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Once there was a group of men who believed they had been with Jesus. They all spoke of having the same experience. They had all been in a boat together. When they got back to shore they were buzzing about what they had seen. They were amazed. Perhaps their condition might have been better described as dazed. What had they seen? What had impressed them so deeply? Jesus Christ. That is what the documentation shows. They all believed that on that occasion Jesus had been with them. They all believed that on that occasion they had "seen" Jesus. It was not a likeness of Jesus that they thought saw; it was Jesus himself. Or to use a current expression: "They believed that they had seen the genuine article."

Today Christians hear those words "to see Jesus" frequently. What do those words mean? Frequently when we sing hymns we are exhorted to so live that others "will see Jesus in us." In one of the verses of HAVE THINE OWN WAY, LORD we Christians ask God to "Fill with thy Spirit till all shall see Christ only, always, living in me". When we sing the familiar hymn TAKE TIME TO BE HOLY we are being taught that "by looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be; thy friends in thy conduct his likeness shall see." Does the often repeated idea in these and many, many, similar hymns mean that people can perceive the Son of God if a person behaves in a certain way? How much of the Son of God can be perceived in the behavior of individual believers? Or do the frequently heard words "to see Jesus" no longer mean what they meant in biblical times? Since then has Jesus Christ become something less than the Son of God? Or, is it that God granted the privilege of seeing the gloriousness of the Son of God to only a few believers who happened to be living at the right time and place almost twenty centuries ago?

Now back to the boat.

What happened there? What did those believers see? "Does it matter?" someone may be thinking. "What difference does it make what they saw?" It matters because there is no doubt as to what happened--the documentation of what happened and the documentation of the believers' reactions is beyond question. It matters because of who the men were; they were not shallow or novice believers but were men who had been chosen by Jesus himself and who had been appointed by Jesus to be his apostles. It matters because Jesus himself was present physically.

What does the record show happened: On a particular day in history our Lord was crossing the Lake of Galilee in a small boat. Some of his disciples were with Him. While they were crossing the lake a severe storm came up very suddenly. The wind began gusting violently and the sky became dark. The boat was being pounded by the racing waves. With each pound more water poured over the side of the boat and remained. This situation could not remain the same for long. Soon the water would be pouring continuously into the boat over the edge--and remaining. It was only a matter of time. Some of the men in the boat had been fishermen on this very lake before they had left family and vocation to follow the Lord-and they knew from previous observation that this situation could not continue--hence they were afraid. While all this was going on our Lord was in the stern of the boat-sleeping peacefully with his head on a pillow. Some of Jesus' disciples woke him up in the hope that He would do something--at least share their concern about their dangerous situation. When they woke Him up they said to Him, "Teacher, Do you not care that we are perishing?" What did Jesus do? "He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, `Quiet! Be still!' Then the wind quieted down and it was completely calm" (Mark.4.39).

After the disciples saw our Lord rebuke the wind and command the waves they were filled with fear and amazement. They had "seen" Jesus.

What does this fragment of history tell us about what it meant then to "see Jesus"? The facts and the interpretation are set forth according to God's insights. The Bible describes their reaction to the sight of him in terms like "they were terrified" (Mark); "The men were amazed" (Matthew); "In fear and amazement they asked one another, `Who is this?'" (Luke). What produced this reaction? What did they see? What moved them so much? What do we know about who/what moved them so much? We know a lot about the man they saw. We know much more about the "man" they saw than just what the account of Jesus' stilling of the storm reveals. Our "dossier" on Jesus is bulging. It goes all the way back to his childhood and beyond. The Bible in all its parts provides data on who Jesus is--his identity, his "background", and His mission in history and eternity.

The men in the boat did not see just an impressive individual. They did not see just a man--one whose ethics happened to be superlative. Far from it. Our file on Him, the Bible, reveals that the One they saw was totally unusual, totally unique. They saw the man who came to carry out the plan which God made in eternity past. This wasn't just any man who was in front of them. This was the God-man. This was the one who came to bring to pass what God had promised. They saw the one who could and would do what we never could do--obey the law perfectly from birth to death.

In Old Testament times God had commanded Adam in the Garden, saying, "you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die" (Genesis 2.17). He disobeyed and died. Many centuries later God told Moses to say to the people of Israel, "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19.5-6).

But who could meet these standards of perfection either then or now? Adam did not do so in the perfect environment of the Garden of Eden. Because of that trespass of Adam sin and death entered the world. (Romans 5.12ff.) The apostle Paul spoke of the power of sin this way: "I see another law at work in the members of my body... making me a prisoner of the law of sin..." That is our state. Helpless. He continues, saying, "Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7.23,24, 25). The nation of Israel could not obey so as to fulfill this condition. (Acts 15.10) The Old Testament is a record of Israel's constant failure. In the Old Testament portion of God's word we are told, "Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you" and "If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?" (Psalm 130.3 & 143.2). In the New Testament God tells us: "All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written `Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law'" (Galatians 3.10). God also says that "Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it" (James 2.10). We can't keep the law perfectly. Only He could do so. Only Jesus Christ could fulfill God's demands to obey and keep the covenant.

This is who the believers in the boat saw. They saw the One who could and would "save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1.21); they saw the One who would save them from having to receive the just due (death) for their failure to meet all of God's standards. They saw the deliverer, the rescuer, the Savior.

Because of what He would accomplish we Christians (as well as believers of all periods of history) are "heirs" of God. (Romans 8.17; Galatians 3.29; 4.7). As the apostle Paul, speaking to Christians, puts it: [It is] "the Father...who has qualified YOU to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves..." (Colossians 1.12-13). The apostle Peter addressing Christians reminds them of what they are-"the people of God." It is not just a coincidence that the apostle uses the exact terms which God used in the Old Testament portion of his word to speak of his people [Exodus 19.5,6; quoted above]. Peter tells believers, "you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God." He says, "once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God" (1 Peter 2.9,10). How did they (we) become such? By the work of Christ. The demands of the sovereign God for perfect obedience which we read about in both the Old Testament and New Testament portions of God's word were met. Christ met them. Because of His work believers are "heirs" to the inheritance of God.

Who did the disciples see? They saw the One who came to effect that plan. They saw the One who was to satisfy God's demands for holiness and to earn the inheritance for God's people.

And this plan in which believers were included and which Jesus Christ was the effector of is age-old. This purpose and plan was not an after-thought or a recently devised intervention in the "natural" course of the universe. No, this plan and purpose of God to give the inheritance which Jesus Christ earned to believers had been in existence longer than the universe itself. "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ..." (Ephesians 1.4,5). He did this "in accordance with His pleasure and will" (Ephesians 1.5). According to the authoritative teaching of the apostle, it is "God...who has saved us and called us to a holy life-not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace," the apostle says, "was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus..." (2 Timothy 1.8,9).

Who did the believers in the boat see? A man whose behavior was superlative? Is this what He was all about? No, they saw so much more. They saw the "Christ [who] redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written..." (Galatians 3.13); they saw the only One "who had no sin" who "God made...to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor.5.21); they saw the One whom God sent to die for them, to fulfill the law for them; they saw the "one and only Son" whom God sent "that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3.16).

This was who the believers in the boat saw. Is it any wonder He was impressive? They saw the Christ who came at God's appointed time to carry out that beautiful purpose of God (Galatians 4.4-5) which had been promised from the beginning of human history (Genesis 3.14-15). (And we dare to speak of the experience of seeing an ordinary human being behaving in a particular way as if it were seeing Jesus!)

The One they saw was expected. Many predictions and foreshadowings made by God in Old Testament times had spoken about the One they saw.

It is no accident that the New Testament portion of God's word begins with the prediction of the birth of him that God had foretold would be the forerunner of the Lord, the forerunner of the Savior.

An angel revealed it, saying to an elderly Jewish priest (Zechariah) that within one year his elderly wife would bear a son. The description of this son was in the same terms that God used to describe the forerunner of the Lord in the Old Testament (Malachi 3.1,4.6). When that son was born as the angel had predicted the priest knew that God was fulfilling his promises. "...Zechariah was filled with Holy spirit and prophesied `Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation [i.e., a savior] for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago)'" (Luke 1.68-70).

The faithful Jewish people were expecting the Christ. In Hebrew the term was "Messiah". They were expecting the Messiah. The first recorded words of the first mentioned disciples speak of this expectation. When Andrew was moved to follow Jesus "the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon [Peter] and tell him, `We have found the Messiah' (that is, the Christ)." The next day another disciple (Philip) sought out his brother and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph" (John 1.40,44.

It was not just anyone that the believers in the boat saw. It was the man about which the Old Testament already had provided a lot of information. It was the predicted servant of God who came to carry out God's mission of mercy that those disciples were in the presence of.

They saw the fulfiller of the gospel! What is the gospel? The gospel is the good news that God is bringing his plan to pass. That is what the Greek term which is always translated by the word "gospel" means--"good news". God has brought his purpose of mercy to pass. "The kingdom of heaven is at hand."

How frequently that phrase "the kingdom of heaven (or `kingdom of God') is at hand" appears as a general description of Jesus' message. Those books in the Bible which we call the "gospels" tell us that at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry "Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news (or `gospel') of God. `The time has come,' Jesus said. `The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!'" (Mark 1.14-15).

Jesus himself stated the news in different ways. What thrilling news Jesus announced! When Jesus was in the synagogue in his home town (Nazareth) after publicly reading the promises which God had made in Old Testament times through his prophet Isaiah, Jesus announced the good news--that the time had come. He said, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4.21).

This is who they saw. They saw the "fulfiller". They saw the one whom God sent to work his will upon earth. The men in the boat saw the expected One.

But how were they to know that He was the expected One? How were they to recognize the unique Servant of God who had come to carry out God's plan of salvation? They saw his credentials. What were his credentials? His miracles were His credentials.

While a few individuals living in Palestine during the 3 years of Jesus ' ministry on earth (29-32 A.D.) were healed of their diseases the enormous significance of Jesus' miracles lies elsewhere. The miraculous works He accomplished were not ends in themselves; they were signs; they were pointers. Like the rainbow their significance was what they indicated. The "message" of the rainbow is not its beautiful colors but that the storm is over. The miracles Jesus wrought were signs of the times, as the Bible says in Matthew 16.2-3 and Luke 12.54-56. They were evidence that the new age had begun. Jesus' power over evil and over the consequences of sin was a sign that the new age had dawned. "If I cast out demons with the finger of God," Jesus said, "surely the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Luke 11.20).

On the day of Pentecost the apostle Peter set forth this meaning of Jesus' miracles. "Men of Israel," he said, "listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him..." (Acts 2.22)

The miracles Jesus did verified who He was; they confirmed that He was the one whom God had said he would send to carry out his purpose of mercy. When the messengers from John the Baptist asked the specific question, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" how did Jesus answer them? He pointed to His miraculous works. He reiterated the fact that God had foretold (Isaiah 35.5) that the One God would send would do the miraculous works which Jesus was doing. Jesus said to John's messengers "go and tell John the things you have seen and heard that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them" (Luke 7.22). God had spoken of the signs the coming One would perform. Jesus was doing them. In the Gospel according to John the significance of Jesus' miraculous works is spelled out. After the Bible points out that the Bible contains the account of only a portion of the miracles, signs and wonders Jesus wrought, it tells why it was important that people know that He wrought miracles: "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, THE SON OF GOD." It is important that we realize who Jesus is. These same verses go on to say why it is important to know who Jesus is. The value of knowing who he is is that "by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20.30-31). Jesus Himself put it very bluntly, saying,"...Believe the miracles, that you may learn and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father" (John 10.38).

His miraculous works revealed Him. His works were manifestations of his glory. The Bible says so. The second chapter of the gospel according to John records for us Jesus' turning water into wine. In that chapter God declares this truth: "This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him" (John 2.9,11).

This was who the disciples in the boat were seeing. They were "seeing" the one whom God sent. The miracles they witnessed identified Him as the long awaited One.

Who did the disciples see? They saw the one who had the power. To know--to "see"--who Jesus was was to know that he was the one who had the power. He wasn't just anyone. He wasn't, as we say, "at the mercy" of the elements. He wasn't less than all the powers of darkness. He had all power. (Matthew 28.18).

The Bible (which sets forth what God wants us to know) deliberately records a particular time when Jesus healed a paralytic (Mark 2.11). Jesus' own words at that time make it clear that his purpose was to demonstrate that HE had the power. On that occasion Jesus told his questioners, "`But that you may know that the Son of Man (a title Jesus used of himself) has authority on earth to forgive sins...' He said to the paralytic, `I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.'" Jesus' power to affect changes in "physical" realities was to "show" that He had the power to affect changes in "spiritual" matters as well, in this case, the power to forgive sins.

This is who they saw. They saw the one who had this power.

By the time this event ("the stilling of the storm") occurred these men--these "faithful" disciples--had already seen a lot of "credentials"; they had seen a lot of manifestations of God's power. Prior to the crossing of the Lake these men had been with Jesus for many months, perhaps even a year. Many times in the course of that ministry Jesus had revealed his power to create miraculous results--He had turned water into wine, He had healed the cripple of thirty eight years, He had been responsible for the miraculous catch of fish, He had healed the demon-possessed man in the synagogue, He had healed the paralytic, He had raised the widow's dead son, etc., etc.

It was by the power of God's word spoken by our Lord Jesus that Lazarus came forth from the grave (John 11.43-44). That God's word had this power was not a fact that came into being or was first revealed in New Testament times. The Old Testament portion of God's word very clearly teaches that God did create, and is able to create, by the power of His spoken word. "by the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth...Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm" (Psalm 33.6,8-9; cf. Romans 4.17).

What did those believers in the boat see?

This was no ordinary man whom the disciples in the boat saw. They saw the one "whom he [God] appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe" (Hebrews 1.2); they saw the One who is "the exact representation of his [God's] being, sustaining all things by his powerful word" (Hebrews 1.3). (And we talk today as if the likeness of such a One as that can be seen in the behavior of certain human beings!)

Who did the disciples see? We know that the one they saw was so impressive that the sight of Him changed them. The "seeing" of Jesus filled them with new feelings; it changed the feelings they had. When the storm came up what were they afraid of? They were afraid that the wind and the waves were going to bring about their destruction ("we're going to drown"). Before Jesus overcame the storm they were afraid of the "FORCES OF NATURE." After He overcame the storm they were afraid of HIM. In the Gospel according to Mark we are told, "they were terrified and asked each other, `Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!'"

Does not the Bible explicitly state that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom? (Job 28.28; Psalm 111.10; Proverbs 9.10) Does not the Bible say "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10.28). This was who they saw... the one who had the power to create and to destroy (John 14.9). God is not to be trifled with. In the New Testament we Christians are told "our God is a consuming fire"; "The Lord will judge his people"; "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 12.29; 10.30; 10.31). This was demonstrated In New Testament times in the case of an unbeliever in Acts 12.23 and in the case of professing believers in Acts 5.4-10.

Knowing this truth, the believer in Old Testament times prayed to God thus: "Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you" (Psalm 143.2). Is it surprising that the disciples feared HIM when they realized in whose presence they were? Is any other response to such a man possible? That is, is any other response conceivable for a creature in the presence of God?--especially a creature infected with sin before a holy God?

The apostle Peter expressed this truth very well. It poured forth from his heart. One morning after Peter and his partners had spent a fruitless night fishing Jesus told him to go out again and let down the nets. They caught so many fish that the fishing boats began to sink. Peter then realized who he was in the presence of. What did do? He said, `Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man! (Luke 5.8). At that time he had "seen" something of the Lord. What was the effect? It humbled him. (cf. Isaiah 6.5).

Listen to the statement about Jesus which was made by the man whom God describes as "the greatest born of women" (Matthew 11.11; Luke 7.28), i.e., John the Baptist. He said of the Christ "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie" (Mark 1.7).

Who did the disciples see? They saw the One to whom all these descriptions (and many, many, more) in our file apply. And it is God who furnished us with all this information about Jesus. The believers in the boat saw the One--the same One--who after His resurrection and ascension declared, "I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades." (Rev.1.17-18)

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WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO "SEE" JESUS?

PART II 

Who and what did the disciples in the boat "see"? They saw the God-man; they saw the Son of God. That was who they saw. They saw one who was the realization of everything God had said in the Old Testament portion of his revelation. Jesus Christ does not change. All of God's descriptions of the One they were in the presence of refer to the One who never changes, the One who, according to the Bible, "is the same yesterday, and today and forever" (Hebrews 13.8). What He was then is what He is now. We have a lot of background information about the One they saw. And all this information we have on Him is accurate and definitive since the descriptions we have are the result of God's absolute knowledge. For instance we know that the One they saw "is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible...; all things were created by him and for him" (Colossians 1.15-16). This is just one of the many authoritative descriptions we have of the One they saw.

Is it surprising that seeing such a One left the disciples in awe and wonder. "Fear," "amazement," "awe," "wonder." These are the kinds of words the inspired writers of the gospels use repeatedly to describe the reaction of Jesus' disciples and others to the sight of Jesus.

Is this the same Jesus that we are told can be "seen" in (or because of) certain kinds of behavior? Or do we now see something less than they were privileged to see? If the likeness of Jesus can be seen in human beings who behave in certain ways how big or how small is the Son of God who can be thus portrayed?

I hear some people thinking "but". The first "but" is this: "But even if this is all true," I hear a believer saying, "this is how we speak today. We frequently say such things as `I see your mother in you' or `I could see his father in him' when we see some of the characteristics or features of one person that we have seen in another person." That is absolutely correct. We often see some of the features or mannerisms of parents in their children, or we see the ideas or thought patterns of teachers in their students, etc. We "see" the influence of one person on another. This is very true. And we frequently speak this way. "Why then," someone may say, "is it so wrong to speak of `seeing Jesus' in someone when we see the influence of Jesus in someone's behavior? Does not the Bible itself frequently state that Jesus `lives in', `abides in', or `is in' believers?" Yes, it does (Galatians 2.20; John 17.26). The reason it is wrong to speak of "seeing" Jesus in a human being is that there is so much more to Jesus than there is to any human being. He was and is not just another person. He was not and is not just a human being whose qualities were outstanding. (Was the One who the disciples saw just a person?) There is a big difference between seeing the features or the influence of a person who is like us in many ways--a dependant creature, a mammal, a human being, who cannot survive without breathing, eating, and sleeping--and seeing the God-man who has "life in himself" (John 5.26). When we say we "see" one person in another we are noting some of the same characteristics or features or mannerisms in similar beings such as a human parent and a human child or a human teacher and a human student. We may even "see" similarities between different kinds of creatures that God has made (as when scientists or psychologists describe similar body functions or similar behavioral responses). But they are all creatures. This is very different from "seeing" God who is more than we can see, more than we can grasp intellectually, more than something like us; who is something other than EVERYTHING else that exists. Nobody is a replica of God.

While it may be true that to some extent a child may be a replica of his parent or a student may to some extent be a replica of his teacher no creature of God is a replica of Jesus--the uncreated Son of God. No creature is or can be a replica of Him who is described by God as "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible...; all things were created by him and for him" (Colossians 1.1-16).

This is why it is terribly wrong to say (or even think) that Jesus can be "seen" in someone even though we frequently use this expression to indicate that we see some characteristics or features or influence of one human being in another human being.

I hear another "But". "But," people will say, "doesn't the Bible say that Christ is living in believers? And doesn't it teach that Christians should imitate the ways of Jesus Christ?" Yes, it does say that. Over and over again. "Be imitators of God," the apostle Paul teaches us in his letter to the church at Ephesus (Ephesians 5.1). "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ," the apostle says in 1 Corinthians 11.1. "Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps," says the apostle Peter (1 Peter 2.21). It was God's purpose that we be holy: "Be holy, because I am holy," says God (1 Peter 1.16; Leviticus 11.44). "...Be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12.14). "He also predestined [us!] to be conformed to the likeness of his Son" (Romans 8.29), etc., etc.

Of course other people, both believers and unbelievers, should see us behaving like God's children. But what is infinitely more important, yea, imperative, is that God, the all-seeing God see us thinking and behaving as befits members of his family for whom Jesus Christ died.) While the Bible says that Christians should imitate Christ's example, it does not say that doing so can make Christ visible. What is wrong is not the teaching that Christians should behave like children of a holy God. What is wrong is the teaching that thinking and behaving as God wants us to do portrays Jesus or permits any true image of the God-man to be "seen", "perceived", or "recognized". To explicitly state this idea is wrong. But it is worse if this idea is taught by implication. It is worse if the idea that behavior sets forth a picture of Jesus is conveyed implicitly for then not only is the teaching wrong but the fact that teaching about Jesus is being done is hidden. The teaching is being transmitted "silently" from one person to another like an infection.

To convey the impression that "seeing" a likeness of his behavior or seeing His influence is the same as "seeing" Jesus is not just an error. It is more than that. Much more than that. It is not a mistake; it is not just doing something unwise to say or imply this. No, we are perpetrating a horrible sin if we state or imply that there is any comparison between seeing the one thing and seeing Jesus. To speak this way is terribly misleading. It is to teach a great lie--a great lie about Jesus. The experience of "seeing" any human being behave in a particular way and the experience of "seeing" the God-man cannot be compared--that is, without terribly misrepresenting God which is to insult him.

The two experiences cannot even be conceived of as comparable without making a certain assumption about God. That assumption is that God is similar to us--sort of a "good man" writ large. But is this proposition true? Does the Bible teach it? When the Bible speaks about God does it reveal him to be comparable to us, or to any other creature? "`To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?' says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." (Isaiah 40.25-26; vv.12-15; 43.13; 46.5; Deuteronomy 4.35,39).

Our behavior no matter how Christian it is does not form a "frame" big enough for the image of God to show through. To equate seeing GOD5 with seeing US is blasphemous. It is blasphemous to speak of Jesus as if He were just a man rather than being both God and man. It is blasphemous to think of God as if he were anything less than all of God's statements reveal Him to be. We have a name for the crime of speaking untruths about other people: we call it slander. How much more of an offense is it when it is against God!

What we are doing when we speak of "seeing" Jesus in someone's behavior (or because of someone's behavior)--is it not applying the name or label "Jesus" to something infinitely smaller than the Son of God? Is it not taking His name and plastering it upon something that is by comparison meaningless--something that is so insignificant that it doesn't even call forth the emotion of awe? God forbid that we would dare to take Jesus' name and use it as if it were a symbol that could be manipulated like putting a brand name on an inferior product! God forbid that any believer would have the audacity to take His name and make it stand--not for the embodiment of God--but for a lesser reality such as a living example of all the proper behavioral patterns.

Is that who the believers in the boat saw--a perfect blend of perfect behavior patterns? What "lesson" does their experience tell us? Prior to the crossing of the Lake these disciples had heard the teachings of the PERFECT teacher and had seen His PERFECT example for many months, perhaps even a year. They had seen many manifestations of His power and many out workings of His ethics. Yet, despite all this exposure to His teachings and His actions the disciples still did not speak to Him humbly and reverentially--as if they comprehended who He was. Before He calmed the storm they spoke to Him audaciously, even accusatively,--questioning His care for them. They woke Him up and said to Him [to the Son of God!], "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" (Mark 4.38). And after He calmed the storm they still did not act as if they understood whose presence they were in: they said to one another, "What kind of man is this?" "Who is this?" Didn't they know? Didn't they know what the Old Testament portion of God's word said about Him? Hadn't they been "seeing" Him for all these many months? (How many times must He be seen to be seen? Two times, three times, four times, ten times? And today, only replicas of His behavior can be seen. How many times must the replicas be seen?)

Jesus was so "big", there was so much to Him, that even the apostles with all their background and privilege did not comprehend who/what He was (until after Jesus' resurrection). And we "teach" that seeing some overt compassionate or ethical behavior is going to make Him discernible! How much of the Son of God can our behavior portray? Will seeing some ethical behavior reveal Him? Will it reveal what differentiates Him from everyone and everything else? Will it point out what makes Him Him? Will it reveal who the disciples saw?--the One, the only One, who could resist Satan's every temptation, the One who had all power over the elements, the One who calmed storms, cured the sick, raised the dead, the One whose perfect obedience and sacrificial death on the cross in our stead earned God's gift for us? Will anybody's behavior reveal this Jesus? Or is it now possible to see and realize who and what Jesus is without seeing these features of Him?

If seeing who and what the disciples saw does not consist of seeing and recognizing the awesomeness of the God-man perhaps it is not Him we are seeing! Has he changed and become something ordinary, something unmajestic, something undemanding of awe? Does the Bible teach that He Has become something less since He was crucified and raised to the right hand of the Father in heaven? Has the Son of God decreased in stature, in power, in magnificence, or in holiness, to such an extent that the sight of Him no longer produces the same response of awe and Godly fear that it produced then? (cf. Luke 5.8-9; Revelation 1.17-18). (Did the words which Jesus addressed to His disciples as recorded in Matthew 18.3 apply only to believers living then?)

Now back to the Bible. Does it show or say that Jesus is such a clear cut object that we can assume that any normal pair of eyes will see Him if He is present? Does God's recorded history and teaching show or say that the experience of seeing Him is so simple that seeing a body execute some acts of ethical or compassionate behavior can communicate who and what Jesus is?

Jesus himself raised this issue of what seeing Jesus means. He said in so many words, "What does it take before people can see who I am?" On the very last night of His ministry one of His apostles who had been with Him for two to three years said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus' answer coming at the extreme end of His teaching ministry puts a sharp edge on Jesus' words. He said, "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14.9).

What does it take to see Jesus for what He is? The Bible says "He [Christ] was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him" (John 1.10). "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him" (John 1.11). They did not perceive who they were dealing with. (cf. Acts 3.13-14; l Corinthians 2.8)

God's word declares: "unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3.3). What biblical basis is there for believing that the "unreborn" can see the King and recognize the fact that He is King? God's word declares that "the man without the [Holy] Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2.14)

What does it mean to "see" Jesus? The formal teachings as well as the history recorded in God's word make it clear that there is more to "seeing Jesus" than meets the eye. It is more than physics. There is more to seeing Jesus than seeing a body. There is more to seeing Jesus than observing behavior.

What does it mean to "see" Jesus? It means to see Jesus--and nothing less than Jesus. It means to see the "One" that the believers in the boat saw...

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