I See Jesus
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Blessed Assurance
Blessed Assurance
Sing a verse of “Blessed Assurance”
God always reassures us. He is always giving us hope, an expectation of good things in middle of whatever difficult circumstances life may bring. God intends for us to live a life of hopeful anticipation…this should define our life…Hope…a hope produced because our eyes are on Jesus.
When you are facing hard times turn to Jesus. Go to His word and find assurance…you will find some there…and through faith, the Holy Spirit will take you deeply into the meaning of His assurance, apply it to your specific circumstances and give you hope…an expectation of good even in the middle of a tumultuous circumstance in which there seems to be none.
God always reassures us. He is always giving us hope, an expectation of good things in middle of whatever difficult circumstances life may bring. He intends for us to live a life of hopeful anticipation of what is to come not.
The disciples were hurting because of all the things told them in chapter 13…one of their number would betray Jesus, Peter would deny Him, He would leave them and go someplace they could not come. They had to have felt abandoned and depressed.
These men were low on hope. They were not expecting anything good anytime soon. So Jesus gives them assurance…tells them of His plan and what they had to look forward to. He told them of the light at the end of the tunnel and then told them of what was in store when they reached the light.
Here we see the tenderness of Jesus. He was a strong and powerful man but He was also kind, generous and tender. Love expresses itself in all of these ways and many more.
Let’s look closer at this assurance...
In these first two verses we see the tenderness of Jesus. He was a strong and powerful man but He was also kind, generous and tender. Love expresses itself in all of these ways and many more.
The disciples were hurting because of all the things told them in chapter 13…one of their number would betray Jesus, Peter would deny Him, He would leave them and go someplace they could not come. They had to have felt abandoned and depressed.
“I will not leave you as orphans.” — In that day an orphan was a child who lost his parents or a disciple who lost his master. Jesus was going away and would not be seen. However, He wanted to assure His followers, He would not leave them as orphans. He was not going away forever.
The world wouldn’t see Him but His followers would. Jesus would appear before many people over the course of 40 days after His resurrection but every one of those people would be believers in Him.
Why would He do this? Why not just appear to everyone and let believers and unbelievers alike see Him? More on that later!
It is enough at this point to note...Jesus intended for them to know and remember, in the midst of what was about to happen, He was not leaving them forever. He would die and be separated from them for a time, but He would rise again, live and they would see Him again.
Let’s look closer at this assurance...
Because He Lives
Because He Lives
Because I live you shall live — Jesus begins with the reason for His departure and the climatic conclusion of His return. He is going to die and be separated from them but He will return and be with them, never to be separated from them again! We will live forever because of what He is about to do!
This separation would be a good thing for through the sequence of events which would soon transpire He would never be separated from them again.
The resurrection of Jesus is a watershed moment in the history of humanity. Since the fall of mankind we have all lived with the terror of physical death and all of the questions which arise from it.
There are two things you can be assured of in life, death and taxes. Some will cheat their way out of paying their taxes but no one can avoid death. It comes for us all.
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
For many it is the great unknown. What happens when we die? Is there life after death? Do we just cease to exist?
Followers of Jesus need not walk around with those kind of questions in their head, robbing them of joy and the hope He came to give. We will never cease to exist, never pass into nothingness. We will live! We will live with Jesus.
Jesus told them, “Because I live, you also will live” — We…are…never…going…to…die! Sure we will die a physical death but we will never face what death really is…eternal separation from God.
We will never cease to exist, never pass into nothingness. We will live! We will live with Jesus…we will live in a new heaven and new earth in new bodies forever.
The resurrection of Jesus is proof that He defeated death. It has no hold on Him. This means that if we place faith in Him to save us it will have no hold on us either.
I read once of a little girl whose home was near a cemetery, and in order to go to the store, she had to follow a path that led through the cemetery. But this little girl never seemed to have any sense of fear, even when she returned through the cemetery at dusk. Someone said to her, "Aren't you afraid to go through the cemetery?" "Oh, no," she replied, "I'm not afraid, for my home is just beyond." Are you afraid of the cemetery? Not if you are a Christian, and know that your Home is just beyond.
I read once of a little girl whose home was near a cemetery, and in order to go to the store, she had to follow a path that led through the cemetery. But this little girl never seemed to have any sense of fear, even when she returned through the cemetery at dusk. Someone said to her, "Aren't you afraid to go through the cemetery?" "Oh, no," she replied, "I'm not afraid, for my home is just beyond."
Are you afraid of the cemetery?
Not if you are a Christian, and know that your Home is just beyond.
Jesus
Someday separation ends forever. We will see Jesus with our eyes. We will see our loved ones who died in Christ with our eyes. We will hold Jesus, kiss His face…We will hold our loves ones and hear their voice again. Death loses…Jesus wins!
We will not be overcome by death!
And He Walks With Me
And He Walks With Me
The resurrection of Jesus would forever change the way the disciples see the relationship between He and the Father. Jesus and the Father, along with the Holy Spirit, are One. There is a unity but a distinction of persons here. They would see that the Father and Son are One.
And then there is the next assurance given to us by Jesus...
Their relationship with Jesus would become
His temporary separation from them would not only give them hope of eternal duration of life but one of extraordinary, indescribable quality as well. We are to enjoy an intimate relationship with God…so intimate that it can only be illustrated by the relationship the Son has with the Father.
We are forever in Jesus and Jesus in us…Jesus is in the Father…So we have an incomprehensible unity of relationship with God the Father as well. We are not God, we are unique persons, but we have an incredible relationship and union with Him which surpasses comprehension.
The resurrection of Jesus would forever change the way the disciples see the relationship between He and the Father. Jesus and the Father, along with the Holy Spirit, are One. There is a unity but a distinction of persons here. They would see that the Father and Son are One.
The pattern of relationship we have with Jesus is the pattern of relationship Jesus has with the Father.
What does that pattern of relationship look like?
The Father and Son love one another and work together.
The Father loves the Son by revealing His plans to the Son...Jesus loves the Father by obeying the Father’s plan, even when it took Him to the Cross.
Jesus loves us and wants us to be a part of what He is doing on earth…work together with Him
Jesus reveals Himself and His plans to us…gives us His commands (21)...We love Jesus by obeying His commands and being a part of His work.
We love and obey Jesus the same way that Jesus loves and obeys the Father…This is an incredible picture of what our life is meant to be on earth.
He reveals Himself to us and we obey.
How God Loves Us — Revelation of Himself and His will to us
God desires for us to enjoy an intimate relationship with Him. One in which He reveals who He is and what He is about the business of doing. He wants us to know His heart and plans so we might think and feel like Him and be a part of what He is doing to save the human race!
In case you haven’t realized it yet, God’s primary love language is obedience to Him!
Back to the Big Question
Back to the Big Question
Assurances are given and encouragement has been offered. Now the response of the spokesman for the disciples and their collective confusion...
Jesus is in the process of revealing this beautiful plan in which believers will enjoy incomprehensible relationship with Him and be a part of His plan to save the world…the disciples are clueless. They think they know a better way in which God can do all of this.
Judas, not Iscariot, asks the burning question, Why do you show yourself to us and not to the whole world?
He did not likely have the resurrection in mind. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that we are reading this conversation from a completely different perspective than the ones who participated in it. They were still trying to understand Jesus’ plan.
They were still wrestling with their idea that the Messiah would come in power as a military and political savior of the nation Israel.
He simply took Jesus at His word and what he might have meant on the surface…you are going away, coming back and your followers are the only ones who will see you? Why?
Jesus is in the process of revealing this beautiful plan in which believers will enjoy incomprehensible relationship with Him and be a part of His plan to save the world…the disciples are clueless. They think they know a better way in which God can do all of this.
We understand it differently…John was writing this Gospel after the resurrection and His intent in passages like this is to let us in on what was going on at the time of such conversations with an eye on what we now understand was really going on. There is a double meaning here to John’s readers...
We might ask a similar question from our own current perspective, why will you not simply show yourself alive to the unbelieving world.
Hudson Taylor had definite convictions about how God's work should be done. We can make our best plans and try to carry them out in our own strength. Or we can make careful plans and ask God to bless them. "Yet another way of working is to begin with God; to ask His plans, and to offer ourselves to Him to carry out His purposes."
Hudson Taylor had definite convictions about how God's work should be done. We can make our best plans and try to carry them out in our own strength. Or we can make careful plans and ask God to bless them. "Yet another way of working is to begin with God; to ask His plans, and to offer ourselves to Him to carry out His purposes."
God has reasons for His plans and we can’t possibly know what they are. However, think about this…A single great event, as incredible as it may seem, will be dismissed by many, maybe most, maybe the vast majority of folks, as a fraud.
Hudson Taylor had definite convictions about how God's work should be done. We can make our best plans and try to carry them out in our own strength. Or we can make careful plans and ask God to bless them. "Yet another way of working is to begin with God; to ask His plans, and to offer ourselves to Him to carry out His purposes."
Hudson Taylor had definite convictions about how God's work should be done. We can make our best plans and try to carry them out in our own strength. Or we can make careful plans and ask God to bless them. "Yet another way of working is to begin with God; to ask His plans, and to offer ourselves to Him to carry out His purposes."
Jesus is in the process of revealing this beautiful plan in which believers will enjoy incomprehensible relationship with Him and be a part of His plan to save the world
God had a better plan; an undeniable plan which would span generations and be irrefutable…us. Jesus reveals a beautiful plan in which believers enjoy incomprehensible relationship with Him and become part of His plan to save the world.
God would show Himself through us. He would take up residence within us and show the world Himself through the difference He makes in our life…our own testimony of His power and how it changed our life.
Jesus reveals Himself to us through the Holy Spirit and then changes us so we might obey what He reveals. This is impossible
This is the culmination of the final assurance in this passage today. Jesus intends to make us part of what He is doing to save the world
Conclusion
Conclusion
You and I have been given an opportunity beyond anything we could have ever imagined for ourselves. Jesus has given us an everlasting, indescribable life of greater value and purpose than we could have ever dreamed possible.
Through Jesus we have everlasting relationship with God, victory over death and the opportunity to know Him, His work and be a part of what He is doing.
In short, Jesus has saved us and chosen to use us to save everyone else. Are you ready to sign up? Are you ready to live your purpose? Are you ready for your life to matter?
Jesus uses our story…the story of His salvation and assurance so that when people see us they see Jesus…His character being produced in us…His power being exerted through us.
United States is majority Christian, but the atheist/agnostic share of its population alone is bigger than the total population of most other countries, in the Americas and elsewhere.
In the United States the majority religion claimed is Christian, but the atheist/agnostic share of its population alone is bigger than the total population of most other countries, in the Americas and elsewhere.
People all around us need to see Jesus and He wants to show Himself to them…He wants you to walk into a room and people to say, “I see Jesus” when they get to know your life. Is that what happens right now? Is it what you want to have happen?
Who’s you one?