I want to see Jesus. There is something in me that just longs for it. It is an intense and relentless desire, unable to be satisfied by anything but the real thing. I often daydream about the moment when I will be able to set eyes on him for the first time. My heart leaps at the very thought of what that moment will be like. Honestly, one of my favorite things is when I can quite my heart and close my eyes; and I just for a second try and picture in my mind who He is and all the He encompasses. In John’s portrayal of his vision of Christ he wrote:
Revelation 1:12-17
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair of his head were white, like white wool. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.
I think of the power, the holiness, the glory, the eternity of his presence…..and I can’t wrap my mind around any of it. Physical mind cannot comprehend it. Physical eyes cannot make light of it. But in those moments of quiet stillness, my heart begins to leap. “The eyes of your spirit allow revelation-light to enter into your being” (Matthew 6:22 TPT). In the moments when the limits of my physical body are insufficient, the eyes of my heart are activated, bringing light to a realm of sight I never knew was possible and still don’t know whether or not I fully understand. And I can see Him, not with physical eyes, but with the eyes of a heart that has been enlightened by the power and grace of his Holy Spirit. It changes everything. Just one glimpse of his presence, just one look at his face. It changed me. And I can’t seem to get enough of it.
There is something incredibly transformational and cleansing in being able to set one’s eyes upon the Lord. I have experienced this form of grace within my own life as I have seen my own pain, addictions, perversions, and hardened areas of my heart seemingly melt away in moments where I chose to set my gaze on Jesus. I write this with tears in my eyes as I think about how wonderful it (grace) is and how beautiful his presence and his face have been. It is almost as if there would need to be a sixth sense in order to describe what it is like, because it is literally not of this world. There has been nothing more beautiful, powerful, or transformational in my life than the moments that I have chosen and been able to spend gazing upon the face of Jesus.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18 (TPT)
But the moment one turns to the Lord with an open heart, the veil is lifted AND THEY SEE…We can all draw close to him with the veil removed from our faces. And with no veil we all become like mirrors who brightly reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus. We are being TRANSFIGURED INTO HIS VERY IMAGE as we move from one brighter level of glory to another.
We reflect the one we choose to behold. And we don’t just reflect it, but we are transformed into Christ’s very likeness as we choose to gaze upon his glory. From one degree of glory to the next. As we cast off the sinfulness of our old selves and choose to look to Christ, we continue to see a clearer and clearer picture of him as he truly is. And as a result, we become more and more like him. There is a critical correlation the Bible draws here between our personal purity and our capacity for spiritual vision and insight. That is why Paul writes in Hebrews 12:2 that we should “Lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, LOOKING TO JESUS, the founder and perfecter of our faith.” Sin blinds us. So, as we choose to throw aside the sinful areas in our life in the pursuit of holiness, we naturally begin to have the eyes of our hearts opened to the life-transforming beauty of Jesus! That is why is also written in Matthew 5, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they SHALL SEE GOD.”
As a practice, I like to echo the cries of David in Psalm 27:3 “One thing I have asked of the Lord, and that one thing I will seek: TO GAZE UPON THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD and to inquire in his temple. I think it is a real part of what we were created for. It is just an instinctual hunger and desperation that is only satisfied when the eyes of our hearts are set on him. It is my prayer that the authentic cry of my heart would mirror David’s in the sense that my One and only ask of the Lord is that I could be in his presence and that I would seek it with a vigor and urgency that testifies of its necessity in my life. I think of how Moses’ face would glow for days after he had gone to speak and be with the Lord. He reflected the one he chose to behold. While I don’t expect my face to physically glow, I do believe that my life should portray a very noticeable reflection of the time I have spent gazing upon the face of Jesus. It doesn’t leave us unchanged. No amount of time that we would choose to spend with Christ is ever wasted. It never returns void. So just like David, I am going to continue to cry out for his presence in my life and the grace to see him as he truly is.
Ephesians 1:18-22
I pray that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
