JOHN 12:21 – “Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.””
THEME OF THE DAY: WE WOULD SEE JESUS. Today’s scripture is a discovery for us from an unlikely source. Little did the Greeks who requested of Philip an audience with Jesus know they would be echoing through church history the chief evidence in spiritually healthy Christians.
The statement “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” is the foundational truth of the Christian life, but it needs to be defined. We are not talking curiosity about the Person of Jesus. No, this is not some irreverent desire just to satisfy one’s thoughts on the Person of Jesus. The desire to see Jesus is the desire to know Jesus, and that not in the mere acquiring of facts resting in one’s head and never reaching the heart and changing lives.
To see Jesus has two dimensions; this life by faith in the scriptures, and the next life by exchanging faith for sight.
In the first, to see Him by faith is to come to our Bibles to know Him, really know Him in an affectionate relationship that brings peace, joy, contentment and a life holiness. Jesus calls this “eternal life” to be partially experienced now with an anticipation of fuller experience in heaven – “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (John 17:1-3). Jesus would also define this “seeing Him” by faith as the abundant life, or a life of contentment and satisfaction – I came that they might have life and that more abundantly” (John 10:10). The practical application of this hunger to see Jesus in the scriptures begins with thirst or desire for Him illustrated for us by David – “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1). Each time we open our Bibles it should be with a prayer like this, “Lord, let me see You. Open my eyes to behold You in Your holy Word.”
The second dimension on seeing Jesus is the blessed hope; of being face to face with Him in heaven; of no longer fighting Satan, sin, and self, and living in the land of eternal bliss of unhindered fellowship with our God. When we get there, and see Jesus, the learning and loving Him unfolds for eternity. And how is that applied in this life? It is focusing on eternity and Jesus, not this passing world and us. A great portion of scripture for this focus is in the third chapter of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians – “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4).
“Sir, we would see Jesus” is not only the words from some curious Greeks, but is to be the daily heart cry of us, God’s people, who by His grace are able to see Him, now by faith and soon by sight!
PRAYER: Father, deepen within me the hunger and thirst to know You that I might love You more.
REFLECTION: A hunger and thirst for God are always present signs in a spiritually healthy Christian.