying was that because the Father was in Jesus spiritually and He was because Jesus was so in tune with the Father and His will, carrying it out to the nth degree, that Jesus was literally one in mind and will with the Father. Therefore, to see Jesus, to watch Him work, pray, preach, heal and all the rest, was to actually see the Father in action.

The point is simple. I cannot see Jesus physically in this life, but as I fellowship, worship and work along side with other Christians who are Christians because they have Jesus living within them, I then see aspects of Jesus in them.

When Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father,” it wasn’t simply hyperbole. It was reality that every authentic believer participates in as well. This is why Jesus could go onto say, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” (John 14:12 NKJV).

We will do greater works in the sense that there are more of us than one Jesus. The fact that He lives within us through the indwelling Holy Spirit means that His Presence is multiplied many times over throughout the earth because of the many true believers that live on this planet. We will do “greater” works in the sense that they will be multiplied throughout the earth.

Those who never fellowship or worship with other believers are completely missing out. I’m aware that for some Christians, there isn’t a good, Bible-believing and teaching church near them. I’m aware that sometimes, worshiping and fellowshipping with other Christians can be “messy.” Yet, God in Christ is the One who created His Church, the Body of Christ, and He expects us to participate as often as we can.

Being a Christian is not a one man or one woman situation where we are on our own to do God’s will. It is done in harmony with other believers. While His will for me may not be exactly what His will is for you, the truth of the matter is that there are many general aspects of His will that apply to all believers.

One day, we will see Jesus physically. We will worship with other believers in eternity together as we bow before the Lord of glory. We will be able to touch His nail scarred hands and feet. We will worship Him in the purity of truth without a hint of sin. We will spend eternity selflessly submitting to His perfect will in heaven.

For now, we can only endeavor to ignore our selfishness here and that happens when we make it a point to worship and fellowship with other believers. We are not all the same, are we? Each of us have different gifts that God has given us (Ephesians 4:11-12). We more fully benefit when we come together in worship and praise of our Lord who gave Himself for us and bestows upon us the fruit of His Spirit. In fact, we benefit from the gifts we are able to share with one another that God has given us (Romans 1:11-12).

It would be nice to hear Jesus now, to see Him, to watch Him as He moves among the crowd reaching out to them with the love and acceptance that only God has for this lost world. This is essentially what John 14 is about. We, by faith, appropriate the Presence of Jesus in us and see Him work in and through other believers. This can richly benefit us as we move through this life.

Is this why the writer of Hebrews admonished believers to not neglect coming together in Hebrews 10:25? There is something to be gained when Christians meet for worship and fellowship and a great deal to be lost when that does not happen.

As we seek to know Him, may our times together in worship and fellowship be blessed. May we get to know Him in greater detail through the lives, the personalities, the character and the work of other believers all around us.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Source: https://studygrowknowblog.com/2025/07/01/seeing-jesus/