“…ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” John 14:1
Dear Ones:
Believing in Jesus Christ is NOT an easy thing to do. It was not for the disciples who were closest to Him, and neither is it for believers today. Why? Most certainly it is because of LIMITS, our limits in the perception of spiritual reality. When the disciples looked at the Lord Jesus, they saw the evidence, even the manifestation, of the nature of God. Hence, Jesus tells them that, “…ye believe in God.” The problem with their faith, in size and strength with regard to the Lord Jesus, comes with the limitations of the perception of His physical Person. He eats, sleeps, works, gets tired…He IS as we ARE. Though this is a true vision, and perspective, of Christ in His humility, it is not the complete vision in His resurrected glory. It would be after the Lord Jesus is resurrected, that the ground is laid in the hearts of the disciples for them to believe Him as the glorified, and sovereign God, Savior, and Lord. Faith will then be able to receive the blessing of Pentecost. As Elisha needed to have the vision of Elijah being taken to heaven in a chariot of fire, in order to believe God for the double portion of the Spirit of Elijah, so the disciples needed to grasp something of the glorified Christ after the resurrection, to wait on, and believe Him, for the outpouring of the Spirit.
What does this have to do with us? How does the consideration of this subject apply to us? The first thing that we need to address is the means by which faith comes to our heart. We know that it is a gift, but it is also a capacity, and an enabling. We know also that as God works in our hearts, He does so to bring us to the conviction of His presence, and the fact that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. (Heb. 11:6) But then, there is the matter of limitations…specifically the limitations of perspective, of vision. It is then that we are called to seek Christ alone, and aloneness with Him. It is in the worship of God, “…beholding the beauty of the Lord, and enquiring in His temple,” (Ps. 27:4) that He reveals the reality of Himself to our hearts. David wrote in Psalm 68:24, “…They have seen Thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, IN THE SANCTUARY.” What is he saying here? It is in the worship of God, of Christ, by the Spirit, that He reveals the truth of Himself, and His ways, to our hearts. It is as the foundation of the knowledge of the truth of God is laid in our hearts, that faith begins to grow, increase, and overcome. The faith given by God is correlated, and associated, with the vision of God in truth. Christ is SEEN in the sanctuary, not as just a man who came do identify Himself with us in our limitations, but in His glory, as Sovereign God and King.
Dear Father, strengthen us to attend to the first and most important things necessary for faith to grow, become strong, and able to overcome in this world of unbelief. Lord Jesus, Thou has called us to believe in Thee. Open our eyes to see Thee in Thy glory, so that we can believe Thee for the wonderful thing, that which is worthy of Thee. Enable us to see Thee in Thy word, in Thy humility, in Thy glory, so that we can walk in Thy steps for Thy glory. We thank Thee in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad