"WE WOULD SEE JESUS"

John 12v20-26: Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

We all want to see Jesus, we all want to behold Him. The Christian's greatest joy in this life is in seeing the King, in times where we are 'caught up' in the Spirit, and we see Him for who He is. There are times when this is a simple thing. Times in our lives when the heavens seem to open over us and we hear the Father's voice so clearly over us. Times like this are so blessed. Those are incredible times; when all is peaceful and the world seems to line up perfectly with all our hopes and expectations (and even line up with heaven itself), and God seems to be just as He should. But there are also harder times, when seeing Jesus will be and must be more of a pursuit and will be, by God's design and necessity, be times where we must also face death to self, and in dying to self, still be active in serving Him. It's then that our comfort and joy, namely, seeing Jesus, will still be a part of our lives, and even more so, because, '...where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.' In following closely in Jesus' footsteps, we will readily find Jesus in front of us, and Jesus beside us. In serving as He served, we will see Jesus and thus the evidence and fruit of who He is in our lives and in the lives of those around us. In dying to self, following His example ('Not my will, but thine be done'), we shall find that His comfort will also be our comfort, that our gesthemane will also find a light from heaven; one that perhaps we've never known and seen before.

It is very interesting to note that those Greeks that wanted to see Jesus, were FIRST going to worship Him. Seeing Jesus for ourselves, each and every day, is very possible, but we must first enter His courts (His Presence) with, '...thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.' It is then that Jesus will reveal Himself in the way that He chooses. Those men probably wanted to see Jesus immediately 'High and lifted up' and yet where was Jesus headed? He was headed to the cross FIRST, THEN He would be glorified. So must we head to the cross first, before we see the glory of the risen Lord for ourselves. In some of the hardest times in our lives, it is often a struggle to even come to the Lord for times of intimacy, because we first only see the cross and only feel it's pain for ourselves and we doubt that such an awesome and powerful Saviour could be part of what we are going through. It sends us into doubt and confusion and the waves begin to make us afraid. However, there is great hope for us, because Jesus stands upon the waves, and He Himself conquered calvary, and we need only to come to Him, to SUBMIT OUR WILLS AND OUR UNDERSTANDING to Him, and there to except the pain we experience as being from a faithful Creator, and there begin to worship. It is then that the Lord will part the heavens, through that cross experience and that service, the Lord will reveal Himself in a unique and extraordinary way.

There will be times in our lives that in order to see Jesus, it will cost us much, if not all we have. The more we see Him though, the more that cost will seem to make sense in light of the eternity that awaits, and in light of the God to whom all our hopes rest. So don't question the way the Lord reveals Himself, but trust that He reveals Himself in the way and ways that He desires, and those ways are precious and full of sovereign will and specifically designed purpose. And if we are to lose our lives one day anyway, what does it matter if we lose them now to see as much of Jesus as we possible can. Would you see Jesus? It's possible, just believe that His ways are higher than our ways, and all His ways and means are good and give for our encouragement to continue to pursue Him. "...for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.' (Heb 11v6)