Seeing Jesus

Introduction

You ever go to the county fair where they guess your weight or guess your age? I would be bad at both of those. I’m a terrible guesser. I’m terrible at guessing distances, guessing weight. I’m terrible at guessing ages of somebody. But I’ve come up with a formula that I could guess your age fairly accurately. And that is that I could use different either images or words of different fads that have passed through the decades. And if you were familiar with those words or those fads, then I could say, Oh, then I know how old you are. If you know how to play jacks, then you’re pretty old. If you know some of the hipper lingo that is familiar today, and I would have to Google it myself, then I would say then you’re pretty young.

Here’s a test for you. Anyone remember that blank image there? Okay, hang on, we’ll catch up here in a minute. There you go. Anybody remember those posters from back in the day? I could guess your age, probably based upon those hidden image posters. We bought one of those when those were out. Remember, those, if you’re not familiar with those, those are the kind of posters that you would kind of have to stare at them for a while and take your glasses off and let your eyes unfocus a little bit and stare. And then some image, usually a 3D image, would come out of that poster, and you could see it. The one we had uh that I had hanging up was of the Statue of Liberty.

It looked just like that jumbled mess, but if you could stare at it just the right way, hold your mouth just right, that the Statue of Liberty would almost magically appear in that poster. And the reason I show you that poster is because that gives us the idea of two different meanings of the word see.

But then there’s a greater meaning to can you see the image that is hidden within there. And you know that’s true of people. We can use that language of actually seeing someone. You may have made the sad statement about a friend or a former friend that I got to see the real fill in the blank of that person’s name today. When you got to see their real character, you didn’t know that about that person. You had only seen them maybe casually, and you got to see who that real person was. You got to see the depth of them.

Not just knowing a little bit of surface information about who Jesus is, not just having some level of faith or belief in the person of Jesus, but truly seeing Jesus. Seeing the depth, the width, the height of who he truly is. One of the benefits and the blessings of Bible study is that it can take us to those depths of truly seeing Jesus, not just seeing him as a man who walked upon this earth, not just seeing him as the miracle worker, not just seeing him as the Son of God in the flesh, but truly seeing the character of the Son of God. And as we’re going to talk this morning about seeing what he means to us. Would you turn with me to first John chapter one?

The gospel of John, as well as John’s first epistle, to which I’m asking you to turn, speaks a lot about Jesus. John was one of those eyewitnesses. He begins both his gospel and this epistle much in the same way in introducing, or maybe in our case, reintroducing us to Jesus. John, one of the eyewitnesses of Jesus wants us to truly see Jesus. It is this John in the closing of his gospel that would speak of that encounter with whom we sometimes call the doubting Thomas, when Thomas saw finally the scars of Jesus’ flesh and said, Lord, I believe. It’s John that recorded the words of Jesus that said, Because you’ve seen, you believe. Blessed are those who have not seen, but will believe. John, one of those eyewitnesses, wants us to see Jesus.

Not in the sense that Thomas got to see, not in the sense that John got to see, but to truly see the character of the Son of God, and to see who He is to us and what He means to us. I want us to look at 1 John chapter 1 and a little bit bleeding over into chapter 2, and notice three things about the Son of God that we need to see, to truly appreciate and to truly see Jesus for who he is and what he means to us. Will you read the text with me as we begin in 1 John chapter 1, verse 1? That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the word of life.

The life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. John says, I was one of the fortunate ones. I saw him. I heard him. I touched the nail-scarred hand. But he says, I want you to have the same fellowship that I have, though you did not see, like Thomas and I did. Though you did not hear the voice of Jesus, I still want you to hear him. And I still want you to see him. And so he says, I want you to have fellowship with us.

1. Jesus Is the Word of Life

I want you to have the same sharing in Jesus that I have. I want you to see him the way I saw him. And he’s going to use three, at least three descriptors here in chapter one and the first two verses of chapter two to tell us what he saw and what he heard and what John wants us to see and hear. The first thing that we’ve already seen about Jesus is that he says that he is the word of life. The word of life. Those two words, word and life, figure prominently in both John’s gospel and in this epistle. In the beginning was the word, how he begins his gospel in John chapter 1, verse 1. He’s going to use the word life and eternal life over and over again throughout the gospel and again throughout this epistle.

Jesus is the word of life. The word simply conveys the idea, he is God’s communication. He is God’s means of communicating life to us.

And Jesus is the Father’s means of conveying that life to earth, to flesh and blood. And so John says, when we, speaking of those first century eyewitnesses, when we saw him, we saw the Father. We saw deity. When we saw him, we saw eternal life. God communicated that life to us through the person of Jesus Christ. And John says, I want you to see that as well. I want you to have that same sharing in that life that we have. So let’s talk about what that life is. In him, he would say in his gospel introduction, in him, speaking of Jesus, in him was life, and the life was the light of men. What is this life that John is talking about? That Jesus communicated from the Father to man and woman.

Well, it’s certainly it’s eternal life, and when we think of eternal life, we think of heaven, and we think of it just existing forever and ever when we’ve been there 10,000 years. We’re just getting started, isn’t that what the song says? Well, it certainly speaks to that idea of everlasting life, a never ending eternity, but it’s much more than that. It’s much more than just a quantitative existence. Eternal life, when used in the scriptures, eternal life is also talking about not just the quantitative existence, but it’s talking about the quality of life. We use the word life that way, both positive and negative. We might say, sadly, of an acquaintance or a family member who is whose physical life is maybe toward the end. And their life because of some sickness or disease is so bad that we might say they’re not really living, they’re just existing.

What we mean is that there’s no there’s no real life there. Now there may be the signs of physical life, the machine may still be detecting a heartbeat and a little bit of brain activity, but we’re saying there’s no real life there, they’re just existing. On a positive end, we may usually, when we’re away from the cares of the everyday life, and we’re sitting in on vacation somewhere, and we may say, This is the life. This is living. And what we mean is that we’ve stepped it up back at home, when I have to do the old nine to five job, and I’ve got all the responsibilities and the bills and all of those things. But now that I’m out here and I’m just carefree and I can do what I want and just leisurely do those things.

Now that’s living. Now that’s the life. We’re talking about the quantity, not the quantity, but the quality of that existence. And that’s the way scripture speaks of eternal life. Look, look at look at that with me in the Gospel of John. Look in the Gospel of John chapter 5. Hold your finger there, by the way, in 1 John. We’ll come back to that. But look in John’s gospel. And by the way, here in John chapter 5, he’s going to tie together both the quantity and the quality. They can’t be separated. John chapter 5, let’s pick up in a reading in verse 24. The gospel of John 5, verse 24. Most assuredly I say to you, he, this is Jesus speaking, of course, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but has passed, has passed from death into life.

Most assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself, and he’s given him authority to execute judgment also, because he’s the Son of Man. Now do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. You see how Jesus ties together both the quantity and the quality.

But before that, he talks about a present state in which we now are experiencing an eternal life in God. The life that God has.

That’s living.

That’s the life. And it affects life in every sense of the word. Look over in 1 John, back to the epistle. 1 John chapter 3. This life which we can now experience speaks to, yes, the quality of the enjoyment of life, but also to the quality of the character of our life. We share in the character of God and the Son. Look in 1 John chapter 3, and let’s look at verses 14 and 15. I’m back to the epistle, 1 John 3, verses 14 and 15 says this. We know that we have passed from death to life. Now let’s pause there and notice. He’s not talking about some future event. He says we have, we’ve already passed from death to life because we love the brethren.

He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. If you’re experiencing this quality of life that comes from having this relationship with God, a part of that is love. That you’ve already passed from death to life. You’re living that life now. A life that will continue for eternity with God. And Jesus brought that life. And he communicated it to us. The Christian, rather than having to forego the pleasure of life, oh, I know the Hebrew writer says that Moses and we will forgo the pleasures of sin, but it doesn’t say we have to forgo the pleasures of life, because true living is found in having this fellowship.

And so go back to the first chapter, 1 John 1. And let’s look again at beginning in verse 2. The life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and manifested to us. That existence, the beauty, the glory, the quality and the character of the life of God came in flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. And he communicated that life to us, and we can share in that living. The joy of that existence, but also the character of that existence. Verse 3: that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you may have fellowship with us, that you can have the same fellowship that we have with the Father, that you can experience the same life that we have with the Father, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

And these things we write to you that your joy, some translations say our joy, may be full. This is the message which we have heard from him and declare to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Living eternal life means that we live in the character of God, not just the glory and the brilliance and the joy of God, but also in the character of God. But if we walk in the light, verse 7, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. That is, we have fellowship with God, he has fellowship with us, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all sin.

2. Jesus Is Our Advocate

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Chapter 2 then begins, My little children, these things I write to you that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Jesus is the word of life, and we see him as that which provides for us that existence, the joyful existence, the character-filled existence that is God that can be ours, but we also see in him our advocate.

Advocate.

It literally means one who stands beside you. It’s the same word that Jesus used in the Gospel of John when he told his apostles that he would send another comforter, many translations say, speaking of the Holy Spirit. I’m going to send someone else who will come and stand beside you to help you.

That means they got one on retainer. They got an attorney that’s there that they could call who would come to their aid and help them, whether it’s to help them to write a will, is whether to help them to get them out of a traffic ticket, or maybe they’ve been accused of something, and they need somebody with the expertise and the legal expertise to stand beside them in the court of law to plead on their behalf. That’s part of the meaning of this word pyroclete, an advocate, somebody who would stand beside us and to help us.

And in our times of trial, to plead for us. We know that scripture refers to the devil, to Satan as the accuser of the brethren. Satan, in some sense, is accusing us before God because, and in some sense, rightly so, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And this, my illustration, as all illustrations is going to fall short a little bit. It’s a little bit of an oh, well, not a little bit. It’s an oversimplification and a dramatization of this, but here’s kind of the image of Satan the accuser and Jesus as our advocate. That Satan is pointing, I’ll just use myself. Satan before God is pointing to Ken and saying, He’s mine. He is sin. He’s the accuser. And Jesus is my advocate who is saying no.

I’m here to plead on his behalf. I’m Kin’s advocate. Though he has sinned, I’ve paid the price. And those sins have been blotted away. He is there to stand beside us and stand for us, to advocate on our behalf. Look at a couple passages here. Look in the book of Hebrews, chapter 7. Again, speaking of Jesus this time as our high priest, Hebrews 7, verse 25 says, Therefore, he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. Now that’s not the word advocate, but it’s a similar principle. That he’s making intercession. He is pleading on our behalf. Hebrews chapter 9 and in verse 24, speaking of Jesus, for Christ has not entered the holy place made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself to appear in the presence of God for us.

And that’s certainly true. That’s coming full circle. But the Hebrew writer says, no, there was another purpose for him to go back to heaven. Yes, his work was completed. Yes, he’s going back from which he came, but he also’s going to heaven to plead on our behalf. He’s going to be our intercessor, our mediator, to be our advocate. I’m going to tell you, there’s nothing more heartening than when you’re being accused of something. To have somebody stand up and defend you. Somebody to step in and say, wait a minute. And there’s nothing more heartening on a spiritual level to know that when Satan is pointing his finger at me, that I have the very Son of God who’s gone into heaven to plead with the Father on my behalf.

3. Jesus Is the Propitiation for Our Sins

And he’s the propitiation.

Make sure you spelt it right. Propitiation. Let’s finish there in chapter 2. He said in 1 John chapter 1, or excuse me, chapter 2, verse 1. My little children, these things I’ve written to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. You might have already observed that these three concepts, Jesus being the word of life, him being our advocate, and him being our propitiation, are not distinct. They are overlapping concepts. That he gives us life by advocating, pleading on the Father on our behalf, by being our propitiation. The word propitiation, though not readily a part of our vocabulary, is one that we can easily understand.

It really carries with it a couple concepts that are so closely connected. The word itself can really just mean the idea of satisfaction, of satisfying a need or a requirement, or an appeasement of the wrath. But it’s also a word in its original that connects, we’ve talked about this in our Bible class here in the auditorium, that it connects to the mercy seat in the most holy place of the tabernacle in the temple, where the high priest would go once a year on that day of atonement and bring the blood of an animal to make atonement for the sins of the people on that mercy seat, the place where God’s mercy, symbolically at least, resided. Jesus is our mercy seat. He is the place where our mercy resides.

The turning away of God’s anger and wrath. The satisfying of God’s requirement. The meeting of the need to turn away God’s anger, justifiable, righteous indignation because of our sin. And he himself satisfies God’s holy and righteous requirement. He is God’s appeasement. And he is our mercy seat. And so he has returned to heaven to usher the way for us to receive that eternal life. He’s returned to heaven, as the Hebrew writer said, so that he might plead on our behalf to the Father. And he’s returned to heaven into the most holy place, not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with his own blood to satisfy the righteous requirement of our Father, so that we might have mercy. John says, I saw Jesus. Now I want you to see Him.

Conclusion

May God give us the eyes of faith that through our Bible study we can truly see Him. For all that He is and all that He has done, is doing, and will do, so that we might have fellowship with Him and with our Father. Do you see Jesus this morning? Why not respond to Him in faith, believing in Him, repent of your sins, confess that faith, and to be baptized into that Jesus. Having fellowship with Him and receiving that life. Jesus said, I came to give you life and to give it abundantly. We can have that life through and in him this morning. Can we help you to find that life by seeing Jesus this morning? As together we stand and as we sing.