Eyes to See

I woke this morning with a Scripture going through my mind. I have always felt the frustration of Jesus in this verse, but this morning I heard something different. John 14:9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? I have said and have heard others say, "We need to see the Father." This morning I realized we need a clearer look at Jesus. I John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. The phrase "when He appears" should more accurately read, "if He be manifested". We need to see Jesus as He is and then we will be like Him.

It is more than seeing Jesus in the flesh, for, though the 12 men who walked with Him saw Him and His ministry, they did not perceive the Father. Their own limitations prevented them from seeing Him. It was not ignorance of the Scriptures that limited them, for, though they were "uneducated" in the Scriptures, they saw more clearly than the Sanhedrin who were "educated". It is not what we do not know that limits us, but what we do know. Paul found that being stripped of what he knew about the Scriptures opened the door to the Spirit's teaching.

Jesus was very clear that He was not the Father but the Father was in Him and He was in the Father. He said just as clearly that if we abide in Him and His Word abides in us..... It is not just the written Word but Jesus AS the Word that is to abide in us. The written word must be a part of us, but the way Jesus walked, the life He lived, the union with the Father's Will must be in us. He IS the manifestation of the Father in flesh. We must be the manifestation of Jesus in our life here in this realm. The world will never know me as a manifestation of Jesus in eternity. They can only know that manifestation if they see it now.

What is the key? One, our faith. "Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe." Second, our love. Two things Jesus emphasized were to believe on Him and to love Him. This is the price of truth. To believe Him in the face of all opposing views and to love Him enough to walk in His footsteps. We all want to do the miracles He did, but the greatest "work" Jesus did was to lay down His life for us. Do we love Him enough to lay down our life? Not just our mortal life, but our nature-life? Our prejudices, our opinions, our "knowledge" and experience? Our own judgment concerning ourselves? Paul said he would not judge himself. Satan is the accuser, and he accuses us to ourselves and to others. Do we listen to him or to the Word? Jesus had his ear tuned to the Father. He quoted Scripture to Satan when he accused Him. Jesus turned His Blood-bought Church over to His disciples, not because He saw them as they were but He saw them through the Faith of God.

I am going to give you (as I promised last time!) some types and shadows of men who were led by God to follow Him. In these we can see our own nature and the price we need to pay for Truth. I think Joseph is a wonderful example for us and in the next few blogs, I will endeavor to dig into his price and the Truth he found. The Lord bless you and keep you and give you peace.