The Beatific Vision, A Sermon Is Needed

Men have always imagined what God must be like and Christians have longed to see visions and revelations of God, known as theophanies. But no one knows what God looks like because God is Spirit (cf. John 4:24)! Moses saw the backside of the glory of Christ, who does reveal Himself, but the Father doesn't and no man has ever seen the Father. Our faith concerns the God who is there!
A child was asked what he was drawing in class: "I'm drawing a picture of God!" The child had to learn that no one can draw God, but the child answered that people will see now what He looks like. Children have an innocent faith and we are to mimic it (cf. Matt. 18:3).  It would be good to see Jesus through their eyes.  Hebrews says that we do see Jesus (cf. Heb. 2:9), and we sense His presence when two or three are gathered in His name as a promise (cf. Matt. 18:20).

He indwells each of us and we can have an existential encounter with Him as we read Scripture, fellowship, worship, or pray. Christians see the glory of God in His work on earth and will see God's glory in heaven, to our delight. The prophets who claimed they "saw God" were seeing theophanies, and not God in His fullness. We cannot bear to look at the sun in its brightness, much less look at the glory of God directly. That's one reason God reveals Himself propositionally and in the Word.

Christians want Christ to be seen in them and also to seek Christ being glorified. As Paul said in Col. 1:27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." He also boasted that Christ was glorified in him. We wait till Christ be formed in us and in our brethren as a sign of maturity. God will never give up making us in His image and we are works in progress (cf. Phil. 1:6).

The Greek disciples came to the apostles and said they "[wanted] to see Jesus" (cf. John 12:19); we have a much greater thing in that we have the Word of God and full revelation of the wisdom and knowledge of God in it--we're better off than being with Christ in person also, because we have the inner blessing of the Spirit. The apostles said that it would suffice to see the Father, but Jesus said that to see Him was to see the Father! All that we can know and see God is revealed in Christ! In eternity we'll see the big picture!

The infidel doesn't see God anywhere at work, but the believer sees His fingerprint everywhere, from the smallest atom to the largest galaxy, at work. No amount of proof will convince someone who doesn't want to do God's will or sincerely have a relationship with him; to the believer and honest seeker, there is ample evidence--no one can disbelieve due to lack of evidence!

In glory, we shall behold Him as He is and we shall be like Him too, able to take it in. It is said that some angels always do behold the face of God and that Gabriel "[stands] in the presence of God"; we'll have more privilege than an angel! People generally say that seeing is believing; however, believing is seeing! Don't envy those who have seen a vision or revelation, as Jesus told Thomas: "Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed" (cf. John 20:29). Jesus rebuked the Pharisees who maintained they could see but were "blind guides," in fact, the "blind leading the blind"; think how much worse it is to think you see and be blind, or not knowing you're blind! Christ came to open our eyes and to make the blind see, and Satan has blinded the eyes of all who don't believe in Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 4:4).

Caveat: Don't reduce God to one dimension or put Him in a box, emphasizing one aspect, like seeing Him just as: the Old, Doting Grandpa who says, "Boys will be boys;" the Kind Father; the Man Upstairs; Cosmic Killjoy; the Great Spirit; the Strict, Mean Judge; the Higher Power; or even as the Great Mathematical Mind. Whenever we have an inadequate perception of God it's idolatry and our God is too small, thinking of Him in human terms. How big is your God?  This is just as important as seeing Him. God cannot be limited, defined, or confined, and we must know that He is beyond comprehension, known as His profundity, and we will never fully apprehend His glory, nature, or essence throughout eternity ("the finite cannot contain the infinite," says the maxim).

The eyes of our heart are opened upon salvation and we can literally say we see and were blind, just like the blind man Jesus healed said, "I was blind, but now I see!" No one can argue the fact that we have spiritual eyes enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit living in our hearts. Theologians have attempted definitions of God in vain, for He cannot be described, only known, loved, and worshiped!

It is the childish faith that seeks to know God through pictures, visions, or experiences, but the mature obedient believer clings to the Word and hears God speaking His message through it; just like Francis Schaeffer wrote: "He is there, and He is not silent!" The problem with man is not only is he blind to spiritual truth, but spiritually hard-of-hearing and turns a deaf ear to the gospel message that he does hear. Man isn't faithful to the God he does see and is without excuse.

The pagan Emperor Trajan once asked a Christian why his God was invisible and you couldn't see him (it sounded atheistic to him--just worshiping a spirit), and he was informed and given the scoop: "Look at the sun!" Trajan said he couldn't because it's too bright. "Then don't you now realize that, if you cannot behold God's creation, how much less the splendor and glory of God?" Jesus said that God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth (cf. John 4:24).

But we don't need to see Him in order to know Him, because Jesus said blessed is he who believes and hasn't seen (cf. John 20:29). We can see with the eyes of our hearts which are opened by the Holy Spirit's illuminating ministry. We are seeing the glory of God when our eyes are opened to see how He is manifest in believers, and we see Jesus in them and they see Him in us--this is only a taste of the glory which shall be revealed to us. As Hebrews 2:9 (ESV) says: "But we see him [i.e., Jesus, with our spiritual eyes] ...."

We shall all be satisfied in heaven by beholding the face of God (in Jesus), but only because we will not be in the flesh, but without any sin to corrupt our spiritual bodies and souls. God has revealed Himself throughout the Bible in many theophanies (revelation of God, such as in the burning bush) and Christophanies (revelation of Jesus, such as the Angel of the LORD). From the burning bush to appearances as the Angel of the LORD, to Gideon and as the Son of Man, to Daniel's friends in the furnace, and to Daniel in a vision. John saw Jesus in His glory at the transfiguration and then finally at Patmos in a vision of heaven.

Jesus is how God manifests Himself as the embodiment, personification, or icon of God. When Philip (cf. John 14:8-9) asked Jesus during the Last Supper in the Upper Room to show them the Father, Christ said, that he who has seen Him has seen the Father--they are one! All that God wants to reveal of Himself is presented in the Son--all that God has to say to us and all that we can know. God is Spirit, according to Jesus, and became a man for our sake so we would have something to relate to and what to think of when we meditate on God. Jesus is analogous to the sun because He gives light to all He shines on, and makes life possible too.

Jesus has the Shekinah (glory of God), not reflected the glory of God, as Moses had after being in His presence. Jesus does not reflect light--He is light: John 8:12 says, "... I am the light of the world...." Jesus willingly veiled His glory because they couldn't behold it in full. Jesus has all the glory of the Father, there is no diminishing of it, but He voluntarily laid it aside (known as the kenosis in Philippians 2) while incarnated on earth before His ascension. Actually, Jesus shines brighter than the sun, which is only an analogy or symbol of Him.

In glory, we shall behold Him: "... [B]ut we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he [Jesus]" (1 John 3:2, ESV). Moses wanted to see God's face but God said that no man shall see His face and live [in the flesh], as Jesus told Moses in Exodus 33:23. Jesus said in His Beatitudes that the pure in heart are blessed, for they shall see God [in the NT God usually refers to God the Father].

Don't forget the Aaronic benediction in Numbers 6:24-26 as a promise to claim: "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." What man has always yearned for is a God they can see; one that has skin on and we can relate to. Jesus is just that incarnation: God with skin on!

Jesus said that "God is glorified in Him" (cf. John 10:34) and this is when He is glorified. At His priestly prayer in John 17 Jesus besought the return of His glory after He had glorified the Father by doing all His will and being obedient in His subordination and humility. He did it by accomplishing all God's work for Him on earth that was given Him to do (cf. John 17:4). By analogy we give up our glory to share His glory and to glorify God: "The chief end of man is to glorify God, and enjoy Him forever" (The Westminster Shorter Catechism, ca. 1646).

Everyone will bow to the glory of God, either at Judgment Day, or to become a believer and surrender the control over himself, and even others, to the lordship of Christ. We must give up the ownership of our lives and realize we owe all to Him because He purchased us at the cross with His blood. But Jesus wants more than our bodies dedicated to Him as reasonable service (cf. Rom. 12:1), He wants us (to surrender everything we have and are to His lordship)! This entails and involves giving up your personal throne and kingdom and surrender it to God's sovereignty and guidance or plan for your life--we don't ask God to bless our plans, but Him to reveal His plan.

We leave our throne to bow to His and ultimately get a crown to reign with Him, just like Jesus left His throne in Heaven to humble Himself in obedience all the way to the cross. This surrender and acknowledgment of His lordship are not only done at salvation but renewed daily, as we learn to walk in the Spirit and in fellowship with God and our brethren (cf. 1 John 1:7). We actually have more authority in Christ after surrendering our authority and this is a paradox indeed (i.e., if we are lords, we are to become servants for Christ's sake and humble and meek enough that no service is beneath our dignity). We have nothing in comparison to lose and everything in eternity to gain, including the right to rule in glory with Christ, as we go from glory to glory to an ultimate glorified state in the New Jerusalem.

He doesn't want sacrifice or offering, or even going through the motions of the rituals of worship--Jesus internalized religion to make it a matter of the heart (He said evil comes out from the heart of man) because the Pharisees had externalized it to outward obedience to the letter of the Law, and neglect of the spirit of the Law. He wants all there is of us--all of our minds, hearts, souls, spirits, strength, and wills. John was stunned at the sight of the Lord, so just imagine how we would react!

Jesus is the great Inspector General of the church and we all need to pass muster and be ready for daily inspection of our daily walk--take regular spiritual check-ups so as not to jeopardize your testimony to the world. Paul said to "test yourselves whether you are in the faith." We are to examine ourselves (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5)--not others--regularly and especially before the Lord's Supper (cf. 1 Cor. 11:28).  We are fruit inspectors--not detectives. We must examine ourselves first because judgment begins at the house of God, and when we have cast the beam out of our own eye we can help someone else with the speck in theirs.

In other words, don't throw bricks if you live in a glasshouse, because we all have feet of clay or have vulnerabilities not readily apparent--we may see the sins of others as obvious; however, we just sin differently and have no right to look down on our brother or criticize him, and we are all vulnerable to Satan's attack, which Martin Luther called the Anfectung, and we should never succumb to this nor even his accusations. If we take care of our witness and testimony, God will take care of our reputation and open doors for us--we must just be ready!

Men have always imagined what God must be like and Christians have longed to see visions and revelations of God, known as theophanies. But no one knows what God looks like because God is Spirit (cf. John 4:24)! Moses saw the backside of the glory of Christ, who does reveal Himself, but the Father doesn't and no man has ever seen the Father. Our faith concerns the God who is there!


He indwells each of us and we can have an existential encounter with Him as we read Scripture, fellowship, worship, or pray. Christians see the glory of God in His work on earth and will see God's glory in heaven, to our delight. The prophets who claimed they "saw God" were seeing theophanies, and not God in His fullness. We cannot bear to look at the sun in its brightness, much less look at the glory of God directly. That's one reason God reveals Himself propositionally and in the Word.

Christians want Christ to be seen in them and also to seek Christ being glorified. As Paul said in Col. 1:27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." He also boasted that Christ was glorified in him. We wait till Christ be formed in us and in our brethren as a sign of maturity. God will never give up making us in His image and we are works in progress (cf. Phil. 1:6).

The Greek disciples who came to the apostles and said they "[wanted] to see Jesus"; we have a much greater thing in that we have the Word of God and full revelation of the wisdom and knowledge of God in it--we're better off than being with Christ in person also because we have the inner blessing of the Spirit. The apostles said that it would suffice to see the Father, but Jesus said that to see Him was to see the Father! All that we can know and see God is revealed in Christ! In eternity we'll see the big picture!

The infidel doesn't see God anywhere at work, but the believer sees His fingerprint everywhere, from the smallest atom to the largest galaxy, at work. No amount of proof will convince someone who doesn't want to do God's will or sincerely have a relationship with him; to the believer and honest seeker, there is ample evidence--no one can disbelieve due to lack of evidence!

In glory, we shall behold Christ as He is and we shall be like Him too, able to take it in. It is said that some angels always do behold the face of God and that Gabriel "[stands] in the presence of God"; we'll have more privilege than an angel! People generally say that seeing is believing; however, believing is seeing! Don't envy those who have seen a vision or revelation, as Jesus told Thomas: "Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed" (cf. John 20:29). Jesus rebuked the Pharisees who maintained they could see but were "blind guides," in fact, the "blind leading the blind"; think how much worse it is to think you see and be blind, or not knowing you're blind! Christ came to open our eyes and to make the blind see, and Satan has blinded the eyes of all who don't believe in Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 4:4).

Caveat: Don't reduce God to one dimension or put Him in a box, emphasizing one aspect, like seeing Him just as: the Old, Doting Grandpa who says, "Boys will be boys;" the Kind Father; the Man Upstairs; Cosmic Killjoy; the Great Spirit; the Strict, Mean Judge; the Higher Power; or even as the Great Mathematical Mind. Whenever we have an inadequate perception of God it's idolatry and our God is too small, thinking of Him in human terms. How big is your God, is just as important as seeing Him. God cannot be limited, defined, or confined, and we must know that He is beyond comprehension, known as His profundity, and we will never fully apprehend His glory, nature, or essence throughout eternity ("the finite cannot contain the infinite," says the maxim).

The eyes of our hearts are opened upon salvation and we can literally say we see and were blind, just like the blind man Jesus healed said, "I was blind, but now I see!" No one can argue the fact that we have spiritual eyes enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit living in our hearts. Theologians have attempted definitions of God in vain, for He cannot be described, only known, loved, and worshiped!

It is the childish faith that seeks to know God through pictures, visions, or experiences, but the mature obedient believer clings to the Word and hears God speaking His message through it; just like Francis Schaeffer wrote: "He is there, and He is not silent!" The problem with man is not only is he blind to spiritual truth, but spiritually hard-of-hearing and turns a deaf ear to the gospel message that he does hear. Man isn't faithful to the God he does see and is without excuse. Soli Deo Gloria!

The Beatific Vision

Men have always imagined what God must be like and Christians have longed to see visions and revelations of God, known as theophanies. But no one knows what God looks like because God is Spirit (cf. John 4:24)!  Moses saw the backside of the glory of Christ, who does reveal Himself, but the Father doesn't and no man has ever seen the Father.  Our faith concerns the God who is there!

A child was asked what he was drawing in class:  "I'm drawing a picture of God!"  The child had to learn that no one can draw God, but the child answered that people will see now what He looks like. Children have an innocent faith and we are to mimic it (cf. Matt. 18:3).  Hebrews says that we do see Jesus (cf. Heb. 2:9), and we sense His presence when two or three are gathered in His name as a promise (cf. Matt. 18:20).

He indwells each of us and we can have an existential encounter with Him as we read Scripture, fellowship, worship, or pray.  Christians see the glory of God in His work on earth and will see God's glory in heaven, to our delight.  The prophets who claimed they "saw God" were seeing theophanies, and not God in His fullness.  We cannot bear to look at the sun in its brightness, much less look at the glory of God directly. That's one reason God reveals Himself propositionally and in the Word.

Christians want Christ to be seen in them and also to seek Christ being glorified.  As Paul said in Col. 1:27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." He also boasted that Christ was glorified in him. We wait till Christ be formed in us and in our brethren as a sign of maturity.  God will never give up making us in His image and we are works in progress (cf. Phil. 1:6).

The Greek disciples came to the apostles and said they "[wanted] to see Jesus"; we have a much greater thing in that we have the Word of God and full revelation of the wisdom and knowledge of God in it--we're better off than being with Christ in person also, because we have the inner blessing of the Spirit.  The apostles said that it would suffice to see the Father, but Jesus said that to see Him was to see the Father!  All that we can know and see God is revealed in Christ!  In eternity we'll see the big picture!

The infidel doesn't see God anywhere at work, but the believer sees His fingerprint everywhere, from the smallest atom to the largest galaxy, at work.  No amount of proof will convince someone who doesn't want to do God's will or sincerely have a relationship with him; to the believer and honest seeker, there is ample evidence--no one can disbelieve due to lack of evidence!

In glory, we shall behold Him as He is and we shall be like Him too, able to take it in.  It is said that some angels always do behold the face of God and that Gabriel "[stands] in the presence of God"; we'll have more privilege than an angel!  People generally say that seeing is believing; however, believing is seeing!  Don't envy those who have seen a vision or revelation, as Jesus told Thomas: "Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed" (cf. John 20:29).  Jesus rebuked the Pharisees who maintained they could see but were "blind guides," in fact, the "blind leading the blind"; think how much worse it is to think you see and be blind, or not knowing you're blind!  Christ came to open our eyes and to make the blind see, and Satan has blinded the eyes of all who don't believe in Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 4:4).

Caveat: Don't reduce God to one dimension or put Him in a box, emphasizing one aspect, like seeing Him just as: the Old, Doting Grandpa who says, "Boys will be boys;" the Kind Father; the Man Upstairs; Cosmic Killjoy; the Great Spirit; the Strict, Mean Judge; the Higher Power; or even as the Great Mathematical Mind.  Whenever we have an inadequate perception of God it's idolatry and our God is too small, thinking of Him in human terms. How big is your God, is just as important as seeing Him.  God cannot be limited, defined, or confined, and we must know that He is beyond comprehension, known as His profundity, and we will never fully apprehend His glory, nature, or essence throughout eternity ("the finite cannot contain the infinite," says the maxim).

The eyes of our heart are opened upon salvation and we can literally say we see and were blind, just like the blind man Jesus healed said, "I was blind, but now I see!"  No one can argue the fact that we have spiritual eyes enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit living in our hearts. Theologians have attempted definitions of God in vain, for He cannot be described, only known, loved, and worshiped!

It is the childish faith that seeks to know God through pictures, visions, or experiences, but the mature obedient believer clings to the Word and hears God speaking His message through it; just like Francis Schaeffer wrote:  "He is there, and He is not silent!"  The problem with man is not only is he blind to spiritual truth, but spiritually hard-of-hearing and turns a deaf ear to the gospel message that he does hear.   Man isn't faithful to the God he does see and is without excuse.   Soli Deo Gloria!  

Fixing Our Eyes On Jesus

"I pray that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened..." (Eph. 1:18, NIV).
"Open my eyes that I may see..." (Psalm 119:18, NIV).

The Greeks came to the disciples inquiring:  But we would see Jesus!  It's not a matter of having some religious or spiritual encounter that lets you behold Christ clearly and meaningfully, but a life of obedience, not ecstasy, vision, or experience!  Remember what Jesus told Thomas:  Blessed are those who haven't seen!  The point is that Jesus opens the eyes of the blind.  But Christians all have the ability to see Christ at work in the world, the church, their brethren, and even themselves if they persist in growing in the faith. It is vital to know that Satan will trip us up with a temptation to test us at our weak points and vulnerabilities.  And we must realize that he is like a devouring lion, seeking whom he may devour (cf. 1 Pet. 5:8)!

As Christians with the Spirit within, we have an advantage over those who actually did see Jesus in the flesh and may have become biased, calloused, or blinded to the Spirit.  We don't have to go to and fro seeking Jesus' teaching and presence but have the power at work within--which is a much greater blessing and comfort.  We are exhorted to walk by faith and not by sight, and if we do we'll see Christ by faith!  To be a person who thinks clearly with our thinking straightened out, we must see (Christ) clearly (i.e., by faith).  As the Christian sees Jesus from page to page throughout the Bible like a scarlet thread of His theme in action, that the whole of Scripture is about Him.

Peter walked on water as long as he kept his focus on Jesus, but the second he was overcome with the situation at hand and got his eyes off Jesus he began to sink.  Suddenly he realized he needed the intervention of his Savior and uttered the simple words of salvation:  Lord, save me!  We all need to realize that we are in over our head in this life and need Jesus in order to cope with the mundane.  The distracted mind is no fertile territory for the seed of the Word of God to germinate.

It has been said that the faith the grain of a mustard seed can move mountains; likewise, we can have faith to move mountains in Christ, figuratively speaking.  William Carey said that we ought to "Expect Great Things from God; Attempt Great Things for God!'   It's not how big our faith, in other words, but the size of our God, who can work the impossible on our behalf.  The clearer our perception of Jesus, the closer we can walk with the Lord and be of benefit to the kingdom.  Too often the cares of this world smother our spiritual life and we lose focus from keeping the main thing the main thing.  We don't want to major on minors, or become legalists!  Each of us has a part to do in the Great Commission and can learn from each other doing their part.

The more we learn of Jesus and see Him spiritually at work, the more proficient we are at accomplishing His work.  The Great Commission will one day be the Great Completion (by the corporate body of Christ working in unity).  Yes, they say that we can walk on water if we have faith, or that someone has the faith to walk on water.  This applies to everyone and not just to a spiritual elite, for there is no room for a class system in Christ--we are all one in Christ.

I read a book once called The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey that was just a description of the Bible's doctrine of Christ.  The point:  one can never adequately describe Jesus, but you can know Him personally!  And we must learn to focus on Christ in the mundane and everyday and down to earth, not just in a book.  Each of us is a gospel in shoe leather and has a story to tell or a gift to give.  We don't want Jesus to be just in our head or what's called story faith or head knowledge but have first-hand experience one-on-one with our Lord that we have something to share and pass along to others of our encounter with the Lord. 

We are to walk hand in hand with our Lord through all the ups and downs, through thick and thin, to realize the presence of our Lord and being able to see Him more clearly, know Him more clearly, to follow Him more nearly, and to love Him more dearly  (cf. Richard of Chichester).  If a brother needs a book to know Jesus, he's missed the boat!  Jesus is as close as the mention of His name!  However, the temptation is to get enamored with the intellectual aspect of the faith and not to apply what we know.  And the Bible wasn't written to describe Jesus, but to make Him known.

Our faith is not a creed to believe or even song to sing, but a relationship and person to know in the here and now with vibrations throughout eternity.  We don't need to get informed, but transformed, and to know our Lord, if we are to walk with Him.  We get to know the Spirit at work in our hearts and grow in the faith as we increase in our experiential knowledge of Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  "But we do see Jesus..." (cf. Heb. 2:9). God is with us through the indwelling Spirit.  The disciples longed to see the Father, thinking it would suffice, but Jesus reassured them He is all they need.

We are not boasting of visions and dreams or visitations, but we see Christ at work in the world in the here and now through each other.  Do you see just evil in the world, or do you see the good overcoming evil?  Paul said that it was "Christ in you, the hope of glory..." (cf. Col. 1:27), meaning that we live an inhabited life, not just an imitating one.  Our walk is a substituted, transforming, relinquished, and surrendered one--"I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me..." (cf. Gal. 2:20).

We ought to be so preoccupied with our Lord in all we do that he is the center of our life and our treasure is in Him that it shows to the point of being a testimony and a light in the dark if we are Jesus freaks or fanatics to some or even "out of our mind"  (cf. 2 Cor. 5:13) it's for Christ's sake, that would be a compliment, as long as we don't live in ignorance of sound doctrine, having a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge (cf. Rom. 10:2, Prov. 19:2)   Colossians 3:2, NIV, says: "For you died., and your life is now hidden with Christ in God."

We are the hands to do Christ's work, the heart to show Christ's love, and the voices through which Christ speaks to a lost world that doesn't realize He's for real and works in us. We shouldn't be saying that we see the devil at work in the world and ask "why?" but Jesus at work through the church and ask "why not?"   As the hymn by William Cowper goes:  "God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform."(Cf. Isa. 45:15, NLT).  

The faith we have is the faith we show--we must learn to become contagious Christians because of our fixation on the Lord, though we are not fanatics who have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, because the clearer our vision of Christ, the more useful in the mission to the world and ministry in the church, as it becomes obvious that we have been in the presence of Jesus!

Bear in mind that to see Jesus with our physical eyes may not do any good spiritually, we must behold him with our spiritual eyes and not only with our intellect but with our whole heart.  We need a real-life personal encounter with God that will change us from the inside out so that we can walk with Christ through faith.  To see Jesus is to know Him and to know Him is to love Him.

In sum, let's follow on to know the Lord (cf. Hos. 6:3) as Richard of Chichester said, "To know Him more clearly, to follow Him more nearly, to love Him more dearly."

CAVEAT:  TO THE PERSON WHO DOES NOT SEE, HE SHOULD ASK HIMSELF: WHERE IS HIS HEART?    Jesus Himself said that the person who is really blind is the person who thinks he sees and doesn't.      Soli Deo Gloria!

The Heavenly Quest

Man has been on the quest for paradise on earth, much more in the afterlife ever since the dawn of time. God implanted this idea, it is not of our creation or imagination.   But this has meant different strokes for different folks!  Man is not invariably pure spirit, nor is he spiritually pure or meant to be a spirit--we will have spiritual bodies in heaven, but they will be bodies like Christ's, nonetheless, that can live in other dimensions so as to walk through walls, and probably eat without gaining weight!  No man is so spiritual he can worship God forever, unceasingly ad nauseam; however, there are angels assigned to this task and they are privileged to be so close to God, not cursed to praise God in worship songs forever!  Watching reruns of Green Acres would be hell on earth to me!  We all have our dreams and nightmares of eternity.  But one thing for sure, we will be fulfilled and filled with joy everlasting knowing and praising God, even in our work and labors.  

There is a multitude of ways to worship God and we will find ways to bring Him glory in all we do in our heavenly estate and an eternal home in the heavenly city of the New Jerusalem.  People who are extremely musical wish they could enjoy music all day, and there are Christians who listen to Christian radio and think they are worshiping God all-day-long--this is passive, and worship is active or something that takes effort. Both work and play can become worship!  God is the receiver and recipient of worship in the Spirit and not ourselves--we find our fulfillment in worshiping God in the way we are hard-wired, but certainly to worship in spirit and in truth. 

Personally, I wish I was so spiritual I could sing praises to Him night and day, but I don't think that level of spirituality is possible in the flesh.  People say that heaven is not a perpetual church service, and I hope not, because God can be worshiped in so many ways besides that.  But we should never put down some one's idea of what heaven would be to them because no one will be disappointed.  The Christian life is not about walking in the glow of a transforming experience the rest of your life nor about living in a perpetual high on Cloud Nine to be no earthly good.

The important point is that we will all be fulfilled and spiritually joyful and content in our realization of heaven--God will let no one down.  The important thing about thinking of heaven is that it helps us to live in light of eternity, to get proper focus, and put things in perspective.  We are but pilgrims just passing through and have spiritual green cards that we will one day exchange for a heavenly occupation and residence.  This life is but a dress rehearsal or prelude to heaven and every note we strike sounds a chord that will vibrate into eternity.

Many Christians think we are here to get the American dream realized: education, culture, standard of living, and freedom, but these will find us fleeting fulfillment, and they only get our focus off Christ the center of our attention and what it's all about--bringing Him glory and living for Him, enjoying Him in the process.  Christ came to give us eternal life and a more abundant one, even in the here and now, and this life, which is not probationary, beginning at salvation and cannot be forfeited by sin, for Christ is our intercessor when we do and holds onto us and won't let go nor give up on us (cf. Phil. 1:5).

The joy we share in Christ now is but a preview of our heavenly, beatific vision.  Many believers get a misconception of the real life in Christ by focusing on musical megastars, who perform before large crowds, and consequently believe they should imitate them or emulate them as living the ideal Christian life by virtue of their gifting in the Spirit--we all need to be ourselves and look to Jesus as our Supreme Exemplar and not to any man as personifying the Spirit--as an ideal of spirituality, or as being spiritual giants.

One thing heaven is not is monotony or routine:  Is there anything you could do without ceasing, ad infinitum without getting bored or out of your comfort zone?  If you love reading, would you love to read forever?  Nothing is mundane or perfunctory in heaven! There may be routines but no monotony.  Even if you enjoy preaching, eating, or even singing, you wouldn't want to engage it forever; for we are hard-wired for work (though some think work is a curse--not in heaven!) and productivity; diversity is the stuff of life and we ought not to strive with our Maker (cf. Isaiah 45:9)!

We are not self-deceived like Muslims believing in a Paradise is of man's own imagination and "wine, women, and song" or having "seventy virgins," but we believe heaven is far more surreal than we can envision with our limited senses and intellects--the finite cannot contain the infinite.    Soli Deo Gloria!  

The Beatific Vision

Men have always imagined what God must be like and Christians have longed to see visions and revelations of God, known as theophanies. But no one knows what God looks like because God is Spirit (cf. John 4:24)!  Moses saw the backside of the glory of Christ, who does reveal Himself, but the Father doesn't and no man has ever seen the Father.  Our faith concerns the God who is there!

A child was asked what he was drawing in class:  "I'm drawing a picture of God!"  The child had to learn that no one can draw God, but the child answered that people will see now what He looks like. Children have an innocent faith and we are to mimic it (cf. Matt. 18:3).  Hebrews says that we do see Jesus (cf. Heb. 2:9), and we sense His presence when two or three are gathered in His name as a promise (cf. Matt. 18:20).

He indwells each of us and we can have an existential encounter with Him as we read Scripture, fellowship, worship, or pray.  Christians see the glory of God in His work on earth and will see God's glory in heaven, to our delight.  The prophets who claimed they "saw God" were seeing theophanies, and not God in His fullness.  We cannot bear to look at the sun in its brightness, much less look at the glory of God directly. That's one reason God reveals Himself propositionally and in the Word.

Christians want Christ to be seen in them and also to seek Christ being glorified.  As Paul said in Col. 1:27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." He also boasted that Christ was glorified in him. We wait till Christ be formed in us and in our brethren as a sign of maturity.  God will never give up making us in His image and we are works in progress (cf. Phil. 1:6).

The Greek disciples came to the apostles and said they "[wanted] to see Jesus"; we have a much greater thing in that we have the Word of God and full revelation of the wisdom and knowledge of God in it--we're better off than being with Christ in person also, because we have the inner blessing of the Spirit.  The apostles said that it would suffice to see the Father, but Jesus said that to see Him was to see the Father!  All that we can know and see God is revealed in Christ!  In eternity we'll see the big picture!

The infidel doesn't see God anywhere at work, but the believer sees His fingerprint everywhere, from the smallest atom to the largest galaxy, at work.  No amount of proof will convince someone who doesn't want to do God's will or sincerely have a relationship with him; to the believer and honest seeker, there is ample evidence--no one can disbelieve due to lack of evidence!

In glory, we shall behold Him as He is and we shall be like Him too, able to take it in.  It is said that some angels always do behold the face of God and that Gabriel "[stands] in the presence of God"; we'll have more privilege than an angel!  People generally say that seeing is believing; however, believing is seeing!  Don't envy those who have seen a vision or revelation, as Jesus told Thomas: "Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed" (cf. John 20:29).  Jesus rebuked the Pharisees who maintained they could see but were "blind guides," in fact, the "blind leading the blind"; think how much worse it is to think you see and be blind, or not knowing you're blind!  Christ came to open our eyes and to make the blind see, and Satan has blinded the eyes of all who don't believe in Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 4:4).

Caveat: Don't reduce God to one dimension or put Him in a box, emphasizing one aspect, like seeing Him just as: the Old, Doting Grandpa who says, "Boys will be boys;" the Kind Father; the Man Upstairs; Cosmic Killjoy; the Great Spirit; the Strict, Mean Judge; the Higher Power; or even as the Great Mathematical Mind.  Whenever we have an inadequate perception of God it's idolatry and our God is too small, thinking of Him in human terms. How big is your God, is just as important as seeing Him.  God cannot be limited, defined, or confined, and we must know that He is beyond comprehension, known as His profundity, and we will never fully apprehend His glory, nature, or essence throughout eternity ("the finite cannot contain the infinite," says the maxim).

The eyes of our heart are opened upon salvation and we can literally say we see and were blind, just like the blind man Jesus healed said, "I was blind, but now I see!"  No one can argue the fact that we have spiritual eyes enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit living in our hearts. Theologians have attempted definitions of God in vain, for He cannot be described, only known, loved, and worshiped!

It is the childish faith that seeks to know God through pictures, visions, or experiences, but the mature obedient believer clings to the Word and hears God speaking His message through it; just like Francis Schaeffer wrote:  "He is there, and He is not silent!"  The problem with man is not only is he blind to spiritual truth, but spiritually hard-of-hearing and turns a deaf ear to the gospel message that he does hear.   Man isn't faithful to the God he does see and is without excuse.   Soli Deo Gloria!  

Our Beatific Vision

The pagan Emperor Trajan once asked a Christian why his God was invisible and you couldn't see him (it sounded atheistic to him--just worshiping a spirit), and he was informed and given the scoop: "Look at the sun!"  Trajan said he couldn't because it's too bright.  "Then don't you now realize that, if you cannot behold God's creation, how much less the splendor and glory of God?" Jesus said that God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth (cf. John 4:24).

The Greek believers asked the disciples if they could see Jesus.  "We would see Jesus!"  We don't need to see Him in order to know Him, because Jesus said blessed is he who believes and hasn't seen (cf. John 20:29). We can see with the eyes of our hearts which are opened by the Holy Spirit's illuminating ministry. We are seeing the glory of God when our eyes are opened to see how He is manifest in believers, and we see Jesus in them and they see Him in us--this is only a taste of the glory which shall be revealed us.  As Hebrews 2:9 (ESV) says: "But we see him [i.e., Jesus, with our spiritual eyes] ...."

We shall all be satisfied in heaven by beholding the face of God (in Jesus), but only because we will not be in the flesh, but without any sin to corrupt our spiritual bodies and souls. God has revealed Himself throughout the Bible in many theophanies (revelation of God, such as in the burning bush) and Christophanies (revelation of Jesus, such as the Angel of the LORD).   From the burning bush to appearances as the Angel of the LORD, to Gideon and as the Son of Man, to Daniel's friends in the furnace and to Daniel in a vision.  John saw Jesus in His glory at the transfiguration and then finally at Patmos in a vision of heaven.

Jesus is how God manifests Himself as the embodiment, personification, or icon of God. When Philip (cf. John 14:8-9) asked Jesus during the Last Supper in the Upper Room to show them the Father, Christ said, that he who has seen Him has seen the Father--they are one!  All that God wants to reveal of Himself is presented in the Son--all that God has to say to us and all that we can know.  God is Spirit, according to Jesus, and became a man for our sake so we would have something to relate to and what to think of when we meditate on God.  Jesus is analogous to the sun because He gives light to all He shines on, and makes life possible too.

Jesus has the Shekinah (glory of God), not reflected the glory of God, as Moses had after being in His presence.  Jesus does not reflect light--He is light: John 8:12 says, "... I am the light of the world...."  Jesus willingly veiled His glory because they couldn't behold it in full. Jesus has all the glory of the Father, there is no diminishing of it, but He voluntarily laid it aside (known as the kenosis in Philippians 2) while incarnated on earth before His ascension. Actually, Jesus shines brighter than the sun, which is only an analogy or symbol of Him.

In glory, we shall behold Him: "... [B]ut we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he [Jesus]" (1 John 3:2, ESV).  Moses wanted to see God's face but God said that no man shall see His face and live [in the flesh], as Jesus told Moses in Exodus 33:23.  Jesus said in His Beatitudes that the pure in heart are blessed, for they shall see God [in the NT God usually refers to God the Father].

Don't forget the Aaronic benediction in Numbers 6:24-26 as a promise to claim:  "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."  What man has always yearned for is a God they can see; one that has skin on and we can relate to.  Jesus is just that incarnation:  God with skin on! There is a true story of a boy drawing a picture and the teacher asking him what he's drawing.  He replied, "I'm drawing God."  The teacher told him that no one knows what God looks like.  Then the boy answered:  "They will now!"

Jesus said that "God is glorified in Him" (cf. John 10:34) and this is when He is glorified.  At His priestly prayer in John 17 Jesus besought the return of His glory after He had glorified the Father by doing all His will and being obedient in His subordination and humility.  He did it by accomplishing all God's work for Him on earth that was given Him to do (cf. John 17:4).  By analogy we give up our glory to share His glory and to glorify God:  "The chief end of man is to glorify God, and enjoy Him forever"  (The Westminster Shorter Catechism, ca. 1646).

Everyone will bow to the glory of God, either at Judgment Day, or to become a believer and surrender the control over himself, and even others, to the lordship of Christ.  We must give up the ownership of our lives and realize we owe all to Him because He purchased us at the cross with His blood.  But Jesus wants more than our bodies dedicated to Him as reasonable service (cf. Rom. 12:1), He wants us (to surrender everything we have and are to His lordship)! This entails and involves giving up your personal throne and kingdom and surrender it to God's sovereignty and guidance or plan for your life--we don't ask God to bless our plans, but Him to reveal His plan.

We leave our throne to bow to His and ultimately get a crown to reign with Him, just like Jesus left His throne in Heaven to humble Himself in obedience all the way to the cross.  This surrender and acknowledgment of His lordship is not only done at salvation but renewed daily, as we learn to walk in the Spirit and in fellowship with God and our brethren (cf. 1 John 1:7). We actually have more authority in Christ after surrendering our authority and this is a paradox indeed (i.e., if we are lords, we are to become servants for Christ's sake and humble and meek enough that no service is beneath our dignity).  We have nothing in comparison to lose and everything in eternity to gain, including the right to rule in glory with Christ, as we go from glory to glory to an ultimate glorified state in the New Jerusalem.

He doesn't want sacrifice or offering, or even going through the motions of the rituals of worship--Jesus internalized religion to make it a matter of the heart (He said evil comes out from the heart of man), because the Pharisees had externalized it to outward obedience to the letter of the Law, and neglect of the spirit of the Law.  He wants all there is of us--all of our minds, hearts, souls, spirits, strength, and wills. John was stunned at the sight of the Lord, so just imagine how we would react!

Jesus is the Great Inspector General of the church and we all need to pass muster and be ready for daily inspection of our daily walk--take regular spiritual check-ups so as not to jeopardize your testimony to the world.  Paul said to "test yourselves whether you are in the faith."   We are to examine ourselves (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5)--not others--regularly and especially before the Lord's Supper. We are fruit inspectors--not detectives.  We must examine ourselves first because judgment begins at the house of God, and when we have cast the beam out of our own eye we can help someone else with the speck in theirs.

In other words, don't throw bricks if you live in a glasshouse, because we all have feet of clay or have vulnerabilities not readily apparent--we may see the sins of others as obvious; however, we just sin differently and have no right to look down on our brother or criticize him, and we are all vulnerable to Satan's attack, which Martin Luther called the Anfectung, and we should never succumb to this nor even his accusations.  If we take care of our witness and testimony, God will take care of our reputation and open doors for us--we must just be ready!  Soli Deo Gloria!