The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Not By Sight"
"In our present existence, seeing, hearing, and touching the Lord Jesus would not guarantee genuine faith, as defined by God and inspired by the Holy Spirit. In fact, it might well hinder our trust."
After His resurrection, the prints of nails remained on the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, along with the wound of a spear (Luke 24:39-40; John 20:27).
Why would this be the case? Perhaps eternity will not allow a complete answer regarding the reasons for this abiding and tangible evidence of our Lord's physical suffering for us. Certainly, the marks provided confirmation to so-called "doubting Thomas," who became trusting Thomas as He confessed of the Savior, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28). In grace and mercy, the Lord Jesus accommodated the need of Thomas. He then, however, spoke of the vast majority of believers through the ages who would not behold the wounds, as did Thomas - "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20:29).
"We walk by faith, not by sight" (II Corinthians 5:7).
Unlike Thomas, we cannot see the prints of nails and a spear, but rather encounter them on the pages of Scripture. However, we no less believe because we read rather than see. In fact, as presently constituted, genuine faith apart from the senses involves a greater confirmation than sight, sound, fragrance, touch, and taste. The disciples confirm this seemingly unlikely truth. They lived three years in sensory contact with the Lord Jesus. However, when He died on the cross, "all forsook Him and fled" (Mark 14:50). In our present existence, seeing, hearing, and touching the Lord Jesus would not guarantee genuine faith, as defined by God and inspired by the Holy Spirit. In fact, it might well hinder our trust as our flesh is so prone to emphasizing tangible things rather than the unseen, but vitally present, involved, and active God. "The just shall live by faith" because such a life of trusting with the heart is far more evidential in our present existence than that which our physical senses process (Romans 1:17). "The Spirit of God beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God" (Romans 8:16).
I recall a young man once saying to me what seemed obvious to him: "If only I could see and hear the Lord, I would trust and obey Him more!" That will be true in our glorified state to come, when our perfected senses will not be a hindrance to knowing our Lord. Presently, however, this is not at all the case. As currently constituted, we require the unseen, the unheard, and the untouched to pave the path of "the righteousness which is of God by faith" (Philippians 3:9). Indeed, in the moment when the glory of our Lord was perhaps most tangibly revealed on the cross of Calvary, the disciples fled rather than trusted. We would follow them if our Lord made Himself too plainly known by our senses. This will not always be the case as a day approaches when "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:2). Until them, we recognize that to "trust and obey Him more" best occurs as the Spirit of God and the Word of God work in our hearts to foster and further faith in our Heavenly Father's heart. Thereby, the eyes may not see. The ears may not hear. The hands may not touch. But our spirits can know, and our minds can understand that in this present hour, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."
"He (Moses) endured, as seeing Him who is invisible."
(Hebrews 11:27)
"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."
(Romans 10:17)
Weekly Memory Verse
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity (love), I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."
(I Corinthians 13:1).
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