WE SEE JESUS
Pastor Floyd H. Crook
(Sermon given at Pentecostal Grace Camp Meeting in Topeka, Kansas, 1982)
“THEREFORE we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip….Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet….But now we see not yet all things put under him. BUT WE SEE JESUS, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste DEATH FOR EVERY MAN.” Hebrews 2:1,8b,9.
WE SEE JESUS! This is the all important thing in the life of every individual. Some saw Jesus with their natural eyes. Many places where the Bible speaks of seeing Jesus, it speaks in the figurative sense, and means “to have discernment, to acknowledge Jesus,” which means Savior.
On one occasion a little fellow who heard that Jesus was to pass by a certain way, being a short person, realized he would not be able to see above the crowd, so He climbed up into a sycamore tree. It seems that Jesus saw him first. Others were around him, but He looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to-day I must abide at thy house.” Luke 19:5.
Another time certain disciples came to Philip and said, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” When Jesus and the disciples were on the mount of trans-figuration, where Moses and Elijah talked with Him, (and after a period of time went off of the scene), we read this wonderful statement: “... they saw no man any more, save Jesus only...” The law and the prophets were fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, We need to see Jesus today; although there may be people all around us. It is amazing, as we read the Word of God, how from beginning to end, WE SEE JESUS. He is the one that is set forth.
JESUS THE ROCK OF AGES
We are told of the wanderings of the children of Israel in the wilderness, of their complaining and idolatry; yet there was a spiritual ROCK that followed them and that Rock was CHRIST. He is the Rock of Ages. Jesus is pictured in the Word farther back than our minds can fathom. He was in the beginning. Our reasoning minds would tell us there was a beginning, but there was not, as far as God is concerned. He WAS and IS the ETERNAL ONE; the self-existent One.
There was a beginning, as far as this earth is concerned, “and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” We were taught in school that man began with a little crystal cell and finally developed into a man. How can any one be so dense as to believe this? History has been kept a long time, but there is no record that a man came from a monkey. (They act like it some times.) OUR SOURCE IS GOD!
THE PROMISE OF A REDEEMER
After Adam and Eve sinned, God promised a Redeemer, and various ones down through the ages, waited for the promised One to come. In God’s time, in due time, at exactly the right time, a little Babe was born in Bethlehem. We see Jesus, coming down here, in a body of flesh and blood. We can’t understand nor explain it. Jesus Christ, the Eternal One, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, became a helpless, defenseless dependent Babe.
Now as man looked upon Him, He was just like any other Babe, but we have the record of a man to whom it was revealed that he should not see death, before he had seen the LORD’S Christ. When they took Jesus into the temple to circumcise Him, Simeon took Jesus in his arms and said, “Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: FOR MINE EYES HAVE SEEN THY SALVATION.’ Luke 2:29-30.
God’s salvation wrapped up in a little Babe - isn’t that a marvelous statement? He was to be a light to the Gentiles and the glory of Israel. This can be said of no other one!
He had no sooner been born until the ruler got a little shaky, and thought he would play a trick on the wise men from the east. He thought he had a sure plan to get rid of this One who was supposed to be the King. God went before Him, and took Him from the reach of the ruler that would have destroyed Him. As far as history is concerned, we have no record of Him for several years, then He appeared before some of those “smart fellows.” He was hearing and asking them questions. They were amazed at the wisdom with which He spoke. He was wisdom personified! He is made to us, “wisdom and righteousness, and sancti-fication, and redemption.” Cor. 1 :30.
So all through His earthly life, men tried to take His life. On one occasion when His life was threatened, we have this statement, “His hour had not yet come.” You see there was an appointed time, not only for Him to come into the world, but when He should die. in spite of all of the threats of men, He fulfilled the ministry God gave Him to do.
To be continued