To Encourage You

John 14:21 “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

One of the things that Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount was “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).  As I’ve read this passage over the years, I’ve always had the perspective that this was a promise that would be fulfilled for believers “someday,” i.e., when we reach heaven.  However, as I was meditating on this truth today, it occurred to me that there’s more to it than that; much more!  

In the verse above from John 14 Jesus told His disciples that if they would love Him, He would manifest Himself to them. That’s a strange statement when you think about it, for as He said these words, He was right there with them in flesh and blood.  That’s one way to see Him, of course, but it was a way that was the privilege of only a relative handful of people in the history of the world.  But the promise in John 14 is for “whoever has my commandments and keeps them.” In other words, it was much more far-reaching than a promise to these twelve men.  So what did Jesus mean by this?  In what ways would He manifest Himself?  

Of course, there is a future element to this, for we have been told that at the second coming, “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him” (Revelation 1:7).  Notice, however, that this applies to everyone on the face of the earth, and in particular those who have NOT loved Him.  So, again, the promise from John 14 must mean something more.  

In John 12 we are told that there was a group of Gentiles that came to Philip with the following question: “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”  Philip then told Andrew and the two of them told Jesus.  His answer?  “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”  What a strange answer.  In essence He’s told them that He was about to die but that in His death there would be much fruit produced. That fruit (believers) would be produced as people “hated” their current life, in essence turning their back on this world and their old life and choosing to follow Him.  He was describing faith, and He was describing those whose lives would be transformed from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness, from the love of sin to the love of Christ.  And He tells them that anyone that follows Him would live their life “with Him” for they would be where He is.  

It is this transformation that is necessary for Christ to “manifest” Himself to us in the words of John 14.  It is in this change that a person becomes a new creation in which all things become new, including his or her eyes.  Now they can see Him Who is omnipresent, where otherwise they were blind to Him. It is the believer who sees Jesus every time he looks at the Creation, for indeed “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1), but the sinful darkened heart closes itself off from seeing Him when they look at such things.  It is the believer’s new heart that cries out to God “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18), and as God answers this prayer, everywhere they look in His Word, he or she will see Jesus Christ.  Another thing that the believer’s eyes are opened to: the body of Christ. It is in the church of Jesus Christ that one will see Christ, and it is as we serve one another that Jesus manifests Himself to us, for didn’t He tell us, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40)?  And it is the believer Who sees the manifestation of Jesus in answers to prayer and in His daily blessings of life, whether it be the food they eat, the roof over their heads, the gift of their children, spouse, and friends, or any other good thing, for haven’t we been told that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17)?  Everywhere the believer looks they see God’s hand meeting their needs, orchestrating the events of their life, and acting and moving in small things and large.  They know that nothing misses the watchful eyes and sovereign hand of God, and in all of it, they see Him.  

May God help us to see Jesus everywhere we look, for He’s right there with us.  Yet, it’s something that only those who truly love Him and believe in Him will ever see.  You see, what was true for the patriarch Jacob is true for you and me. May God open our eyes to realize what Jacob eventually saw, i.e., “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it” (Genesis 28:16).

Praise the Lord.