When you have seen Jesus you have seen God.

God has a bottle in heaven for each one of us in which he gathers all our tears. At the moment I feel as if my bottle is overflowing.

”My Love envelops you completely and every tear you shed is precious to Me as well as every shout of joy, every testimony of my love for you. Why? Because you are precious and I see and feel every tear you shed and enjoy every joyful moment you experience. It is My desire that when you have finished shedding your tears that you remember My instruction “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice”! It is my desire that you remember that though she has left you physically, Emily is now free to be the person I made her to be. That she is full of joy and therefore you can take down the guard you’re holding up to protect your grief and use that energy to express and feel the joy which is an innate part of My being and My love for you. The pain will fade away as you rejoice and it will be replaced by hope.

As we focus today again on John’s Gospel ch 12:3-50, this section opens again with several comments on the degrees of faith that the bystanders are expressing. It is not incidental that John does this. As Jesus approaches the cross, John wants the reader to identify with those people and ultimately examine their faith against what he has written about them.

Firstly we see from 37 – 40 the many who were present who refused to believe. This is like a backdrop to the way we understand people. The starting point as it were. He reminds the reader of the dire warning God gave Isaiah at the beginning of his ministry. Isaiah was to be prepared for the fact that most people would not believe and amazingly enough it is because God has blinded them. Wow! What a prospect for his ministry. While this was an hyperbole it was nevertheless a warning about the innate stubbornness of man who refuses to bow the knee to God. In this state the judgement of God is to settle them in that position.

The second group is described in vv 42,43. These people “believed”, even some of the leaders, yet they were afraid to confess their faith openly because of the possible consequences. Notice the summary in 43 b, “they loved praise from men more than praise from God”. This is clearly an insufficient faith which connects with v 47 “a person who hears Jesus’s words but does not keep them”.

This describes so many people today in varying degrees. Even people who attend church fairly regularly. They are literally on the threshold of saving faith yet something is holding them back. I sometimes think these people are the hardest to reach.

From vs. 44 Jesus starts explaining what real faith is. The sort of faith which is necessary for us to attain eternal life. Remember at this stage. Jesus has not yet been crucified so this is an open case that John is building up to. Doing it in steps like this is intended to help us understand real faith.

So what is it about real faith he wants us to understand? Can you see the main point he is making? Vv 44,45 Put it so beautifully. It is necessary to see and believe that when you have “seen” Jesus, you have “seen” God. That is the one whom you are to believe in. This is so important. God has revealed Himself totally in the person of Jesus. If you want to find out what God is like look at Jesus. Do you see Jesus like this? He is also the one who brings the light into the world that enables us to “see”Him, v 46. This is a mystical interaction which involves one’s attitude. Do you all want to know Him more than all the other interesting and important things in your life? But there still is a mystery which only God can understand as we read elsewhere like Ephesians 1:4, that every believer has been chosen before time.

Then Jesus goes on to reassure the reader that His mission to earth was a mission of salvation. This does not mean that judgement does not exist. It would not have been necessary to bring salvation if it wasn’t for the fact of judgement on the whole world. Ultimately that judgement will only be completed when Jesus comes again and He will then be part of that. However we should start off by seeing Jesus as Saviour and not as judge. So many people are turned away from Christianity because they have been hit over the head by the bible and God’s judgement. Obviously we cannot appreciate His salvation if we don’t see what we have been saved from, but the emphasis, according to this passage, of Jesus’s life was salvation.

With that then, let the joy of the Lord fill your coming week. God bless till next week.