Tuesday 29 August 2017

John 14 (Eleven) Do You See?

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you (John 14:18-20).

What did Jesus mean when He mentioned orphans? The Greek word used for ‘orphans’ means comfortlessin other words bereft of a father or parents or of a guide. He simply meant He would not leave the disciples, and therefore us Christians, to ourselves – He will be there for us. An orphan is a child growing up without the comfort and direction of parents, especially of a father. These words of His indicate that we disciples are not able to cope on our own. We may be able to cope as adults in a human world, but in the spirit world we are but children – we need a Dad for protection, comfort and guidance.

The next word in this passage that needs some explanation is the word “see”. Jesus stated that soon the world (those who are not part of Him) will not see Him anymore, but the disciples will see Him. He probably meant it physically, since after His ascension it was obvious that nobody would see Him, but we can also assume He was talking about the post-ascension time, which is why He mentioned that the disciples would still be able to see Him. How could his past and present disciples see Jesus? The Greek word used in this passage means "to see, to behold, to view attentively, to view mentally, to enjoy the presence of one, and to discern." This word is not used of an indifferent spectator, but of one who looks at a thing with interest and for a purpose. From these definitions we gather that ‘see’ here actually means to see Jesus in the spirit, perceiving Him with the mind’s eye, to enjoy His presence and feel His closeness.

That is why the world will not be able to see Him, because to be able to ‘see’ one must behold Him - look for Him attentively and with interest. Even Christians would not experience His presence if they were indifferent. To see Him demands undivided attention and focus. ‘So I see Him, but what do I see? Do I see him physically?’ you may ask. We see Him for who He is. He says in John 14:21, which we will discuss later, the following: “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him" (MKJV).

The greatest adventure for a Christian is not doing all kinds of exciting things, but is to get to know the Lord. It is to self-develop through doing the Word and then see how He responds by making Himself known. This is how the original disciples saw the Lord and how we would see Him. We experience His presence and get to know how He thinks. Although the latter focuses on Jesus' personality, Jesus also offered His disciples other things such as physical peace, comfort, strength and love while He was on earth. These we can also have through the Spirit if we would seek to find them. To those who eagerly seek Him (Matthew 7:7), to them He will be there as if He was there physically, just like the apostles and Paul experienced His presence. On the Lord’s part nothing has changed. It is us who found ‘more important’ things to do with our time so that we do not experience His reality in our presence. There is, however, a condition to seeing Him - you must be born again. The spirit with which we are born is dead toward God due to Adam’s sin and can therefore not connect with the Holy Spirit. It therefore needs to be renewed through rebirth after which we must be baptised with the Holy Spirit, because Jesus only lives within us through His Holy Spirit.

Jeremiah 9:23-24: "Thus says the Lord: 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.'"

Lord, I want to see you. Help me be obedient so you can show yourself to me.


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